by Captain Bart de Zwart
The Cabrinha Quest is finally on its way. We have all waited a long time to go and travel the world again. We do this in our own style, always in search for the perfect anchorage, to do what we love most; Kiting, Surfing, Stand up paddling and winging. The World changed and we adjusted. I hope for one, that we have also learned, to appreciate even more what privileges we have in life. Travel is one of them, oh boy, have we missed that. Now slowly the world is opening up. And we can explore all it has to offer.
In the Seychelles, we picked up, where we left off last year, when Covid-19 broke out. DISCOVERY has been on the hard, waiting to go in the water again. Dagmar (my wife), our friend Bruce and I, worked for a couple of weeks on the boat. Maintenance, repairs, painted the bottom and stocked up, the list was long. DISCOVERY was still in great shape, but after sitting on land for a year, there was plenty of work. Big thanks to Bruce, my ‘brother’.
Finally, we got back in the water, sailed to a nice anchorage and we pulled out some kite and wing gear. We were stoked to get on the water again. A fish has to swim – we water people have to play in the ocean. For me often it doesn’t even matter what discipline I do. Just being in the water, playing in the waves or fighting the elements, that is all good.
We have guests coming soon, so we couldn’t stay too long in the Seychelles. It was time to cross the Indian Ocean towards the Maldives. Originally the Cabrinha Quest was going to Madagascar, a big favorite of past Quests. Unfortunately Madagascar was still closed, so we considered our options here in the Indian Ocean and decided for the Maldives. After the usual formalities with customs, immigration and port authorities, we raised the sails and left the Seychelles.
The first few days, it was windy and rough and we were still finding our sea legs. Soon the wind and waves smoothed out and we got into a nice rhythm. Dagmar and I were doing this crossing by ourselves which is tiring at times, because of the night watches, but also very relaxed. We enjoyed the sunsets and great sailing weather. We made nice meals and ate a lot of fish, after we caught a nice size tuna and a Mahi Mahi. Dagmar has been cooking up some nice meals, every day with a new inspiration.
Crossings are something special. It shuts you (almost) off from the outside world for some days. This hardly every happens anymore to any of us in this modern world. For a short time our priorities are navigation, sailing, eating and like this the days fly by. And before you knew it, 8 days later, we arrived in the Maldives. They are still struggling with Covid-19 here and have tight restrictions. Curfew from 4pm – 4am and mask mandate everywhere and all the time. With DISCOVERY we are allowed to go everywhere, specially uninhabited islands and anchorages but most inhabited islands are restricted. It is a different world now, every country has their own rules. We feel we are lucky, a sailing boat gives you a lot of freedom. Now it is time to find some special places, prepare for our new arrivals and play in the water.
You can still join us.