Newsflash: Helpful Friends Make Dream Come True

In breaking news, it’s official! We are fulfilling our dream of undertaking an epic adventurous voyage. Thanks to our wonderful friends helping us along the way, we are going to sail from the Mediterranean across the Atlantic Ocean this year.

We have sailed back to Mallorca over the last few days.  We truly adore Palma but the primary reason to return here was to pick up our satellite navigation system (commonly referred to as a ‘sat nav’). We will need this piece of technology for safety as well as connectivity during our Atlantic crossing. It will also help anyone wishing to follow our track as we take Waiata across her biggest ocean to date.

Our Helpful Team of Friends

It is only with thanks and credit to a team of wonderful friends old and new, who have pulled together to get this necessary piece of technology to the Captain and I.  They have really been there for us.

We first met Bernard in Cavtat, Croatia. He was a neighbour and great mates with our dear friends Julie and Mike who flew out to stay on Waiata for a week in Croatia. Bernard is a highly experienced sailor and has sailed across the Atlantic himself … and so he sold his once used Sat Nav to us. Mike did the deal on our behalf and we settled on details and bought an Iridium GO.

Our Iridium GO Sat Nav is now at home on Waiata

Deliver to No Fixed Abode

So, our new to us Sat Nav is in England. We were by this time in Italy. The challenge then became, “How do we arrange delivery?”  When you live on a yacht with no apparent fixed abode, deliveries can be more than challenging.  As luck would have it, another dear lifelong friend from New Zealand who now lives in London, Amanté, was flying to Mallorca for a fabulous family wedding.  She very kindly agreed to carry our Sat Nav in her luggage from England and bring it with her to Palma.  

But what to do once she got our parcel to Palma? Well Mike was again our connection here. He has another friend who owns a spectacular superyacht.  His superyacht captain just happens to be Australian, living in Palma. He’s a wonderful family man and of course, one helluva nice chap.  And so we met Captain Jolan.  He went out of his way to collect our package from Amanté, hold onto it for a month, and then yesterday delivered our package to the marina next to our anchorage in Cala Major within hours of our arrival into Mallorca. 

It was like a tango of connections and love. Everyone in our band of friends stepping their steps and playing an important part. We now have this critical piece of equipment for our crossing.  It has taken a team of 4 people who have been incredibly kind and helpful to get this package to us.  We are indebted to this team of Incredibles. Most importantly with deepest thanks to them, we can now be confident in our safety. 

It’s interesting isn’t it, how sometimes the simple words “thank you” can be so heartfelt yet feel so woefully inadequate. 

The Crossing Plan – Coming Soon

We will unveil our full plan and more details soon as it all comes together. It is a mammoth and daunting undertaking requiring lots of planning. After just 18 months of cruising experience, we have sailed around 8,000 nautical miles to date.  At present we are just racing to exit the Mediterranean but you can see a rough planning map at the bottom of our homepage

Friends

Our friends have truly been supportive and helpful in immeasurable ways.

The Rembrandts sang “I’ll Be There For You” which is of course synonymous as the theme from the sitcom ‘Friends’. Fun fact: The title theme of Friends was initially going to be REM’s “Shiny Happy People”. They turned down the opportunity and thanks to that, we all know this song.

I’ll be there for you
(When the rain starts to pour)
I’ll be there for you
(Like I’ve been there before)
I’ll be there for you
(‘Cause you’re there for me too)