Arrived in Sicily

It took four days and three nights to reach the southern coast of Sicily, sailing about half the time and motoring the rest when the wind died.  No moon at night, so the stars were brilliant, as was the tuna fishing and dolphin displays.  We're here for at least a week until the gale blows through, but between studying and catching up on chores, the kids are putting the time to good use.  Maggie can now free climb up about 30' to the first spreader using only her hands and feet (with a climbing harness for safety of course), while Hugo and John figured out how to combine swinging on the halyards with sailing. It's like rock climbing meets kite boarding. 

Someone asked me the other day if I would miss spending so much time with the kids.  I have to admit, we are fortunate to have kids who haven't gotten into organized weekend activities yet (they weren't interested, and we didn't push it).  That means we've always had long family weekends together, so I've never felt deprived of kid-time, despite always working full-time.  To be honest, the trip was never about just having more time with the kids, as much as we love them.  So what WAS the motivation for the trip?  That's a blog post for some other day!

More tuna for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Watching dolphins below

 

Striped dolphins below the bow

 

Maggie free climbing

 

Her foot technique



Hugo using a wind scoop as a sail

 

Big gust of wind