Vis stopover...

...before the first leg to Italy. We arrived at sunset and had a great dinner at local restaurant. Today another beautiful morning but we are expecting rough weather ahead and will therefore proceed directly to Palermo, bypassing Messina. The weather God will decide the exact route together with captain Micke.

Dinner at Vis. Left to right: Micke, Annika, 

Staffan, Ebba, Tore, Anna, Eva, Stefan.

At sea - finally

After a final check and cleaning of Pixel we are now on our way to the small island of Vis. It will be our last stop in Croatia before we start on the first leg towards Italy. At Vis we will complete custom clearance.

Annika and Eva working hard cleaning prior to departure,  Micke our captain at the helm and Stefan up front checking the front deck. We are altogether seven crew members, three ladies and four gentlemen.

Postponed departure...

...due to additional paperwork and missing spare parts and security equipment. At least we don't expect to wait 60 days like Niklas from Sweden. He bought a Nauticat 34 at a fair price here in Croatia two month ago from a German gentleman.

Finally, today he could leave the marina after major repair work had been carried out at Croatian speed. I am showing his boat below - on shore and off shore.

Niklas lived onboard his boat on shore the whole waiting period together with his 12 year old dog Terry who was wondering about the lack of water...

Bridge sailors today

We are living on Croatian time, waiting for spare parts and new sails. At least one extra night will be spent at anchor at our marina before we can set sails. Checking the mast 26 meters above sea level takes a bit of courage!

Yesterday I met this fishermen in Primosten checking his net together with his cat. Perhaps he got more fish than net worms...

First night onboard & final preparations

After an excellent dinner in Primosten, a small seaside town 6 km from the marina, it was great to go to sleep in my small cabin. After 1:st breakfast on board I took  long hike together with Stefan, 14 km - only to meet four Germans and a Croatian viper.

Fredrik, the captain on a sister ship, is busy making final preparations on "my" boat.

Preparing our boats...

...and meeting meeting my fellow shipmates at the marina in Croatia. I arrived at Split airport after less than three hours of excellent service by my ex Norwegian colleagues! After a 30 minute transfer I am now sitting next to my home for +/- three weeks.

Four boats will set sail at the same time on October 16. The crew onboard my ship,  the PIXEL, consists of 6 experienced sailors and one kayaker.

More time at sea...

...this time with More Sailing, a Swedish company organising sailing trips in the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic and in the Caribbean. I booked this trip already in early Spring this year. After my heart ache, described in my previous blog, I have now been given OK by my surgeon to participate in a scheduled three week cruise from Primosten (close to Split), Croatia to Las Palmas, Canary Islands. The total duration of the trip and actual route depends of course on the weather, but I have listed planned stops on the map below.

The boat used for this trip is a newly designed More 55, built on a recently established Swedish-Croatian owned wharf located in Croatia. "More", by the way, translates to "Sea" in the Croatian language. In Las Palmas a new crew will take over the boat int order to participate in a race across the Atlantic to St. Lucia, the annual ARC- Atlantic Rally for Cruisers.

Early Saturday morning (14 October) I will fly down to Split with my old (but still young) company Norwegian to meet up with my fellow shipmates for the first time,