Author: sailingandsunshine

Mike (Swiss) and Nikki (South African) are fulltime liveaboards, currently in Cape Town, South Africa. Have just spent 6 months as flotilla leaders in Greece, an experience of a lifetime! Where to next? Good question.....

No Fun when there’s No Sun (or Sailing).

JUNE 2024 - SOUTH AFRICA. Dear friends, We have had a particularly wet week in the Western Cape, 4 days of non-stop rain. Unfortunately, water flooded into SV Knowind through a partially open hatch, so this weekend will be spent doing a big mopping-up operation, in between watching the tennis finals being played at Roland … Continue reading No Fun when there’s No Sun (or Sailing). →

3 Days of Hell in 60 plus (up to 81.2) knots of wind.

I unashamedly admit to being an atheist even though I had a fairly strong Christian upbringing, forced to attend Sunday school week after week, year after year until I rebelled sometime in my high school years. So it felt fairly hypocritical to want to suddenly start pleading with a higher power when being battered with … Continue reading 3 Days of Hell in 60 plus (up to 81.2) knots of wind. →

Everything you need to know about visiting Hydra, Greece.

We were lucky enough to sail in the Saronic Gulf in Greece for six months, and Hydra was one of our favourite islands. There is something magical about the tiny island of Hydra in the Saronic Gulf of Greece. Perhaps it is the lack of cars, motorbikes, or even bicycles which are not allowed on … Continue reading Everything you need to know about visiting Hydra, Greece. →

Let’s start planning our sailing adventure in the Indian Ocean in 2024.

November 2023. Hello friends, family and fellow sailors, albeit in armchairs or those on the water. I'm quite erratic with newsletters, I put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) when there's a bee buzzing in my brain and I need to let it out. Right now, there are a swarm of bees buzzing in … Continue reading Let’s start planning our sailing adventure in the Indian Ocean in 2024. →

Newsletter Sept. 2023 :”Am I getting too old for this lifestyle?”

Hello to all our faithful subscribers and friends, Cape Town has had its wettest recorded winter for the last 50 years, some say forever. Record-breaking storms and rain, smashing seas and fury lashing the coastline causing havoc. However, it is not only the long and lonely winter with bloody awful weather on board that has … Continue reading Newsletter Sept. 2023 :”Am I getting too old for this lifestyle?” →

Greece – The Beginning of our 6 months sailing adventures as flotilla leaders.

The beginning of our Greek adventure which I will be documenting on our blog along with what we learnt, what we wish we had known and tons of photos of gorgeous Greek islands! So. Let us begin. This is the blog post I wrote just before we left. How green and naive we were!!! April … Continue reading Greece – The Beginning of our 6 months sailing adventures as flotilla leaders. →