A day of dreams

“That bay in Brazil, wouldn’t you just love to see that?”

“Yes, and how about travelling up the Gambia River? What an adventure!”

“And Morocco, should  we go past Morocco, you heard what they all said about how beautiful it is… Barman, we are going to need two more beers!!”

And so the evening became a little longer than the initially planned “one last beer at the Irish”, and as we passed midnight, the dreams of far away places, sandy beaches and other ways of life became more and more vivid.

The trigger for these late night discussions was  yet another day for long term cruisers, this time the  yearly “vertrekkersdag” organised by the magazine Zeilen for people leaving this year on a sailing boat for a min of 12 months. The day took place in the Dromedaris in Enkhuizen, and driving into the city, Jeroen and I were thinking back on our first time at the harbour of Enkhuizen, after our maiden voyage with Mjølner more than two years ago. Luckily we have become much more trained in docking the boat since then…

The programme of the day was very informal, leaving plenty of time for exchanging plans, concerns and email addresses. The crowd was a mixture of young people with small children (the usual suspects from Elena and Tangaroa were of course there,  the Pjotter was deeply missed…),  and couples with a bit more life experience (and often a bit more budget).  A few of the couples that we have met at previous cruiser get-togethers have fallen victim to the financial crisis, and will not be able to leave this year.

During the afternoon a wide variety of  subjects were discussed such as visas, vaccinations, water tanks, satellite phones (“waste of money”), SSB (“learning by doing”), and motoring in the middle of the ocean. And the  panel of experts fed the dreams of all us world traveller novices.  The words of Ruth Gerritse who spent 6 years travelling the world, “don’t waste too much time and money planning out your destinations, you will change your mind too many times along the way” where music in my ears.

As always, the time in the bar after the programme has ended proved the most informative.  The “non plans” of Jack and Brenda from the Modesty are admirable and inspirational, and I was deeply moved by Hennie ten Dam’s story about his first solo trip across the Atlantic. Hearing Ben and Leonoor tell about how it is to have a dog on board has again sparked the discussion on whether or not a pet would be a good playmate for Sophia in the coming year(s). And because of the relentless pressure of Leonie and Adam, Jeroen is right now checking the waiting times for going through the Panama Canal  (no promises, Adam!)

Just a few more weeks, and we finally start living the dream.