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After a few days in the most insane marina in the center of Venice it was time to find somewhere to leave Nayru for the winter! We obviously didn't plan this very well and it was quite a scramble to find somewhere that would fit a catamaran last minute. Somehow two marinas in Venice had space for us (at a pretty price of course) so we booked ourselves in. The first challenge was to get out of the previous marina which I was absolutely shitting myself about since we had to reverse the boat all the way down a narrow channel between boats and wooden pilings. Thankfully it went fine and we thought the hard bit was over but we had no idea... Our new marina was somehow even more tight than the last one! It was quite hairy driving in and as we tried to get into an impossible berth we didn't realise the tide was rising and it was pushing us quite fast and we ended up bumping into a couple of other boats 🙈 and had to abort and park somewhere else for a few hours to wait for the tide to calm down so we could try again. Luckily there was no damage to anyone else and we just came away with a few surface scratches and a wounded pride 😂. We tried again and with a bit of help and the tide slack we successfully parked with no more dramas. Venice might be a very boat oriented place but it's meant for small boats and not giant catamarans 😂. Anyway we were all tied up to the dock and we had 2 weeks to slowly prepare and clean the boat for winter which meant we spent 2 weeks eating and drinking in Venice and then 2 days at the end doing all the jobs 😂. We discovered that Venice has lots of bars where you stand up with a spritz and eat little breads with various toppings on for a few euros - it's called cicchetti and it's my new favourite thing. It's like pinxos in Barcelona but I think Venice does it better 😁. We spent so much time just wandering around the streets and finding the best spots to eat and have spritz by the canals my map is now absolutely covered in stars. I wasn't too keen on Aperol Spritz before Venice but it's absolutely delicious in Italy and it's 100% grown on me. I also discovered wine spritz which is a great way to stay hydrated whilst also drinking all day 😁. Btw I'm only pretending to smoke in that first photo because I thought it would make me look cool - and it totally does right?! Nayru is all tucked up now for winter and we'll go back to her in the spring next year. For now we're out of Schengen time so we're going to bounce around a few non Schengen countries that are left in Europe starting in Serbia. Ciao for now! 🥂

- Danielle

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Why were we racing to Pula? To pick up James' mum and sail her to Venice with us! We wasted no time welcoming Jenny on board the only way we know how - with a beer of course! We explored Pula a little bit and then left the next day to hop up the coast 15 miles to Rovinj to hang out and wait for our weather window to Venice! We had to wait for one very strong bora wind to pass before we would leave - I didn't fancy going out in 35 knot gusts even downwind! But the next night was a lighter wind Bora from the South East and we managed to sail downwind the whole way to Venice overnight! Just before leaving the anchorage for the sail we were visited by dolphins playing and jumping right by the back of the boat and that definitely felt like a really good sign that we'd be safe on our sail 😁🐬 Jenny was pretty surprised how rocky and loud actual sailing is, even in a catamaran. I keep telling people it's not the fastest or most comfortable way to get anywhere! 😂 To be fair though we had some pretty big swell for the Mediterranean and it was throwing us around a bit. Nothing unusual for us but not the most comfortable night. She very much enjoyed seeing the stars and arriving into Venice at sunrise was awesome and we were visited by dolphins again just before we entered the levy! I reckon they were the same ones and they escorted us to make sure we'd be alright 🫶 Sleep deprived wasn't the best state to navigate Venice's waterways. I finally understand why the Italians sail their boats like they do, because it was the wild west out there with taxis and ferry's and all sorts just cutting in front of us and driving right at us 😂 We managed to book a marina right in the center of Venice which said it could accommodate catamarans but omg it was TIGHT and definitely shouldn't accommodate catamarans 😂. We got in but barely and I've absolutely no idea how we're going to get out of there! Ah well that's future Danielle's problem! We wasted no time going for pasta and Aperol spritz and marvelled at the insanity of the city. I didn't think I was going to like Venice since it's supposed to be really busy and over touristy etc, and San Marcos square is complete mayhem but we ventured much further than that and got lost on the canals and it's incredible! Such a cool city with loads of cool Italian shit going on. We found great cheap food and drinks at little local stand up wine and spritz bars, and it's got a grungey dive bars vibe about it under the tourist facade. I'm in love with Venice! It's currently my favourite city ever and I can't wait to explore way more!! 🇮🇹🍝🤌🍷

- Danielle

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Man did we have a busy couple of weeks! We decided we'd pick up a guest in the north of Croatia and only gave ourselves just under 2 weeks to get there. It's not actually that far but the prevailing wind down the coast of Croatia is from the north which makes getting up there when we couldn't wait for the right weather a bit tricky 😅. We got fairly lucky with a few south winds that we tried to take full advantage of. We left Montenegro and managed to sail all the way to Dubrovnik to check into Croatia. We found a lovely spot to long line and hide from some strong wind that night but we chose badly and at 6am the wind was too strong and pushed us almost onto the rocks 😱. Luckily I was awake already watching the wind speed instruments and jumped to the helm. We had to drop the long lines and quickly pick up the anchor and then James swam back over to get the ropes we left and I reversed up to him to pick him and the ropes up in 25 knots of wind. It was a good exercise in ditching and running and in helming the boat in strong winds. The strong wind was from the south so we decided to take advantage of it and willingly pulled the sails up and went out in it to make progress north. I would never have done that on old Nayru but stronger winds feel safer on new Nayru somehow 😁. We made some good progress north, saw some very cool sunsets, and saw the sunrise 3 days in a row as we were waking up at 6am to get sailing! We did a bit more motoring than we would have liked but we had some days sailing very fast too. I still can't get over how loud the wake at the back of the boat is. It's wild 😂. Our last 3 days getting to Pula were a bit of a nightmare but also really fun! We woke up at 6am 2 days in a row (again) to use 2 days of south wind for the final 100 miles and we were smashing it until there was a MASSIVE thunderstorm in front of us that we thought we could maybe get through. But no, nature had other ideas and we went from having 10 knots of wind behind us to 30 knots of wind in front of us. The swell from the storm was hitting the swell from the forecast wind and the sea turned into a washing machine 🤢. We had to turn around and run for shelter, but we were able to ride the edge of the storm 10 miles and tucked into a quiet very protected bay just at sunset and just before the storm hit. We had a beer and watched the show 🌩️ and I was dead chuffed the boat got a good clean as this was the first rain of the season! The next day we were up at 6am again, sailed north a bit again, and then another storm rolled in front of us and we had to turn around, AGAIN 😂. This time we turned around immediately and didn't have to backtrack 10 miles. We went into a very cool kind of inlet with a tiny canal to get out the other end. It was 12m wide and we are 6.6m wide so driving through it was definitely a butt clenching few minutes 😂. We made it and managed to sail half the day and rolled into Pula at 5pm - a whole 24 hours early 😁

- Danielle

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We kicked off one grubby crew member and welcomed our first proper guest (nope Hugh doesn't count as a guest 😂). By best mate Lauren booked a last minute flight to come hang out in Montenegro for the weekend and we had a wicked time! We finally walked up to the fortress in Kotor old town and we took the cable car up the hill for incredible, if a bit hazy, views and a few beers. We got all the floaties out like a tour boat but thankfully we have a good pump on this boat and I didn't have to blow them up by hand! We had mimosas in the sea and then took Lauren for her first paddle board slightly tipsy which didn't end in disaster! 😂 We've bought ourselves enough Schengen time to finish the season now so tomorrow we plan to sail to Croatia and continue making our way up to Venice 💃

- Danielle

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Stuffed full of pizza and pasta it was time to take advantage of a rare wind from the south to hop over to Montenegro to get out of the Schengen for a bit. This was our first overnight sail on Nayru the catamaran and although I wasn't exactly looking forward to it I wasn't anywhere near as apprehensive as on our first boat. Hugh popped to town and bought 6 massive sandwiches and some bread so we ended up having a sandwich for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that day. Pretty great passage food but probably too many sandwiches 😂. The passage wasn't the easiest one since the wind was forecast to swing around quite a bit, and it did exactly as forecast for a change! We sailed very fast for most of it which is very loud on a catamaran and I almost feel like I'm on a ferry with the roaring waves and wake behind us 😂. We're only going 7-8 knots but honestly it feels so much faster! But other than that everything else is kinda easy! We're all walking around, making coffee, napping without being thrown out of bed. It's weird honestly. Obviously better but so so much easier. The only thing that's worse is the brutally loud slamming of the waves on the hulls when we're going fast. Every slap sounds like a gunshot and makes it pretty hard to sleep 😅. One day we'll have a relaxing downwind passage I'm sure. We arrived in Montenegro at 9am and immediately remembered how lovely and friendly the customs officials are here. James spent an hour and a half walking between offices and being shouted at for random things but we got checked in and stamped eventually 😅. We're now docked in Kotor Old Town which is insanely beautiful. The views around the boat are nuts. Hugh jumped off having done a bit of work, lots of cleaning, and breaking a normal amount of stuff. We're having a chill week here now and really enjoying it apart from the extreme heatwave we've got right now which is insane and thank fuck we've got AC because we've just been hiding in our hull with the AC on for 2 days. Bougie boat life 4eva 🫶

- Danielle

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After Zakythnos town we headed North again and sailed back to Preveza where we bought Nayru 2 (and Nayru 1 😂). A few weeks in the Ionian was a great way to jump back into boat life and we now feel like we've got a bit more of a handle on how to sail and park a catamaran! On our way we stopped in at Kioni on Ithaca. It was one of our favourite bays in the Ionian last time, and we were very happy to see that despite it being very busy it was basically still the same and the huge increase in charter boats in the last 4 years hadn't completely ruined it. We long lined and then in the morning a catamaran left the dock so we jumped up and took their space. I parked for the first time and I was visibly shaking with nerves (and the crippling Greek wine hangover didn't help 🤢) but I nailed it and we had front row seats to what felt like hundreds of charter boats coming in basically all day. Anchor TV doesn't get better than that! We're getting better at trimming the sails and managed to have a very fast and sporty sail to Preveza hitting 9 knots of speed over ground! Then we sailed downwind all the way down the channel with a bunch of other boats - but we won for a change because we're fast now which was awesome! 😂 Then it was time for a proper little shakedown sail so yesterday we crossed to Italy 🇮🇹 so I could have a pizza and wine that wasn't poison (Greek wine sucks guys) for my birthday 🍕🥂. We rescued a pink flamingo 🦩 floaty which was the best birth present ever!! Nothing major broke except the main halyard that holds the massive mainsail up chafed through to the core and then got stuck in the clutch so we couldn't drop the sail. I had to spend 30 mins before we anchored cutting the fluffy outside bit off and fixing it so the sail could come down 😂. We're using the busted rope again today because the last town didn't have a marine store so fingers crossed it doesn't snap and we'll replace it in Brindisi. So yeah I like boats again! Doing new stuff and going to new places on a whim is very cool. And it's pretty sweet to turn 36 on the ocean sailing to another country 😁. Ciao for now!

- Danielle

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Cor it's nice to have crew again! We picked Hugh up in our 20hp hard bottom dinghy and he was like oh yeah ok this boat is different 😂. He brought us lots of goodies and we wasted no time hooking up the Starlink so now we're online even better than before! Before he got here I popped up the mast to fix the anchor light. It looked a bit wet inside but I couldn't get it undone for the life of me. However, with my attempts it randomly started working again so I promptly left it alone! Good news for Hugh cos he doesn't really like going up there 😂 We picked him up in Kefalonia and sailed south to Zakythnos. We actually managed to sail downwind for a change which was delightful and we got our biggest sail out for it! The gennaker is more familiar for me so I find it easier to rig and handle than the code zero, if anything goes wrong you just pull the snuffer down and it's all good! The code zero feels more risky with the furler if we fuck shit up and accidentally have it up in too much wind (which is definitely something we would do). Zakythnos town marina was a bloody disaster. It was swelly and expensive so despite 20 knots of wind forecast for today we decided to leave and I wasn't even scared! I hated the heel on a monohull because it felt so scary and difficult to manage, so with a catamaran with fixed wind speeds you reef at it feels more calculated and easier for me to feel comfortable with. It was choppy and gross but overall it felt really safe and comfortable and I actually enjoyed sailing upwind in 20 knots, I'm a changed woman 😂. We managed to sail half way to our final destination before we lost the wind so we pulled into a dock in the south of Kefalonia for the night and went for beers on the beach 😁

- Danielle

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We've spent the last week slowly sailing from Lefkada to Kefalonia where we've anchored in 2m down the end of a huge protected bay to rest for a few days. Why do we need to rest so soon? Well jumping back into boat life has been a shock for our systems. Our bodies hurt like crazy (in a good way, sort of), we're bloody tired because even catamarans don't guarantee a full nights sleep, and we're picking up our favourite boat enthusiast on Monday and I need to gear myself up for that. It's Hugh btw (obviously)! This catamaran thing is definitely more comfortable but we have already made the mistake of assuming that because "we're on a cat" that all anchorages will be flat and comfortable. Unfortunately that is not the case and we've had a few rolly nights already 😂. I mean obviously way better than a monohull and not really rolly, more kinda rocky, but still uncomfortable. Good to know catamarans don't solve everything. That said the sailing is pretty bloody nice and fun! We go quite fast in not much wind, the sails are easy to handle, I can walk around and put my coffee down when we're sailing up wind, it's quite delightful honestly! So now I'm finding that no wind in the Ionian is actually a bit boring (which is funny to me because I usually prefer no wind) but I'm starting to look forward to 10-15 knots instead of being scared of it 😂. Now we've got the weekend to chill and Hugh arrives on Monday with bags full of packages (it's required for boat guests to bring packages) and I can't wait for him to arrive because I've got a whole list of tasks that are hard work he can do instead of me. Starting with pumping up the 3 paddle boards! 😂

- Danielle

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Nayru has splashed!!! 🌊⛵🌊 It was nerve wracking as always, especially as she only just fit in the travel lift and the launch slip (see the pics for how close the sling holders are 😅). It was nice to be in the big lift instead of the shitty small monohull tractor 😂. We knew she floated from the sea trial but now we were responsible for her which is a different game! It went super well, the marina team are the best we've ever had, they took super good care of her and us and didn't rush us etc. and then helped us out of the tight marina which was lovely now that we're 6.6m wide 😁. We've only been floating for 3 days but we've already done more than we'd done in the first few months on our last boat! We got the big light wind sail up (Code 0) on the 2nd day and absolutely flew along at 6 knots without even bothering to trim it 😂. We've run most of the systems and are getting to grips with the boat. Obviously the fucking anchor light doesn't work - we're cursed for anchor lights apparently 😂. The watermaker is being a pain but still works thankfully. The AC is running like a dream and is very welcome to cool the boat down in the hot afternoons (yes we're bougie sailors now). The massive dinghy and outboard is WICKED fun and definitely blows the electric engine out of the water 😂 but it's obviously still a dick to start sometimes and almost left us stranded a mile away from the boat earlier so you win some and lose some! This afternoon we went out spearfishing and caught our first 2 lionfish! So now the boat is christened 😁. They're big boys which is good for us but bad for the med and Greece. Don't worry we'll do our duty and clean them up! Tonight we're in an anchorage with little waves and all the monohulls are rolling around and we're just gently bobbing. It's not completely flat and I still feel the motion but fuck me it's a lot better 😅. Just had a beer and now we're off to cook the fish! Tomorrow we'll get some more of our sails up ⛵

- Danielle

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Ok so we bought a boat with double the hulls which people say means double the fun (I don't know who says that actually but James said it once and I kinda like it) but so far it's meant double the work. Seems obvious really but now I realised it after servicing 2 engines, sanding and painting 2 hulls, cleaning 2x the space, checking 2x the seacocks, and probably loads of other shit I've forgotten 😂 There's actually been basically nothing to do on this boat. She was so incredibly ready to go! Just some sorting, cleaning, the dreaded IKEA shop, a few minor fixes and a few things to service as she's been out of the water for a while. The biggest thing for us was sanding and antifouling the hulls. We haven't ever actually done this job before 🙈 on our last boat it was antifouled when we bought her and we paid someone to do it for the 2nd season. We felt like it was a right of passage we should experience. It's bloody hard work, even with basically nothing to sand back, and it's now safe to say we'll be paying someone to do it in the future 😂. So yeah we're ready to launch! We were actually ready Friday but there weren't any slots until tomorrow (Monday) so we've done some extra jobs this weekend like servicing the winches and making soft shackles 😁 Tomorrow is splash day and I can't WAIT to get on the water 🌊🌊⛵🌊🌊

- Danielle

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We've bought a boat (again)! I couldn't get the Excess 11 catamaran out of my head after chartering it 2 years ago and I'd been keeping my eye on the absolutely perfect Excess 11 for sale in Greece since last year (just for fun). She had EVERYTHING, massive solar and batteries setup, performance sails and rigging, water maker, air conditioning, large dinghy and engine, all the electronics, oh and a washing machine 😂. So when I showed a friend the listing (again just for fun) and noticed it was now in budget we had a very short but very serious conversation and decided to do boat life again. This happened completely out of the blue really. We kept saying we might get a boat again but we kept saying it might be in a few years. But in the space of a week we decided, fuck it, let's go for it, so here we are! ⛵ Oh and we're starting in Greece again - in the exact same yard as last time 😂 so we know our way around pretty well! Yes I know all the bad things I said about boats and sailing last time but this time it'll be different. Right? 😂 Seriously though, this boat is SUCH an upgrade and we plan to just do summer seasons in the Mediterranean and not live on it full time. It's bigger, more comfortable, easier to work on, better to sleep on, hopefully more fun to sail, and better equipped than most Airbnbs we stay in! 😅 Boat holiday anyone? 😁

- Danielle

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We spent the second half of our UK visit in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 at Hugh's Mum's farm doing lots of farm jobs and walks (and drinking and eating obviously). We cleared a whole field of brambles, painted the neighbours wall, fed the farm animals, and saved a drowning chicken (I'm hair drying it in the last photo). It was great to do some manual labor and move my body again after laptop-ing so much recently! We joked that she could totally run retreats for for burned out tech people to get off their screens 😂. We managed to squeeze in two BBQ's in a week and even had a night at the fire pit. We also had our first Welsh Rarebit, which sounds quite exotic but it's basically just fancy cheese on toast, absolutely delicious, but still just cheese on toast (sorry Wales!).

- Danielle

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Our first 2 weeks in the UK started out wearing jumpers and coats, and then it turned into a record breaking heat wave - typical English weather then! It was actually hotter in England than Bangkok for a few days 🥵. I guess we should be grateful that it wasn't raining (since we usually bring terrible weather with us) but we were staying in a hotel without AC where the windows didn't open. Anyway, we survived the heatwave and managed to fit in lots of English things. We made use of the jetlag 5am wake up calls to almost catch the sunrise on the hills, smashed a massive baked potato (with beans and cheese and tuna for me, it's delicious trust me!), watched the first England World Cup match in the pub, wandered along the canals, did some gardening in James' Mum's allotment, and visited Warwick Castle! Then we drove to Kent to see James' Dad and took him out for Sunday lunch for Father's day and then spend the weekend wandering around the cute village sampling the different pubs and picked up some Kent wine (yes they make wine in the UK now!) and drove all the way back!

- Danielle

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Since leaving Okinawa we've spent a week in Bangkok and a month in Bali, and these are basically all the photos I took! I've been to both places so many times there's not much new to document but it's also pretty nice to jump straight into somewhere we know really well.  We went to Bali to hang out with friends, play badminton, and do lots of co-working sessions. It was awesome to see old friends and make some new ones too. Bali isn't somewhere I'd settle down but I like visiting for a month every year to catch up with the gang 🫶. It's also where the original Hackagu (our Thursday co-working session) was born and is still the best node to chat with cool smart people.  We're off to the UK now for the first time in 2 years!! Got some cool stuff planned so I'm looking forward to it - starting with a trip to Marks and Spencer for some proper Cornish Cruncher cheese 🧀😁.  Then we'll be in Europe for the rest of the year but no plans where yet!

- Danielle

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So we flew from Korea to Okinawa basically because it was near by, and ended up absolutely loving it! 💃 It's a laid back part of Japan with chill island vibes. We thought it might be a bit American and although you can see the influence with big roads by the beach there's loads of domestic tourism so thankfully everything is still super Japanese 😂 We stayed in 2 different districts and enjoyed some slow work days and a lot of walks down the beach that ended up with a beer at the food truck there 😁 We didn't do anything particularly touristy. As usual it was mostly just eating and drinking and boy did we have some good food. The sushi on the island is out of this world! Definitely the best sushi I've ever had! There's also diving here but we had our winter jumpers with us instead of our dive gear and the water is a bit cold we'll come back and dive here next time!

- Danielle

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