From Nice to Tunis
Our first passage ever
There was a 5-day weather window for this journey from Antibes to Tunisia. We chose to take it or be stuck in France forever. The marina was not inexpensive, and not only would the marina in Tunis cut our costs in half, but the labor and supplies to renovate the yacht were also far less expensive and more enticing. So we wanted it.
After filling up and getting the boat ready for departure, we psychologically prepared for our first ever crossing. Off we went with a stomach full of butterflies.
The first day was stunning. We had some decent wind and went off the coast of France toward Corsica.
The weather was beautiful, and time passed quickly until the sun set gently. It was time to prepare some dinner. But when the sun went down, the sea state became rougher. And diner was no longer a joke. I immediately started to feel seasick. As I held my cool while serving the kids' dinner, I realized it wasn't just me who was becoming sick. Luuk, our youngest son, turned greener by the second. And as soon as I placed his dinner in front of him, he yelled no!
My little terror incident had left him alone, exhausted and deprived of sleep.
Just a bit of background: Luuk has never been sick. He was usually the stronger one when it came to stomachbugs and bacteria in the nursery.
He decided he needed to go the restroom when he began to feel awful in his stomach. You soon discovered that food can also exit in the opposite direction. This had him completely disoriented. Oh poor boy!
And poor mama, cleaning that up while experiencing her own bouts of seasickness. It is time to take a nap. I knew that Reiss had to spend some time alone in that cockpit to help me overcome from this awful feeling.
It worked after a few hours of half-slumber. I pulled myself together and changed into my shift clothes. It was quite cold and completely dark outside. the stars and moonlight illuminating the path. It appeared that our autopilot had failed, and for nearly two hours, Reiss had to navigate manually. My little terror incident had left him alone, exhausted and deprived of sleep.
I took control of the helm. We were moving steadily and quickly toward Corsica thanks to the fair wind and the sails. We arrived at our destination about six in the morning. We were exhausted and in desperate need of sleep. We so made the decision to anchor out and sleep for a few hours.
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