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Crossing something off of your bucketlist is one of the most satisfying things you can do. I know, because I just did it.

On november 25th I left Las Palmas for my first ever Atlantic Crossing and loved every minute of it. Eventhough there was no real magic within the team I totally fell in love with being on the ocean for multiple weeks. And multiple weeks it was. Three to be exact. The catamaran I was on wasn’t the quickest of the fleet but it did get us to the ‘other side’ safely.

On december 15th we arrived in the harbour of St. Lucia and to my surprise and relieve there were some very nice people on the docks cheering and clapping for our accomplishment. In Las Palmas I met a Dutch family that took a year off to travel with their lovely girls (10&8) and I was glad to see them amongst the crowd.

During the passage we caught 2 dorades. Then we ran out of luwer. I learned to tell the time by looking at the stars, read several books and especially at night I allowed my thoughts to freerun all over the place; Curious to find out where it would lead me.

I spent one week on St. Lucia and had the best time ever. I did an island tour with the Dutch family. I spent a couple of days with a Swedish group on a Moore 55 in the cutest bay I have ever seen. Icing on the cake was that I actually got some ‘real’ sailing in when returning to the harbour. The parties, being on the docks, meeting people, sharing stories and the great food made the ARC rally an experience I would recommend to anyone.

My passage was alcohol free but last week I totally made up for that period (and more). And eventhough it is great to meet new people, I am really a sucker for the saying goodbye part. There was one person with whom I turned it into ‘see you later’ but I even managed to screw up that one.

So now I need to recuperate. I am tired, an emotional wreck and craving some healthy food and fruits.

And that is where the Dutch family is coming in (again). We left St. Lucia and after having sailed for about 3,5 hours we arrived in a bay in Martinique where we are now on an anchor.

My plans? They are not quite formed yet. Every time when I seem to have made up my mind things change.

But I did the crossing! I am one of the (many) lucky persons who is now officially allowed to wear red pants.

To be continued.