Made a friend while wandering the streets of Emporion Segestum last night (Castellammare del Golfo) Eventually his mom came by and reproached him for trusting the laps of strangers so readily 😸

Landfall Sicily. It was a wild one - bare pole running at 6+ most of last night! At points 30 gusting 40 with 3m+ 🌊. Fickle February Med ⛵️ Here’s dawn today

Broad reaching at 6+ in 20 knots. Two reefs. We’re 14m E of the Isle dei Cavoli & #sailing into the sunrise :)

To Sicily! I’ve a ~three day weather window to cross before the violent mistral that has characterized this Sardinian February returns. Was lucky enough to sign on a watch keeper - Tim, a very tall German. He’s been adventuring about Italy in a solar-electric van! Expect landfall Trapani 36h.

Aotearoa ❤️

A 2,700 year old Phoenician scarab seal, created in what is now Lebanon, has been unearthed at the Nuragic site of Ruinas in Sardinia.

More engine trouble! Left Cagliari yesterday; engine died ugly. Fixing myself today, I hope - looks like an oil leak. Got to sail back to dock though - that was fun (in retrospect). Jibed to the dock under triple reefed main alone (thanks to @pinoseed-connect.bsky.social for the action shots).

Safely docked in Karalis. A nice pic of Indy coming in, courtesy of @pinoseed-connect.bsky.social - who also welcomed me to the dock :)!

🌈 Chia, Sardinia

Delayed my departure from Carloforte by a day to help a Brit move his big ol’ tourist catamaran to a yard at Sant’Antioco. Nice to do a little job. My fellow crewman was a local; his mate gave us a ride back to the ferry. This evening I’m on my way to Malfatano. There’s a tophet there - macabre!

6 hours in Rome - she’s ancient, of course: here’s the forum, curia, coliseum -

That gale I weathered off W. Sardinia was the outer tail of the appositely Cyclone Harry :) Not to be glib, but conditions even in the thick of the cyclone sounded like just another Wednesday off Land’s End, Cornwall. Or at least a few Wednesdays I had there! (18-20 ft seas, 30 to 40 knots wind)

Goodbye Balearics! We make east for Sardinia then Bizerte. Wind middling. I thoroughly enjoyed the temporada baja, the new year on these summer islands.

Easy reaching between the Balearics

Palma de Mallorca and all her pretty boats Real Club Náutico de Palma, New Year’s Day 2026

Guy works for _one day_ then immediately gets his boat out of storage.

Sa Rapita, Mallorca. Prepping for aseveral day passage to Hippo (Bizerte), once the wind changes in a couple days.

Anchored early last evening in La Cova de Portals Vells. Was a fine and fast crossing ⛵️

Sailing out of Ibiza harbor. Making 3-4 in 8-14. We’re bound for Majorca. Expecting a 10-12h passage. Feliz Navidad!

Motoring out of Denia - a view of Montgó. Tonight we’ll anchor beneath Cap de la Nau (no wind). Tomorrow’s northerly should make for a quick crossing to Ibosim, a Phoenician emporium.

Finished exploring Calpe and the Penyal d’Ifac. In Denia, awaiting a wind for Ibiza or points north…

sunset over la Serra Gelada

Anchored this eve in the lee of La Illeta dels Banyets, near Alicante. On visiting the city’s acclaimed Museo Arqueológico today, I learned a preponderance of Greek artifacts have been found on this near-islet. I’ll explore tomorrow! A pleasant sunset beam reach here. We can see Ifach promontory…

Had a sublime several days in Cartagena. I went to every museum & archaeological site. A splendid natural harbor (though its microtide complicates Polybius’ narrative of Scipio’s siege). Sailed out this evening. It took seventeen tacks to clear the channel in the face of a fuerte Leveche!

Sunset over La Punta de Loma Pelada. Sunrise over Cartagena coming right up…

Making 6.5-7 kts in 25. Two reefs here - just went to three. We’re bound for the new new city - Spain’s Cartagena, named for the original, which itself is the “new city” (“qrt-ḥdšt“). (Suppose then that Colombia’s Cartagena de Indias is the New New New City of the Indies.) Let’s see Scipio’s prize!

Ghosting in to the Fondeadero de San José at dawn ⛵️ #sailing

I had a relaxed ~10 days in Gibraltar 🇬🇮. Took a 5 day RYA Yachtmaster Offshore primer (a jaunt to Cuenta, practicing man overboard, pilotage, & anchoring under sail). I have some theory to study - hope to take the exam in Ibiza. Just now weathering Rusadir. We’re bound for Melilla. Making 6 kts.

Looks like I’ve got a passenger for my coastal putter south to the Rock 🐦‍⬛

I’m beginning my tour of the antique Med in Astaroth - Rota - a Bronze Age haven of the Tartessians, where I ⚓️’d last night. Rich from the tin trade, Tartessos was fading when Tyrians founded Gadir - Cádiz - across the bay (around 1100 BC). A king of Tartessos paid for the walls of Phocaea!

The hooligan Orca pod found me! All well, no major damage to Indigo or I. 2 of them snuck up on me 15nm west of Sines at around 8:30 pm. For 15-20 minutes they bumped Indigo’s rudder & spun us around. Honestly it felt playful. Except they each weigh about as much as Indigo herself, & swim faster!

We’re in Portugal 🇵🇹! Docked in Póvoa de Varzim after ~65nm overnight. (Wanted to gain miles before a southerly Force 6 traps me for several days.) Experimented with a new reefs - making 1/5th of the Genoa into a pretend yankee balances a 3 reef main + full stay well, when close hauled in 30 kts ⛵️

Back from a little time inland exploring Galicia. I read two sublime new novels on the road - both poetic, incipient classics, & both stories of voyagers: Orbital, of astronauts (Samantha Harvey), & I Cheerfully Refuse, of an odyssey on Lake Superior (Leif Enger). I actually read them both twice.

Riding a bus in the Galician countryside. The translated announcement informs me that in a few minutes we will arrive at our destiny. Concerned.

Tacking into a rare southerly wind off the coast of Galicia. Presently rounding Isla Ons at the mouth of the Ría de Pontevedra, bound for Vigo (or Porto if the wind would kindly veer a few degrees). Making 3-3.5 knots in 12-14, against the tidal current and moderate swell ⛵️ #sailing

Thank you dad and uncle @ricktalk.bsky.social for all that Maine fog experience. Certainly calling on it this morning in the Ría de Muros e Noia 😶‍🌫️

Anchored for the night beneath the other end of the earth, Fisterra, which turns out to be surprisingly close to the first, Finistère. Who knew!?

What's going on? Why have this anchor surfing ahead of the boat? Here's a first tip we found useful when visiting glacial inlets. When there are a few bergy bits here and there, it can be useful to dangle the anchor so that it just skims the water. 1/3

From the ancient acropolis of Sami, Kefalonia

Apparently two yachts here in Camariñas marina were beset by the notorious hooligan Orca pod last night, just outside the Ría & just an hour after I anchored. (Also one of them has crewman from Colorado!) Either I got lucky or my hopeful hypothesis - that they avoid long keel boats - is true.

We’re off the Galicia! Departed with the evening ebb so as to pass the notorious Raz de Sein around midnight, at slack water. After the Raz, expecting 300 nm of sun & following winds across Biscay ☀️⛵️ The moon set over Brest as we left. Waning gibbous & just past harvest full 🌕 #sailing

Went to a country fête in Brittany this weekend - Breton folk music & dancing on a small farm. Both footwork & French severely tested 😊🕺

🇫🇷

Anchored deep in the roadstead of Brest, in the mouth of the river Aulne. It’s a well protected place to chill while the remains of an Atlantic hurricane batter Finistère. (It’s also a mothball anchorage for the French navy!) My neighbor is Thomas, a Breton I met sailing in Scilly :)

Goodbye Ushant! I’m off to touch the Brest of France, hon hon hon (French voyageurs named a resplendent mountain range of the Rockies “The Grand Tetons.” When it comes to prurient puns, they started it, so far as I’m concerned.)

I’ve repurposed my old 40w solar panel as a mobile charger for my outboard. Hoping for much longer riverine expeditions in the future!

Goodbye 🇬🇧! We’re catching this cold front’s northerly to Ushant 🇫🇷 - it’s an excellent weather window, lasting just long enough for the <=20 hour passage. Indigo & I depart from Mullion (pic), a small cove just north of The Lizard 🦎 Expecting a rainy but safe overnight crossing ⛵️🌧️ #sailing

An Uber scheduled one hour from now in my current market costs ~10% more if the pickup time is an even number.

Millennials are middle aged now but not me. I stayed young somehow

Rafted up in the Wet Dock, Penzance Harbour