VikingBlod Voyages

(Written April 27, 2024) Welcome Aboard Benjamin and Elias! On the evening of April 26th, our long-awaited guests had arrived from Toronto with our two extra pieces of luggage in tow. Thank you guys!  It was definitely a process getting to this point, with the guys flying in via Heathrow and Neil and I sailing from Port Camargue (an 8 hour sail, Neil assured me, that ended up being a very roll-y 11 long hours). Ben and Elias were due to meet us in Marseille on the evening of April 25th, but were unfortunately affected by the air traffic control system glitch at Heathrow a few days earlier, causing their flight from Heathrow to Marseille being canceled less than 12 hours prior to departure from Toronto. By the time this cancellation was discovered, Neil and I in Port Camargue were contemplating going to bed for our early start setting sail for Marseille the next day. But, we were also experiencing a bit of a delay as the bimini (the stainless steel structure & canvas covering th...

Go with the flow ... We are quickly learning that this is the state of mind we must adopt if we are going to be sailing and living on a yacht in a country that is not our home. Everything takes longer than expected and is more challenging to sort out due to a lack of understanding of the French language on our part, and differences in French business practices (love that the French take a two hour lunch break, except when we urgently need something between 12 and 2 and have forgotten they do so… c’est la vie!). At this point, we had expected to be underway on our sailing adventure, but as I said, everything takes longer than expected. When we are told that the mechanic will be by to fix the AC/Heat unit tomorrow, it really means maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day, maybe in 5 days, or many never. Or when we expect a new boat key to be made in a few weeks, but it actually takes a few months. And then it finally arrives the day after we were supposed to set sail. Qui sait?!  Anyway, a...