Striking kid boat gold!

One of the hardest things about choosing this way of life is leaving behind family and friends. As we left the UK quite late in the season we have only met a tiny sprinkling of kid boats and we’ve all been a bit lonely but the kids have found it particularly difficult.

I have been in contact with a family who left Southampton roughly the same time we did and had a hunch they would be arriving in La Graciosa about a week after us. So we made the rather horrible motor-sail back up to the lovely Playa Francesca to see if there would be anyone to play with and boy are we glad we did!

On day one, we had a lovely visit from our crew Tim and his wife Trish (wisely enjoying a hotel in Lanzarote after his ten days on Blue Zulu!). Then on day two we saw a boat with two young boys arrive – the crew of Bonaire from Southampton were here! YAY! Then the kids boats started arriving and when we were invited to Poppy’s 7 year birthday party onboard Emerald Bay, Stella and Fin’s excitement was immense!

We had a fabulous few days in this gorgeous bay with the crews of Bonaire (UK), Emerald Bay (Scotland/Canada), Dana Del Mar (Scotland/Canada/France), Sandy Cheeks (Australia), Urchin (Australia/UK) and Livingstone (Holland) – 9 kids, 3 dogs and 13 adults. What followed was 3 days of parties, friendship, snorkelling, beach games and just a bit of wine for the parents!

It’s amazing how quickly you can bond with people from all over the world – it was so great for the kids to meet other kids in the ‘same boat’ so to speak and I feel we have all made some great new friends – we can’t wait to bump into them all again as we explore more of this big wide world.