After 24 hours of a mix of sailing and motoring, the wind is officially gone.

But so are the waves! So the entire crew, apart from the watch captain, who is currently typing away at the keyboard writing blog entries, is deep asleep catching up after a lumpy night last night. 

Slowly, we’re making our way towards the reef entrance of New Caledonia, which we should reach in a couple of hours, just as daylight starts appearing on the horizon.

When Mark handed over the watch to me at 2:00am, with about half of my brain still firmly asleep, I was instantly transported back to sailing in the Med —City lights on the horizon. Wind turbines blinking in the distance.

In other words: civilisation.

The day before, during lunch, we had already passed some seriously beautiful-looking islands. If it hadn’t been for the cold water, the weather and the tiny little detail that stopping there would have been highly illegal, I’m sure we could have found a very convincing reason to go exploring.

But by now we know the drill:

Collect the memories.
Make the plans.
Come back another day.

Today should finally see us tied up in the Port of Nouméa — followed, ideally, by a hot shower, a nice restaurant and food that someone else has cooked.

Honestly, what more could a sailor ask for?

Well… perhaps a little less excitement on watch.

Because for the first time in a VERY long time, there are actually other ships around.

I repeat: OTHER SHIPS.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen navigation lights…