We have a trip coming up in a couple of weeks that will take us by sea from Hamburg to the fjords of Patagonia and then island hopping across the South Pacific to Sydney. This is cruise-ship work for Heike but I’m going along this time as a stowaway. Slurping cocktails on the pool-deck is not the most challenging of ways to travel but this is as good a way as any to avoid sitting at home on my own for three months. After Australia, Heike will be on vacation and we will spend some time in the jungles of Borneo bothering orangutan and other critters before heading home.

This will be a round-the-world trip of just short of the standard 80 days. The entire journey should be more than 55,000 km. For comparison, once around the Earth at the Equator is an easy-peasy 40,000 km. This year Graptolite the yacht, which took us to many of these same destinations on another more challenging circumnavigation 10 years ago, will be overwintering in an old-boat’s home in Preveza, Greece.