Cruising

Ohana - A family world tour on board a Samana 59

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At the end of 2020, the family set sail from Florida to join the World ARC before it passed through the Panama Canal. With the pandemic nearing the end of its first year, just four other boats joined them for the transit. They got as far as Galapagos before the rally organiser took the difficult decision to cancel the event.
Corina, Roberto and their children weren’t ready to give up on their world tour dream, however. “We continued all alone,” Roberto says. “Fiji was starting to open up, so we applied there. We went straight from Galapagos to Fiji (a distance of 6,000 nautical miles), but in the middle of the passage we got permission to enter French Polynesia.
From there they made the 25-day passage to Indonesia - another rare country that was willing to let them enter. “We had to sail straight through the Great Barrier Reef. The Australians let us anchor four or five times in the crossing of the Torres Strait, but we couldn’t go ashore.
From there, it was on to Reunion, then South Africa, St Helena in the south Atlantic, the little-visited island of Fernando de Noronha (Brazil) and back to Florida. “We visited fewer places, but made longer stops,” says Corina. “We managed to spend much more time in every place, and be more in touch with the locals, since we were the only tourists in the area. In many places, we were the first boats to arrive, so we were very welcome.
The trip has clearly made a deep impression on the whole family. For the children, the trip has awoken a love of sailing and the sea which won’t be quenched. “I asked them whether there were any bad moments, and they could only think of one: getting home.” says Corina. Roberto remembers the time spent with his family. “We really got to know each other better.
I remember sitting on the flybridge with all my kids together one night watching the stars, putting music on and singing. We’d fish, we’d cook special meals. We just wouldn’t have been able to do this trip without being on a catamaran,” finishes Corina.

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