Siminoé : Age Is No Barrier!

"We arrived on the west coast of Guadeloupe, at la Pointe Malendure, where we moored close to the Pigeon islets in the heart of the Cousteau reserve. After getting some info from local diving clubs, we decided to take our Level 1 diving exam. In the morning, the children stayed on the boat to do school work, or play with their buddies from the Seaview, and in the afternoon they came with us on the Club boat, to do some diving in the islets. The seabed is magical, and the fish are huge and not afraid of us at all. We pass by a large turtle. On the last afternoon, we left the kids on the boat whilst we went and finished our diploma. As we were arriving at the Club, we saw that there was a monohull extremely close to Siminoé. We saw that the children were concerned and had got out the fenders, which was not a good sign. The boss of the club got us on board and we headed for Siminoé. Once arrived, the children, calmly explained that the boat had in fact touched Siminoé, and the shock had caused it's anchor to to drop to the sea floor. Noémie (11!) had started the motors, and moved forward slightly to allow the other boat to free itself from its mooring, and get away. Thankfully there was little damage, thanks to our wide protective rail along the side of the boat. However, it was the youngsters' reaction which impressed us the most
We've had the pleasure of meeting up again with Thétis, who we met in Dakar, and Sophie, the on board physio whose massaging of my back meant that I could sail on to Cape Verde. They sailed up to Cuba before heading off to Panama. Sequoia arrived too, after 7 months of sailing. It's strange to be moored next to each other, just like in the Soubise shipyard. They will also soon head for Panama, while we will be thinking about heading home.

Carine and Valentin, Noémie, Camille and Simon.
www.Siminoe.net