For a little more than 2 months, Dawnbreaker has been my home (and will remain my current adress for another 3 weeks). After that I will go back to live on land, in Gothenburg. Will I be able to sleep on land again? 

I joined Dawnbreaker in Mackay, on the east coast of Australia, after a 38 hour journey across the globe (by plane). It was a really long trip. I remember at my first connecting flight in Holland, I checked the map and realised that I had 15 400 km to my final destination. I was pretty amazed by the size of that number. 

We headed out to sea first thing and went to the Whitsunday Islands. The most significant memory  for me, from the weeks sailing around these islands, where the old Whitbread racing boats that we met everywhere we went. These boats were the coolest boats around, during the 80s, the boats that I was dreaming about when I was a child. Now the boats are used to transport backpackers out for snorkling at the islands. Me, Tonton and Steve went over to visit one of the boats “British Defender”, one evening. The crew was really friendly and showed us around and we had a really nice time hanging out with the crew and the backpackers, playing guitar, drinking wine, having a nice time.

After Whitsunday we sailed further north along the coast, visiting some nice reefs, stopping in Townsville and a long stop in Cairns. Here Ivan left us to go home to Denmark. Steve and Sanna left us in Townsville to go working. In Cairns we also had to hide out for a cyclone (called Nathan). For a month me, Lars and Tonton was the Dawnbreaker crew. Exploring a large part of all the beautiful reefs from Carins to Lizard Island.

The most significant outcome from this trip for me, has been that I’ve started to love the sea even more. Staying in the water for hours each day, snorkelling and diving, seeing all the life that’s down there below, has really made a fundamental impression on me. When you get to snorkel with dolphins, it gives you an almost religious feeling. 

I have shared my time (and adress) on Dawnbreaker with the following wonderful people; Lars (the captain),  Thomas “Tonton” (I think I called him “Toto” by misstake once), Ivan (went home when we got to Cairns), Steve and Sanna (went away to Port Douglas for a month, they will return for the trip to Papua New Guinea).  

In the sea.

In the air.