Celandine completed her world cruise in 854 days. During that time she covered 32 000 nautical miles, and visited a total of 23 countries. We are all very proud and happy to have accomplished this amazing and unforgettable voyage aboard SY Celandine, a truly remarkable yacht.

We arrived in Cape Town on 8th November under heavy rain. What a shock it was for us to get back to civilization and the crowded Waterfront with so many shops and restaurants! What a surprise as well to meet our new neighbours: there were seals, all over the pontoon, sun-bathing and sleeping all day long!

Our boss and his friends joined us for ten days to visit Cape Town and the surrounding areas. He took us out for a day to watch great white sharks. Laurence and PM went diving in a cage to get an even closer look. It was unbelievable and pretty scary to see these legendary fish at such close quarters. Those we saw were around 4 meters long, really impressive!

Another highlight of the trip was when the boss took Laurence and PM on a safari close to Port Elisabeth in the Shamwari Game Reserve. This beautiful lodge is hidden right in the middle of the reserve. They saw a group of elephants who came right up to the car and a serval catching a bird. They also followed two cheetahs for several hours and watched them hunt and catch an antelope at night time. On the last day they went on a trek to take in the wildlife and experience the thrill of coming across wild animals in their natural habitat without protection.

We are now based in Victoria Marina in Cape Town, where Celandine will stay for two months before embarking on her homeward journey!

Prior to our departure the French Embassy had informed us about a serious threat of piracy between the Seychelles and Madagascar. This was surprising as the normal “piracy season” had not yet started but there had already been reports of yachts being hijacked near the Tanzanian coast. We followed their advice and hired two former soldiers to protect us during the crossing to Mauritius. After sailing for three days and covering 1000 miles, we received a message saying that a fishing boat had been attacked by Somalian pirates close to Tromelin Island, just a few miles away from us. We spent a very worried next couple of days until a second message arrived to say that in fact it was not a pirate attack, but a mutiny…what a relief!

We arrived in Mauritius on 10th October. This densely populated island has 2 millions inhabitants and is also called the rainbow nation. Four communities co-inhabit the island in a happy and colorful melting pot: Indian/ Bengalese, creoles from Africa, creoles from the European colonization, and Asians. Our boss rejoined us on board to visit Mauritius, and we sailed around the island, enjoying the beautiful lagoon.

On the 26th, we left Port Louis Harbour, direction Durban and Africa! Laurence and Pierre-Marie’s son, Pierre, joined us for this 7 day trip. During the crossing we saw three 3 big whales, probably on their way back to Antarctica for the Austral Summer after spending the winter in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. During these 1500 miles, the weather conditions were very unstable. The wind changed a lot, and the swell varied often from calm flat to pretty big. Despite this we arrived on our estimated date of 2nd November, with 30 knots of wind in our sails. Celandine is now discovering South Africa!

We welcomed onboard some of our boss’s friends for a few days, and spent the last couple of weeks preparing the yacht and fixing everything down inside for our next cruise that may be a little bit bumpy.

Despite rough sea conditions, we did a lot of sailing to visit the beautiful islands around Mahe. First, we moored in Praslin where the white sandy beaches and clear blue water are amazing. We also had our first glimpse of the famous Coco de Mer also known as Coco Fesse, which only grow in the Seychelles. From there we went to Curieuse Marine National Park which is a nice island with again white sandy beaches, mangrove swamp and spectacular granite rock formations. It is also a breeding center for giant tortoises and turtles. Then, we felt very lucky to visit one off the most beautiful beach in the world: ’l'Anse d’argent’ in La Digue. This beach is indeed unique and well worth the trip.

Celandine then set sail further north and anchored off at Bird Island: A National Park where an Eco resort has been built 40 years ago. From May toOctober, part of the island is the home to millions of nesting Sooty Terns as you can imagine,  it is an ornithologist’s heaven. Moreover, it is also an important nesting site for turtles and boasts the world’s largest land tortoise, Esmeralda who is over 200 years old.

The boat is now in Eden Island Marina, waiting for the next trip.