Commodore
March 19, 2023

Sunday 19 March – gently sailing the Pacific for Mother’s day

Luke excelled himself and was the first of the kids to wish me a happy Mother’s day! He had a call booked in for 8am, it was great to hear all his news. He had a great ski in France with a university friend, they had good snow, which seems to be a bonus this year. He flew straight to Cape Town for a work trip, he did incredibly well having loads of meetings, attended a conference and also managed to see 4 cousins! He stayed with my sister Widge’s twin sons, Dacre in Cape Town and Beowulf in Joburg. He had a great stay with both, such good family connections, a blind date was even organised in Joburg! Sounds like there is a bit of political tension brewing in South Africa, he was meant to visit the Uber HQ there but couldn’t because of trouble on the streets.

Also had a good catch up with Phoebs even though Stinky drops constantly so makes it a little challenging keeping the conversation going. She is making every opportunity of New York life, and they get up to some incredibly fun things, plus lots of good eating! One outing I particularly loved was their trip to find an escaped Eagle owl called Flaco. He was born in Central Park Zoo, a vandal cut the wires in his cage and he escaped on Feb 2. People have watched him ever since, he has an enormous following. He had to learn how to fly in big open spaces having been born in an enclosure. People thought he might starve after a decade of mice deliveries to his cage, but he has defied everyone and became an apex predator within a week, with his 6 foot wing span. He has adapted well to his 843 acre park in Gotham city! This is Phoebe’s last week end in NY as she returns to London next week. She starts her new tech business venture with her Accelerator crowd straight after Easter. She is keeping G&G growing into it’s second phase, luckily she has a couple of great woman running it for her. All very exciting.

Lovely to have Han on board to celebrate with. No dishes or cooking for me today. She has kept busy with endless projects. She completed a lovely book of photos of our Zimbabwe trip for my birthday present. Which led her to make a fantastic website for our walking guide in Mana Pools, Lovemore, he was struggling to get business so hope this will help….take a look! Chiwaralove.wixsite.com/bushtalk-safaris

Zim is an absolutely fantastic place to go on holiday, they have the friendliest locals in all of Africa that I have experienced. My great friend Melody who lives in NZ is heading there for a month in May. Han is busy getting all her millions of photos in order, we keep getting glimpses of amazing animal shots, what an experience she has had in the Okavango. Megan also keeps us entertained with loads of bush stories of her antics following Wild Dogs in the Okavango and Central African Republic, Bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gelada monkeys in Ethiopia. Her next stop is Chad she hopes.

Nevil caught another skipjack fish. Earlier in the morning while I was still in bed he caught an enormous sail fish, thankfully he managed to get the hook out and set it free.

We had delicious sashimi for lunch and sesame crusted flash fried fillets for supper. The girls made a roasted pumpkin dish, the pumpkin was the last item occupying the two hammocks in the cockpit. Mocktails, a quick game of Speed scrabble, supper and in bed by 8pm!