Recipe for the best day of 2019
Ingredients
- 1 handsome multi-talented man
- 2 kind, fun, resilient boys
- 1 sturdy sail boat
- 1 pinch of wind (not too strong, not too light, and preferably in the right direction)
- slight sea
- 1 whale
- 1 island (not too far, not too close, and preferably with an iconic bay)
- friends (as many as required)
Directions
- Wake up at 5 a.m. and realise it is still pitch black
- Wait for some light and start the engine
- Raise anchor
- Celebrate the engine endurance (cf. Christmas in the engine room)
- Hoist sails
- Watch sunrise eating breakfast in the cockpit
- Greet young sailors as they wake up
- Check speed with engine on neutral
- Switch off engine
- Sail!
- Plug autopilot
- Help young sailors as they vomit their breakfast
- Lift their spirits inventing stupid knock-knock jokes
- Take pictures and videos
- Spot a whale squirt and flip fins
- Try to spot other marine animals
- Sail. Sail. Sail.
- Watch coastline getting closer
- Find iconic bay and anchor (e.g. Smokehouse Bay)
- Get a surprise spotting some friends bright yellow ‘Goldfinger’ boat
- Have lunch and soak in the feeling of achievement
- Get visit from Goldfinger’s crew and have drinks onboard Obelix
- Get interrupted by Zephyr all excited that someone is calling us on the radio
- Struggle with VHF poor reception to make plans with friends who were indeed calling us from another bay
- Jump on dinghy to go ashore
- Watch kids have fun on the swings and take hot shower
- Greet other friends as they’ve made it to Smokehouse Bay
- Go back to Obelix altogether
- Dress up
- Dance tango on deck
- Eat festive dinner (e.g. salmon toasts & cream cheese stuffed chili peppers for starters, duck confit and fried potatoes for main, and scorched almonds for dessert)
- Go back to beach and socialise
- Watch Thomas’ fire poi dance
- Retreat back to the boat well before midnight
- Snuggle under the blankets
- Hear the final countdown in the distance
- Smile
- Sleep
Reviews
Well worth throwing up breakfast for.
Zephyr
♫ This is gonna be the best day of my life, my li-i-i-i-i-ife ! ♪
Cover by Zephyr & Azur
Mum: Are you ok, Azur? What are you doing?
Azur: Yes I’m fine, I’m playing the best game ever…
Mum (intrigued): Oh, cool, what is it?
Azur: Spot the marine animals!
Obelix Odyssey 
Dancing on deck, that’s a great achievement ! I could only do it on Schnaps when the boom was dismounted (waiting to be able to fix the rigging to be fixed in a remote island). And it was on my own, and when I came back downstairs I was told there were elephants above deck.
Smokehouse Bay is pretty cool indeed, the bay on the other side (there is a track in between) is quite nice too and very sheltered, if you get stuck for a week on Great Barrier.
Last thing: the cost of your recipe is not free. It costs a boat and some pre-work in the engine room!!
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Yep we anchored on the other side in Oneura bay (close to a mussel farm where we caught our second snapper in a few minutes) and did the walk to enjoy smokehouse bay one last time. As for the cost of the recipe, if we consider that ‘normal’ recipes never include the price of the house, nor the power to run the stove or oven, following the same standards, this recipe is free indeed… 😋
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The most grateful thing in whole life : See our children happy.
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Ça fait plaiz:)
Bravo bravo à tout l’équipage!
Faites nous rêver!!
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