Just as we were about to set sail here in Greece from the island Poros, our wind sensor suddenly stopped working. No wind direction, no wind speed. Not ideal when you're navigating open waters. Maybe it had been a bird? Or sun and salt damage? Or just one strong gust too many. Whatever the cause, I had to climb up the mast, attached to a line and helped with a winch. And ofcourse the new windmeter! So up I went — 22 meters high at the top of our catamaran’s mast and the camera rolling! I filmed the whole thing. Because this moment captures what it means to be a Digital Nomad: 🔹 Being ready to improvise 🔹 Making decisions to set clear couse again 🔹 Trusting your preparation, your partner and yourself 🔹 And staying calm, even with a shaky view ➡️ Want to see what it looks like up the mast, installing a new windmeter? 📹 Watch the video!

The first island we visited in the Saronic Gulf (the stretch of water south of Athens, Greece) was Aegina. In the southwest corner of the island lies Perdika. We found this little fishing village so charming that we sent our drone up into the air to admire it from above as well. You can see the colorful fishing boats moored at the docks in the sheltered harbor, and along the promenade are the whitewashed houses so typical of this part of Greece. To me, the village had retained much of its authentic character. From the harbor quay, you can see the uninhabited islet of Moni – a nature reserve that can only be reached by boat. It is said to be home to peacocks, fallow deer, and wild goats.

Cherry Street Pier in the state of Philadelphia (USA) is a former shipyard from 1919 that has been transformed into a vibrant, creative hub on the Delaware River. Once a cargo loading and unloading hub, it now houses art galleries, pop-up markets, and food trucks. What makes this place unique are the preserved old industrial details: think steel arches, rugged walls, and original train tracks in the floor. Artists work live in glass studios open to the public. You can also relax with a view of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. It's the place where heritage, creativity, and city life converge. In the summer, it hosts concerts and open-air movies. A hidden gem in Philly, full of atmosphere!

We were very charmed by the village of Klima in the south of Milos, where the famous fishermen’s houses with their colorful doors are located right by the sea. These houses are called syrmata. The houses are built into hollowed-out soft rock, where fishermen in the last century stored their boats to protect them from the strong winds and waves. The ground floor serves as a storage space for the boats (during winter), while the fisherman lives on the second floor during the working season, where there is a living area with a sleeping space. We made a short video of these characteristic houses!

The Lassithi Plateau at the island of Crete is a wide, fertile plain over 800 meters above sea level, surrounded by peaks, dotted with villages and fields as far as the eye could see. One of the first things we noticed was a row of stone windmills. There were about 20 in view, but once, there were over 10,000 of them! These windmills used to pump water from the ground for irrigation – a lifeline for agriculture here. The Lassithi Plateau has long been the agricultural heart of eastern Crete, with a unique microclimate and plenty of groundwater. Even today, the 18 villages around the plateau live primarily from farming. We flew our drone to capture this sweeping valley from above – the perfect blend of natural beauty and human ingenuity.

Welcome to Gramvousa Island, the first landfall when sailing from the Peloponnese to Crete. This island is renowned not only for its breathtaking beaches and historic Venetian fortress but also for the mysterious shipwreck rusting along its shore. The wreck is that of the Dimitrios P, a cargo ship that ran aground near Gramvousa in January 1968. The exact cause of the stranding remains a topic of speculation. Some suggest the ship was overwhelmed by severe weather and rough seas, while others believe it was abandoned by its crew due to mechanical issues. Whatever the true story, today the wreck forms an iconic image in the turquoise waters surrounding the island.

Embarking on our journey to the Samaria Gorge, we set off in our rental car, eager to explore one of Europe's most renowned natural wonders. The Samaria Gorge is a canyon located in the middle of the White Mountains Forest Preserve. And the White Mountains massif (known as Lefka Ori in Greek) truly lived up to its name. Due to heavy rainfall the previous night, the mountain peaks were beautifully covered in snow. Snow on Crete? Yes indeed! The highest peak of the White Mountains stands at 2,453 meters, with more than 50 summits exceeding 2,000 meters. As we drove towards the Samaria Gorge, sometimes weaving between goats, we enjoyed the stunning views of the snow-capped mountains.

Kythira is an island that belongs to the Ionian Islands but is geographically located south of the Peloponnese and Crete, at the entrance to the Aegean Sea. This strategic position has historically made Kythira an important maritime hub. Over the centuries, the island has been influenced by various cultures, including the Byzantine, Venetian, and Ottoman civilizations. Kythira is known for its unspoiled nature, picturesque villages, Venetian castles, and stunning beaches with crystal-clear waters. We have moored at the quay of Kapsali Bay, which features a beautiful sandy beach and the characteristic white-and-blue houses of Greece. Here, I recorded a video overlooking the bay, with our catamaran as the only vessel in the bay.

We anchored in the bay of Laganas and while we were anchoring, we suddenly heard a puff coming from the water. It turned out to be a sea turtle that swam at the back of the ship and came up for a moment. We were surprised, because we knew that this bay was famous for sea turtles, but we did not expect to see one right away. And it was impressive, because the sea turtle was at least 1 meter long and weighed 80kg, which means that she is certainly more than 50 years old. The sea turtles have become the symbol of Zakynthos, they are called Caretta caretta and can grow up to 1.20 meters and weigh 100 kg. They mainly eat jellyfish, shellfish and seaweed. The breeding season runs from May to August. Females come ashore at night to lay their eggs in holes, after which they cover them with sand. A nest can contain up to 100 eggs. After about 60 days the young turtles hatch. They navigate to the sea by following the moonlight. The caretta caretta is very threatened by pollution, fishing and tourism. We spent 3 days in the bay, saw a sea turtle behind our boat a few times every day, but often 8 tourist boats immediately came to see the turtle very close as it tried to swim to the beach.

When we sailed the island of Lefkas in the Ionic Sea of Greece, on the most southeastern side of the island, is an islet called Atokos. This is an uninhabited island, where on the east coast is the famous Wild Pig Beach. We took our dinghy and looked at the pigs that walked on the beach here. The pigs are wild or semi-wild pigs, probably descendants of animals that were once left on the island by humans. This happens more often on uninhabited islands, where pigs are introduced for food purposes or accidentally stranded by ship voyages. Atokos has been uninhabited for a long time, but in the past it was occasionally visited by shepherds or hunters. The pigs may have come from these. They eat a wide range of plants, seeds, roots and nuts that occur in nature. On Atokos vegetation is sparse, but pigs can eat dried grass and branches. Marine life can also be a source of food; some pigs eat washed-up seaweed or small crustaceans. Although pigs are technically wild, they often exhibit semi-tame behaviors when they come into contact with people. Their behavior depends on how much interaction they have had with visitors. They can tolerate human contact, but often remain wary. Some pigs are curious and dare to approach, especially if they smell food!

Yes, I know, it was off-limits, you are not allowed to sail through the Grand Canal with your tender as a non-resident..... But hey, we are Dutch, to us 'no' means maybe there is a possibility. And we only have this one chance now that we are here with our sailboat and tender. So we just did it. And it was great, also a bit tricky through the narrow canals with a lot of waves and 10,000 other boats, check out our video of the trip in the small canals. There you can see very well that Venice is composed of 118 small islands connected by 400 bridges. We enjoyed how you could almost touch the houses and saw everyone in the city doing their thing (loading fruit into the boat, transporting guests).

We witnessed a newly married couple coming out of church around 20:00 in the town of Šibenik in Croatia on a Friday night. They danced together to beautiful traditional music. Family and friends stood around them clapping. The tamburica (a string instrument) and folklore dances are popular at weddings. It was fun to experience this exuberant wedding celebration. I think that in the Netherlands you don't see someone waving a Dutch flag and the bride making a cool cheering gesture at the end.

Visiting the Šolta, we stayed at the sheltered ‘Mojito Bay’. The name attracted us, that's why ;). The next day we noticed tourist boats in this bay stopped at a specific spot and people started looking at the water, sometimes swimming, but most of the time leaving again. It turned out that there was a shipwreck called ‘Kontesa’ which sank here and could easily be seen just below the crystal clear water! The ship was built in 1943 and served as a cargo vessel during World War II. After the war, it was sold and converted into a passenger ship, carrying tourists along the Croatian coast. Its sinking in the 1980s was due to a storm, and fortunately, all passengers and crew members were rescued safely. Today, the Shipwreck of Kontesa serves as a reminder of the island’s rich maritime history and provides a unique opportunity for visitors to explore and learn about underwater ecosystems. Over the years, the sunken ship has become a habitat for a wide range of marine life, including colorful fish, octopuses, crabs, and sea anemones. So I got my snorkeling gear and getting closer to the area you could see the top of the ship, it was only 1 or 2 meter under the waterline! Gilles filmed me with our waterproof Go Pro camera, while I was swimming towards the shipwreck.

For the 5th time I was a speaker at the largest 4-day conference for trainers: the ATD International Conference & Expo. ATD (Association for Talent Development) hosts this event every year in May and about 10.000 learning professionals come to visit. My workshop was on day 4 and titled: ’10 Brainboosters in Online Training’: https://atd24.eventscribe.net/fsPopup.asp?efp=UUpZWUdDRFAyMDE4MA&PresentationID=1367655&rnd=0.5795186&mode=presInfo Around 400 learning professionals visited my session! I spoke about 10 facts and exercises that you can do as a live online trainer live that helps your audience focused during an online training, engaged and energetic. It’s a topic that many learning professionals found interesting, because they want people enjoying online sessions. I enjoyed giving the session about 10 brainboosters, I also told about the E-book 100 online teaching forms that I wrote and I sold E-books as well during that conference: https://experttrainers.nl/e-book-100-online-workingmethods/ The e-mails and LinkedIn messages of participants I received the day after, were very positive, so I was happy!

In front of the old town of Hvar, are the Paklinksi islands. It’s only half an hour of sailing, so you can actually see the islands already when you are in harbor of Hvar. We anchored in between 2 of the small islands (it’s an archipelago of 18 islets). You could smell the scent coming from the dense pine forests from the uninhabited small islands. "Paklina" means "tar", and in this case refers to the pine resin once used to coat ships that was harvested on these islands in front of Hvar. We flew with our drone over the islands and you can see the beautiful colors of the Adriatic sea.

Only 1 hour sail away from Dubrovnik, in the Adriatic Sea, are the Elaphiti Islands. This archipelago, consisting of 13 small islands, has 3 large islands which are inhabited: Koločep, Lopud and Šipan. We visited all three islands. Koločep is the smallest island and also the southernmost permanently inhabited Croatian island. We filmed with our dron the bay in which we were with our catamaran on a pier. The typical Mediterranean vegetation is clearly visible here: due to the many dry and warm days, there are many pines (so conifers instead of deciduous trees), palms, olive trees, stately cypresses and succulents are also common. in the Middle Ages, Koločep used to be an important shipbuilding site. For instance 2 members of Christopher Columbus’ crew of the year 1492, were sailors from this island. Now about 230 people live here.

The "pasta ladies" in Bari, Italy, are a famous attraction in the city's old quarter. These ladies, often older women, make traditional handmade pasta on the streets or in the doorways of their homes. The most famous pasta they make is orecchiette, which means 'little ears' in Italian, because of the shape of the pasta. These women prepare the pasta with a combination of durum wheat semolina and water, and shape each orecchiette using a knife and their fingers, a skill passed down from generation to generation. The process is a fascinating spectacle. Observing the pasta ladies in Bari is a unique experience that gives visitors a deeper understanding of local culture and traditions, and underlines the value of handmade food in Italian cuisine. I thought this was the nicest part of Bari and I walked through the street again, but this time with my mobile phone on film mode ;).

Suddenly they appeared in front of our boat: dolphins! They are magical animals to me, suddenly they jump in front of your boat. But only for a few minutes. They swim with you, zigzagging, diving down, jumping above the water again and then they're gone. This was at the end of February, when we made a 'turn' at the heel of southern Italy, Puglia to sail into the Adriatic Sea, towards Lecce. I was able to film the dolphins! I did not expect them this early in the season, because of the relatively cold water. But I also noticed that when the two seas (Ionian Sea and Adriatic Sea) met, the water temperature rose from 15 to 17 degrees and the depth went from 40 to 90 meters. Apparently this spot was perfect for dolphins. Bonus, 3 fun facts about dolphins: * Dolphins are incredible athletes. They swim 50-100 kilometers every day, reach speeds of up to 40 km/h and are able to make impressive jumps out of the water, sometimes up to 6 meters high! * Did you know that dolphins can experience emotions such as happiness and sadness? They show empathy towards other members of their group and even have the ability to care for each other when sick or injured. They have an extensive social life, communicating with each other through complex clicking patterns and can even call each other by name * Dolphins have unique sleeping habits because they rest only part of their brains at a time so they can continue breathing and stay alert for predators. This phenomenon is called unihemispheric sleep. During this sleep they close one eye and keep the other open to detect possible dangers. They also switch eyes regularly so that both eyes can rest. Dolphins do not sleep continuously like humans do. They rest in short periods of a few minutes to half an hour during the day. In general, dolphins sleep about 8 hours a day

We have sailed the beautiful bay of Napels with our catamaran. There is so much to see: the city of Napels, Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri. And also being in the harbors and looking at the villages build up the hills, make you realize that 2.000 year of history with the Roman Empire lives together with modern society! For example, this is Porto di Baia, our drone flies from our boat in that harbor to the modern city and suddenly you see that above that modern city the remains of an old city is there. The old city that is now excavated, was build on the wall of an ancient Volcanic crater. Also the dome you see later in the video, is the Temple of Diana, the largest best preserved dome chamber after the Pantheon in Rome. It was a thermal complex making use of the hot waters in the ancient volcanic crater, that was build in 300 AC. Amazing that this dome was not discovered until the end of the nineteenth century when metropolitan lines were build and they discovered that beneath the modern city, was this huge thermal complex. At first, the connection with Diana, the goddess of the hunt, was not clear, until they discovered a marble relief depicting a series of animals, and more animals covered the walls and ceilings. Enjoy flying over this beautiful area around the harbor where the remains of the ancient Roman Empire as so close.

We made the crossing from the island Sardinia to Rome! Back to the mainland of Italy. 'What? Rome isn't by the sea, is it?', I hear you thinking. That's right, but the river Tiber (in Italian: Tevere) that flows into Mediterranean Sea, is the opening and will bring you far into land, towards Rome. So there we were, in the nice river port called 'Blue Dolphin', where we were welcome with our catamaran. We took our drone out and filmed what this river port looked like.