Welcome to the life and the stories, drawbacks, freedom, ups and downs, joy and happiness, patience and impatience of a liveaboard-sailor, Mr. Max the cat and the good ship Tonga.

This website is about stories, all of them true. Although the subject is somewhat different it’s still for fun, entertainment, whatever – like in medieval times when the storyteller came along, found a house where people would welcome him, the whole village would come over in the dark and cold winter-evening, a fire burning, and he would start talking. Talking of what happened in other parts of the country, stories of old times and far-away countries. In these days there were no newspapers, no television and no smartphones either. People were just happy to listen.

These storytellers had no such thing as a schedule, and the same is true for me. I will only write the moment I enjoy it.

If you find it tiring to check for new blog-posts when there aren’t any, I did add the possibility to subscribe. Unfortunately, the design I had been using for this website stopped working and when I changed to a different design the possibility to subscribe disappeared entirely. I have managed to have it show up with the “Blog” now, still struggling a bit to get it all working as I want.

And please stop reading right here if you might be in danger of changing your lifestyle. There are people out there who could call it bad influence and I am not taking any responsibility for that. Well, right now in this moment the danger is pretty slim I guess, but you’ll find out!

Below: Tonga before and Tonga last summer

Tonga before
Tonga now

Links by subject

(“Technical”, “Tonga” and some more to be added at a later time, even though it doesn’t fit story-telling in the ancient way)

Blog

Stories in order of publishing

Max, where are you?

Exactly a year ago (it was the 10th of January 2021) Mr. Max disappeared and I still don’t know what happened. I went to bed around 2 am and he was purring happily full of Read more…

Janis and the wild bunch

Guess what? Although it would have been nice and easy for me, the story wasn’t over with Janis moving her babies out (read more about this here: Janis and the refugees) The boat to where Read more…

Janis and the refugees

It happens from time to time that some of the furry 4-legged friends (dogs and cats) come over to find a temporary shelter or, as it happens, to sort a temporary food-situation. Nobody abuses the Read more…

Festa da Boa Viagem 2019

We were at Joao’s workshop. The place was crammed with buoys, lines, tools, all kind of fishing-equipment, a little TV-set humming away in the corner, a sweet little puppy and both neighbor’s cats and somehow Read more…

Sailing Portuguese Waters

Or how to stay safe and happy   Heard too many tough stories and warnings about the Portuguese west-coast and getting a bit nervous about sailing along this coast? Don’t, but you’ve got to treat Read more…

Lockdown II

This part of “Lockdown” is about Liveaboard- or Cruising-Sailors and the problems they are confronted with concerning COVID-19. First, let me explain what a “Liveaboard-Sailor” or “Cruising-Sailor” is, so we both know what we’re talking Read more…

Lockdown I

Today I would like to tell you about two groups of people who live a very different life. Like everyone else they are affected by the virus and governmental regulations in fighting the spread, but Read more…

Liza – our new Crewmember

It was towards the end of February 2020. A lovely sunny day but the wind felt icy. I was walking the street where my workshop is, on my way to our little Harbor-Bar to have Read more…

18 years since …

I haven’t got a clue where to start. So much has happened in these nearly 18 years, how can I make this long story short? I’ll try: Not all of it happened together with Tonga. Read more…

Get in Touch

It might take a while as I haven't got any of the usual stuff people rely on nowadays.

Find us at the "office"

Dody @ Sailing Yacht "Tonga", Porto da Nazaré, 2450-075 Nazaré, Portugal

Give us a ring

Dody

+ 351-910 350 643