Sabbatical Blog 2026

In 1982, when I was sixteen, my father, mother, three younger brothers and I set off on a journey that was to shape me most profoundly. Leaving my beloved country of birth, South Africa, the six of us sailed across the vast Atlantic Ocean, crossing from east to west in the southern Atlantic then west to east in the northern Atlantic, on a 31-foot sailboat called Scally. My brothers were fourteen, nine and two. This was the manner of departure, chosen by my father, from South Africa to Portugal. He wanted to leave South Africa, for good, in 1982, for a new life in his home country, Portugal. In 2026, over forty years later, my sabbatical takes me back, and I retrace our footsteps to recall and share this adventure. I am flying, not sailing, to each of our ports of call, in honour of our adventure and the bravery of us all. My ports of call are: Durban, Cape Town, St Helena, Salvador de Bahia, Fernando de Noronha, Açores, Portugal.