Guest Blog – Cat, Crew & Cook aboard SV Welcome
Lisbon, October 15, 2025

We arrived in Lisbon with sunlight bouncing off the water and dolphins racing the bow, about fifty of them leaping and twisting in unison, their silver arcs catching the light like a celebration. After days of watch rotations, wind shifts, and the constant rhythm of the sea, stepping onto the dock felt like time had momentarily slowed down. For me, it’s been a chance to restock, repack, and reset the galley before our next leg, the longest yet, from Lisbon to Las Palmas.

Provisioning a yacht isn’t quite like grocery shopping ashore. Every lemon, loaf, and tin of chickpeas has to earn its space. You start by visualising each meal underway, what can be cooked safely while heeled over, what can survive the humidity, and what can be assembled when the sea state makes standing still feel like balancing on a tightrope. Lists grow and shrink as you imagine the week ahead, and in my case, a vegetarian menu that keeps everyone happy and healthy, even in the middle of the Bay of Biscay.

Our trip began back in Ipswich, where I did the first provisioning run, then to Guernsey where Welcome officially changed hands. Now, after five days at sea to Portugal, the galley feels broken in: the knives have found their drawers, the coffee mugs their rhythm, and the crew their favourites.

Onboard, food becomes its own kind of navigation. It’s the punctuation to the day, the anchor at the end of a long watch or the warmth that greets a bleary-eyed crew at sunrise. Breakfasts are simple: chia puddings, fresh smoothies, or crumpets, which we’ve recently introduced to Donna and Jay and which they now love, lashed with butter and hot coffee alongside. Lunches might be grilled halloumi wraps or hot pasta with roasted vegetables, easy to eat one-handed while keeping an eye on the horizon. Dinners are the reward: a full Sunday roast cooked underway, complete with a homemade chestnut loaf that I baked and froze in advance, or a bubbling vegetable moussaka, or a rich, comforting homemade macaroni and cheese.

Cooking underway teaches you patience, improvisation, and respect for gravity. But it’s also where the magic of a voyage like this happens, between the hum of the engine, the chatter of the watch handover, and the scent of garlic and ginger cutting through the salt air.

As we prepare to cast off for Las Palmas, I’m restocking the bilge with dry goods, freezing trays of pre-roasted vegetables, and filling jars with sauce for easy suppers. The forecast looks fair, and we’re hoping to get the gennaker out for some proper sailing. Fingers crossed for more dolphins too. Seeing them on the bow is one of the best feelings in the world. I love watching the stars on night watch, using my app to trace the constellations, and then seeing the first light of sunrise spread across the horizon. Out here, the sky feels endless, and every dawn and dusk reminds you exactly why you’re at sea.

Out there, the galley becomes a moving world of its own, part kitchen, part lifeline, and always the heart of Welcome.

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