Hanneke Boon

The water taxi speeds off from the dock in Olhão on the south coast of Portugal at mid-tide, around 3:30 p.m., its oversized outboard engines propelling us east along the Algarve toward Armona Island. It’s a warm spring day. My two teenaged boys cling to the after rail as spray lifts over the wake while I shield my one-year-old daughter from the sun, strapped tight against my chest in her carrier. My husband, Rémy, wedges our groceries between his legs, visibly relieved to be out of the car after two long days driving across multiple climates from southwest France.

Our host, Hanneke Boon, beams beneath her linen sunhat.

As the powerboat taxi throttles back, a huge Polynesian-inspired catamaran slides into view: red-painted hulls, carved wooden stemheads rising like punctuation marks at each end, and two pale wooden masts reaching into a blue sky brushed with thin cloud. The boat sits lightly, almost expectantly, on the water.

Hanneke stands, slips her phone into a weathered tan waist pack, and reaches for a line. The taxi comes alongside the port hull of SPIRIT OF GAIA, Hanneke’s Pahi 63 catamaran, as it bobs gently in the ripple of wake. We step aboard, following Hanneke’s lead, hauling bags to the amidships deck.

She slips into boat mode, kicking off her trousers without ceremony, down to her underwear, and begins opening the cabins. I perch the baby on a towel and appoint her brothers on watch. Rémy and I trail after Hanneke like eager apprentices as she moves methodically around the deck, checking fittings and lashings after the boat’s winter at anchor. She pauses at the starboard tiller, frowns, and mutters about a slight problem: a line connecting the steering system seems to have failed. Without breaking rhythm, she rigs a temporary fix, hands moving quickly and with assurance, then continues her inspection.

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