World Voyages
Ocean crossings, island hopping, and real seamanship. No experience required.
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Pick a leg, join for a month, half a year, or the whole circumnavigation.
Sold outMay 2026 — Aug 2026 · Bali, Indonesia → Réunion, France
The opening chapter of Neptun's 482-day world voyage, a 4,078-nm trade-wind passage from the temples of Bali to the volcanic cliffs of Réunion.
Read more about Leg 1: from Bali to Réunion across the Indian Ocean
AvailableNov 2026 — Dec 2026 · Réunion, France → Cape Town, South Africa
Fifty days and twenty-three hundred miles of open Indian Ocean from volcanic Réunion to the tip of Africa, the Agulhas current, the Cape of Good Hope, and a quiet finish in Cape Town before Christmas.
Read more about Leg 4: from Réunion around the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Town
AvailableJan 2027 — Mar 2027 · Saldanha Bay, South Africa → Fortaleza, Brazil
Forty-four days before the southeast trades, Napoleon's exile at St. Helena, the equator crossing, and landfall in tropical Brazil. The ocean chapter of the voyage.
Read more about Leg 5: across the South Atlantic from Saldanha to Fortaleza
AvailableMar 2027 — Apr 2027 · Fortaleza, Brazil → Trinidad
A thousand miles of downwind trade running, the Amazon's brown water under the hull, the Guianas smudged on the horizon, and Trinidad's steelpan waiting at the end.
Read more about Leg 6: from Fortaleza to Trinidad along South America
AvailableApr 2027 — May 2027 · Trinidad → Antigua
Four weeks of short trade-wind daysails through the Lesser Antilles, turquoise anchorages, rum shops on the sand, French-Creole Martinique and the tall-ship scene in Antigua.
Read more about Leg 7: through the Windward Islands from Trinidad to Antigua
AvailableMay 2027 — Jul 2027 · Antigua → Ponta Delgada, Azores
Fifty-six days on the classic spring tall-ship route home, Antigua, a long reach to Bermuda's pink sand, then three weeks of open ocean to the volcanic Azores.
Read more about Leg 8: across the North Atlantic from Antigua to the Azores
AvailableJul 2027 — Aug 2027 · Ponta Delgada, Azores → Kiel, Germany
The final 1,878 nm, from volcanic São Miguel to the Baltic, up the English Channel through the Dover TSS, past Helgoland's red cliffs and home to Kiel.
Read more about Leg 9: homecoming from the Azores to Kiel2026 voyage
1 May 2026, 1 Aug 2026 · Bali, Indonesia → Réunion, France (4,078 nm)
The opening chapter of Neptun's 482-day world voyage, a 4,078-nm trade-wind passage from the temples of Bali to the volcanic cliffs of Réunion.
Read more about Leg 1: from _Bali_ to _Réunion_ across the Indian Ocean2026 voyage
1 Nov 2026, 20 Dec 2026 · Réunion, France → Cape Town, South Africa (2,360 nm)
Fifty days and twenty-three hundred miles of open Indian Ocean from volcanic Réunion to the tip of Africa, the Agulhas current, the Cape of Good Hope, and a quiet finish in Cape Town before Christmas.
Read more about Leg 4: from _Réunion_ around the _Cape of Good Hope_ to _Cape Town_2027 voyage
2 Jan 2027, 14 Mar 2027 · Saldanha Bay, South Africa → Fortaleza, Brazil (3,739 nm)
Forty-four days before the southeast trades, Napoleon's exile at St. Helena, the equator crossing, and landfall in tropical Brazil. The ocean chapter of the voyage.
Read more about Leg 5: across the _South Atlantic_ from _Saldanha_ to _Fortaleza_2027 voyage
14 Mar 2027, 13 Apr 2027 · Fortaleza, Brazil → Trinidad (1,747 nm)
A thousand miles of downwind trade running, the Amazon's brown water under the hull, the Guianas smudged on the horizon, and Trinidad's steelpan waiting at the end.
Read more about Leg 6: from _Fortaleza_ to _Trinidad_ along South America2027 voyage
23 Apr 2027, 20 May 2027 · Trinidad → Antigua (418 nm)
Four weeks of short trade-wind daysails through the Lesser Antilles, turquoise anchorages, rum shops on the sand, French-Creole Martinique and the tall-ship scene in Antigua.
Read more about Leg 7: through the _Windward Islands_ from _Trinidad_ to _Antigua_2027 voyage
20 May 2027, 15 Jul 2027 · Antigua → Ponta Delgada, Azores (2,876 nm)
Fifty-six days on the classic spring tall-ship route home, Antigua, a long reach to Bermuda's pink sand, then three weeks of open ocean to the volcanic Azores.
Read more about Leg 8: across the _North Atlantic_ from _Antigua_ to the _Azores_2027 voyage
15 Jul 2027, 25 Aug 2027 · Ponta Delgada, Azores → Kiel, Germany (1,878 nm)
The final 1,878 nm, from volcanic São Miguel to the Baltic, up the English Channel through the Dover TSS, past Helgoland's red cliffs and home to Kiel.
Read more about Leg 9: homecoming from the _Azores_ to _Kiel_Different trainees sail with NEPTUN for different reasons. Pick the angle that matches yours and we will route you to the right starting page.
Trainee berths are open to people who have never sailed offshore. Start with the no-experience guide.
Legs 6 and 7 island-hop the Windwards in February and March. Short sea passages, warm weather, forgiving first miles.
Both classic transatlantic legs sit in the 2027 season, the South Atlantic via Saint Helena, and the spring North Atlantic to the Azores.
The full arc, three oceans, seven legs, 482 days. The closest most people get to sailing around the world.
Three legs back-to-back fits a semester at sea, common for 18-22 year olds taking a year before or after university.
Brigantine NEPTUN runs tall ship voyages across three oceans on a single 482-day arc from Bali to Kiel, 17,096 nautical miles broken into seven separately bookable legs. The 2026 season opens in Bali on 1 May and ends in Cape Town just before Christmas, two legs across the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope. The 2027 season opens with the South Atlantic crossing in January and closes back in the Baltic on 25 August, five legs that include both transatlantic passages and the Caribbean weeks in between.
Every leg is its own trainee berth, with its own dates, distance, and price, two to seven weeks long. You join where you can get to, you sail the leg, you step off at the next landfall. Most people sail one. Some stitch two or three together for a sabbatical or a gap-year semester. A handful sail most of the voyage across the two seasons. The legs hand off port-to-port across the planet, the trainees on one leg hand the ship to the trainees on the next, and that is how the whole voyage actually gets around the world.
A note on language. Everyone aboard NEPTUN is trainee crew, not a passenger. You stand watches, steer the ship, work the rig, and turn-to on what the ship needs. We are a nonprofit sail-training association, not an operator selling staterooms.
Legs run from about two weeks to roughly seven weeks at sea. The shortest is Leg 7 (Trinidad to Antigua) island-hopping the Windwards in around two weeks. The longest is Leg 5, the 44-day South Atlantic crossing from Saldanha Bay via Saint Helena to Fortaleza. Most trainees join for one leg of three to five weeks, long enough to settle into the watch system and learn real seamanship without committing the kind of calendar most adults cannot spare.
Yes, and many people do. Each leg is sold separately, with its own dates and price, but legs are designed to hand off port-to-port across the world voyage. Gap-year trainees often stitch three legs back-to-back across a semester. Sabbatical-takers commonly pair an Atlantic crossing with the Caribbean leg that follows. A handful of trainees sail most of the 2026–2027 voyage across both seasons. Apply for the legs you want and tell us they are linked.
Trainee berths are priced per leg and cover your bunk, all meals, and every nautical mile of sailing during the passage. Longer legs cost more in absolute terms but less per day, because the fixed cost of running the ship is spread across a longer passage. Membership of Foreningen Neptun, our nonprofit, is a separate €37 per year. Per-leg pricing lives on each individual leg page and on the 2026 and 2027 voyage pages.
No. Brigantine NEPTUN is a sail training ship, which is the whole point. Trainee berths are open to people who have never sailed offshore before. You will learn watchkeeping, line handling, helm and sail work during your first days aboard, and the skills build fast once the ship is at sea. What we expect is reasonable health, willingness to work as part of a crew, and the honesty to say when something is beyond you.
Your bunk in a shared cabin, three meals a day plus snacks at watch changes, all sailing instruction, foul-weather gear loaned aboard, and every nautical mile of the passage. Not included: travel to the joining port and home from the leaving port, travel insurance, personal kit, shore meals during port stops, visa fees, and Foreningen Neptun membership (€37 per year, required to sail).
Now. Applications for both the 2026 and 2027 seasons are open, and popular legs (the Atlantic crossings, the Caribbean weeks, Leg 9 home to Kiel) fill earliest. Apply through the apply-now page, tell us which legs you are interested in, and we will reply within a week with availability and next steps. We assess fitness and motivation rather than sailing CV, so an honest application is more useful than a polished one.
Passengers are carried. Trainees are crew. On NEPTUN you stand watches, steer the ship, climb rigging to set and stow square sails, hand-haul on lines, help in the galley, and turn-to on whatever the ship needs. The captain is in command, the professional officers run the watches, and you are part of the crew that actually sails the ship. It is harder than a holiday and very much more rewarding. Nobody on NEPTUN is a passenger.
Apply as trainee crew and we will reply within a week. If you are still weighing it up, the sail-with-us page walks through how a NEPTUN voyage actually works.