new year's celebration

after a long day of tourism around carricou we were tired and decided to take a nap of an hour to get ready to party for the new year. this decision was taken around 5 PM.... well, that nap lasted several hours... but luckily at 11PM we woke up and noticed we had not missed it (as we missed last year's in thailand because we had not adjusted our on board clock to the correct time zone). but this year we did not do such a thing. we woke up, got ready and got on the dingui and went looking for food. all kitchens were closed, but the bars were fully open, so dinner was not really healthy or filling. but we did not care, we were celebrating anyway. we went to the local beach bar where they had a live steel drum band and the locals were there dancing to it. it was fantastic. really caribbean style; we welcomed the new year with good reggae, no solid food, but plenty of rum, beer, locals and other cruisers. here you can see raphael, a 10 year old cruiser sailing with his family from france. the kid has rhythm ah?

this year for us was another of those amazing ones we will never forget. but now we look forward to the next and hope we have 365 days with salt water around us. happy new year to all!!!

carricou

to enter in this country you must first anchor in hillsborough on the lee side of the island (the west, protected from the wind) to do immigration and customs. as usual, it was blowing quite hard, but we were protected from it but not from some swell coming into the bay. we anchored, and because the bottom was rock and grass, it did not grab, again! we are just not having any luck with our anchor…. because we have a manual windlass on board (big mistake and the weakest part of our boat); we are lazy to pick up the chain too often…. we figured clearing into the country was a fast affair and did not reanchor, but instead let the boat slowly drag in this huge bay. scary plan considering that it started raining and the protected bay from the wind started producing these massive gusts from the mountain as the rain came down very hard, so our boat was dragging faster and faster. luckily the bay was empty and huge and we cleared in very fast (like one hour only which is speed of light in sailing and island times.) once cleared in, we moved to the more protected tyrrel bay on the south. here we were protected from swell and wind but still the anchoring process was not easy due to the many boats and the terrible bottom for our anchors. we had to try also several times with no luck. we were very frustrated at this point and decided to just grab a mooring from the locals. We have had the worse luck anchoring in the caribbean. it seems like a long process to which neither of us is looking forward to, which requires many tries and a lot of work, and always adds tension when every single cruiser at anchor stares at you coming in to do your anchoring thing, while acting very protective of their little space and frowning upon us if we come too close (like there is any real room to begin with). so our anchoring is not only arrival time but a stressful weird moment that requires a celebratory beer not only to relax and celebrate our arrival to a new port, but to also finally enjoy that we have that thing fixed to the bottom somehow.

but enough about the anchorage. in this island we were actually hardly on board. we went around the entire island (is really not that big) to the north and windward side to see the towns, and also to several beaches. for a total of 7 USD we rode on local buses all day listening to reggae of course and just enjoying the views. it is a cool place and so far we have found the people here to be the best, welcoming and charming. we also found the first decent fast internet place of the caribbean and were able to communicate with families and update the blog very fast while enjoying a great pizza and good beers.

union island

we stopped in clifton town. it took us three tries to anchor properly. the holding was terrible and the little space was very crowded with other boats. i guess we cannot complaint and better get used to really crowded anchorages in the caribbean. but to make matters worse this time, the wind was constantly blowing at 30 knots and gusting to even more. after the anchor held esteban dove it and made sure it would hold us in this unique spot only protected from the swell by the outter reef but completely exposed to the wind. As usual we walked around town ate delicious food, this time it was crepes! and then back on board to be ready in case the anchor got loose. here we saw a couple of boats getting loose and banging other sailboats; total chaos. fortunately nothing happened to us and yet again, we enjoyed another beautiful caribbean spot. this was also the last of the svg islands. here we cleared out and moved to the next country: grenada.

tobago cays

this place is truly from a dream. it is what the caribbean is all about. white sand beaches, beautiful corals and warm waters, and unfortunately but inevitable, many other cruisers around. luckily we found a great spot with sand to drop our anchor. From the boat we not only saw paradise but all the french sailors peeing overboard and taking showers completely naked on their boats. we do not understand why they do this… i guess taking showers naked is ok. we imagine it is simple and no so unnatural in these places at anchorage. but peeing overboard?? it does not stop to amaze us. they do this over and over, during the day, a few meters next to kids, families and strangers, the more boats, the more people doing this.. .oh well. we try to look the other side and continue to enjoy paradise.

best caribbean food

the roti!! a sandwich made by folding a chicken and potato curry stew inside of a roti skin. delicious, spicy and inexpensive. here esteban tried for the first time this very good and succulent caribbean delicacy, uhmm..!

bequia

bequia is one of the grenadines. a beautiful little town with a very protected harbor full of yacthies. the scenery was gorgeous and the place was so comfortable that we did not want to move. with white sand beaches and great restaurants, what else could we hope for.

 

sailing towards SVGs

after barbados we decided to go to the grenadines, a group of islands which together with saint Vincent form the country of saint vincent and the grenadines: SVG. we were going to go to saint vincent first but because we did not have too much time, we went a little south instead. We sailed for one night at an incredible fast speed, wing on wing with a very strong wind behind us. ever since arriving in the caribbean the winds have not stopped blowing at 30 knots from the east. it is a first for us to have them from a favorable direction and not from the nose. so the night sail was pleasant and even better our arrival in a little paradise harbor in the grenadines.

the only wool artist in the world

that is how he describes himself. wolly-hewitt from brabados, “I am the only wool artist in the world, son of god, the master artist and creator” esteban met him when he arrived and asked him to draw puerto seguro for me as a christmas gift.

when we went to pick up the drawing he invited us to his cool little shack which served as a shoe repair place/art studio where he proudly showed off his portraits of bob marley, mandela, and obama, all made out of wool. what an episode, meeting this funny and cool man and his friend who is also an artist making all sorts of artifacts out of popsicle sticks; just another of the experiences we love of this trip: meeting and spending some time with the locals.

our old life back

back to how it all was several months ago: just both of us sailing our boat in exotic and great places. we walked around town, enjoyed the food, the beers and the people very much. what a life!

saying good-bye

peter had decided to go back to his family for christmas so he flew back to london on the 22. I met him for only one day which we spent on board talking and just catching up. it was good we stayed on board as the wind picked up quite a bit at the anchorage and we dragged. luckily with three on board it was not difficult to re anchor to a closer and much calmer place. sill closer to land we continued to roll. the swell in this anchorage is really something. it is just on the verge of being uncomfortable. but a little closer to land gets more tenable. as for the wind, it continued for the better part of the day and the two days after that, but no more dragging. esteban went with peter to customs to get the stamp out and they said their goodbyes. he was sad to see him go. he really grew close to peter during the crossing. we can only hope he comes to visit soon.

reunited

after last seeing each other two months before in germany, the time arrived to be together again. i was anxiously waiting for esteban to cross safely the atlantic and meet him on this side of the world. on wednesday 21 I finally flew from Miami to barbados to meet him and get back on board. after seeing him at the airport he handed me a card with a message and gift from peter. a night at the hilton! wow. what a surprise!! It was the perfect gift which we gratefully accepted and enjoyed very much! it was the ideal place to reunite again, plus peter had the boat to his own! thanks again peter.











 this was the view from our room
 

  

barbados

on sunday the 18 december at 6:00 am, esteban and peter arrived in the beautiful caribbean. they made landfall in barbados and went inside the port to clear in and fulfill all entry formalities. the harbor looked protected with walls stopping the swell. but when they tied to the inside of the wall and started talking to the officials they saw puerto seguro swing up and down, in and out with the most incredible swell damaging the boat with every move. incredible, after a safe 3000 mile passage the boat was being smashed against a nasty concrete wall and getting damaged on arrival, at the port! here we want to send a message to our parents and all the ones that worry so much about us at sea: we feel very protected at sea, like very little could happen. instead we believe the problems happen in land, upon arrival, that’s were all the dangers lie.

after eight minutes of this ordeal, which took the cleats, the flag pole and left the bbq at the bottom of the ocean; esteban told them that he could not compromise the integrity of the boat and had to go, which they obviously agreed and let him move and anchor, and then clear in after making sure the boat was safe. soon after, they saw another sailboat coming into the harbor but the authorities told this captain that he could come in at his own risk because it was dangerous to the boat, or anchor outside. great that he was given the option, sadly it took our boat and that bad experienced for them to notice it was unsafe to approach the harbor that day.

but after leaving that scary story behind and clearing into the country esteban and peter were off to the beach bar and to enjoy some banks, the local beer of barbados, under a beautiful sun and with the view of an incredible turquoise ocean; paradise indeed! for the next couple of days, they cleaned what was a male boat in a crossing (i can imagine the state of things on board) and prepared the boat for my arrival a few days after.