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.