New photos online

Lots of new photos online. St Vincent and Grenadines, Dominica, St Maarten, BVI's and Turks and Caicos. Click here to view the photos.

Turks and Caicos

Lovely trip up to the Turks and Caicos although it took us a while to get into the rhythm of a crossing after so many weeks of lisland hopping. We kept our eyes peeled on the horizon the entire trip as Navidad Bank and the Silver Bank are a key mating ground of humpback whales and there are approximately 3000 in the area between January and March. In fact, our pilot stated that you would need to be extremely unlucky not to see whales at this time of year when crossing the banks. One small and curious whale came quite close to the boat and we saw another breeching several times. Amazing!

Our expectations of the T&C were a little different than reality. Arrived on Grand Turk and after careful analysis of the charts and our pilot book we dubiously anchored near the government dock. The surrounding area is a messy and industrial location next to absolutely stunning beaches and bright blue water. Took the dingy into shore and finally found the customs office in the back of a ramshackle warehouse in the middle of a incredible messy industrial-looking area. Everything was full of garbage and piles of broken building materials. As we stood in the cluttered little office the young and extremely informal but very friendly agent (who looked like he might be more comfortable in a garage band than a customs office) told us the mess all around was a result of Hurricane Francis (little seemed to have been done to tidy up since 2004). Taxied to the immigration and on to the grocery store. The whole island seems to be a rather sad place as the underlying natural structure of the island is gorgeous but everything looks downtrodden and broken.

On Salt Cay we found an absolute paradise beach, just as I had finished telling my parents the night before that we were tired of white sand and blue water (no we do not expect any sympathy). This, however was something special. We were the only boat that had ventured in through the reef inlet (a harrowing experience only to be attempted in bright daylight with the sun behind you so that you can clearly see the rocks). Took turns snorkelling on the reef and then continued in to the empty beach for a picnic. Seb erected a sun tent and we sat beside our own private natural pool and wandered about to marvel at the thousands of hermit crabs and colourful fish in the tide pools. This is paradise.

Carefully picked our way out of the reef the next morning after a very rolly and sleepless night and headed off towards South Caicos keeping our eyes peeled for more humpbacks.
South Caicos was an even greater surprise containing the most extreme and depressing poverty that we have seen to date. The fishermen on the wharf were very friendly and we were invited to look into the conch factory. This one room industry processes 1000 conch per day and ships them off to Miami, and this was the only industry visible on the island. Wandered around and stopped at an unmarked shop for an ice-cream and Macsen and Emma played with the local children, each amazed by the others hair. Overall, the island has stunningly beautiful nature but the streets are broken and the houses along them tumbling down, scrawny dogs sniff through piles of garbage and there is an overall mood of dejection and feeling that everyone has just given up.

The 50 nautical mile sail across the Caicos Banks is beautiful but nerve racking. Every pilot warns that this should never be done in winds higher than 15 knots and only with good daylight visibility. Understandable as in the flat waters we were travelling about 7 knots in depths of 2 meters (our draft is 1,90m). This shallow sand is speckled with coral heads that are not always exactly where the chart suggests. Fortunately, due to the incredibly clear blue of the water and the sandy bottom, the dark rocky or corally areas are easy to spot well ahead of time. It was am amazing and exhilarating experience, like sailing across a massive swimming pool. The water was so intense in colour that a white air plane flying overhead looked bright turquoise as the water was reflected off of its wings.

Arrived in Sapadillo Bay at 1330 and radioed in to the South-Side marina. Simon, the harbourmaster, gave us very detailed instructions with waypoints on how to get to an anchorage close to the marina and explained that we would have to wait until 1130 the next day to come into the marina itself with high tide. We followed the directions carefully but before long we were slogging through the sandy bottom and the depth sounder was registering depths down to 1,3m. Stukzitten. We thought back to the full moon of the evening before and realised that, of course, it was a spring tide, the highs are highest and the lows lowest. Our electronic charts were registering a deceptive (and erroneous!) 2,4 meter minimum! We threw out the anchor and Seb and I hopped into the water to look at the keel, strange to be standing next to your boat in the water. Rather than wait until morning, we waited until midnight and Simon and his wife, Charlyn very kindly talked us in through the rest of the uncharted shallows and met us at the dock. No damage done on the sandy bottom but we left a little more bottom paint than intended in the pristine waters.

The South-Side marina is located on Provo island, the most touristy (and wealthiest) island in the group. It is still, however, off the beaten track and as a result there is a tight community feel for all of the boaters that land there. Simon and Charlyn promote this feeling by holding informal gatherings to exchange stories every evening on the dock. Although tiny (and complicated to arrive) this is by far the cosiest marinas that we have stayed in. We stayed for two days to prepare for our trip to the US and felt like old friends when we left. Upon leaving the Turks and Caicos we provisioned for an indeterminate period of time. Our plan was to sail just North of the Bahamas and in towards the coast and as far north as we could until the weather forecast suggested that we head into land.

The BVIs Were a Nice Surprise

Left Sint Maarten on a clear evening with the wind behind us and headed with the Zilvermeeuw for a short overnight sail to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. We arrived early in the morning on March 20th and picked up a mooring buoy just next to The Baths. The Baths are a natural wonder consisting of a huge park of huge boulders some on land and some underwater. Jeroen and Seb took the dingy in with the monkeys and Babette and I swam in stopping to look and the underwater wonders among the boulders and say hello to a ray swimming through. The bay became busy with charter boats as the morning wore on but remained a spectacular spot. We found a perfect cave with a natural whirlpool bath and a great view through the boulders and relaxed there for a while, just the six of us chatting about life.

Emma and Macsen are improving their swimming skills by the day and are both able to swim from the Pjotter to the Zilvermeeuw (Macsen on Seb's back but Emma using her Nana stroke to propel her along). We stayed on our mooring buoy for two nights and marveled at the fact that no one else seemed to dare to remain in the bay overnight and wondering why we had the entire beautiful area to ourselves. We later heard that the mooring buoys are intended by the park only for use during the day. Oops, we won't make that mistake again.

On to the North Sound between Virgin Gorda and Prickly Pear Island, a huge and beautiful lagoon. We expected the BVIs to be as developed as the rest of the Caribbean. Although there are a lot of charter boats there is a surprising amount of nature and beautiful untouched islands. We took an incredibly long wet dingy ride with Jeroen and Babette and anchored the dinghies in the Eustatia sound and had a wonderful snorkel. Amongst the sea life Babette and I also spotted the remains of two old cannons. Seb and Jeroen spent the afternoons fixing our motor (again) and installing ambient lighting (LED so it takes very little energy) in our living room. Babette and I headed ashore for an internet fix at the Bitter End Yacht Club. The only way we could describe the club was as a sort of adult's Disneyland or an on-land cruise ship full of nautically named boutiques and bars and restaurants all describing the activities and acts to be enjoyed in the evening.

Last evening with the Zilvermeeuw was spent in Road Town bay in the capital of Tortula, the busiest and biggest of the BVIs. Found an anchor spot near the massive cruise ships. We had a great lobster, shrimp ad steak dinner at The Pub restaurant near the boat, a run down little place with good character and reasonable tolerance for our busy monkeys.

After a morning spent prepping the boats and getting water we had a final lunch at The Pub with Jeroen and Babette before setting sail together in the late afternoon of March 25th. Took some great pictures of the Zilvermeeuw as they sailed off into the sunset on their way to the Dominican Republic as we headed off to the Turks and Caicos Islands. Dominican Republic is the last stop on the way North where you can obtain a US visa. They plan to get their visas there, have a quick explore and then head up to the Turks and Caicos and on to the US. We hope to see them again sometime in the area of New York.

Never Underestimate the Dangers of a Butterfly Farm

On Monday, March 8th we packed up the car and headed out for a day of discovery. We took our laptop with us as there was no internet in the apartment, this laptop is our working laptop with our navigation programs, current documents that we are working on and photos and movies of our trip.

Our first stop was at the was at Pic Paradis, the highest point on the island. A short walk through the woods brought us to some spectacular views of both sides overlooking the greens of the vegetation, black of the rocks and the bright blue waters of the bays. Our drive continued to cross the border into St. Martin where we stopped at a butterfly farm seen advertised from the roadway. The farm itself was small, located on a rather remote lagoon and consisted of one large screened area the size of approximately four tennis courts but containing over 55 different sorts of butterflies. A very knowledgeable guide talked us around the farm and just as he finished, while Emma and I were busy trying to coax one of the enormous blue morphos to sit on our fingers, we heard a voice say “Who is the owner of the grey Toyota van parked outside? Your vehicle has been broken into. We've already called the police.”

The gendarmerie arrived and handled the situation surprisingly efficiently and appeared to take the case very seriously. Three of the five cars parked outside the farm were broken into, although only we had been silly enough to leave anything behind. Three bags were stolen from our car containing our bathing suits, favorite toys for the kids and of course our working laptop with some photos and films that we had not yet copied. As the rather surrealistic process continued, including fingerprinting of Seb and his Dad (for exclusionary purposes) it slowly began to dawn on us what we had lost and how horrible and violated we felt about it. On top of this we felt incredibly stupid for leaving so many valuable things in a car in a place where we knew theft was rampant. The butterfly farm just looked so innocent. And theft is a very nasty thing to have to explain to a three-and-a-half year old who has just lost her new snorkel and swimming mask.
We were all determined not to let this incident spoil our time with Opa and Omi. That evening was a little gloomy and Seb and I spent much of the following afternoon making a statement at the police station. The rest of the week we referred to the theft only sparingly and really enjoyed ourselves. We bid goodbye to Opa and Omi on March 14th and although difficult as always the goodbye was a little easier as we know we will see them again in May.

The week after Opa and Omi left we stayed in Sint Maarten to finish some small repairs and of course to fix the engine and replace the start battery. We were lucky enough to meet up with Kees and Mart from the big Pjotter in time to celebrate her 60th birthday. As we were puttering about in the lagoon one morning Emma suddenly pointed and said “Look, the Zilvermeeuw!” As Zilvermeeuw is 'seagull' in Dutch we just patted her in the head and said “Good Emma, a seagull”. Then we noticed the sailboat Zilvermeeuw disappearing around a bend. Amazing that Emma recognised Jeroen and Babette's boat more easily than we did. It was thus a good Dutch reunion and we had some very welcome help with our 'klusjes' and good company for our 'borreltjes.'

Sint Maarten and a Reunion with Opa and Omi

Sint Maarten/ St. Martin that is the smallest sea island divided between two nations, France and the Netherlands Antilles. Some say that the borders were defined in 1648, when a Frenchman and a Dutchman set out from opposite ends of the island, the Frenchman with a bottle of wine and the Dutchman with a bottle of gin and they agreed to place the border where they met in the middle. The Frenchman made it much further than the Dutchman with his gin so the island is geographically 1/3 Dutch and 2/3 French.

Rodney Bay lagoon, on the Dutch side of the island, is an enormous body of water with the biggest group of the largest super yachts that we had ever seen. Row upon row of boats of over 200 feet, mostly motor boats (at least one with a 37 foot tender with a bow thruster) but with a few spectacular sailboats in between. The whole area is overrun with an unnatural opulence that is a little stifling but it is a real boaters community and is therefore a good place to stop to meet interesting people and get any necessary work done on the boat.

Opa and Omi arrived on a morning flight from Curacao and we took a taxi out to meet them at the airport. After 10 months, it was great to see them again and they marveled at the changes to the monkeys (particularly Macsen who has become a real person during that time). They had rented an apartment and a car for the week so we headed in for a little luxury. The apartment had enormous balconies, fantastic views of the ocean, two hot tubs, a pool and most importantly unlimited running water and air conditioning so we settled in quickly. The next couple of days were spent enjoying the sun, eating good food and having a good time together.

Mishaps on the Way to Sint Maarten

“Um, where is the dingy?” was not a question I expected to ask on the evening of March 2nd. Our plan was to leave Dominica at 2030 just after putting the monkeys to bed and heading out for the 200 mile sail to Sint Maarten to meet Opa and Omi (Seb's father and his wife). The monkeys were in bed at 2000 as planned and the boat was ready. The last thing we needed to do was deflate the dingy and stow it on deck. A short inspection outside, however, revealed that the dingy was no longer tied to the boat and in the darkness was nowhere to be seen. Our first thought was to call the big Pjotters for help in the search and to call the local dive shop to see if anyone had seen it. We knew it had disappeared between the hours of 1800-2000 and were quite sure that it had drifted rather than been stolen. Kees showed up in their dingy and a man from the dive shop drove up and picked up Seb and the two boats headed off in opposite directions to begin the search. After less than 15 minutes, Kees found the dingy and after a short thank you discussion with the local fisherman who had swum out to salvage it (and a huge thank you to Kees for finding it again) we stowed it on deck and were on our way.

During my first watch (2300-0300) I noticed a strange smell in the entryway next to the engine room and opened the motor room. The smell persisted so I turned off the motor and we sailed the rest of the night. The following day Seb attempted to diagnose the problem and realized that the start battery had blown out and we were stuck sailing the rest of the way, a gloomy prospect with the winds around 5 knots. In short the 33 hours that we planned for the trip became 42. On top of the time taken we narrowly missed getting becalmed just off the start of the professional race of the Heineken regatta...potentially horribly embarrassing. On the positive side, we were able to practice anchoring under sail in the Simpson Bay and that went well. Two kind gentlemen from the IGY marina came out to tow us in (for a rather steep fee) under the cheering eyes of crowds of Heineken regatta spectators watching from the clubhouse. Needless to say we were relieved to be in our marina slip.

Out of office

We have really enjoyed the Turks & Caicos Islands and are now on our way to the US.

Dominica

To date, our highest recommendation to anyone wishing to visit the Caribbean would be to visit Dominica. We found Dominica to be a friendly place with beautiful scenery and amazing plants to satisfy all appetites and medical ailments. Our guide, Stowe (who was the brother of the husband of a cousin of Leonie) took us around to some amazing sights.

He drove around stopping frequently to pluck a branch or some fruit, giving us a smell or a taste and the background of the uses of each one. Dominica has nine (inactive) volcanoes and the mountainous landscape, frequent rains and rich soil result in beautiful lush and colourful landscape. Our first stop was the Titou gorges where we swam (with Emma and Macsen on our backs) through a deep gorge with crystal blue water and shimmering walls to a rushing waterfall. Incredible. We then took a short but complicated hike to the Trafalgar waterfalls and swam alternating between the warm sulphur pools and the cool fresh waters. The monkeys had a good giggle and so did we. Our final stop was at a geyser where we saw boiling water spurting from under the ground and warmed our hands on a natural oven.

Upon our return to the bay we stopped for a drink at the Anchorage hotel and just as were about to climb into our dingy along came Kees and Marta Slager from the big Pjotter. We turned around quickly and headed back to the bar for another drink and a good chat to catch up. We hadn’t seen them since early January in Suriname and there were lots of stories to exchange.

Emma and Macsen seem to be flourishing with the constant attention that they get from Seb and I at the moment. They are both becoming more competent with their swimming and castle building and they can really play together now. They wrestle like little tiger cubs and are sometimes quite competitive. Emma recently stated that she thought she had more toes than Macsen and had a little trouble adjusting to the harsh reality when I asked her to count them. But they are generally very good friends and frequently form an alliance against the adult members of the crew.

Turtles and Fish

Our last stop in St. Vincent and the Grenadines was the relatively unknown island of Bequai. The anchor bay was full of boats on moorings or lying at anchor. We cheerfully threw out our anchor in a small spot between the masts and waited for it to take hold. It didn’t. Try again, still no luck. We gamely moved to another spot ad tried again. Still no luck. After five tries the holding was finally solid. Whew. Result was a rather grumpy arrival. It was a slight relief to hear that our troubles were not a reflection of our skills but that the holding ground was generally considered to be terrible. A favourite pastime in the bay is watching boats arrive to anchor or re-anchor and placing bets to see if the crews will be speaking to one another when the ordeal is over.

Once ashore Bequai is a rather sleepy and sweet island. There are a few fabulous restaurants along the shore, a great bookstore and a well stocked fruit market (if you can stand the pushy sellers). We found a very friendly driver of a pick-up taxi and he took us out to the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary. This place was founded and is run by ex-skin diving fisherman Orton King who now dedicates his time to saving the hawksbill turtles. To date, he has released 2000 turtles back into the wild. Orton himself took us around the sanctuary and his enthusiasm and love for the turtles was wonderful to see. The tanks were low on the ground and Emma and Macsen spent ages watching the turtles (ranging from 6 days to 40 years old).

Left St. Vincent and the Grenadines and headed towards St. Lucia. On the way we fished as usual and were thrilled (as usual) to hear the zzzzzing of the line pulling out signaling that something had taken a bite. After a rather significant fight, Seb pulled in a lovely long barracuda with extremely vicious looking teeth. Despite the ferocious looks the very firm white meat was delicious and made for two good meals.

Our first stop in St. Lucia was on the South West of the island by the Pitons. Unfortunately, although the view was stunning, the bay was very rolly and uncomfortable and we headed on the following day to Rodney Bay in the North. Rodney Bay has a comfortable little marina with a swimming pool but does not have a great deal of character.

On our next sail, from St. Lucia to Dominica Neptune was kind to us again in the form of a 7,5 kilo tuna! This is (in our opinion) the most impressive fish that we have landed to date and it took four rather large meals to consume it. Our first meal was a romantic lunch for two (during naptime) of tuna sushi with a lovely chilled white wine. We are again grateful for our wonderful working fridge and freezer for chilling the wine and freezing the remains of the fish.

Mustique

Mustique is a private island known as a refuge for the rich and famous, Mick Jagger and Tommy Hilfiger have houses there among others. Access to the island is highly restricted to the 120 home owners and guests of two tiny and rather exclusive hotels. Yachts can anchor in the bay for a relatively low fee however.

We met a lovely family of Dutch-Swiss origin in the playground on Mustique. Valerie and her daughters Alexandra (who is close to Emma’s age) and Leonora invited us to their stunning house for a swim in the infinity pool. While the children splashed about we floated out gazing over the endless water at the spectacular view that spanned all the way to the Tobago Keys.

The island has small twisty roads and there are very few cars as most people travel around in golf cart-like vehicles called mules. We rented a mule for the duration of our stay and used it to explore the island and visit the relatively empty beaches. Seb took a diving lesson and Emma and I went horse-back riding (sadly for Macsen the minimum age was three). Emma, on Duchess, was thrilled to be led around on a line for ½ hour and my trail ride took us along a beach where we were able to take our horses swimming in the clear blue water. What an amazing experience. In all my years of riding I had never been on a horse while it was swimming.

Turtles in the Tobago Keys

The Tobago Keys are a small group f islands surrounded by reefs that have been designated as a national marine park. Navigation through the reefs takes some concentration and it is amazing to anchor seemingly in the middle of the open sea but protected from swell and heavy seas by the reefs. The area is absolutely beautiful, almost exactly like you would like a group of uninhabited islands in the Caribbean to be. We were however, a little taken aback by the sheer number of boats anchored between the islands and the reef. This is a busy attraction.

Shortly after dropping anchor we headed in with the dingy to the beach closest to the hawksbill turtle reserve. Emma was happy to wear her swimming goggles on her head but was not yet willing to put her face in the water. Seb and I took turns snorkeling through the turtles and splashing about on the beach with the monkeys. The turtles were beautiful. I think of turtles as being somewhat slow and cumbersome but these turtles seemed to fly and dance through the water able to adjust their course or speed with a seemingly effortless tip of a fin. We spent the next couple of days exploring the islands and snorkeling in the reefs. Once away from the turtle reserve the crowds thinned out a lot and we were able to find perfect little beaches and snorkel spots for ourselves alone.

Happy Island

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a nation in the Lesser Antilles chain, which lies at the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines, which are a chain of smaller islands stretching south from Saint Vincent to Grenada.

Our first stop (other than our illicit visit to PSV) was in Clifton Bay on union Island. We were feeling a little despondent upon arrival so we headed out for a good explore. The Spikkel took us on a good ride around the busy bay and we ended up on Happy Island. Happy Island is a small round island built by a local man named Janti out of cement and conch shells. Upon completion of this five year project, Janti opened a wonderful little bar and restaurant on the island. He met us and helped to tie up the Spikkel and lift out Macsen and Emma. We immediately felt the appropriateness of the name as we sipped our rum punches and watched our monkeys playing around in the sandbox in the middle of the island. A great place for lifting the spirits!

Photos of Grenada

Photos of Grenada. Click here to view the photos.

Mooning the Mjolners

And now the time has come. Two sailboats leave Hillsborough bay on Carriacou, Grenada after checking out with customs and immigrations, enjoying a good roti and having one last little play on the beach. Pjotter towards Union Island and Mjolner towards Tobago, our paths taking us in opposite directions knowing that it will be a long time before they will cross again. I cannot adequately describe how sad and heavy we felt as we watched their small white sails disappear over the horizon. Suffice it to say that Seb and I were both truly sobbing almost until we dropped anchor in Clifton bay on Union Island and became teary again when Emma and Macsen awoke from their naps with a ´Where is the Mjolner?´ and a ´Sophia is…?´ respectively. Enough said.

Our First Real Taste of the Caribbean

Arrived in Grenada, anchored in Prickly Bay, and after the inevitable customs and immigration check-in we took our dinghies over and lunched appropriately at Da Big Fish. ‘Da’ is often used to replace ‘The’ in Caribbean ‘patois’ and seems to make things big and important. Macsen is picking up some of the local vocabulary and uses it often to describe motoring about in the dingy, one of his favourite activities. Several times a day we witness him rushing outside, jumping up and down and pointing frantically at the Spikkel´s outboard and pronouncing ´Da Motor´ with almost desperate enthusiasm. Once on board the Spikkel, he grasps the tiller, stands tall and again pronounces ´Da Motor´ with great clarity and aplomb.

Prickly Bay was very busy so we sailed the next day just a few nautical miles through some tricky reefs to Hog Island, an almost deserted island with a wooden shack named Roger’s (ramshackle) bar that is apparently sometimes open from 1800-2000 and sells beer. Just next to the bar we found a large rusty barbeque and Seb and Jeroen gathered enough wood for us to cook up a good feast. We hoped for some fishy treats for the grill the next day so we set the crab trap and spent the evening fishing from the boat. Sadly nothing bit and the only inhabitant of the crab pot the next morning was a very disgruntled but beautiful moray eel. We released it carefully and it glided back into the deep.

True Blue Bay was our next anchorage, also a short sail away. From here we rented a car and toured the twisty roads of the main island of Grenada. Grenada is of volcanic origin and is very mountainous and has rich soil. Stopping first at the Annandale Waterfall, a lovely botanical garden complete with a 10 meter waterfall, we enjoyed a swim in the natural pool (ahhh, a fresh water shower). Grenville was the most interesting stop on our itinerary. They were celebrating the 37th anniversary of the independence of Grenada and the streets were full of people in the country´s vivid national colours of green, red and yellow. The market was also in full swing and strongly and surprisingly reminiscent of the market in Georgetown, The Gambia. The island is famed for its spices (particularly nutmeg) and the smells were terrific. Our trip concluded with dinner in a beachfront café near the capital St. George´s. Grenada is a lovely island with a very sad recent history of devastating hurricanes (2004 and 2005, destroying 90% of the houses on the island). You notice this in the state of the buildings and nature and in the determination of the people to rebuild.

True Blue was also the site of our last ladies´ and boy´s nights with the Mjolners for a while. We did ourselves proud with the boys coming back to the boat in the wee hours of the morning and the following night, ladies night, ending with a surreptitious nighttime slide down the waterslide in the pool. Wooohooo! Our last days in Grenada were spent exploring the adjacent islands of Petit St. Vincent (illicitly as it actually belongs to St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Petit Martinique and Carriacou. Lovely snorkeling, swimming, castle building, frolicking on the beach and generally eating and drinking, laughing and enjoying ourselves a great deal.

Photos of Trinidad & Tobago

Photos of Trinidad & Tobago. Click here to view the photos.

Toodle-Pip Tangaroa

The Mjolners decided to join us on our sail to Grenada so that we could delay the agony of separation for another 10 days. Hurray! I must give thanks to Caroline for the suggestion and to Jeroen, Luise and Sophia for taking it up so enthusiastically.

Departed Trinidad in the evening of February 1st along with the Tangaroa and Mjolner for a 70 nautical mile sail to Grenada. We travelled at night and close together as there had been a report in December of pirates from Venezuela in the area. There is a large and very brightly lit oil rig almost exactly halfway between Trinidad and Grenada. Just as we passed this floating Christmas tree we heard Wierd’s voice over the VHF channel 71 with a wonderfully moving speech bidding us good-bye. As they signed off we saw the Tangaroa turn 90 degrees and head off towards Los Testigos, Venezuela on their way towards Panama. They will go through the Panama canal in March on their way to Australia where they will remain for six months while Wierd fixes a few hips (he is a surgeon) before flying back to the Netherlands. They were one of the original musketeers and the first fellow ‘vertrekkers’ that Seb and I met in the early days of preparations. You don’t often find people with whom you have such a common approach to life and we are very happy to have spent time with them. Fair winds Tangaroa!

Scotland Bay and Steel Band Semifinals

To break up our rather prolonged stay in Chagauramus we headed out five nautical miles to Scotland Bay to get away from it all for a couple of days. Scotland Bay is a beautiful bay surrounded by mangroves and rain forest and we had been told that howler monkeys could be heard echoing through the bay at night. A trip to the shore uncovered a much less pleasant view. The entire shoreline was covered with mounds of rotting garbage of every imaginable kind ranging from the expected beer bottles to corroded car batteries to old baby prams. Disgusting. The garbage is interspersed with signs ironically requesting people not to litter. As a final bonus the shore line also has several (generally well marked) deadly machineel trees. These tree are extremely dangerous and you are warned not to touch the leaves, not to stand under them in the rain and certainly to avoid eating any of the fruit.

Scotland Bay was not without its upside. We had a few wonderful ´last evenings´ with the Mjolners and a good celebration of our friendship. We also enjoyed a glass of wine on a beautiful boat named the Plane Song with her owner Bruce. This is a lovely 38-foot boat from 1978 that he has carefully restored to its original beauty with the support of Shannon Yachts in Bristol Rhode, Island where she was designed and built. A little before my brother´s time there but a nice coincidence nonetheless.

Headed back to Chagaramus to take in some of the final pre-carnival celebrations. Along with the Tangaroa and the Mjolner we went into the Queen’s Park Savannah to see the semifinals of the Panorama Steel Bands. There were over 25 bands competing in small, medium and large (up to 100 players) band categories. It was a great sphere with cold beer, good food (yum…doubles) and jolly music. Trinidad is clearly a country that takes their carnival extremely seriously.

Pjotter Afloat

Jan-Bart and Monique flew out of Port-of-Spain for a 6-week trip back to the Netherlands on January 24th. It was sad and strange to say goodbye to one of three crews with whom we had crossed an ocean. We spent a great deal of time together in the days preceding their departure as their boat was located two boats down in the row from the Pjotter and they frequently came along to support, consult or help us with our small repairs.

Pjotter was re-launched with her newly fixed keel on the 26th and was tied up near to the Mjolner and Tangaroa in the Powerboats marina. After a rock and rolly evening spent listening to our lines stretching and pulling we were shocked to hear a great crack and rushed outside to see that a section of our toe-rail had been torn off by the pitching of the bow in the marina. Horrors! We immediately loosened the lines and headed out on a futile search for a mooring buoy before reluctantly moving the boat over to the more sheltered waters of the Crew’s Inn marina. Here we spent a couple of comfortable nights and lovely days by the pool. We also had some fabulous barbeques using their 3-meter diameter circular grill (under gazebo for those infrequent rainy moments). This is the first marina I have ever been in that delivers a newspaper to your boat every morning and we had our very own garbage bin!

'Zilte Wereld' interview

In the last issue of the Dutch sailing magazine 'Zilt' a short interview appeared of our trip and the Atlantic crossing in particular. The magazine can be downloaded here.

Towards Trinidad and on the Hard

Uneventful overnight journey from Store Bay. Arrived in Chaguaramus Bay, near Port-of-Spain around 0930. Put the boat on a temporary mooring and headed in with the Tangaroa to do a bit of research. Seb had discovered a small hole in the fiberglass at the back of the keel while doing an inspection dive in Pirate’s Bay (probably created in the shallow waters of The Gambia). This meant the boat needed to come out of the water for repairs. Chaguaramus is a cruiser’s dream at this time of year. The chandleries and well-stocked, there are an incredible number of boat yards and people around who can fix almost anything you can dream of breaking or needing on your boat. Amazingly, the Pjotter was out of the water and on the ‘hard’ by 1400 that afternoon, just a few hours after our arrival. After this it took no time before we were visited by a rigging specialist (confirming that all is in order), a refrigerator specialist (able to fix rather than replace what we have and include a freezer!) and a fiberglass specialist who took a look at our keel damage and agreed to show us how to fix it on our own! We were also able to rent an apartment for the time that the boat is out of the water and we moved ourselves in there in the afternoon. A very gratifying day’s work.

Our days in Chaguaramus Bay look like this. Breakfast in our apartment, overlooking the bay, one of us stays on monkey duty and the other wanders up to work on the boat. We meet up again for lunch and the work continues until 1600 at which time we head off with Jan-Bart and Monique (s/y Victory), Caroline, Tamar, and Suze (s/y Tangaroa sans Weird) and Bas, Reina and Kim to the pool for a swim (and often a beer). BasReinaKim have a beautiful 53-foot aluminium ship named Kim that they spent the last four years building and are now finally enjoying. Kim is also the name of their 4-year old daughter and she and Emma have become good friends. We have recently also been joined by the Mjolners (yippee!) and they are now taking part in the abovementioned activities with great enthusiasm.

Store Bay, Crown Point Hotel, Englishman’s Bay, Pirate’s Bay

We met up with my parents and Emma and Macsen again at Crown Point Hotel in Store Bay in Tobago. They had been enjoying the pool, beach and view for a few days and we joined in vigorously. Emma is learning to swim and Macsen is incredibly comfortable in the water (more than we are with him in it perhaps). We spent our few days there eating on the terrace, choosing between swimming in the pool or wave jumping and castle building on the beach and romping around in the grass in front of the apartment, all the while keeping the Pjotter, bobbing on a mooring buoy in the bay, well in sight. Idyllic.

Our initial plan was to sail the 20 miles from Store Bay to Pirate’s Bay in a day. We all piled back onto the boat and pulled up the anchor in Store Bay and heady out into a very bumpy sea. The wind was directly against us and we were unable to point very high so we needed to sail way off course in some of the nastiest, choppiest waves that we have experienced. A terribly uncomfortable ride and a really unfair one to subject my parents to after our wondrous stories of comfortable downwind sailing. Decided to drop anchor in Englishman’s bay about halfway as we were all sick of the horrible motion. Englishman’s bay is really beautiful and a good relax on the beach upon arrival compensated pretty quickly for the sail. Unfortunately, the swell in the bay was very rolly at night and none of us got any sleep. Headed out again for another horrible sail to Pirate’s Bay again with wind against and a terrible sea. Fortunately it was a short ride and we arrived in time for lunch. We were all eager to get off the boat so we headed into the little town of Charlotteville and plonked ourselves down for some BBQ-fish at Jane’s Restaurant, which seemed to be solely owned and operated by a large man named James and we never did meet Jane.

We spent a lovely few days lounging around on the beach in Pirate’s Bay, watching the fisherman fish, the pelicans fish and the beautiful big frigate birds souring overhead. It rained for a short period every day, just enough to freshen things up or give us a shower on our longs rows back from the shore. Nana and Dadcu left us early in the morning on January 10th and although Emma knew that they were leaving she spent ½ hour sulking on the steps when she woke up to find their beds empty. Very sad and cute.

The four of us, on our own again, rented a very old car from a rather strange company in Charlotteville and spent a day exploring the small island of Tobago. The roads were twisty and turny and the view beautiful and we drove along alternatively enjoying the views and hoping that the muffler wouldn’t fall off.

On January 13 we headed off to meet the Tangaroa in Store Bay as we planned to head on together to Chagauramus Bay in Trinidad that evening. Our sail to Store Bay was only 20 miles and we had wind from behind and current with us so we cruised along at a comfortable 6,5 knots in fairly flat water and warm sun. To make this short trip even more perfect we caught seven small tunas on the way. Before we were out of Pirate’s bay we had already heard the zzzing of the line two times and pulled in one fish. This was exactly the sail that I would have liked to share with my parents. They will have to visit again soon.

Photos of Suriname

Photos of Suriname. Click here to view the photos.

Store Bay, Tobago

We are on a mooring in Store Bay at the moment but we are staying in an appartment at the Crown Point Hotel. Nice to have a swimming pool and shower at hand. Tomorrow we will sail to Pirates Bay in the North of the island.

Land in zicht!

It is now 0918 local time (UTC-4) and we can clearly see Tobago and Trinidad vaguely on our port side. Only 60 hours after we left Paramaribo. We are expecting to drop anchor at Store Bay, Tobago in about two hours from now. It has been our fastest journey ever. We cannot wait to see the monkeys again!! Maybe that's why..?

207 Miles in 24 Hours!!!

This is a incredible 24hour record for us. Generally we calculate using a 24 hour average of SOG of 5,5 knots per hour, or 132 miles per 24h. Our record during the Atlantic crossing was 157 nm per 24 hour. This new record is thus approximately 30% faster with an average SOG of 8,6 knots.

As soon as it became dark last night we experienced high winds of around 26-30 knots gusting significantly higher. Made good progress with our second 24h distance of 178nm. We are on our final tack and hope to see land in the course of the morning. We expected our 480nm sail from Paramaribo, Suriname to Tobago to take us 3,5 days and it looks like we will arrive within 2,3 days!

Christmas and New Year’s Suriname Style

The red bag arrived on January 30th. On our way back from Raleighvallen we were dropped off at the airport to make one last effort to track it down. Following a one hour wait and several negotiations with various bureaucrats “I’m sorry the customs window is closed, you will have to come back tomorrow between 8-2 etc.etc.” we were saved by a very kind agent (named Michela) who took us out to the warehouse for ‘suspended’ luggage, pulled out the red bag and handed it over to us (after filling in about five detailed forms). Hurray!

‘Christmas Day’ was thus on January 31st for us. As a final step on the 30th, Emma and Macsen carefully hung their Nana-made stockings under the spray-cover with great excitement and bundled off to bed “while visions of sugar plums (and fireworks) danced in their heads.” Mom and I then decorated the boat and arranged a huge amount of packages under a tiny fake Christmas tree on loan from the Mjolners. Emma and Macsen woke on the morning of the 31st, scurried outside and opened their stockings with great glee while sitting in their underwear in the warm sun in the cockpit. Dad and Seb then headed off to take on the last step of the (almost endless) Suriname Customs and Immigration process. Upon their return we had a champagne breakfast and proceeded to tackle the mound of presents around the tree. This is the first year that Macsen is aware that packages contain new and interesting things and we could hardly keep up with the two of them as they tore through the papers together. Very excited and happy monkeys.

For an entire week before the 31st you hear practice fireworks going off all around you in Suriname. This is a celebration that is taken very seriously and each family or community purchases huge amounts of fireworks and there is great competition along the river to put on the most magnificent show. We sat in the cockpit sipping our postprandial wine gazing in amazement at the wild array of truly spectacular fireworks all the way along the shore as far as the eye could see. And they just kept on going. The show reached its crescendo at midnight (as expected) and we popped our champagne and enjoyed them. Wonderful new kind of Christmas and New Year’s Day.

On the morning of January 1st we all bundled into a taxi and headed off to the comfort of the Torarica hotel in Parimaribo. After a lovely day by the pool Seb and I bid a tearful good-bye to Nana, Dadcu, Emma and Macsen and bundled back to the boat alone. They would all travel the following morning (very early) by plane to Tobago and Seb and I planned to leave on the Pjotter and sail with the two of us on the evening of the 2nd.

It’s A Jungle Out There

On December 26th, the six of us boarded a very rickety old propeller plane to fly inland for a 3-day tour of the rain forest. After a stunning if slightly nerve-racking flight, we arrived on a tiny grass airstrip in the middle of the jungle, picked up our luggage and headed towards a rather primitive lodge in a beautiful location called Raleighvallen on Foengoe Island in the Central Suriname Nature Reserve. Our guide was somewhat unprofessional (having slept through our introductory talk), the group size was a bit too large and the fast paced seven hour walk and climb on the first day through the sauna of the jungle was grueling (Dad, Seb and I alternated carrying Emma and Macsen the entire time). That aside it was a great experience. The jungle was breathtaking and the guide explained the various medicinal and nutritional uses for an amazing variety of plants and trees. We heard a great mixture of bird calls and almost caught a glimpse of the elusive toucan. At night, we took a walk to find tarantula spiders and then lay in bed (with our mosquito nets more carefully tucked around us) listening to the incredibly loud and eerie cry of the howler monkeys. Swimming in the river was a refreshing if slightly worrying experience as half of the group swam while the other half stood next to them and fished for piranhas! Apparently they won’t attack unless you are bleeding. The tour ended with a long and lovely drift down the river, a stop at the village where our guide grew up (sadly much of which was destroyed in the ‘80s during the civil war) and back to Domburg to the Pjotter.

Arrival of Nana and Dadcu and A Non-Traditional Christmas Celebration

My parent s arrived late on the night of the 22nd and we spent the night in the same hotel so that we could greet them first thing in the morning. They arrived safely but with a certain amount of stress as the bag with all of the Christmas things was lost along the way! This meant no Christmas stockings, no decorations and no presents!!! It was wonderful to see them again and after a solid hotel breakfast we had a relax at the swimming pool and spent the day wandering about in Paramaribo. Emma and Macsen were immediately happy with their Nana and Dadcu so we left them behind for another night in the hotel and Seb and I headed back to the boat in Domburg.

My parents moved onto the boat with us on the 24th. We agreed to temporarily ignore the fact the it was Christmas and decided to wait and celebrate as soon as lost luggage arrived. This was carefully explained to Emma who seemed perfectly happy to wait with Christmas until we could do it ‘properly’. Somehow, celebrating Christmas in a warm land felt a little different anyhow so none of us were too concerned about being a bit flexible with some of our regular family traditions. As such, we decided to join in the Christmas BBQ on December 25th with the other boats at Rita’s restaurant. There was a festive atmosphere at Rita’s, masses of delicious food on the grill and mountains of nasi and salad. Each boat brought along a pot-luck contribution and the variety was wonderful. The BBQ was attended by crew of all of the boats in the bay including some of our best cruising buddies; Mjolner, big Pjotter, Tangaroa, Victory and the Zilvermeeuw. This made it a lot of fun and gave my parents the opportunity to get to know a lot of the people we are spending time with at the moment. I couldn’t even count the number of children there but there were many and Emma and Macsen spent the evening running around, giggling and having a wonderful time as well. Merry Christmas!

Photos of the Atlantic crossing

Photos of the Atlantic crossing. Click here to view the photos.

Arrival - After 14 Days at Sea

After 13 days at sea, in the last 24 hours the tension and the excitement began to build. Our feelings were a bit mixed, eager and elated to see land but mixed with a little pang that our cosy days alone at sea were coming to an end. Seb and I both felt strangely nervous the entire night, perhaps a reaction to the (often unfounded) warnings about unlit fishing boats, pirates etc. coupled with nervous excitement we always have when arriving in a new and unknown country. The depth of the water went from two kilometers to 60 meters and we did keep a careful look out for fishing boats. At 0700 on December 21st, we saw land for the first time…it looked much the same as expected. Suriname has a low coast line and the skyline only became clear as we rounded our waypoint buoy around seven miles from the head of the Suriname river leading in towards the capital Paramaribo.

Dropped anchor in the choppy river alongside the Torarica hotel (where we planned to meet my parents on the 22nd) in Paramaribo with current of three knots and pumped up the dingy as we bobbed about uncomfortably. The monkeys were napping. Our plan was to go to shore for the first time together so Seb and I spent some time tidying the boat. Both of us were feeling extremely grumpy as we clattered about and cleaned and after one good blow up we decided to sit outside and talk a little about what was amiss. Expectations. We both had been nursing a romantic image of our arrival on land; running and rolling in the grass, popping champagne corks, laughing and waving while cheering people rang bells and threw lays over our shoulders. Instead, no one had noticed our arrival, we couldn’t go on land because it was naptime, we were lying in an extremely uncomfortable anchor spot (probably dragging our anchor) in the boiling sun, spending our time mopping up the last of the murky salt water in the bilge, cleaning out the fridge and gathering the laundry. Let down.

After approximately two hours of wobbling about and two cranky attempts to re-anchor we decided to move the boat further up the river to Domburg where we heard that we could anchor more safely (and comfortably). Jeroen and Babette (s/y Zilvermeeuw) happened to see us from the shore in Paramaribo and we picked them up to sail with us. Just as we headed out the Victory arrived and we sailed up the river together to Domburg. In Domburg, we finally had an arrival toast. This toast was followed by a delicious nasi dinner at Rita’s restaurant, located next to the dinghy landing in Domburg. Every night at Rita’s there is an informal gathering of Dutch sailors from the approximately 15 boats lying there. The food is delicious (and incredibly cheap), the Djogos (one litre Parbo beers) are cold, the company really ‘gezellig’ and the sphere is superb. This is more like it!

Day 14: Land in zicht!

After being at sea for almost exactly two weeks we can see the contours of Suriname! It is now 0948 UTC (0649 local time) and we will be at the entrance of the river in about an hour. Our plan is to drop anchor in front of the Torarica Hotel. Apparently they have a swimming pool and sauna... Champagne is in the fridge but we have to concentrate on these last few miles first.

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Day 13: 06.41.010'N 052.49.973'W, 153nm (24h)

December 20, 1200 UTC
Distance to go: 148nm
Wind and waves: ENE 15-20kn, 2m
Sails: Reefed main and reefed genoa, wing and wing

Our engine stopped working with a very slow and lazy sounding chug,chug,blub, bluuub a couple of days ago. Given that the winds have held strong and we get much of our power from the solar panels this did not present an immediate issue but needed to be resolved relatively quickly as the autopilot and the refrigerator were zapping too much electricity for the solar panels to manage alone. Seb discussed the problem with the other boats and hauled out his trusty diesel engine manuals and went to work. It quickly became apparent that it was either air in the fuel lines or clogged diesel filters. Yesterday was a relatively rough day and to spend >6 hours upside down in the engine room breathing diesel (and occasionally sucking it out through a siphon to remove the air) is a wholly unpleasant experience. In addition to this is the mental angst of what we will do when we arrive in Parimaribo if we have no motor. This we resolved with our kind friends from the Victory who agreed to sail the approach (and if necessary tow us) together. After a lot of sweating and swearing and several attempts to start the engine after various fixes Seb did finally manage to get every last bit of air out of the fuel lines and with new filters our engine ran for 3 hours last night just like a charm. Whew!

Apart from that we are starting to cautiously plan our arrival. We are now approximately 24-30 hours away and, if all goes well, expect to arrive at the entrance to the Suriname River sometime tomorrow morning. The two kilometer deep waters that we have been sailing through have become 60 meters and we are starting to see more ships, signalling that we are closer to land. Feelings are a mixture of thrills, happiness, amazement, excitement, exhilaration (perhaps I am getting repetitive), a bit of nervousness and a tiny bit of sadness that our wonderful intimate family journey is coming to an end.

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Day 12: 07.15.703'N 050.22.987'W, 141nm (24h)

December 19, 1200 UTC
Distance to go: 298nm
Wind and waves: NE 19-26kn, 3,5m (rough)
Sails: Reefed main and reefed genoa, wing and wing

Our first real squall hit us late this morning. We had seen the tell-tale signs on the horizon, black clouds and on the radar, streaks of green depicting raindrops falling on the ocean surface. After rolling away the genoa and cutter Seb took the helm and hand steered us through. The bright sun dimmed, the waves became choppier and we were suddenly in a downpour of rain. The winds picked up quickly to >30 knots. The squall had a calm and refreshing quality about it as the rain blocked out other noises and flattened the waves a little and gave us and the boat a good cleansing. Within 15 minutes the squall has passed and we sailed further in the brilliant sunshine. I hope that we are able to prepare as well for every squall we come across and that they all treat us so kindly.

The winds in general are higher at the moment and the waves are large and relatively short and confused giving us again a rather uncomfortable ride. Our speed through water ranges from 7-7,5 knots but for some reason we seem to still have 1,5 knots of current against us!!! Frustrating! If we continue at the our current pace, however, we do expect to arrive in Parimaribo sometime during the afternoon of Monday, December 21st!

Our fresh fruit stock is finally dwindling. Macsen ate an horribly black and mushy banana today, none of the rest of us were willing to touch and that is the last of our bananas. I have been amazed at how much fresh fruit and vegetables we have been eating and how well it has all kept. We have thrown little away and still have apples, oranges, cucumber, eggplant, carrots, tomatoes and kiwis.

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Day 11: 08.38.166'N 048.32.687'W, 143nm (24h)

December 18, 1200 UTC
Distance to go: 427nm
Wind and waves: NE 15-20kn, 3m
Sails: Main and genoa, port tack

What is 1,2m long, 6,6kg and on board the Pjotter in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? The beautiful, big fish that Seb caught yesterday evening (with a little help from me wielding the gaffing hook). It was 1845 (UTC -3) (which is when post-dinner rush hour starts) when the fishing rod let out a loud zzzzzing and just kept on zzzzinging! Seb put the brake on but line continued to feed out. With a glint in his eye and a look of grim determination Seb picked up the rod and stationed himself on the roof of the cockpit to begin the fight. Two days ago, the last time we had a bite on the rod, Seb spent a great deal of sweat trying to land a large fish only to have it slip the hook and swim away after 45 minutes of effort. I juggled cleaning up dinner, trying to get the monkeys to bed, taking photos and films, gathering equipment and shouting tips and words of encouragement. Emma and Macsen were having nothing of going to bed and were both determined to see the fight come to conclusion. After only 1/2 hour the fish neared the boat, Seb handed me the rod and started pulling the line in by hand. "You have to gaff him by the base of his jaw" was the only instruction I got before wielding the hook through the gills and pulling while Seb heaved the wriggling mass over the high side of the Pjotter. It was a beautiful fish and seemed enormous lying there on our deck. It's sides were a iridescent blue and it had a distinctive fan-shaped back fin and tale resembling a tuna but the flesh is white rather than red. We think it was a Wahoo. It is now a lot of lovely little filets stacked in our refrigerator. We had fish sticks for lunch (very popular with E&M) and our plan for the coming two days include sushi-ed, stir-fried, curried and grilled Wahoo. Delicious!

Our second visitor yesterday afternoon was a storm kestrel. This friendly little brown bird with webbed feet and a long bill started to fly around the boat at around 1800. It finally worked up the courage to land on the cockpit railing and rested their quietly during the entire fish catch, enduring excited points and chats from a thrilled Emma and Macsen. It stayed with us until 2200 at which point it quietly flew away.

The winds have picked up again and we seem to be enjoying the typical trade winds of 15-20 knots at 150 degrees off our targeted course. This allows us to sail at 6-7 knots and we are making very good headway.

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