So the story about a island called Klein Curacao

When we were in Bonaire we were told that between Bonaire and Curacao ?? Was a small little island with nice reefs , white beaches and wildlife. So of course we got interested and wanted to visit this small island the problem is the checking in and out of a county. This small island is a part of Curacao and to follow procedure we should go first to Curacao then back to Klein Curacao . But everyone we talked to stayed a few days on the island before checking in either in Curacao or Bonaire. So we did the same.

As Andreas wrote we accuired a extra Hands,passenger, doctor Linda a friend of Lotte. She had a cording to Alejandro the island fever is when you move to on a small island and after some months you are really tiered of seeing the same people and places and you want to get of the island. So she wanted to join us for a couple of days sailing over to Klein Curacao then onwards to Curacao and fly back.

We left Bonaire on Wednesday and sailed to Klein was slow with hardly any wind so we gave in and started the engine. So that we would have a couple of daylight hours on Klein.

When we got there a guy from one of the day trip charters helpt us to pick up a mooring that according to him was free and for our use . He was afraid we would drop the anchor and damage the coral, like some cruisers had done before. We actually do check where we place our Anchor but not everyone does it. When we had tied up to the mooring we saw alot of boats and dinghies leaving the beach to follow a pod of dolphin. We jumped in the water, hoping to get to swim with the dolphins but they where too far away, we could hear them in the water.Before going ashore we decided to have some lunch, the info we got were that all chartered boat would be gone by 16.00 and they where, so we had the island with 4 other cruisers to ourself.

Being a little lazy we took the stand up paddle board and swam ashore. We were under the impression that the island would be deserted but there where huts and houses build by the Charter Companies. So After just walking a couple of minutes one guy from Mermaid cruisers came and talked to us. He was dutch so he and Linda hit it of fast. He was staying the night and invited us to come by later after exploring the island.

So we walked around the island and checking out the lighthouse and the boat wrecks on the east side. Then back to the Mermaid hut to watch the sunset with some complimentary beers from our new friend.

A perfect ending to a amazing day in a amazing place.

Bonaire – best diving in the world?

Bonaire

When arriving in Bonaire after pretty much exactly 5 days we thought that the Bonaire regatta was going to end the day before. But of course this was not correct. When getting closer to town we saw a lot of boats coming out for some sailing competitions. The problem with this is they only have 40 moorings that you have to take if you don’t want to get in to the expensive marina. There is no anchoring at all in Bonaire. Some people have had problem with not getting a mooring and having to leave or go in to the marina. But we were lucky despite of the regatta and got one of the 2 last moorings.

So I headed off finding the customs office and after some looking around for a while I find it only to be told that I needed the whole crew with me when checking in. So back to the boat and getting Anders and Hanna and our spear gun that we needed to leave with them as well. The check in then went very easily and we went off paying the mooring in the marina. In the marina we also found Lotte, who sailed with us up in the northern Carribean, on her boat. So we said hello and got treated with some coffee. She then gave us a ride back to the dinghy before heading off to work. We then ended up in the middle of a giant floating party in the middle of town. We sat at the bar where we had parked the dinghy and the water in front were full off boats and people floating around on floating toys drinking talking and playing a lot of loud music. It was pretty cool but we were still tired after sailing so after a couple of beers at the bar we dinghied back to the boat and rested for a bit. Later on we headed back in to town and spent the evening with all the festivities due to the regatta. We also met a couple we knew from Grenada so we hanged with them for a while.

Bonaire is famous for its diving. You can pretty much get a decent reef dive of any point of the island. We dove from the boat on its mooring and got an ok wall dive right there. They also have a lot of moorings all around the island that you ca use to dive from. So just tie up with the sailboat and dive. It was really nice and we should probably have been diving more then we did. But we got our first night dive and a nice wreck dive and some more so we were more then happy.

Otherwise we spent the days chilling doing some small shores and got driven around by Lotte showing us the island. We helped Lotte and Alejandro on their boat trying out their new mainsail and got some afternoon sailing in the bay and it worked out fine. We also had a few nights together with them when they showed us the town and the local foods.

We had 2  little bit bigger problem in Bonaire. I was gonna finish service the windass since I started without the service kit in Grenada. Anders brought a kit from europe and also a new piece that was cracked. But of course the new piece did not fit properly. It is always nice having to take to the angle grinder the first thing you do when buying new spares :). But that part worked out good and the windlass is serviced just to find out we need a new part again. This time it is the dog clutch that got bent. Probably me who did not put it back correctly in Grenada. But that one is only used for manual operation of the windlass.

Our watermaker also stopped producing water, which is never a fun thing to discover. So after some troubleshooting I manged to find that the problem was in the pump. So ripped the pump apart to see what could be wrong only to find a nice troubleshooting manual. The manual then says first, “do not remove the cir-clip in the bottom of the pump”, of course i had started with removing the cir-clip. But with the pump completely disassembled the problem was the magnetic drive to the pump that had slipped on the pump shaft. Apparently a fairly common problem. So talked to spectra about a new piece but they had stopped selling those and wanted to sell a whole pump for 760 us dollar instead. So we molded the old piece with epoxy and it now works like new again.

It was a really pleasant couple of weeks and Bonaire was a nice place with awesome diving and a relaxed atmosphere.

//Ante

Martinique – Third time´s the charm

After little over a 35 hour long trip from Thailand, I got picked up by the captain at the airport. With 20 kg of new stuff and goodies from Sweden in my bag we set of back towards Chibidarra. Captain and Hanna had spent the day in Martinique criss crossing the island in a rental car shopping like maniacs. So after emptying the car from the last stuff the dingy was full to the brim. But with the new engine we were quickly back home. After filling all the cupboards, bilges and other hidden crevasses with food for the coming months we got to bed. The next morning a bit jet lagged I woke up thinking that I still was asleep since the discussion that I overheard was that Chibidarra was to dock at the marina. Pff, that had to be a dream I thought. Turned out it wasn’t a dream after all. Later that day Chibidarra was docked for the first time since February.

The reason for this being that our batteries had been severely worn down and we thought to try to revive them by equalize them and since our diesel generator wouldn’t produce any electricity we found it better to take shore power for a couple of days. Being by the dock meant that we all of a sudden had plenty of freshwater and electricity. We found it best to wash everything. Our trusty little laundry machine had to work harder than ever over these few days. We manage in addition to clothes, to wash the covers for our sofas and beds as well. Since I´d been away from the boat and we earlier said that we would wait for hurricane season in Grenada, we saw this as a break between the sailing seasons. After three days we were fed up with the marina and since we partially had succeeded to revive our batteries we went out to the anchorage ready to cruise again. That’s more than what you can say about our neighbor Triton that had been suck in the marina for 18 months. The reason for that had been a couple of different and to his frustration he still weren’t quite ready to set off. We did however spend a day on the beach in Saint Anne together with him and couple of other guys we met on the dock. One of them (Igor) were familiar from before since we had met him in Bequia a couple of months earlier. We had one of our pretty rare beach days where we spend the day on the beach barbecuing and chilling.

After stocking up on the last things/beer we set of for Bonaire. But not before we draw a uterus over the entire anchorage with our chart plotter.

I had forgotten what it was like to sail. It had been a long time since our last really long passage and the first day were not calm. Well wind wise it was quite calm wave wise on the other hand it was quite uncomfortable. The following days it calmed down and we got in to the sailing groove of eat sleep sail repeat. We even manage to catch a reasonably sized Mahi Mahi witch a couple of days later in Bonaire got really exciting.

We also caught on of our smallest fishes at the same time. The sail had changed from us doing 6 knots over ground to 3. Let’s just say it got a bit boring for a while. It got clear that the weather gods weren´t on our side. During the days we didn´t get enough sun to charge our batteries and due to a burned cable from the engine generator we hadn’t enough voltage when charging with the engine. This made me spending the first morning hour hand steering in an attempt to save battery until sunrise. Sadly we didn’t have any sun this day either. But luckily for me the wind had picked up and we were once again doing some speed towards Bonaire. We were under the impression that the regatta on Bonaire where to be finished before we arrived but instead we got greeted by plenty of sailboats when we passed Klein Bonaire in the last days of the regatta.

Over and out Anders

Carriacou – One last Hash

On our way from Grenada to Martinique to pick up Anders from the airport we decided to stop once again in Carriacou. There was a special hash this weekend in Carriacou that we were gonna run. When leaving Grenada I had measured the distance so we would get there before dark but I had done something wrong or remembered something wrong. After motoring the last bit to be able to anchor in some light we dropped the hook just after the sun had set. But all was good and we settled down and prepared for the hash the day after.

The next day we woke up and prepared for the hash. It was a really hot day and around noon we gathered with a couple of hundred other people to sign ourselves in. After some waiting we jumped in to some buses and got a ride to the starting point. After some more waiting it was time for the start. It was really hot and the course started out with a climb up on the second highest point of the island. It was the toughest hash we had run so far. It was so much up and down all the time, but it did go through  lot of nice scenery.

After finally finishing the run we got treated to some included barbecue food and of course a few beers. We spent the evening with some other cruisers and hashers and at one point we were standing outside of a bar next to the town dock. Some fishermen came and started loading really big fishes on to the back of a truck. One of the fishermen stopped by us and offered a big piece of kingfish to the girl next to me but she said no but he then turned to me and I happily said yes. So suddenly I was standing with a beer in one hand and a 5 kilo piece of fish in the other hand, What do I do now??? But after some quick organizing by a friend of ours that lived on Grenada the fish was soon packed in a plastic bag with some ice from the bar and put in the dinghy for later. So we invited anyone who wanted for lunch the next day on the fish.

The next day Hanna ran the live hash that was a hash that was created at the same time as the runners were running it. There was a lot of circles and wrong turns to be made on this one. In the meantime I took the bicycle to the next town to check us out of the country. After having Some grilled fish for lunch together with Nick and Sarah we sailed off towards Martinique in the sunset.

//Andreas

Prickly bay – our new home

After Carnival we decided to move to one of the south bays of Grenada first up was prickly bay, we ended up not moving from that bay during our stay. We had postponed a lot of boat work during our sail in the Eastern islands but now it was time to get started. We realized we could use Anders bed now that he left for Sweden to do work on the Aft cabin, upholstery on our bed, frames around the hatches all the stuff we decided to do later… So now was the time

we stayed here for six weeks and the days became more structured. We spent most days doing boat work and two times a week we walked over to Secret bay marina to play volleyball in the Afternoon. l also spent two times a week going to “yoga with a smile” at Prickly bay Marina. We did Tuesday trivia a couple of times, recruiting awesome team mates until we won the rum punch. Some Fridays we went to the container park for dinner and on Saturdays we did the hash. On top of this there was places we visit. All in all we were busy working and hanging out with other cruisers at camp Grenada.

So what is a Hash: it is a trail running race/or walk were you follow piles of shredded paper. The event is on every Saturday at around 4 pm and they are ALWAYS at a new trail. Because its a new trail anytime the difficulty varies, such as length and ascent. On Some trails there are also a fork marked with a paper shaded Circle this means there is two paths to go if you go the Wrong way you will and up at an X mark and you have to go back. If you get lost or can’t find the paper you yell where to? then the other runners should reply On, On or On back.

The hash group call themselves

Drinkers with a running problem.

After the run there is cheap beers and local food for Sale and Music playing late into the night. We always went there with Shademan a local guy whom own a shuttling service for Cruises .

We are not the most forward people in meeting fellow cruisers and meeting other cruisers our own age was super fun, we had been by ourselves since the Germans, Sv Serenity left us, with a few exceptions. Every event was announced in the morning on the VHF channel 68, the cruisers net.

We spent most of the events with another couple from America, Mikael and Megan on SV Tanagra, that we meet playing volleyball. Most of the couples we spent time with did the same events, volleyball and the hash but there were others as well :

Polly and James on Sv Treogen, a British couple whom crossed the Bay of Biscay at the same time as we did but they decided to go closer to shore because of the bad conditions, we didn’t. ….. hale storms

Shanique and Reg which Andreas and Anders meet on union island while kite surfing.

Ben and Jess a Australian couple, on Sv MAC that had bought the boat in the us and planed to sail back home.

Sarah and Nick on Sv Borealis from the States

Maria and Johan on Sv Samantha from Sweden whom we celebrated Midsummer with in Martinique.

And many many more.

The time went by so quickly and we didn’t do much exploring during this time except when Shanique and Reg invited us to hike from Grand Etang to concord falls, which was an amazing hike and we got to visit Au coin falls again, and the Concord falls too.

The time flew during these weeks by but we manage to get a lot of things crossed of the to do list.

• Sew new sunshades
• Reseal a couple of windows
• Fix/weld pulpit
• Reglass the bow
• windlass maintenance
• Aft cabin trim, paint, curtains and new upholstery
• Dinghy chaps, lantern, lock
• Foot rail varnishing
• Ceilings in cabinets
• Bad boy wifi extender
• Sup stand for railing
• Paint sinks
• sand and paint stairs

We also improved our home with a badboy and a new dinghy engine. The Bad boy is a wifi receiver so we can freeload on wifi’s on shore either by having a drink to get the password or take a open one. Or new dinghy engine is a Tohatsu like the 4 hp one we have but with 18 hp instead so we will be able to travel longer distances.

During our stay the hash group announced that there would be a special event weekend hash on Carriacou, this was perfect timing for us So we decided to join with some fellow cruisers. We said goodbye to everyone and sailed north back once more to Carriacou

Over and out. // Hanna

Grenada – St Georges

We arrived in St Georges after a calm sail down the coast. But when we came closer to the town and were beating in to the wind to get to the anchorage we saw a charter boat going against us with his foresail sheeted on the wrong side so he was barely moving. We changed course to get close by to ask if he needed any help but he only pointed on the back of his shirt and waved. So we sailed on and half an hour later we saw another boat doing the same thing going in another direction. So we concluded this was an opposite day regatta and just continued to the anchorage.

In St Georges the anchorage is a little bit outside of the town in between the town and a big beautiful beach called Grande Anse. We spent a few days checking out the town and surroundings. Grenada was supposed to be a bit of a vacation in this long vacation of ours. Anders was heading home for some weeks for a wedding and to work a bit. Hanna and I wanted to just have some time when we didn’t move around too much, to meet some people, do some work on the boat and just get some routine for a little while.

There is a big community of cruisers in Grenada and therefore all sorts of activities happening. Most of them is happening in the southern bays which is quite a walk away so we put on our hiking shoes and went 5 km for some volleyball. There were also flee market for boaters so we got some fun new stuff. Otherwise we spent our days chilling and doing some boat work that had been on the list for a long time.

After some time it was time for my Birthday. We started out the day with some mimosas and later on some internet to make some calls home to the family. We spent the rest of the day with some nice food and later on we made our way to volleyball with some fellow cruisers. After the volleyball we went to Nimrods a pub nearby for some refreshments. A really nice day ended with a bus ride back home again to the boat.

It was now soon time for the big Carnival in town. We had heard from some other cruisers that you could go in the carnival by buying a package from a company. So Hanna and I got up at 4 o clock in the morning and walked to Carib the brewery to buy our package. The package included some bling with lights and a shirt so everyone looked the same.

We sent Anders off to the airport to fly home and then it was time for Carnival. It started out with something called Jouvert really early in the morning where everyone that wants to be in the train get smeared with used engine oil. It was a crazy experience with some mixed feelings about it. But at least we tried the local customs. We arrived at around 6 in the morning and were quite late so everyone were pretty much completely black from oil and we got some of it as well. Hanna a bit more than me.

After the Jouvert everyone disappeared home to rest after having partied pretty much the whole night, so we did the same even though we cheated on the time a bit. Later on we met up with Paul and Miles two Australians whom we had met a few nights earlier on the volleyball. We had a couple of drinks before we got in to the main event for us. The big carnival train that was starting in the evening and continued throughout the whole night. We started walking at about 10 p.m. and we found Carib our supplier of drinks and music. We then pretty much walk/danced/tried to fill our beer mugs the rest of the night. We were around 200 people just in the Carib one all dancing with light in the hats, swords and necklaces. At around 3 a.m. we were too tired to continue and started to walk back home to the dinghy and got to sleep well tired after a full day of Carnival.

The next day was the so called fancy mas, the more pretty train with everyone who actually knows what they are doing. We kind of forced ourselves out of bed and went in to at least have a look. So we stayed for an hour or so but they were so slow on getting the train started so we only stayed for the first part of it. Later that week we did a dive with Paul and Miles before they flew back to Australia for some vacation and we lifted up the anchor and sailed down south to the southern bays instead to see some new surroundings.

A first glimpse of Grenada the spice island

After a rather slow sail from Sandy Island we arrived at Grenada and Sauteurs bay. Sauteurs isn’t one of the popular cruising bays on Grenada and we were the only tourists in town. During our second day we went for a walk around the north eastern part of Grenada. On our way we passed through the Levera National park which consists of a few different places that are nearby each other. First up were Levera beach from which you can see Sugar loaf, an island a small distance from the coast. But that’s absolutely not the most interesting thing about the beach. The beach is guarded around the clock and is a protected and popular nesting ground for the leatherback turtle. We have come across some different turtles on our trip but we haven’t seen any of these impressive turtles. The leatherback can weigh up to 900 kg and is really big. So we decided to go back during the next night, to hopefully see one.

Meanwhile we continued our walk along the coast. We did a quick attempt to go to Bedford point on the north east corner of the island. It didn’t go as planned since it was pretty privatized and the amount of mosquitos had dramatically increased. Me and Hanna pretty much panicked and ran back to the main street where it was a bit less dense with mosquitos. After some heavy usage of mosquito spray we visited Levera pond a very red pond with a lot of birds and fishes. We manage to see some fishes and a big ass spider. We quickly moved on to the next beach.

We now sat down and had lunch break before moving on to the sulphur springs. This is a place where people pay to be transformed into Shrek and Fiona with the help of sulphur rich clay that a guy happily helps you to apply. The main caretaker informed us that it helped for all the skin conditions we happened to have. Since we weren’t in a mood to smell rotten eggs we happily neglected the offer and walked home.

In our attempt to see the leatherback turtle we got up in the middle of the night and walked back to the beach. Only to find it deserted.

Well we spent the few last hours until dawn at the beach. We then decided to continue rather than going back to the boat and sleep. So we started walking south to take a nap on the next beach (the one with Wi-Fi). Since the new beach had a pretty good Wi-Fi coverage we could plan our early morning adventure. The beach was pretty crowded so we guess that the Saturday morning swims are a regular thing around here. We discovered on Google that the watermill run rum distillery supposedly were open so we started to walk towards it and on our way we passed by the iconic Lake Antoine. When we arrived to the distillery we discovered that it was sort of open and we spent a while exploring the surroundings on our own.

After we had a look around without being stopped by anyone we decided to continue our morning stroll that by this time had been going on for a lot longer than previously planned. After a while we intercepted the bus route back to Sauters so we ended up on a bus back. Well back at Sauters it was time for lunch and we were starving so we decided to try some of the local wraps for lunch (Roti) which is a tasty flatbread wrapped around curried meat/fish/or chicken and vegetables.

After lunch we set sail south towards Halifax a bay on the west coast of Grenada. Halifax isn’t the most glorious of bays since there is a dump in the south end and that increases the amount of flies and bugs onboard. In total we spent three nights in Halifax before we left for St Georges. But before that we went explore the water falls at Concord falls. The Concord falls where a bit of a hike away from the boat but luckily, as soon as we left the main road we got accompanied by one of the best behaved and kind dog I have ever met. He followed us all the way up to the first fall where they have some small shops and tourist attractions. They also had two monkeys in a cage which seemed a bit sad. Hanna did however touch one of the monkeys and did a mixed expression of happiness and shock. This expression was then mirrored upon one of the monkeys as he petted the dog with the exact same reaction.

Before we continued to the upper falls we were told by the guard that, since it was Sunday he were alone and couldn’t launch a rescue mission for us. That meant that we had to turn around as soon as it started to rain.

Luckily for us it didn’t and we could walk the entire way up. It was on this smaller path I started to have a bit of an issue with our local guide the dog. He refused to go ahead of me and he weren’t able to keep a sufficient distance behind me. This meant that every time I had to take a smaller or longer step to adapt for the not so flat path he ended up putting his pawns in my slipper which tripped me even worse. Well up at the fall we had a swim in the cold and refreshing freshwater.

Although we had not been so fresh for a long time it didn’t last long. A few kilometers on the way down we were already soaked with rain and sweat. You could really notice that the rainy season had started. Later that week we sailed down to the capital of Grenada, St. Georges where I were to leave for my trip to Sweden and the others to stay during the festival and the rest of hurricane season.

Over and out Anders

Carriacou a island full of beaches and mountain climbing tortoises

Carriacou is a Island located north of Grenada and belongs to Grenada. We had heared that it’s the place together with Grenada for Cruisers to hide during the hurricane season. There was a lot of boats but we tried to go out and socialize but Tyrell bay was pretty much dead. We spent one night out playing pool with the locals. I was a little disappointed that all cruisers seemed to stay on their boat and not much was happening during our stay, but we made the most of our time and explored the island. On mount pleasure one of the highest point there were heaps and heaps of tortoises. It must had been a race we did not hear about. I think we saw about ten of them in all sizes, before Carriacou I only seen one.

We walked over from Tyrell bay to Hillsborough and bought an ice cream to sit down on paradise beach on the way back. Paradise beach was lovely and it didn’t seem to be much people enjoying it at least not when we were there, we had it almost to our self. We spend a lot of time here enjoying the bays wifi which we were able to get a spot close by the reciver. We first did not plan to visit sandy island at first but changed our mind and ended up staying 3 days, snorkeling, relaxing, reading and the boys tried some kiting. our first night a storm swept by and we had gust up to 30 knots some of the boat dragged anchor but nothing serious happen but it makes me appreciate our 50 kg anchor with our 12mm chain.

After our hard time at sandy island (not really ) we continued on to Grenada’s northern part, sailing east around kick’em Jenny we ended up with in a area of a lot of counter current normally but we got some current helping us somehow. With amazing views over the small island outside of Grenada we caught a nice dinner . The London Bridge was a nice rock formation to see what the ocean is able to do over time. The northern part of Grenada is often forgotten but it is a treat.

Don’t forget to hold your breath once in awhile.

Hanna

Union Island – Finally some kitesurfing

We arrived in union Island after Tobago Keys snorkeling with turtles and rays. We spend a couple of days in Clifton Harbor, while waiting for the flight home for Anders’ parents. We had some walks around the Island and just hanging out. Anders father Jan also tried some fly fishing without too much success, but he got a nice long walk in the water. Clifton was calm since it is off season now and not much was happening.

The last night Anders´ parents was onboard we visited Happy Island for some sundowners and the much appreciated kiteboarding show that usually happens there at sundown. Afterwards went in to town and got treated to a nice dinner by them. The next day we walked them to the airport and wrote them of the crew list and said good bye for this time.

We then moved to a place called Ashton. Clifton is a popular place to be kiteboarding but Ashton is definitely a nice step up, at least for beginners as me. We decided to spend a week finally getting some nice wind in the perfect place. There is a small strip of land protecting the bay from waves but not messing up the wind which makes it so nice.

We spend a couple of days with me trying to learn and not doing to much of success the first days but it did go better and better. But then Anders stepped on a sea orchid and got ill for a couple of days so that gave us a bit of a break in the kiteboarding. As soon as he got better we were on it again and now it started to work fairly well. At the end I also was able to go upwind as Anders had learnt on his kite course a couple of months earlier. And Most of the transitions, turning from one side to the other, worked out well without swimming in the middle.

So over all it was a nice week but we felt we needed to get going so when the wind was going to be worse for a couple of days we headed for Carriacau and Grenada.

By the pen, Andreas

Tobago cays

One of Gamle mans main goals with the trip was to catch a tuna. This made the sail down to Tobago cays very satisfying since he managed to achieve that during the sail. A pretty small one but the perfect dinner size for all five of us. The grey weather during the last couple of days were made up for by the shining sun during our arrival to the magical atolls that together with the turquois water and the great amount of turtles forms the popular place Tobago cays. We did some brief exploring of the islands but our main goal with the visit were to snorkel with some turtles and stingrays. With different grades of success we managed to take a picture of each person and a turtle at the same time.

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Since we weren’t impressed by the outer reef last time we hesitated to get out there again but decided to go anyway. This time we went further and it was well worth it. We saw two pretty big nursing sharks and a lot of healthy corrals. We had a really nice couple of days in Tobago Cays before we continued on to Union Island.