Tag: friends

November 25, 2014

The Belmont Estate Part 1: The Scenery

One of the first adventures we took upon arrival to Grenada was a tour of Belmont Estate during the island’s “Chocolate Week”. Grenada is famous for making delicious chocolate from the plentiful cocoa beans that grow all over the island. Our friends David, Toutou, Maya and Tyler on Four Coconuts shared an hour-long bus ride (16-person van) up into the mountains of Grenada to visit Belmont Estate.

I took so many beautiful photos that I’ll have to split up the posts. Scroll down to see some shots of just the gorgeous grounds…

Many colorful flowers were in bloom…

There are vegetable and herb gardens on the Estate…

The Red-Footed Tortoise is native to Central and South America but has been introduced to several Caribbean islands, including Grenada. There is a significant population in Carriacou and many of the islands in the Grenadines.

The kids had fun meeting the tortoises that live at Belmont Estate…

We saw talking parrots…

Butterflies were everywhere!

I think they do weddings here too ;)

My favorite photo… Maya and Toutou!

Up next… a lot of cocoa beans and nutmeg!!!

November 21, 2014

Tiny House Blog: Yurt Life with the Stolz

New on Tiny House Blog!

“YURT LIFE” has just been published featuring our friends on S/V Necesse as they tell about their recent trip to visit to Eben’s brother and his wife Mel up at their Mountain Yurt in Canada. The Stolz men are all about unconventional living!

http://tinyhouseblog.com/?p=34338

October 19, 2014

The OH-MY-GOD-A (Anegada) Passage

6.26.14 – Sailing away from Virgin Gorda was a bittersweet moment. The islands we called home for an entire month slowly disappeared into a fuzzy haze on the horizon. The Saharan Dust layer was keeping the storms at bay as we set out for what seemed to be a beautiful day at sea.

Our new friends on Four Coconuts were 3 nautical miles behind us. We kept in radio contact checking in with each other every few hours, though most of the time we were out of sight. Just a few miles off shore, a dreadful feeling of uneasiness began to form in the pit of our stomachs. The waves got bigger and the fetch got shorter. We immediately recalled our first encounter with the Caribbean 2-step back along the Southern shores of Puerto Rico. We knew it would only get worse before it got better.

On a course 40-degrees Southwest to Saba we entered what is notoriously called the “OH-MY-GOD-A” (Anegada) Passage. It’s a straight in the Caribbean with some depths reaching more than 6,000 feet. Crazy currents flow through from the Atlantic as they feed into the Caribbean Sea and it’s not uncommon for waves to be slamming against the hull from three different directions.

“It felt as if we were riding a mechanical bull in a big blue pen”

It felt as if we were riding a mechanical bull in a big blue pen, slowly rocking forward followed by a quick jerk to the side in a wicked attempt to throw us from every spot we sat in. Around and around and up and down. The engine rumbled as the bull bucked on. This was the first time I had ever really felt seasick, even with medication. Seas were only 3-5′ but very disorganized.

The sails were tight to the wind, 18 knots off our port bow. Spending the last month in the BVIs definitely softened us a bit after playing in the sun and taking easy hour long sails between the islands, dinghy in tow and snorkel gear in hand.

5 foot seas aren’t even considered rough weather. Theyre just uncomfortable – especially on a 24 hour beat to Windward. Our rough passages from the Bahamas South, across the Thorny Path to Windward and the Puerto Rico pummeling all seemed so long ago. In reality it had only been 5 months since we left the dock in Florida starting out on this journey with absolutely zero sailing experience at all.

Heeled over and bucking back and forth, we calmly remember how green Peter and I are and how much more this boat can take than us. She’s a strong vessel built to cross oceans. By that point we wouldn’t have been able to remember that if we had taped it to eachother’s foreheads.

It was a terrible 30 hour long passage. We tacked up over the shoals near Saba labeled “TO BE AVOIDED” then crossed back down to the leeward side of the massive rock. Four Coconuts tried to warn us of the nasty wind gusts shearing off the island, but we couldn’t make out what they were saying on the radio. Suddenly, a blast of 35 knots hit us under full sail. Nothing like a burst of adrenaline…

Just after passing Saba, Peter insisted on putting the fishing lines out. “REALLY?” I grumbled. We were both exhausted and darkness was fast approaching. Our destination of a hopefully calm anchorage in Sint Eustatius (or Statia) was still 15 nm away. Any delays with fishing would surely put us there after dark.

Not 20 minutes later, ZINNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG!!! Peter hooked his first billfish!! A beautiful sailfish appeared on the surface as he fought the line. I quickly began to slow down the boat, check the charts, set the autopilot and grab the camera. It was a quick fight. As he reached down and grabbed the leader line to release it, the sailfish shook off before I could snap any more photos. Enough excitement for one day, we thought.

Still getting beat up by the Caribbean 2-step, we tacked all the way to Statia. Motorsailing as best we could, it still wasn’t enough to get us there before dark. 10 pm we finally neared Gallows Bai. Our radar screen warned us of the mooring field full of tankers. Their lights were deceiving and it helped to have a visual on each of them using AIS and radar.

Little did we know, there were dozens of steel oil drums floating amidst the tankers, invisible in the dark. These are mammoth sized mooring balls for the big ships and they float at water level, undetectable by radar. Even at 5 knots, it would be like hitting a shipping container if we accidentally ran into one. After safely making our way past the tankers we approached a small little anchorage toward the far end of town. We used our spotlight and weaved between some sleeping sailboats as we searched for an open mooring ball and picked one up on the first try.

Happy to be tied up, we had to accept the fact that our 30-hour passage wasn’t over. The anchorage was terribly rolly and just as uncomfortable as the passage itself. NOT what you want to experience after trying to hold your cookies in for hours on end. The dogs were happy to have a potty break and eat dinner. Peter and I managed to wolf down some cheese and crackers before going to bed. We left the mizzen sail up for stability, which helped dramatically. Saba would have been more exposed to the ocean swell so even though our conditions were less than desireable, they could have been much worse.

We spent Friday night and Saturday night on a ball and did not drop the dinghy to go to shore. We flew the Q flag and took our chances. Supposedly, moorings are $10/night on the honor system. You go pay on shore. Maybe it was because of the weekend, but no one came out to greet us so we didn’t pay. We were too tired to launch the dinghy when we didn’t plan on staying here more than a day.

Four Coconuts was feeling much more ambitious than us and took their kids on a hike to the top of the crater. Their boat is the catamaran with red sail covers in the photo, just to the left of us.

Though we didn’t go exploring on land, we did get a glimpse of the historic beauty on this quaint little island.

To the right of the old war cannons is a dead palm tree. Is it just me… or does it look like a native tribe member standing up on the wall???

Our first sighting of island goats…

How amazingly peaceful would it be to live here??

We’re currently catching up on projects and waiting out the rest of Hurricane Season down in Grenada.

Stay tuned to read about our scariest moment yet!!

October 16, 2014

Cruising BVI: North Sound Virgin Gorda

Back in June we spent a little over a week taking in the beauty of North Sound, Virgin Gorda. This would be the last island we visit before continuing our journey south to spend Hurricane Season. As we entered through the channel markers, we caught a glimpse of Sir Richard Branson’s private island. Incredible.

Our first stop was near Saba Rock which kindly provided an open wifi signal that we were able to pick up with our booster, anchored off of Prickly Pear Island. Mooring balls were available for a fee but there was also plenty of room to anchor. We tried this spot first since we heard this is where most of the cruisers stay. Though there were only a few boats around that late in the season, we met up with Wild Card for the first time and we also met another couple on a Whitby, English Rose. Both of these cruising couples quickly became good friends that we still stay in contact with to this day.

Up at the restaurant on Saba Rock the saltwater aquarium was fun to see. Inside was a Moray Eel, Spiny Lobster and a small cannon like the ones we saw diving on the reef nearby.

The Bitter End Yacht Club lay just a stone’s throw away. All kinds of water sport rentals are available such as Hobie Cats, kite surfing and diving.

During our visit at the restaurant, a little friend came to say hello.

After lunch we took a stroll down the palm-lined paths that wind past the resort. Island-style cabanas and hammocks were scattered along the shore.

Tucked back in the corner across the bay is the Biras Creek Resort. The anchorage in front provided ample protection from the wind and an escape from all of the charter boats coming and going from Bitter End. The resort has a gorgeous dinghy dock that we used to bring Gunner and Betsy ashore. Several trails extended from the resort up over the hillside. We passed by some curious horses and continued across the island to discover a secret restaurant and private beach, all managed by the Resort.

Just before leaving the anchorage in front of Biras Creek Resort, we met David, Toutou, Maya and Tyler aboard Four Coconuts. We became fast friends with these fellow coconut cruisers and began making plans to buddy-boat down the islands.

One more stop to check out of the BVI’s and we would be on our way!

Stay tuned for our last adventure in the BVI’s before heading south. We are currently in Grenada finishing up boat projects :)

September 16, 2014

The Liebster Award 2014

“Tomorrow. I really want to write this tomorrow.” That’s what I kept telling myself after we got our first Liebster Award nomination from a super fun family we’ve been following at Diving Into Cruising. What the heck is a Liebster Award, you say? Well, it’s basically a Pay It Forward type of chain letter for bloggers all over the world. It’s been going around for years and gets passed on from one blog to another.

It’s more than just a “good luck” email chain letter, though, that you would forward on to the first 10 email addresses that pop into your head. The Liebster Award represents something more endearing. It’s recognition for fellow bloggers out there that genuinely deserve a mention. There are so many great blogs with amazing stories but it’s nice to share the love with blogs that are new, less known, or that haven’t received a nomination yet. The rules have morphed over the years away from things like 11 questions for 11 nominees and only nominating blogs with less than 200 followers. We prefer to soften the edges a bit and take a more generalized rule set where we simply accept the award by writing a new blog post linking back to the blog that nominated us, publish our answers to their questions, nominate a handful of our favorite blogs that haven’t been nominated yet, and ask them some questions – either copied from others or created special for our new nominees.

We were honored to get a second nomination a few weeks later from our friends over at Cream Puff. This is getting serious now… I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer! “Two nominations have already been made and I still haven’t made the time to squeeze in this sweet little post.” Then, Genevieve from one of our favorite blogs, It’s A Necessity, finally got around to accepting her award (I’m not the only procrastinator!!) and gave us our third nomination. While punching out the answers to our questions, I happened to be chatting over email with our friend Jan from Commuter Cruiser. If you’ve been following our blog from the beginning, you know that Jan and David hold a special place in our hearts and we will be forever grateful for all that they taught us in our first four months aboard SV Mary Christine. We received our fourth and final nomination from Commuter Cruiser so now it’s time to show our appreciation and share the love. We’ve now got 40 questions on the table so we’ll do the best we can to answer them all ;)

Questions from Diving Into Cruising – Dieter, Britton and Brady… and the same set of questions from Commuter Cruiser – Jan and David:

1. Introduce us to your crew. Who are they and what role do they play in your operation?

Our crew includes Peter (the Captain), Jody (the first mate) and our two large furry four-legged children, Betsy and Gunner (in charge of guarding us and the boat).

2. What sort of boat do you have and would you recommend it for other adventurers hoping to live aboard? What do you like least about your choice?

We have a ketch rigged 1980 Whitby 42 monohull. She’s a good solid cruising boat that can take us across oceans. She’s slow, but solid, and is tougher than we are. We would definitely recommend a Whitby to any new liveaboard cruiser.

The part we like the least about this boat is the ventilation. In the tropics, it sometimes rains every hour. We run around like we’re doing a Chinese Fire Drill to shut all the hatches, ports and isinglass. There are so many different openings that are needed for ventilation, yet none of them can remain open while its raining without getting a ton of water inside the boat. When the rain stops, we have to go around and open them all back up before we pass out in this sweatbox.

3. Where are you now and what are your sailing plans, if you have any, for the future?

We’re in Grenada waiting out the rest of Hurricane Season. Tomorrow we head to the Tobago Cays for a little exploring, then we’ll come back to Grenada until the end of October. Then, we’ll make our way back through the Eastern Caribbean as far North as BVI. From there, we’ll head back South to see the ABC’s then to Panama for some big waves and big fish.

4. How do you support your lifestyle while sailing and cruising?

We worked hard to pay off old debt, sold almost everything we had on land, and sailed away with a good savings. We’ll need to find work along the way to help keep us afloat, but for now we’re living as frugally as we can while still having a good time as we visit so many amazing countries.

5. What’s the best experience you’ve had while living aboard?

We’ve had so many!! It’s hard to pick just one. If you haven’t been following our adventures from the beginning, you can find our first post HERE.

6. Name the most challenging experience you have had while living aboard and what did you do to overcome it?

The most challenging experience we have had was cutting the dock lines, taking a leap of faith and sailing away from safe harbor when we left Burnt Store Marina and made our way to the Bahamas. The list of projects is never-ending and there was always something left that we felt was keeping us from finally leaving. The push that we needed was having our good friends Josh and Leah fly in to set sail with us. They worked hard to help us get ready and with their motivation, we found the courage to GO FOR IT, despite our lack of experience. It has since proven to be one of the most memorable experiences we’ve had because it has allowed us to explore so many amazing places along this great journey.

7. Is living aboard and sailing an alternative way of life for you, an escape from the system, or is it just a temporary adventure?

It’s definitely not temporary for us. A new and better way of life is more accurate. There’s a lot of benefits to living in the US, but there’s a lot of things we wanted to get away from as well. There’s still rules in these little islands, but far less than back on land.

8. Any big mistakes you have learned from that others may learn from too?

We haven’t made any big mistakes yet… knock on wood! We’ve avoided many potential disasters thanks to all the advice and help we’ve received from fellow cruisers and new friends we’ve met along the way. Little thing’s we’ve learned are to slow down and never be in a hurry, always check the weather, and to trust our gut.

9. What advice would you give to youngsters just finding their place in the world? College, skill/trade, world travel on the graces of good luck?

Find your passion!!! Do whatever you need to do to find what makes you happy. Follow your dreams and don’t look back. Anything is possible, no matter how difficult it may seem, just have a little faith that it will all work out. If you’re not sure what your passion is yet, go to college, learn something new, and start networking. Talk to as many people as you can and find out what their passion is and why. Ask a lot of questions. We found that there are a lot of people who are happy to help you find your passion.

10. What motivates you to blog and what tips can you offer fellow bloggers?

It comes down to the fact that we really want to inspire others to follow their dreams and do whatever it takes. We are young – younger than most that are traveling the world by sailboat. Out of the ordinary? Sure. Crazy? Maybe. But do we regret it? NEVER! This is a truly amazing experience and more rewarding than we could have ever imagined. We’re following our dreams and sharing our adventures in hopes that even just a few people will be inspired enough to do whatever it takes to follow their dreams as well. We write from the heart and hope you feel like you’re right here with us every day.

Questions from Cream Puff – Mark and Cindy:

1. Meet the crew. Who are you? Each share something about the other (not on the blog)

Jody: She is the Sargent in Arms, making sure everything is in order and running smoothly. She’s tougher than epoxy and holds us all together.

Peter: His adventurous spirit keeps us moving forward and reminding us why we’re here, even in the difficult moments.

Betsy: The unconditional love this little dog has for everyone she meets is enough to melt icebergs. The world would be a much better place if everyone had a dog like her.

Gunner: This crotchety old dog teaches us patience and helps us practice love for those that make our life challenging. He’s been a good friend and has had a good life.

2. What advice would you give to a wannabe traveler just starting out?

Don’t give up! There will be some discouraging moments, but just remember that you’re doing something most people will either never have the opportunity to do or never have the courage to do. Be grateful for the opportunity you’ve been given, and enjoy every moment!

3. Can you roll your tongue or wiggle the end?

Yes, we both can!

4. What is your favorite restaurant in the whole world?

Love Boat Sushi back in San Diego. That was our favorite place to go on dates when we first met. Really, any good sushi restaurant will do the trick.

5. If you sail as a couple, who is really, and I mean really, the captain?

Ohhh shoot. Since you put it that way… well then it’s Peter. Yes, I said it. PETER IS THE CAPTAIN. As much as I would like to think we’re equally capable of handling this boat alone, there are still a few things I’m not comfortable doing. I’m learning that it’s not so bad letting someone else be in charge and it’s really not that important to have a say in every single decision we make. This is definitely worthy of a blog post all on its own though.

6. What are your favorite meals to cook while sailing?

Cook? While sailing?? Ha! We prefer to cook at anchor, but on longer passages, a few meals must be made under way. We did enjoy barbecuing while crossing the Mona Passage though :)

Our staples at anchor are grilled steak, homemade spaghetti, fresh grilled fish, grilled lobster, English muffins with sausage and cheese, and French Toast!

7. Who’s idea was it to buy a boat and how did they convince the other person?

Peter always knew he would buy a boat one day and travel the world. He told me about it when we were camping in the Eastern Sierras only a few months after we met. From that moment on, I KNEW I was going to go with him. It was the best idea I had ever heard. So when our relationship got stronger and all right pieces fell into place, we both knew it was what we had to do.

8. Where is your dream destination?

We both really want to make it to the South Pacific someday. I’ve been to Tahiti before, and Peter has been to Indonesia. We would both love to experience island life in that part of the world with our boat.

9. Why did you pick sailing as a form of transportation or hobby (over an RV/camper for instance)?

We both love the water and wanted the freedom to travel to all places tropical – Where The Coconuts Grow :) If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to read our page on “What’s up with the coconuts.”

10. Would you please describe your best sailing day ever? (or a link to it)

Hands down, our Maiden Voyage! This is when we first realized our dreams were really coming true. Thank you Commuter Cruiser for all your support that day!

Questions from It’s A Necessity – Eben, Genevieve, Arias and Ellia:

1. Describe yourself in 5 words. No more, no less.

Peter: Leader, hunter, provider, strong, funny

Jody: Organized, genuine, helpful, creative, inquisitive

2. What do you blog about? What do you NOT blog about?

We blog about the adventures we’ve had so far, what it’s like to live on a boat, how hard it is and how rewarding it is. We DON’T write about things that are TMI and we try to not share the bad moments. We want to keep it real and not sugar coat anything, but we also know that most people who read our blog are reading to hear about the cool and exciting things, not the Debbie-downer moments when nothing is going right. Sometimes we share the hard moments but we try to keep a positive focus.

3. You have $10 US to spend, what is the first thing you buy?

Something cold. Like Ice cream, a smoothie, or a cold pop!

4. What is the worst travel spot you have been to?

No where has really been terrible. We’ve disliked some places and we’d steer away from others but we haven’t been anywhere so horrible that we wouldn’t return if we had to. The nice thing about living on a boat is that we can pick up the anchor and go somewhere else at any time.

5. What is your favorite saying/slang/term you have picked up through your travels?

Peter’s favorite sayings are not appropriate for this blog :)

6. If you were invited to a dress up party what costume would you wear?

A beach bum. We love being able to wear shorts/bikinis and flipflops everywhere we go!

7. What is your favorite drink (alcoholic or not)?

Fresh blended every morning in our galley – A Banana/Mango/Guava smoothie!!

8. How much wine is too much?

Peter hates it when anyone whines ;)

9. What are you afraid of?

Us dragging anchor or someone in front of us dragging anchor, damaging our boat or someone else’s. Stay tuned for our scary “nightmare come true” experience in St. Kitts. We’ll just tell you now, it involves a FERRY!

10. If you could have one wish granted, what would you ask for?

To be able to cruise around the world on a sailboat for as long as we want!

OUR NOMINEES:

To keep the Liebster Love alive, we would like to nominate a handful of our favorite blogs in hopes that they will carry the torch. We took great care to select blogs that haven’t already been nominated yet, but if we’re behind the times, feel free to disregard this nomination. Our intention is to share the love and let our readers know about some other awesome blogs out there that they might not have seen before. Oh, and we REALLY want to hear what kind of answers you come up with :)

Sailing Terrapin

Take To The Sea

Stories From A Boat

Something Wagging This Way Comes

Masts and Mastiffs

Couch Sailors

Sailing Dee

Wright Away Sails Away