Well the webcam was a bit of a fizzer but we’ve made it to the other side with only a bent stanchion and a bit of a scratch on the hull. We had the Canals’ BEST advisor with us and while it was a long day I have to admit I do feel like we’ve done something pretty cool! Photos to follow.
Has anyone ever done Bikram Yoga? Right now I feel like I’m living in a Bikram Yoga studio- ‘Bikram Living’ I like to call it. My eyelids are sweating it’s so hot. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this continuously sweaty in my entire life. It’s not the satisfying sweat of a good workout I might add- you are just dripping constantly. Daily tasks of which there never seems to be an end, result in an all over body glow that tends to go hand in hand with irritation, frustration and ultimately a heat rash somewhere- generally on an inconvenient location like your gluteal fold! I’ve escaped to the Cruisers lounge which feels refrigerated where I can only stay a short time or run the risk of suffering hypothermia, the temperature difference is so great.
There’s my rant for now. We are back at Shelter Bay Marina after spending nearly 10 days in the San Blas Islands. We got our transit date- May 18th!!!! This information changed things quite considerably so we decided to see our fair share of this absolutely stunning location. Then, as things tend to go, last Sunday night, (April 23rd),we received updated information that our transit had been moved forward 20 days, scheduled for Friday the 28th- tomorrow. We decided to head back to the marina Monday night, arriving Tuesday morning and giving us 3 full days to prepare for what we are about to do- Travel through the Panama Canal to… the other side! Pacific here we come.
The preparation side of things really never seems to end. Apparently what we are doing is ‘cruising’ but really it should be ‘maintaining, repairing, provisioning, washing, cleaning, teaching, feeding, swearing, lamenting, adjudicating, separating, MRPWCTFSLAS!!!! I’m sure there’s an acronym in there, shame I don’t have the patience to work it out right now!
A tradition followed by cruisers when making a significant passage, is to paint or draw a symbol of themselves and their boat on a wall somewhere. We didn’t get a chance to do it on the rock wall in Las Palmas and another boat suggested it to us yesterday. Here at the marina there’s a sail loft that was once the military base cinema. There’s plenty of wall space, although a lot of it is already decorated. Anyway, I thought it would be a fun thing for the kids, (predominantly) and I to do together- cue negative buzzer noise now! It didn’t go exactly as planned with one child unable to control himself with a spray can, (I’ll just press it here) and the other child in frustrated tears at the outcome of their work. It all turned out ok in the end but man, talk about a palaver! I should just add that the laundry is quite close to the location of this work of art and lets just say there was some multi-tasking going on!
There’s so much more I could post but I’m super short on time, (ha ha ha cruising yeah right!), so I’ll just put some highlights from the last few weeks.
The San Blas were the highlight, but while we were there we;
Snorkeled in crystal clear water and saw incredible wildlife- thankfully NO crocodiles, although I was pretty paranoid every time I donned my mask and flippers.
I had a dolphin come up almost directly under me while I was on the paddle board. Again, I had a small heart attack until I realised what it was and then I was kind of euphoric!
We walked though a rain forest with a local Kuna Yala guide and saw a toucan, a tiny scorpion and a swam in a waterfall. We also visited his village and saw his people living, (almost) as they have for centuries!
We caught another fish- Seb was again traumatised but we turned it into a fish curry, which most of us enjoyed and who he belligerently refused to eat. When we caught another huge fish that got away both he and Lilly chanted for 5 minutes, “he got off, he got off!”
We swam with a Spotted Eagle Ray- one of the coolest beasts in the sea. When you see this underwater world you really can understand how they made Finding Nemo!
We met up with another kid boat called Milou and spent some wonderful time, (albeit very short, an afternoon and morning due to our new schedule) swimming, exploring a magic little place called BBQ Island and enjoying a lovely lunch together.
Oh and as we snorkeled on the reef one morning a largish grey many toothed fish cruised right past- we think it was a Caribbean Reef Shark but aren’t 100% sure. It wasn’t interested in us at all. I did however, and this is the amazing bit, stay totally calm, just tapping Lilly on the arm, pointing to it and calmly swimming back to the dinghy to let Mike, Seb and Murray know. So there you go nothing’s quite so bad as fear itself!
Other than that we’ve been experiencing some pretty interesting behaviour from our children. I have, in desperation resorted to reading one of the child rearing books I thought I’d have plenty of time to read, but haven’t touched till now- “Of course I love you, now go to your room lives on Debs and Rach!!! Attitude with a capital A, bickering with a capital B and rudeness with a big fat R are driving me crazy- the heat and pressure cooker we reside in adding to this very tumultuous ‘phase’. The joys of early puberty and a younger brother!!!
Hey ho, I don’t expect any sympathy. Just telling it like it is…for now.
Time to head to bed, we’ll be up at around 3.30 tomorrow morning to start the transit process. IF anyone is interested, apparently the locks have surveillance cameras and you can watch us go through. The website is http://www.pancanal.com. Click on to Multimedia and there should be a LIVE CAMERAS link. We arrive at Gatun Lock at 07.00, (22.00 AUS time, 14.00 Spanish time, 13.00UKtime) and clear the lock at 08.20, completing our transit at 15.31, so likely to be at Miraflores lock around 2.30ish. This is all Panama time- Aussie time is 15 hours ahead and European time is 7hours ahead/6 UK time.
Sending everyone love and best wishes- SOL out!
Flexible- able to be easily modified to respond to altered circumstances:
-(of a person) ready and able to change so as to adapt to different circumstances
Oxford English Dictionary- Kindle addition
and so flexible we must be! We’ve arrived in Panama, (foregoing the San Blas Islands for the time being after learning that due to a shortage of ‘advisors’- (a person that takes you through the canal), there is an approximate 27 day delay on transit time once you get your approximate date of passage-you’ve got to be measured first and jump through a few other hoops before this happens). We’re using the services of an agent, in the hope of, and with a fair degree of optimistic positivity that we might get through a bit faster… and we still might. Time will tell. Mind you, the agent was supposed to arrive yesterday at 3pm and showed up at 6pm and the measurer who was coming between 9.30 am and 1.30 pm didn’t show up at all- the agent let us know at 2.30pm. Flexible- that’s the key!
Our previous ‘plan’ saw us in Tahiti by June, Mike flying out from there back to Bermuda to compete in a regatta. We’d be arriving in Tahiti AFTER having visited the Galapagos and the Marquesas. Considering that the trip across the Pacific is another THREE WEEK PASSAGE!!!!, it was always ambitious- now that plan is impossible. Why the rush? Well, it’s all driven by the dream of getting into the Pacific. Get there, then slow down and enjoy it. Sounds crackers, even to me. There are so many variables that need to line up and anything can happen along the way…The trip to the supermarket for example, read more below, oh and Lilly saw a crocodile in the marina today! I should just clarify that you don’t swim in the marina- she was in the pool at the time.
So hopefully we’ll see more of Panama.
I mentioned the trip to the supermarket… The marina provides a free shuttle bus- think Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone-
“Is this the bus to Cartegena?”
“Que”,
“I need to get to Cartegena”
“Que”
“Is this the bus to CartegeEEENNNAHHHHH!
Well not quite but I had a good chuckle a few times along the way. The trip can take and generally does take up to an hour. You have to drive through the jungle, (we saw monkeys run across the road), the bus then gets on a ferry across the entrance to the canal, (we sat behind a truck with some cows and several hands of bananas- sometimes you have to wait for a ship to enter or exit, once on the other side, you might get stopped by the cargo train loaded with shipping containers, (once or twice) and then on arrival to the shopping mall, you’ve got about 45 minutes to get into the supermarket and back out to the bus before the driver leaves, at exactly 14.45 to head back to the marina! Now I don’t know about you, but foreign supermarkets are a place of wonder! The first visit involves a lot of, ‘Hmmm I wonder where so and so is, or I wonder if they have x, y or z. 45 minutes is simply not enough time to wonder about much. So, yesterday, (yep I went yesterday and the day before) Seb and I caught a cab back instead- time for flexibility and wonder!!!!
The measurer showed up yesterday and in a few days, we’ll have an approximate transit date- so new plans are being formulated, including going back to the San Blas Islands for a few days, today- F.L.E.X.I.B.L.E!
The trip across from St. Martin was quite good- we left on a Tuesday night and arrived the following Tuesday morning- 6 days 7 nights. A few times along the way I may have pondered the fact that we’ll soon be doing it all again but times 3!!!! The boat rolls and rolls and while I’m still trying to be one with the boat… some days it drives me nuts.
Meals were generally better received than during the Atlantic crossing. We didn’t have the routine debrief after every meal, discussing how ‘WE’ could spice it up or pad it out or improve it in some way. There was a bit more of that wonderful line from The Castle- “What do you call this love.”
Murray, (the person I mentioned last post) is a wonderful asset to the boat. His easy manner, good humour and wealth of sailing knowledge make him an absolute delight to have with us. We’ve given him a few opportunities to change his mind, (you sure Muzz) but he seems happy to stay with us for awhile.
The highlight was Seb’s stitches removal day! No shortage of dramatic entertainment on the mighty Slice of Life! He was very brave I have to say and very interested to see his new scar.
As in keeping with the theme of this post, the auto-pilot decided to stop working on the Monday night so it was hand steering for the next 36+ hours. The conditions were very pleasant and we generally rotated every 1.5 hours. We had an incredible moon the entire way, making me feel like it was daytime. Seeing the moon still up and the sun rising was pretty special. We had a few dolphins join us for short periods and lots and lots of flying fish. One morning we found 18 on the deck- their plans certainly changed that evening and sadly they can’t be too flexible once out of the water!
I’ll leave it there for now- we hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. As always we are thinking of our friends and family across the seas.
Slice of Life standing by!
If there’s a paradise in this world then we’ve just been there.
Imagine if you will, a glossy leaflet depicting the bluest of blue, shades of turquoise that would put the gemstone to shame and the whitest, finest most luxurious sand imaginable- you can photo-shop for all you’re worth- this place exists and goes by the name, Barbuda!
Jump forward a few days and we’re sitting in a hospital in Saint Martin, waiting to see how many stitches Seb needs in his big toe after an unfortunate accident with what we think was a can in the garbage. Our garbage, left in the dinghy, ready to take ashore and overlooked by two excited little boys jumping into the turquoise blue water mentioned earlier!
So describes the highs and lows of cruising.
There’s a lot that’s gone on since last post, and we are currently preparing the boat and ourselves to head into the Southern Hemisphere! If all goes to plan, we’ll be heading off today on an approximately 7-day passage to Panama. The San Blas Islands will be our first stop and then we need to wait until we can find our ‘slot’ through the canal. Next post should be interesting…
I’ve had a bit of a humour failure for the last few days, which tends to happen twice a month for about a week. It’s not until it passes that I realize I was in ‘that’ phase and that my special little dark cloud has lifted for the time being- THANK GOODNESS! It’s moving time again, which I always find a bit tricky to deal with, that and 24/7 with my two gorgeous kids who have Mum on tap and don’t realize the tap needs to be turned off every now and then!
Hey ho- so describes the highs and lows of living full time on a boat!
Mike worked most of March, the kids and I staying in Antigua while he spent more time messing about on boats-(big ones this time). We had a great time, hanging out with other boat families, doing schoolwork, exploring the island and the highlight- sailing lessons for the kids. Not having grown up sailing dinghy’s I was blown away (positively) that by lesson 3 they were off and skimming across the water solo. They were in a Laser Pico and took turns helming and controlling the main sheet. Whilst WE are sailing vast distances, they’re learning a degree of seamanship rather than actual sailing ability. In a dinghy, you learn really quickly or you end up capsizing, which they loved doing- running in to see me at the end of each lesson holding up a hand to indicate how many times they’d been in the water! Finally a fun learning experience for them! They were so enthusiastic about it I mentioned it to our Danish and English friends whose kids also took lessons. It was wonderful to see all of these children suddenly very enthusiastic and positive about the sailing aspect…perhaps a few adult classes would have been a good idea.
There were several reminders that no matter how tricky a day you might be having there is always someone out there doing it a lot tougher than you are- we met a pair of Atlantic Rowers who’d not long finished their 75 day journey across the Ocean Blue. We spoke at length to their Dad- a prouder man you’d be hard pressed to meet. The pair were very accommodating, letting the kids hop onto their boat, hold the oars and even try their food. They gave out autographs and took photos with them, answering the plethora of questions thrown at them by our small people.
The South African, Chris Bertish, completed his 93 day solo SUP, (yes that is short for Stand Up Paddleboard) Atlantic Crossing while we were in the marina. What an amazing achievement and how incredible it was to witness his arrival.
Two more rowers arrived while we were there- One guy had lost his rudder, his journey taking him 94 days. I take my hat off, I have complete admiration towards all of these people but it’s not something I feel I need to add to my bucket list- a sentiment I know at least one friend feels towards our travels.
All of the above plus sleepovers, birthday parties, a charity day at the sailing academy to support local kids with disabilities, regular trips to the beach, ice-cream Friday, walks to different parts of the island, history right at our doorstep in Nelson’s Dockyard and time spent with wonderful people, kept us all busy. Our time in Antigua was complete before we knew it.
A huge thank you to Helen and Kevin and Eli, who went out of their way to help us and show us around during our time there.
As mentioned earlier, Barbuda was our next stop. We spent our first night in Spanish Point, some reef navigation ensuring a calm and quiet anchorage in perhaps the clearest water we’ve seen to date. The next day we moved around to Coco Point to find an expansive beach which I happily walked along for as far as I could go one way, to as far as I could go the other. One end of the beach sports an exclusive resort that has it’s own little airport for guests to fly directly into. Apparently yachties are not at all welcome! At 2000 US dollars a night I guess guests don’t want to share the bar with just anyone!
A derelict resort takes up a fair share of the other end, boarded up bungalows almost blending into the palm tree lined beach. Princess Diana was once a guest here and Robert De Niro and Packer, (I assume James but possibly Kerry was the instigator) under a group called Paradise Found, own this space with plans to restore it to its former glory.
Barbuda has the largest colony of Frigatebirds in the Eastern Caribbean, larger than the colony in the Galapagos and incredibly accessible with the assistance of a guide. George Jefferies was our choice, the most experienced of guides and recommended to us by our friends who’d done the tour a few days before. He is a wealth of knowledge about the colony and his country and very entertaining in a Morgan Freeman kind of way. Sebastian was particularly impressed by his 60-horse power engine, that sped us across the lagoon quickly and comfortably!
We left for Saint Martin the same evening and had a lovely sail across in 15 knot winds under a wide expanse of stars- YES, you did just read correctly- I wrote lovely and sail in the same sentence!
And so here we are, prepping the boat for the journey ahead. I’m using free wifi in the local laundry and laughing while I type this- how things change. My previous aversion to going and doing the laundry being replaced by the realization that I’m on my own for a few hours with only the need to change clothes from washing machine to dryer as interruption! There’s the buzzer now!
Until Panama… this is Slice of Life standing by.
Last post there was a sense of euphoria at discovering the wonders of the Caribbean, at finding wildlife, crystal clear waters and at finally being able to relax…so, where are we now, both geographically and emotionally?
Geographically, we are moored in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua within a stones throw of the biggest and most decadent motor and sailing vessels I have EVER seen.
We’ve spent some very special time in Ille de Saintes with our Danish friends, a few days in Basse Terre, Guadaloupe to sit out an unpleasant weather system. We hiked up a Volcano, met a new family in the marina and walked up a big hill with them. We anchored in a place called Pigeon Island where we saw 9 turtles within the first 5 minutes of being there and met another Canadian family while musing over a lion fish. Our treasured Kiwi friends met us in Pigeon Island where we celebrated Shannon and Mike’s almost the same day birthdays, then said farewell, (possibly for some time) only to meet the Danish family again in English Harbour for the night, before heading up to Green Island. We had an incredible anchorage all to ourselves in a place called Ten Pound Bay where we met another Aussie family with kids about the same age. They played on a beach together for hours, collecting hermit crabs and running in and out of the water! We headed back to Falmouth Harbour to get a bit sorted before Mike started work- more on that later…
Emotionally, well that’s always a little more complex.
We’ve had the talk- do we continue with this journey? Is it working for us all, do we sell the boat here or in the US and/or, WHAT is the next chapter…
All very interesting questions- even more interesting responses, when you are really forced to think about it.
There’s a lot of water between here and the Pacific, something I guess I realized but didn’t really realize until we did some numbers. I am somewhat daunted by this and Mike is daunted by the fact that I’m so daunted and how do we make the journey more enjoyable for everyone?
Enter long time friend who just happens to be a sailor, who just happens to have some spare time on his hands and who is keen and willing to join our journey into the Pacific. He’s done a lot of miles, he’s got a lot of experience and he’s a lovely bloke! He’ll remain nameless at this point as I can’t contact him right now and I’m not sure he wants his name plastered all over our blog! However, a HUGE sigh of relief has been exhaled by us all. The ‘dream’ was always to do this trip as a family but when the dream isn’t quite working, it’s time to modify the parameters slightly and do something a little differently. Time to add a new dynamic to the SOL crew and our Type A personalities!!!!
Speaking of different, boat schooling is coming along. We’ve been focusing on vocabulary of late. The other evening when the kids were cleaning their teeth, I heard something drop in the bathroom, then in a whispered but extremely clear voice I heard, “ oh for f@#ks sake!” Hmmm, how to positively handle that one? Lilly was cleaning her teeth at the same time but half out of the bathroom and I saw her eyes widen as I looked up from what I’d been doing. I mouthed to her, ‘did he just say what I thought he said?” An affirmative head nod answered what I already knew. Hmmm, still how to handle that one?
I wandered into the front head, (not a very long distance) and simply said, “buddy, I heard what you just said. I know where you’ve heard it from and it’s not ok for you to say those words- it’s not ok for me to say those words. I’m going to try not to say them and I don’t want you to say them again either.”
“Right Mum” was the reply. Don’t make a big deal of it- see how we go.
The resounding “SHIT”, that came out Seb’s cabin yesterday, received a somewhat stronger response, (one involving the threat of soap and water). Somehow I think I’ll be blowing bubbles long before he does!
Mike has started work with the Lionheart team so we’ll be here in Antigua for several weeks. I think I’ve been pretty honest so far in describing our travels so why change that now! I was a little more than slightly anxious about this impending phase of being on my own with the kids while we were out on a mooring. Like most things with me however once I get into it, I’m fine. In fact, the renewed sense of confidence and INDEPENDENCE is amazing. The mental checklist is long, generator sequence, water maker sequence, all hatches shut due to imminent rain squalls, VHF off, dinghy lowering sequence, then driving dinghy, (wooo actually this is really fun) make sure we are in a good spot at Dinghy dock, lock the boat to the wharf- oh bugger remove the key first, tie her up, don’t forget flip flops, then more or less reverse it all on the way back to the boat.Now where are the kids????
Despite living on a boat and sailing across the Atlantic, Lilly and Seb haven’t done a lot of actual sailing, so as I type this they are out having a sailing class at the local sailing academy. So far, they absolutely love it. They have a very cool instructor called Sylvester and love capsizing. Getting them to buy into the whole sailing thing is super important…hmmm perhaps I should be out there in a dinghy too…but using the free wifi and enjoying a coffee, without having to answer any questions for an hour or so seems pretty important too!
We celebrated World Book Day on a friends boat- dressed up and played new games, decorated cookies and then the boys proceeded to blast each other with water pistols up on deck!
Our visit here just happened to coincide with a One Day cricket match between the West Indies and England. 14 of us caught a bus out to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and had a fantastic day taking in the incredible smells, the music and the ambience of it all. The kids had a different experience that involved a lot of wrestling, smacking each other with the blow up wackers and rolling down the hill we were sitting on, but hey they can forever say they’ve been to an International cricket match in Antigua!
So that’s about it for now. Mike is about to head off to Saint Barts for his regatta, we have moved around into English Harbour and are now situated in the Nelsons Dockyard Marina for the next 2 weeks. We continue to meet incredible people and there is absolutely NO shortage of children for the kids to play with. Sailing class is about to finish so I’ll wrap it up there.
Thanks again for following our jouney- for now SOL Crew out!
What do you get when you put a French, Danish and Aussie family together along with a German couple? Yes I know, it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but the punch line is FUN and Dominica has been our location for the last week.
I finally feel like I can see the light and it’s turquoise and aquamarine, brilliant hues of orange, gorgeous shades of green and quite frequently every colour of the rainbow. The reasons for taking on this journey are becoming more and more apparent with each new bay we explore, each trail we hike and each new boat of wonderful people we meet along the way.
Backtrack a little, to over two weeks ago- our arrival in Martinique. Intense relief on all of our behalves to have safely and (in the grand scheme of things) without incident- dental floss issue aside, crossed the Atlantic.
We should be able to relax and take it easy-yes? NOOOOOO. What the hell is wrong with us? We’ve met up with our Kiwi friends from Drakkar who’ve been in the islands over a month already, (if they were any more relaxed they’d be horizontal) and we’re both wound up like springs. Cocktail? You’ve got to be joking. I still can’t stomach alcohol and there’s re-provisioning, laundry, general boat cleaning, repair people to locate and engage, communication means to purchase along with kids who just want to swim and launch the dinghy and play with their friends and avoid schoolwork at all costs and ‘What’s for breakfast, Mum” and and and… (Mike has affectionately nicknamed them, “Stop it” and Don’t!” although it’s not that funny anymore).
Atlantic Crossing Fallout I’m going to call it! I know it exists, I’ve spoken to other people and they felt the same (ha ha, so we’re not freaks after all…)
Max and Shannon, (our Kiwi mates off Drakkar) took the kids for an entire day while we ran around and did what we had to do- quite the gift, let me tell you! After two days in a marina, we said farewell to Juan and found ourselves some clearer waters to anchor in. We spent just over a week in Martinique, anchoring in a few different spots as we made our way up the western side of the island- (The Caribbean Sea side as opposed to the Atlantic side). Turtles popped their heads up and became the topic of investigation for a few days and French bakeries for baguettes and croissants were frequented! We had a chance encounter with a family whose details I’d been given months and months ago by an English friend, (thank you Nell by they way!) They just happened to anchor near our friends boat, swim over to introduce themselves, (as they have two kids and saw 4 kids on the boat) and lo and behold, it turns out they’re the family I’ve been emailing, (albeit sporadically), since September last year!
After our time on Martinique we headed to Dominica. We arrived in Roseau Tuesday afternoon and only spent one night on anchor, before heading to Portsmouth. We were informed about a fundraising BBQ scheduled that very evening and decided we needed some fun. It wasn’t cheap to attend but it was worth every penny! Just what this family needed! An incredible spread was provided- chicken and fish on the grill, delicious rice and salad- rum punch for adults, (happily, I was able to partake) and fresh juice for the kids. We sat with a lovely Canadian couple and two Englishmen. Our two were the only kids in attendance but they were awesome. Lilly was very content to participate in the conversation, between playing with Seb on the beach, who was content hanging out with the local dogs!
After the feast there was dancing in the sand which we all loved. Lilly and I could have stayed all night but alas we had to leave before we pushed that frequently fine line between fun and meltdown.
The next day we wandered into the town of Portsmouth and organized a local sim, a local haircut for Mike, (interesting result) and had a wonderful exchange over lunch with a boy who had been watching Seb playing with his Lego. He very gently and quietly joined us at our table where they shared and created together before he had to head back to school- very cool to watch.
Re reconnected with a Danish boat we’d met briefly in Roseau and organized to join them on a tour of the Indian River, along with a French family and German couple. I think I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking for this experience, as it was visually spectacular. We had an excellent guide- Cobra (or Andrew, but everyone calls him Cobra) who is passionate about his country and his job. We learnt a lot about the plants, wildlife and the island in general thanks to him and he kept it fun and interesting for the kids. Calypso’s Hut, (which he built) from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was a bit of a highlight for the kids and sparked the viewing of all the movies…again. He was a very good salesman and talked us all into doing a tour of the Northern part of the island, the next day.
One word- INCREDIBLE! Sadly we didn’t have Cobra and our guide for the day lacked attention to detail and passion BUT, we had a brilliant time and saw incredible scenery, swam in and under a waterfall, how chocolate is made from pod to bar, had a great lunch on the water, visited some cold sulfur springs and went to a place called the Red Rocks, (here we met Danny, a cross between Johnny Depp playing Jack Sparrow and Bob Marley). There were 8 kids on the trip, they all spoke different languages but they all played and shared a fabulous experience- all in all a fantastic day.
We ended up staying a week, which included seeing the opening of Carnival, a walk to Fort Shirley for some spectacular views and a hike for some much needed exercise.
The last few days of our time in Dominica coincided with a Yacht appreciation week. Lilly participated in a ‘jam’ session where cruisers took along their guitars, playing and singing together. I know, it sounds very ‘Kumbaya’ and initially we walked passed it thinking it might not be appropriate but she was determined to participate and I have to say it was humbling to watch. She walked up in her bathers, ukulele in hand, sat down among the group (she was the youngest by at least 30 or 40 years) and played a few of the tunes she knows, strummed along to what was being played, listened and tapped the beat and had an absolute blast. She surprised me in such an incredible way. I’ve always said I want my kids to be comfortable in their own skin and that afternoon she was right at home! Everyone was exceptionally welcoming and supportive and I think she really sensed that people were genuinely happy to have her participate.
So I have to say the challenges of this lifestyle haven’t disappeared but there’s way more positives becoming apparent. Some things have dissipated for the moment, others are pretty evident, but when you have moments like the Ukulele jam session or the boy playing with Seb and his Lego or the kids playing with all the other kids we’ve met along the way, we have to take stock and acknowledge the benefits of this journey and tell ourselves we are doing something right.
It wasn’t until we were in Martinique that I finally found all the messages that have come through regarding the blog- I’m so sorry I’ve not acknowledged any of them. They are much appreciated and it was lovely to be able to read them in one go. Please keep them coming, we love hearing from you!
We’ve been hiking to an active Volcano today on Guadaloupe and are heading north-more stories to tell but for now, SOL crew out!
In the wee hours of Monday morning, we rounded a headland and found ourselves in calm water for the first time in what felt like weeks- OH, that’s because it had been weeks, 3 in fact, since we’d been in flat water. From the moment you spot land to the time you actually anchor can be a disproportionately long amount of time, especially if you’re really keen to get there. It’s a bit like watching a kettle boil. However, arrive we did, in Martinique at about 2am.
When we departed Las Palmas on January 10th, Antigua was our proposed port of entry, but due to our delay in leaving the Canaries and then subsequent weather patterns, we started looking at Barbados as our entry point. This changed again after further investigation and Martinique’s coordinates were entered into the chart plotter.
It’s all still slightly surreal I have to say. The only way I know how to describe what we’ve just undertaken is to detail some of the experiences along the way. My journal keeping was somewhat sporadic dependent entirely on the motion of the boat- we rolled a lot, which meant I didn’t write a lot!
Our last post was just hours before we set off on Day 1 of what was to be a 20 day journey across the Atlantic. What follows are a few slices of our life over the past few weeks.
First 4 days- forget it, I was a write off!
Sat Jan 14th
There’s been a shift and I mean in more than the wind and our position on the tracker! Previously, when I’ve been sick, (this by far and away has been the worst), I’d hate everything- I hated Mike, I hated the boat and I hated the sea, (this made me sad, as I’ve always loved the sea).Part of me I’m sure hated myself for agreeing to do this, but mostly it was Mike and the boat I had an aversion to. Hmmm, how to do this when the vehemence behind my negative sentiments were so strong…?
But, just like that baseball pitch in the middle of that cornfield in Iowa, “if you build it, he will come”, “give it a try, it might be ok”, and… it’s definitely better.
After the last 4 days of misery, I realize that all I hate is the seasickness, (and all that that entails-not contributing to the team, being a liability rather than an asset etc etc blah blah blah).
As I lay in my bunk, literally aching from lying there for so long, I was reminded of giving birth. Now you’ll forgive me for comparing crossing the Atlantic with childbirth, but for me the parallels were strong. My beautiful midwife Rachel in her wisdom told me how your body has a way of forgetting how strong the feeling was. That once it’s over, (baby born, damage repaired if there was any) your body forgets and you have another child. It’s nature’s way of keeping the population going… I could imagine myself sitting on a deserted beach, crystal clear water, coconut in hand, thinking- “oh it wasn’t that bad!”
My care factor was another parallel- I remember when Lilly was on her way, I went off to the loo which was located outside the birthing room. On my way back to the room, I didn’t even bother pulling up my pants- just stepped right out of my shorts and knickers, leaving them trailing in the corridor- care factor 0! I can’t even remember who picked them up. So there I was the other night, sprawled on the saloon floor, head in a bucket, moaning, hair trailing down around my face, Mike trying to pull it back out of the firing line- Juan on board who I’d really rather didn’t see me in that state but my care factor was again 0!
Personal grooming- care factor 0!
Kids listening to their headphones all day- care factor 0!
What’s for dinner- care factor 0!
Jan 18th– Day 8- going into Day 9, (but whose counting!!!!)
We changed the clocks yesterday. Just 2 hours back this time and in a week we’ll change them another 2 hours to be in line with Caribbean time. Seb’s been awake since 5am! I attempted bread today and a batch of muffins- nothing like over achieving after you’ve been inutil, (ineffectual lets say instead of useless) but the boat has been rolling around a lot and I’m a bit over it to be honest. Whilst until now I’ve been able to placate myself that time in the galley is a bit of a workout- that cooking at sea was the new Zumba, for some reason this particular day has given me the pip!
Fri Jan 20th.
Yesterday we caught our first fish- hmmm a bit of a comedy without the laughter! Mike let out the lure quite early after some gentle badgering from the kids, (particularly Seb). Their bodies are still getting used to the time change so they’ve been up since ‘sparrows” for the last few days.
I was doing my bi-weekly face wash and Seb was chatting to me in the bathroom. Lilly came running down the companionway in great excitement, trilling that we seemed to have snared a fish. Mike reeled it in and it was a beautiful Mahi Mahi. Both kids were wide-eyed as it was brought in and immediately started asking if we could let it go. It was all happening- I was wetting down the decks to make the clean up afterwards easier, running down getting gloves, then grabbing something to put under the rod as the base of it is really sharp, meanwhile both kids are in tears, Lilly scarpering down into her cabin, Seb in the saloon sobbing loudly. Amongst the chaos, once the fish was landed and no longer alive I slipped downstairs to have a chat with both of the children. Seb was red eyed and blotchy faced and just looked at me saying, “I wouldn’t care if it was just a sardine, but a big beautiful shiny fish like that…sob sob sob”. Oh man, I guess we should have chatted about that before it happened.
I went back on deck with a container to put the fresh fillets in and Mike suggested I give them a quick rinse. I agreed, then suggested I pop them in the fridge to which his response was ‘No we’ll put them in a pan.”
Hmmmm I thought, it’s a bit early for lunch, (10am) and I don’t really feel like fish for morning tea, but anyway, ok, I’ll cook them up.
I proceeded to do this, with some olive oil and salt. Fish doesn’t take long to cook and I cooked it till it flaked just like my Dad has always done. I had a taste and found it was great…
Cleaning up after catching a fish takes quite a bit longer and as I poked my head upstairs, just to see how things were going and should I bring up our strange but fresh morning tea, I felt a pang of doubt… hmmm maybe I should have clarified the putting them in a pan and cooking right then and there.
I wish I could have taken a video of Mike’s face when I suggested bringing them up on deck. He was incredulous but restrained and I just slipped back down below to pop some foil on what would now be the not so succulent delight he’d certainly been looking forward to- bugger! Wasn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last miscommunication between us.
Sadly no more fish were caught during the crossing. We tried once more, but at the sound of the line wizzing out, Seb was in tears again. It turned out to be seaweed and we had to put the rod away as there were beds of it for miles. Our freezer stopped working four or five days before we arrived. It had been full of meals I’d made and meat- half of which we had to throw away- (certainly couldn’t risk food poisoning!) but catching more food wasn’t an option!
Jan 21st
Still rolling along, side to side, slap, slap bang, roll roll and on it goes. We’ve seen almost no marine life in days. Whilst I don’t need a performance, a few sightings of something other than Flying Fish would be nice. Our friends, who are a few 100 miles behind us, have been visited regularly by whales. We’ve had flying fish- down the main companionway, into Mike’s dinner plate and kamikaze style all over the decks. Hey ho!
As I look at my almost entirely chipped off orange toe nail polish, (a treat to myself at the end of August after arriving in Barcelona 5 months ago) I’m yet again blown away by the passage of time. Even 17,18,19,20+ days, (goodness knows how many days it will end up being) of sailing across this vast expanse of ocean, will seem short after a few days of being near land again… or not!
Somewhere between the 21st and 25th
Today I decided to make hamburgers for dinner after an earlier attempt that hadn’t worked out quite as well as I’d have liked. Mike was just about to check the weather and the kids were engaged in some schoolwork. It was morning time and Mike retired to the bathroom for his morning ablutions. After a few minutes we heard a deep, loud and anguished “NOOOOOOOO, ” a noise that reverberated between the front head and the saloon wall. I suggested the kids stay where they were and went in to investigate.
The long and the short of it, the toilet had stopped flushing. No need to go into further detail, the fact that it needed to be flushed and wasn’t flushing should give you all the information you need- BIG ISSUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gloves, buckets, sponges and tools were extracted from their various locations and work began. Fixing these toilets is a shit of a job, pardon the pun, especially on the rolly platform that had become our norm. My goodness I felt sorry for Mike. The long and the short of it- Dental Floss. How it actually got in there is still a mystery. Mike doesn’t use it and I know I gave the kids a string a few times after eating mango, as well as using it myself. Now I can say with 100% surety that I did not put it in the toilet. I can also say with 100% surety that myself and the children didn’t conspire to put it in the toilet- can you imagine, “ok guys, 1, 2, 3- drop it in, lets see how funny Daddy finds this!!!!” No, I can assure you it had an accidental entry into the head HOWEVER it was in the head and Mike doesn’t use dental floss. He made us all go in one at a time to look at the result and somehow I don’t think there’ll be dental floss put into our heads ever again- at least not by our immediate family. He normally gets over things pretty quickly but this one took awhile. There were lots of references to it throughout the next few days. The funny thing was, during the entire ordeal I continued making hamburgers. I’d stop when I got the call, “KYLIE,” wander in, grab the buckets to be emptied, go back down, scrub my hands thoroughly, then get back to the burgers. This must have gone on for at least 2 hours- maybe more- time flies when you’re having fun!!!!!
So there you have it, a few moments of our Atlantic Crossing. Unfortunately I started feeling a bit rough again for the last few days and then the sea sate was awful so we decided to hand steer for the last 36 hours to save the auto-pilot. That was quite the experience! I’m pleased to say I was able to do my share of steering. My plans for getting onto that well overdue self- maintenance I’d been storing up for weeks went out the window. Fortunately I’m still on the ‘Care Factor 0’ for some things. I spent a huge amount of time reflecting on people in my life. People I went to school with, people from Uni, work collegues and mostly my family. The journey gave me some time to think about what’s important to me, and specific things I’d like to do along this adventure and in the future.
Despite certain frustrations and the odd miscommunication, I am blown away by my husband’s capabilities, determination and preparation of our boat and our safe passage across the Atlantic. I have an insight into what he’s been doing all these years and whilst I don’t envy it I do respect it.
A friend we met up with on arrival suggested that I must feel a huge sense of achievement at crossing. To be honest I felt relief- a huge sensation of relief. I think if you’ve always wanted to do something and you achieve it then you feel that sense. Would I do it again? Not tomorrow or next week but never say never. Ha ha ha, that ‘forget mechanism’ has already started to kick in. For now, that’s one ocean crossed. We’re going to enjoy pottering from Island to Island for a while. From the SOL crew for now, thank you to everyone who followed us along the way. I promise you, you were with us in spirit. It was incredibly humbling to read everyone’s messages after we’d settled in. Thank you, it means more than you can ever know. Love to all- SOL crew out!
Just to let you know we are leaving Las Palmas today to start our Atlantic crossing. Click on the above link to find out where we are over the next 3 weeks, (OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!)
Not sure if you’ll hear from us until we’re on the other side, but one thing’s for sure, there will be some stories to tell.
Bye for now and thanks for reading.
I can assure you the link to where we are, IS working… the winds however have not been in our favour. Consequently, we’ve stayed in Las Palmas, extended our exploration of Gran Canaria, spent New Years with new friends and are now waiting until the Anemoi, (wind gods) blow, and in the right direction- apparently this coming Tuesday January 10th!
Patience and Flexibility seem key to this sailing malarkey- my report card at this stage might say something along the lines of ‘improvement required on certain key factors!’
July and August are almost a distant memory and it seems silly to delve into those early days on the boat. However, like a lot of things in life if you don’t reflect a little bit you forget what you’ve done and how far you’ve come. The extra days here in Las Palmas seems like the perfect opportunity to fill in the gaps.
Our very first post had us casting off the dock lines and leaving Valencia. All of a sudden it was December and we were sipping Moroccan mint tea and wandering amongst the Souks of Rabat and Fez. Sorting out the blog and internet took time but so did finding the right head-space to share the experience.
There’s quite a bit of the ‘in between’ that probably doesn’t need to be shared, although I’m keen to give people an authentic view of life on board, from my perspective of course! Facebook Fabulous gets a bit boring after awhile, I’ve never been that good at faking it!
I personally felt incredibly restricted in/on the boat, both physically and mentally. There wasn’t any space or way to switch off. My bathroom time became a public event, (this isn’t any different from home I guess apart from the fact that the area is approximately 1m by 1m!). I hated the noises the boat made, the constant movement, the bloody nautical terms!!! Sheets and halyards, boom-vang and foreguy, (all different ropes by the way and as there’s so many of them they need different names to differentiate them) whatever they’re called they could all go to hell as far as I was concerned. As for the Head, the only reason I could find for calling the toilet the head was because it’s where I wanted to shove mine most of the time!
Sea sickness, plummeting self esteem, second guessing myself all the time, feeling like an absolute wally at everything as everything needs to be done in a certain way (and there’s nothing like having your husband tell you how it all needs to be done), one child going through very early puberty, and being overtaken by this apathetic, almost complete disinterest in anything to do with sailing, have meant our first few months have been anything but smooth sailing.
I have on many more than one occasion considered changing the name of this blog to www.If#ckinghatehomeschooling.com.- the link doesn’t work by the way I already tried it! I could go on and on about the ‘joys’ of this task, but all I’ll say for now is one child hates maths and will do everything she can to get out of it, including starting major fights. The other has not enjoyed anything to do with writing and his fierce competitiveness means stroppy belligerence when he’s not keeping up with his older sister I’m Mum to them, not their teacher and the rubbish they pull on me would never happen to their teachers in a regular school. I take my hat off to all teachers, especially the good ones- Stevie that’s you!
I think, (fingers crossed, toes crossed, everything crossed) that we are making progress, but many a tear has been shed during our sessions and not just by the small people!
It can be hard to have a mirror held up to your face for so long and so often, especially when you’re so damn unsure of your appearance!
Anyway, enough of all that… we’re still here, that is the 4 of us on the boat, finding our way and learning on a daily, sometimes hourly basis how we can make this work. As a new friend, now seasoned but previously novice sailor and fellow Victorian told me the other day-‘ you can’t shrink from this experience- you can only grow! You can’t go back’
Speaking of going back… here’s where we’ve been.
I touched on the fact that we went to Mallorca after Formentera. From Mallorca we sailed to Menorca picking up our dear friends The Marco/Martinez clan and proceeded to almost circumnavigate the island with lots of land based exploring on the way. It was only our second week on the boat so we were well and truly adjusting to it all- thank you Juan and Laura for remaining friends with us after a week together in a small space!!!!
From Menorca we sailed across to Sardinia, spending far too little time in the Maddalena Islands before picking up Mike’s childhood friend Monty, his wife Claire and son Flint. We rendezvoused with them in Porto Ercole, then moseyed our way to Giglio, (literally the Island of Lily’s) Elba and then Capraia.
There was much exploring, swimming, jellyfish avoidance and gelato consumption during our time together. New games played, silly songs invented, a simultaneous bushfire and shipwreck exploration and surprising harmony between 2 boys aged 7 and 11 and a 9 year old girl.
We said our Arriverderci’s in Pisa and spent a few days exploring the surrounding area, using the buses and trains. We visited the Leaning Tower, (yes we got the cheesy photo holding it up) and discovered a fabulous interactive Leonardi Da Vinci Museum in Florence.
Fabulous, fabulous despite the crowds.
We then went from Pisa to La Spetzia, Porto Venere, then along the Cinque Terre, stopping in Vernazza, then Sestri Levante. Portofino, Varazze and San Remo completed our time in Italy and we continued along the Riviera to France. We anchored in a beautiful spot beside the Ille de Sainte Marguerite just off the coast of Canne. The Man in the Iron Mask is supposed to have ‘resided’ in the prison found here for 12 years. We visited some spectacular places, including Sanary sur Mer, La Ciotat- thank you Lisa, Lilly and James for coming to visit and The Calanques.
Before we knew it, we were heading to Barcelona to put the boat up on the hard.
Total Miles- 1308
Nights at sea- 5
Nights in Marinas- 9
Nights on mooring buoy-4
Nights at anchor-31
Mike headed back to Sardinia and then France for work and the kids and I headed to France and England for the next 5 weeks.
I’ll detail that trip in the next post, this one is already getting a bit long.
For now, from us all on SOL- May 2017 bring you health and happiness wherever you are in the world.
You should be able to find exactly where we are by clicking on Where are we now? This will take you directly to our predict wind tracker site and show you how we’re getting on…(I hope!!)
One of my greatest fears, apart from crossing the Ocean Blue, homeschooling my kids, Mike, myself or the kids falling ill or being badly injured during the duration of this journey or finding myself walking down the street wearing socks AND sandles, has been the kids losing their Spanish.
Early on in the voyage, they would speak to each other in Español as they were playing, singing songs and conversing quite freely if we came across other Spanish speakers. Little by little their Spanish has begun to diminish as they play with other English speaking kids. They’re no longer comfortable ordering at a cafe or asking for la cuenta, (the bill).
One of Mikes greatest, lets call it a worry rather than a fear, is that the autopilot stops working and the two of us are left hand steering for possibly 2-3 weeks. It comes down to a question of safety. I guess we could do it but you have to really question the reasons why we are taking on this journey. Making ourselves ridiculously exhausted and potentially putting our kids and ourselves in danger due to poor decision making isn’t on the list. There’s still the issue of seasickness to contend with from my part.
Enter Juan. After our trip from Rabat to Las Palmas we started to seriously consider taking someone else with us across the Atlantic. There are posters all over the place in the marina from people looking for a ride across the Ocean Blue. Mike had taken a few photos of possible people and suggested we think about it. I wasn’t all that keen but one morning Juan walked up to our boat and asked if we were looking for crew. Timing is everything and to cut a long story short, we decided to add him to the crew list.
He’s a Spanish native, looking to improve his English but happy to only speak to the kids in Spanish! Bingo, and so continues their and my Spanish experience and Mike is happy to teach him English!
Our planned date of departure was today- ever ambitious, the fact that it was blowing like stink and the sea state was less than favorable has given us a little bit more time to get organised. We spent most of last week provisioning for our trip across, along with maintaining the Christmas Spirit and the boat has been upside down-stuff everywhere, both of us wishing we had a magic wand, a Tardis-like boat or far more storage than we have! As a result we didn’t end up exploring as much as we’d have liked however we did go for a drive and walk up a hill as we like to do. Pictures tell a great story so I’ll leave it there and let you see for yourselves.
We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. It’s been different this year for us, and I’ve missed my family and friends, however we have met some wonderful people and shared the festive season with like-minded people far more experienced at cruising than we are. Very valuable to gain their insights and perspective on things and the kids have played non stop with other children.
So from SOL, for now it’s time to head to bed as we are very likely setting off tomorrow afternoon. Enjoy the pics and hopefully next time you check the tracker we’ll have some miles under our belt!
From Vacillation to Infinity-A Slice of Life 