Morning in Marigot Bay

We took a short weekend trip from Southern Martinique over to St Lucia to visit Marigot Bay and Rodney Bay once again. Luc and Nicole, our new friends from Belgium, invited us for a dinner in Marigot Bay last night and shared with us their stories of Mr Bernard Moitessier, as they knew him the years before he passed away in the beginning of the 90s. Fascinating man, the man of the myth. A lovely dinner was enjoyed on the cozy Rainforest Hideaway in the end of the bay - with live music and a beautiful atmosphere. Thanks guys for a great night! /Taru

Rainforest Hideaway, St Lucia.

Friday in the Caribbean

From one thing to something a bit more enjoyable. Today we're enjoying a warm and sunny day here in Martinique, +32°C, chill breeze and just enough clouds so that we're able to get a calm pause every ones in a while from the steaming hot sun. We've decided to take it easy this afternoon with some pizza and drinks without no distraction from anyone. Or maybe we'll join the carnival on the other beach later on, who knows if we'll have energy over. It is a very hard life we're living, mind you. Have a lovely weekend dear readers. / T&A

World Wide Web full of Wackos

Internet is a funny place. Not only do you have to watch out for distant friends and acquaintances who doesn't master the fine arts of integrity and common sense as well as yourself and they might post texts and photos taken of you without your permission on their private blogs, Facebook walls or twitter pages, but there are also another type of creepy followers out there. With a blog like ours, this is maybe something to get used to as we're kind of private here and I can't hide the fact that there might be some content and photos in this blog which might tempt and distract and frustrate the ones who are easy to provoke. Let me now present to you one of the latest admirers of ours. This is a guy who apparently has a lot of spare time in his life and he has for a while now tried to get our attention, usually I do not let crazy people like this disturb my day but this one is so funny that I'd like to share it with you all:

First email of this conversation:

Whereupon I very shortly replied:

"Luis, get a life and fuck off, will you?

Best regards, Taru"

And this was something that apparently made him go crazy over there in Portugal as he took it one step further. He copied our little conversation and he sent it out to all of our sponsors and advertisers on the blog and sent me a copy of all the emails, saying:

He took the time to collect all of the email addresses he could possibly find on the Internet connected to the brands we work with, just to make sure that someone, please anyone!, could hear what he had to say. Also what is funny is that he said the same thing to all of the sponsors, "As a client of North Sails, Sperry Top Sider, Remoska .." Hilarious.

Isn't this such a funny anecdote from the world of online behavior in the 21st century. How many frustrating people are there out there, I wonder? How many unhappy and desperate human beings will we have to encounter - we bloggers and people who share our stories online. It comes with the job I assume, saying this with six years of blogging experience, but never will I stop getting surprised over how many of those locos there are out there. Like I said to Alex earlier; "we have just crossed one of the largest oceans of the world to get away from bullshit yet it seem to follow us more now than ever".

Oh lord, I'd much rather read stuff like this.

/Taru

Updates

We've got so many stories, videos and photos to process that we don't know where to start. There is still so much to tell you guys about the Atlantic crossing, we just need to get it all together properly. Until it's all sorted out, check out the newly updated route page and be patient for a while longer please. Speak to you again soon. /T&A

Home again

My snow princess is back on the boat and everything is back to normal. 

Alex

Winter in Helsinki

Not much sailing on these waters right now, though it is perfect for a promenade or skiing and the water will probably be covered with 20-50 cm of ice for a couple of more weeks.

Boats on the hard.

Uspensky orthodox cathedral, one of the most important symbols showcasing the Russian impact on Finnish history.

Homemade berry pie.

Photography in my veins.

The ferry I've taken about a million times in my childhood/youth. This one goes between Helsinki, Finland-Stockholm, Sweden. I lived the first eight years of my life in Finland, the following sixteen in Sweden and the rest a little bit everywhere in the world as you already might know.

Finnish coast guard.

Everything is still covered with snow.

My best friends café? Fanny när kommer du och hälsar på oss?? Saknar dig!

Tram in the city.

Typical townhouse 1.

Typical townhouse 2.

Beautiful wooden boat and the electricity center in the background (or whatever it is called in English?) power plant in the background.

One of many of Alvar Aaltos works. Finland's most famous architect. He once said: "We should work for simple, good, undecorated things" "but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited for the little man on the street." 

A given stop on every Helsinki visit. Finnish chocolate at its best, from Fazer.

Another must-stop after cold winter promenades, the bar at Hotel Kämp.

With one of my sisters. I have five sisters/half sisters/step sisters FYI. This is the only one with the same mother. (What happened to my hair on this pic? Jesus Christ.)

Homemade dinner.

With one of my other lovely sisters.

Yes it was cold. Terribly inhumanly cold but as I came here for bad news which turned out to transform into very good news, I am extremely happy anyway and it was definitely worth all those minus-degrees to fly over and spend some days with my two (of three) families. Although I prefer to live in the sun and as far away from coldness like this as possible, Finland will always have a special place in my heart. Hoping to be able to show the Finnish summer to you all one day as well. Cause as beautiful it might be in the winter, it is even more dreamlike when in bloom. Will bring Alex with me next time for sure.

Now: Flying to Paris to spend a night with one of my good friends due to 12 hours waiting in between flights and then finally finally home to my baby again. /Taru

На здоpовье!

When my father goes to bed, his beautiful Russian wife digs up the 20 year old Russian vodka bottles from the lockers. Just my kind of woman. The drinks goes down well with Jimi Hendrix softly playing in the background. I definitely understand and support the Finnish and Russian alcohol culture, how otherwise could you keep yourself warm in cold winters like this. Cheers.

Sweets of the night

Warming our cold souls tonight with Finnish chocolate, Jewish music and a sweet Cypriot dessert wine after a long winter walk through the icy but beautifully white city. It's my last night in winter-land, tomorrow I'm off to le caribe again. Can't wait to get back home to my love and the boat. Taru

Greetings from winterland

I guess I don't have to tell you it's freezing over here.

- 25°C!!!

Right now in Martinique

This is what I left behind. Turquoise water, tall green palm trees swinging in the wind, reggae or zouk sounding from a bar or a house next door, calm sea breeze chilling your sunburnt body, silky water for a refreshing swim, luscious gardens and colorful flowers, the loud and distinctive sound from the Coqui frogs singing in the nights, white and soft sand for miles-long promenades and +32°C (90°F) in the air.. Can't wait to get back!

My dad informed me of the -20°C (-4°F) situation in Helsinki to where I am on my way and I can't say it tempts me much though it is wonderful to see my dear family of course.

Yes Paris was the right answer of the last post. Brussels was a good try as well even though that city is far from my favorite ones in Europe. Paris is, although it today was colder and more different than ever.  /T

Today's quiz: Where am I?

It took me eight hours to cross the ocean which had us sailing for almost one whole month for just some days ago. Weird contrast. I got an emergency reason to fly home to Finland for the weekend and have now made a half day stop in this city, my favorite of them all in Europe. Alex would die for this fresh perfectly made croissant I'm devouring in this very moment. This is the first time me and my man are away from each other since we met actually, so that is a bit weird, too. I will be back with him in Martinique after the weekend if everything goes as planned. /Taru

Martinique

Our friends have left to Miami and me and Alex have just left St Lucia behind and now arrived to Fort de France, the capital of Martinique. We will shortly begin to explore this colorful French island. I just have to catch up with some work and I'll be back with some stories, photos and videos from the last couple of weeks later on, ok.

Bisous et à bientôt,

Taru

Last night with our friends

Photo from Stina's blog.

Our friends ordered Barracuda for dinner...

and here it is.... The fisherman is back in business!

In Marigot Bay

Hello world! Finally Internet connection again. Our satellite unit crashed on the 21st day and I've been dying to give you all an update or two. Anyway, we arrived as I shortly mentioned in the last post (the Blackberry couldn't post anything else than a title - facebook has served us good at least...) in Barbados yesterday and after picking up our friends we sailed over to St Lucia and Marigot Bay. It is beautiful here and we are enjoying a wonderful vacation now and for the rest of the weekend. It is very interesting that so many of you thought that we've been fighting or killed each other or something but the truth is that we fought much less than anywhere else during this crossing, simply because there wasn't much to fight about, no stress, no deadlines and so on... The last five days of the crossing was a bit of a roller-coaster in other ways though. 20 foot seas, constant wind never less than 25 knots and gusts up to 46 knots. Insane ride. Not at all like we expected the Atlantic crossing, yet it feels amazing to have it done. 

Will let you know all about it later on though, now more rum punch please! /T

Atlantic crossing - day 25 - Arrived in Barbados

Atlantic crossing - day 20

Miles left: 779.

Must say that we're quite bored and restless here right now. We're dreaming of our new existence in the Caribbean and can't wait to arrive to begin our new life over there. This rolling and bouncing and surfing and the constant change of blue and grey tones around your world can't be good for no humans brain for an extended period of time and it is remarkable how much things from ones past episodes of life comes knocking on the door when cut off from the civilization like this. This journey has definitely been better and more fulfilling than any therapy session in the world, for both of us. Jesus.

5 more days to go. /Taru

Dish of the week

It has been quite a busy year for me, therefore the lack of writings from my part. They are quite a high maintenance both my woman and the boat and most of these last fifteen months has meant to make these two women of my life happy and ready for this journey we have now embarked on. Finally I can see a little bit of relief on both the maintenance and stress and we all look forward to get some well deserved vacation once we get to the Caribbean.

I want to share with you my toerail to toerail rolling dish even though I am sure most of you sailors already are familiar with it. Some days at sea are just not meant for gourmet cookings as the 15 foot following seas and strong winds doesn't allow you to much more than boiling pasta opening a can ... you got the picture. This is how you do it.

Boil pasta, panfry one can of corned beef, add fried and dry onions, mix all together and enjoy. This is very good. If you ask Taru she maybe will say that the smell and consistence of corned beef reminds her of the smell and consistence of cat food coming from cans with obscure names like "pussy" or "mjau" but who said life on sea always should be easy? Bon Appétit. 

Alex

Atlantic Crossing - Day 17

We have seen life! There are actually other life existing on this ocean than only flying fish! Hallelujah.

Today's attraction was definitely this tanker. On the AIS we got informed that it was going towards Houston, Texas but as far as we could understand it was heading towards East so it is clear that there must be more people than we who are confused here on the sea. 

While Alex could help me sort out most of my scientific questions which I had the other night, he still cannot give me a clear answer on how many flying fishes will be enough for one meal for two people. This I will try to figure out tonight. /T