Beautiful Barbuda

From one paradise to another..

Can you see our boat in the background?

Green Island part II

We made a three day stop in Green Island and Nonsuch Bay again before heading further. We love this place! So extremely beautiful waters, peaceful atmosphere and here's almost no other people nor boats during this time of the year. Yes it might be hurricane season and we need to be aware of the weather changes and the possible alerts of tropical storms, but that gives us also the serenity and the feeling of being totally disconnected to the rest of the world which is incredibly fulfilling and needed from time to time.

Don't forget to check our route on the Spot tracker if you're curious about where we are in the world. /T

Stars of the ocean

We're out diving and snorkeling this weekend..

Happiness is...

To spend your life at sea, touched and embraced by the simpleness, the beautiful and raw world of water that can be so gentle yet so unforgiving at the very same time. Happiness is to be able to jump from deck into the crystal clear ocean, feel the life and energy of water flashing around your naked body. You are one now, for the seconds your body rapidly burst through the water you are one, just like the moments before you were born. Naked, wet, surrounded by water. 

Happiness is to swim up towards the surface, to rise up from the sea into the warm air where the sun quickly dries your skin, giving you warmth from the evening rays of sunshine. It is to draw your hands through your salty hair and realize that these absolutely simple things are what helps a human being feeling free. Completely and utterly free. The excitement and joy from the moment makes you promise yourself that you will never let anything come in between you and your relationship with the nature. Nothing should ever take that freedom away from you. Nothing, ever. /T

Fish of the day

We let him swim back into the sea though. Not too interested in eating too big predators from these waters. It's a big tuna we want! Long time since we had some proper home made sushi now. I know that many have asked about how I prepare sushi on the boat and I promise to show it to you next time my man catch a tunny. We'll have plenty of time to fish now in the next couple of weeks when cruising between these lovely islands.

Ginger and wasabi are purchased, now it's only a tuna that's missing! /T

Rewind

A perfect track for warm Caribbean nights. Or for any night anywhere for that matter...

Our schedule for the next four weeks

Some general plans (might change):

Upcoming weekend: More exploration of the East coast of Antigua.

Next week and the following: Chilling out in Barbuda, shopping wine, cheese and boat parts in St Marteen, exploring the stylish St Barths for a few days. 

Thereafter: Sailing down to the Southern part of St Lucia for some days. We missed the Pitons last time we were around and we look forward to catch up where we left off. Followed by St Vincent and the Grenadines, a dine and wine stop at Basils bar in Mustique and finishing with some snorkeling in Tobago Cays before we hit Grenada.

If you guys have any for us suitable and interesting tips regarding any of those islands, please let us know and if any of our fellow cruisers or other friends are around, make sure to drop us a note!

WKND Romance

Most people would probably say that sailing around the world with the person you love the most is the most romantic thing to do in life, and I guess it is in a way. I mean let's face it, we have much more time to really enjoy the beautiful things in life, the company of each other and all the amazing moments we're sharing. We have the peace, time and space for taking things in in a way one can never obtain when surrounded by normal-life stress and obligations, so yes, the life we lead is naturally made for romance and fulfillment. But this sailing around the world thing has also became our life, our day to day occupation, nonetheless it is amazing and also very romantic at many occasions, but still it is our everyday world. What is something outside of the ordinary for us though, is to every once in a while treat ourselves with a getaway like the one we did the other weekend at Cocos Hotel. Luxury for you guys on land might be spending a week on a sailing-boat in the Caribbean, exploring new deserted beaches, eating freshly caught food from the ocean, while luxury for us could be to get away from the cramped living for a while, spread ourselves out on a huge bed covered with soft white sheets, waking up to a breakfast which was not made by any of ourselves and indulge in excellently prepared food, just a two minute walk from that bed. A get away from one paradise to another.

The weather was unfortunately not perfect that weekend and I'm sad for all those photos I couldn't take because of the rain and grey skies but still we had an amazing time. Instead of swimming and chilling by the private beach which we anyway do quite a lot in our everyday life, we enjoyed many hours in a wonderfully large bed (I guess it was normal size, it's just that it felt overwhelmingly large compared to the one in our boat). We also spent many hours on the terrace observing our everyday playground from above, we ate tons of amazing food and drank sweet tropical drinks while the rain poured down outside. 

I guess we're not the regular all-inclusive type of clients, this being the first time in our lives we try out this type of service where everything is included in the price, but for this weekend it was just perfect. No thinking needed. Dinner, breakfast and lunch was served right in the moment we wanted it to be and drinks were available to refresh ourselves at any second of the day. This specific all-inclusive resort was also just perfectly intimate and private with its 26 beautiful cottages, and the ambiance was just as wonderful, colorful and peaceful as you dream of a seaside West Indian establishment to be. Amazing times were had. We would recommend this place to anyone, any day of the week, and the great service we received made it even one step more delightful.  /T

Cruising friends in the Balearic islands

Camilla on s/v Isola

Caribbean is most wonderful and lovely in so many ways but we can't help but miss our beloved Mediterranean a little, especially at this time of the year when we know that both the people, the ambiance and the temperature just have awakened and they're all getting ready for a glorious season ahead. The summer has officially just begun over there and Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca, Sardinia, Corsica and the French and Italian rivieras are experiencing their most blooming and gorgeous times of the year. And it doesn't quite help to read and see the beautiful blog of our friends Camilla and Adam. They have just left their berth in Barcelona for a summer tour around the Balearic islands and their pictures and stories brings back so many warm feelings and memories from one of our most favorite parts of the world.

Go and check in on our friends stylish Mediterranean adventures aboard their Hallberg Rassy 312, they almost encourage us to steer our boat back across the Atlantic to take part of the best sailing season in one of the best sailing areas in the world. /T&A

A perfect sailing weekend

We left Falmouth Harbor the other morning when the sun finally reappeared on the sky. It was a beautiful clear and fresh day, blue sky, birds were flying above our heads, the wind was stable and blowing from SE, giving us a nice broad reach sail towards the Northeastern side of this island.
We dropped the hook in an empty Mamora Bay. A bay which attracts super yachts and many sailboats during high season but which was quiet and peaceful this time of the year. We could see many new constructions being built on the hillside, and the popular St James's club resort at the beachfront.We took our dinghy to shore, met a parade of goats strolling along on the beach. This family was mainly white with some black heads, some beige patterns, very lightly mixed with other colors. Funny to later on meet another goat family where almost all were brown and black with just a few white spots here and there.We pulled the dinghy up on shore, had a walk on the beach. This was the morning after the world was supposed to end and we pictured ourselves to be the only people left on the planet. Us and these goats, some birds. For a while we tried to imagine how it would be like, to arrive to an island or continent and realize that you were the only ones left. Certainly intriguing. Or if we would have done this trip for let's say 300 years ago, how would it feel to step ashore on an alien land, with no clue of what to expect. Sometimes we wish the world was more unexploited. More raw, empty, free and less destroyed.

Found some beautiful corals and shells that had been washed up on land.
And bottles...
We hiked into a thick, dense forest. Found a black miniature bird on about 10 cm/4,5 inch with punky hair, anyone knows what's that?
We spent one night in that bay and moved on up North the day after.

Crystal blue waters, perfect sail. We sailed into the anchorage at Green Island, had a lunch on the boat, a walk on the island and a hot swim in the fantastic water surrounding it before we headed back to Falmouth harbor again. Such beautiful beautiful area we've discovered and these reef fringed island waters and bays are a joy to sail when conditions are as they were this weekend. We'll definitely be back here again very soon. As we sailed in, we also hoisted the sails to get out of the anchorage. Wonderful to not have to run the engine at all.12 knots of wind from the SE and we decided to fly the asymmetrical. Smoothly we sailed along the coats.How sexy is my captain? Seriously? And the sun went down just when we reached the entrance of Falmouth Harbor. We wanted to try to sail into our anchorage there as well and with only 4-5 knots of wind we slowly tacked our way to the spot. Took around 10 tacks and 45 minutes to get where we wanted and it felt like a great triumph to be able to quietly drop the hook without no engine sounding, in complete darkness after a tiring yet amazing day and weekend out on the sea. How different the world appears and how much lighter and brighter the minds works when there's sunshine instead of rain-clouds covering the sky. /T