Stormy weather

We were kind of supposed to leave towards St Martin today to visit our new boat, but this heavy rain and thunderstorm won't let us. We just had some gusts up to 60 knots of wind here in this bay and when studying the storm potentials on this excellent website, it also looks like we should keep an eye out for a tropical storm that is now building East of the antilles. We know that we aren't in the most perfect place on earth at this time of the year considering what season it is but let's hope no hurricanes will arrive at least before we get ourselves away from here.

Will need to be in Martinique by the 28th at the latest.

Rum for all

Here's our friend Byron. He's homeless and spends his days hanging around here in between Nelsons Dockyard and Falmouth Harbor. He sometimes asks people for money and so also us and I guess we've given him some dollars every time we had something with us. Since we have gotten to know each other better now as we've been around here a few months, we occasionally buy him a bottle of rum, too, because that's what he anyway will go and buy for the money. Who doesn't get happier with some warming and delicious rum? I know I do. And once when we had cleaned the boat here and we gave Byron some clothes that Alex no longer uses, he turned around and looked at us with a bothered face: "Clothes? For what? Does it look like I'm homeless or what?" whereupon he cracked up in his characteristic loud laughter while he happily grabbed the bag. Ahahah. Gotta love this guy. Think we'll need to get him another bottle of Cavalier before we leave this place.

It's all about time

One other good thing with leading a life like we do, far from it all to repeat myself for the hundredth time, is that you have all the time in the world to make all those things you never usually would have the time for. At home in the city, you continue to collect pages from magazines, handwritten notes and bookmarks are slowly filling up your computer with things that you should get back to, to read one day when "there is time for it", but you always end up not coming back to it, simply cause a normal life doesn't offer much free time in the end. A normal life is too busy anyway and doesn't in fact offer that much free time to reflect, breath and to do what you always wanted to do alone, in peace. Our society is not made for this type of relaxations, it is made for working hard and constantly delivering results.

Here, on the other hand, we have all the the time we wish to read all of those books we always wanted to devour, we have the time to check off all those movies from that miles-long list of old classics, Alex has all the time he want for all of his boat projects (never ending, he always find something new to do), I have plenty of time for my book project (I see no end to this either, never thought a book would take so much time to write/photograph/edit) and also I can take my time to try out new interesting concoctions whenever I feel like. If you have followed us, you should know that I've been curious about the meat from the goats here in Antigua for quite some time now, and while we've tried the famous local speciality goat water a couple of times in several different local restaurants, I've finally had the chance to try it out myself, too. 

This goat stew on the picture is made with tons of garlic, a massive amount of yellow onion and a spicy pepper sauce. This was my first time ever to cook with goat but I prepared it more or less like I would have done with lamb. The meat itself is very low in fat with almost no marbling, just what I guessed, and I cooked it very slowly over low heat. Made for a good meal with butter and lemon cooked rice and enjoyed with a refreshing bottle of sparkling water. I'll probably try the curry stew version next time.

I have tons of more Caribbean delights and interesting new ingredients I wish to try out when there is time for it, and it is definitely a joy to be able to go them trough, one after another. Guava muffins or guava cake is something I wish to have the opportunity to get together soon too, maybe already tonight.

One night in Antigua

Lots of work done here today. We slept an amazing 13 hours last night and worked for approximately 12 today. Up again quite early tomorrow morning to finalize some stuff with the moving of things from the boat to our storage on land and then we have approximately 3-4 days left here on this island for this season as it seems, before we set sail towards new adventures in the Southern parts of the Caribbean island chain.

I'm also still fixing with this blog as you might have noticed, far from done with it, and I'm currently filling up with some highlights from this tour and also adding posts into the food/drinks section. If you have any suggestions on which posts to add in the highlights page, please let me know. Would be fun to know which posts from this journey have been your favorites thus far. I hope you all had a good weekend.

Lunch break

When not in the mood of cooking (it is almost too hot to cook here during the days anyway) we enjoy going to one roadside shack where Grace, a Grenadian woman who lived on this island for more than 20 years now, serves the most delicious Antiguan food. For 15 ECD (approximately 5:50 USD) you will get a plate of home-cooked, authentic meal based on either baked chicken, lamb, curry conch or baked pork served with the traditional rice and beans, some plantain banana, macaroni pie and fresh salad. We've tried many local restaurants around here but the best so far must be this one, Grace Before Meals is the name of the place and it is located in a small bright-colored orange/yellow house on the road between Falmouth Harbor and Nelson's Dockyard. Make sure to check it out next time you're around if you want to enjoy a delightful Caribbean meal.

Good morning world

It's 6.30 and we're sitting here planning for the nearest future. Lots on our mind. The new boat. When should we leave. What about the hurricanes. Where should we go after Antigua. When will we be done with what has to get done on Caos. What is the plan when we get South. The new boat again. Is it a good choice. What are the benefits with such a drastic change of boat/home/vehicle and so on... You might think that we are on a permanent vacation of some sort, but this life is also very much our normal life. We have everyday things to deal with even though we might have chosen to call the world our home instead of having a fixed land based house or an apartment. We also have a future to plan for and we want to make sure that we take the right decisions and make the right moves, you know all those questions that most of us have to deal with in this world. Ok I can admit that the majority of things are easier to handle when you are not forced to work 9-5 and instead you're able to take those life decisions while surrounded by beaches and palm trees and beautiful nature, but still, this is our life and no matter how the layout of it looks, we want to make sure we do the things right. One thing that is really really annoying right now though, call it a luxe problem if you want, but the temperature and the humidity is almost unbearable here in the Caribbean at the moment. And when you are not on the beach or swimming, it is a joke to try to be fresh when sweat is constantly pouring down your skin. That's one of those problems we have to deal with over here..

Have a great Thursday you all. /T

Work it

Great gym here at the Antigua Yacht Club. First time I visit a proper gym in around ten months. Well needed. Usually gym's are not suitable for this sailing gypsy lifestyle we're living and I have to find my own ways of keeping myself in shape on the boat, but it's perfect when we're staying longer in one place like we're doing right now. Will abuse this gym to the max as long as we're here in Antigua. We only live once as far as I know, so no reason to be anything less than the best looking we ever can during that only lifetime.

And as for Alex you ask? He doesn't need anything but natural physical work to keep himself in good shape. He has that sexy toned muscular street fighter kind of look on his body no matter what he does or eats. Very annoying. /T

A Saturday sail

We had a great day of sailing yesterday with fine conditions. It was also finally about time we got a couple of photos of our Caos under sail, after having sailed her now for almost two years together. She's beautiful, isn't she? /T

Mango fever

Essentials in the Caribbean: Ice-cold water. A handful of mango fruits. Ray Ban shades. Can't fail with that combo accompanied by sunshine, laughter, love, beach and the sea. xoxo

Last nights catch

And indeed also last nights dinner.. Sunset and sunrise are the best times of the day to get fish, as I've learnt from my fisherman. Yesterday Alex caught three barracudas in the short period of 40 minutes. The two first ones were too big and I asked him to let them go (greater risk of having to encounter ciguatera, remember?), while the last one was this tiny little baby barracuda, perfect in size for a dinner for us two. Was delicious with garlic and coriander gravy served with oven roasted potatoes. Sorry no picture taken of the meal as the light went out of this place. Here's instead one barracuda meal I made one summer in Sardinia, Italy, if you remember? /T

By the way, we have just edited "our route" post, check it out here.

Greetings from the tropics

Happy weekend. Again. It feels like it was yesterday I wished you the same last time. Time flies fast when you're having fun, no? I have by the way started to accept my new blonde hair. Never though I would say this but I could even go as far as saying that I love it. I've definitely always seen myself as a true brunette and had really hard to imagine being able to keep up a classy appearance with lighter hair, but obviously it works pretty well, this too. Who knows how long this love will last, but at least my hair feels much better now than when treated with chocolate colored dye every second month. The less beauty maintenance here on the seas, the better. Just need to find the energy and will one day to bleach a bit more on the ends to be able to remove the orange hue and then we're all set.

Well that's all for today. The weekend is here and I've dressed up in my new tropical dress to go out for some curry conch and jerk chicken with my man. Simple Caribbean food at its best. Hasta luego amigos and have a great weekend wherever you are in the world. /T

One of those weekends

Here's one of my new friends. I was lucky enough to meet a guy the other week who offered me the opportunity to ride his racehorse whenever I wanted to, for no cost, just because he doesn't have enough time for it himself. Now "my" horse had just lost one of his shoes so there was no riding opportunity this time, but at least I got introduced to the horses at the ranch and hopefully the farrier will have the new shoes fixed soon after the holidays so I can get back to the stable and get out riding in just a few days. I haven't been in the saddle since I was in Bahrain last time, and that must have been at least two years ago now. Can't wait to get out in the woods with big red, as is the throughbred racehorse's name (it is not the horse in this pic though, will introduce you to him a bit later).

Well hello there beautiful.

Alex saved me from my ambitious three course dinner plans and said he was dying for some hamburgers, thanks for that! It's too hot to cook here anyway! 

So we went to one favorite hangout where the best fast food, ice-cream and drinks are served by some locals.

On the morning after we left for yet another dinghy excursion. The inflatable dinghy is our everyday vehicle, just like a car or a bike is on land, and we love packing it full with snorkeling and diving equipment, freshly made picnic, fishing rods and some books to read under an umbrella and get out to one of the vast amount of beaches, the beautiful bays and exploring new areas of the islands. 

We found a deserted little spot in Rendevouz Bay where we made a fire and ate hot dogs for lunch.

Went for a walk in the woods.

And by the beach...

Beautiful surroundings.

And warm water.

Alex was fishing from the dinghy on the way home, he got something....

Something BIG!

A huge tarpon!!!

This particular sort of fish is known for its fight and for the show he puts up when being caught and he was literally pulling us and our little dinghy all around the bay. The rod Alex got this beast with was the lightest of all the rods we have here onboard, quite impressive. Would have been nice to catch the tarpon but on the other hand it felt almost better when he finally released himself from the hook and could get back to the sea where he belongs. But wow what an impressive fish, I've never seen them before.

We went to buy some ice-cream. Here with a delicious orange sorbet.

There has been a fishing tournament going on during the weekend and we went to English Harbor to attend the price giving ceremony and to have a look at the big stuff they caught for the day. Here a big wahoo.

Same equipment as Alex has. Shimano Tiagras all around.

More wahoos waiting to get weighted.

Fish for sale.

It was a great festive feeling in English Harbor. Kids playing.

While the women were drinking cocktails.

Sexy Carib girls promoting Carib beer.

Done with fishing for today.

How cute.

I wonder how many years it took to save to that length?

People gathered to get a glimpse of the beast of the day.

Crazy huge.

A 464 lbs marlin fish. (210 kg!)

Mmmm popcorn...

I have said it before, and I'll say it again: Antigua is Amazing with a capital A. Best place with the greatest variety we've experienced so far in the Caribbean islands. We have everything we need here in terms of climate, the beautiful nature, the people are great and easy to connect with, the waters are fantastic, there is good infrastructure, the place offers easy sailing distance to many other lovely places and countries and it seems like there will be no problem at all to find things to do around here. 

One important part of this world tour journey we've embarked on, is to one day perhaps be able to figure out where to settle with that little house we have planned to build for ourselves, and Antigua has climbed right up to number one on the list of places we've seen since we left our home in Barcelona for eight months ago. So who knows what will happen after this world tour, maybe it is in Antigua we will get our very own land-based home. A place on a cliff where we will have our serene vacation spot where we'll be staying in between our travels of the ocean. A place where we will be able to unload all those treasures we've collected on our travels, and maybe it is here we one day will set up that intimate restaurant in connection to our own garden that we have in mind? Who knows? All we know for now is that we love Antigua and the only thing wrong with this place is that it is very far away from our families and friends with no easy and direct flight connections to any of our homes in Europe. I guess our search for the perfect place to buy land will continue for a couple of years to come, but until we found something better, Antigua will stay right there at the top. Competing with our beloved Mediterranean of course. /T