Sailing the Big Blue!

It is still just the best of this life! To leave behind the land, to leave behind humans, to leave behind concrete, to leave behind....just to go and be, on the Big Blue!

We had three days ahead of us on the Blue....on our way to the BVI!

Kissing the lure in good hope....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best Skipper aboard by far...keeping the record for the most miles on a two hour shift! 

 

 

 

May this moment stay with me my whole life.....I prayed!

Tobago Cays!

We couldn`t sail away before a quick stop at Tobago Cays! How do I share this unbelievable beautiful place with you?  Marco had a swimming pool for a whole day, following turtles and for the first time I saw squid hanging like Star Wars ships in the water! I ll give you some photos...and maybe one day...

 

 

 

 

 

Sailing away!

We are sailing, we are sailing...

It was time to get that 20% serious, and get Brett and Teresa to fall in love with their yacht! We left the safe bay of Chuagaramas, and were heading for Grenada. Of course it is not a comfortable sail, and the Sea did what it always does to Grenada, and the wind did too! We were rolling into the sunset, and all the way in the dark night. But luckily it is not too far, and the next day we sailed into Prickley Bay. Of course Nauticat was there, and soon Denise flew by with her blond hair in the wind. We stayed the night, after we fixed the main halyard, and we left for Tyrell Bay.

We stayed just long enough in Prickley Bay to enjoy the huge fresh lobsters on the barbecue with a touch of garlic and lemon...

We only stayed for the night to sleep a bit, and then sailed towards Bequia! I just love this little island, and it was wonderful to walk in the same steps my brother and his family did, almost a year ago when they came for the visit.

 The water was the same blue, the Whaleboner the same sweet gin...
And I sat there on the bone(r) just for my sister in law...

It was Brett`s born day and we celebrated the whole day, first with candles never ending their little flame of love, and we ended the day in the Gingerbread restaurant.

The next day Johan and Marco and I gave Brett and Teresa some peace on their yacht, and walked over the hill to Friendship Hill. I found some tamarindo on a tree, and Johan shook them down for a lovely tamarindo sauce.

I found some coconuts, fresh for us...

And we went snorkeling on the beach, and it was really good. We saw this octopus, a pearly grey color pretending not to be there, but Marco was determined to coax him out of that rock. He ignored Marco and only decided to swim away in his pumping swing, when a silvery blue moray chased him out! What an amazing show we had....

It was time again, and we set the sails for the BVI! I was so excited! New territory!

 

Our Margaretha dear!

This blog is dedicated to her! I wish you could meet this person who came into our lives, and for those who did, you are so blessed!

Just like her name says, Margaretha, she is a 'Pearl'.  her name originates from German and Dutch, but that is way to boring for who she is, way to robust, way to restricted, and I kept on searching until I found her name where it belongs! Scandinavian! And there it also means 'Pearl!'

In our beloved country a little flower are named after her! In proud colors of pink and white, or yellow, some small and some bigger, they grow easily and thankfully where ever you drop a seed.
And she, she grows where you let her drop a seed of love...
In her proud colors of a ripple of her giggle she grows...on and in you, and in me, forever....

The Agyranthemun, the little flower`s scientific name, but in our folk tongue, a Magrietjie, she grows year after year, treasuring people around her as precious pearls. She strings them together and wears them around her neck, close to her heart.

Some call her the Summersong Daisy, and to us, she sang. She loves the sun, lifts her head up high, enjoys the warmth of her home in Trinidad. But at night she crawls under the covers as she misses home, as she loves the cooler months, and bears more flowers than ever! Even if she has to turn up the aircon in her bedroom to a shivering cold...

To us, she is the party planner, the girl with fun in her eyes, and she found the nourishing vitamins to share with Johan.

To us, she is the girl who touched Marco gently, and laughed at all his jokes.

 

 

To us, she was the girl who filled an emptiness. A girl who shared our laughter, our joy, our love...forever!

Good bye, Margaretha...see you soon in 'god' time!

 

First lesson in owning a yacht!

Here we were..contracted to teach Brett and Teresa all we knew about owning a yacht, all that we know about sailing three quarters of the Big Blue.  So we wondered, where should one start? Port, Starboard?

After sipping a slow gin and tonic, and my Skipper, his Carib Beer, we knew!

The first vital lesson they need to learn to make their life changing decision a success is:

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO HAVE A BALANCE!!
Not balancing yourselve to keep you from going over board. That is not easy, and if you do, there are lots of stuff that can safe you. So don`t worry, someone will throw a Danbuoy, or a life ring, or push a Man over board Button on your Raymarine, or if no one comes to your rescue, swim faster!

Back to the lessons!

REMEMBER TO HAVE A BALANCE!!

20% WORK and 80% SOCIAL - THE FIRST LESSON OWNING A YACHT.

So we started immediately with that! We enjoyed a dinner at Sails Retaurant with Dennis and Phoebe from Canada and met another South-African whose house burnt down in St. Francis, Paul. He treated us on too much good Rum and South-African wines!

BALANCE! Easy because we don`t have to worry about drinking and driving as we giggled into our dinghy on our way back to bed!

And when friends invited us for a house warming, we had to go! Marese and Mark moved into this fabulous Mexican looking rustic house, and we could almost play hide and seek!

 Me,Shonda, Maatjen, Marese, Margaretha, Teresa.

 

 

  

Coincidently she thinks, but all the time it was nicely planned as the clock struck twelve, Margaretha appeared with a lovely cheese cake and a burning candle and we all sang Teresa a happy bornday!

Still keeping the balance, we sailed the next day for her bornday to the leper colony islands,
and enjoyed the company of friends again. And for her birthday a bunch of dolphins gave her a show right in front of the bows, surfing the swells, dancing with the joy of life.

So as we sailed away from Trinidad the next day, we knew that we did everything we could to set a good example for the first lesson we tried to teach them.

 

She gets her new name!

She touched the water after being on the hard for almost seven months, and again I got that welcome home feeling! She was home indeed, with the water touching her belly...

We sailed to Scotland Bay, a snugly protected bay, and Teresa was ready to name her boat. Rudi, the builder of the Maverick, gave us a little book, "Renaming your boat, and other superstitions.", and we decided to keep this little book a part of the legacy for "Catlyn". We gave that as a gift to Brett and Teresa, writing our message underneath Rudi and Deslyn`s. And in this little book, Teresa found the most beautiful words for Catlyn, to de-naming her, and then a lovely prayer for her new name....Seismic Wave!

She offered the Seas a good share of the champagne, and then we rejoiced with Brett and Teresa and Seismic Wave, and finished the bubbly.

Of course we filled a fourth glass for Joe as well, being a part of our journey for so long, and he shared the moment with us...

And now she is.....Seismic Wave  still the most beautiful boat in the world!

 

Letting Go!

It was time....

Big Black Bold letters
was what I saw
climbing down ladder
and there was something stuck in me
in my throat
...my chest
...my heart
SEISMIC WAVE
It is, she is!


It will take me and her a little while
to get used to the idea,
the black, the bold, the big...
but we will get there!

Already she`s been acting and reacting
send off mysterious alarms,
to no connected wires on her starter,
and three o`clock she wakes us with the shrill of her gas alarm
with no gas to leak, no gas to seep.

`I am here!` she shouts.
`I am reacting,
 and acting!
`You can`t just do this to me,
  talk to me!

But the words were stuck in me,
somewhere in my throat,
                      my chest
                      my heart.

How can I make you feel better
if I can`t?
How can you make me feel better
if you can`t?

`Time...`she whispers.
`Time...`
In my core, in my balsa I am,
just give us some time,
me and you, she sighed
and I touched the warm tear rolling down my cheek.

...all in god time!

Walking with Stars by Rockstar Pilgrim

Joe

This is the Joe, that came from me...
This is the Joe, I want you to see...
This is the Joe, that sets me free....

so, I will walk with thee
and let it be...


I am sharing his blog with you, while he is somewhere in South-America with his blue backpack and his feet.

Follow him on his own website : www.rockstarpilgrim.com

Walking with Stars

Walking and walking and more walking. If I told you the precise distance that I have walked the past two and a half weeks, most of you will be shocked. It’s not a walk to the supermarket and back to the hostel, it’s exploring the entire city, the neighborhood and all surrounding areas.


Yesterday I decided to go to the park, I didn’t get on a bus but put one foot in front of the other. Using Google Maps, I calculated yesterday’s walking distance was 12km. The park was great btw.

So I sat there on the grass in the park. I listened to the sound of the river water crashing against the shores. I watched the people pass by and took a afternoon nap. I woke up and that’s when it hit me! The question I had been carrying around since the beginning of my trip in South America was: “Why am I walking so much?” And wow! I sure was walking. In Rio I averaged 14km each day. Why was I walking so much? There were many busses and even subways, yet I was urged to walk instead. Rio, Sao Paulo, Foz do Iguazu and now Buenos Aires. My feet knew it all! I sat on the grass and looked at the book in my hand. The book was given to me by Ella, a girl I was traveling with. I didn’t ask for the book, she found it on the hostel’s bookshelf and thought I might find it interesting. The book’s title was: ‘Trekking In The Patagonia Andes.’ And as I opened the book I knew why I was walking so much. I was preparing for a few great treks in the Andes Mountains. This was why I walked each day. At night I would feel my feet throbbing, getting stronger.

I had a look at the various trails in the book.

The Paine circuit



Monte Fitz Roy



and more to the North

I felt the excitement bubbling within me. I am going trekking in the Patagonia Andes! As I got up to walk all the way back to my hostel, I asked my Native American ancestors what I was going to do in the South of Argentina, just to make sure. And they replied: “You will fly where the white sky makes mountains cry. Tears of rock that turn to waters up high.” As I knew these words, for I didn’t really hear them. They were part of me, not outside of me. As these words hit my consciousness, waves of ecstasy flooded my mind. I am being led, I am on the right path. I couldn’t stop smiling and didn’t want to stop! I was free! And for the first time, I saw beauty everywhere I looked, even in the middle of the city. But the thing is that I didn’t look to the outside, I looked to the inside. Thus everything I saw was me! Words struggle to paint an accurate picture, but know that to see beauty, you must not look outside. It was magical!


So I have a few things to get done. I need to pack my bags correctly and leave behind the things that will be dead weight. I also need to walk to a camping store and look for some warm gloves.

Patagonia here I come! ‘Pata’ means ‘feet’ in spanish, and the name Patagonia came about when the white people came to the native lands and saw the big moccasins on the native’s feet and thought these people had giant feet. So they called them the Patagon monsters with giant feet.

Blessings and healthy lives for all!

Brainline Home schooling!

School started again for Marco! from experience we learnt that it is not a good idea to try and receive his Brainline CD in Trinidad with the year`s work on it via mail!  We abused family in SA, and then Margaretha brought it back in her bag, coming home to Trinidad!  So we could start this year a little bit earlier...but not before carnival!

Very carefully he also planned his life around the 80% social, and enjoyed the kids on the hard! Luanna, from Germany the beutiful blond, and Tanzi, the beautiful brunet, and Michael her brother, with the bicyle!

I so wish that bicyle could talk. He got it from a friend in Brasil, and now he is fixing it up, but it is working, no matter what!

Have you noticed how Marco has grown? It came as a little or now big shock to me, when I watched him going up the mast, siliconing and checking! Who needs a big bro` now?

But oh yes, this was about school! Marco is almost totally studying on his own, doing his summaries, and excercises, and I only keep a close eye on him and Maths. He is loving Maths at this stage, because it is all new work!  History is one of his favorites, because it is about the evolution of the Homo Erectus! Every day, or let me rather say when we get up in the morning and we have a peaceful morning with tea, he spend about two hours doing his four lessons for the day.  The summaries we found out is great, he is 80% prepared for the exams after doing that in his coloring pens! Right now, he is preparing for his exams starting during the week!

Can you remember this little boy, only four years ago?

 

Back to work!

Nick and Sandy said good bye, and it was time for us to say good bye to the comfort of Margarteha`s apartment, and her lovely smile! But luckily we only moved slightly up the road, to the yacht on the hard…and the very next day she popped in for a girly chat and Brett`s Margaritas!

The yacht was waiting on the hard for us! Luckily I cleaned her before Brett and Teresa came, so there were no surprises! The air conditioning  helped to ban the mould. The vinegar bowls all over the boat helped. The washed down interior with diluted vinegar helped! No mould was to be seen!

I wiped all the stainless steel and anything silver with boat polish (3GM bottle) and when I wiped the taps  they were all bright and silver! I only found a couple of little spiders, and you won`t believeit, ANTS! Did they follow me from Panama! Karma! I am telling you, it is Karma…

But lots of work had to be done!  On our nameless yacht at this stage, all of us worked hard. Brett found little and big places to squeeze in. Teresa made time to study a bit of the sailing manuals, and was the best student on her knots!

 

  

 

Of course the first lesson of yachting is! Do not forget this one! Everything is about 80% social work, and 20% physical work, and don`t try to throw your yachting life off balance! And strictly obeying that rule, we enjoyed our first barbeque on the yacht with Brett and Teresa.