And to illustrate the story below just a little bit more, here's an old photo I found from that morning the day after the Depeche Mode concert. It was basically this sight what made us begin talking about this world tour we are on today. Peaceful view to wake up to, no?

It's a Depeche Mode Sunday here in our life today. One of the best albums ever made in the entire history of music is going on repeat here at the moment. DM has been pretty important to both Alex and me for many many years in both of our previous lives. When Alex first introduced me to his amazing underground music studio that he had in Barrio Gothico in Barcelona during that first winter that we met back in 2009 and the first track he put on on his powerful B&W 802 Nautilus speakers was one of my all time favorites, The Love Thieves, I almost cried because of the perfection I saw in this man.

That was five days after we first got introduced to each other and a couple of weeks thereafter, Depeche Mode was about to give a concert in Palau St Jordi so I made sure to book some good tickets for us for that show. I surprised Alex with a night for us in one amazing suite with marvelous sea view at of the best five star hotels of Barcelona and we spent a great time at the concert followed by a perfect ending to the night in that very suite. I remember the day after to be a Sunday and in the morning, from our huge bed with panorama view over the ocean, we could observe an ongoing regatta going on down below at sea level, 18 floors down, and that was the day that we began talking about freedom and that we maybe one day should sail around the world together..

One additional amazing part of the story is that when we had enjoyed our breakfast in bed and we were about to check out, we met no one else but Dave Gahan in the lobby and we got the chance to get a quick chat with him before he ran off upstairs. So for this whole reason, and for other natural reasons like that DM have created some of the most immortal musical productions ever, is this group very important to us and will always remain.

Here are some of our photos from that concert.

And here's the view from that bed.

We just got back home from St John's, the bustling capital of this little island. We took the bus in the rain, had some dinner over there and rode the bus back home again. I had by the way an amazing fresh cucumber juice to my meal, absolutely divine it was. I'm sure you all think I'm pregnant or something since I don't drink much alcohol any longer and we are getting ourselves a larger boat with one extra cabin and all, but that's not the case. I promise. /T

Hey guys, thanks for your comments in last post, says Alex. I guess we both know that the blog will have to remain pretty much like it is, there is not too much of time and interest from Alex part as he mentions, although he has promised to take the time to post perhaps once or twice per month to give it all a new little twist.

This blog has never really had the intention of becoming a technical or not even a real cruising/sailing blog and even if many of you (men) out there would wish so, I'm afraid that you will have to turn somewhere else if that is what you are looking for. I personally have greater plans for this blog, my work, and in order to achieve that what I have invested a lot of my time in this for, we will need to continue quite similarly to how it first started, although I would love to have Alex sharing more of his personal thoughts (the non technical) here as well, but I can't really force him can I. Writing must definitely come out naturally, like any other creative pursuit. But do not despair, he has prepared another post and will be right back here in a short while with some of his thoughts concerning some of the questions and wonderings you had in the post below. Thank you all for your very descriptive comments.

We hope you all are enjoying your weekend. Here it's raining like never before so not much else to do than fixing stuff inside, training at the gym, reading and taking it easy.... quite boring if you ask me, but  we hope to be able to get back out exploring more of the island in a couple of days. Not much time left in Antigua now. /T&A

Hi, it's Alex. I have heard that many of you want me to write some more in this blog. That's very nice of you. There are basically three reasons to why I haven't done it so much :

1. I have a life. A real life outside of this blog. You maybe think that we live only what is written and seen here, but the truth is that this is only maybe 10% of our reality. Taru much of the time lives in between the real world and the online world, but I prefer to live my life totally IRL. But of course, I am not a photographer who has a passion for sharing my art. And for me personally I see not much value in writing. I don't have this need or urge or whatever you call it.

2. And the writing part. I am French, and I lack of some words in English, so for you to be able to understand a shit of what I'm saying in text, there are a lot of editing needed. This takes time, both mine and Tarus. And time is very precious to me. There are many things I much rather do than write, I am sure you understand. 

3. Like earlier mentioned, I have no real interest in writing. Also no time. Or let's say it is not my priority. So it is very simple to us. Taru runs this website as much or as little as she wants and I do my stuff in the world outside of this online thing. I work on the boat, I fish, read, sometimes I work on projects on other boats like that one above, I must also take care of my woman, have a good time with her and all of that. Listen, I don't even have a Facebook account, I rarely check my email and even less I answer any of them and now you ask me to write a blog? Come on. I appreciate the comments from you all that I read and I admire the quality of work which my baby has put into this website, but I personally have not had time to get myself involved too much. It is very distant to me. 

So I hear that some of you would like to read more about mechanical and technical things and my point of view when it comes to boat stuff in general, sounds good, but at the same time I have understood that most people here seem to appreciate reading about hair colors, high heels, fitness advice and whatever else, and this I don't know too much about, so: I will give it a try, but don't expect too much now, I will try to post sometimes. But the question is: What are you interested in reading about? I know Taru makes a great job with her stories and images but what do you want to know from my view? Is it my work done on the boat that is of interest or do you want me to share with you some secrets about Taru or what? If you can be so nice to guide me a little bit I would appreciate it. 

I will get back to you when I find the time. Thanks. Alex

That's the only right thing to do in this heat..
And who cares if it's in the dirty waters of the harbor area, at least it's refreshing!

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

It's not everyday you have to collect a fishing lure from the spinning wind generator while underway. A large barracuda made sure to get released by jumping around and desperately pulling the line several times. His last jump was so powerful that the whole line snapped off and got tangled in the AeroGen. That fish was just not meant to get caught.. /T

We had a loooong walk to the neighbor town tonight. Was really nice although the massive rain hit us just before we arrived into a safe and dry restaurant by the road. And lucky us to find out that buses were still running in between villages after 8.30 pm so we didn't have to walk all that long way back home again. /T

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.

Gaah! Two of my very favorite girls in the whole wide world are together in Paris. And not only for a weekends vacation: they LIVE together in Paris from this day onwards. C'mon, you can't do that without me!!

Luckily I have Skype so I can get a piece of their existence delivered straight from the screen whenever the longing is too hard. Hopefully they'll be visiting us here in the Caribbean when the summer is over in Europe. Gros Bisous mina fina älsklingar, vi hörs snart igen. /T

Hello, Ms carrot head here. Just wanted to wish you all a wonderful weekend, cause that's some sort of a tradition we established here on the blog isn't it. It is weekend almost every day in our lives nowadays and a Friday and Saturday doesn't actually differ much from a Monday and Tuesday. Kind of amazing when you think about it. We've been away from home now for nine months and in spite the hard work we had/still have on the boat, we are now more free than ever. Of course it can be hard in small doses every now and then when we miss our families and friends, but over all this is totally the way we always somehow dreamed of living. Free, unbound, attached to nothing, no obligations to have to deal with, no stress that makes ones life miserable, no greater burdens on our shoulders than perhaps that pile of dishes that we've left too long, the dinghy which should get cleaned once and for all or that laundry bag which we continue to neglect, but other than that - life is good. And I get a feeling that it is like this the life is supposed to be. Were we really born to do anything else than this? 

Can you for a second imagine the feeling of being completely totally free? I'm not sure that all of you can, but if you ever get the chance to release yourself from the rat-race, say goodbye and see you never again to things that disturbs you and to be able to completely immerse yourself in peace and harmony away from mental stress and obligations even if only for a while, take it, it will fill your heart with such appreciation for life that you didn't knew one could feel. And you would be able to create feelings and thoughts that you never had time for in the past. You will start to appreciate the smallest details in life and your eyes will begin to recognize things which you never would have noticed before.

I don't know really how to tell you all of this without sounding like a religious freak, but my soul has definitely opened in a way I never experienced before, and for that I can only thank myself. And Alex of course. I'm so thankful for the day we decided to take the step out and make reality of this dream. This dream, our life, has done more good for our hearts than we could have ever imagined beforehand. And still there is more than 100 countries left out there to discover, a couple of more oceans to cross and thousands of more interesting people and beautiful places to visit before we're done with this journey around the world that we've embarked on. If we ever get done and ready, that is. 

So have a great weekend you all wherever you are in the world. And promise me you will try to make reality of all those dreams you have deep inside. No one will ever thank you nor remember you for the things you always dreamed of but never made reality of, try to remember that. My thoughts are especially with my best friend today who are just about to move to the other side of Europe to throw herself into new dreams and a new life far from the expected.

Cheers to all of you out there who are brave enough to break the rules and taking advantage of what this beautiful, magical life has on offer, I'll have a sweet mango cocktail for all of you tonight. 

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