Two other island friends of ours, Jaco and his donkey Selassie. You'll find Jaco riding around on this 18 months old donkey here in Falmouth Harbor almost daily. Selassie, the donkey, is very fond of mashed potatoes, something we found out the other day.

Besides of making the boat as energy efficient as possible, it is also of utter importance that the boat is leak free.. we didn't have this problem on our previous boat thank god, but this Duende leaks, not to say from everywhere because that would make Alex more stressed than he already is, but almost. You see how the gelcoat/fiberglass is cracked around the winch? It is certainly leaking from there. You see the rusty areas around the fittings of the cleat that is wrongly mounted? It's leaking from there. And the sprayhood mounting? It's leaking from there as well. And not to mention the rest of the fittings on deck, the rudder shaft (!), by the anchor locker, the cockpit teak.... yeah go ahead and name it, it's probably leaking from it too. Now most of these defects are leaking only very subtly and it's not like it's pouring in water, but still it's a major job considering from how many places it leaks. As Alex still is busy with a couple of other important jobs on other boats, we haven't had the time to begin this process completely, hoping to get started end of the month. I'm sure I will get back to you on this subject later this spring. Until then I'll be sleeping with my rain clothes on. lol 

No, but really, I haven't even begun to tell you all the many issues this boat has and if I would I'm sure most of you would say: why the hell did you change from Caos to this boat? But for us this gives great fulfillment, it's the type of project which we could never get started with on our last boat. Hallberg Rassy's are great as they are, not much modification needed or wanted. Of course we could have continued with the few remaining cosmetic upgrades of Caos to make her absolutely perfect (like replacing the old teak etc), but after almost two years aboard Caos we decided that we wanted to move on, get some more space and we figured that this old, but beautiful Duende would make us happier in the long run. It's like when you're getting a house, either you buy a safe and well equipped home and don't have to bother with much, or you get yourself a rundown house with beautiful potential if you only dare to dream beyond the dusty surface. Many of you would probably choose something in between, more closer to the first option, and we do acknowledge that what we got here is quite extreme (meaning the overall condition of this boat), but this is what we felt was the best for us, and also what suited our budget for the moment. It will probably take a couple of years before Duende's in the ultimate condition we wish to see her, but time we will have more than enough of when we're out of here and out on the seas again.

And here's our yacht from a distance, beautiful when you don't get to see the flaws from up close...

.. is the night for slow time, a bit of cheese and some wine. A pity one can't find so many interesting cheeses here in Falmouth Harbor but this will do for tonight. Leaving for St Maarten again next week and must remember to bring back home some good French ones. We're currently having wet dreams about soft and buttery brie, an aromatic morbier, creamy saint agur and the delicious comté.... mmmmmm. Btw did you just realized I said home? yea it almost feels like Antigua is a sort of home to us now, having had spent almost seven months here in total back and forth. So many beautiful memories created here, I'm sure this island always will be one of those places to which we wish to return back  when we are gone and have continued with this world tour. But for now, let's focus on cheese...

Last time we were in St Maarten we went to our favorite chandlery in the Caribbean, Budget Marine, to get new led lights to all lamps onboard. Just like we did on our previous boat, we'll need to make Duende maximum energy efficient. One of the first steps is of course to replace all normal bulbs with led bulbs as they draw much less energy. It's funny, all what we did only 1,5-2 years ago on Caos is now getting repeated on our "new" boat. But c'est la vie.. at least things goes quicker this time as we know what we need, like and have been satisfied with. Alex will tell a bit about our energy consumption onboard and how he thinks regarding solar and wind power shortly for the ones that have asked about that. Thank you for your patience, Alex has been overloaded with work these past weeks but it should calm down a bit with soon..

Currently dividing time between boat work, beach, laptop, boat work, beach, laptop... it's hard to be stuck on one beautiful Caribbean paradise island, I'm telling you. Two more terrible months to go. 

Every morning should begin and each night should end, with a walk on the beach, don't you agree? What I love about the Caribbean is that as the sun sets so early in the evenings, around 6.30 pm, one usually goes early to bed, and you will therefore always wake up with the sun in the early mornings. We usually get up around 6.45 am, just when the sun is beginning to spread its rays over the bay. To be present when the sun is rising gives such energizing effect to your soul. Particularly those days when we're not busy with anything else but being out in the sun, far from laptops and work. Looking forward to get back to the natural rhythms and take advantage of the quiet nature in a couple of months from now.