That's how they roll..

Scooter as well as the occasional golf cart or a beach buggy are the main vehicles around here. I haven't seen so many bikes on the road since Thailand 2005. Or perhaps Bali a few years ago. 

We haven't got around to rent a scooter yet as rain began to pour down that other day. But as soon as a day starts with a clear blue sky we're going to bring you out on a tour around this island..

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The boat doctor

If Alex would have got paid for each time he's guided or helped people with their boats and their equipment, we would be rich and have that dodger on our boat long time ago. He's like a traveling sailboat doctor, and boat and sailing wikipedia in one, working pro bono in 80% of the cases. But on the other hand, we have cashed in several new friendships this way, and quite a few free drinks and dinners hehe.. No but honestly, I've lost counting on all those boats he's rescued, rigs he tensioned (on this particular Philip L. Rhodes Bounty II that is our neighbor today for example), hulls he repaired, people he taught about fiberglass fabrication, gearbox/fuel system repairs, electrical connections and installments and other general know-how he's shared. It also helps that he's fluent in all the major sailing languages around here, French, English and Spanish.

I really hate being the silly wife continuously bragging about her oh so fantastic husband cause I know how nerdy and pretentious it sounds (we're not even married but you get the point), and truth be told my man has many flaws, too, just to let you know, but if we keep to the subject, he has as a matter of fact been the lifesaver of many a boat-owner and somehow we always seem to attract people in need of assistance around us.

One evening in Prickly Bay in Grenada a few months ago for example, just when our friend Michael had arrived if you remember, and we had just enjoyed a filthy little peanut-butter cup dinner the three of us if my memory doesn't fail me, we heard a big BANG on the hull. What the fuck?! We all rushed out, only to find a 40 something feet catamaran dragging its mooring buoy in the 30+ winds that were that night, hitting our hull and continuing to drag backward into several other boats on its way, quickly closing in on the reef behind.

Alex, the fast thinking alien that he always is when it comes to this sort of drama, jumped into our dinghy, shot off to the rapidly dragging cat, jumped onto the bow, grabbed a couple fenders, set them up for following shocks, grabbed the next boat at anchor that the cat passed by, secured the cat in this other boat and got the engine started (owners had forgot to switch off the starter battery). All to avoid the catamaran destroying more boats and itself on the way towards the merciless reefs just a hundred meter away. This was a pitch dark night, 30+ wind and all this action happened within five minutes of the crash into our boat. Of course the owners of the catamaran who were ashore dining this evening were very happy to find their boat safely anchored a bit further down the bay, very close but not quite on the reef, just like we would have been if it would have happened to us. At sea it is so very important to be alert, and as devastating accidents can happen to anyone, we must always look out for the ones that are in need of assistance. You remember the last time something dramatic happened to us? So thankful we got the help we needed in just the right moment. 

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San Andrés

Not too bad of a place where we are forced to stay. For an additional time to that, as the wind is increasing and it seems it might continue to do so for seven more days, currently having 30 knots here in the marina.

The Colombian archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, identified by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve, is located 480 miles (720 km) northwest from the Colombian Caribbean Coast, right beside the coast of Nicaragua. This duty free vacation island of San Andrés is mainly visited by mainland Colombianos (you can get a one way ticket from Cartagena for $25 USD) and a few Europeans and Americans. 

San Andrés has an interesting blend of Caribbean and Latin worlds. Spanish, English and Creole is spoken and while the native islanders are Raizals, the descendants of mainly Jamaican slaves, there is a continuous growth and influx of people from the mainland of Colombia who now form about two thirds of the island's population.

What's good is that these islands are located right below the hurricane belt, and makes them a somewhat safe haven for sailors who are slowly making their way up North now in hurricane season. I say somewhat as while the only marina here in the archipelago is protected from swell by the extensive coral reef outside, the wind is still blowing right at you when anchored by or docked in the marina, which is facing full East. Great little marina by the way, $30 USD a night for our boat, electricity included. Will show some pics from it a bit later.

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How does it feel

So we left Colon and Panama with its busy shipping lane behind on Tuesday after lunch. Initial plan was to leave early morning to try to avoid the afternoon and night thunderstorms that are so frequent around this particular coast this time of the year, but you know how it is. Things always pile up and I think we've never left shore at the time we originally had scheduled. So at 3 pm, the nasty growl from the charging clouds could be heard and in lack of enough wind and some choppy waves from three different directions, we had to start the passage with the annoyance of engine power. 
 Luckily escaped that one.
But that relief lasted only until we looked ahead. One after another we dodged the heaviest clouds and the lightning they brought. It was like battling a mine field as they struck from every direction.
We really do hate having to use the engine, the sound of it rhymes so bad with what sailing is all about, and at 9pm we have had enough of it and took to our last resort. Shutting it off and heaving to. Tired from having to worry about the thunder, as soon as we had got off the coast and left the mess of it behind, we hove to to get some rest. We've done it once on our previous boat and she handled it very well, but this was the first time ever with Duende and we were wondering how her fin keel, huge rudder and ultra wide tumblehome would cope with it, but it went reasonably well and we could get some sleep. Like I mentioned earlier, Alex was already feeling sick at this point. So while he went down below, I had my sleep in the cockpit, with an alarm waking me up every 45 minutes to check around for potential ships passing us by or any change of wind. It went pretty smooth and at five am I was anxious to get moving into right direction again. No wind still though... if we wanted to get somewhere, we needed to get that engine on once more.
Red indicated our current position, blue line is our planned route and the purple dot is where we ended up later on.

Having had studied the wind forecast before our departure, this is more or less how it was supposed to look for the following 2-3 days. Since heaving to this time didn't bring us much forward but rather very slowly away from the wind, we hadn't made such a good progress this first night (clocked an amazing 80 miles in the first 24 hours..) and we knew we had a lot of engine to do before we got into the bluer area with at least ten knots of wind. This didn't happen before 9 pm in the night and after approximately 24 hours of motoring in total. Oh how we hate those days.. I have so hard to understand those cruisers who actually prefers to run their engine all day long, I mean the ones who're motoring even when there is sufficient wind to be sailing, and these people are no minority around here I can tell you. Every emotion as well as connection to nature is destroyed by the jerky movement, terrible sound and the odor of diesel. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do unless you want to be stuck bobbing around forever which was even less of interest at this point. So finally by 9 pm, the wind kicked in at a comfortable 14-16 knots and I could turn the key to silence. That feeling, hard to explain, again you can hear the water flowing freely on the hull, making a gentle spray like sound as you move forward. We did make a good progress this night and around midnight I felt the Sailomat wind pilot could take care of the rest as I set it up in right direction and laid down to sleep.

Of course, that peace and harmony didn't last forever. At around 00.45 I woke up by the call of my inner alarm, right about one minute before the actual clock alarm started to shriek, and discovered the wind had increased to 22-23 knots. I put one reef in the genoa, but only to realize the wind increased even further. So another few turns on the furling system. Luckily we had already reefed the main before Alex went to sleep around 9 pm so I didn't have to deal with it all by myself in the night, but even with all this decrease in sail area, two reefs in both sails, we were pounding into the building waves at a speed of 7,5-8 knots. Man I tell you, this boat is a torpedo, so fast we could almost move forward with no sails at all. This is where we were at this point, more or less at the height of Santa Marta, Colombia:
We kept on beating into the wind but around three in the morning after it had additionally increased to 25-28 knots with the occasional thunderstorm gust at 30-32, I decided we needed to divert from our wishful route and aim more to the West unless we wanted to rip that main apart once again. I woke Alex up and informed him of our current situation and we agreed on leaving the wind at 120 degrees apparent rather than pounding forward into 60° and the 2-3-4 meter waves that had built up. It is amazing the difference of worlds, one wind angle to another. Ten minutes earlier, every part of the boat was tensed and it felt like something could explode any second, now we rather followed the waves more gently and most of the pressure was released. Alex was feeling even more sick than previously so I continued my watches. 45 minutes sleep, check, 45 minuets sleep, check, 45 minutes sleep... Our normal procedure, even when Alex isn't sick, is that I am mostly awake in the night, taking 60-70% of night watches, as Alex is normally very strong during daytime and I, for some reason, do not need a lot of sleep in the nights. Alex is working so much and so hard on the days, that I often give him the opportunity to catch up in the nights as I anyway do not need the sleep as much. I normally get most of my rest in the early mornings and slipping into comfortable sleep after lunch is also a favorite. 

Lately though, Alex has felt sick almost on every night passage we've done and since he's never been like that previously, I think it has to do with him pressuring his body to the extreme by working so hard on the boat in tropical heat, and every time to the very final minute of departure. Hoping he'll be back to normal soon but we shall probably try the Sturgeron when we can get a hold on some, thanks Horizonstar for the tip.

Where were we? Yeah so by this time, around 4 am, when I adjusted the wind pilot to move us more away from the wind, I discovered we had approximately 180 miles to go to nearest land, to the islands of San Andrés and Providencia on the coast of Nicaragua. If we'd keep the speed which was now (due to our dropping the main completely) around 6,5 knots, we could be there in the next 26 hours, making an early morning arrival possible. 24 hours went by, the Sailomat wind pilot worked flawlessly as always (seriously I can't stress enough the great value of this one), and we both did get some reasonably comfortable sleep too. 
sailing alone night watches soul searching self development
At 5 am on the last morning, 15 more miles to go to and wind had dropped to around 14-16 knots.
sailing alone night watches soul searching self development
Were of course not done with bad weather yet, but had the occasional shower and wind increase on the way.
Alex is up, adjusting sails. They say seasickness often lasts for 2-3 days before the body gets used to it and just by the time we were closing in on the islands, he was back to his normal self.
sailing alone night watches soul searching self development
I often get questions about how does it feel, to be out there on the sea with no sight of anything but water and horizon for days at length. And even though it is impossible to describe in details, as any such empowering feeling always is, I can say it has changed my life. I don't mean to sound dramatic or over exaggerate. But the way the sea brings you back to the ground by being so powerful and unforgiving in its vast massiveness and unpredictable weather, and in the way it cleanses your mind and makes sure you can't escape from yourself - it has taught me invaluable lessons that I would have never had to face elsewhere. 

The sea is much like life itself, it has its mesmerizing ups and devastating downs, and when you think you have control over it, you'll get a harsh backhand slap in the face by piercing hard saltwater. Always reminding you not to fight against the strong natural powers, but rather move with the ebbs and flows as the sea, just as life itself, changes around you. You can always make preparations, plans and even try to avoid bad weather and situations with careful precautions. But you never ever know how life nor a sailing passage will turn out, in the end. I find this to be the bittersweet beauty of life, the way that we are so fragile and unprotected if you look at the bigger picture. Knowledge of this has humbled me and each time I get out sailing, I gain a stronger connectedness with nature and the higher power of the universe that always has the final word in our tiny little lives. It makes you take life and yourself less seriously.

I know that many people might find it hard, stressful and even anxiety-provoking with the monotonous views that it can be with all this nothing but water and sky around you for many days at a time, especially as you spend so much time all by yourself. I too have my ups and downs in emotions during a long passage. One second I am feeling indescribable thankfulness for all the immense love and beauty that I have been given in my life, the next hour I get thrown back on memory lane and to a place and time in which I wasn't the best of me - bringing feelings of guilt or pain caused by the reminder of my human weaknesses. But even so, even when the sea has forced me to look into the bottoms of myself and urged me to make peace with past and the person that I am or have been - I am always embracing these new discoveries as I know they are there to guide me and teach me something in order for me to become a more complete, better settled and more refined human being that I do wish to become. 

There are many ways to soul search, but I have found the sea and sailing the most powerful of all what I've tried thus far. So no, I wouldn't say it is all just beautiful and relaxing, and it is definitely not always easy, but if you are intrigued by learning more about the powers of the human mind and are willing to take the next step towards better awareness and consciousness of yourself, at least I have found no better therapist than the mighty old sea. 

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A brand new day

Slowly starting to get back on track being a functioning human being again. Kickstarting this day with a good dose of vitamins as in: Mango, guava, banana, kiwi, pitaya, passionfruit, and a heartful of chia seeds for that extra crunch and added nutrition. 

Hair is better now, thanks so much for all tips you've shared. I have said it before and I have reason to repeat: you are the best blog readers I could ever wish for. Beside many other good, warm thoughts I had on the sea the other day when storm subsided, I did miss you and the blog, like I always do when away from it/you for too long. This blog has given me so much that I have hard to put into words. Many friendships have developed because of it and only to be able to share and connect with so many likeminded people from all over the world, is such a beautiful beautiful thing that I am so very thankful for. Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and for having patience with me and the fact that I don't always have the possibility to respond every email and comment that goes through. You should know that I read every single one of them and I always value the time you've taken to share a piece of yourselves with me/us. Even if I would want to be more in touch, connectivity is not the same when living and traveling on a boat, and wifi is more of a luxury than something we can take for granted unfortunately. 

We're going to explore this island by scooter today, it has some lovely beaches on the other side of the hill apparently. One of the main reasons to why we are so extraordinarily happy for us going towards the US, is that the decision literally came up from nowhere and it reminded us about how energizing and beautiful it is with spontaneity. Our life might seem extremely wonderful as it is, to most of you, but having lived three years on a boat, made sailing, traveling and exploring new places to your every-day reality, plus having had the same kind of mindset since the very beginning - which is to sail out into the Pacific and continue around the equator back home to the Med - it does become a bit the same old, same old, in between all the good, how terrible now that might seem. Such are we human beings, we need diversity. So when all of a sudden we came up with this brilliant idea of making a break on the planned route and actually gain something even greater in a way, an added bonus so to say, it gave us an aha experience and boost of energy that we haven't felt in a long time. 

That we have had to stop here in San Andrés for example, an island we never thought of actually seeing, is one such spontaneous event that we are going to embrace best we can the few days we are "forced" to be here and await better winds. They say they make a mean crab and coconut meal here that we are going to try, and this beach looks very tempting for a tired ol' traveler to get some rest on, wouldn't you say...
image from here.

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How to get dreads

Before I continue to tell about our journey, I want you to take a look at this disaster of a hair that is easily obtained when making overnight passages. It's not very relaxing to sleep in thirty knots of wind and a boat banging into violent, wrongly-on-the-boat-positioned waves, so you grab a little sleep here and a little there when moment and space allows but only until you're again woken by a wave crashing into the cockpit and you have salt water flowing all over yourself, hair included. Nice! On top of the normal discomfort an overnight sail in rough weather might mean (particularly in such a light boat as ours), Alex was feeling unusually sick during our three days at sea, and thus I took most night watches and had therefore no proper sleep nor time to organize with something so banal as my hair. The longest I slept at once was probably 55 minutes. Tired.com but happy nonetheless. Just need to find out how to sort this mess out before I get a long hot shower and head for the bed. A scissor is tempting but I'll try some other methods first. Any (pain free) advice out there perhaps? Normally I braid my hair in tight braids to avoid this happening but somehow I missed it this time.

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Land ohoy!

We have just arrived in San Andrés, a little (Colombian) island on the coast of Nicaragua. Had wanted to continue further up North but beating into 30 knots of wind and 3-4 meter waves for three more days just didn't seem like the most sensible option... going to stay here and wait out better winds for a couple days. 

⇓ And that's where we are right now. Still a long way to go...
A sailing story coming up shortly... 

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Let's go to(wards) Florida....

Time to go! There are actually various things that could go wrong on this trip... It is a pretty long journey, 1300 miles to go, a distance equal to half of the Atlantic ocean more or less. It is also hurricane season and even though weather looks good for the next seven days, you never know with the fast developing hurricanes that sometimes comes out of Gulf of Mexico. Our mainsail is old and could rip apart again any time, we've stitched it several times but it's definitely on the last whistle. The new mainsail is ordered but doesn't arrive before we reach the US. Our satellite Internet connection doesn't seem to work at all so we won't be able to get any weather reports as we go. And there are a lot of thunder and lightning going on in the Southern Caribbean sea at this time of the year.... Despite all this, we are in good moods and can't wait to get this trip started. We are hoping to sail in between Cuba and Haiti, but if the weather wants differently, we might end up taking the Western route in between Cancun and Cuba. We'll see. Maybe we end up in Jamaica, who knows. 

See you when we see you!

Our lovely products from Sol de Janeiro has finally arrived! Good protection for this long sunny trip.

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When you close one door, another one opens


Engine problems solved, oil and filter changed, three bags of laundry done (why do I always leave such a long time in between each round?), heavy stuff removed from forward storage down below, weather prognoses and charts has been carefully studied, water tanks has been filled and food has been purchased. 

The amazing thing with having become more and more conscious about what I'm eating and the fact that I've quit meat and dairy from my diet - is that I have come closer to these beautiful, colorful guys. It feels like they've previously only worked as some anonymous accompaniments to my meals. They have never got to be the main character and thus I never really took the time to get to know them and their individual behaviors and qualities. This past month that I've been off meat and dairy, I have taken good time to experiment and curiously figure out each of their strengths. And here it comes: I have never felt better. You know I was reluctant to pronounce that cliché, but really, my energy level and my well being has gotten a great big boost in these past few weeks. Not only do I feel fresh, strong, energized and full of life (I know how silly it all sounds but it is a fact) but I also feel great pride in having taken a very important stand.

Many people who still eat meat and dairy imagines it is a mission impossible to become a vegetarian and not to mention vegan, as the options and varieties of food seem so limited. They couldn't be more wrong. Considering the amount of angry emails and comments that I have received, with people calling me all from hypocrite to declaring they will stop reading the blog if I quit eating meat, I know there is a controversy in the society about what food are right and wrong. Like it was someone else's choice what I or you should eat. 

The general opinion by the most aggressive commenters have been, if you go vegan, you must automatically become a perfect politically correct human being in all other aspects too. Cause no, no, you cannot be a conscious person doing something good for yourself that rhymes well with your personal ethics AND occasionally enjoy drinking champagne in five star establishments at the same time. Just like being vegan or vegetarian were some secret, hard to get to clubs where only angry, militant, pale, tree-hugging hippie people who wish to save the world are invited. Seriously, not much makes me annoyed these days, but people with no or little connection to reality do make me feel tired.

Here's also a funny part of an email I got recently: 

"Are you concerned that this (my new diet) will alienate a large number of your followers? I do not wish to discourage a vegetarian diet for anyone (whatever their reason might be), but since you are in a sales role of sorts, it seems to me that you would want to encourage more customers. Between the lack of videos and now the vegetarian only meals, I'm not sure we will visit the site as often."

Oh darling, I think you have gotten it all wrong. This blog as well as this journey we're out on, is a celebration of life and purely individualistic and healthy enjoyable living that suits us two as individuals - not to please someone else nor follow destructive, old fashioned ideologies. You can have your meat and eat it if you wish, but if I can share and in some way inspire other people to take control over their own lives and make better choices for themselves, then I feel I have done something good. Besides the good I do for myself already.

On the other hand, I absolutely love when readers get in touch with me to teach me something substantial, the ones of you who have guided me and educated me to become even more conscious about facts that I haven't noticed or thought about yet. That is the sort of healthy, mutual interaction I believe in and I am glad and proud to have collected a big bunch of very smart and intellectual readers who do think for themselves, and who are willing to share their stories, experiences and thoughts with me. Live and let live as one such intelligent reader once said.

Here are a few famous people who all are (or were in Steve's case) vegans, just to show that it is indeed a great variety of people in the world that have converted to a healthier, more conscious lifestyle and who embrace this rapidly growing global movement. A movement which I believe is the future:
Bill Clinton, Ellen DeGeneres, Mike Tyson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steve Jobs, Natalie Portman and MMA fighter Mac Danzig.

Then we have the one of our readers who claimed I will have nothing to eat when I cross the Pacific, just like meat was the only thing that could be preserved for a lengthier time. So let's have a look at some of the lovely meat and dairy free meals I've made these past few weeks:
A big favorite: Chickpea, onion and chili stew with creamy coconut sauce, served with mashed potatoes that was made with sunflower oil, oatmilk and plenty of nutmeg
Fresh delicious mango for snacks.
My amazingly flavorful curry that you can find the recipe to here.
Organic granola with hazelnut milk, some crunchy green apple and freshly chopped dates on top.
Another lovely breakfast in the making.
Avocado, banana, kiwi, passionfruit and chia seed smoothie.
Oops, not a perfect vegan here, so sue me! I previously told you that I still occasionally eat fish and seafood, approximately twice a week or so and will most likely be eating much of it also when we cross the Pacific ocean next year. This is a pasta vongole with clams in white wine sauce, lots of garlic, lemon, parsley and tomatoes. Ridiculously delicious.
And the soybean stew that can be found here. Impressively similar to a tomato free meat bolognese.
Cold soybean and lentil ratatouille on healthy, organic wholeweat bread.
Grilled Chilean salmon fillet with white rice and a clear garlic and basil sauce. Behind is a great lentil/potato/carrot pure that I will share the recipe with you one of these days.
Warm lentil and couscous salad with fresh herbs and veggies.
There sure is no limit to what one can concoct that is good for yourself and the world, and which also is extremely flavorful. Deep within, we all know that the meat and dairy industries are extremely cruel and terrible, the question each one of us have to deal with is, how long can I ignore it and pretend the cruelty isn't happening. I blame both ignorance and lack of education for the first 31 years of my life  - but since I now know, there is no turning back to old behaviors. Ignorance sure is bliss and life might seem more complicated the more we know, but it's really only about your own individual mindsets. Everything in life is possible, and I am here to show you that you can both live a very healthy, conscious life, while at the same time being able to enjoy and embrace all the (cruelty free) beauty, pleasure and enjoyment that comes with it. 

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