Grenada Christmas

Balaena had a peaceful stay in Trinidad, safe from all the destruction further north. She had a nice new paint job too.

Now we are comfortable in Prickly Bay on the south of Grenada. It is a comfortable anchorage with a nice restaurant and bar where we can keep in touch via internet.

Andy will reach retirement age in 3 years and will need to spend 6 months per year in NZ to keep it current. I can think of few better plans than to spend 6 months in NZ, retired (with good friends to visit and Magnus up in the BOI again). The other 6 months (full time from next year) we plan to base ourselves in Seville with a little B&B in the old town.

Next May and June, while Clemencia starts house hunting in Seville, Magnus and I will sail from Cartagena to Rio Guadiana, 2 hours from Seville and Balaena will be based around the Med or Atlantic for the next few years.

We are well and learning to slow up a little. Merry Christmas and best wishes to all our friends.

Andy and Clemencia

Nearly there

We have come a long way since last July. The last weeks in the Caribbean have been restful with lots of sun and some sightseeing without too many days and nights sailing. Now we're back in Grenada and in just over a week will arrive in Trinidad where we plan to leave Balaena until December.

Once in Trinidad we will have about 10 days of maintenance and cleaning before flying out. We will both be ready for a change of scene.

Clemencia leaves first for Bucaramanga in Colombia where she will catch up with her mother and help with some of the arrangements for Camila's wedding. In June she flys to Sweden to join Andy.

Meanwhile Andy will fly direct to Sweden and start work.

It won't be all work though. In July Camila and Kyle visit us in Sweden and we have planned a 10 day trip to Stockholm with a cruise to Helsinki and St Petersburg.

Then in October we will go to Spain where we have rented an apartment for most of the month. We hope some of you can come and visit us while we are there.

Once we have more regular internet access I will add some more photos of our trip here and on Facebook.

Best wishes to you all and look out for us next December.

Martinique

We are enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of this lovely French Island. Added benefits are lovely cheese and wine!

Today we sail to the capital Fort de France to pick up Andy's mother and step father who will be with us for a week.

Watch Facebook for photos.

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Refreshed

We have had a refreshing week, doing almost nothing, in the south of Grenada. Now we are slowly working our way north to meet my mother in Martinique on 6th April

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Arrived in Grenada

All safe and sound listening to a steel band and loving being back in the Caribbean. 

Last day

We have about 120M to go to Grenada and will probably be arriving around dawn.

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Good prgress

Still nice sailing.

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Getting excited

We have traveled half way around the world in 8 months. It feels like time for a rest. So we are looking forward to the Caribbean.

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Final leg

We rested 2 days in French Guiana. We needed it after our colds and some hard sailing. Now we have light winds but a fair current to take us towards Grenada. Then it is just gentle island hopping for the next 2 months.

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Isles de Salut

We are in a little bay, not much shelter from the swell unfortunately but sufficient to rest for a couple of days

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Good sailing

Yesterday was rough and windy but today much nicer. We are sailing fast and tomorrow hope to be in Iles de Salut for a couple of days rest before carrying on.

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North of the equator

Still making great progress. The wind is not quite so favorable this side of the equator though. Maybe it will be a bit cooler.

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Fine weather

We have had the best run of weather since leaving Bali. Tomorrow the wind gets strong, still fair but maybe a bit uncomfortable.

Crossing the mouth of the Amazon in the next day - and the equator.

9knots

Very fast sailing thanks to finding the best current via charts downloaded by radio. We both have horrible colds picked up in the carnival crowds no doubt. Today we will cross the ITCZ the meteorological boundary between N and S, and the chart equator should be tomorrow.

HOT

We have fair winds and currents and are mainly sailing more than 7 knot. Excellent sailing, perhaps the best since leaving Bali as it is smooth and comfortable aboard.

Running away

We feel a bit as though we are running away. Mainly from the heat which we both find intolerable. For this reason we plan to miss French Guiana and go straight to Grenada, which we hope will be fresher.

We weren't entirely impressed with Brazil. Very dirty and inefficient with hours of waiting, often to be told to come back next day to do the official paperwork. But the Brazilians are friendly happy people and we had memorable night at carnival events in Joao Pessoa and Recife.

It is not a cheap place, especially after South Africa and as the infrastructure and general state of care of everything was so much worse we found this rather surprising. To sum up: First World prices in a dirty third world country.

We had no problems with robbery or violence and felt safe, though were cautious. We have no pictures as the cameras stayed at home - people in our Carnival parties lost cameras, phones and money.

One result of carnival crowds is that we both have colds. Not the best way to start a voyage but preferable to baking anymore in Jacare.

Arrived

Here we are, safe and sound in Jacare.  This is a very tropical place, palm trees and mangroves all around and very hot.  Luckily there is also pleanty of wind.  We have found a nice marina with good frinend (Dreamweaver) right next door.  We plan to be here for about 3 weeks.

Fish 2, Balaena 0

Lots of fish around the boat yesterday. We had several strong bites and lost first a lure and then the whole line - the 80kg line snapped like a piece of cotton, we try to imagine the monster that took it!

With only 150M to go we have had a noodie and a booby, both outside their normal range. Especially the noodie which usually stays within 50M of land and returns to the nest at nigh. She arrived at dusk and made herself comfortable on our solar panel. Despite the motion she seemed to sleep well. Before dawn she spent 30 minutes preening and flew off when the sun arrived. Perhaps she will return tonight

Home run

We definitely feel as though we are almost there - get those caiparinas cooling. The fishing line is out for our last fish, hopefully it won't be one of the small tuna (about 30cm long) that have adopted the boat and fed on the flying fish we disturb. Last night we had a noddie fly around, a bit off course but a good sign hat land is not far away. VERY HOT

Getting close to Brazil

We have seen a few more ships (4 in 10 days) and one or two birds. Must be getting close. Still lovely downwind sailing, though the stronger wind makes us roll a bit more.

A bit more wind

The wind is a little fresher so we may arrive a bit earlier - that makes Clemencia happy. Still plenty of flying fish, but tiny little ones, only a few cm long. We have a few birds too, Boobies that don't normally stray this far from land.

Good sailing

Now were are counting the days to our arrival. Less than 1 week.

Passed half way

We are on the home run and hope to arrive in about 1 week. All well on board, lovely weather though rather hot by midday!

Slow but steady

The winds continue light and we make around 120M per day, which is fine progress and it is gentle sailing. We eat well, read a lot, prepare good food and play backgammon and rummy-Q. Clemencia is knitting hours every day with the nearly $500 worth of wool she bought in Cape Town.

Steady winds

This is not such a fast passage as in the Indian Ocean but winds and sea are much more friendly. Today we are baking fresh bread.

Big tuna

We have had some heavy fish get off the line. Last night as we were about to eat dinner we caught a big tuna, about 10-12 kg. So big we decided we could not eat him all and let him go. Lucky Tuna.

Steady winds

We have all our sails spread out and sailing along nicely at 5-6 knots. Yesterday we had two heavy bites on our fishing lure, probably enormous fish so it was as well they got away.

Fair winds

The trade wind has been very light since leaving Namibia. It varies between about 8 knots which is only sufficient to move and 15 which gives us good sailing with all sail setting. Today we have 15. When it is light the boat is not steadied by the sails so it is actually more uncomfortable and we roll more than with the fresher wind.

We collected some nice fresh fruit and veges at St Helena so are eating very well. No fish yet, though we still have some tuna in the freezer.

We are getting excited about Brazil and hope to see a bit of carnival.

Farewell St Helena

What a wonderful place, a true pearl of the South Atlantic. Friendly interesting people, lovely scenery, perfect weather and to top it all the anchorage is one of the best places in the world to dive with Whale Sharks, which Andy did for 40 minutes while Clemencia watched.

The internet was expensive so we will wait until Brazil to upload our photos.

Safely moored St Helena

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Into the frying pan

This could be our last day at sea for a while. St Helena is 55M away and we hope to get there before dark.

We had very light winds yesterday with a lot of motoring but now we have a good breeze again.

Clemencia was sleeping soundly below when she got a slippery surprise. A flying fish flew into the boat and landed just by the cooker! It woke her up flapping around. It was one of the lucky ones because I had to catch it - casing around the cabin floor - and returned it to the sea. The fist time in 43 years of ocean sailing that a fish has jumped into the cabin!

Almost calm

We only have 150M to go but the wind has dropped and so we have to motor. We have seen a few tropic birds so must be nearing land.

Stil beautiful

We are in proper South Atlantic tradewinds. It just goes on the same lovely weather day by day

Soon be there.

We hoe to arrive before Clemencias' birthday. Fingers crossed.

Little electrical reairs/improvements today, otherwise quiet.

Soon be there.

We hoe to arrive before Clemencias' birthday. Fingers crossed.

Little electrical reairs/improvements today, otherwise quiet.

Light winds

Our progress has slowed with light winds but that means that it is relatively more comfortable. Much less life now that we are well out in the ocean.

Fine sailing

We have a gentle tradewind. Nothing like the strong winds and uncomfortable swell in the Indian Ocean. No water landing on deck - only flying fish (15 yesterday and only 8 today). Pleasantly warm now though not a lot of sun. Today we will pass the half way mark to St Helena.

Fish factory

We have arrived in the trade winds. Steady wind from astern, moderate swells and comfortable sailing. Today we have the sun breaking through and expect it to be hot.

Overnight 15 flying fish landed on our decks so we smell a bit of fish. They are very bony and not so appetizing all dry in the morning - it would be heaven for a cat though!

Clemencia is knitting below and feels like a seasoned salt.

Life at sea

Now we have had a good wind for 20 hours and are getting into the rhythm of sailing. There are still lots of birds, particularly albatross and white chined petrels. Yesterday we had several Pomerine Skuas (nest in Shetlands, Norway and Spitzbergen) who behaved just as on land, trying to peck my head. I always thought they did this in Shetland to protect their nests but it must be a scare tactic to make me disgorge food, if they come back I will try spitting out something. At night we had a visit from phosphorescent dolphins, a spectacular sight with burning streaks of light flashing under and around the boat. They must have been chasing flying fish and gave Clemencia a present by scaring one that flew into her - imagine her reaction! The phosphorescence is amazing too, the usual glow but every now and again something that bursts like a firework under the water.

Last night we caught a fish- to order in time for dinner.

No sun yet but we seem to be in the trade wind and making good progress.

Calm

It was not unexpected to have calm off the coast. We have motored a lot and made 100 miles in the first 20 hours, so not bad progress. Plenty of albatross and petrels about.

Back to sea

We have had a wonderful short stay in Namibia.

We hired a 4x4 vehicle and drove into the surrounding country. As you can see from the photos it is a desert. However there is almost endless variety, mountains, dry river beds, undulating landscapes and vast flat plains.

The highlights of our travels were the rock paintings made by Bushmen 1000-3000 years ago. There are over 50,000 known paintings in the Brandberg massive, a huge mountain that rises out of the plains by around 2,000m. Nearby in a dry riverbed where water bores have been made some elephants have taken up residence. The desert elephant is slightly darker and smaller than the variety we saw in the east.

Next we drove on to Spitzkoppe a group of giant red granite boulders. Here we had a delightful camp (actually they were all delightful, two camps even had swimming pools which seems a bit rich when the locals have to walk to fetch water). In the morning we saw steenbock, a new antelope for us.

The long days drive south to Sossusvlei was fascinating as we started to see a lot of animals, especially, ostrich, zebra and gemsbok(oryx). At Sossusvlei we arrived at the dunes, some of them must be over 300m high, just after dawn and climbed in the cool of the morning. The desert seems to be encroaching as the last 4km of the road were rather exciting 4x4 driving in soft sand - if you stop you will stay put! 16 years ago Magnus and I drove this stretch in an ordinary car.

All in all Namibia is one of the most exciting places I have ever visited. Add to this a stable and well functioning democracy (they are never in the news) and the kindest most friendly people on earth.

Hopefully we will be back. We made a friend, Mathieu, who helps with car hire, shipping and registrations and would be a very good contact to have for anyone wanting to make a longer trip, as we dream of doing one day. His email is mathieu@autohelpnamibia.com.
He says it is very practical to ship a vehicle from Hamburg to Walvis Bay, if you have your own 4x4 this may be a good way to go. All the equipment needed for African travel is available locally and any modifications needed would best be done there.

Photos from our travels in Namibia

Here are some photos to give you an idea of what a wonderful place this is.  We go to sea today sailing towards St Helena and I will write more about the trip once we are underway.

Balaena in Walvis (Whale) Bay

Balaena means whale (in latin).

So this must be a sort of spiritual home for us.

The shore is dry and we can see sand dunes from the desert just behind the town. Despite being in the desert the temperature is around 20 degrees and it is cloudy. However we are assured that it is burning hot not far away.

Rolf and Andy leave here and then Clemencia and I will have some trips inland and get to know the area. Hopefuly we will be able to post photos later.

Last night at sea

We are approaching Walvis Bay and it looks as though we should be in port around dawn.

Today has been cloudy and cold with not much bird life. It is hard to believe that 100km away is a desert with temperatures around 45!

Southern Right Whale Dolphin

This afternoon we had a sudden eruption of the water with 20-30 little black and white dolphins with no dorsal fin jumping all around us. Not far off there was a pod of pilot whales breaking the water too. All day we have had lots of birds flying around and have been able to identify at least 7 different families with several different species in some.

I had never heard of a finless dolphin and this species is completely new to me. I wonder how common they are?

Lovely weather but the wind is getting lighter as we approach our destination.

Today we have full sail set for the first time since leaving Cape Town and expect lighter winds until we arrive in about 36 hours.

Sun and birds

The weather continues perfect. We have a fresh following wind that has lasted since Robben Island outside Cape Town. Now we are halfway. Well out to sea to avoid the fogs, fishing boats and Diamond dredgers on this coast.

We have lots of oceanic birds, several species of shearwater, petrel and albatross. I have identified, White chined shearwaters, a Southen skua and Yellow nose albatross. There has been a lot of shipping too, including a mystery ship that passed us, stopped, turned off her AIS and is now sailing past us again - spooky.

The weather is sunny and warm and starting to feel tropical. All in good spirits and Andy D is beginning to get his sea legs and talking of a boat on a lake!

Good sailing

We made over 150 miles in the first day and the weather continues beautiful. All well on board, Andy Dunlop is having trouble with his sea legs but keeping watch and reading a book at present.

Last night was crystal clear and more phosphorescence than I have seen in years, every little wavelet was glowing as though with Christmas lights.

First day at sea

We had gale force winds in Cape Town and waited for nearly 2 days for them to drop. When they didn't we left anyway and had calm immediately outside the harbour.

Now we have a fair S wind and are sailing beautifully towards Walvis Bay in Namibia.

Rolf has just pulled in a big yellowtail - enough for 3 meals.

Waiting to leave cape Town

We are all ready to go, crew, Rolf Olsson and Andy Dunlop. However the customs, who are supposed to be on the job 24 hours were unavailable anywhere in Cape Town. So we have to wait 36 hours, which may give us even nicer weather for the sail north towards Walvis Bay in Namibia.