Hi Everyone!
We have moved from Anguilla on to St. Martin. We will update more later on everything that has happened in the past few days. We've had some definite excitement (not so great though.) We are now just relaxing in St. Martin enjoying the french side Marigot.
We've found an internet cafe so in the next few days we should have some pictures up along with the story of our fight at sea and our time in Anguilla.
Stay tuned!!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
80 Miles to go...
Hi All,
We are 80 miles away from Anguilla and hope to arrive by 10 or so tonight. I wish I could say that things have gotten smoother but it is still really bumpy. Peter and Jane and Carol and Jesse thanks for your comments it alsways nice to hear from people when you are being tossed around and getting cranky... Peter you will appreciate why we can only write periodically, as we are hard heeled on port tack and I can't keep my butt in the nav station seat. I am going to rig a harness right away. Everyone will also be happy to know that we had our first real sea fight... I will describe it in more funny details once this silly boat stops flopping around so much. Colleen recovered in 24 hours and is now in fine form sitting outside reading happily in the sun as I have used a whole roll of duct tape to secure her from falling overboard (just kidding). We have not seen anything but flying fish and not one boat for 5 days, strange but at least we can't get run over that way. Also, peter again you will appreciate, our toilet does not flush on port tack properly and now smells like a truck stop bathroom, nice!!!! Once we arrive we are going to have a nice sleep, clean the boat and ourselves, send some emails, and go running in the morning. Then I am going to eat 7 whole lobsters as we ran out of fresh food yesterday. All the best to all
We are 80 miles away from Anguilla and hope to arrive by 10 or so tonight. I wish I could say that things have gotten smoother but it is still really bumpy. Peter and Jane and Carol and Jesse thanks for your comments it alsways nice to hear from people when you are being tossed around and getting cranky... Peter you will appreciate why we can only write periodically, as we are hard heeled on port tack and I can't keep my butt in the nav station seat. I am going to rig a harness right away. Everyone will also be happy to know that we had our first real sea fight... I will describe it in more funny details once this silly boat stops flopping around so much. Colleen recovered in 24 hours and is now in fine form sitting outside reading happily in the sun as I have used a whole roll of duct tape to secure her from falling overboard (just kidding). We have not seen anything but flying fish and not one boat for 5 days, strange but at least we can't get run over that way. Also, peter again you will appreciate, our toilet does not flush on port tack properly and now smells like a truck stop bathroom, nice!!!! Once we arrive we are going to have a nice sleep, clean the boat and ourselves, send some emails, and go running in the morning. Then I am going to eat 7 whole lobsters as we ran out of fresh food yesterday. All the best to all
Thursday, November 13, 2008
First Tough Weather
Hi All,
Please excuse us for not posting for a bit... no one said double handed ocean sailing was easy!!! Colleen unfortunately caught a cold in Bermuda so our boat is a little infirmary at the moment. This is doubled by the fact that we are experiencing 25kt winds and 10 foot seas that are throwing poor little sandwitch around like a cork on the ocean. We have been relegated to reading, sleeping and eating out of cans as anything else is close to implossible. Sitting outside is ok during the day as the sun is out to warm you every couple of minutes when a wave comes into the cockpit but now the inside of the boat is all salty from the water we have dragged in while dripping. At night we are currently stuck inside the cabin, which is a sweaty 80 degrees and we can't open the windows because of the on coming water. It should be noted that the conditions are quite normal for the open ocean and are not unreasonable. We are sailing hard at 7.5 to 8 kts and the seas are uneaven so the motion is not uniform, which makes it so uncomfortable. Luckily we expected all this and are in high spirits, we just wish we could shower as we are starting to stink!!! We expect to be in Anguilla around Sunday night or Monday morning and the conditions are expected to be exactly like this, not a shift in the wind or the waves, until we are in the lee of the island. We hope all is well back home.
Please excuse us for not posting for a bit... no one said double handed ocean sailing was easy!!! Colleen unfortunately caught a cold in Bermuda so our boat is a little infirmary at the moment. This is doubled by the fact that we are experiencing 25kt winds and 10 foot seas that are throwing poor little sandwitch around like a cork on the ocean. We have been relegated to reading, sleeping and eating out of cans as anything else is close to implossible. Sitting outside is ok during the day as the sun is out to warm you every couple of minutes when a wave comes into the cockpit but now the inside of the boat is all salty from the water we have dragged in while dripping. At night we are currently stuck inside the cabin, which is a sweaty 80 degrees and we can't open the windows because of the on coming water. It should be noted that the conditions are quite normal for the open ocean and are not unreasonable. We are sailing hard at 7.5 to 8 kts and the seas are uneaven so the motion is not uniform, which makes it so uncomfortable. Luckily we expected all this and are in high spirits, we just wish we could shower as we are starting to stink!!! We expect to be in Anguilla around Sunday night or Monday morning and the conditions are expected to be exactly like this, not a shift in the wind or the waves, until we are in the lee of the island. We hope all is well back home.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
As planned we woke up this morning and prepared to got ready to head to St. Georges to check out of customs there. We were held up for about an hour by a sailing school who had set up their course right over our anchor! By 11 we were on our way and by 1 we were to St. Georges where we had a final lunch with Susan and Munir. After lunch and goodbyes we refueled and refilled our water tanks, cleared out of customs and were on our way by 3:30.
We enjoyed another beautiful sunset at sea and have settled in with our books for the evening. The first passage was a really interesting passage in terms of coexisiting in such a small space. Out to sea Walid and I fell into very separate routines. We sat in different parts of the boat to read, took turns being below and above deck, ate breakfast and lunch separatly having only dinner together. Some days we found we wouldn't say a word to each other until dinner. We never felt cramped or in each others way and were really looking forward to getting under way for the next passage. (which should take 5-7 days.)
We have decided to change our first stop from St. Barthes to Anguilla which is 50 miles closer instead of heading to St. Barthes than backtracking to Anguilla and St. Maartin we will hit those 2 islands first.
Good night!
We enjoyed another beautiful sunset at sea and have settled in with our books for the evening. The first passage was a really interesting passage in terms of coexisiting in such a small space. Out to sea Walid and I fell into very separate routines. We sat in different parts of the boat to read, took turns being below and above deck, ate breakfast and lunch separatly having only dinner together. Some days we found we wouldn't say a word to each other until dinner. We never felt cramped or in each others way and were really looking forward to getting under way for the next passage. (which should take 5-7 days.)
We have decided to change our first stop from St. Barthes to Anguilla which is 50 miles closer instead of heading to St. Barthes than backtracking to Anguilla and St. Maartin we will hit those 2 islands first.
Good night!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Taking off tomorrow!
We have had a great time in Bermuda but are now ready to get underway and head further south. Sunday morning (yesterday) we had hoped to get underway this morning, however, further in the day postponed that because Walid wasn't feeling great. Today we ran last minute errands (post office, grocery shopping, etc.) and are all set to take off tomorrow. Walid is still not feeling 100% but thinks he should be back to normal by tomorrow. This afternoon we are reading, cleaning, and going on a run before a a final dinner on land with Susan and Munir.
We hope you have a great week and will be updating once we are underway.
We hope you have a great week and will be updating once we are underway.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Life in Bermuda
Hello everyone!
We are having a fabulous time in Bermuda. Susan and Munir (Walids parents) are here coincidentally on vacation as well!
Wednesday afternoon after blogging we went to the bookstore in Hamilton. They import from the UK and USA so some books were pricier than others. However, we learned an interesting fact-some books have different titles in the USA and England. The staff was complaining about accidently double ordering books. It is quite common with James Patterson and several of the "chick lit" reads. For example, on the way over to Bermuda I read Shopaholic Takes Manhattan. I saw it in the bookstore here but it was shipped from England and called Shopaholic Abroad. Wednesday evening we went to Tuckers Point to visit Susan and Munir, check out their new place, and had a really nice time with them.
On Thursday Walid and I went to a used book store called The Barn. We stocked up on a few more books-and at 50 cents for a paperback and 1 dollar for a hard cover we did quite well. I got a bit nervous about books because on the way over 6 books in 4 and a half days. I read easy, fun books during the day and in the evenings have been (still) taking my time and enjoying The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Long story short, I worried about running out of books by the time we were in non-english speaking countries where restocking may be more difficult. So, after the used book store we met up with Susan and Munir and had a lovely visit at the zoo and aquarium followed by a relaxing evening on the boat with a great thunderstorm that came through.
Friday Walid and I found a rail trail that was for pedestrians only. We got up, packed a picnic lunch, and took off to the rail trail. We ran about 3 miles before cutting off the trail and heading to Warwick Bay. The beach had maybe 2 other people on it! We found a quiet cove and set up camp for a few hours in the sun. We had a picnic lunch, swam and read. Unfortunatly we forgot water, so, after only a few hours we had to leave because we were so thirsty. The late afternoon was spent running errands and doing work on the boat. We had BBQ salmon for dinner (we were finally able to use our grill again!!) and then hit the town for a night of dancing. We got in late and I went to bed. Walid was full of energy so he stayed up doing boat chores. At some point he thought he would give himself a haircut, something he had been meaning to do...
This morning I rolled over and woke up to the disturbing sight of my husbands head that had transformed from nice bleached hair to something that resembled a dying hedgehog. Apparently, the clippers died half way through because his hair was so thick. He recharged the clippers while he slept and we tried our best to fix it this morning. Again, the clippers died. At this point at least Walid could leave the boat with a hat on. (Earlier this morning he had tendrils of long hair flowing from random locations.) We made our way to land, had a quick bite to lunch, and then found a nice hair salon with a woman who fixed what had been done in no time. This afternoon we are planning on swimming around the boat and relaxing. The weather is great so we are going to have another BBQ tonight which we are looking forward to.
We hope that you are all having a great weekend and missing us terribly.
(just kidding)
We are having a fabulous time in Bermuda. Susan and Munir (Walids parents) are here coincidentally on vacation as well!
Wednesday afternoon after blogging we went to the bookstore in Hamilton. They import from the UK and USA so some books were pricier than others. However, we learned an interesting fact-some books have different titles in the USA and England. The staff was complaining about accidently double ordering books. It is quite common with James Patterson and several of the "chick lit" reads. For example, on the way over to Bermuda I read Shopaholic Takes Manhattan. I saw it in the bookstore here but it was shipped from England and called Shopaholic Abroad. Wednesday evening we went to Tuckers Point to visit Susan and Munir, check out their new place, and had a really nice time with them.
On Thursday Walid and I went to a used book store called The Barn. We stocked up on a few more books-and at 50 cents for a paperback and 1 dollar for a hard cover we did quite well. I got a bit nervous about books because on the way over 6 books in 4 and a half days. I read easy, fun books during the day and in the evenings have been (still) taking my time and enjoying The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Long story short, I worried about running out of books by the time we were in non-english speaking countries where restocking may be more difficult. So, after the used book store we met up with Susan and Munir and had a lovely visit at the zoo and aquarium followed by a relaxing evening on the boat with a great thunderstorm that came through.
Friday Walid and I found a rail trail that was for pedestrians only. We got up, packed a picnic lunch, and took off to the rail trail. We ran about 3 miles before cutting off the trail and heading to Warwick Bay. The beach had maybe 2 other people on it! We found a quiet cove and set up camp for a few hours in the sun. We had a picnic lunch, swam and read. Unfortunatly we forgot water, so, after only a few hours we had to leave because we were so thirsty. The late afternoon was spent running errands and doing work on the boat. We had BBQ salmon for dinner (we were finally able to use our grill again!!) and then hit the town for a night of dancing. We got in late and I went to bed. Walid was full of energy so he stayed up doing boat chores. At some point he thought he would give himself a haircut, something he had been meaning to do...
This morning I rolled over and woke up to the disturbing sight of my husbands head that had transformed from nice bleached hair to something that resembled a dying hedgehog. Apparently, the clippers died half way through because his hair was so thick. He recharged the clippers while he slept and we tried our best to fix it this morning. Again, the clippers died. At this point at least Walid could leave the boat with a hat on. (Earlier this morning he had tendrils of long hair flowing from random locations.) We made our way to land, had a quick bite to lunch, and then found a nice hair salon with a woman who fixed what had been done in no time. This afternoon we are planning on swimming around the boat and relaxing. The weather is great so we are going to have another BBQ tonight which we are looking forward to.
We hope that you are all having a great weekend and missing us terribly.
(just kidding)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
We made it to Bermuda!
Hi everyone!
We hope you are enjoying your November!
We are sorry for having not updated the blog while we were out to sea. The morning we left (at 6 AM) the password was no longer accepted. It was too expensive to fix at sea via satellite so we waited until we were on land. It took us a few days but we've found an internet cafe to get our work done at.
Let us fill you in on our journey!!
We left Thursday morning of the 30th from Newport around 6 in the morning. It was a beautiful day but rather chilly. Dolphins joined us and swam along the boat the first day. I put music on for them when they came for a second visit later in the afternoon and they jumped in the air all around the boat. That night we slept well in between watch.
The second day it was a little bit warmer but we still needed to bundle. We hoped the dolphins would come back but they didn't. Our sighting for the day was a school of flying fish who whizzed right past our boat. The second night we passed through the gulf stream and we had a great current in our favor. We hit 11 knots that night!
Day 3 and 4 were calm and uneventful. Walid and I got a lot of reading done and enjoyed the warming weather. By the afternoon of the 4th day we were finally able to sit out in our bathing suits and work on our tan. The evening of the 4th we watched High Society on our computer and as soon as it ended the wind really picked up. It was a nasty rough night (but luckily it was our last.) We were both up most of the night pushing onwards to Bermuda.
Day 5 we arrived into St. Georges in Bermuda around 11 and cleared customs. After clearing we decided to move Sandwitch to Hamilton. We anchored in Hamilton and enjoyed a celebratory glass of champagne. (Thanks to the Buggs!!)
On the trip we had only 1 (serious) casualty which was our dinghy motor. On our way out of Newport early in the morning it hit a piling and cracked. We have been running around Bermuda trying to replace the part which has proved to be rather difficult. Bermuda doesn't have any second hand shops and the motor hasn't been made since 2006. The wind picked up yesterday making it too difficult to row back and forth to our boat so we are on a dock. Fortunately we someone is coming to help us out with our dinghy motor so we should be anchored again tonight.
We have been having a great time in Bermuda and are enjoying being on land, however, our boat is so comfortable it wasn't such a bad passage!!
The only other sad casualty was my pumpkin which we had strapped to the front of the boat. It made it 5 days but was lost only hours before arriving to Bermuda because of the rough seas. At least Halloween had passed!!
We hope you are all wonderful and will update more often now that the password situation has been resolved!
We hope you are enjoying your November!
We are sorry for having not updated the blog while we were out to sea. The morning we left (at 6 AM) the password was no longer accepted. It was too expensive to fix at sea via satellite so we waited until we were on land. It took us a few days but we've found an internet cafe to get our work done at.
Let us fill you in on our journey!!
We left Thursday morning of the 30th from Newport around 6 in the morning. It was a beautiful day but rather chilly. Dolphins joined us and swam along the boat the first day. I put music on for them when they came for a second visit later in the afternoon and they jumped in the air all around the boat. That night we slept well in between watch.
The second day it was a little bit warmer but we still needed to bundle. We hoped the dolphins would come back but they didn't. Our sighting for the day was a school of flying fish who whizzed right past our boat. The second night we passed through the gulf stream and we had a great current in our favor. We hit 11 knots that night!
Day 3 and 4 were calm and uneventful. Walid and I got a lot of reading done and enjoyed the warming weather. By the afternoon of the 4th day we were finally able to sit out in our bathing suits and work on our tan. The evening of the 4th we watched High Society on our computer and as soon as it ended the wind really picked up. It was a nasty rough night (but luckily it was our last.) We were both up most of the night pushing onwards to Bermuda.
Day 5 we arrived into St. Georges in Bermuda around 11 and cleared customs. After clearing we decided to move Sandwitch to Hamilton. We anchored in Hamilton and enjoyed a celebratory glass of champagne. (Thanks to the Buggs!!)
On the trip we had only 1 (serious) casualty which was our dinghy motor. On our way out of Newport early in the morning it hit a piling and cracked. We have been running around Bermuda trying to replace the part which has proved to be rather difficult. Bermuda doesn't have any second hand shops and the motor hasn't been made since 2006. The wind picked up yesterday making it too difficult to row back and forth to our boat so we are on a dock. Fortunately we someone is coming to help us out with our dinghy motor so we should be anchored again tonight.
We have been having a great time in Bermuda and are enjoying being on land, however, our boat is so comfortable it wasn't such a bad passage!!
The only other sad casualty was my pumpkin which we had strapped to the front of the boat. It made it 5 days but was lost only hours before arriving to Bermuda because of the rough seas. At least Halloween had passed!!
We hope you are all wonderful and will update more often now that the password situation has been resolved!
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