Category: Blog

Many people visualize us sat round the camping gas stove eating warmed up food out of a tin can. Even some other sailors think that is how to live on a boat. Luckily we actually live in a very nice restaurant and enjoy a huge variety of home cooked food.

Last night we had a Swedish neighbor round for dinner so after the Rum Punch we sat down to home made pizza with a salad. I (Neill) love making pizza. Until we set off sailing I thought pizza came frozen from Aldi. Now I know that you make the base with flour, water, salt, sugar, oil, yeast and sunshine. The sauce is made of finely chopped tomatoes and garlic with a bit of Heidi magic and the topping is whatever you can buy locally. Pizza that we make ourselves tastes amazing. Yes I’m biased but ask the neighbors – they agree.

In Martinique we ordered a Beefburger but as Martinique is part of France we received a Burger de boeuf with the meat and sauce in a baguette. Since then our burgers are always french. This is not the only recipe we have collected on the way. Scotland added chocolate brownies, England scones and from an “ancient mariner” we learned about corned beef hash. In Italy we discovered amazing white pizza and since the Caribbean we make our own Baileys – tastes better than the original and costs a fraction.

Cooking is fun and eating home made food is always a joy.

Most people consider our life to be a permanent holiday. Yes we enjoy tropical beaches and yes we meet interesting locals and cycle to exotic places but most days we do a bit of work on the boat as well. We decided we needed a holiday.

When you visit a new country every month, what you need for the perfect holiday is family and friends so we flew back to Allgäu. Two weeks of daughters, friends, daughters, family and daughters. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner appointments to catch up on all the news. And sleep became optional with a total of fifteen hours the first three days.

Our best friends ensured it was a real holiday. We didn’tcook once, hardly washed up and cleaned nothing. We repaired a washing machine for a friend but no winches, sails, pumps or woodwork. We weren’t totally lazy and managed some great bike rides with adventurous trails. It was 30°C one day so we enjoyed the breeze while our friends melted.

It was a revelation. The “real world” is so complicated and so full of problems. We had not realised how chilled and content we have become until we plunged back in to reality and experienced peoples stories of work, family, colleagues and “objects”.

We are writing at Bogota Airport on our way to Aruba. Holidays are fun but we are looking forward to getting “home”.

Early one morning we were attached to the dock in Aruba. We were getting ready to move across to the marina and Heidi was checking the lines. She had just re-coiled the blue genoa sheet and tidied up the green tiller line. Next she reached for the brown rope with black spots and realised at the last moment that we don’t actually have any ropes that colour.

We had a snake on board!

We went and asked the dockyard manager if there were any poisonous snakes on the island. Only rattlesnakes so he sent a worker to take a look. The expert laughed and declared it to be “only a baby boa” and took it with him.

Only a day later and we found the second one under another rope. Either they fall in love with the long sinuous lines or enjoy the shade. At least now we knew it was a boa so sent it swimming.

We have had our bikes on board for a year now and every time Heidi needs to adjust her handlebars she asks Neill for his 5mm allan key. We just passed through airport security in Bogota and Heidis bag was strip searched to find the hidden weapon that was detected by the x-ray scanner. Security only spoke Spanish so we were not sure what they were looking for. Turns out she has been smuggling a 5mm allan key on and off planes in a hidden pocket for the last year. The supervisor let her keep it so now she can adjust her handlebars.

Yesterday we read a blog entry by a German sailor we met a few months ago, just to keep up to date on where he is and what he is up to. After fifteen minutes we knew that he felt his boat was falling apart and that he was totally depressed. He sailed to the Caribbean in his fourteen year old yacht and is very unhappy that the high temperature, hot sun, high moisture and salt water was eating everything.

And what did we think when we read of all his woes? “Been there, done that!”

Just because a boat has worked perfectly in Northern Europe for fourteen years – or in our case over a quarter of a century – that does not mean it will continue to do so twelve degrees north of the Equator. The climate here eats boats.

We have written a complete list of repairs and improvements and it really does look like we have rebuilt half the boat. Our advantage is however that – most of the time – we don’t get too depressed about it and just treat working on the boat as an intrinsic part of sailing; although the anchor winch motor did get to both of us eventually, luckily on different days.

We have decided we need a new fridge and a device to make fresh water from sea water. Both are ordered and “somewhere in the DHL world” waiting for “something” so we have time for a few other jobs while we float just off Aruba.

Continue reading “Aruba – Life with a boat is never boring.”

Round the cacti, over the rocks, through the sand and avoid the thorns. If you can do all that while still enjoying the view and keeping an eye on the GPS, then you are ready to go trailing in Aruba.

A six o’clock start meant we were well on our way by sunrise and had the first trail – Tribu Trail – finished before we met any one else. On the far side of the island there was sand, wind and a loan fisherman casting into the breaking swell.

On the second trail we actually met a few other mountain bikers and Neill got a huge thorn straight through tire and inner tube but that is just part of the fun if you leave the tarmac here.

We finished the tour with a fresh coconut and two beers and were home before it got REALLY hot.

Our track is at GPSies.

Wikipedia says that Aruba has a hot semi-arid climate. But when you are cycling along a dusty track what you are thinking is “desert!” Maybe it is the dust or the cacti, the whiptail lizards scuttling everywhere, the rattlesnake lying on the road or just the baked rocks? Maybe it is the temperature of above 30°C or the humidity of nearly 80%?

Finally we have found an anchorage where the waves allow us to land the bikes and a possibility to store them safely on land. So we are now once again bikers and life is good. Shops, gas suppliers and ice cream parlors are now all easy to reach, at least on the downwind leg. The wind blows constantly at 30km/h from the East so upwind legs are great training and really test your stamina at the end of the day.

Today we got up early, rowed to land and headed (upwind) to the Arikok National Park. We entered along a track and were immediately “in the desert”. The park authority had laid two thin strips of concrete for 4×4 vehicles to drive along. Cycling up a steep hill trying not to wobble more than fifty centimeters took some practice. The views were stunning. As far as we could see just stone, thorn bush, cactus, sky and sea. The only rattlesnake we saw was dead which was a shame as they are a seriously threatened sub-species. Huge thorn bushes are everywhere with finger long thorns that wreck bike tires.

When we reached the north side of the island the vegetation was reduced even further by the salt laden air and we cycled through the barren landscape to reach the Quadirikiri Caves which were just being unlocked by a park ranger. We entered the cave and had it to ourselves – apart from the bats that live there and were flying around and the biggest “creepy crawly” we have ever seen. The back of the cave is dome like and has two holes in the roof. It is like a natural version of the Pantheon in Rome – just smaller and minus the crowds. Stunning!

Soon after the caves we met the tarmac road and followed it back towards the visitor center where we took a quick diversion up the seriously eroded track to the top of Sero Arikok. Steep, dusty and rocky. At least the quad drivers we met applauded our stamina and cheered us on. At the top we had a panoramic view across the island.

It was now nearly midday so we cycled in to town and bought ice cream, cycled to a workshop to collect our repaired anchor winch motor and then returned to the marina for two ice cold beers. After 50km, 650 meters of climbing and half the way “upwind” we felt we had earned a treat.

The part of the track until the ice cream is at GPSies.

I finished a previous post about the joys of clearing in to Curaçao with the words “I don’t think Curaçao is really trying to encourage cruisers.” It is a real shame because during our time in Curaçao we met some great people and they were all really friendly and helpful.

Robert at the Santa Barbara Plantation answered our emails within minutes – unheard of in the Caribbean, found us a place at the marina and drove us to the bus to clear in.

Jill and Joop were amazing but we have already praised them in English and German. But thank you once again for your friendship, the fun times and all the help you gave us.

And then there was Ana and Dani and “the party”. We were out for a walk and strolling along the beach at Caracasbaai when Ana asked if we wanted to join the party. She runs a catering business and had invited a few friends for a barbecue on the beach. Her friend Diana was the DJ and together they know how to organize a party. She told us she had great empanadas which – due to our Spanish still being at the very basic level – we misunderstood as bananas. We were pleasantly surprised when we took the first bite. There was officially only beer so I don’t know why we were drinking tequila and vodka. Heidi was dancing in a lineup with Colombian and Venezuelan ladies but she fitted right in. Dancing, drinking, swimming and great food. What a great day in Curaçao.

Vernon was “the guy at the dock” who let us use his pontoon and organized us a guy to repair our jib. Luis was that person. He not only repaired the sail but then found us a motor shop to repair the broken winch motor. He taxied us there and the next day picked up the motor for us. You really appreciate such help when you are in a bay at the “other side of the island”.

And as our “payback” for all this kindness, we rescued Brigitte from the rocks with her windsurfer, Heidi nursed Wim’s mosquito bites and we showed a very tired Andreas and Cecilia how to clear in to Curaçao.