Expressions of Love and Caring on Board
The 5 Love Languages describe the primary ways in which we feel loved and appreciated. Depending on our individual personality types, we may feel loved in different ways than our partners (and friends and family and skipper and crew) do. Understanding and decoding these different ways of showing love, especially on a boat with limited space, will help take the guesswork out of everyone’s expectations and needs.
Loreto and Puerto Escondido…
Plus the “Happy Place” anchorage on the south side of Isla Coronado. It’s a beautiful place to sail and the wildlife is fantastic. Read on for a glimpse into this beautiful cruising spot.
Kauehi, Fakarava and Makemo, then Raroia and back to the Marquesas
Nuku Hiva to Kauehi 4 – 8 August
We set sail in the afternoon, weighed anchor at 14:30 and headed southwest after clearing the harbor. It was a nice afternoon and a relatively good, though rocky passage.
5 Aug – Willem’s 66th birthday! I decorated with big polka-dotted balloons (the only thing I could find in Nuku Hiva) and sang the obligatory “happy birthday” song several times over throughout the day. I made him French toast with dry baguette, which he loved, and then we baked two loaves of honey cornbread birthday cake – same as for my birthday a few weeks earlier. It was delicious hot out of the oven with a little butter and honey – yum!!!
8 Aug – We arrived just at daybreak and rounded Kauehi atoll from the east to enter the pass at the south west. Amazing to see water with little “motus” (islets) and know that there is a circle of reef all the way around. We had some eddies in the entrance of the pass as we arrived about 1 ½ hours after slack with incoming tide, so tide against waves. This is supposedly an easy pass, but many others in the Tuamotus are trickier and need to be timed more exactly. We followed the two waypoints given to us by our cruising friends Don and Tessa, and dropped anchor in beautiful turquoise water in the lee of a white sand islet.
Kauehi 9 – 20 August
We spent the first week at Kauehi in the “bottom right” (SE) corner of the atoll as Don put it. The motus (islets) were lovely and we snorkeled around the bommies (coral heads) in the area. There were some small black-tipped sharks and very nice fish. My favorites were the unicorn that gathered around the boat in the mornings, probably waiting for brekky, since we started feeding them. Imagine, some people don’t believe in unicorns! Hee hee. We enjoyed a little socializing with Don and Tessa, taking turns hosting sundowners. It’s nice to have met several lovely couples we like and enjoy “buddy boating” around a bit.
We prepared to head off to another location after a week, but just as we were going to hoist the anchor (engine was already running), a sailboat headed over and it was David and Margaret, our Canadian cruising friends. We first met them in Fatu Hiva and were hoping to catch up with them again before they turned north towards Hawaii and we sailed south to the Tuamotus.
They came into Nuku Hiva the day we sailed out and told us they were thinking about coming to the Tuamotus as well. As Willem says, “the best plans are the ones you can change”, so we decided to stay for at least one additional day and enjoy some time with them. We wound up staying two days. They have an IridiumGo communications system just like ours and we used this opportunity to troubleshoot the issues we’d been experiencing. I won’t go into all the details as it makes me totally crazy (and no need to bore the reader with that in any event), but we spent a technical day trying various combinations of hardware and comparing all settings in software. Two days later we finally said goodbye to David and Margaret and planned to see them again in Fakarava the following week.
We motored slowly northeast and anchored midway on the eastern side of the atoll. We took a nice walk on the narrow stretch of land and then enjoyed the relative quiet and comfort of this location despite higher winds. We stayed two nights and then motored up further north to anchor in front of the village, following Don and Tessa who had anchored one bay up from us.
We dinghied in to shore and walked around what was a small (smaller than I suspected) and somewhat dilapidated village. They used to do pearl farming here but no longer, as there was a problem with the water. So many of what looked like derelict houses may be as a result of that former industry. We visited the three little stores and bought some small items from each to support the local economy a bit. We tried to connect to the ViniSpot for internet – after two weeks I’m feeling the need to reconnect and check on the status of my Carte de Sojour (long-stay visa) but it was dismal, only Facebook and a few WhatsApp messages squeaked through and I couldn’t connect to email at all.
As we were walking back to the dinghy, we passed by the church, which is the most-(only)prominent landmark in the village, and people were starting to gather there. Several guys with guitar and ukulele said they were going to play and there was singing involved so we decided to wait and join. We snuck out after 30 minutes when the more serious portion of the religious service began and made our way back in the dark to the boat.
Unfortunately, without a light and not really familiar with the shallow areas, crunch…. we hit a bommie on the way. Oops. Off we go tomorrow to our second atoll, Fakarava. This is the second largest atoll in the Tuamotus and also has an easy pass in. Supposedly, this is one of the best places to get black pearls (yippee!!!). Our friends from Canada and Trinidad are both going tomorrow as well, and another boat, which has been in Raroia for several weeks and now working their way northwest, will join us in a few days. That’s a lot of boats, but also some good fun and socializing.
Kauehi to Fakarava 21 August
We motor-sailed the 6+ hours to the north pass of Fakarava, with our friends on the cat following close behind. We timed the transit of the passage for low slack tide, and we found just a little current against us, indicating we were just a bit earlier than actual slack. At this pass it isn’t critical, as it is deep and wide, but other atolls will prove more critical. The Tuamotus tide “guestimator” spreadsheet works very well and is very helpful because tide/current indicators are few and far between. Once inside the passage, we had another 5 miles to go to reach the town and the location of our other buddy boat was anchored.
Fakarava 22 – 31 August
We spent the first week anchored by the village in the north. We took the dinghy to the beach and set out to find Fakarava Yacht Services, which turned out to be a house a block back from the beach. A couple provide services to the yachties including free internet (assuming you’ll be using their other services), laundry, transportation, a book-lending library and bike rental. We spent several days catching up on internet, which was good and fast (for a change).
I finally got an email from the French Polynesian officials saying that my Carte de Sojour was ready and would be sent to Nuku Hiva for when I return there… yippee!!! I can stay a year! We also rented bikes for a day and the whole gaggle of buddy boats set out on a day’s adventure. Along the way, we passed the Hinano Pearl farm, which is where I wanted to go to do a tour and buy some pearls… a girls got to have her pearls! I have wanted/planned south seas (aka Tahitian) pearls from the Tuamotus since the time I decided to sail around the world, and finally – different boat, different skipper – here I am! The pearls were all gorgeous and I bought a few lovelies for myself, one for Willem, for my Mom and for Michele, and some as gifts for others.
One of the very nice things about our time here in the Tuamotus is the lovely group of boats we are buddying with… Margaret and Dave, Tessa and Don, Barbara and JB, and Marcella and Enrico. We have been socializing and enjoying everyone’s company here and there along the way, which is so nice. Several are headed back to the Marquesas for the cyclone season, and although others are not, we will stay in touch with them surely! Also looking forward to meeting up with our AU cruising friends soon.
Wednesday, the provisioning experience! – The cargo ship comes into Fakarava weekly on Wednesday morning. We heard that you really need to be there on Wednesday to get any of the small quantities of fresh produce and other items brought in weekly. We had arrived on Thursday the previous week and there were a few apples, potatoes, onions and the like, but nothing else. We decided that we would time our expedition to the supermarket (more of a mini-market by US standards) in order to catch the first wave of produce being put out. 6:30am and Willem was already watching the ship start to unload on shore. 6:45 and Willem spotted dinghies starting to make their way over to the landing area. 7:00am and Willem was ready to abandon our partially-full coffee cups and head over with haste, LOL!
Off we went at break-neck speed… hurry up and wait. The off-loading of the (mini) cargo ship was in full swing, but the super-mini-market was still closed. We waited and saw two bags of fresh baguettes being delivered from the boulangerie (which itself was sold out by 6am, so no chance there) and milled about the entrance waiting for them to open. Finally, the doors opened and we were admitted. We hurried over to claim our baguettes – one to eat then and there, two for our company later (Don and Tessa were coming over), and one for them for earlier.
Still, there was no sign of produce. As the moments ticked by, and the baguettes disappeared, a group started to gather around the empty stands where the produce promised to be displayed. More and more people circled the area like expectant sharks. Several women already had the small brown produce bags open for the ready. And then, a box of apples came out. They were gala and I was holding out for the NZ Rose variety we had the prior week, but the swarm descended upon them with relish! Next came a box of pears, and although from NZ, they didn’t seem firm enough to stand the test of time on a yacht, so I let them pass too. One by one boxes were brought out with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. People pounced, grabbed, passed things back and forth, reached over and under one another, and in a few minutes flat, the boxes were emptied! Red cabbage?… I grabbed 2 and then cleared out so I didn’t get trampled. Rose apples?… several bags filled and handed to Willem for safe storage in our cart. Melons and even grapes (from the US – costly but oh so heavenly!!!), golden kiwis (costly but delicious and had proven themselves well under the duress of being jostled around in the fridge), celery (only three or four bags put out and all were gone in a flash), and then lettuce and a variety of other quite lovely produce. The tomatoes were a pleasant surprise as they were very flavorful and in very good shape. Okay, so not to bore the reader any further with the minute detail of our complete provisioning, but it was quite the scene and within a few hours the entire place was fairly well cleaned out again. It wasn’t just the produce… dairy products came out box by box and were taken out of the refrigerated sections as soon as they were put in, or never even made it in at all! There was a lively and urgent, yet good-natured energy to the entire event and we felt it worth the early-morning race over there to not only fill our coffers, but also to enjoy the experience!
We decided to leave that afternoon and head 10 miles south (mid-atoll) to the other yacht services location. There were about 8 boats anchored there and the only reason anyone was there was because they had internet. We spent two nights there to catch up on some of our life maintenance items like online banking and such, then prepared to head to the south of the atoll to do some diving and snorkeling. Unfortunately, with the weather outlook as it was, we needed to leave as soon as possible or risk being stuck there for up to two weeks. We decided to head on and skip the south pass (Willem learned he couldn’t dive anyway until he has his hernia repaired in Dec… otherwise the decision might have been different, LOL!) and move to Makemo, an atoll 100 miles to the east. The forecast was for light to no winds and calm seas… very good since we needed to motor into any winds we’d have. The night before leaving, as we were preparing everything for an early departure, we were treated to a delightful experience. We had the deck lights on, which are very bright. I saw something white in the water beside the boat and when I looked more closely, there were two HUGE manta rays doing back flips. All preparations ceased as we watched these amazing creatures gracefully swim two and fro, making turns and lazy back flips at the surface. One of them had a completely white belly and the other had some gray spots on his tummy. We were mesmerized. I hope we have the opportunity to swim with mantas back in the Marquesas! How lucky are we to see and experience the wondrous creatures sharing these waters with us!!!!
Fakarava to Makemo 31 August – 1 September
We caught the morning slack tide and exited the south pass of Fakarava, heading east. As we motored the 18 miles to the south pass, we had a visit alongside from our friends Barb and JB. They were anchored about 5 miles south of where we were and dinghied out to the channel to say a quick “hello and goodbye” so we wouldn’t miss them entirely. We’ll see them back in Nuku Hiva during cyclone season, but it was fun to have a short conversation and a hug before heading in opposite directions. For the first several hours after we cleared the pass, we had good wind and sailed… wonderful to have the quiet and listen only to lapping waves and sails. Then the wind died and we were motoring along. Our plan was to catch the mid-morning slack at the east pass of Makemo, but Willem decided on the 6am slack in the NW pass. There wasn’t really a slack as we had some current and lots of whirlpools and small overflows moving us this way and that. But we got in safely and had enough light to see our way over to the anchorage around the corner.
Makemo 1 – 12 September
There were lots of bommies and some sandy patches where we set anchor. We deployed several buoys to float the anchor line above the bommies so we wouldn’t damage coral or get stuck on rock. We got the anchor set, but mostly it was caught behind a rock. Willem set some floats to keep the anchor chain above the bommies. This was a new approach to us both but seems to work well. The water was crystal clear and, delightfully, we had the place entirely to ourselves! Although I really enjoyed the company and socializing with other boats, it was nice to see only natural landscape for a few days.
We continued on about 7 miles to an anchorage recommended by our friends. It had a bit of protection from waves behind a little reef that jutted out from shore and we anchored in a very shallow 4m of water. There were bommies around so we deployed our floats (fishing floats we found along the beach) and were well set. There was one boat already there and they probably thought, “well there goes the neighborhood!” when we arrived, but we left them plenty of space. A few days later, the folks on a cat came in and anchored a bit down from us. They were friends of friends who had been traveling together, but we hadn’t met them yet. We invited them over for sundowners after going for a snorkel and walk ashore, and we had a lovely evening, one which didn’t end until way after the sun set and possibly almost until the moon set as well!
We invited them to come over for dinner a day later and had another fun evening. Ilona and Franz are Dutch and I felt bad that everyone had to speak English on my account. But so it is with international groups and cruisers… you pick the language that the most understand the best, and you have fun filling in the gaps with charades. While in Columbia and Panama, I was able to get on pretty well with my Spanish. I’m not anywhere near fluent, but know enough to be able to communicate. Now that we are in French Polynesia, and because my French is limited to words like bonjour, croissant, baguette and oui, I am struggling to communicate even the basics unless some English, Spanish or German is understood. In fact, I have purchased a program and have started learning some basic French. I am not particularly gifted in learning language, and now that I am over 60 and retention is not what it used to be, I’m sure this will be an uphill battle. Not only that, I am sure that I will be speaking some hodge-podge of languages – there seems to be only one language buffer in my brain, so things get mixed up. Still, I feel a need to be able to speak a few sentences and understand some basics. We’ll see how that goes!
Introducing “Kevin” – During the previous evening’s conversation, the topic turned to making yogurt. Cruisers often share tips for life aboard and we have gotten quite some good advice along the way. Ilona was very excited to tell us about how she makes something similar to yogurt using kefir. I’m not exactly sure what that is, though I have seen kefir drinks in the supermarket. She told us that she has a culture that looks somewhat like small cauliflower nodules and when put in milk overnight or for up to 24 hours, it forms a yogurt of sorts. She said it was great and she had fresh yogurt from it daily. Because it is a “live” and active culture, she said she felt compelled to name it. And this is how we were introduced to “Kevin”.
We actually met Kevin the following day when Ilona dinghied over and brought her Kevin with her. She demonstrated the care and feeding of Kevin and then left us with half of her Kevin. So, all of a sudden, we had Kevin too. She said he’d start growing and at first we might wish he’d produce more, but in short order, he would be off and running and we’d have a hard time eating enough yogurt (or keeping enough powdered milk aboard to feed him) and to keep up with him. In that case, she said, we could put him in a small container of rich milk and in the fridge – which he doesn’t like very much – and that would slow him down considerably. This whole thing took us somewhat by surprise, like new pet owners who all of a sudden have a huge responsibility for the care and feeding of a new family member… we now have a new crew member: Kevin.
We put the dinghy in the water and took a little tour around the motu. Then we met our new friends on a beach halfway between where our boats were anchored. We had a great BBQ and bonfire on the beach. Ilona made pizzas, which she cooked one at a time on a charcoal grill. They were excellent with a crispy crust and a variety of lovely veggie toppings. We built a fire with wood we found on the beach and it was quite a nice evening. Surprisingly, no mozzies (mosquitoes). They brought their two huge white adorable polar-bear dogs. Of course I couldn’t keep from patting them, but was able to rinse my hands in the water immediately, so didn’t have an allergic reaction. Willem was very sweet and did the same.
Back to Kevin – The next morning, we had to somehow deal with Kevin. We used a cloth to strain him and we made something like mascarpone cheese. Then we put Kevin back in the jar and added milk, then placed him in a dry dark cabinet as instructed. That evening, we had yogurt. Then the following morning, more yogurt. And so it continues… trying to keep up with Kevin. Yikes, such a lot of work and how much yogurt can two people each eat day we wonder?
Okay, enough about Kevin. It’s time to move on and head to the anchorage by the village. It was a motorboat ride against wind and current, but once we arrived and set the anchor, we were comfy. The winds died down and it’s actually a beautiful little anchorage and a lovely, oh so friendly, tidy, colorful, little village. We walked to the boulangerie (out of bread but ordered some for the next morning), then made our way to the egg farm. No more today, but ordered a bunch for tomorrow – for us and for our friends who we’d meet again shortly. Fresh eggs from the egg farm, wow! And there’s actually a ViniSpot tower here, though pretty slow internet (but any internet here is good internet when you can get it!) We found several croissants (regular and chocolate) at the second magasin (mini grocery store… sort of), and they were quite delicious, much better than any of the others in French Polynesia so far. I’m gaining weight with all the fresh bread and croissants and socializing sun-downers and such. Good that I’ll have some time in the US and on the boat alone to try and take it off again.
The water here is crystal clear and there is a heard of unicorns that are swarming around the boat and waiting to be fed. We took some video of them chowing down on a piece of pizza we gave them… very funny. You can actually see them nibbling on the edges as they stay close by and at the surface – fearless little buggers! We had planned to leave this afternoon on the high slack water but with the internet and the lovely location, we decided we could go tomorrow instead. We’ll still have enough time in Raroia and get back to Nuku Hiva by the first few days of October. Wow, this year has gone by so quickly!!! But what a year!
Makemo to Raroia 12 – 13 September
We left the village anchorage at 16:30 as planned to transit the pass at slack. I was at the helm and with only a little bit of current, whirlpools and eddies, we were through. The winds were light but we were able to sail some then motor mostly. In the morning, as we approached the Raroia pass, we spotted our Canadian friends who had been ahead of us by about 15 miles and were trolling while waiting for the low slack tide to enter the pass. They followed us in and as we made for the NE anchorage where friends and several other boats were, but they turned south to the village for some supplies first.
Raroia 13 – 28 September
We wove our way around bommies and shallows on a more-or-less direct course to the anchorage. It was a beautiful day – Willem says that about each and every day, but this one was particularly lovely and we had a clear view of obstacles in the water. When we approached the anchorage, David and Leeanne (Lenny) dinghied out to give us guidance on entering around the reef and to avoiding the “black spots”, which were rocks in the shallow water. We anchored in 4m of turquoise blue and crystal-clear water. We found a good spot a short distance away… not so far away that the other cruisers would be offended but also not so close as to be able to hear conversations and be on top of one another. It was Friday the 13th and a full moon. Our cruising friends invited us to join the full moon party on their lovely Amel, and we enjoyed a great, but thankfully early, evening with three couples plus us.
We had a nice relaxing day, some rain, and I decided to “chill” on board. The group was doing a “burn party” on shore – burning trash – but I decided to skip that and let Willem go socialize on his own. I’m feeling a need for some solitude and down time, but with such a lovely social group here it may have to wait a bit. In fact, two more boats came in this morning so now we are 6 yachts. One boat is hosting a game of “Mexican Train”, which is some sort of domino game. I have heard about this game all over the cruising community from Turkey to the Caribbean and now here, but I’m not so much for games and would much rather be on board and read. Plus, there’s French lessons to be attended to… bonne apremidi (have a nice afternoon!)
The wind picked up for two days, up to 20 knots, but with two anchors deployed, we were snug on board. After the wind died down and after two days without being in the turquoise blue water, it was time for a snorkel and to go explore the reef we are all tucked in behind. We dinghied over to where our friend was snorkeling and she told us she had seen octopus! We explored the bommie and there they were!!!… two beautiful big octopus! We tried to stay as quiet as possible in the water so they’d come out and show themselves more clearly, which worked for a few minutes until our neighbor boat showed up with their three kids and all the splashing around sent the poor creatures into hiding. After the kids moved away, we stayed and hoped the octopus would come out again, and they did!!! At one point they even swam off to another part of the bommie. They can and did change colors so that they are most perfectly camouflaged in the environment. What a special sight to see.
There were two black-tip reef sharks as well – or maybe it was one shark twice? Lovely little tropical fishies swam all about in a rainbow of colors. That on the backdrop of turquoise waters and white sand was truly amazing. But there is always something amazing to see if you look around. Tomorrow, everyone is planning to pile into their dinghies and head over to what I have affectionately named “Booby Island” where there is a rookery of red-footies (read red-footed boobies). David and Lenny said there are chicks over there now. Can’t wait to see for myself!
Off we went, a convoy of four dinghies. There are lots of red-footies there and many nests. The birds were all of flying age, so no little chicks, but we found several sitting on their nests.
The next day it was an excursion to the pearl farm (Yip Pearls) about 2 miles on the west side of the atoll. There were only a handful of people there, but they showed us the entire process and explained everything. That was only because we had cruising friends with us who speak French. Otherwise we would have been hard-pressed to communicate enough for them to know we only wanted to have a look, and understand anything they said. It was a great visit and filled in some of the gaps for us. All of the pearls farmed here are exported to Hong Kong… none sold locally in French Polynesia.
Willem and I went back for more boobies and visited “Booby Island 2” which was one motu over from the original island. Boobies galore were flying, nesting, and just generally being wonderful company. There was also a nice little black-tip shark in the vicinity. We stopped a few places on the way back to do some snorkeling, but the water wasn’t that clear so we didn’t stay long. A few days later we went off for a reef dive with the group. It was quite shallow, so everything was right in your face… colorful fish and coral and a few sharks. Graham is an amazing photographer and shared a few of my favorite of his photos with me – who says the Universe doesn’t have a sense of humor!!! Check out these wonderful photos he took in Raroia:
This one below left looks like a Photoshop job in an aquarium, but it really isn’t!
We didn’t spend as much time ashore as Willem would have liked… or nearly enough time snorkeling. It seems we were too busy socializing and taking care of this and that. With five other boats (one with three precious kids aboard), we were always having people stop by or we were going visiting. We had several sessions of media sharing, hair cutting, technical discussions, and of course, the ever-popular “not the 9 o’clock net” led by David on the Amel. He did an excellent job leading us through social planning, duffel bag (misc.) items, and the like.
We enjoyed regular gatherings at the “Twin Palm Beach Club” (the group hung a sign between two palms and declared it the place to be for afternoon gatherings), dinner on the cat and dinner on our boat with the Canadian friends, then a Pot Luck on the cat again – the only boat large enough to host everyone – once again before it was time for us to begin our journey back to the Marquesas.
Raroia back to the Marquesas 28 September – 2 October
We left on Saturday morning the 28th and motored the 10 miles within the atoll to reach the only pass in Raroia. We timed the slack well and had minimal current against us on our way out. The forecast was for 10-15 knots the whole way and we thought we’d be motoring quite a bit. It turned out that we had more wind and sailed almost the entire way. It was a fast journey at three and a half days, and we only ran the engine to charge batteries twice. The auto-pilot is a hungry beast, but happy to keep him (Fred) fed and not have to hand steer most of the way. The last 6 hours was into the wind, once we rounded Ao Pao island and needed to change course to Nuku Hiva so we motor-sailed and made it in by mid-afternoon. We found an excellent spot to anchor, closer to the dinghy pier and (more importantly) the ViniSpot for internet than last time, but still with enough privacy and comfort.
The following day I picked up my Carte de Sojour which allows me to stay in French Polynesia for a year. Yippee!!! Only a few days left then off I go for 6 weeks of travel to the US, then return and watch the boat while Willem heads back to the Netherlands for 7+ weeks.
And so ends the Pacific Adventure for 2019… an amazing 7+ months sailing and exploring, from Panama to the Galapagos, on to the Marquesas and Tuamotus, then back to the Marquesas. This was a dream come true for me, especially the Galapagos. Though maybe not quite as spectacular in his estimation, also a very enjoyable trip for Willem.
Willem my dear, thank you so much for taking me with you across the Atlantic and half of the Pacific. You’re a lovely, kind and considerate person. You’re delightful company and a great skipper. Enjoy your onward journeys!
Fatu Hiva and Nuku Hiva
The beautiful and remote islands of the Marquesas, are part of French Polynesia. After a 3000-mile crossing from the Galapagos, the very tropical South Pacific is a dream come true…
The Galapagos to the Marquesas
It’s a 3000 nautical mile passage and the longest one that most any leisure cruiser will do. It takes anywhere from 3 weeks or longer and is quite the experience…
The Islands of San Cristobal, Santa Cruz and Isabela in the Galapagos, Ecuador
San Cristobal, Galapagos, Ecuador 25 April – 10 May
And we’re here!!!! In the Galapagos!!! How exciting is that? There are sea lions everywhere, which is just what I expected. They are on the water taxi platform and along the shore, on the beach and swimming all over. There are big ones and small ones, pups probably born in December or January. All delightful, if a bit smelly! It took us several days to catch up on sleep, to clean the boat and get all the salt off. We walked around town and went to dinner. We started gathering info on the basics: supermarket, fresh market, tours, getting water and diesel, etc. Slept some more.
Day tour to view tortoises and boobies!!! – Instead of paying $60/pp for an official tour, we paid $60 for a taxi for 5 hours and saw some of the sights one can reach by land (not all of the island). First, The tortoise breeding center. Lots of lovely turtles of various sizes and all well maintained. No entrance fee, and nice little path around the place. Next, we went to a beach where allegedly there are lots of blue-footed booby birds. There was only one! But at least there WAS one! I think this would have to be the-most-photographed booby of all times, lol! First, he was sitting, so we couldn’t see his feet. Several of us were gathered around waiting for him to stand up so we could verify foot color. Eventually he did and we were all delighted to see the bright blue webbed feet. He flew off but then returned again to ham it up a bit for us with some foot lifting and preening. Eventually, he flew off again and the show was over. So, the very first blue-footed booby bird presented himself, but hopefully many others will show themselves while we’re in the Galapagos!
Unexpected guest on board!!! – I told Willem already in Panama that we would need to deploy a sea-lion defense system for the boat so we didn’t wind up with a cockpit full of uninvited guests, though NOT deploying said system represents an invitation as far as they’re concerned, LOL! He didn’t believe me. He thought we could put a little barrier down and we’d be fine. I said we needed to deploy all fenders on top of a big barrier to keep them from hopping up on the aft platform, then a high mesh grate to keep them from getting into the cockpit in the event they happened to get lucky and nose their way through the fenders. Well, we deployed our defense system which worked well, but then we didn’t put back the fenders while Willem was working on a project and poof… a sea lion hopped up and made himself comfy. We then put a higher grate in, took hundreds of photos of him, and went about our business. He stayed for quite a while, getting smellier and noisier as time went on. He invited some of his friends to join him and the barking got very loud. Only room for one sea lion at a time on the platform so there was some bickering amongst the crowds, but eventually we decided he needed to be evicted before we went to sleep or the sound and smell would keep us awake. Still, how cool is it to have a sea lion perched on the stern of the boat? Just another amazing Galapagos experience!
Michele arrives! – on May 7th… so good to have my dearest friend visiting for two weeks and enjoying this amazing experience. Also great for her to see what a real liveaboard cruising boat is like and meet Willem. We took it slow the first afternoon and went ashore in the evening. We went for a happy-hour drink and sushi dinner, which was pretty good for being as remote as the Galapagos is. The next two days we walked around and enjoyed the harbor and prepared to head to our next destination, Santa Cruz. Happily, we eventually had another guest on board. “Madame, her sea lionness”, as we affectionately named her, arrived and stayed with us for just about two days. She would hop off into the water to eat and do her business and then come back on board for the rest of the day and night. We were wondering whether she’d stay on the stern and sail off with us, but it didn’t come to that. The morning we were to leave she hopped off and Willem quickly put a fender barrier up so she couldn’t get back on board. She came back around fully intending to do so and was quite incensed that her place had been taken. Both Michele and I were very sad and missed her.
Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, Ecuador 10 – 12 May
We motor-sailed to Santa Cruz and arrived with plenty of daylight to anchor, but we needed to reset the anchor three times before we got a good-enough hold. The anchorage was rocking and rolling like crazy! It was almost violent it was so strong. Michele felt sick and both Willem and I weren’t comfortable either. We decided that we needed to leave and head for Isabela… a better anchorage and a nicer place to stay for the two weeks Willem would be traveling back to the Netherlands.
We provisioned up at the local supermarket then Willem took everything to the boat. Mich and I scoped out a place for something to drink and a snack. The something to drink turned out to be mojitos and caipirinhas because it was happy hour. We each had two and Willem had a beer. We enjoyed the patacons (fried green plantains – as we needed something to soak up the alcohol) and then visited the Darwin Center. Tortoises and iguanas. The visitor center was closed as it was late afternoon on Saturday. Still, it was a nice walk around. We headed back to town and had a nice dinner out before returning to the boat. The swell had calmed a little bit so it was better than the previous night, but still not the place I wanted to hang out the next two weeks while Willem was away. We thought we’d get an early start the following morning to Isabela, but Willem needed to rebook his flight back to Amsterdam since they had cancelled the flight and between that, booking his ferry and hotel, and confirming everything, we didn’t get underway until after 10am.
Isabela Island, Galapagos, Ecuador 13 May – 10 June
It was a motor-boat ride from Santa Cruz all the way to Isabela island – about 50 miles. But it was a lovely ride and beautiful weather all the way. We took a little detour around the south side of Tortuga Island and saw lots of lovely boobies in addition to the beautiful and rugged rock formations. We had a few wasps on board which had joined us on San Cristobal and/or Santa Cruz and I got stung (I sat on it, so it was understandably annoyed) and then Mich got stung twice. My sting became totally swollen and red and stayed that way for the better part of a week. It hurt and when it stopped hurting it started itching like crazy. Allergic reaction, me thinks. Mich, armed with fly swatter, took care of the 4 or 5 others lurking about. They were pretty aggressive. We saw only one since then and she made sure he wasn’t ever going to sting anyone again, lol!
The anchorage in Puerto Villamil on Isabela island is much more protected than Santa Cruz and there were only 4 yachts anchored there when we arrived. We set the anchor in a very shallow area, and in the middle of the night we hit bottom on a low low tide, so needed to re-anchor at 2:30am. We found a spot in the back of the pack with a little more water and seemed to get a good hold. It was a very dark night and Willem woke me (I didn’t hear the first “thud” on the bottom) to help. Willem was so even-keeled about it. He was even talking to the sea lions while we got ourselves situated. I was nervous about finding a place in the limited space, but his calmness helped me stay centered. Thank goodness that happened the first night because Willem was flying out the next afternoon. I would not have wanted to re-anchor with only Mich and myself on board. In an emergency, if we had to do it, we would… but better that we don’t have to. After the anchor was set, we took the flashlight up to the bow and the light in the water brought little fish, which brought a pelican and a sea lion. There was also a little white-tip shark swimming about. Nice to have seen those wonders and helped calm me further so I could get back to sleep.
The water taxi picked us up mid-day the following day and we headed into the little town center to get a bite and something to drink before Willem got on the ferry. Small and not very developed, this is much more my taste than the very touristy Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, anchorage aside. I’m not sure we’ll be able to do all our provisioning for a 4-week passage on Isabela though… may need to make the trip back to Santa Cruz for/before checking out and heading to the Marquesas.
When we took our first water taxi in to the port, they picked up a guy from one of the tour boats. Luis, we found out, worked on one of the boats that went to los Tunneles. He told us about the trip and we made tentative plans to go with his boat two days later. He came by the next day so we could pay and invited us to come to his house for barbequed fresh fish that he had caught. Off we went for an adventure and a fish dinner. He is an excellent cook and we enjoyed a perfectly prepared meal, including salad and grilled plantains
Los Tunneles Tour: Mich and I arranged to do this half-day tour to “los tunneles” with Luis on Galapagos Adventures, about a 45-minute speedboat ride west where we would do some snorkeling and then a hike to see boobies and penguins. We enjoyed the boat ride out. There were 10 guests, boat captain, Luis, and guide. We went snorkeling first… amazing!!! It was very shallow so we needed to stay floating on the surface, not put our feet down and potentially damage the environment. We saw absolutely everything! The tortoises were huge and glorious. There were also sea horses (two), an eagle ray, a group of sting rays swimming in formation, white and black tip sharks both big and small, an octopus, and then more turtles! We were both in a constant state of “WOW”!!! We could have just stayed in place and watched the turtles eat… they were close enough to touch (but we didn’t) and calm as could be. Afterwards, we hiked through the mangroves and across the lava formations, but alas, no boobies and no penguins. Once back aboard, we headed out to an island rock offshore and saw boobies up top. We circled the rock and then continued back to the harbor. When we arrived, they took us to a rock with lots of boobies hanging out (just a stone’s throw to where we are anchored), and as we continued to the pier, we saw a few penguins on the rocks. So, all in all it was a very wonderful and successful day. When Willem returns, he’ll for sure want to do this tour and I will go again.
Fabulous Flamingos: Can you imagine an island where there are giant tortoises (land and sea versions), sea lions and boobies, pelicans and penguins, and then on top of that… flamingos??!! Well that would be Isla Isabela. Mich and I took a taxi to the turtle-breeding center and after viewing the tortoises there we walked along a beautiful walkway for about 15 minutes. We eventually reached a lake and saw shocking orange-pink flamingos. They were simply gorgeous. The ones I saw in Namibia were pinker than these dudes which were more to the orange side of pink, close up and personal. There were only about five or six in total, but each one more beautiful than the next. Two were white with just a slight hint of pink. This is simply the most amazing place and truly a trip of a lifetime. Not only to visit here but to have sailed and be anchored here. (feeling blessed).
Los Tintereras Boat Tour: They are so close yet so far… the lava rock islets just in front of where we are anchored. There are penguins sometimes and blue footies most of the time, but you can’t go there on your own. So even though Willem has a kayak on board, I can’t just head over there, I had to book a tour. You can either go by boat or with kayaks, but since I wanted to get some good photos, I decided on the boat trip and if it proves worthwhile, I will follow up with a kayak trip sometime before we leave.
It turned out to be spectacular! Not quite on par with Los Tunneles, but just as good in a different way. They said the penguins weren’t plentiful now as it is nesting time (up north), but we hit the jackpot twice. First, there was a gathering on the shore of about 12. They are delightful little fellows about a foot tall. Unfortunately, they were all facing away from us so they blended a little too well with the rocks to get good photos. We then spotted a huge stingray in the water followed by a Galapagos shark. We motored over to another area and there were blue footies and penguins sitting there together! OMG, jackpot! They are gorgeous and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. We continued on to an area where we could walk on the lava formations. Lots of white tipped sharks were lazing about in a shallow natural channel (low tide) as the water is warmer there.
Along the way we encountered some baby iguanas… about 2-3 months old. They stay on the rocks here so that the cormorants can’t swoop in and make them dinner. It’s too risky for the birds as they have huge wings and short legs, so they could break a wing if they get too close to the rocks (good news for the baby iguanas!)
Next up was the snorkeling, which the guide said was the best part… it was. First, a sea lion pup came out to play with us. Next, we saw black tip sharks, beautiful fish, and a lobster. We then went in search of tortoises. We found tons of them. They were smaller than those at Los Tunneles, but it was like a turtle parking lot, there were so many!
The very best part was the end when we took off our snorkeling gear and walked back to the little tour boat. Right there beside the walkway were two adorable penguins larger than life!!! They let us get right up to them and we all had a feast of photographing them!!! Need I say more?…
Diving Islote Tortuga – overcoming fears: Hammerheads! Having had asthma all my life and struggling to get enough air when having an attack or even mild wheezing, I’m afraid of not being able to breathe. So one can understand that being under water (up to 100 ft underwater) would make me more than a little anxious. I was scared from the very start – learning to dive and getting my PADI certification in Cairns with Roger back in 2013 – and I still have that fear today. I’ve done about 25+ dives (still very much a beginner) and each time I ask myself whether it’s actually worth the anxiety of going under.
I was very nervous about diving today. It was my first time diving on my own… well, we were in a group, but I didn’t have a dive partner or friend with me looking out to make sure I was okay. I was told that the Galapagos was more for experienced divers as there can be some strong currents, but I also didn’t really want to miss out on hammerhead sharks.
At first, I thought, “Sharks? Nah!” but I kept looking at the shirts and posters and cards in the souvenir shops and then Willem did a dive at Kicker Rock to see them. I am glad that I did a refresher course on the beach after snorkeling at Kicker Rock. And while I still had a few days on my own, I decided to suck it up and conquer my fears. So off I went this morning with five other divers to Islote Tortuga (the crescent shaped island we cruised by on our way to Isla Isabela. On my refresher dive they had me enter the water falling backwards off a dinghy. Willem said he was surprised they did that, as he wouldn’t have started me off that way. Well I’m glad they did, because today they had us fall backwards into the water from a cruising boat… much longer drop into the water. I did great though! I wasn’t relaxed initially on the first dive, but then found my comfort along the way. We saw a white tip shark and a few turtles. I thought for sure I’d be the first to run out of air, but a guy with only 9 dives came up before me. During the rest period while we munched on tuna sandwiches and tiny bananas, we watched the nasca boobies (masked boobies) and blue footies on the rocks. One nasca booby had a chick that looked to be a few months old… soon ready to fly!
We got ready for the second dive and down we went. I felt more relaxed on the second dive and shortly after we set out, we saw the first hammerhead. The visibility wasn’t very good and it just looked like a big shadowy blur, but it did look shark-like. Then we saw another one and it was close and beautiful!!! The dive master later told us that there were likely a lot more but because of the poor visibility we couldn’t see them. I’m good with at least having seen one clearly! I was first out of air on this dive, the current was strong and I probably wasn’t that relaxed. But everyone else came up pretty shortly after I was on board. I felt proud of myself for doing the dive and not succumbing to my fears. I’m going to keep diving, especially as French Polynesia has some extraordinary waters. The more experience I have, the less anxious I will feel and probably will be able to manage my air more efficiently.
A few days of solitude after Michele went home and before Willem returned was a nice change… no schedules, quiet, no dishes except one or two each day, and just a chance to clear my head. It’s been a while since I had time on my own without a hectic schedule and/or travel. Not to say that I wasn’t sad to see Mich go or happy to have Willem return, but having solitude now and again is a lovely experience. I’ve never been one to need people around me… can happily be alone without being lonely.
Skipper is back! Willem returned on Saturday the 25th and was jet lagged. He was glad to be back home and glad to see me. He brought lots of good things back from the Netherlands with him including some great Old Amsterdam cheese. A few days of rest and recovering from the trip and then it’s time to start the list and organize the preparations for our departure to the Marquesas. 3000 miles and not the easiest place (Isabela Island Galapagos) to provision for the passage. Oh well.
Flamingos and Kayaking tour of Tintereras: Things to do await, but making time for some lovely activities here in the Galapagos is important, especially for Willem who has missed almost two weeks of our time here due to his trip. First thing up is a walk about town and to the flamingos, then a kayaking tour of the Tintereras. Doing the trip by boat was grand, but being in a kayak gives you a different perspective. And in fact, the tour was really different. Even the snorkeling location was quite different, so glad I did both! Willem wanted his own kayak, so we each had one instead of sharing a double, which in the end turned out to be the best choice. The kayaks were sturdy and easy to maneuver.
We lucked out (as I did with the boat trip) and had lots of lovely little penguins to delight us. They were all swimming at the beach where we started. They were swimming alongside us and one was right by my kayak looking in as if he was going to hop up on board with me!!! There were also tons of blue footies about and pelicans diving for dinner. We started off at 3pm when the tide was going down. Best to see everything at low tide where more is visible and the water shallower. We paddled around the coast and along some rocks with our penguins, then cut across the bay to the Tintereras. Penguins and blue footed boobies dotted the shore, much to my continued delight. We meandered along the rock formations and then tied the kayaks to a mooring and hopped into the water for some snorkeling. We saw turtles and white tip sharks as well as some colorful parrot fish.
The water was murky and chilly, especially since the sky was overcast without the sun to warm our backs. We climbed back onto our kayaks and headed to the point where all the boobies hang out, but the others wanted to head back. Luckily, Omar our guide, said it was okay for me to paddle over there on my own and he waited and watched. Willem was off to the boat to drop off our snorkeling gear and then joined me. I didn’t want to leave – at least 20 – 30 boobies in all their blue-footed glory!!!! What a paradise this is for me. I’ll be sad when we need to leave.
Tomorrow, off to market for provisioning and then Sunday we’re renting bikes to go visit the “Wall of Tears” and see the flamingos again… can’t get too many flamingos, penguins, or blue footies! 😊
Farm Fresh Provisioning: This really gives new meaning to the term “farm fresh”… we went to Finca Felipe Troya, one of the local farmers. It was about a 20-minute taxi ride out into the island, away from the coastline and the lava rocks and into the interior where it is cooler, greener, and very lovely. We arrived at the gate and drove in to a beautiful little (or not so little as it turns out) farm. The “Mama” called Felipe to come in from the fields and off we went to start our “provisioning”. First up were mandarins… picked fresh from the tree. Next, we walked up to a field of papaya trees and Felipe cut several down for us ranging in ripeness to last up to 10 days. On to the pineapple fields where he cut several for us and gave us a little shoot to plant on board (yes, he even provided us with some dirt to plant that and a little cilantro plant in!!!)
With still much to do to be ready to set out, we checked out “officially” on Friday Jul 7th. It cost $100 extra to check out from Isla Isabela but saved us 100 miles each way and several days, so we decided it was worth it. Normally you hav2 24 hours after checkout to depart, but we were pushing the limits by planning to leave on Sunday or even Monday. In the end, we decided on Monday and by then our agent was sending messages asking why we hadn’t left and saying that officials were going to come on board mid-afternoon. We finalized our preparations and weighed anchor at 1:15pm. Once underway we sent a message saying we were off!
The Galapagos fulfilled my childhood dreams of blue-footed boobies, penguins (which I didn’t even know existed at the equator as a kid) and all the other wonderful exotic flora and fauna. Yes, it was expensive and restrictive just as most cruisers say, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Willem was excited to be underway, but I was sad to be leaving this beautiful paradise. So, onward and onward… from one amazing paradise to the next and only 3000nm of open ocean in between!
Stay tuned for the Pacific 2019 – Part III – French Polynesia!
Into the South Pacific
But first through the Panama Canal, then on our way to the Galapagos Islands. I had literally waited almost my entire life to visit the blue-footed booby birds there!
The Taj Mahal and Ganges River
The second half of our incredible India travels begins in Agra with the Taj Mahal, continues up to Delhi and then a flight to Varanasi.
A land of contrasts, the big city of Mumbai and the magical state of Rajasthan
Michele and I are headed to India for our much-anticipated 3-week adventure. Michele read that statistically speaking, 70 percent of foreigners traveling to India get sick. We’re going to be prepared… suitcases are full of antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer. Protocol is in place for food and beverage: eat nothing that isn’t cooked, no fruit that we can’t peel ourselves, and drink only from store-bought and sealed bottles. Protocol for brushing teeth: hold toothbrush in one hand and water bottle in the other and do not put either down until the process is finished. This prevents the possible slip-up of not remembering you can’t even rinse your mouth with water from the tap. Americans take for granted that tap water is potable as is fortunately the case within the US. So armed and prepared, off we go…
Incredible India day 0 – Mumbai
Exploring the neighborhood and getting a wardrobe upgrade so we “blend” a bit. Our strategy was to take little clothing with us except our traveling outfit then buy some India-appropriate clothing that we would then donate before flying back out… good idea in theory.
When you know you are visiting a strange, new, and wonderful place… not sure whether I was going to like the city of Mumbai (Bombay), but was surprised to find a great vibe, nice people, and an “up and coming” level of modernization along with the ragged and dilapidated buildings. The shopping was great, especially after getting a wonderful recommendation for Biba fashions for “kurti”. These are the Indian tunic and pants plus scarf combo… so comfy to wear and we will “blend” a bit better than if we wore our western garb. We each bought two outfits… a good start. Glad we had a full day before we had any plans. We walked quite a bit and enjoyed the local feel. We went to a textile market (would not have found it without local help), and looked for sarees. One simply must have a saree here, especially for touristy photos in front of the Taj Mahal!!!
Incredible India Day 1 – Mumbai
We started touring this afternoon and sights of the city included the Gandhi museum, Gateway to India, a stroll by the Prince of Wales museum and along the waterfront. The city is smoggy, dirty, loud, bustling, and traffic-congested with constant honking and chaos… it is also quite wonderful with some handsome architecture, a good vibe, very nice folks, busy colorful markets, tasty food and great chai. I’m loving the masala chai and our first days here!!!
We visited the Gandhi museum first, the house he lived in, and stopped at the “Gateway to India” arch which was where the British finally departed in the 40’s. Michele and I went back to the textile market to get our saree (sari) and so missed the elegant and decadent “high tea” at the Taj Hotel… better for our waistlines, even though the Indian kurta (loose-fitting tunic outfit) are “roomy”.
Incredible India day 2 – Mumbai
Markets, neighborhoods, city views, and a little shopping… we each bought a beautiful saree at the textile market and then spent hours trying to figure the thing out. Talk about an aerobic workout! Okay, picture 18 meters of fabric times two, both of us armed with a handful of safety pins. Yes, apparently that’s the trick to assembling these things… everything held together with about 20+ strategically-placed pins. Plus, we had earmarked a ton of YouTube video instructions!
Incredible India day 3 – Udaipur
We flew from Mumbai and the flight had some technical glitches. Well actually, I was the technical glitch. I forgot that I had packed my external mobile phone battery charger in my checked bag and it held up the entire process. Finally, so as not to miss the flight, we gave approval for them to remove it from my luggage. I didn’t care about the battery, but was sorry to see the little charger go. We arrived in time for a lovely sunset and then beautiful evening views of the old city. Just as I hoped, Rajasthan is magical! Tomorrow we explore!
Incredible India day 4 – Udaipur
It is every bit as romantic as we were told. We stayed at a lovely heritage hotel, where at least one scene from the “Best Marigold Hotel” movie was filmed! Sitting on the terrace atop the hotel and by the pool, the views dazzled us as the sun set and myriad lights came on dotting the old city. Monkeys climbed on nearby buildings and the lake shimmered. The dinner of tandoori and naan was surprisingly good. The following morning, we made our way to the City Palace for a tour, then had a demonstration and instruction on how the master artists create the famous miniature paintings. The detail and work is quite remarkable. In the evening we attended a folk-dance performance given nightly. Though this isn’t normally my thing, it was quite good. The costumes were alive with color and sparkle. There were many Indian folks, not just tourists and it was packed… hard to believe when it’s a nightly gig.
Incredible India day 5 – Mount Abu
Before heading to Mount Abu (3-hour drive), we were treated to a cooking class and demonstration of how to make some basic Indian food… and then ate the evidence for lunch, lol! So much fun!
Mount Abu is one if the top honeymoon destinations in India but not too many international tourists wander in. We saw some elaborately dressed brides-to-be who were just lovely and sparkly. Us? No honeymoons, but on 14 Feb we have a romantic stroll in the desert planned followed by dinner. Stay tuned for pictures of our Valentine’s “dates”, hee, hee!
Incredible India day 6 – Mount Abu
A bus ride away, we traveled to Mt. Abu – elevation 12K ft. It is a popular honeymoon location for middle-class Indians but not many international tourists wander in. it has the feel of a frontier town – a little rustic, but with shops selling cheap glitzy costume jewelry for newlywed brides. We visited the Jain (pronounced “Jayne”) temple here with its magnificent and very detailed marble work. Unfortunately, no cameras allowed. The temple was built in the 12-13th century and that makes it even more impressive. The hotel we stayed at was clearly set up for the honeymooners… a fresh rose in our room, big tub with glass walls so you could see out to the romantic hills beyond. All in all, very nice with a great breakfast buffet. This was the only place so far though, that I didn’t like the masala chai… too much ginger.
Incredible India day 7 – Bhenswara
Bhenswara is way off the beaten path but well worth the visit. We did a “home stay” of sorts, where a family of some nobility have converted their palace to accommodate guests while still maintaining their residence there. The place was lovely and the rooms have lots of original and updated character. We were treated to a jeep safari and visited two remote villages, one semi-nomadic (like me!) The people, and especially the kids, were as interested in us as we were in them. Lots and lots of pictures with everyone squeezing in! We then drove out to a lovely sunset point. We were at the edge of Thar desert and will be continuing further into it tomorrow as well. Once back we were assisted by the local experts in getting into our saree for the evening (much safer leaving assembly to the professionals). It is a complicated matter for sure. We looked like princesses once dressed up, and felt beautiful and glamorous. We decided during the process, that since we were both mechanical engineers, we should be able to figure out the dynamics of this assembly and we will be working on an “easy on – easy off” option for the next time.
Incredible India day 8 – Jaisalmer
The bus ride to Jaisalmer, the “Golden City”, was a long haul. 7 hours plus stops. Some was interesting and some was just barren, so got some reading in. The beautiful fortress is indeed golden and shimmered in the late afternoon sun when we arrived. We stayed at another family palace converted, which had a bit of the “best marigold hotel” feel to it, though in better shape… sort of. We rode in tuk-tuks up to the top of the fortress and had an orientation walk around. There was a lovely bazaar-like feel… lots of textiles, antiques, souvenirs, and more textiles to be found. Jaisalmer is pretty remote in the NW part of Rajasthan and only 40km from the Pakistani border. We stopped for a local “butter lassi”, which was excellent and we enjoyed a coconut cookie. It was so good we went back the next day just as they were getting a fresh batch brought out. We had a lovely dinner on the rooftop of the hotel, where we could view the beautifully lit fortress. My tandoori chicken was the best (so far)!
Incredible India day 9 – Jaisalmer
The next day, we were on a mission to find new kurti – we were running out of clean outfits. Beforehand, or on the way, we encountered a textile shop making patchwork items from old marriage and festival dresses from the local area. They were beautiful and Michele bought a table runner. I got caught up in the beauty of the fabric and had a jacket made. Unfortunately, although they measured me properly, the sleeves were still too long and shoulders still too big. I had some buyer’s remorse, as this thing is quite ornate and bohemian – a statement piece to be sure – but also heavy and impractical for my cruising lifestyle. Oh well, I’ll be happy to have it in Delhi, NJ, and going to Prescott. We had to get back by three for one of the highlights of the trip (for me, at least), the camel safari into the desert…
A romantic stroll in the Thar desert with my Valentine “Lucky”…
Having taken a good strong antihistamine, and equipped with a mask, tons of tissues and an inhaler, I hopped onto “Lucky”, my camel and my “date” for Valentine’s day – it was February 14th. We rode for about an hour and then had a performance by gypsies before dinner. The women danced beautifully by the fire. Dinner was okay, but we were tired and didn’t want to hang around too long.
Incredible India days 10 – 12: Jodhpur
Called the “blue city” because of the periwinkle-blue wash on many of the buildings, Jodhpur is a bustling place yet cleaner than the other towns we visited thus far. The fort atop the hill is beautiful with intricate details carved on towers jutting from solid rock below. The markets surrounding the old clock tower were a riot of color, smell, and sound, where offerings ranged from cheap souvenirs made in China to upscale hand-block printed cottons and ready-to-wear clothing made locally.
We stayed at a very nice heritage palace hotel after deciding that our previously-booked accommodations were unacceptable – service in India is great but standards for cleanliness are not. I am not usually put off by much, but this was on the edge, and Michele has higher standards than I do in this respect. Our new place was outside the old city but only a short tuk-tuk ride away (I love riding in tuk-tuks!), and we appreciated the quiet and serene atmosphere. There was a lush garden with outdoor dining and talented local entertainment. The food was the best we’ve had thus far and the service was simply amazing. It was more than just great dining, it was a luxurious experience!
We relaxed and had the best meals of the entire trip with pampering service by Anop, our waiter at dinner and by Nape” our server at breakfast. The breakfast buffet was included and had plenty to choose from, but we need not have bothered as (unasked) Nape brought us one freshly prepared dish (dosa, and ?) after another. Perfectly prepared and just exactly right for the palate.
The first afternoon, after getting settled and having a bite to eat, we asked about shopping (of course) and were let to what Michele refers to as the “5th Avenue of Jodhpur”, with upscale stores for clothing and jewels. We admired (but didn’t ask prices of) the “real deal” in costume and fine jewelry. We’re not talking about cheap costume, but rather semi-precious stones including rough-faceted but beautiful diamonds. We also found a little ice cream place with India-made gelato. We tasted lots of flavors and then settled on a single scoop each. We sat in one of the store-provided plastic chairs on the side of the road and thoroughly enjoyed our local experience.
After a wonderful night’s sleep and hearty breakfast, despite still being full from the previous night, we set out on our agenda for the day. Tuk-tuk to the old fort where we took some great photos. Michele has an eye for great location, and I for composition and photo detail (make sure clothing is draped smoothly and pose is flattering, especially after eating so much and so well, LOL!) Did Michele really think we would lose weight on this trip??? We were also looking for the camel-leather shoes, which we only found after our 3rd trip back to the fortress. Then off to the clock-tower markets. I was looking for camel-milk chocolate (no success thus far) but the candy store owner chatted us up and suggested we go to the students market for good-quality and low-priced ready-to-wear cottons. I was looking for a jumpsuit like one I had seen, and sure enough, they had just what I was after. Michele bought a few dresses that are adorable. We both decided that we now look like vagabond, peasant, bohemian hippies… cool!
Incredible India day 13 – 14: Jaipur
The pink city is more of a rose color rather than true pink, so I clashed. 😊
How to select a Tuk-Tuk: We wanted to take a tuk-tuk into the pink city and City Palace. The experience of selecting our tuk-tuk after being mobbed by about 20 drivers outside the hotel was both comical and satisfying. How to choose? We didn’t want to… we wanted them to sort it out. They said they couldn’t. Then Michele had the great idea that instead of picking the driver, we would pick the tuk-tuk we liked, and whoever it belonged to would be our driver.
They cleared a path and we approached the herd of tuk-tuks parked in a cluster. We picked a clean and tidy one with little hearts on the seats. And so we met Kumar, our tuk-tuk’s owner. He is a lovely gentle soul… not one of the younger more assertive men who rushed at us, but well-mannered and with a wonderful aura about him.
Off we went to the City Palace. Kumar offered to take us the following day (all day) for a very reasonable price and we agreed. While at City Palace, we decided to have a quick look at the Palace Jewelers shop… just a look, since we assumed the prices would be sky high. They weren’t, and Sumil, the shop’s owner, was delightful. We were there for quite some time and left with a number of items we weren’t even thinking of buying, but were delighted to have.
The City Palace itself wasn’t nearly as dazzling as the fort in Jodhpur, but we still enjoyed looking around the pink city. We walked quite a while and then saw a stationary store where we bought colored pencils, pens and pads to send to the kids we had met in Bhenswara. They told us where we could get photos printed (so they knew who the gifts came from) and so we assembled a package and would ask Kumar to help us navigate the Indian post office the following morning. Dinner was at a highly recommended restaurant, but turned out to be pretty much touristy. After dinner, we went into two Ayurvedic skin care stores and bought some luscious skin-care products including the best night cream ever!!!
Incredible India day 15am – Jaipur
The Post Office Experience: We started our day with a unique Indian experience… the post office. Kumar, our most-excellent tuk-tuk driver assisted us. We would probably still be on line and clueless otherwise. We were told to go outside and see the guy under the big tree. What? The guy under the tree would prepare our parcel and then we were to come back in and stand at counter #6 to pay postage. Sure enough, there was a guy standing under the big tree out front. We handed over our envelope and thought he was just going to tape it up for us.
What followed was a 30-minute process in which he measured the package, cut a length of white fabric, and hand-stitched a custom-sized slipcover for it. He then sewed the thing closed, got out wax and a seal, and stamped over each end three times. He handed back the parcel for us to address on the cloth and then he took it back from us to completely tape up the entire thing. We were handed the final package, taped well enough to ship safely to a neighboring galaxy, and were directed back inside to counter #6.
There was already a line and everyone seemed to press in closely. The next package was being pushed through the window even as the previous customer was still in process. The next counter over from #6 was entitled the “Happy Counter” but there wasn’t anyone working there (or waiting there for that matter, lol). About $3 for the elaborate packaging and $1.50 to send to the kids. Once the package arrives, I estimate it will take them about 20 minutes with an all-out effort to get through tape, wax, stitching, cloth, and envelope, inside to the contents… exhausting!
Incredible India day 15 pm – Jaipur
In the afternoon, we set off for the Amber Palace and Fort. Camels waited on the sides of the road while elephants lumbered by (they are used to take tourists up the steep path).
Highlights of this journey were mouse and snake – tiny black mouse scampered across our path and I managed to get a photo of him. Snake (yes, cobra in a basket – illegal in these parts) was about to be charmed by his person when Michele got a glimpse of him and shrieked piercingly, running up the stairs at a shocking pace, while everyone stopped to watch. It all happened so fast, so alas, no photo of the also-started creature.
We saw more of Jaipur as we meandered through the pink city and then further afield in Kumar’s trusty tuk-tuk. The Amber Palace sits high above the city with stunning views of the even-higher fort and down below to beautiful English gardens. Elephants were walking along painted colorfully, and camels waited along the side of the road. We also saw a tiny adorable black mouse dash across the courtyard.
Towards the end of the day, Kumar asked if we would come to his house for dinner to meet his wife and family, and his brother who is running a great volunteer organization in Jaipur. We had a wonderful evening, enjoyed yummy food and the best masala chai ever (Sumil is an excellent cook!!!), and shared photos and conversation with such a warm and lovely family. Thanks Kumar! Then we all piled into Kumar’s tuk-tuk (8 of us plus Kumar driving, where normally 2 fit comfortably… don’t ask) and headed over to learn about “Cooperative Volunteers India” from Shiva and just like that, we decided we would come back to India and volunteer at some point.
Next stop the following day was Agra and the Taj Mahal! We found a great home-stay in Agra, and Kumar had a friend who could drive us there – yippee!!!
Stay tuned for the second half of our Incredible India adventures… Agra, Delhi and Varanasi!
Aruba, Columbia and Panama
Santa Marta for the holidays and Cartagena in Columbia were wonderful as were the San Blas Islands in Panama.
Noumea to Luganville Adventure
Sailing the southern part of New Calendonia then across to Vanuatu was a great experience. We even saw Dugong!
A delightful month in the rivers of the Republic of Suriname
Domburg 19 Feb – 19 Mar
Suriname was a Dutch settlement and Dutch is still the official language. It seems that the little Harbor Resort in Domburg is where Dutch boats flock after crossing the Atlantic or to stay out of the hurricane belt. Not much English spoken here and when you have a bunch of Dutch folks sitting around the restaurant and bar drinking and talking, it’s all in Dutch. So, I’m feeling a little excluded except for the one or two American women (cruising on Dutch boats) that I have met. That’s actually fine by me… I’m not interested in sitting around drinking or talking every day and am just as happy to have Willem (social animal that he is) go off now and again on his own to speak and socialize in Dutch.
It’s taken about a week to get caught up on sleep, cleaning, laundry, provisioning, reorganizing and general post-passage work. There is still some to do, but more manageable.
Domburg is not much of a town… it looked more substantial on the map. It consists of the resort (not even a marina – just 10 moorings, restaurant, small pool and ablutions). There are a few basic huts for restaurants and three Chinese shops selling just about everything… the Chinese are very enterprising and I was surprised to see how many remote places have Chinese shops.
The food is a mixture of Indonesian, Chinese, and Indian. I really like the nasie kip (nasi = fried rice; kip = chicken), and it’s cheaper to eat out than fix things back at the boat. That said, it’s all starchy and oily and fattening, so I’ve got to limit how often I do that. I’m fixing salads and such on board as much as I can.
We met a few nice couples and are planning a trip with two. Friday, we go into the jungle to a local village for two nights. Several people have done this trip and have all come back with rave reviews. Next week we are going to take the boats up another river which branches off the Suriname further downstream. That will be about a 5-day trip and will involve lots of mosquito spray! We haven’t had any problems with mozzies while anchored on the river – there’s mostly a nice breeze coming through, but people have complained about them onshore.
Jaw Jaw 2 – 4 Mar
We’re off for a 2-night adventure into the interior and jungle of Suriname. Suriname is 95% untouched with the highest amount of reserve water per capita in the world. It was voted the most “green” country by some environmental agency. Most of the population lives in Parimaribo city and along the river front, leaving the majority of the land untouched jungle and tropical rain forest. We climbed on a local 7-person van/bus for the 2-hour ride to Atjoni, the place where all the local river boats convene and leave from. It was hot and I was in the back corner without much air. Along the way we got a flat tire and stood baking in the sun until we could get the tire changed. Willem and Peter were busy working and the local guys were pretty much just watching them, lol! They did great and we were underway again in pretty short order. We arrived at Atjoni, where all the river boats pick up people and everything else you can imagine, then set out in a variety of directions up and down the river. We were headed to Jaw Jaw (pronounced: Yeaw Yeaw) a local village along the river with about 300 residents. We went to the Jaw Jaw ATele Resort, but I’m not sure “resort” is the right descriptor. It was a small place with 4 cabins for guests, two tables with benches built around huge trees – one of which housed the resident orphaned 2-toed sloth named “Binkie” (how cool is that?), a bathroom, a cabin for the owner, and outdoor kitchen with covered table and bench.
The selling point of this trip was the experience of living in a local village and experiencing their way of life. There was a scattering of other resorts along the river, but most were like hostels with small cabins and communal kitchens. This was the only one where you were actually living in authentically built huts and among the local people. There was only one bathroom which required a calabaza (shell of a big fruit) to pour water in the toilet to flush and pour over yourself to shower. It was all very primitive but fine… though one bathroom for 5 cabins wasn’t sufficient. That the toilet didn’t work for “important business” and we needed to walk a convoluted path to another one – one that none of us could have found in the dark – was a more than a bit of an inconvenience, lol!
Bele, the lodge owner, met us at the river with a tiny little creature at his heels… meet Sander, an orphaned baby wild pig. He was tiny and beyond adorable. Between Sander and Binkie, I was delighted and so whatever slight inconveniences we encountered were of no consequence. We paid full-on European prices – 50 Euro/day/pp, which was a lot, considering, but I think we all felt it was well worth it. We enjoyed some fried plantains upon arrival and then went to the river for a swim. There are lovely rocks along the river and rapids, so you felt you were in a natural Jacuzzi. The water temperature was perfect and we enjoyed watching the local villagers swim and frolic and wash clothes, dishes, or themselves. After the swim we got settled and relaxed. We found Binkie sitting in the tree and Bele told us he’d come down later in the evening, which he did.
Dinner was delicious chicken, rice, green papaya cooked as vegetable, and marinated cucumber… all very nice. Afterwards we kept a keen eye out for Binkie and eventually found that he had made his way down the trunk of the neighboring tree. Bele pulled him off the tree (unceremoniously), and we brought him to the table to feed him some rice. One plate of rice and about a thousand photos later, we put him back on a low branch so he could slowly – after all he’s a sloth – make his way back to his favorite tree spot.
The next morning, we didn’t get as early a start as Willem thought we might… 8:30am and we made our way over for coffee and a very European sort of brekky with salami, sliced cheese, cucumber, tomato, and hard-cooked eggs. Bele, at Willem’s request, made some fried eggs which we all enjoyed. After brekky, Peter, Jaqueline, and I went with Bele on a short walk to visit the village’s school, while Willem decided he wanted to go off on his own. We went for a swim after that and came back to freshly prepared coconut pancakes. Well, they were more a cross between a pancake and biscuit of sorts… but delicious, or “lecker” as the Dutch would say. Off we went afterwards for our jungle walk in the afternoon along a path flanked with dense lush greenery. Dinner was a soup made with little plantain dumplings and rice, basic but nice. It was a good adventure, but we were glad to be heading back “home” at the end of the following day.
Back on Sunday, we had Monday to get settled and on Tuesday, Willem’s friends Petra and Jan Willem came over for a visit. I prepared some tasty treats to go with our wine and beer, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening. We made plans to get together once again before I fly out on the 19th. We had made plans to do a river cruise with a neighboring boat. With no connectivity along the way, it’s always better to go with someone else. Both Willem and I thought we were to set out on Thursday, but Wim and Marjorie the couple on the other boat came over by dinghy on Tuesday and were convinced we had agreed to leave Wednesday… oops! We hadn’t provisioned yet and thought we’d be going to town on Wednesday to be ready the following day. We still had enough on board to probably make it across the Pacific, so we made due with a few fresh items from the local Chinese supermarket (all the supermarkets here seem to be Chinese) and off we went!
Commewijne River 7 – 18 Mar
We headed back down the Suriname River to the cardinal marker and then turned up into the Commewijne River. We anchored in front of the old Fredricksdorp plantation, which we planned to visit on the way back. The major Suriname rivers were lined with plantations when slavery was still in force, but after it was abolished, most closed up shop. We went over to our neighbor’s for a bit and then returned back “home” for a quiet evening.
Off we went the following day for a leisurely cruise up the river. We traveled only about 15 miles, and by mid-day we were anchored on a side river with beautiful foliage surrounding us. We did the same the following day, working our way further upriver. We took dinghy rides to explore and saw lovely little nests hanging from trees, a caymen (mini-gator) and a beautiful blue and gold macaw, in addition to lots of white and blue herons and gulls. There were wonderful pairs of green parrots – always in pairs and always chatting away to one another.
The evenings were magical and beyond romantic… dinner outside in the cockpit under a blanket of stars. We listened to the sounds of the jungle that surrounded us. We talked, or didn’t, sipped wine and ate wonderful things – fresh bread Willem baked for us, delicious cheeses and Iberican Jamon from Tenerife, smoked chicken from Mindelo, and whatever else took our fancy. Afterwards, just sitting and gazing at the stars, then taking a refreshing back-deck shower (the absolute best!) in remote areas with river water when it became sweet. Mornings were also fabulous. The lovely little singing espresso maker (Bialetti 2-cup Moka Timer electric espresso maker sings a little tune when coffee is ready!) absolutely delighted me. Sipping coffee together and watching the jungle come to light and life was just beautiful. I’ll treasure these times always… a dream, really.
The third day in, we reached the small village of Wanhatti and set our anchors mid-river out front. We knew we needed to check in with the village chief (Captain) and brought a small offering of beer for him as well as a bag of lollipops for the kids. Cornelia, who runs a small daycare and refreshment business, met us and guided us around the village. It was an inconsistent blend of houses and shacks, old and new, big and small, prosperous and less-so. Most everyone greeted us warmly.
Our traveling companions decided they needed to get back a bit earlier than planned, so they took off the following morning heading back to Domburg, while we made our way to shore to attend the Sunday church services. There was singing and reading and although we didn’t understand most, we could follow along and were glad we went.
We found out that Willem’s friend Peter was arriving on Wednesday, a day earlier than we thought. As we considered the timing and plans for when Peter was there, we decided it would be nice if he shared the river experience with us. We came up with the idea of arranging transportation from Wanhatti village to and from the airport rather than sailing back to Domburg in time to meet him. That worked out brilliantly and we were able to spend more time on the river before heading back. It was an all-day excursion, but we also got to stop in Parimaribo along the way to provision up and buy some books and things for the kids in the village… better that than more candy.
The following morning, we began our trip back down river after Peter and Willem went for a swim. I wasn’t convinced that swimming there by the village was the thing to do and stayed on board. We didn’t go very far as we wanted to stop at a place overnight and show Peter this lovely remote leg off the river. Peter and Willem took the dinghy on a tour of the side river and came back totally excited to have been inches (okay, well less than a meter) away from a caymen – a mini ‘gator. I thought it not a very clever thing to do, getting so close, as the caymen was faster than they and had he decided to attack rather than retreat, well… it could have ended poorly for all, and especially for Peter who was up front. But they were delighted and both lived to tell about it with all appendages intact. 😊
We made our way back to Fredricksdorp, anchoring and swimming in beautiful remote locations and listening to the howler monkeys calling out at night. We took a tour of the plantation and had a nice lunch at the resort restaurant before preparing ourselves for what was truly one of the highlights of the adventure… the turtle tour!!!
We bought a few lackluster fried things and water to take with us on our tour and met our guide for the trip. Off we went on a traditional slim wooden canoe-like boat outfitted with a small outboard. I sat up front, Willem in the middle and Peter in back. We cruised down a long man-made waterway which was used by the plantations originally. The Dutch put many of these in to prevent the salt water from coming into the fields when the river level was high. In fact, the plantations were lower than the river and dykes were necessary. I saw a bridge up ahead and it was very VERY low… in fact, had I not flattened myself completely into the boat I would have lost my head. The guide didn’t slow down at all!!! As I recovered from the shock of that near-miss, I saw a ramp up ahead. I was sure that we would be swerving to the left and thought the waterway headed off in that direction. But no, because of the difference in water height from river to open sea, this was a dyke that they built a ramp over and covered in slimy mud. Our guide picked up speed and we raced towards the ramp…. YIKES!!! He launched us up the ramp and we almost made it completely over. Had there not been four of us we likely would have gotten up, over, and continued on. We stopped at about 70% of the way to the top and had to get out and push the boat over the rest of the way.
The rest of the 1-hour ride to the coast proceeded without incident. We waited a while at the beach as the turtles don’t come out until dark and high tide. After about an hour, we set out for what I understood would be a 45-minute walk to the turtle-viewing location. About an hour later we stopped and inspected some turtle tracks from the day before… our anticipation was growing.
It was getting darker but the timing of the tide wasn’t just right. Our guide suggested we proceed on to another turtle spotting area. I had assumed that the walk would be along the beach, and part of it was… but we veered off into the jungle and then back out again. Next turtle spot proved equally unsuccessful and we pressed on. This continued until we had walked about 2 ½ hours!
Finally, we spotted a turtle just heading back out to sea. Yippee!!! We decided we had gone far enough and having at least been rewarded with one turtle sighting, we turned back. Mind you, we were walking in flip-flops, which weren’t the best, and at 10PM I was already feeling tired. We spotted another turtle as we proceeded, and she was sitting on the slick clay/mud resting on her way back into the sea. We decided it was worth braving the clay mud to get a closer look. We took off our shoes and were slipping and sliding and just trying not to fall into it. Peter fell, but Willem and I were holding on to one another and I grabbed the arm of our guide who was obviously better practiced in walking through this stuff.
She was worth it though… such a beauty this turtle was and our guide estimated her to be over 50 years old. She was huge. We didn’t get any good photos as we used only our red headlamps as not to scare her off. Fantastic!
So that inspired and fueled me to continue on. I was exhausted by this time and was just managing to put one foot in front of the other and not impale myself on branches or other things in the jungle. And then there was the snake. Willem was delighted to make its acquaintance, but for me all snakes are poisonous and with only flip-flops on my feet, there was plenty of “bite-available” real-estate. Ugh! The snake, however, didn’t seem the least bit perturbed or interested in aggression, which was good.
Eventually, we made it back to the canoe and then rested on the hour-long drive back to the river. We got back on board at about 12:30am with muddy feet/shoes and happy hearts. I was really exhausted and Willem rinsed off my feet for me… so lovely, what a treat. 😊
The next morning, off we went to Domburg, against the tide. Oh well… it was worth it to stay and do the turtle tour, and there were river dolphins surrounding the boat, but we had invited guests over for a farewell party as I was flying out the very next day. We had a lovely evening. It was the second party Willem and I hosted together on-board and was a wonderful time and total success.
Monday morning, Willem accompanied me to the airport to catch my flight out. We were both sad as we had a great sail together. We promised to stay in touch and were both open and happy to consider sailing together in the future… all depending on plans, which as sailors we know are always written in the sand at low tide.
Thank you Willem, for a wonderful month sailing Suriname!
Europe to South America
Sailing from the Canaries to Cape Verde, then across the Atlantic to Suriname. I had never heard of Suriname and all of a sudden I was headed there!
Coastal Cruising along Atlantic EU
Starting in Brest, France and ending in Lisbon, Portugal, this 2-week sailing trip was an enjoyable journey… especially the port tasting part!
Cape Town to Victoria Falls on the 21-day Nomad Safari. South Africa to Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe 31 August – 19 September.
I met a lovely young woman from Brazil on my Cape Explorer outing to the southern-most tip of the African continent. Fernanda told me she was embarking on a 21-day adventure, a camping safari leaving in two days and going from Cape Town all the way to Victoria Falls. One of the issues in looking into potential safari trips turned out to be the cost of flying in and out of different locations – adding about $600 to an already costly trip. For one week, the cost of a “non-participatory” camping safari (where they put up tents and do everything for you) was $1880 USD. This 21-day trip with Nomad was “participatory” and, with all the activities included, came to $1900 (no single supplement and no expensive flights!) I contacted Nomad and although the tour Fernanda was on was already booked, they had one single spot left on the same tour leaving two days after that. So off I went to buy the few things I would need to have with me – hiking shoes, sleeping bag, etc.
Day 1 – South Africa: Cape Town to the Cederberg Region
The tour started in Cape Town. We got everything loaded up into Roy (our truck) and the first stop was the V&A waterfront. Since I had spent a number of days there already, I didn’t need to snap any photos, but was glad to head into the shopping area as the store where I bought my gear had forgotten to remove one of the security tags. Although they weren’t open yet, there were clerks inside and I was able to wave them over and have them remove the tag! We continued to a viewing point to see Table Mountain, then provisioned up at a supermarket and headed north to the wine country. We stopped at one of the local wineries on the western cape for a tasting. None of the wines were memorable, and the guy seated to my right was delighted to be invited to finish up what was in my glass after the first sip of each taste. 😊 We continued north to the Cederberg region. We camped at a property that was an orange grove as well as a tea plantation. They prepared a “braii” (barbeque) for us which was quite good – grilled chicken heavenly spiced and salads. Their rooibos tea was excellent and I brought back some despite the lack of room in my overstuffed duffels.
Day 2 –Namibia to the Gariep (Orange) River
We continued north and camped just alongside the Orange river where it divides Namibia from South Africa. On the way, we stopped at the town of Springbock to provision. It was payday and even at 3PM the supermarket was jam packed and we waited on line for at least 30 minutes (or more). It was a long day driving (as most of the days will be), but lovely to see the transformation of the landscape from lush greenery to the various forms and colors of desert. Traveling in early spring, we saw more wildflowers and grasses than one normally would find, which was lovely.
Day 3 –Namibia to Gariep (Orange) River – Fish River Canyon
We started the day with a canoe trip along the Orange River, which was very scenic and got the blood flowing after just sitting for days. After lunch, we packed up and headed across the border to Namibia and further into the desert through Namib-Naukluft National Park. More beautiful scenery, more driving… though in Namibia the roads are terrible. We were bumping and bouncing along in “Roy” and I was glad to have brought my high-impact sports bra along, LOL!!!
Day 4 – Namib-Naukluft National Park
We continued through the national park, heading north and west into the rural areas of Namibia farmland (aren’t they all pretty much rural?) and then into the desert.
Day 5 – Sossusvlei Dunes and Namib-Naukluft National Park
We started the day early and climbed up Dune 45, the third largest in Namibia, witnessing a beautiful sunrise. We were at Sossusvlei Dunes in the park, and the following day was pretty much dedicated to play – ATV’s, skydiving, camel rides, etc. We stayed in a lodge at Swakopmund two nights, which was a nice change from pitching a tent each night. The good news is that I had my own tent, but that also means I have to do all the work myself, which I pretty much think is impossible. The tent structure being in 12 interlocking pieces that then need to be inserted into the corners of the tent. Unless you have someone holding one end, everything springs apart at the last minute and you get to start over again. ☹ People came over to help me, but schlepping the tent and the structure, rolling and packing, etc. were all done on my own. So, I was looking forward to having a break, and my own room, for the following two days.
On the way to Swakopmund, once we reached the Atlantic coast – which was quite a change from the hot dry desert, we were excited to be met by a riot of pink!!!!… flamingos! I had never seen pink flamingos in the wild before and they were awesome.
Day 6 /7 – Swakopmund
Swakopmund is nothing to speak of, and I wasn’t interested in any of the activities. I was more interested in getting my hair touched up (I was in desperate need), and just relaxing a bit. Going from a month of sailing to a full-on schedule with this tour was a lot. I also was planning to do some skype calling so I skipped the group dinners (glad to have an excuse to get into bed early rather than have a late evening).
Day 8 – Swakopmund to Khorixas
We had a leisurely start (10am) and provisioned up before heading out of town and deeper into the desert. We stopped along the way to view a washed-up wreck on the shore, but that wasn’t particularly interesting and I could have skipped that. A road was closed along our route so we needed to backtrack and take another way – as if we didn’t already have enough driving to do!!! We ended at Spitzkopf, late and almost missed our tour. It was interesting though, with some unique rock formations and some Bushman rock art, some of it dating back hundreds of years or more.
Day 9 –Himba Tribes: Outjo
We visited the Himba tribe village today. This was disappointing as it really is a mock village and the folks who live there are mostly interested in selling trinkets to the tourists. It was fascinating to learn some about how they live, but it wasn’t enough to offset how contrived the entire scene was.
We continued on to a compound in the desert where the Bushman people had formally lived. It was previously undesirable land that was hard to farm due to insufficient rainfall, but it was beginning to revive with a bit of recent tourist trade. The owner of the land had a lodge with a few rooms and sections for campers. He gave an absolutely wonderful and informative tour in the evening and it was here I got to see my first Namibian Mountain Zebra… striped in a slightly different pattern (all the way down their legs but not on their bellies) and smaller and sturdier than the standard issue – these little guys are tough but adorable. They come down from the mountains each night to drink from the pool the owner fills daily. It’s good for the zebra, it’s good for the tourists who love watching the zebra, and of course good for the local property owners.
Day 10/11 – Etosha National Park, Namibia
We finally reached Etosha National Park!!! Oh, and that means the active malaria region, so started my anti-malarial drugs today and will continue through the rest of the tour plus 7 days afterwards for good measure. Etosha is significantly different than the other parks I visited in South Africa. Actually, each and every park had its own feel and its own highlights. Etosha was all about the watering holes and all the animals (and a variety of them) were gathered there together. Etosha also has a large population of black rhinos, whereas Kruger was all white rhinos. We camped at two different campsites within the park, which were very nice and even had swimming pools!!! So, in the middle of Etosha park, in the middle of the dusty desert, we were frolicking and had a nice cool down. We did game drives in the early morning and late afternoon, then went to the watering hole next to each campground at night to see who might show up. It’s sort of like going to the theater, only better! On the second morning game drive, we didn’t even need to leave the campground before our first wonderful sighting… it was a “frech dachs” (German for “impertinent badger”)!!!! Yes indeed, an impertinent badger (that’s sort of redundant, actually) who had stolen a large tub of strawberry yogurt from some unsuspecting campers and was eating it happily. Note the standard zebra below do not have stripes on their legs but do on their bellies.
Day 12 –Etosha to Windhoek
We leave Etosha park for Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. On the way out of the park, we were gifted with the cutest black rhino standing right on the side of the road posing for us. Thank goodness, he was on my side of the truck and I had an unobstructed view. Had I been on the other side, I would have climbed over and onto (if necessary) my seat mate to get a good photo, so it was just as well. It was a very small rhino, so I thought it was a young one, but on further investigation, it turns out he was a a very old guy – you can tell by the worn-down horns… but cute is cute, right? Once in Windhoek, we were supposed to go on a tour of the city, but I somehow suspected that would be a bust, and needing to replace my flip-flops anyway, I opted for a shopping tour on my own. I found just the shoes I wanted and when I met back up with the group, they confirmed that the tour wasn’t worthwhile at all
Day 13 – Windhoek to Botswana
We enter Botswana today and the Kalahari Desert. We camp at a place where the San people (originally it was Sun people – the Bushman) inhabit and we go for a tour with a group of them to learn about how they live. This was much more informative and “real” than the Himba village, and in the evening, they danced for us around the fire and some of our group even joined in (I was tired and went to sleep).
Day 14-16 –Maun to Okavango Delta
We drove to Maun and stayed overnight and then prepared for our two days in the Okavango Delta – a highlight of the tour. We stayed in a lodge with tents, but the tents were already up and they had little cots in them rather than sleeping on 5cm mats. We did scenic river cruises both days and saw some wonderful birds and crocs. I was a bit disappointed to miss out on seeing a hippo – I thought there would be plenty of them like in St. Lucia, but they were hiding in the weeds (or so we were told). We did hear them calling from the lodge in the evening, so they were probably around. The second day we had the chance to go in the traditional canoes, or mokoros. It was interesting and enjoyable, followed by a nature walk and lunch on the island.
Day 17/18 – Okavango Delta to Namibia
After leaving the delta, we head back into Namibia for one night. The campground was about 30 minutes from the border, and somehow it didn’t really make sense that we go back into Namibia for the night and then return to Botswana the following day though we re-entered much further north… lots of time spent in immigrations and customs on both sides with a long drive north in between. The destination was well worth it though, as we arrived at Chobe National park and had a sunset boat cruise along the Chobe river. It was amazing to see all the animals right along the river – almost as if they were placed there on purpose and on payroll. Lots of ellies, the most anywhere in Africa.
The next morning, we had a sunrise game drive in the park and the highlight was seeing a pride of lions with three small cubs. We jostled for position with the other jeeps, but our driver was excellent and secured us a prime viewing spot, then followed the lions as they made their way along… fantastic!
Day 19/20–Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
We drove up to Zimbabwe and then into Victoria Falls. The falls are stunningly beautiful even if it was low water season. There isn’t really a town to speak of, as it is just there to support the tourists to the falls. This was the last day of the tour, and although it is supposed to be 20 days, we stayed overnight and the tour was officially over in the morning. We all said our goodbyes, and then I moved from the lodge to my backpackers, where I was to spend the next three days before flying out to Johannesburg.
A few days on my own, resting and relaxing, did me a world of good. By the time I flew on to Johannesburg and then back to Europe I was ready for my next sailing adventure!
Richards Bay to Cape Town
Sailing around the Cape of South Africa is an act of courage (think freak monster waves) but also an amazing adventure and experience – both by sea and by land with wonderful stops along the way!
5 amazing days on SAFARI!!!
This safari was an experience of a lifetime. The animals… it’s all about the wildlife. Well, not exactly. It is also about the enormous starry skies, the expansive vistas, and more. Everything about this trip was astonishing!
Otronto on the heel and along the south coast of the “boot” to Sicily, kicking off at the toe!
Otranto, Italy! 5 – 9 September
N. Othonoi, Greece à Otranto (44 miles) – 5 September – We sailed out of Greece and into Italy today. The wind pretty much cooperated though we needed to head a bit off course to be able to sail. When we got close to the Italian coast, we had to weave through a line of fishing trawlers, unsure whether they were dragging nets, which took us a bit further south of Otranto Harbor than we had planned. We called the marina and spoke to them in Italian, asking for a place to tie up. They weren’t sure they had space, but in the end, they brought us to a VERY tight spot and Heinz handled the boat amazingly well – wedged us in to a space that was not really big enough for our cat. 15 years of experience with his twin-engine motorboat really came in handy here! We started the check-in formalities and were told to come back later. When we returned later, they said the police would come the following day. It was all a bit confusing, but somehow, we got through the process and were finally and officially in Italy!!!
The harbor was nice and the old part of town (an ancient walled city) was very picturesque. We went walking through the town and enjoyed the first afternoon here. We planned to stay two days, but wound up spending four. We tried heading out on the 7th, despite weather warnings, and a few minutes after clearing the harbor breakwater, I saw a water spout (like a tornado that comes down to the water surface). I had never seen one before while sailing! They can be extremely dangerous and I immediately recommended (and not entirely calmly) that we turn back to the harbor, which we did.
Siracusa, Italy! 12 September – Spring 2017
Otranto à Siracusa (3 days two nights) – 9 – 12 September – We finally made it out of Otranto and weren’t sure where we’d stop, but in the end, we sailed 3 days and 2 nights to Siracusa. We pulled in there due to weather – thunder and lightning too close for comfort. We thought we’d stay overnight and then continue on toward Ragusa. It was already dark by the time we pulled into the harbor. On the way in, we passed by the old city and castle, a beautiful sight all lit up in the evening sky. We got ourselves anchored and had some dinner, which I had already started fixing on the way in. We sat outside, happy to be staying in one spot after 3 days. We somehow started singing (karaoke) and then playing Zucchero and other songs. We danced and carried on. Heinz wondered who I was and what I had done with his crew. J We then decided that we really liked the location, and decided we would see whether we could stay here at the marina rather than continuing on to Ragusa. We paid somewhat of a premium to stay at a more-than-somewhat less secure dock, but we were exceedingly happy about it!
So here we are at Marina Yachting, directly in front of Ortigia (the old city), Siracusa in Sicily. The location and view couldn’t be better… the floating docks and most basic ablutions could be better and leave much to be desired. We’ll see how we fare over winter, but we’re glad to be here and enjoying this beautiful place.
One of my favorite things about being located in the old city of Siracusa is the daily fresh market… it’s one of the best! Who knew that Sicily grew as much produce as they do? And, along the street where the market is located are fabulous shops for cheese, wine, and just about every wonderful thing you can imagine!
So ends the sailing season in the Med for 2016. Work beckons with travel to the US and parts of Europe, then the sailing adventures will resume next spring. Stay tuned and follow the Adventures Afloat!
Heinz, thank you for allowing me to accompany you on the first leg of your sailing adventures!
The Ionion Sea and West Coast
Greece is beautiful no matter how you choose to visit, but sailing these regions and approaching by sea is especially magnificent!
Aegean to Ionian Seas, via Corinth Canal
Once again across the Aegean Sea and the glorious islands of Greece, then onward to new places westward!