Departure Time

Earthling is out of water and we lived on the boat on land over the weekend. It's a weird feeling to stay aboard when the boat is not rocking. It's like being at a very calm anchorage. The wind is blowing on the branches on the trees around us and it feels like the boat is rocking but it's not. The last few days we have been securing the boat for the hurricane season, strapping it down, taking off the sails, the bimini and dodger is removed, in other words everything on deck has been moved into the cabin.
Today, we had to leave Earthling. It was an emotional moment. I can't believe, I sailed all the way from Chicago to the BVI's. I went 1300 miles through Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Tombigbee, and Black Warrior rivers south to the Gulf of Mexico, sailed from northern Florida around the keys to Miami and cruised the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It took 8 months and around 4000 miles and I did a good portion of it solo. It is a big achievment and maybe that's one of the reasons it feels emotional. I hope everything goes as planned and we can come back in four months and continue this adventure to further destinations.

This morning, we took Air Sunshine's private boat from Virgin Gorda to Beef Island in Tortola, where Adel flew us on his airplane to San Juan. For the first time, I sat next to the pilot in the cockpit for the whole flight, take off to landing. We are so fortunate to have many good friends that are contributing and supporting us. Air Sunshine is one of our contributors and we appreciate their support.
In the next four months, Kelly and I are going to work as much as possible to save up for the next leg. I will keep the blog updated once in a while and update you about other adventures and excitements on land. For now, thanks to everyone that has been taking their time to follow Eartlhing sailor.

Love from the sky

Virgin Gorda

There are charters everywhere in the BVI. Most people that take vacations in this area charter a boat, which is the best way to get around & see all the islands. The charters has an important role in the economy for the BVI's. If I ever came down here on vacation I would definitely charter a sailboat.

One of the attractions in the BVI is the "Baths" in the west end of Virgin Gorda where there are massive rocks piled on top of each other in one place. The way these rocks are laid its absolutely amazing. From the water they are beautiful.  Once you are on
shore you enter the rocks through a narrow passage between two
of these large boulders and the adventure begins.The sea and sun
make there way through the rocks to create dozens of private
beaches or "baths".  You can swim and snorkel between these
massive rocks that go 20-30 ft above & below the water. We had a nice day visit at the baths with our friend Captain Adel. He has been living and flying here in Tortola for 9 years. Adel and I have had other adventures together as well. We drove from Chicago to San Pedro Sula in Honduras 10 years ago. That was a trip I can write a book about. 

Earthling is getting hauled out tomorrow in Virgin Gorda. We will get it ready and secure it on land for the hurricane season and fly back to Chicago on Monday.
We now have an Earthling Sailor Facebook page where our pictures will be uploaded and everyone can view them! Please check it out
Love from Virgin Gorda

Pelican Dance

Imagine your just relaxing on the boat in a secluded anchorage and you keep hearing loud splashes coming from the calm water outside. By the time you turn around all you see is a Pelican bobbing up and down in the water gulping down its fresh catch. This is quite entertaining to watch and it's happening every minute if not more and after many tries we finally captured it.

British Virgin Islands

This leg of the adventure is ending in a beautiful part of Paradise. The British Virgin Islands are absolutely breathtaking. There are many great anchorages around these islands and lots to see.

We have only 10days left before Earthling is hauled out for the hurricane season and then we have to go back to Chicago and work and deal with land life until mid October.
We spent last weekend in Jost Van Dyke racing on our friend's boat "Cayennita Grande".
Tony is super competitive and knows sailing well. He can read the wind, waves, current, where he applies different tactics and he has a great racing boat. We came in first place in all the races. We got a few prizes, one of which is a fishing pole. It's so interesting that certain things we lost a few weeks ago are slowly getting replaced from various sources.

This part of the world is unique.
There are 8-10 major islands and some of them are under U.S territory and some are British. The people in  these islands look very similar and their cultures are close as well. Yesterday we were in St. John (US) and we were picking up roaming cell network from Tortola (British), now we are in Tortola and have AT&T. Last time I was in this area I had to pay crazy charges for international roaming, it's insane, maybe this is a loophole phone companies love! You also have to check out with immigration from BVI if you are going to USVI even if it's for few hours. And then you have to check in when you come back to the BVI and pay another fee. I just don't understand why we have to have these political and economical borders.  I think it's wrong and it's time to change it.
What make better sense,  is if all the network infrastructures in the world could be combined under system and our cell phones could work everywhere without us worrying about roaming. I am also looking forward to the day that the whole planet is covered with wifi network free of charge. Some people might think that one cell company covering the world would be monopoly! Yes thats true, but by the time we have one network covering the planet, our economical system will be different. The economical system existing on our planet today limits us from growth. The monetary system was good in the past but not anymore. The monetary system is wasting 60-80% of our resources on the planet. And I believe this system will collapse in the near future and hopefully a better economical system will take place.
My dear reader, we will discuss the economical issue more and more on this blog as we go.
We are in Nanny Cay right now and it's sunny with a little breeze and a little too hot. The heat is slightly uncomfortable. Last night we decided to go for a dinghy ride to cool down. We left empty handed and came back with 2 big bags of groceries free of charge! As we were rowing under this tiny bridge, in the marina, a couple standing on the bridge said hello to us. They recognized us and remembered Earthling because we were rowing. We have not put the outboard on the dinghy since Dominican Republic over a month a ago. We haven't needed the outboard to get to shore and haven't done long distance dinghy exploring. Rowing is good exercise and not using the outboard is equal to saving natural resources.
Last night we end up walking with the couple we met on the bridge toward the boat they chartered. We went aboard to see the boat and since they were headed back to the US, they offered us to take all the groceries that they would have had to leave. What a beautiful world!
Thanks for reading
Love from the BVI

Caribbean Home

It feels like this leg of the Earthling adventure is coming to an end. It also feels like a big achievement to arrive in one of the important destinations of the original route. Destinations like St. Croix, which is our home in the Caribbean.

Antonio & Ellen Sanpere live here in St. Croix and since we got here we have been staying at their condo. They have been kind enough to offer us a clean hot shower and a comfortable large bed with ceiling fan which is any cruisers dream after months of sailing and living aboard. It feels like home here at the Sanpere's.


The last few days a couple of  projects were accomplished. The new manuel head is in place now. No more bucket! I got a new drill, grill, and other boating gear from Tony. And we will work on many other projects when we come back here for the 3rd leg of the adventure at the end of hurricane season in October.

Right now we are motorsailing sailing to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands for a sailing race this weekend. Earthling will be the mothership to Tony's race boat, Cayennita Grande.

Love from The Virgin Islands

St. Croix, USVI

Mangos

Mangos
In Puerto Rico it's mango season now. You see mango trees in bloom everywhere and under all of the trees there are tons of ripe mangos on the ground. Just pick one up and eat it!
Mangos are sweet and delicious fruits & there are a variety of different kinds . Last night we actually made chicken in mango sauce with rice and beans. I wish more people could have joined us for dinner. 
We were up the mountains with Tonõ and Carlos a few days ago and they were showing us how Puerto Rican's eat mangos. Mango fruits have a certain fiber in them that get stuck in your teeth. It's difficult to get the fibers out and  flossing is the only way to get them totally out. Our friend Carlos says it's great to eat mangos because it cleans between your teeth. 
On a different note, our head (toilet) broke down the other day. The toilet flush is an electric macerator, which is convenient but uses a lot of energy. I have been thinking to replace it with a manual flush, but wanted to wait till it breaks down first.  Well, that day has finally come. And without a backup. Our only solution to the bathroom problem is now a bucket. Yes, I said it. We now are using a bucket here on Earthling until we get to St. Croix, USVI on Monday where our new [manual] head is being shipped. We are so lucky to have our friend Antonio, who lives in St. Croix to get it through his port supply account. 

So the big mystery still was, what had jammed the head? 
Around the propeller on the macerator there were a lot of threads that were caught in it. I could not figure out where they were from. 
As I'm eating these sweet mangos, I suddenly had a moment of clarity. I told Kelly I solved the problem with the prop in the toilet. The threads in the bathroom were Mango fibers. They were identical to the ones I was picking out of my teeth. 
Ah hah! 
What we learned: 
Mangos + Macerator = Messy job.  
If you have eaten mangos and you have a macerator on your boat, watch out. 
Next port St. Croix, USVI
Love from Mango world

Medalla time

New Friends

Everytime a door closes another one opens. Our experience in Ponce has turned positive. 
The day after the robbery both of us were frustrated and sad and just wanted to leave. But it was not right to leave a new place with an extreme negative experience.

When we were walking back to our Velero (sailboat), we saw a couple of men fishing at the end of the pier. I thought to myself... Wouldn't you like to know who's hanging around your boat?

Based on our cruising experience in different countries the last few months; Locals in Puerto Rico are less open to get to know strangers and outsiders. But once you get to know them they feel like part of your family. 
We walked over to the two men fishing. 
I said, "Hola, are you guys fishing?"
Antonio turned around with a smile and said, "Yes, we are trying."
 Later on we were laughing about the fact that I asked such a stupid question. Of coarse they are fishing!
It didn't take long before we were connected on the same energy level with "Tonio" and Carlos. 
They offered us a beer and showed empathy for what happened to us the night before. Carlos is an artist and has many beautiful paintings. Please visit his gallery (carlossantiagopr.Blogspot.com). 
Tonio is a teacher and he is a copy of my best friend, Marko Lugaric. Tonio's nick name now is Marko! 
The night ended up with all of us on Earthling till 4am talking and having a good time. Now we have new best  friends in Ponce. The following day they drove around showing us Ponce, we went up the mountains by a beautiful waterfall, stopping at a little bar to have some Medalla (Puerto Rican cerveza). The nature of this country is very tropical and up in the mountains it is a rainforest with beautiful lush greenery, vines connecting trees from every direction like spider webs of branches, and Bamboo trees. There are so many types of Mango trees here, we can just stop and have a fresh one right from the tree. 
Carlos and Tonio have been very generous and giving. Carlos came over with a framed painting that he got from a fellow artist, and  gave it to us as a gift. This beautiful piece of art was painted in 1973 by Luis Alonso in San Juan. This is the most special gift I've ever recieved, it makes me emotional to even talk about it. 

We have spent a lot of time with our new friends in Ponce. Yesterday we sailed to Cardona Island, Tonio brought Puerto Rican chicken kabob that we grilled aboard from "Ramon's pincho frente al cash & Carry de Ponce". 
It was their first time sailing and they got to experience our life style on Earthling. In a few minutes from now they are picking us up to go and get some provisioning done and do laundry.

One of our purposes as humans in life is to help each other without any expectations. Giving without expecting is returned 10 fold. 

Love to all our friends and readers

We've Been Robbed

Last night we got robbed. We are docked across from Ponce yacht and fishing club. There are 4 other boats on this dock but we are the only live aboards. We have not been connected to land for a long time so it felt good to find a free dock and step over to land. 
The sounds from all the bars on the board walk a few hundred feet from here was so attracting  that we decided to go for couple of cervezas. We left the boat around 9:30pm and walked over to the board walk. We sat down at a bar where most people were hanging out and had a couple of beers, it was very pleasant. A few hours after it was way past our regular bed time, we decided it was time to head back. As we are approached the entrance to the dock we saw a guy running out and drove away in a hurry. Both Kelly and I suddenly had a bad feeling about that scene. We stepped down in the cabin and saw things thrown around,  it looked like someone has been here. Yes we had been robbed. We were in such shock and couldn't do much. We realized that lots of valuable items were gone. Items such as a handheld VHF radio, 2 fishing poles, heavy duty battery driven flashlight, 2 head lights, iPhone, iPod, laptop, flare gun, a folder of all the manuals for each equipment & boat, and my most important tools the Dewalt heavy duty drill and driver. 
We dont have much to start with and live on a very minimum budget. Now lots of our stuff is gone too. 
The feeling of being robbed is awful. You simply loose your trust for all your surrounding and everyone around you. I couldn't sleep peacefully last night and kept waking up as soon as I heard any little sound. 
Today we made a police report and I really hope at least some of the things get returned. We don't have  insurance so what's gone is gone and some of the things we can't afford buying again. This is a lesson learned and I take blame for that. We just have been too comfortable anchoring all the time and we rarely lock the boat. We should lock the boat no matter for how long or how far we are going. I guess we have been at sea too long and forgot that crime still exists and some people look at us as wealthy because we have a boat. Maybe we needed to learn this lesson sooner with limited loss than later with a greater loss. 

The Mona

 157 miles and 40hrs on the Mona passage brought us finally to Puerto Rico. Fair winds and calm seas were on our side for this passage. Only four tacks were required and here we arrived on Mother's Day to Boqueron, Happy Mother's Day to all mothers. Boqueron is a party town on the weekends and has a beautiful beach. The sound of all the music from the various bars was a nice welcome to this new country. The agenda originally was to be in PR in the middle of March, however there was so much to see all the way here and the purpose of this adventure is to explore and see the world.
The last exploration in DR was the national forest perserve on the southern end of Samana bay. We got to see some beautiful landscape and caves. It seemed not true for this part of the world and it looked more like South East Asia. We approached what looked like a dinghy dock with no sign of people around on one of these many forest covered tall rock islands. So we tied up and started walking the man made looking rock steps. As we looked up all we saw was massive open rock, we had arrived at yet another unknown place to explore. Oh my god it was beautiful. This cave had tunnels to separate smaller caves, it opened to the sky where trees grew straight through the rock all the way from bottom to top. It had parts open to the ocean. Complete with bats and all! It all ended with us meeting some fishermen that offered us shrimp and fish (camarones y pescado) that they had just caught. Dinner was great.
Tomorrow we are sailing to Ponce and another world to explore.
Love from Boqueron!

Samana Orchestra

It's six o'clock in the morning and I woke up by the sounds of the roosters in Samana. It's not one or two roosters, there are hundreds of them. It sounds like a rooster orchestra. I believe every house in Samana has at least one rooster in their back yard. We are anchored 700-800 ft from the city dock but the roosters are so loud that it feels we are on land.
Not only roosters are loud here, everything is loud!
Everybody has motorbikes here and they zip through all over the place. Yesterday we were sitting on the outdoor patio of an Internet cafe and the sounds of soft and loud motorcycles created a motorcycle orchestra. Motorbikes are the common transportation. You will see families of 5 on a motorbike. A lot of things are transported on motorbikes, anything from live animals to propane tanks and so forth. Kelly and I had the opportunity to ride one and it was a great experience.
Dominicans must be very proud of their music. It's good music but it's blasting everywhere. You hear the blasting music even up at 8000ft elevation where nobody would normally live! On the major street here in Samana music starts playing right after the rooster orchestra ends. Some general stores play the music so loud and I believe it's a marketing strategy to get attention and get more customers. To us it had the reverse effect.  We went into the store to look around and the music was so loud that we could not stand it and had to leave. 
All these sounds are ok, but the sound that bothers us the most is the sound of propaganda blasting from the old pick up trucks. It's pre-election time here and one way for politicians to market themselves is to have these recorded voices playing over and over again loud throughout the whole city and throughout the country. What a world we live in that leaders must market themselves and the more resources they have the more propaganda and the more known they will get.

Anyhow, today we are crossing to the national park on the other side of Samana bay, and in 36 hours from now we will say goodbye to Dominican and sail the Mona passage to Puerto Rico.
Thanks to the beautiful country and people of Rep. Dominica.
Love from Samana Orchestra

Challenging passages

Sailing east bound on the north coast of Dominican Republic is slightly challenging. The trade winds never stop blowing here and on the windy days the squalls make it seem crazy to go out sailing. I would not like to make a passage if it blows more than 20 knots in this area. The seas get so choppy and it's almost impossible to not hurt yourself or your vessel. It is what it is; I look at it as training for more difficult passages in the future.

We  were ready and happy to leave Luperon. It's very easy to get stock in places like Luperon. The anchorage was so calm and pleasant that we almost forgot the real deal anchorages.
When we left Luperon it was blowing 18 knots. The boat got washed a few times by big waves. We were motorsailing and for the first time the Yanmar inboard engine overheated. In the middle of all these waves we are engine-less. We had to depend on sailing only and I knew that would put us in anchorage in Sosua after sunset. I DON'T like to anchor in a new place when it's dark. I have done it many times but would always prefer to get to anchorage during daylight. We arrived to Sosua at 8pm and anchored  500ft from a reef. Luckily we knew where the reef was! It always feels good to be anchored after an exausting passage. And ashore it seems like there is lots of life. But we were too tired to go ashore right away, maybe mañana.
With swells still coming in, a swell bridle makes the sleep at night more pleasant. A swell bridle is a type of anchoring technique that puts the noise of your boat into the wave so instead of moving side to side you move up and down.

One beautiful thing with anchoring at night is that when you wake up in the morning you are in a new world. We realized shortly after we woke up that Sosua is a tourist destination. A couple of Tip Top catamarans anchored next to us and people were getting in the water to snorkel and ride the banana boat and do other water sports.
Soon I noticed that the main anchor line was loose; I tried to tie it up and the whole line was detached from the chain. Luckily, there is always a safety line connected to the chain in case one line breaks. The bolt to the shackle connected to the chain unscrewed and the line got disconnected. I put a new shackle in there and I dove to find the old bolt but no luck.

The best time to make passages in this area is at night when the night lee kicks in and reduces the trade winds. But you have to stay close to shore for an enjoyable sail.

Demonstration of inflated PF

Last night we made a passage to Rio San Juan.
The swells were moderate and wind was 8 to 10 knots.
So we had the jib and main sail out and had a good sail.
However, the jib would not fly right and it couldn't adjust.
After an hour of sailing I discovered that the seam that
holds the ring connected to the jib halyard on the top
was coming loose.  By the time we furled in the jib
the top was totally disconnected from the halyard. It's
dark and you can't see much and while we are furling
in the jib, the pull tab to my PFD gets caught on
something and suddenly the life vest blew up. Talk
about when it rains it pours! As I always say, things
break but as long as nobody gets hurt and the vessel
is operable, it's ok!
Today we worked on the jib and had a quick fix for it till we find a sail maker that can sew the seam.
We are staying put here in Rio San Juan till the weather comes down some and then we are going to sail toward Samana.
Love from Rio San Juan

Dominican Republic

 

It feels surreal to be in a country so different from the last one. When you get close to Luperon, you see tall mountains far away, and the closer you get the bigger the mountains are. And we had the opportunity to explore some of these beautiful tall mountains with our Swedish friends during the last few days! Birgitta and Mats on Tarsia III offered to drive us with them in their rental car to explore part of Hispaniola. We drove more than 200 miles on gravel roads up to 8000 ft above sea level. Nature in the Dominican Republic is absolutely beautiful and breathtaking because it rains often enough here to keep every thing green. DR has many resources and looks wealthy, but the population is poor. I'm looking forward to seeing the natives of DR get more access to their country's resources. I believe there are enough resources on our planet for all earthlings. Unfortunately, today we don't have an intelligent management system of the resources on our home planet. Let's look forward to the day where we can have the right management!
Yesterday we were in the capital of DR, Santo Domingo to pick up our friend Dee from Chicago. Now we are three people aboard, it's always nice to have visitors and night passages will be easier. 

Luperon has been our home for almost a week now. And soon we will leave to another port.
Love from Republica Dominicana

Sunset

Sunset behind two clouds that collided with the moon in the sky

Great Sand Cay

Turks and Caicos

Happy Hour at South Side Marina

The Turks and Caicos islands are another piece of paradise. The nature is similar to the Bahamas. There are lots of reefs and coral heads and this is a great place for diving and snorkeling. The biggest difference we have realized is that these islands are more commercialized. There are many high end resorts and tourist activity on the major islands, Providenciales & Grand Turks. "Provo" is too pricy for our taste, but we got to meet very nice people at South Side Marina. Happy Hour at Bob's South Side Marina was certainly a highlight. The cruisers we met there will be our friends for ever.


 

Kelly attracts Donkeys



Salt Fields



Right now we are anchored off Salt Cay. This island use to be the world's largest producer of salt. Now the little town has almost no activity. We met a few Haitians on the south end and found a nice restaurant/bar ran by Porter on the north side. Here on the Salt Cay you see more cows, bulls, and donkeys than humans.

Every time we step a foot on a new island, we don't know what's there or what to expect.

Guest house on Ambergris

A few days ago we were anchored off Big Ambergris Cay. From a distance it looked like there were some very nice houses. We couldn't find any info in the guide books about the island so we had to explore it for ourselves. Within a short time after stepping ashore, we realized the island was private. Our path crossed 1 of the 2 firefighters on the island. Tristan offered to give us a tour on his golf cart. The island is managed by Turks & Caicos Sporting Club.  It definitely had the highest level of infrastructure we've seen on any of these small islands. They had their own water making system, diesel generator that created electricity, sewer system and trash compost system, fire hydrants, a small and a big marina, a private landing strip with 2 fire trucks, tennis courts, and so forth. There were around 350 lots for private vacation homes and maybe 20 were finished. All the homes had their own private swimming pool or jacuzzi. Each lot had a placard in front with the owner's name and where they were from. There were signs from all over the world but mostly Americans. However, the sad news is that the company went under and since June nothing really happens on this beautiful island. The 25 staff on the island are maintaining it for now until further notice. And we were lucky to meet Tristan, whom was so kind to show us around the whole island.

Big Sand Cay is our last stop in Turks & Caicos. It is uninhabited and it's 77 miles away from Luperon, Dominican Republic. We were supposed to sail yesterday but a tropical storm was on the way and it was not a good time to leave. We are planning to set sail toward DR/Hispaniola tomorrow evening for another night sail.
Thanks for reading,
Love from Turks & Caicos

Long Island Police March

Long Island Hitch-hiking

Calm Seas

Paradise within Paradise

Mahi Mahi

Star show

Last night we did an overnight passage from Mayaguana in the Bahamas to Turks & Caicos. Nightpassages can be easy and fun specially if you have the right equipments, such as radar, autopilot, & AIS. I would say autopilot is the most important and unfortunately our autopilot is out of order. Someone has to be behind helm at all time. Kelly and I have been taking 3 hours shifts at the time. However, if you are sailing close haul or on a reach, you can just lock the wheel, adjust sails and she will keep the course. And I have been napping few minutes at the time this way during many passages, it might sound crazy but that's how it works. The key is to get up every 10-18 min and look around for other vessels. Night sailing is thrilling. Imagine being in the middle of the ocean where there is no sight of any land, no lights and all you see is dark water and stars. The whole sky is lit by stars, you can identify each constellation in detail. Folks, you might watch television on land at night but we have nothing else but the sky full of stars. You can't really choose what commercials to watch and we can't choose to not see the shooting stars. Lets put it this way, the night-show starts with a Sunset, which is different every night. The other night, as bonus we got a Mahi Mahi on the hook right at sunset. After sunset-show, the sky changes colors slowly and all the stars show up. During the star-show if you are lucky the Moon rises and lids up the dark ocean. And before you get tired of the moon, slowly the sky brightens up and our mother star rises. this is a unique experience and I hope all of you can go through it sometimes during your life time.
Love from the star show

Farwell Bahamas

The time for Bahamas just came to an end. Our last anchorage was in Abrahams bay, Mayaguana. We left Bahamas and are sailing overnight to Turks and Caicos. Bahamas was the first country outside the U.S, it made us more prepared for passages to other beautiful countries in the world. Even though I have not been cruising in other countries yet but I believe Bahamas is a safe haven for sailors. If you are ever sailing in these waters you are safe. You don't have to lock your dinghy or watch for intruders. Bahamians are not that wealthy but they are welcoming and hospitable and would not take advantage of visitors. They help you with anything you need and make sure you have a good time on their islands. In Mayaguana we were again greeted by gracious natives. For example, we asked this nice guy named Scully which coconuts would have the most fruit and water in them. He was more than happy to show us to the right palms he had actually planted 15 years ago. He show us how to break them open with our bare hands. It's hard work getting those open without a machete, but doable. Earlier on that day Scully passed by the boat with his brother returning from diving for conch and we got 6 of them freshly shelled. Conch fritters were on the menu tonight. We love Bahamas and will return here in the near future.
Love From The Atlantic Ocean

Rum Cay

We left our anchorage by Rum Cay at 1am to sail to a new beautiful place. A beautiful place like Rum Cay. Over the 4 days visit, we got to know and met almost all the population of the island. The population has decreased over the last few years from around 100 to about 60. The first day, we met the most important person on the island to us, Deloris. She runs Kaye's Bar & Restaurant, she is 79 yrs old, born on the Island and has been running the bar since Kaye was born 50 yrs ago. But most of all, Deloris is the happiest, loving, and welcoming soul you could ever meet. On the first day she served up some complimentary conch fritters with our ice cold beers. We established such a close relationship to Deloris, that into the second day I found myself behind the bar serving customers and washing dishes (our own dishes).
Later that night we joined in on a tradition Bahamian Rake-and-Scrape where the energy and sounds produced just resonate through your body. Everyone had instruments, which included everything from a big bass drum made from a garbage bin to a saw played with a butter knife, to cowbells. The locals were very eager for everyone to participate so when one of them put the bass drum around my neck I started to beat on it. While the music continued I could feel the endorphins being released in my body.
Before the night ended we were invited to their church, St. John's Baptist of Rum Cay. Deloris & her daughter Kaye picked us up the next morning at 10:45 by the Gov't Dock. Where we had to finish get dressed on the beach because we didn't want to get the church clothes wet on the dingy ride in. We hopped in the back of the pickup, our feet hanging off the back and went to church for the first time in a really long time. At the church we met the rest of the population we hadn't already met at the bar, including all the children. Afterwards they took us to a luncheon with tons of Bahamian food.
Rum Cay was our home for the time we were there, it will always hold a special place in out heart. And this is the beauty of life, to love and give to eachother unconditionally.
Let's look forward to the day where we all have this kind of life on every inch of our planet.
Love from Rum Cay

Conception Island

Paradise within paradise is what conception is described as in different sources. Our experience is the same. This island has a unique energy and I felt it since we got here. The sea life is just spectacular. Different kind of sharks are swimming around the boat here and there. Conception is uninhabited, there are no houses or stores or anything manmade. But there are lots of wildlife. We saw the biggest turtle ever, and he jumped out of water and danced for us.
Within our 40hrs visit at conception Island, we also met 2 Swedish cruisers. "Unicorn" and "Snowbird" anchored just next to us. I heard them speaking Swedish on the radio and I was so excited. Anyway, last night, Anna Karin & Håkan from Unicorn and Johanna & Martin from Snowbird and our cruising friends on "Rasmus" joined us on Earthling for sunset drinks and a bowl of special Earthling soup.

Long Island

Every island is different and unique in its own way. The nature is different, the culture of people, the beaches, and so forth. One thing that you recognize as soon as you step your foot on Long Island is the hospitality of the natives. There are so friendly and helpful. The other day we were walking down the road to nowhere and this pickup truck stopped and offered the four of us ride on the flat bed. On the back of his truck, Daniel drove us to Max's conch bar, dropped us off and picked us up again after an hour and gave us ride back to our dinghies. Daniel is one of the bright natives, bright Bahamian as they call the white people. On Long Island everybody greets you as you have an eye contact with them. And I think that's the way it should be everywhere in this world, it's nice to acknowledge the existence of another human being in your surrounding with love.

Conch world

There are so many ways to make conch. We have conch salad, cracked conch, fried conch, conch frittered, conch popcorn, sautéed conch, you mention it we have it.

Love from conch world

George Town

We made it to my town, George Town in the great Exuma island in the Bahamas. George town is one of the best stops for cruisers. We entered G. Town at night and the anchorage field with all the anchor lights looked amazing. All cruisers get together here. There are so many activities to participate in. Channel 68 is for cruisers and everything is announced in the mornings from business deals to Dog Prades. Some cruisers come by here and never leave.

We have met a lot of people here. Kelly's uncle and his wife, Jim & Sharon are here from Florida. We are anchored right next to them and visit them everyday on their Catamaran, "Insatiable". We also got in touch with Scott & Brittany on Rasmus (windtraveler.Blogspot.com). They are from Chicago also and they left Chicago on their boat at the same time as Earthling. We are so happy to meet other cruisers in our age group. We met 4 other boats with young couples sailing.


Kelly was supposed to fly out from George town few days ago. She was sad she had to go back to regular cold land life. But she made a huge decision to continue the adventure on Earthling. She simply put her job on hold in Chicago and stayed aboard. I'm glad I have a first mate for now and don't have to do this single handed.
Kelly & I decided to go with our middle names from now on. I'm Captain Reza sailing with first mate Bailey. Love from Earthling

Small world

It's blowing 20-25 m/h and gusting up to 35. We decided to make a 25 mile passage from Sampson Cay to Cave Cay. The main sail is reefed and little jib rolled out. We are going as fast as 7 to 7.5 knots and Kelly is doing a great job behind helm.

The sounds of the wind and water is scary when you are getting ready for the passage but once you are out under sail you find the harmony and adapt to the circumstances. She is heeling on starboard and when the gust comes through the sails, she wants to go into the wind. I tell Kelly, "You have to hold the wheel firmly and if the gust is too strong, just fall off the wind."
For the first time after 9 days we took a hot shower which we hadn't even planned on having. Fortunately we discovered this beautiful safe haven harbor protected 360 degrees called Cave Cay. The charts said it was closed so we thought why not anchor in the bay. This place had a strange and magical feeling. Why are we the only boat here? Then we got a call on channel 16. A man with a Southern Texas-like accent informed us that there is no anchoring in the harbor, but they were open for business. So with the budget in mind we hadn't planned on paying for a night in the marina. But hey, you gotta go with the flow. We were already here. Steve greeted us at the dock. He looked serious but loving. A hard-working man in his 60's who had 3 very happy German Shepards by his side. We learned he has owned Cave Cay for nearly 16 years.


Making a paradise by word of mouth not your typical commercialized marina. He mentioned only 5 people (the ones workin for him) live on this island. We met 3. One being Hal a Swedish speaking Native American who approached us excitedly on his golf cart after we explored the island and it's views. Turns out he recognized the Swedish flag on Earthling. We chatted for a good amount of time in Swedish and got to know eachother a little bit. Later on that night he stopped by the boat with some Kalles Caviar which i have been craving for a long time. For those of you who don't
know what that is it's a caviar in a tube that is a very popular food in Sweden. What a small world.

Exumas

In this part of the world, it really feels like being in paradise. You can see the shadow of Earthling in the bottom of the ocean floor. It has been sunny and warm everyday and slightly cooler at nights. Kelly and I have anchored off Robert's Cay the first night and Norman's Cay the second & third night. Each approach to this untouched paradise has been more beautiful than the next.
The morning showers on a sailboat without fresh unlimited running water are a little different. You wash in the ocean then rinse with the freshwater solar shower every other day. The natural showers on the boat don't compare to your regular warm shower at home.

I enjoy to share this sailing experience with my friends. And everytime my friends and loved ones depart, it's very emotional. Ali & Sondra Golzad and Navid flew back to their land homes couple days ago. When you spend a longer period of time with people in a limited space, you get attached to them and your minds become very close to eachother. I am happy that Kelly is here and will be first mate for the time she stays.



When sailing, its fun to troll off the stern of the boat. Yesterday we caught another big fish (Red Grouper, I think). Now we have Mahi Mahi and Red Grouper fillets in the freezer. We have to finish eating some of that before I keep another fish.
Sent from a iPhone

Full House

We made it from Bimini to Chub Cay 18 1/2 hrs passage under sail. Outside Chub Cay we anchored off a deserted resort. There was only one employee he has been there 3 years just to clean the pools. We made a fire on the beach and grilled hot dogs & potatoes. The pool shower was with cold water but still a blessing.
On Sunday we sailed to Nassau, 35 nm under sail. We trolled and caught a 25lb fish. We didn't know what kind it was, it was so beautiful, blue & green fins w a gold & yellow body but later the natives told us it was a Mahi Mahi and a good catch. We were so excited. It was so large we could only keep it on the dinghy. When we were filleting it, there were two more fish inside which we fed to the seagulls. We had enough to feed the 3 of us plus the two ladies On their way, Kelly from Chicago & Sondra from Dallas.
Nassau is a good place to stock up with groceries and make a visit at the Paradise Island. When the ladies showed up we went to Atlantis on Paradise Island. Atlantis is a 5 star resort with a Casino and a Marina and a beach and many other entertainment. In the Marina there are multi million $ yachts docked. Navid visited Atlantis in the morning and he somehow sneaked us inside the hotel to see the Aquarium and use the pool area and the private beach.
We have a full house now and it just makes it better. Before we went to bed Ali & I decided we should do a quick remodeling. So it was 10pm and I pulled the saw out to cut the end part of the pull out bed. The electric saw was out of battery so Ali went at it with the rusty hand saw. In the end, we now have more room when coming down the stairs with the bed pulled out. We are docked at TPA Marina in Nassau and we will be here till Thursday when Ali and Sondra leave back to Dallas and Navid back to Chicago.
Yesterday we daysailed and anchored off Paradise island. Rest of the Mahi Mahi was prepared for dinner and it was as good as when it was fresh.

Ali snores so loud the crew decided he should sleep out in the cockpit by the helm. Whoever snores loud in a full house has to sleep in the dingy next to the Mahi Mahi next time.

Chub Cay, Bahamas

Bimini, Bahamas

The water is so clear you can see 20 feet down. It feels like you are in a big aquarium. We crossed the gulf stream on a north wind and made it to Bahamas. The passage wasn't as bad as I thought it might been. We saw few 8 footer waves and it was choppy in the middle of the stream. In general the passage went pretty smooth.
Today we checked in at the immigration and custom and payed the fees $$$ for cruising permit and fishing permit.
Bimini is the closest island to the U.S, it has less than 2000 in population, and they are all dependent on the tourism.
All the natives are so hospitable. Last night Navid and I went to couple of the natives houses where we met the oldest person on the island, the grandpa was 98 years old, healthy and still rode his bicycle. Everybody is trying to sell you something, you name it, they will find it. Right now is slow season for Bimini, high season is May to August, when lots of Floridans boat over for the weekend.
I'm glad to have Ali and Navid aboard. I've known Ali since I was 15-16 years old in Sweden. He is a straight forward guy, and he is extreme in his own way. He has all kind of survival gadgets. He brought his belt that he use to have in the marine. This belt holds 2 knifes, LED head light, water bottle, hat, gloves, 2 shackles, safety harness, compass and a torch.
Navid is a friend from Chicago, he is extreme in his own way, and 180 degrees different from Ali. He has his belt also, but it's a D&G belt. Navid misses his hair dryer even though he is bold. Ali has his boots on all the time because his feet are too sensitive he says. He brought 15 different underwear and socks. On top of that none of them have any sailing experience. This is a very entertaining crew.

Tomorrow we are planning to sail toward Chub Cay which is 75 miles east of here.

The Crew

Gulf stream

The stay in Miami has come to an end. I have been working on the boat everyday since I got here. The wind generator is in place and producing energy. The fridge compressor is changed and it's working great. Each of these projects took 2-3 days to accomplish. I am so lucky that my friend Ali joined me last week and helped with all these work. Last Friday, Lee drove from Everglades to Miami to help with the wind generator installation. Few days ago my friend Navid flew in from Chicago to join us till we get to Nassau. Things are in place and we are ready to leave early tomorrow morning. We have been praying for a South or West wind, but we will make the Miami Bimini passage on a light north wind. Crossing the Gulf Stream on a North wind can be dangerous. We should be ok as long as it's not more than 15-20 m/h.
Hopefully we should be in Bimini, Bahamas Tuesday evening. I don't know how reception will be in the small islands but we will have access to wifi by next Monday in Nassau.

Miami Entourage

First week in Miami

It has been a great week in Miami. I'm anchored in front of my friend Hamid's apartment on 79th street. The way the boat is set up is excellent. I have access to a little dock 10-20ft off the boat, there is a pool and jacuzzi on the rooftop, and Hamid drives me on his motorcycle everyday to buy supplies for the boat. It can't be better than this.
The engine is fixed and running. I took the fuel filter apart, tapped a bigger thread in the base of the air bleeding screw, and the Diesel engine started after couple attempts. Few new equipment should be here today and tomorrow, such as wind generator, fridge compressor with a freezer compartment, and propane conversion kit for the stove. On top of that my buddy Ali joined me from Dallas yesterday to help fixing things this week and we should be ready to sail to Bahamas next Monday.
Projects, big and small are never ending. Living on a boat and cruising comes with constant boat maintenance. It is more than a full time job, but the result of it is "great pleasure".