Welcoming Antigua

Jolly Harbour

When you sail to a new country, your first step ashore should be towards Customs and Immigration, where you have to check-in. This is very important, especially in the current and former British Islands. You have to fly a Quarantine-flag (yellow flag) on the starboard side of your vessel every time you enter a country. Which lets people know your vessel has not cleared customs. In some countries like Antigua and Barbuda, it is recommended that you even fly the courtesy flag under the Q-flag. A courtesy flag is the country’s flag and you fly it out of respect to the country your are visiting. Antigua is known to be strict about their check-in laws, so make sure you have all documentation needed when you come here. Our experience with Immigration, Customs, and Port Authority here in Antigua could have been worse but it turned out quite pleasant. They all treated us warmly and we even got to stay on their dock overnight.
We entered Jolly Harbour anchorage at night, after a 16 hour passage from Nevis, but it is an open and clear cove which made it easy to come into. Otherwise, I dislike very much coming into new anchorages after dark. Jolly Harbour is well protected and it’s a port of entry. Many regattas are organized here and there is a strip of shops, many restaurants, bars, a supermarket, a boatyard, and a Budget Marine. We only purchased  some cheese and bread at the supermarket since prices were on the higher end for us. When entering Jolly Harbour it has a familiar feel to Florida, with all the houses right by the water along with docks for their boats.

Kelly, Amber, and Isabella

We have already gotten to know some friendly, generous locals in this area. The other day, we met Amber at her bar/restaurant “Miracles” right outside Jolly Harbor on the main road. After a cold refreshing Wadaldi (locally brewed beer), we were ready to go back to Earthling to make dinner, but Amber insisted that we stayed and invited us for another cold one. After discussing our passion for cooking, she offered to make one of her special dishes for us and we had to accept the offer. It makes me somewhat emotional to meet all these beautiful people around us.

It’s official, we are finally out of any alcoholic beverages, no rum or beer. We are debating if we should quit drinking, since that comes high on the expenditure sheet at the end of each month! Or maybe we make drinking a special occasion like we do with red meat!?
Love from Antigua  

Donyaye Kuchak

The stay in St. Kitts and Nevis lasted 11 days and we had a great experience. All locals that we crossed paths with were nice and hospitable. They took care of us like we were one of them. Ultimately all humans are the same, we come from the same source and are returning to the same place. Helping and loving one another is one of our basic purposes in life.
Finding good calm anchorages can become difficult sometimes. Pinney’s Beach in Nevis is open, big and a relatively protected anchorage from swells. There are 30 moorings available free of charge for visiting yachts. The charge is included in the check  in with port authority, and only costs $3. Pinney’s beach stretches a few miles long and you rarely see anybody on it. Mostly yachties and guests from the four seasons resort are the only people enjoying it. The locals don’t lay down or sunbathe on the beach, they hang out at the beach bars and drink Skol (beer made in Kitts and Nevis). That’s how we met Chevy at Chevy’s bar and Pat at Pat’s bar along with their patrons. I certainly enjoy getting to know new people from different countries and cultures. We meet locals that have never been outside their own little island.

Von, Kelly & I by Pat's beach b

Many have only been as far as the closest neighboring island. Some have lived in different places like the U.K or the U.S. Most show an interest to know where we are from. That can mean a few different things, like, what was the last port, or where did the sailing journey start,  or where do “I” as a person come from? So I answer, with the places we have been, that I sailed from Chicago and my Persian-Swedish-American background. By this time we have covered half of the world and it all sounds like a dream! We come from worlds so diverse and far from each other but beyond everything, we are all Earthlings.
The cruising community is so small sometimes. If you’ve been in the Caribbean for a year or so, the chances of running into the same cruisers is very high. Especially when we do our best to exchange boat cards and/or emails. When we were in the rolly anchorage by Port Zante in Basseterre, a dinghy from a nearby cruiser stopped by. They remembered seeing us in George Town, Bahamas last year! Mike introduced himself and what a small world, he is on the catamaran “Zero To Cruising”. We have been following their blog since before we met and have many common “cruising” friends.
Currently, we are anchored in Hermitage Bay, in Antigua and just a couple hundred yards from us is Zero to Cruising. Last night we had drinks aboard ZTC and tonight Mike and Rebecca will join us for dinner on Earthling. Our dinner recipe will be posted in the Earthling Menu tomorrow.
So far Antigua looks like another piece of paradise and we can’t wait to explore it further in the next couple of weeks.

Love from Donyaye Kuchak

Donyaye Kuchak Farsi translation to English Small World
See photos of St. Kitts and Nevis on earthling sailors fb page
   

Monkey World

I was wondering to myself, wouldn’t it be crazy to have a monkey as a pet on the boat?  I’ve seen it in movies and that’s how the African Green Vervet monkeys originally came to St. Kitts and Nevis. There are more monkeys than human beings in these two islands. Everywhere we go, in the forest hiking or biking, we see monkeys. You don’t see many of them freely in town, Basseterre or Charlestown, but as soon as you enter the nature, there is no way to miss them. Many locals even have monkeys as pets and we have seen some in cages, but majority live freely. We get so excited every time we see monkey families out in the forest. They are fearful of humans, as soon as they see you are walking towards them, they run away and hide. The trick is to stand still as soon as you get sight of them, keep your voice down and move very slowly. It feels like being in an Indiana Jones movie.

Monkey’s are somehow taking over these islands, they are destroying crops and vegetables. This is a major problem and the representatives don’t know how to control the monkey population. Our good friend Christian in St. Kitts said; put them on the menu! Which is a joke but not completely! There are people that eat monkeys and I probably would too in a survival situation.
The Monkey jokes started the first day we got to Basseterre, St. Kitts at the check in. I said to the lady at the immigration, I’ve heard there are lots of monkey’s here! She replied, yes many, there is actually one in the office right now! I thought she had her pet with her but I realized she was referring to her colleague. So I said, there is a white and a brown monkey here too, referring to Kelly and myself! We all started laughing, calling each other monkeys. Since then we have been pointing out our monkey characteristics and gestures. Monkeys are very stubborn and funny, so is Kelly. They climb trees and are happy, and so am I!

Tangerine Tours

Everywhere we go, we find amazing people. Earthling has been in St. Kitts and Nevis the past week and we’ve met some great people, like Christian. We met him by the dinghy dock along White House Bay where we were taking pictures of the sunset. We found each other being at the same energy level and it didn’t take long before we made plans for the following day. Christian or “Trinny” is a hospitable person that was generous since the first sight. The next day, we biked from White House Bay to Basseterre, up and down the hills (75min) to go and meet Christian by the cruise ship dock. From there we started our tour around the Island along with 14 British tourists from the cruise ship. In Basseterre, there are enormous cruise ships coming in  every morning and leaving at sunset. During the day the Island is full of tourists and after sunset you see mostly just locals. Christian runs his own tour bus called Tangerine Tours. He is very knowledgeable of the Island. He is well spoken, kind and respectful. He offers all his passengers complimentary rum drinks, beer, and soda. We had an excellent tour of St. Kitts and Christian is the best guide you can have. Trinny is a very colorful man and can’t be missed. If you ever come here, try to see him. Our tour day ended with Christian and his friend Dr. Gonzales aboard Earthling for a perfect sunset and drinks. During the whole day, Christian did not allow us to pay for anything, including his tour, lunch, or all the beverages we consumed on his bus, he actually brought some goodies with him to the boat.         
Love from Monkey World

Statia (St. Eustatius)

Statia is only 20 miles southeast of Saba. With the Easterly wind, it took us 7 hours to get here. As approaching this Island, we see barges, tugboats and a couple of tall ships on anchor. I felt an energy of industry and commercialization. St. Eustatius is still under Dutch influence and there use to be a lot of action in the mid 17th century. Apparently, it was the trade capital of the Indies during this time. Even today, Statia seems like it has more cargo traffic than most other Islands around this area. There is only one good anchorage outside of Oranjestad and there are moorings available free of charge when you check in with the marine park.
 

Every time we get to a new place, I take out the binoculars and check out what’s up on land. I look for where we can land the dinghy, and scope out the scene. It’s fun to look at a place that you have never been to from a distance by water. As I’m watching the shore, I capture a tree full of white-birds & Egrets. Suddenly, two larger Parrot-like birds fly out the tree and start to chase two Egrets away. The Parrot-like birds were green and red and just so unusual. I’ve never seen anything like it before! Later we learned that they are the national bird of Statia, called the “Nahamaya” or also known by the sound they make “Killy Killy”. Kelly was so excited to have a bird named after her!

In Oranjestad, there seems to be an underlying theme of Orange. You see an orange church in the middle of the town. Also, if you pay enough attention, people like to dress in orange, you see orange houses and even their curtains in that color.  We didn’t see  many orange fruit trees though! Orange is such a popular color here because it is said to be a royal color for the Dutch.
Just up the hill from Oranjestad is the Quill. Like most of the other Caribbean Islands, Statia is volcanic. The Quill is an extinct volcano with a large crater. As adventurous as we are, we just had to hike up to the crater. Along the hiking trail, we saw a couple of  snakes (Red Bellied Racers) that were a few feet long. They’re not known to be of any danger, but we still didn’t try to pet them! On the Quill, most of the vegetation is bushy and just a few feet tall, but we did come across some huge trees that must have been a few hundred years old. In addition, we saw many tropical plants, with flowers that have natural medicinal qualities for different kinds of diseases. The Periwinkle, (Catharanthus Roseus) makes medicine that cures diabetes and malaria. I wish I could have collected more of their flowers for some of my dearest friends and family that have diabetes.
Moreover, there were many wild chickens and roosters up on the rim of the Quill crater. When we got there, one of the chickens fell in love with Kelly and followed us around and almost came down to the boat with us. Maybe the chicken misunderstood Kelly with Killy Killy!                 

Love from Statia

View photos of Statia on EarthlingSailor’s page on Facebook

Saba

The Island of Saba

When I was looking at the charts of the Caribbean a few years ago, I saw a Little Island named “Saba”. In my mind I knew I was going to visit this Island when I get there. The name has a familiarity in my world. Saba is a word in Farsi that means a gentle breeze, and I also have dear friends of mine like Dr. Saba. All that is a good reason to visit this Land.

Bottom

You can see Saba 30 to 50 miles away since it’s so elevated. Saba has been on the horizon since we were approaching St. Martin from St. Croix almost a month ago. This Island is very steep for the amount of land it’s on. It’s 3000 feet on a 5.5 square miles of land. Most cruiser’s don’t bother visiting Saba because of the unprotected anchorage and is slightly difficult to get to (big northerly swells makes it an uncomfortable passage). But Earthling style is to visit and go to distant places that are untouched and unspoiled.

We are on a mooring in a hundred feet of water and the vertical mountain looks like a tall wall. It’s a surreal feeling to experience this. It makes you feel small and subconsciously scared. We would not even be able to anchor right here, since 100 feet of water needs at least 400 to 500 feet of chain. Big thanks to the Sabans that put these moorings here.

Saba is also a marine park and if you like to scuba dive or snorkel, here is one good place for that. Every time we come to a new place, it’s like a wonderland. We have never been on this land and there is so much to see and explore. 

Before entering this wonderland, we had a surprise visit by the Dutch coastguard. Two gentlemen came aboard, checked all the documents, recorded information, searched the boat and left. Anytime you deal with officials, you have to be nice, polite, and courteous and give them whatever information they need. Even though I dislike to have a random person come aboard my home and search through my belongings, I don’t have a choice! We thanked the coastguard for giving us a visit and keeping these waters secure! 

Windward

Since a while ago we already had decided to camp out on Saba. We put Earthling on a mooring by Fort Bay, packed a tent, sleeping bag, and enough food for 24 hours and rowed ashore. At the check in we were informed that you are not allowed to put up a tent and camp overnight or have a bonfire on the island, which was a bummer. The few roads on Saba are almost vertical. The first road from Fort Bay up the hill to the to the town “Bottom” almost broke my back. I wish I could put the tent on one of the many goats on the roadside to carry it up for me. Within a short time we were 1000 feet up in the skies. As you get up on Saba, you get into a rainforest and the view becomes more and more magnificent. You see trees, plants, flowers and fruits that you have never seen. And when you pass another person, you definitely must greet. Vehicles pass by and wave and it seems like everyone knows each other. At least everyone respects one another. As we are hiking the trails up the mountain into the jungle at higher elevation, I’m concerned about where we are going to sleep tonight. There is not enough time to get back to the boat before dark and we have to find somewhere to settle down. Along the trail toward the “Windward” we sighted an Ecolodge. Just as I’m picking up a tropical fruit underneath a tree, a four wheeler approaches and the owner Ben greets us. What kind of fruit is this, I asked him. It’s a Golden Apple, Ben replied. A Golden Apple is something between a mango and an apple. It’s very juicy and sweet, and its seed looks something like a blowfish. We connected with Ben and he offered us to set up the tent on his property right by a small pond. He also pointed out a fire pit that was covered in big banana leafs. He said, if you clean it up, you can use it. I started chopping the plants and leafs around the fire pit with a machete. Thereafter, we laid all the leaves  underneath the tent for more cushioning. Ben has made a little utopia here, and named it Rendez-Vous. There are 12 or so private lodges and all are solar powered. He grows most of his vegetables and has a restaurant, where some locals hike to for dinner. It didn’t take long before the tent was up and the fire was going under the full moon. In the fire we wrapped potatoes in foil and some left over pasta from the night before in banana leafs. Dinner was just about ready and Ben came over and to give us a bottle of Merlot as a belated Christmas gift. It can’t be better than this. 

The next day we hiked to the “Windward”, which is the other town on Saba. We met and talked to some locals that have been living on Saba all their life. People here are so welcoming and hospitable. This adventure on Saba was the first and might be the last time we visit this pretty island. The memories of it will be a part of our lives forever. 

Love from Saba     

To view photos of Saba, go to Earthlingsailor’s page on facebook.

St. Barthelemy

Who knew that for a certain period in the past, St. Barth or St. Barts has been a Swedish Colony. The Capital, Gustavia, is named after of the Kings. Street signs in St. Barts are still posted in Swedish along with their French name. The yellow and blue flag is seen more frequently and the French are proud to keep some of the influence here. It feels great to be in the Caribbean and experience the Swedish spirit. As a Swedish Citizen, I feel honored to be exposed to this Island. 

Since we arrived, the inboard has been out of order. It took a few days in the engine room, trouble shooting, reading, and talking to Alf Andersson at 2SWEDES boat yard to get the engine running properly. I finally got it started!! Now, I’m definitely more knowledgeable when it comes to engines. As a boat operator you have to keep your fuel clean, change filters regularly and once every year or so, flush the tank. I found one of the hoses that comes out from the tank totally clogged. Currently, she has been running for a few hours and sounds excellent.

St. Barts is such a clean and safe island. The locals are more civilized than many other places. The dogs are unleashed and behave like humans. The only dogs on leashes are the visitors’. The cats act as if they are queens and don’t even react when you pass or call on them, and they are everywhere. People leave their keys on their motor bikes and cars are left open. The crime is low and you don’t have to worry about locking down your dinghy or boat. Just like the way it should be in an enlightened world. The beaches are beautiful and you see many wealthy people and celebrities walking around. I’m not big on fame and don’t know many names, however, Kelly pointed out Simon Cowell from American Idol yesterday. Locals greet each other when you make eye contact and we’ve learned to say "Bonjour" or “Bonsoir”. It’s assumed that we speak French. Over and over we kindly smile as though we understand the language. Tourists usually think that we are locals and ask us for directions. Most of the people visiting on these big yachts got here very easily, although for us, it has been an extreme adventure with a lot of effort to get here. Therefore, I feel more appreciative and happy! 

Love from Gustavia 
     

A Passage to Remember

The time for our stay in Sint Maarten was up and we decided to sail to St. Barth for New Years Eve. Rumors state that St. Barthelemy is the top spot for the New Year’s celebration in the Caribbean. The distance from Sint Maarten to St. Barth is only 17 Nautical Miles and it shouldn’t take more than a few hours to do this passage... NOT! This passage was one of the most memorable passages ever. Let’s put it this way, we never made it to St. Barth on the same day!
The wind is blowing 20 to 25 miles per hour from the east. The main sail is double reefed and only 1/3 of the genoa is furled out. We are beating into short steep 8-10 ft waves with 1-2 knots current against us. In 5 hours we sailed only 10 miles toward the destination. In addition we are towing two dinghies, our regular Earthling 8.8 ft hard dinghy and the newly acquired 11 ft inflatable dinghy. We tacked a handful of times and it felt like sailing in a washing machine. This is not a pleasant sailing experience! The boat is heeling over and getting washed over again and again.
St. Barthelemy Channel is known for high steep seas because it’s so shallow. The waves build up easy and on top of that it is windy! Many sailors don’t have the patience to sail all the way so they motor sail, but we are eager and stubborn to make this passage under sail. Having said that, we would not have made it to our anchorage in St. Barth before sunset strictly under sail so we had to turn the engine on. The engine was on for about an hour before it stopped working and shut down. It reminded me of the passage from Key Largo to Miami when the system got air in it because I was heeling over on a low tank (read Engine Failure). I thought the engine sucked in air so while Kelly is behind helm I’m trying to bleed the air out of the system. This is not our lucky day, the inboard is not cooperating. Now we don’t have any other option than to use the wind and anchor under sail.
New Year’s Eve is the busiest time in St. Barth for yachts and any many visit Gustavia. I’m thinking, how am I going to maneuver around all these boats and find a good anchorage under sail after dark! I’m nervous, stressed and concentrated. Well, we can’t go to St. Barth and the closest anchorage on the current tack is Ile Fourchue. That’s where we are going, I told Kelly, since it’s not crowded and we can make it before dark. Luckily, there was a big spot between 2 sailboats and a mega yacht. As we are approaching you can tell the few boat around are looking at us wondering why we are sailing into an anchorage. I drop the anchor, we furled in the jib and dropped the main all in less than 10 seconds. The boat is drifting back and I’m just praying that the anchor is going to set. The anchor line gets tight and the boat stops. The gentlemen on the boat  next to us start clapping with a thumbs up, like we did this out of choice! I take a deep breath and feel a little more relieved.
I spend most of the next day in the engine room, changing primary and secondary fuel filters, checking for fuel flow, bleeding air, checking for air flow, cleaning the air filter, inspecting fuel hoses, inspecting the water flow, cleaning the raw water strainer, and so forth. Still, we are out of luck. This Yanmar 3GM inboard is taking a break and it’s not running. I don’t know what else to do, we don’t have the engine owner’s manual since it was stolen in Puerto Rico 7 months ago (Read We've been robbed). Plus, there is no internet or phone  on this little uninhabited island. We have to get to St. Barth, and this time we have to pull up the anchor under sail. Fortunately, all the boats were gone and there was plenty of room to navigate. Two hours later, here we are sailing toward a new anchorage in a very tight and crowded area without an engine. We are tacking between mega yachts. St. Barth is such a beautiful place and the view of hundreds of bigs yachts is exceptional. I have never seen so many gathered in one place. After all, it’s nerve racking not to have an engine going into an anchorage. I’m very anxious and nervous. Before leaving Ile Fourchue, we located Shell Beach on the charts, a site that is relatively idle with a good holding sandy bottom. Furthermore, the entrance to Shell Beach is considerably narrow. As we are approach, there are many boats with people on them partying and it literally seems impossible to sail through all them. The only thing I can do is pray and hope for the best. After 7-8 tacks in a half a mile distance, our angels nust have heard us and began to blow a breeze on our beam and bring the boat as close as possible to the beach in 10 ft of water. The people are swimming away from us, the people on the boats and beach are watching and pointing at us. We drop anchor 150 feet from the beach and 200 feet from a rocky cliff. We must have put on a show dropping anchor, main, and furling the jib all in no time. We drift back and we are set. Hoooooooahhh is all I can say!

Last night we walked to the board walk in St. Barth, intermingled with billionaires, danced, and celebrated the New Years.
Engine is still underpowered
Happy New Year 2012

Love from a Passage to Remember  

Home for the Holidays

Something amazing about this cruising lifestyle is moving frequently. Every few weeks or so, there is a new Island to visit and within that Island, there are new anchorages. Every time you visit a new place you have to figure out where things are, for example, the Immigration office, where to find internet, a local market, marine store, where to get propane, water and so forth. It didn’t take long for these two Earthlings to settle in St. Martin. It feels like home here already. Large anchorage sites where many cruisers visit and stay for a longer time, such as St. Martin, have a VHF radio Channel just for cruiser’s. It’s called the “Cruiser’s Net”. On the Cruiser’s Net the weather forecast is given, there is an exchange of goods or services, general info, and they usually announce arrivals and departures. In other words it’s a networking community for cruisers. We have listened and engaged in the cruiser’s net since we were in George Town, Bahamas. The Cruiser’s Net has been very useful for us, we get local information and/or exchange things. Since we’ve gotten to Simpson Lagoon, Channel 14 has been on at 7:30 am every morning. We listen to Mike, the host of the Cruiser’s Net in St. Martin. Kelly has been offering haircuts for cruisers on the net and Mike has offered her  to use his establishment, “Shrimpy’s Laundry & Yachting Center” to cut hair. We row to shore, then bike to Shrimpy’s every day.  We’ve really gotten to know Mike, Sally, and Meme. They have been sailing and cruising before we were born.  They are wonderful people who have been very welcoming, and helpful to us. Offering haircuts also helps us meet new people and cruisers that have a plethora of information to share. Today we are invited for dinner aboard Elaine and Bob’s boat M/V “Mar Azul”. They have been cruising just since April and are going the same route as us down through the Leeward Islands.

We have been here for a week now and are already settled in. We could live here for a long time if we wanted to. Now we know where most of the things are and have already been anchored in 3 different sites. The other day we biked all the way around the lagoon to the Dutch side. What makes it feel most like home is that we made friends.  

St. Martin is a major boating and yachting center in the Caribbean. It’s a great place to fix and upgrade your vessel. Caribbean’s biggest boating stores, Budget Marine and Water World have warehouses here and are located almost next to each other. You can find anything for your marine needs in St. Maarten. Furthermore, you see the biggest yachts you have ever seen, which reminds me of Monaco. There are many 100+ foot yachts in the lagoon. The masts of these mega sailing yachts are so tall that they have red anchor lights, which I believe is for the safety of aircraft traffic. There are at least 10 masts with red lights on their stick. We caught a moment on video of a super yacht when we were waiting in Simpson Bay for the bridge to open. Check out the video here!

Caribbean Christmas spirit comes with the Christmas winds. The past few days it has been blowing 20 to 30 miles per hour. The windgenerator has been turning off frequently since the batteries are topped off and with the combination of solar panels there is no need to start the engine at all. It’s all about being as sufficient and resourceful as possible in this life style. In addition, Santa doesn’t ride in on a sleigh here, he zooms through on a jet ski! The Holiday’s are here and we wish all our followers and friends a Merry Christmas, God Jul, Happy Solstice, and Happy Hanukkah!

Love from Simpson Lagoon
           

St. Martin

It’s surreal to be in France after a night passage from St. Croix. The mainland of France is far a way from here, but you get the taste of it in St. Martin. You see Citroens and Peugeots, which make it European and feels like home to me. The fresh smell from bakeries making baguettes and croissants is wonderful. Moreover, French wine is present everywhere and all you want to do is drink slightly cooled Chardonnay during the warm sunny days and Bordeaux at night. The radio stations play great music here and the locals dress more tastefully in this part of the Caribbean. Nevertheless, this Island is not only french, it’s also Dutch. We entered St. Martin on the French side, Marigot, since it’s a few Euros cheaper to check in and out here and there are no anchorage fees in most sites. As most of our followers and friends know, this adventure is happening with very limited resources. This Island is less than 50 square miles and it’s easy to dinghy, walk, or bike from the French to the Dutch side. There is a lovely story about the division of this island. It is not supported by historical fact, but according to Chris Doyle’s Cruising Guide, “The French and Dutch were so civilized that, rather than fight over the island, they had a Frenchman armed with a bottle of wine walk in one direction and a Dutchman equipped with a flask of gin take the other. Where they met became the boundary, and the French ended up with a bit more because the gin was stronger than the Wine”.

The 92 mile night passage from St. Croix to St. Martin was smooth. The heading was 92 degrees and wind NE at 6-10 with moderate seas. We sailed on a close reach all the way to Marigot. Being strictly under sail going East in the Caribbean is very rare, because of the trade winds. But we were very lucky with the weather window. This was the first night passage for this leg and we were missing the tranquility. To most people it might be frightening to be on the water in the dark, where you can’t see anything but the sky. Even so, there is a feeling involved with this experience that is exceptional. Being alone in the middle of nowhere under darkness brings you closer to your higher self! It’s great meditation time. A few hours after total darkness, where we couldn’t even see the water, the almost full moon rose with enough light to see the swells and still all the stars. Nonetheless, you can’t wait for the sun to rise and bring light to all!

One of the difficulties in a cruising life style is access to information. In other words, lack of internet. We forget how comfortable we have it on land. When you live in a permanent place, it’s easy to have access to internet endlessly, but when you are traveling from one place to another in different countries, it’s impossible to have internet at all times. Mostly, we find wifi signals from the boat with an antenna, still most are locked and sometimes you can purchase the password. What we usually do is to go ashore to find wifi in a bar or coffee shop and that requires that you purchase something to be able to use the wifi.  It requires time and effort to have a blog update or post pictures and keep in touch. So please don’t be worried and be patient if you don’t hear from us every few days or so. One amazing device aboard now is the spot connect. Anytime we set sail, the spot connect will be activated and keep a track of Earthling’s passages and actual location. We are looking forward to the day where internet wifi covers the whole planet free of charge for everyone.      
Love from St. Martin

Typical Earthling Life

How would you feel and what would you do, when you have an uninvited visitor fly into your boat?

It’s morning, the current is pushing the boat one way and the wind the other. Suddenly the oil lamp in the cockpit gets knocked down, Kelly starts screaming, and a big fish is flapping around in the cockpit. It all happened within few seconds. The shock and excitement was incredible. What should we do?! Grab the camera is the first thing that comes to mind. The young wahoo flapped around and made the floor slimy and stinky, until it was tired and then it went into the bucket (Check out the video). To me it just looked like great dinner! Thank you god for sending us a fish without ever needing to put out a line. This is what we do with unexpected visitors, we let them flap around till they are dead, filet them, grill them and eat them!

Life on Earthling is becoming more and more self sufficient. Beside the Wahoo jumping  in the boat for dinner, we also make our own bread. Kelly made some delicious bread in the pressure cooker. Making bread aboard costs us 1/5 of buying it in the store, and it can be made to personal preference. It requires time, but hey, as a cruiser, you have the time of the world and why not make your own food from scratch? Kelly also made my favorite brownies mixed with Persian walnuts. The baking experience is still in the beginning stages and will be improved as we go. Maybe we’ll start trading Earthling bread for a bottle of Rum soon! We catch rain for drinking water, get energy from the sun and wind, make own food, and grow sprouts for salads and sandwiches. In other words, we are trying to live in a small utopia. 

The last event in Christiansted for us, was the Christmas boat parade. Down here in the Caribbean, Christmas spirit is somehow absent, at least to us. We grew up in the northern climates, where there is snow in December and Christmas is associated with that. Down here in the Caribbean, it’s always summer and Christmas is never in summer! Anyhow, during the Christmas boat parade aboard Tony’s motorboat, “Sweet Pepper”, the Christmas spirit was finally felt. Twenty plus boats from 15ft to 50ft were dressed in lights and did a parade by the boardwalk. There were thousands of spectators and aboard Sweet Pepper, there was a trio of trumpets playing Christmas music. Sweet Pepper won the prize in it’s class and it was great to have dinner with the crew, afterward, at Green Cay Marina.

There have been 3 anchorages for us in Christiansted, St. Croix. The last one is right by the Seaborne Airlines dock. There are seaplanes landing, taking off, and turning around from early morning to sunset just 50 yards from here. One of the pilots is Wayne, we have raced on Cayennita Grande. We are waving at eachother everyday and it feels totally like home here in Christiansted. Tonight he gave a private farewell show for us, you can check out the video on Youtube!

The next blog update should feasibly be from St. Martin/St. Marteen. You can follow our trail on spot connect on Tuesday Dec 13th after 6pm Eastern Standard time.   

Love from Christiansted

A Mixed-Up World



Cayennita Grande

In our lives we have no control over other peoples actions and sometimes shocking things happen. This time it was not one of those unfortunate, unexpected incidents, but everything happens for a reason. We must keep an open mind and stay positive.

The Gustav Wilmerding Regatta in West End Tortola was one of the funnest  races ever. We crewed aboard our friend Tony's boat, Cayennita Grande. It started with the east wind on our back, flying the spinnaker around Great Thatch island, then around little Thatch. Next, up and around Sandy Cay, around great Thatch again and finally, back to West End. This course was approximately 27 miles and very exciting. It's such a better experience to race around islands, instead of buoys. The wind blows between theses islands like they would blow through a tunnel and change direction very frequently. 

We came in 3rd place, which was to everyone's satisfaction! That night, Tony invited the crew for dinner at Jolly Roger, where the awards ceremony was held. Great dinner, great company, and a great day... but it didn't end that way. After dinner, Tony and Kelly were on the dance floor and a heavily intoxicated man, named Justin, who is supposedly from Steel Point, Tortola, walked up to get between Tony and Kelly. Nobody pushes Tony away. He didn't move and stood there strong while the troubled guy Justin raised his Heineken glass bottle and it shattered against Tony's face. He fell down and blood was everywhere! The music stopped and everybody was in shock. We ended up riding with Tony in the ambulance to the emergency room. We waited with our friends Mike & Diane Kirk till early morning. Tony got 17 stitches along his eyebrows and a stitch on his knee. He had to spend the night for an eye doctor to examine him before they could discharge him. Most of the day after was spent at the hopital and police station to give statements.

Di, Tony, & Mike in entrance of West End Police Station

Tony had planned to singlehand Cayennita Grande to St Croix, but with one patched eye and a swollen face, it was our duty to help him to deliver Cayennita Grande. Now we are back in Christiansted again. The good news is that the solar panels arrived! We will be ready to sail to St Marteen within the next week.

What we've learned from this is that there are good people and bad people in this world and we have no control over what can happen. We just have to stay calm and positive and know that everything works itself out in the end.

Love from a Mixed-Up World

Energies

What's so wonderful about the energies of this world
is that they are always being transferred,
from one thing
to another.
The beautiful souls
and open loving people,
are destined to meet if you put yourself out there.
Love them,
they will love you back.
We will meet ,
for this first time,
and again there after,
it is also hopeful.
You are the one I want to cross in my life,
as perpendicular lines
intersecting and then becoming one for a time
but still continuing on...
and meeting again in the future.
The web, circle, tree of life,
we call it.
The 6 degrees of separation...
The true meaning
with puzzle pieces missing,
even when you know and are sure,
you still continue on.
What is it that we are all thriving for,
lust, love, security, serentiny, peace, hatred, tranquillity, bad, good.
Without one there is not the other.

We shall see.

Written by: Kelly Bailey Dalton

Salamati

Approaching St. John, Virgin Islands

It feels great to be moving on and sailing to new ports. Earthling’s way of cruising is to move on every few days, to not be anchored in one certain place more than 10 days. However, sometimes you have to stop in one place for longer, to repair your vessel or just work. We had to stay in St. Croix for one month to get the boat “a little more ready”, and even though all the things on the list are not accomplished, time is up and we have to move on. Our friend Tony Sanpere, has his race boat, Cayennita Grande, stored in Nanny Cay, BVI and it will be launched soon. We will then sail to East End, Tortola, to do a race with him. We better get first place, because Tony always comes in first! Cayennita Grande was just freshly painted white on the hull and bottom with a nice thin red water line. She looks super sharp!
It is also great to have a guest aboard here on the mothership Earthling. We haven’t had many guests aboard since returning to the boat after hurricane season.  Tony is here now and we are pleased to have him aboard. 
Even though Earthling is yearning to sail south to St. Maarten and further, we can’t do it quite yet, since solar panels that were purchased a month ago, have still not arrived in St. Croix. So we must return there to pick them up within the next couple weeks. Meanwhile, we are going to cruise to explore and take advantage of the time we have further in this area. There are many places that we have not seen yet, such as the island of Culebra, which leads us to new crossroad.

Love for Nanny Cay

View photos on the facebook page

Mocko Jumbies perform in Christiansted, St. Croix

Jump Up

There are different kinds of ceremonies held annually in Christiansted, St. Croix. Yesterday was Jump Up, where we saw the most people ever on the streets of Christiansted. Jump Up is a carnival kind of a party held four times a year, there are bands and musicians playing along the board walk and the street corners. Street vendors selling different merchandise and food, and the Mocko Jumbies dancing around. A Moko Jumbie is a dancer that walks on stilts (pillars) attached to their leg. The Moko Jumbies we saw were really tall, they were standing on 8-10 feet stilts. They have been part of the Caribbean culture for 200 years.

The hot dog vendor crew

And then there was a hot dog vendor and our friend Ryan was craving for one, so we stopped there. Standing there reminded me of my time in that business, selling hot dogs and brats on the street of Gothenburg in Sweden. I did that for a few years, employed over 10 people and made a pretty successful business. In 1995, during the World Championship of Athletics in Gothenburg, we sold around 15,000 hot dogs and brats in 8 days! It didn’t take long time before I was behind the hot dog stand in St. Croix, grilling and serving customers. And It all came back like it was yesterday, I took over the grill for an hour and served at least 30 hotdogs, and Kelly, Ryan and I ate 6, free of charge. The lady that was running the business wanted me to work for her, if I’m here next time I will work a full shift for you, I said.   
The night was full of excitement, we ran into almost everyone we know on the Island. Rain poured down a few times and one storm lasted for an hour. It didn’t even cross our mind if we had closed the hatches on the boat or not! As we got off the dinghy and walked onto the boat, we see everything drenched. All the hatches were open. We had to sleep in the v-berth on wet cushions and that was a lesson learned. November is the rainiest month in the Caribbean and it has poured rain at least once a day for the last few weeks. Every time we leave the boat, all the hatches and windows have to be closed, even if we leave only for an hour. But yesterday we forgot. Now floor mats, rugs, and sheets are hanging out side in the cockpit, just like a typical gypsy home.

Love from Jump up    

The World Awaits

Sunrise

It is astonishing to get visited by a big white, spotted stingray everyday. He is here below our boat swimming in these waters as if he owns them. He has been here the longest and this is his home more than ours. Thank you Mr. Ray for visiting us and letting us stay in your home. How does it feel to see a Falcon flying around, and sit on the spreaders of different boats every night and occasionally make noise at sunset? It’s breathtaking! The Falcon and Mr. Ray are some of our Earthling neighbors. Others are the live-aboards at this anchorage, whom seem not to move or sail their vessels much. Like the old man that is so weak that he can’t even row to shore, or some of the boats around that don’t even have a mast, or a boom, or sails. Then there is “Mendocino Queen”, which is owned by Allen and Kate from California, and they have been sailing and cruising around the world on and off for 20 years. I can see cruising around the world for that long. We have been invited to Mendocino Queen but unfortunately have been so busy working on the boat that there has not been enough time to visit them.
Projects are never ending, and you can be working on your boat for years before you feel it's ready to set sail. Since we got down here to the Caribbean we have been working on the boat as a full time job. You mention it, wiring, reinforcing, sanding, cleaning, caulking, varnishing, painting, installing, changing, eliminating, polishing, and many more doings. Still, we haven’t installed the solar panels since they seemed lost in the mail and we don’t have them yet. Neither have we gotten all the tow rails sealed. There is still so much to do on Earthling before it is ready to sail off again. Sometimes you just have to get up and go, otherwise you might never take off. I could still be in Chicago dreaming about this adventure if I wanted everything as perfect as I desire. Sometimes we get so caught in the moment and comfortable in one place that we lose sight of our goals and missions. It requires a certain courage to break ties loose, pick up your anchor, and move on, like a Gypsy does! We are the Gypsies and in a few days it’s time to leave this beautiful home and anchorage to a new destination. The rest of the world is waiting and we will be there.

Love from Christiansted

Protestant Cay Anchorage

The boardwalk in Christiansted. 

It has been raining on and off for the past few days, which put us behind on our deck work. But it's all good, there is plenty of work to do inside. I made new shelving and connected some new instruments such as a battery monitor and fixed the oven and so forth. Kelly has been sewing new pillows and canvas storage pockets. This non-commercial mooring field we are in is wonderful! It's right in front of the boardwalk, protected by an island, & has great water circulation. It's 8-10 ft deep and you can see the bottom. Last night the full moon was reflecting off the ocean floor. 

This is one of the cleanest mooring fields in front of a big city in the Caribbean so far that we've experienced. Although, things will still grow on the bottom of your boat. Not so much on Earthling, but lots on the boats around. Tony has been letting us use this mooring for the time we are here. On the north side of where we are is Seaborne Airlines,  seaplane landing strip. On the east we have the little island of Protestant Cay, with a hotel and bar on it, and on the south is the town of Christiansted. 

Full Moon over the beach
 at Protestant Cay.

Kelly describes our life here in a poem: 

With a full moon as my only light,

Reflecting off the ocean floor,

My deep thoughts are about this beautiful world. 

We only know but one. 

On land these thoughts mean nothing. 

The soft whispering breeze running across every little hair on my body,

so warm and comfortable. 

Why can't we all experience this?

The peaceful rocking of the boat at anchor, 

swaying back and forth.

As you close your eyes it makes you feel a weightlessness. 

The sounds of the calm land breeze, sweeping across us,

Making harmonious music between halyards on the main and ripples in the water. 

I'm at peace within. 

The lights from afar on shore twinkle, 

But not as good as the stars. 

In and out, on and off.

Love from Protestant Cay

Varnishing time

Starboard handrail and trim

Port hand rail and trim

Storing your boat over hurricane season or winter can sometimes cost you more than living on it. Especially down here in the Salt waters where everything corrodes. Currently our outboard and stereo system is out of order. The stereo is half fixed, it worked for several hours last night. Humidity and salt must have corroded something in the unit. A boat needs constant maintenance and if you put things on hold, they might cost and require more work in the long run.
The last couple of days we have been sanding, varnishing, and sealing handrails and trim. This project is time consuming. First you have to take the rail off, then clean the old caulk, sand the wood trim, apply one layer at a time of epoxy, mask, and then put new caulk and screw the pieces back into deck, sand the epoxy, and apply one layer of varnish at a time. Phew! All this hard work will pay off when the wooden rail will looks like new after it's done. We are applying 3 coats of epoxy and 3 layers of varnish.  The epoxy should protect the wood from moisture better than anything else. This is the first time I'm using the epoxy and varnish combination and I think it will have great durability.
So far we have just done hand rails and the trim on the starboard side. There is an equal amount of work for the wood on the port, bow and stern of the boat. The good news is that if we apply a couple layers of varnish once a year, we would never need to go through all the steps again next time. Compared to some classic boats, Earthling don't have lots of wood work, teak deck and floors. If you are going to purchase a boat and you fall in love with the wood work and teak deck, keep in mind that keeping up with the wood maintenance might break your back or pocket over the long run. And next time you see that beautiful shinny wooden ketch, remember that the owner put lots of love into her!


Love from varnishing world
 

Underwater in Norman Island

Back In The Saddle

Earthling is launched and it feels great. The bottom is clean with a new layer of paint, the top part of the hull is waxed, the zincs on the prop are changed and all the through hulls are inspected. We have lots of mosquito bites on our legs and arms, since Earthling was stored by a swamp! But when she was launched and as soon as we left the marina and got to our anchorage, it was all worth it. There is a lot of work involved to keep a vessel maintained, especially when you have very limited access to resources. When this is the case, you have to do it yourself.  And if you are not handy or rich then forget about it!

Our first overnight anchorage by Norman Island, BVI was quiet, beautiful, calm, and excellent weather. It was a little taste of this adventure before we had to get to work on the boat again.
The first passage from Norman Island to St. Croix involved some 8-10 ft waves and wind gusts up to 27 knots, a few wash-overs and we are salted again.  Now we are in our Caribbean home, St. Croix. We call it this mostly because our friends Tony and  Ellen live here and St. Croix is also part of the US.  As we are pulling into the anchorage area in St. Croix, I'm taking down the main sail and Kelly is behind helm, and next to us is Ron & Karyn on Equinox... these are friends we met 8 months ago in Turks and Caicos. What a small world! Tomorrow we are invited for dinner aboard Equinox.

We will be staying here in St. Croix for the next few weeks to work on Earthling, which involves installing new equipment and repairing. The biggest project is sealing the toe rails and stanchions. This project is estimated to take 7-10 days.

Aboard we have had visitors since we got here. The 2 visitors have been keeping us entertained and they made us throw some of our food away. They must have helped themselves to the boat during the last 4 months. These mice were on the boat before we got back and they thought we were visitors! I like pets but so sorry, not mice. A couple nights in a row we couldn't really sleep peacefully because as soon as we went to sleep these guys would come out and play around in the galley and jump around up and down the stairs. Finally,  we had to get a mousetrap and capture these creatures and feed them to the fish.

The last few days it has been windy. They call them the "Christmas Winds", which is good for us because the wind generator is keeping the batteries charged. No need for fossil fuels to generate energy!

Love from St. Croix

Barnacle Bottom

Bottom paint is the paint applied to the part of the boat that is always in the water. Many things can grow on that part of the boat. On Earthling's bottom we had an barnacle bed growing after we left Luperon in Dominican Republic. This caused the motor to over heat and slowed us down at least a knot in average. It took a few weeks of underwater scraping till it completely was cleaned. On the propeller there was an barnacle an inch wide! First time I looked at the barnacle bed, the bottom of the boat looked like a breathing dinosaur, it was so gross and disgusting, but it had to be cleaned, and I was the one to do it! I was so disappointed that the paint we applied less than a year ago didn't survive this situation. I guess you have to use paint with a lot of 

poisonous chemicals in it to not get any growth on the bottom. But then again, the very strong paints are banned in many countries, and this is probably hurting the nature! This is a dilemma many boaters have. For the last 3 days we have been scraping off the oyster bed's residue and light sanding and then it's ready to paint. We heard of other boats that had the same experience in Luperon. A lesson learned to not anchor for a long time in isolated mangrove areas. If you do, make sure to keep her bottom clean. 

Love from Spanish town        

Back to Earthling life

The weather in Chicago is getting cold and it is time to get back to Earthling life. I love friends and family in the U.S and Iran but I couldn't wait to get back on Earthling and live a stress-free and simple life. Chicago layover was supposed to be only one week but some of the land life responsiblities (work, taxes, business, papers) needed attention so I had to stay 10 days longer. 

Left: Marty Right: Roy 

A few days ago I attended the memorial service for my friend Marty Hastings. Marty was my sailing father in Chicago. He was one of the people that helped me a lot with this adventure. A few years ago I told Marty that I was going to set sail from Chicago with the goal of sailing around the world. Marty believed in me, he helped me with the purchase of Earthling, repairs, and new equipment. The last four years I have been racing on Marty and Donna Hasting's boat, Joie De Vie.  Marty also joined Earthling down in Florida for a week. His positive energy will always be behind my sailing adventures and I will always remember him. Marty will be missed. May he rest in peace. 

Full Moon Party

I missed the Full Moon Party in Tortola last week, which is a big deal down here in the Caribbean, but I happened to attend one of the coolest full moon parties in my neighborhood by Foster beach with my friends Hiba and Asma. It was so amazing to experiance the Rastafarian "hippie" Caribbean Culture in Chicago. Chicago has lots of culture and diversity, you'll find all kinds of ethnic restaurants and that's something I admire about this city, especially with my background.

Kelly & I are with Earthling now on Virgin Gorda, BVI. We are getting her ready for the 3rd leg of this voyage. After a new layer of bottom paint and wax, she will be ready to be launched. We will sail to St. Croix next week and stay there until we're done installing all new equipment and do some repairs. We are looking forward to meet our cruiser friends and other new people in the next months to come.

Love from Virgin Gorda 

Farewell Iran

Tabatabaei House, Kashan

The Iran trip came to an end and time went by so fast. I've traveled within Iran and got to do some things that I like. It feels like I haven't had time to absorb everything yet. I’m glad I take lots of pictures and that I write about my experiences so I can go back to it and relive it.

One amazing experience during this trip, which has been a dream of mine for a long time was to Para glide. Para gliding is flying in a kite off a mountain. We drove 3500ft up the Alborz Mountains on the north side of Tehran and flew down like an eagle with the city below us. I've realized I really enjoy to fly, I must been a bird in the past! I would love to do more Para gliding and get certified. 

Furthermore, I got to do a little project in my parents cottage close to Astaneh Ashrafieh in Gilan. Since I am a water person, I thought our orchard needed a little fountain. A fountain in a little pool would create a sound effect of water running down the stones and it would be a great add on to our home. The fountain project was a good learning experience. I made a 2 feet tall fountain wall with different size river rocks that I collected. This project will be 100% completed next time I visit my parents.

Fin Garden

 I also had the opportunity to give a day visit to "Kashan" with my close friend Peggy. Kashan is located couple hundred kilometers ( 120miles) south of Tehran. Kashan's history goes back to few thousand years as well as many other cities in Iran. Recently in Kashan archeologists found a human mummy, which is estimated to be 7000 years old. This city has many beautiful old architecture. In Fin garden you see water running from a well through creeks among tall pine trees with a classic persian home in the middle of the garden. Kashan is a place worth to see in Iran.

Iran is such a beautiful country with so many resources. Iran lies in a strategic geographical location and it has been the connection between east to west. This land and it's people has been under many different powers and ruled by many different government. This country has been taken advantage off and robbed so many times throughout history. Few weeks ago news released that $3billion is missing in the central bank system. Last week CEOs from 3 major banks resigned. Iran has become an extreme materialistic society. You are judged by who your parents are, what kind of car you are driving, where you live, what you do and how much you own. I have been trying to detach myself from this materialistic world and live only by my needs. I like beautiful things and comfort, but I don't want to find happiness with the things under my possession. I simply have nothing to show, it's just me! In Iran you can't just be you, you have to be somebody else!

People on our planet right now live in controlled societies. We live in a police world and the degree of that is really high on the scale in Iran. Today the situation in the Middle East is in chaos. All the countries in this region are very tense and concerned. In Iran the communication system is controlled. News and social websites like, BBC, Blogspot, and Facebook are filtered. The phone lines between major cities in Iran get interrupted and internet gets shut down during special events. Subconsciously, people in Iran are under constant fear. People are worried about their future and their children's future. People are worried about health care, work, and education. It's kind of part of the culture to be worried.

When you practice compassion, you can feel other people's pain or happiness. In some situations I think I feel worse than the other person since they don't really know in what degree of closed society they live in. For example, when I see a 10 year old girl covered head to toe in black "chador" I feel sorry and wish she could live just a 10 year old child life and had the opportunity to live in a less controlled world. Many people in this society are used to the system and don't realize the little cubical they live in. We all live in a cubical. Our cubical world has different thickness. The walls are very thick in Iran. I hope we can break these walls and let some light in and find peace and freedom. As an Earthling we don't need any borders between the countries on our planet. Everybody should be able to go wherever they like to whenever they like to. When we are not allowed to cross a line then we are more eager to see what's on the other side. I feel bad for many people in Iran and other countries in the world that can't get permission to go to other countries and see the world outside.  When the amount of resources available on our planet is equally distributed between everyone and it’s in harmony with nature then we can live where ever our hearts take us. Then we would not fight, kill, steal, lie, and we all would live better lives in a better world. I am looking forward to that day in my life time.

Love from Iran

View more photos on Earthlingsailor's facebook page