LIFE ABOARD & ABROAD

Since we’ve been back stateside, we have had plenty of questions about life aboard a sailboat.  So we’ve decided to answer some of those questions in todays blog by describing what life aboard was like for us.  Feel free to post new questions in the comment area below and don’t forget to help us win a trip to Argentina by clicking here!

Life Aboard:  The Day Begins

The sun is nature’s Alarm Clock.  It happened every morning despite our best efforts to crawl further into the shadows of our bunks.  Still, there was no hiding from the sun once it rose high enough to shine through the open hatches.  But it was a nice, gradual way of waking up.  Nothing like the annoying screaming of my alarm clock now.  But thinking back on the size of my small quarter berth, I don’t think I’ll ever complain about having a small apartment again.

Once we had crawled out of our bunks and had a good stretch it was time for a shower.  Nothing shocks you awake like diving off the boat into cool Caribbean waters.  I miss personal hygiene being this simple.  It was as easy as falling over board.  Since most bathing was done outdoors, modesty really wasn’t a practiced concept in most anchorages.  Eventually, we got used to seeing our neighbors’ bare asses …and having them see ours.

Shave Optional:  On days that I deemed a good shave necessary I would shave with a bucket of saltwater and a dull razor.  I definitely don’t miss this.  Its unbelievable the amount of hair that gathers all over the boat.  It was a daily chore just having to sweep it all up.  So it was just easier to do all my shaving over a bucket.  Thats probably why I didn’t shave so much.  And I have no idea how Alyson managed all her shaving.

Transportation:  Life without a car

Its strange.  I love to drive, and I drive a lot.  My ole pick-up truck has covered a lot of ground in the past 10 years, and I would definitely rather drive 1000 miles than fly the same distance.  That being said, I didn’t really miss having a car at all.  As a matter of fact, life without a car forced us to plan better, be more resourceful and more outgoing.  Which in turn, led to new friendships and experiences we would not have made otherwise.

the Dinghy:  Our dry way of getting to shore.  Even though we got along fine without a car, there was no living aboard without a dinghy.

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Sailing the Southern Caribbean

Today’s post is a little different. Instead of me droning on for an hour, for you slow readers, or twenty-eight seconds, for those realizing they got the wrong site, I would like to present you with a cinematic master piece. A MONTAGE!!!

But before you cringe let me also say that it has music, and dolphins jumping, and oceans, and an amazing car race with scantly clad women….OK the last part is a lie.

It’s a video re-cap of our sailing journey across the southern Caribbean from Grenada to Colombia, over 1000 nautical miles, 7 months, and 2 sailboats later.

So go pop some pop-corn, sit back and relax!

Sailing The Southern Caribbean from Hop & Jaunt on Vimeo.

It’s also on YouTube if you have a preference.

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Hop & Jaunt’s Top Ten of 2009

Happy New Years from the Crew at Hop & Jaunt Travelouges!  We’re excited about the new adventures and travels that lay ahead in 2010.  But before we jaunt into the last year of the decade, lets hop back and take a look at some of our favorite experiences from the past year.   Its Hop & Jaunt’s Top Ten Favorite Adventures of 2009.

10.)  Beach Bumming at Roger’s Bar on Hog Island, Grenada

Roger’s Bar on Hog Island was our first Caribbean experience after joining Alyson’s parents on Quercus.  Roger’s ramshackle beach shack not only had the appearance of being thrown together with driftwood, bamboo and palm leaves, but it literally was put together with nothing more than driftwood, bamboo and palm leaves.  Many afternoon ’sundowners’ turned into late night ‘howl at the moon’ sessions underneath the glow of the single 12 Volt powered light bulb.  Live reggae music, sand between your toes and always a cold beer set the perfect mood for mingling and socializing with the  locals and sailors from around the world.  To read more click here.

9.)  Baby Sitting a Whale in Curacao

While boat sitting in Curacao we decided to try a little baby sitting as well.  We volunteered to watch after a 10 foot baby pilot whale that was being nursed back to health.  Sully the pilot whale was beached by his family after becoming too ill to keep up with the rest of his pod.  Efforts by local marine biologist and volunteers helped to restore the baby whale back to full health.  We spent a few nights lying by Sully’s pen keeping him company as he vied for our attention by requesting several belly rubs.  It was an experience we will always remember.  Unfortunately efforts to integrate Sully back into the wild have failed, and there are talks that he will be moved to a tank in Sea World, San Diego.  For more click here.

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Wrapping Up Chapter One

We have now been in Curacao for over three months and the time has come to move on. The situation with us, however, is very different now than it was when we entered the island. My parents, Michael and Donna, have decided to return to the States where they will pursue a whole new adventure and life on the mainland. The reason we are even in Curacao right now is due to their one comment over ten months ago. “If you are looking at having an adventure or going off sailing, why don’t you come with us for a while and see if you really like this life style.” The rest, as they say, is history. We sailed and lived aboard their 36’ steel sailboat, Quercus, for over five months and have sailed across the Caribbean together. John and I not only had a blast but we were able to learn a lot in a short time that other wise would have taken us years and far more painful mistakes to get. Thank you Mom and Dad. P.S. My Mom is a photographer and she took some amazing photos from our trip and also from around the Caribbean, go check out her site at djkphotos.

My parents left roughly a month ago and since then John and I have been onboard alone. Quercus has been sold to a nice young Australian couple. They could not get to the boat for a month and so we agreed to watch over her and take care of her while we lived here. It has worked out great, not only did we have a nice safe place to stay but we got to truly experience what living on a boat on your own is like. We were expecting this period to be rather quiet and maybe we would even get a lot of personal projects done, such as updating this blog more! But as it turned out this month has been the busiest we’ve had in some time. We started our design “business” and have bartered free windsurfing lessons for some graphic design work. (p.s. From now on just click on photos in blog to view larger or for slideshow!)

I also designed a website for an amazing luxury yacht, named Astahaya. If you ever want to ACTUALLY sip on a cocktail while watching the sunset in paradise on a boat this is the way to do it. John worked on setting up and teaching a couple of close friends how to use and manage a blog. When we were not doing “office” work we (and I mean mostly John) also stumbled upon a thriving business, cleaning bottoms….boat bottoms that is. The water in Spanish Waters is like a warm lake, it is not the prettiest waters in the world. In these warm waters thing grow incredibly fast. A sailboat, in order to operate efficiently, needs to have a clean hull and prop. While we had no scuba gear, during this trip we have discovered that John is a good free-diver. So off he went diving under boats with nothing but a mask and a scraper.

One of the most pleasant aspects of these past months in Curacao is that we have met a ton of amazing people and have become close friends with many. Due to the people we have met we have also been able to take part in and enjoy a lot of new experiences. Here’s a short re-cap of the past few weeks.

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Sailing into Curacao

July 9th

As “Land Ahoy!” echoed through Quercus, our sailboat, a flock of neon pink flamingos flew past us headed back to Bonaire. We had sailed out of Kralendjik, Bonaire, earlier that morning and after another quick down wind sail we were rounding the southern tip of Curacao. The wind was 20-25kts with the waves around 5-7ft and we were under full genoa and main. Our destination in Curacao was Spanish Waters, one of the most protected natural harbors in the Caribbean. A perfect hurricane hole outside of the main hurricane paths. Curacao actually has two such natural harbors, and ever since Columbus’s scout “discovered” Curacao there has been a political tug-of-war between the Spanish and Dutch over the island. In the 1800s Dutch finally gained total control and it has remained a Dutch island for the past two hundred years.

The entrance to Spanish Waters is a very narrow channel no wider than 50-75ft at the most. It is extremely difficult to be certain exactly where the entrance is just by eyeballing it from the rolling ocean for the first time. As we neared the marked spot on our charts Mom and I went forward as look outs and John and Captain manned the helm and sails. Just as we were approaching this critical point in our trip I spied a Coast Guard cutter steaming full speed at us from our rear. While we had to contend with a stiff breeze and choppy seas this ship’s wake was twice as large as the waves in the ocean, some 9-11ft! As it continued toward us at that reckless speed I could see that it would cause wet and rough trouble for us.

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Hop and Jaunt’s “Believe It or Not”

While traveling throughout the Westward Antilles we’ve seen quite a lot of amazing things.  Each day is filled with breath taking scenery.  Picturesque white sandy beaches stretch right across our front yard (figuratively speaking).  We have seen dramatic landscapes with towering island mountains that drop off sharp cliffs and straight into the sea.  Living right on the surface of the world’s largest aquarium has given us the opportunity to  view an astounding quantity of tropical sea life, and during our excursions inland we have met dozens of very cool and interesting people.  Yet, on occasion we happen across something that really catches our attention.  Sometimes its something in the local culture that strikes us as different and new.  Other times its an out of place object that doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the beautiful scenery, or more often than not, it just strikes us as funny.  So here is a compilation of some of the strange and curious oddities we’ve found while in Bonaire.

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These are the people in your neighborhood

 

The time we spent in Bonaire, gave us the opportunity to make several new friends and meet up with old ones.  Since most boats sailing in the westward Antilles have to visit the same islands, you get the chance to see some of the same people over and over.  You come to remember them more by the name of the boat and less by the names of the actual people.  Here is a quick blog about some of our favorite people and most memorable days while in Bonaire.   

The Young American Vacationers:

Our first week in Bonaire we met Richard and Tiffany.  They are a young American couple from Springfield, Missouri who had come down to the island on vacation.  Tiffany, who is a dive master, had visited Bonaire before and had returned with Richard to share the experience.  We happened to bump into them while having sundowners at Krael’s dockside bar.  They rocked and exponentially improved the already great time we were having in Bonaire.  It was great to sit, have a few beers and talk with people our own age, especially such interesting people.  Tiffany has spent years diving and told us all the good spots to hit along the waters edge.  She even does spelonking or cave diving.  Richard was awesome, too.  He kept us entertained and laughing with stories of bar tending, his stand-up comedy, touring the states with his band, and driving an ambulance.  We had such a great time with them that we all decided to meet the next day to do some snorkeling together.

Late the next morning, we headed out together in Quercus’s little dinghy to a spot they recommended.  The reefs along the island sit under about 30 feet of water.  The water is so clear though that the fish and corals are clearly visible from the surface.  We swam along watching the countless varieties of tropical fish passing beneath us.  The colorful coral sloped out of visibility and into the dark blue backdrop of the sea.  We even passed over scuba divers unaware of us swimming through their bubbles above.  I now regret not having purchased an underwater camera to document some of the incredible sights.  

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Los Roques, “Life on the Rocks!”

Our next destination, as we headed west, was the small archipelago of Los Roques or “The Rocks”.  It is a group of islands that sit very low in the Caribbean Sea north of the coast of Venezuela and eastward of the reknowned ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, & Curacao).  The islands are surrounded by shallows of reefs and is kept as a Venezuelan National Marine Park.  It is reputed to be one of the best marine parks in the Caribbean.  The passage from Tortuga was pretty calm.  We left about midday and sailed throughout the night.  Our only difficulty came about a mile off shore of our approach to the narrow channel between the reefs on the southeastern side of the island chains.  As fate would have it, this was the moment when our water pump on the diesel shredded its impeller and brought our faithful Mercedes engine to a halt.  The damaged impeller (being the result of some shoddy workmanship done in Trinidad) left us floating between the winds and the reefs with nothing but sail.  Fortunately, for Quercus and the crew, the Skipper had the foresight to have installed a backup electric water pump that was connected within mere minutes.  With danger averted we made our way slowly along the channel and into the inviting anchorages of Los Roques.

Los Roques is really a fascinating place to see.  Beauty from horizon to horizon.  The water is deep (we anchored in nearly 25 ft) and so clear that the sandy bottom was easily visible.  The sandbars and shallows of the bay glowed with a bright aqua green in stark contrast to the dark blues and indigos of the deeps.  The land was outlined with sandy white shores and green vegetation in the form of mangroves and palms.  Our anchorage at Crasqui Island was nearly in the center of the archipelago and the islands and beaches surrounded us in nearly every direction.  It was a relatively quiet place.  There were a few small restaurants and Posadas (or inns) along the beach front.  Our only neighbors were a couple of large fishing boats and one other American sailboat.  It was so quiet and tranquil the first couple of days that at times it felt like we were the only ones there.  Having spent the past month sailing through such amazing places, I began to notice how accustomed we were becoming to the beauty of each place.  All of our conversations started sounding more repetitive and less sincere ( “Look at how pretty the beach is.”, “Look at that pretty sunset.”, “Isn’t the water pretty?”)

After spending a couple of relaxing days at anchor, we were surprised one morning to find large crowds of people on the beach.  The groups were brought in on small open pirro boats along with their beach chairs and umbrellas.  I assume that the largest island Gran Roques must have a hotel near the airport where Venezuelan vacationers come to enjoy a little holiday.  On this morning Alyson and I went up to the beach to enjoy the surf and sun.  The winds were rather still and the sun was so bright, it was a perfect day to spend enjoying the scenery and the beach.  We all piled into the dinghy and motored ashore to join the rest of the crowd.  I have to admit beforehand that this was one of my favorite days since we’ve been out.  Alyson and I walked down the white beaches (with sand as soft as flour) until we came across the perfect spot.  As I’ve said there were many people on the beach that day, and laying out on their blankets right beside us was a group of young and lovely Venezuelan girls sunbathing topless.  (Bless their hearts).  These young ladies were not shy.  They would frolic with each other in the water, rolling in the sand and the waves while laughing and bouncing.  It was some of the best wildlife I’ve spotted so far.  At one point a flock of sea gulls descended on their blanket and it sent them running around and screaming.  The bravest of the bunch attempted to shoo the birds away by running into the flock and then began barking, which was a pretty funny sight.  Perhaps the girls weren’t too bright, but they did put on an entertaining show.  Enough to distract us from the beauty of the islands, which was rather amazing anyhow.

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Island Tour and other Tales

A few days ago Alyson and I decided to do a tour of the island. It was a very windy day on the boat and conditions weren’t really good for doing any of the boat jobs we had planned for the day. As we get further into the summer months the winds have seemed to pick up much more here. The Skipper decided to give everyone a rest day in which we could do whatever we wanted. Alyson and I had talked about going around the island and taking in the sights, so we decided that we would go ashore and do a little exploring of the mainland.

Our plan was really vague. We weren’t sure where to start. We could hire a driver or rent a car of our own for around $100 US, but we eventually decided it would work out cheaper for us to just take the bus. We threw a few personal items into a backpack (camera, sunglasses, sunscreen, towels) and Donna gave us a ride to shore. There is a small town on the east side of the island called Grenville. We decided this would be our first stop although we weren’t really sure what we would find there.
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Cruising People

We are heading into our final week(s) here in Grenada. Everyday we have been working on the boat and finishing up final tasks to prepare her for the passage. We have also been trying to get online for the past week but every time something has thwarted our attempts, so we will keep trying and will be posting as we catch any internet signals! We are heading south west hitting La Blanquila, Los Roques, the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao) and eventually to Cartegena, Colombia.

But the plans of sailors are even more prone to change than those of average mice and men. The first leg of our journey will take us on a 30-40hr passage cutting across the southern Caribbean above Venezuela. What is ironic is that we are skirting above Venezuela and heading towards Columbia. What I mean by that is only a few years ago Venezuela was the hot destination point for most cruisers and Columbia was a must miss. However the world never stands still and the recent rise of pirates and political unrest in Venezuela combined with the increasingly calm and stable atmosphere in Columbia is reversing the tide of visiting cruisers. Cartegenea has been especially proactive in trying to create a peaceful atmosphere in order to entice visitors. There will be many stops along the world famous islands along the way and we will be looking for wifi to share the pictures and stories as we go.

While we spend most of the daylight hours working on the boat and occasionally jumping off the side to cool off we have been hanging out on the beach at night listening to the stories of other world travelers and cruisers. What makes travel by boat so unique than any other form is that each boat is its’ own little universe, and the people on them always have such distinct and fascinating stories. Take for example this Italian woman we have met anchored off the beach of Hog Island.
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