LIFE ABOARD & ABROAD

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.

Sleeping soundly in my bunk.

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.

Our morning shower.

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.

Next comes a saltwater shave from a bucket.

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.

Going for a Sunday Drive

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Cabo de la Vela: the Cape of Sails

John & Aly on SunRunner

(Continued from previous posting):

The next morning we awoke around 4am.  Surprisingly, the weather forecast from the day before was correct.  I couldn’t believe the drastic change in conditions.  The howling 30 knot winds had just abated.  The seas were reasonably calm.  It seemed so unreal that weather could switch from such harsh circumstances to practically nothing in under an hour.  It was as if someone had flipped a switch.  Afraid that it was too good to be true, we didn’t waste any time.  We pulled up anchor and ‘got the hell outta Dodge’.

With renewed spirit we set off for the small Colombian village of Cabo de la Vella.  As I said before the winds had seriously dropped, and SunRunner was making only 4 knots under Genoa and mizzen.  The roughly 40 mile trip would take us a little over 10 hours, but we didn’t mind.  Better to be going somewhere than sitting in Bahia Honda.  The sun was bright.  The skies were clear and blue.  It was a nice, lazy and relaxing sail. 

Alyson tanning on deck.

By mid afternoon we had cleared the Guajira Peninsula and sailed into the nice little bay off Cabo de la Vela.  It was an interesting little place.  The village was settled by the Wayuu indians, and now the town functions as a fishing village and ecotourism destination.  Yes, now we had arrived in backpacker country.  And every year dozens or perhaps even hundreds of backpackers venture to the tiny village of Cabo de la Vela to enjoy the beach and sleep in authentic Wayuu indian houses (they are made from the hearts of cactus, you know). 

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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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Los Roques, “Life on the Rocks!”

The crew of Hop and Jaunt enjoying the beach.

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.

This is a map of the Los Roques Island Chain. We entered through the narrow channel at Boca de Sebastopol and motored up along the reefs to Crasqui Island where we anchored.

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?”)

The beaches of Los Roques.

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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I’m on a boat

Hello to our meager but much appreciated following of dedicated readers. Greetings from the “Spice Isle”. Life here over the past few weeks has been quite nice. A few key points of which I will discuss in the following paragraphs. Alyson and I are slowly adjusting to the heat. As a matter of fact, because of the heat we are doing most things slowly now. I suppose that is just the life in the island. Its the ‘Dry Season’ right now too, which I suppose adds to the sensation of the heat. Its hard to image that its the ‘Dry Season’ since I have never been surrounded by so much water in my life. Gradually we are working on our tans so that we don’t stand out to much amongst the other sailors. We have already progressed from bright white to bright red. Hopefully, this color will permeate to darker shade of tan soon. Perhaps once the metamorphosis is complete we will post before and after photos. Just for fun. And for those of you who prefer visual imagery over reading, feel free to check out our photo section.

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