sailing around the world – Sailing with Saphir

Celebration with World Arc

It was nice to lie still for yet another week. I managed to clean and do laundry, and I even brought out the sewing machine after we went to the village and bought canvas for the forward hatches. The only water-repellent material I have on board is sailcloth, and it’s too stiff for the hatches. The hatches gets sun protection, clothes are being repaired and some re-sewn into linen, I’m also sewing a storage bag for the clothespins, and I’m sketching and planning how the last part of the Arc flag will look. We are six boats that will fit in the last available spot. I’ve decided to use sails with the names of the boats. I sewed one and will leave the rest to finish in Marigot Bay.

During the week, the Swedish catamaran Think Twice showed up with Björn and Nilla, who are on their way to Trinidad. The next boat to arrive is Cepa with Britta and Thomas, with whom we did the first part of the Arc around the world. Another pleasant surprise was that Rebecca, also from the last Arc, showed up. It was so nice to see each other, even if it was just for a short while.

The rest of the week went smoothly with some more grocery shopping, knitting, reading, and socializing with the other Arc boats that came in one by one to Bequia.

On Monday morning at 5:30 AM, we cast off and headed up to Marigot Bay, arriving at the dock by 3:30 PM.

Now we have a few days before the others arrive. I take the opportunity to prepare to sew some storage boxes and bags from sailcloth by cutting out the different pieces before bringing out the sewing machine.
The first sewing is finishing the flag. Those who have their own logo get it sewn into the sail, while the others I write on with a marker and zigzag stitch. I let my creativity flow a bit and try to create some waves and a whale fin. It’s so much fun to sit at the sewing machine and be creative. The flag itself is a trophy that is given to a boat that has done something special on a crossing, which in turn decorates it with, among other things, its boat name. I also made two boxes and a bag. The boxes are for Andrew and Swade as a little memory from me and Edgar, and the bag is for Sian on Bahati, as it’s their sailcloth I used. In between, I help decorate the boat by hoisting signal flags at the bow and the national flags of the places we have visited at the stern.

In the following days, our Arc friends arrive, and the celebration begins. One evening, there’s a Rompunch sundowner offered from the harbor, and the loo Arc treats us to a sunset cruise on a catamaran with food, drinks, and dancing that continues until we’re back in the harbor. It was an incredibly fun evening. The next day, we take it easy and hang by the pool with several of the others.

Saturday, April 19, is a bustling day at the dock. Today is the big day when we have all decorated the boats with flag displays and are ready to sail in an escorted group up to Rodney Bay, where the finish line for World Arc 2024-2025 is located. It’s an amazing experience to end the sailing this way, with all the boats lined up. However, it seems not everyone has complete control of their boats, as some are maintaining very wide distances or steering out of line, but we made it to Rodney Bay and crossed the finish line, receiving a fantastic welcome from our Arc friends from 2023-2024. Onboard Renegade are Julia and Jeff, of course, Ken and Cheryl, Maria and Oscar, Luc and Cory, and Clare. Once we docked, we enjoyed amazing music, snacks, Rompunch, and other drinks. What a wonderful atmosphere it was now that everyone had arrived. It was one big hug fest filled with cheers, congratulations, and dancing, which ended with most of us jumping into the water.

In the evening, we had our farewell dinner with a slideshow from the entire journey, and Swade and Andrew gave fantastic speeches to each boat and its crew, and we also got to share a bit about ourselves. The evening concluded with dancing before it was time to take the bus back to the boat. We enjoyed a nightcap onboard Mistral before it was time to crawl into bed. We fell asleep with big smiles and tired feet.

Our body boat true good and bad Karen&Chris

Here, our adventure with Arc World comes to an end, but our Arc boat friends remain, and we will surely see some of them again very soon.

We continue to sail and so will the blog. Now we only have 6.000nm left to get home which is nothing compared to the 36.000nm we have done since we left Sweden.

Hugs Eva

Exploring Brazil part 1

We spent the first day fixing small things on the boat as getting our blue water runner hand rolled back around the furler and also ordering a new thing to the shroud.. Since it was very hot, no wind and our air con working we moved in to Novotel next to the harbour. Once again we can see our boat from our hotel room. Lovely to have access to the pool and a room with a lovely view.

After a few days of work, it’s time for a break from fixing the boat and to explore parts of Brazil. Along with Karen and Chris, we start our adventure by flying to Rio, where we will stay for three nights. Our room offers a fantastic view of Copacabana Beach, and from the rooftop, we can also see Christ the Redeemer.

The next day, we visit the Christ statue and Sugarloaf Mountain. These are typical tourist attractions, but they are also places we were eager to see. The statue is impressive, and the views from both locations are breathtaking, though there were long queues to get to each site. Fortunately, with our guide, everything went smoothly as we had access to a separate line. We took the train up to the statue and walked the final steps to see this enormous Christ figure. There were many people around the statue taking photos, and we did the same.

We started the evening with a drink in the hotel bar and ended with dinner at Churrascaria Palace, where we could eat as much as we wanted. Not always a good idea. I personally enjoyed seafood, sushi, and salads. Usually, it’s the meat that people go there for, and certainly, Edgar and Chris were very happy and became quite full. It’s hard to say no when so nice piece of meat after another comes and is served at the table.

The next day at breakfast, Karen informed us that Chris wasn’t feeling well and therefore wouldn’t join our guided tour in the city. Edgar also decided to stay back at the hotel. So it was once again just Karen and me on an adventure. The best company. Once inside, I was surprised by how few people were there on a Monday morning; it felt like a Sunday morning. The city is preparing for the carnival, so many buildings are being equipped with fences to protect them from damage. Some have metal fences, which make it hard to see much, while others have grilles, which I prefer as a tourist since I can see the buildings better. Rio still has the monument for the Olympic flame, or rather they made two, so that’s why they have one still. They are allowed to keep it burning while the Olympic Games are taking place around the world. We walk around and look at the fantastic architecture of many buildings, although some have seen better days than others. The state library belongs to the better category. We conclude our visit to the city with coffee and cake at the famous café Confeitaria Colombo. There was a long line here as well to get in. Once again, our guide manages to get us in without waiting too long. The decor is amazing with all the beautiful mirrors, lamps, cabinets, etc. The coffee and our cake were also exquisite.

Satiated and content, our next surprise awaits. We travel to Selarón’s Steps, which we had both completely missed knowing existed and is a major tourist attraction. Once there, we understood why. In the 1990s, local artist Jorge Selarón transformed this completely ordinary staircase into a colorful experience filled with captivating mosaics. People from around the world have contributed tiles to the staircase. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anyone I recognized from Sweden, but there were tiles from Frankfurt and San Francisco. Our next visit was to the neighborhoods in Theresa, which have many shops with handicrafts. Unfortunately, it turned out that most of them were closed, so we returned to the hotel.

Now it was Edgar’s turn to feel unwell, and there was no improvement for Chris. Karen and I decided to bike over to Ipanema Beach. Just around the corner from the hotel, there were bikes available for rent through the Uber app. We thought it was convenient and easy. Ha ha, Karen got her bike, but I didn’t. I had to prove that I was over eighteen. In the end, I had to go up to the hotel room to grab my passport, take a photo of it, and finally, it worked. I had a picture of my passport on my phone, but unfortunately, the app didn’t recognize it.

It felt so nice to move around again. Once we arrived at Ipanema Beach, we left the bikes at the bike station. We enjoyed a lovely long swim before cycling back to the hotel. It turned into a girls’ night out, having dinner at one of the many food stalls along the beach. We did a bit of shopping for paintings and each got a sarong.

The next day we are on our way again. This time we are flying to Iguazu Falls where we are booked for 3 nights. Here we have booked two trips to the falls, one on the Brazilian side and one on the Argentine side. Chris is still not feeling well, so he stays at the hotel while we go to Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side. First, we take a speedboat tour on the river. Everyone puts on these fancy yellow life vests that are so uncomfortable and hot. It’s so amazing to see the falls from the river, and I think the captain finds it extra fun to soak his passengers because he drives very close to the falls several times. Luckily, they told us to bring extra clothes. We needed them after that trip. Now it was time to see the waterfalls from the land. Along the walkway, we also saw some animals like the common coati, monkeys, and lizards. Iguazu Falls is the largest in the world, with a total of 275 falls and 2700 meters long. I am completely taken by these waterfalls. I have always been fascinated by waterfalls, big and small, but this was more than I could have imagined, both in terms of the amount of water and the sound, which is so powerful. I have always wanted to see Niagara Falls, but I realized that I have now seen the best, so we’ll see how that goes. I guess I will have to see smaller ones in the future where you can bathe, like in the Marquesas. Even though we are at a distance from the falls, we get wet, which is why the pictures turn out a bit blurry.

We also take a trip over to the Argentine side with our guide, and this time it’s just me and Karen again. Edgar feels he has seen enough, and since it involves a lot of walking, Chris opted out. He is feeling better but doesn’t have much energy. We were definitely not disappointed with this experience. Now we walk along the edge of the waterfalls and across the river. Since the distance is very long, we take a train for part of it. It would have been a bit too challenging even for us to walk the entire distance in this heat. Satisfied, we head back to the hotel, and I enjoy the rest of the day by the pool while Karen and Chris go to see the falls so Chris can experience them.

Time to fly back to our boats and make sure everything is okay.

Hugs Eva

Short sail to Reunion

It is a very short distance to Reunion only 130nm (same distance back and forward Nynäshamn-Visby, which we thought was long before we started sailing round the world) . The start is at 14.00 due to the fast sailors wouldn’t arrive in the middle of the night. Nice to see all sailing from the start.

It was a smooth sailing we had a lovely sunset with some of the boats sailing in to it in front of us. Now when we are three on board we can have longer sleep which is so nice. So in the morning when we arrive none if us needed a napp. First we went to fuel up. Swade is helping us with the sheets at the fuel station.

We tide up next to Mistral and have a pink champagne breakfast before we check in.

Some maintenance need to be done as the window in the cabine. Not the most convenient place to work in but Edgar manage it well. On the way to Reunion Edgar noticed that the engine had new sounds that was not supposed to be there so he finds a guy here how can fix them. It takes the engineers two turns out of the harbour to make sure that the sound is gone. It was the engine mounts that was not correct attached and we also gut all four now attached.

We went up to the crater Sainte-Rose and had a fantastic walk on part of it. The Vulcan is still active and last time was 2020. Even if I haven’t been on the moon but this is how imagen how it would look although without all the vegetation. After we went for lunch at a very different place. Didn’t look like a restaurant at all and lots of animals on the backside and some not so happy turkeys.

I also hade the benefit to go diving twice together with Karen, Madelene and Lars. It was really good although I needed some extra air since I was using mine to fast. All four dives we were down for more or less 60 minutes which I don’t think I ever done before so not strange that my air finished. Went in some caves which was fantastic, saw turtles,scorpion fish, Nemo,huge yellow moray eel and lots more.

On my next visit to this island I would definitely plan some hiking. The scenery my friends have shown me me was fantastic. Once again our bikes came out. It was a long way in to town to go food shopping and hard to get a cab. On the prize giving we got first prize to be the last boat in our group. We got a new handicap after adding an new sail which we never used and probably will not in the future either. Maybe that’s why or that several slower boats started earlier and was not part of the ”race”! Hahaha!

On our last night we went out to eat and this town is strange after 5 there is not many restaurants open but we found one where we had some tapas and house wine. Checking out the next morning and we are good to go and do the last crossing of the Indian Ocean

Hugs Eva

Crossing Indian Ocean.

Tjoho we are half way after a week sailing.

The start was on the 7th October at 11.00 we left Cocos Keeling to sail 2300 NM to Mauritius. It will take us 14-16 days .

The weather prediction tells us that we will have quite rough/rolling sailing with waves up to 4m. Our scopoderm plaster is on to avoid seasickness.

The first hours we had good wind and calm sea, After passed Cocos Keeling the waves came and we started to roll. This time it was quite okay but the dipping is not fun.

Tuesday morning we hear a huge bang on the boat. What was that and where?? I saw that our stay on starboard side was leaning forward.. It was broken. This “stay” goes up to the first spreader.Out of all stays this is the less worst to break. First Edgar hoped to use our kick . That means someone “me”- has to get in to our lasarett in the cockpit. And of course it is in the box furtherest in. Sadly it was to long. Next up is dynema. Back in the lasarett in the cockpit to get the kick back in the box and also find the dynema and schakles. So with dynema, metal stick and “schackel ’ we managed to strengthen up the “stay”. And to be more safe we also put an other stick in to the loop .

Thursday was an other rainy day. With confusing wind and waves from different angel. We were not feeling comfortable to go up in deck to put out the bom out so we changed the course instead. When the sea was a bit less rolling we went up and took the bom out on starboard side and we are back on right course.

Found an other window that is leaking. Puah!!! Not as bad as the kitchen window but still making a little pool under the window….. Good that we have more of the window sealing. Hard part is to reach it since our bunk bed is filled with a sail and other things.

I am knitting and make mistakes so need to take it up a bit make it right until I see a new mistake. Hope to have the jumper done before we are in Mauritius..

Can’t get enough of sunrise and sunset

Hugs Eva

We are sailing again!

After spent 6 weeks on land we were so happy to be sailing again. We have done the half to start our next half of sailing around the world. The first 4 hours we sailed but as sone as we had rounded the island north of Darwin it died. The motor went on .

We kept looking for sea snakes, turtles, dolphins, fishing vessels etc. Fishing vessels we saw some and they are not always easy to spot. Luckily we saw them all in good time to keep away from them. Happy to see some dolphins that did high jumps as well.

The most exciting thing was when we had a special delivery to the boat from Mistral. It appeared that we did not have sea card on our plotter covering Indonesia. Good that Mistral had 2.

Can’t get enough of all these lovely sunset and sunrise so here are some more

We ended up using 101 hours motoring plus the hours from finish line to Medina Marina where we moored. It took us All in all 6 days and happy to arrived in Lombok and looking forward to meet the rest of the fleet.

The checking in went very smooth . All authorities were gathered at the marina.

Hugs

Eva

Joining World Arc 2024-2025

The World Arc boats are arriving and we get some time to get to know some of them before we start. Very nice to see Andrew and Swade back as the yellow shirts. Last time we saw them was in Galapagos. They are going to be with us all the way to St Lucia. We had a lovely week getting to know the six new boats laying in the Marina unfortunately five was in an other Marina so didn’t speak that much with them but we will get more chances. The World Arc organised a trip to see crocodiles. Finally we saw some crocodiles in the wildness.

One of many great things sailing in a rally is that dealing with authorities is easy for us. We just appear at a certain time and place with our paper and passport without having to book and fix everything by your self. Like going through a passcontrol.This time the boarder controls came down to the marina to check us out of Australia.

The night before start our sunscreens came down and we filled up water.

We were the second boat out of the lock since we needed to go and fill up diesel.

10.30 Thursday 10th we are sailing again! 920 Nm ahead of us to the next at Lombok

Hugs Eva

Darwin part 2

Writing this on the boat sailing to Lombok so less pictures this time. Maybe I will attach more when we are in Lombok so depending on when you read it you have less or the usual amount I tend to have. And for you who reads my blog when I have a reminder on instagram and facebook which I not always do, you can get a notification to your email by go in under comment and choose that you like to get updated when new blog is out.

Back in Darwin and the heat. Although it was hot in Singapore as well but there we had air conditioning. Our own on the boat is not broken but needs much more electrical power and we don’t have that cable /glove but the marina had one for us. Don’t understand why we didn’t ask for it earlier, nevertheless now we can have a good night sleep so we have some energy to do things daytime. Although it is hard in this heat. So we decided to leave the boat and go in to the outback . Where it is even hotter but dryer.

We drove for 4 hours and got to Cicadas lodge in Nitmiluk national park. A very nice place where we had our own cabin with the view straight out in the wilderness. The food was really good even tried kangaroo and crocodiles. Yes both were okay. Enjoyed the pool and at sunset the lodge served drinks and canapés.

Since Edgar is not much of a hiker and I do like to sleep in we decided to take a boat tour on the Kathrine Gorge. What a beautiful place. Would be very interesting to see how it looks when it is the rain season and the river is up to 12 meter deeper. On the sandbanks there are signs saying your are not aloud to go a shore due to the crocodiles are nesting and also sunbading. Sadly we didn’t see them but traces after them. To get between the gorges we had to walk a short walk over the rocks to take the next boat. Would have love to swim in them.

Back at Tipperary Marina where Saphir is moored, we start preparing for the next leg checking of our lists. Me and and Edgar have two different ones. Mine is focused on food, cleaning, storing, fixing roof, using sewing machine and Edgar’s is about changing filter,oils,impellers etc. Our engins mount are broken but sadly we couldn’t get new ones before we leave. We have to live with a bit vibrating noice for a while. Edgar was just glad that it was nothing worse with the engine.

I been sewing things using ours and mistrals sail. It is okay to sew in sometimes bit hard when I have many layers but my pfaff 1222 is working fine. The trickiest is to turn the item from inside to outside. I am getting better and better in that to. So in Darwin I have been very productive. I made 3 basket for keeping the lines together when we are sailing, one bag pack that I am not sure about but definitely my handbag which I will use a lot.

As I wrote sewing can be tricky some times. I helped Karen with one of the most hard things I’ve done. Getting windows on the Bimini. Sounds like an easy thing and it could have been but trouble was that we couldn’t get of the solar panels…. And in top of that it is very hot. Luckily we had an suncover to make shade over us. Best thing is to do it with a smile.

We did do other things as well as going in to town for drink and dinner with Karen and Chris. I really need to get better searching for restaurants and bars. Karen had found a really cool gin bar called Charlie that we missed and also a great restaurant Ella that served Sri Lankan food. Extra fun to here since our daughter’s nickname is Ella.

Last but not least me and Karen went to Zen rooftop bar to watch the sunset.

Hugs Eva

8 Days in Singapore

Our Visas needs to renew so we went to Singapore for a few days. Last time we were here was 1995 when Edgar’s parents lived here. Lots have changed since then. One thing is this huge hotel Sandy bay Marina and the area around the hotel. Here we stayed our two first nights. Wow what a fantastic hotel with the coolest rooftop pool I have ever visited. Not that I have visited many rooftop pools though. The view from it is fantastic. Can’t complain about the room and the view either. Talking about the room… the toilet hmm the lid opens when you open the door and the seat is heated and it flushes by its self when you leave the room and close the lid. This time we took advantage of the hotel and its facilities.

So this Singapore trips involves two more hotel visits. We start with Four Season on Orchard boulevard next to Orchard road where we have been a lot before. This time we are not alone Matti and Sus have arrived and we spend three great days together exploring the city. We take the Big bus around the city and stopes at Little India to have a … which was really nice. First time we had that but both Matti and Sus have had it plenty of times when they been in Singapore. Raffles was also a must on the list to see again. We agreed that the Singapore sling drink has shrunk and also the peanuts. But still good taste. We visited China town. Went down to Boat quay and took a boat tour on the river down to Merlion.

Singapore have some cool buildings and the nightlights makes them even better

The building where Edgar’s parents use to live

There is one more hotel and an other new area to stay in. Last but not least although the room was very tiny but the hotel had some really nice benefits like the breakfast in the lounge and five a clock drinks with nibbles. On top of this Anna came to visit us from Kuala Lumpur. Andy had to stay home and work unfortunately. It would have been so nice to see him to. We haven’t meet since they left Riga in 2018. So happy that she could make it to meet us. Me and Anna had a great time. She had been in Singapore a few times so finds her self around very well. We walk down to Garden by the bay and strolled around there and also went up and walked up on the super trees. Fantastic view over the city and the bay. A visit to Raffels and a Singapore sling before we headed back to the hotel and the five a clock drink with nibbles. We ended up at the rooftop bar at the hotel after being out strolling around in the quays. Anna went home the next day after we done some small shopping. Good to have someone that knows where to go. I planned to relax by the pool but it was raining so had to wait for the sun that came back a bit later.

Time to say bye bye to Singapore and Pullman hotel. It has been very nice to been able to try out different hotels in different areas in the same city . I can definitely recommend it.

Back to Darwin and Saphir

Hugs Eva

Visiting “family” in Sydney

We have a six hour flight to Sydney that unfortunately ends up being eight hours due to bad weather in Sydney. First time or actually second time I am flying that we need to land and fill up fuel to reach the destination. This time we actually was hovering around for an hour before it was decided that we were going to Canberra to fill up.

We got our rental car and drove true the city out to our family in Warrierwood. We had three great days with the family and managed to see almost all of them. One of my wishes was to see the opera house up close. Have been in Sydney 3 times before and just seen the house in a distance.

After the lunch we took a walk around the house but couldn’t see much of the inside due to performances going on. Nevertheless it was nice to see it and see the tiles on the roof that are from Höganäs in Sweden. Not far from where I am brought up.

Next day me, Dianna and Hanna went for a walk out to Barrenjoey lighthouse at the end of Palm Beach while Edgar, Sue and Ray waited at the restaurant. On our way down I saw a Kokaburra. Check on that! Back at Di and James place some Kakadus came to visit and bird friend Ray gave them some treats. Meet up with Maryanne and Roger the next day for a coffee at Newport.

We say thank you to our lovely Aussie Family that took time to meet up with us. Hope to see you soon again!

Hug Eva

From Townswill to Cairns

We continue doing day sailing which gives us on three stops on the way to Townswill. The first stop was Cape upstart where we paddle in to the beach before the sunset. The next was Cape Bowling reminds very much of the tuamotos island in the sense of very low land around us with a few trees growing but the rest not.

Clear night with lists of stars taken with my iphone.

The last stop was Magnetic Island or Maggie island as the locals calls it. Horse shoe bay is a popular anchoring place which I understand not only for the protection but also for the range of restaurants,bars, cafes. The beach is not bad either. We stay here for one night. Me and Karen went in on our paddle boards to check out and have a walk along the beach and check what we can expect when we come back after been in Townswill.

At lunchtime the next day we left Maggie island to get in to Townswill on the high tide. The marina is good and I like it when it is walking distance to the city and restaurants. The marina have also a complementary car for us(as Arlie beach). We book two hours and also Mistral so we got four hours to drive around and get supplies for our boats and some groceries.

We bought new spark plugs for the dinghy engine so now we have a working engine to the dinghy! Mistral also got their dinghy fixed so now we have two dinghy’s that we can go ashore with when we anchor. After dinner we are sitting in our boat and enjoying the lightnings on the mountain wall.

After two days with fixing and enjoying the restaurant in the evening we head out to Maggie island again in the high tide in the morning.Maggie island is more and less around the corner from Townswill.

Me and Karen got a ride in with Edgar to the beach and planed to do a walk on the forest and over to an other beach but the walking path was closed due to maintenance so we ended up take a walk along the beach on the bay. In the evening we went in to have dinner at one of the restaurants. They had a big screen and some smaller once that was showing a Disney film and all children that wanted to look was given headphones. Why don’t all restaurants do this?

The next day Chris drove us in for mine and Karen’s longer walk. We wanted to see koala bears. And we did. They are not easy to spot in the wild since they more or less hide up in the threes and sleep. Lucky us we saw two and some remains from the second WW. Meanwhile Chris showed Edgar how to make different knots and soft shackles.

The next morning we sailed up to Orpheus Island. It was a nice sailing and doing 6-7 knots. On the way we was called up to have a look for a dinghy that someone lost but we didn’t see it. We anchored in the afternoon and had our evening video call to plan our next leg. Since the wind was increasing we decided to stay one more night before we continued. The rain was poring down and strong winds so we couldn’t go ashore or snorkel which would have been nice. This bay is known for huge clamps. During the night we moved quite alot which you can see on the plotter.

The next stop was in Mosby river. We had problem to anchor since it was very shallow where we was allowed to anchor. Twice we got stuck in the mud so on the third time we succeeded. Opposite us was a small harbour where only a pilot boat was moored. After a good night sleep we let anchor early and head up to Cairns.

Hugs Eva