Back in St Lucia I started to make sun screens for the sides of the boat which is very much needed. They also helps prevent the rain to come in to the cockpit. Not totally when it pours down then we need a tarpaulin. Which we bought here in StLucia and it was needed for a few days to keep the cockpit dry.
St Lucia Marina is very cosy with lots of restaurants, cafe, different shops even a small swimming pool. It is very easy and relaxing to see and talk sailors. The kids runs a round to each other boats and in the Marina. There is 11 kids divided on 5 boats that will be sailing around the world with their parents. You meet so many nice people and get new friends along the way. We had a few nice evenings with Michael, Helena and Martin.
Before we are going sailing our 815NM there is some preparation to do like cleaning the boat, washing clothes, food shopping and preparing some dinners. You are not that keen on going down in the boat the first day and do cooking when the boat rolls in the rough sea. Then being part of ARC you have different meeting with good information about the sailing, weather, place we are going to and then the evening events to meet the others sailors. The ARC also organised excursions. I went on one taking Alex,Inez and Elinor with me while their parents needed to work on their boat. It was very fun going on zip lines in the jungle. All in all we where 3 mums, 2 young adults and 11 kids.
We also got help from Jörgen and Mats to put up the second genua. First they had to take down the one that was up so both could go up together. Down is one thing but getting both up if it is blowing is not easy but the guys did it. So now we can sail wing by wing again.
Mats also went up on our mast to check that everything was okay. He taped the antenna since the screws didn’t sit very well. Thank you Mats for the help.
Now we are ready to sail away to Colombia and Santa Marta.
Here comes the planed route for our sailing. The world Arc continues after Fiji but we jump of there and spend some weeks there extra before we sail down to New Zealand
The sailing up was a bit rough with big waves, wrong wind and some rain. It took us little longer than we expected so we came to late to get in to the Marina so we had to anchor out in the bay. That was quit okay and specially when we got this lovely sunset.
At eight a’clock we contacted the Marina and went in to get our boat lifted. Entering the Marina you wondered a bit where are we going with all these shabby houses. They do need a lot of attention and love.
Before they would lift our boat Edgar had to go and declare us in . After that they lifted up the boat. The turner made us a new mount for our anode and at the same time we got the boat clean and the propeller needed that really much. Now we will sail little faster.
We spend a few days in the Marina enjoying the easy life and happy that our boat is whole again for now.
New Year is coming up and we decide to sail down to Marigot bay to spend New Years even with our friends on Maty1 and Northstar. A very short sailing and we are in this magical place. Very lovely bay but very pricey as well. We had a great evening with our friends even if there was some issues with the restaurant that at the end got solved
Happy New year to our family and friends around the world!🎉
After breakfast we hoist the sail and steered towards Bequia where we will celebrate Christmas and Edgars birthday. When we arrived in to Bequia we saw our friends Mary1 how kindly help us book a buoy for us and Zelda.
The life on boat can be brutal some times and leave big marks or it can be relaxing and playing cards with Martin to end with a nice dinner at a restaurant with a lovely view.
Christmas 24 Dec we started with a sill lunch on our boat. First everyone hade to decorate our tablecloth for Christmas. In the evening we had a dinner together with other Swedish,Finnish and Norwegian boats at Upper deck. We had different but great evening.
The next days we relaxed and fixed things on the boat. Fredrik and Sofia took up our log and cleaned it. It was filled with shells and could not spin. This little thing is sitting under the boat and spins when the boat is moving forward. To get it out you pull it up from inside of the boat and put in a plug in the hole while cleaning it. That’s why they where so concentrated. Little scared of sinking the boat… but they manage it. The hull got cleaned as well and we discovered that we had lost the zink anode and the metal thing that the anode can attach to the propeller. This is not good. Edgar made a temporary solution with hanging the anode on the propeller until we go up to Rodney Bay and get it fixed hopefully. When everything was done we took the dinghy’s in to land and snorkelled . Not much see and the water was not so clear.
Edgar’s birthday we started with going on a tour together with Fredrik,Sofia and Peter. Our taxi driver was an excellent driver and guide. Ended the evening with a lovely dinner on Zelda.
The next day we went up early to head up to Rodney bay in St Lucia to fix the boat. It is a 10hours sailing and we want to get there before it gets dark.
I had a great birthday. Started with a dip in the sea and at 11 we sailed to Mayreau to stay there on a bouy for the night. Sofia, Fredrik and Peter join us to celebrate my birthday at Mayreau beach club & villa. Had a fantastic day with lunch, hanging at the pool and dinner in the evening. Thank you Edgar for a great day spoiling me. Love you
Next morning we just went around the corner from Mayreau to Tabago Cays. This is a very popular place to snorkel and see a lovely sea life like turtles, rays and lots off fishes. Marie even saw a small shark out on the reef. Every morning I saw turtles coming swimming in to the reefs. First I saw a dark spot on the water and then a little head bright head.
We spent a few days here snorkelling, swimming, hanging with sailing friends and having a lobster dinner with them.
We said bye for now to Northstar that is going to pick up there daughter in St Lucia. After few rolling days in Tobago Cays we decided to join Mary to Sandy lane Marina in the south of Canouan. This is a very luxurious Marina. The facility is fantastic and the pool by the beach. You don’t think you are in Caribbean. Best is that the boat is still and we can have a calm night with air conditioning on. We are very happy that our friends on Zelda has arrived to St Lucia. It took them 25 days. It was a tough sailing with little wind. Well done
We heard from others that there was a nice bay on the east side of Union. We decided to meet up with Zelda there. When we arrived Elvira and BlueSunshine was there. Two off our sailing companions . Took a walk over to A to try a place that Mikael and Marianne was recommended by other sailers. A very colourful little restaurant and good food. Nice houses and views along the walk.
Finally we are in a calm bay so the stand up paddle board could be blown up and be used. It felt very shaky paddling but will be better I hope. Even if Lucia is passed I wanted to make more Lussebullar. This isn’t easy without saffron. I have tried to find it but with no luck until Mikael said he had some and was willing to give me some if I gave him Lussebullar in return. Can’t say no to that offer. Ended up having a lovely evening on our boat with the hole family from BlueSunshine and Elvira while the Lussebullar was made.
Next day Zelda arrived. So nice to see Sofia and Fredrik again. Haven’t seen them since we left Las Palmas in nov. We also got to meet Fredriks brother Peter that sailed with them across the Atlantic.
All is fixed on the boat and we head up to Sandy Island just outside Carriacou. Here we are not by our self lots of other boats. Best is that we dropped anchor and now I can jump in to the water from the boat. This is one thing that I have longed for. An other is to use my SUP board but that has to wait for a calm bay. Instead it is time to try our dinghy. It has only been in the water twice since we left Sweden. Once in Scotland and once in Spain and both times rowing. During this time it has been locked to the boat trough the hole sailing with all saltwater splashing on the lock. It was not only to unlock it and host the dinghy down. Edgar had to use our angel grinder, luckily we have extra looks with us. The dinghy is in the water and we head in to sandy island to have a swim.
Here we stayed for 2 nights just relaxing and enjoying sunset, swimming, reading, cooking and planning where to go next.
We decided to check out from Grenada an in to StVincent and the Grenadines. The island you see behind sandy island on the picture above is Union and is part of StVincent and the Grenadines. So not very far between the island. Time to move on and check out from Grenada. This can be done on Carriacou, so we decided to go in to Hillsborough on Carriacou. But they only had custome no immigration so we had to go down to Tyrell Bay. Drop anchor once more take the dinghy in and sit in a queue. While we where waiting, Micheal from Mary 1 came in as well to check out. They have very good food at the restaurant next to the custom and immigration office. Back in to the dinghy and sail up to Union to declare us in.
We got a buoy at the bay outside Clifton. Much easier and faster than put in anchor, specially when we get help with the lines. After that it is time to go in to land and declear us in. The office was closing so we had to walk to the airport…. Puah we thought until we realise that it was just around the corner. Took us less then 15 min to walk and no queue only one person checking in then us. All in all this was a full day and now it was time for dinner at the boat. We just got back in time before the sky opened up.
When it rains it rains really much but after that it is clear again and we had a magical sky. couldn’t decide which picture so here is a few
The next day was quite grew and rainy . We went in to town to get some money, fresh fruit,juice and soft drinks. Ended up with only money. The prices are ridiculous high. A medium size pineapple they wanted 14€ and a soft drink 33cl can 1.8€ and a litre juice cost from 4.5€.
It is 13 Dec and Lucia day in Sweden. So what’s better then to decorate the boat little, relax and do puzzle on the Ipad( tricky to have real puzzle on a boat that rolls a lot) while Edgar starts taking care of the lobster we bought. It was really good. We also follow our friends on Zelda that are on their way over the Atlantic with ARC. They are almost in St Lucia.
Next morning we head over to the island Mayreau. It was only 20 min away so very close . We ended up outside a very nice hotel which turned out to owned by a Swedish couple. They also have restaurants in Sweden. So next time we have to go to Falkenberg and Flipflop on the west cost . Not far from my hometown. We had a lovely day and evening with Marie and Kim from Northstar and Helena,Michael and Martin from Mary1. It seams like it is underwater currents in the bay since our boat is turned towards the other boats.
When we came back in the evening we saw that the other boats was very close to each other so Edgar went in the dinghy while I contacted our friends that was still at the restaurant. It was a bit dramatic but together in the dinghy’s the kept the boats apart and moved one off the boats to a buoy instead of anchoring.
After a nice full night sleep we where ready to fix things in the boat . Edgar went to declare us in. That took some hours. I was happy he was up quite early and was almost the first otherwise he might have spent queuing until after lunch since many boats had arrived during night and also needed to declare in. We went to do some grocery shopping. The food store was much better equipped then Cape Verde. Bit more expensive but that we knew. Our crew finally found tickets to fly home without needing to have to many stops on the way. They leave on Sunday afternoon so before that we needed to get the mainsail down so the rigger could have a look and hopefully fix our fueler. Just needed to wait for the winds to calm down. It was not that easy as the sail is 66m2 and the battens on the boats are standing . That means the longest is 21m long and the shortest app 3m . The sail came down and tied around the boom.
Matti went to a hotel to get better sleep. Although it didn’t roll any more. He needed to stretch out and get some better sleep maybe also a little bigger bed. The cabins beds are not the biggest one although Magnus stayed on the boat with us. The three of us went for a walk and ended up almost in the city center. We didn’t want to walk back in the heat so we decided to take the bus back to the Marina. These minibuses fit 14 plus to in the front. Only cost 2.5 Caribbean dollar wich is 10 sv kr. They let you jump on and of where you want on the route.
Our last night together we went over to the hotel where Matti stayed at and had a lovely dinner. Before that all three of us had to take a swim in the ocean. The first one since we leaft Cape Verde. Very nice hotel would have loved to stay there but maybe next time😀
We wave by to our crew who went home to their wife’s. Five weeks away and three off them on the sea where there was limited contact. The wife’s was happy to get their husbands back home. I finished my knittings to my grandchildren so Matti took them home and I know that they will get them in time for Christmas. Let’s hope they fit them also. If you get caught in the rain you get really wet.. what to do then ? Bake Lussekatter of course. Glad I brought saffron with me. It is hard to find. In this heat you don’t have much energy and all things you plan to do takes so much longer time and you need to rest in between maybe take a dip in the pool in the Marina. Which was very popular amongst many of us but guess the kid’s most. I am so glad that we got help with cleaning the hull and all our stainless steel. Vinegar in the water is the trick to get rid of the salt and after that wash the hull with boat shampoo. The boat is shining again. For now… The riggers fixed the fueler and now it is working. With help from Even, Jörn and Johnny from the Norwegian boat Lise the sail is back in the mast. Thank you guys for the help. Me and Edgar couldn’t have done it without your help. Lise and Saphir is actually roommates. Hmm you think a boat can’t have roommates but they can. In wintertime they are at the same yatch service in Henån. And now we have been sailing from Las Palmas via Cape Verde and to Grenada. The world is not that big…
The next morning we had a guided bus tour around the iland toghether with Even,Jörn and Johnny. We went to Annadale waterfall where we could jump in tomtar water but to many people and the water look so and so. Next stop was at Grand Etang national park with a lake in crater. Grand Etang Lake is a 36 acre crater lake inside an ancient volcano, one of two crater lakes in Grenadine. The lake is full with fish but you are not aloud to fish there. The guys was not that impressed. More fun was it with the monkeys. I wanted meet them. While Johnny was taking photos of me he got surprised by the others monkey that jump on him.
Time for lunch at Belmonte and see the chocolate factory. It was a very interesting guided tour where we got to know from harvesting the cocoa bean, fermenting, sorting, drying and becoming chocolate. Most of these steps are by hand only machines are used to sort out the size of the beans and getting the chocolate out of the bean. When they are drying they walk on the beans to spread them around and to give love to them as our guide said. So of course I had to try that. By the way the chocolate is really good but very expensive. Will eat it on special occasion.
The tour has one more stop. The River Antoine estate. A rom distillery that also using old tradition. Interesting to look at the procedure but didn’t feel so much for trying or drinking this rom. It is also very strong 74 % and can only be bought in Grenada. Very popular rom amongst the inhabitants. The last picture is when they are bottling the rom by hand and doing the last filtering.
Almost all boat us arrived and it is time for price ceremony. Lots of prizes for many boats. Best prize in my opinion was to Infinity that was keeping Helga company after they got problem with their rodder and was on top of that getting in water. Time to say good bye or fare winds to lots of new sailing friends, some of them we will meet along our sailing or follow on different ways. We also look forward to get out of a Marina and trough an anchor in a bay wheee we can jump in to the sea from the boat.
Tjohooo we made it!!! I am so happy to have crossed the Atlantic together with the love of my life my dear husband Edgar, my brother-in-law Mattias and our friend Magnus. Extra thanks to M&M who join us and to their wife’s who manages a month without them. The picture is of us on our last night together in Grenada witch was a very nice evening, but let’s go to back to Cape Verde and the start of the crossing.
Friday 18 Nov at 12.00 the start shoot went of and together with 90 others boats we started our longest sailing leg so far 2164NM. Crossing the Atlantic here we come.. just before the start the little fishing boat came in front of our boat and through in a net and after 15-20 minutes they where done and had caught some fish.
After a couple of hours the wind stopped and the waves came from all sides and Saphir started to rock and swing. Luckily we had scopoderm plaster to avoid seasickness.
After a few days on the Sea the days goes in in each other. You have your watch, we eat, prepare dinner and lunch, read, knit(only me) and sleep. I tried to bake bread of raw-flour that we bought in Las Palmas. Had to trough it over board. It was like eating sand… back to plain wheat flour to make bread and it worked. When I was on it I also made a lemon cake and it was very appreciated by the crew. Heard that is was the best ever … Cocking is very interesting when the boat rolls. On top off the oven is a thick pancake. Waiting for the oven to be warm. Luckily the oven swings, but I was a bit scared that the pancake batter would scump over.
This rolling on a boat can be okay and it can be very hard and also make you use different ways to stay safe. On thing you learn is to always have on hand on something when you move around and use different techniques to stand safe when you are cooking, washing, reading,sleeping. Wide legs and have your feet, hip, but against something that is steady or use the tall .Edgar had the best technique in bed. Look like a toad.
We also had good moment and great moments on the boat. Lots of laughs great food and interesting eating…. Either you eat or you drink. The plate don’t stay on the table nore does the glasses. They tip easily in a wave. It took half the sailing until I realised we have a great thing to have our glasses in since these anti slip cloths only helps the plate to stay in place. It also helps other things in there place a bit better but even then things can move around when a wave comes hard. Sadly my camera was one off them. Don’t have the long object working anymore but the camera is working even if it is a bit damaged.
Crossing the Atlantic gives you a perspective and appreciation of the beauty of our world. Sunset, sunrise , stars in the night( definitely not possible to take photo on), rains, sunny days, grey days and so on. It is hard to take a great photo special when my big camera is broken or it works still after falling but unfortunately my sd card brook later.
Long sailing is tearing on things on the boat. Comparing a summer sailing for which has been 6 weeks and maybe 2-3 night sailing during that time and around 500-600 NM.????Crossing the Atlantic was approximately 3000 NM from Las Palmas-Cape Verde-Grenada. So it isn’t strange that things wear and tear. The biggest for us was that we couldn’t get the mainsail in or out when we had 700nm left. After long trying we manage to get the sail in and didn’t dear to use it anymore.
Sailing 2164nm is long and yes we get in to routines and one was to keep track on how far is we from finish line. Some figures are more even than others. The second thing is keeping track of the squalls in at night on the radar. We didn’t get many. There was only one night we got really much that we had to reduce the sails. Most of the time they just passed us very close but didn’t give us much extra wind and extra rain. Following the distance we celebrate halfway with a glass of bubbles.
Half way !!
You can get wet also without rain, specially when the waves come behind and from side and are big. Poor Matti got a quick wake up
The sailing slowly comes to an end. We see land and just in front off us comes the boat Maroro. They kept us company on the LasPalmas-CapVerde leg and just sail in before us there and also this time… probably our ways will cross again. So after 13days 8 hours 3 min and 13 sec we crossed the finish line and was greeted by other cruisers, Arc staff and the harbour staff.
We even got to students singing for us. We felt very warmly welcomed
This night we will (and we all did) sleep very well in a no rolling boat! First some nice dinner ,champagne and wine. Didn’t know if it was the wine or the not rolling boat that made us sleep well.
First day after a long sail is nice to relax and you really need it to. After that it is time for maintenance on the boat, from filling oil, get off all salt from deck,taking down sail which was a challange due to the wind. We went up 6.00 one morning to manage before it started to blow again.
There is also time for some adventure, like a tour on the Iland together with other Arc sailers. We went up to the top off the highest point and had a fantastic view. The sand is coming from Africa with the wind. This we even saw one day. You think it is foggy until you realise it is brownish It is very dry on this Iland so not much agriculture here. Had to put my feet in the water ofcurse and the guys was happy for all the stops to stretch there legs and relax from the bumpy road.
Arc have had a welcoming gattering with local music and dancing. We also had a price aword i n the first leg. We didnt get to the podium but we came in as nr 9 wich we are very please with since we thought we would come in in the middle.
I even had time for a run and walks around to explorer the city.
Now it is time to leave Cape Verde and head to Grenada . Will not miss the rocky and windy harbour but the nice view. bye bye Cape Verde.
Sunday 6 nov around 12.30 all boat’s in ArcPlus where outside the harbour and ready to start the sailing down to Cape Verde. We are 93 botas all in all, one motorborren and 21 catamaran. At 13.00 a clock the start went for us in one hull. The catamarans had started before us.
No wind in the beginning so we decided to go for motor the first two hours. This help us get out to the wind and gave us a great start together with our sail setting , great wind for 24 hours. Let’s see what it will cost us at the end. Due to the wind we decided to use both our genua and sail wing by wing. It was a good strategy. Bit hard in between to go up high in the wind.
The first night we had great wind and lovely sky. Not many boats out there that we could spot with our eyes but we saw a light out there. Next morning we got a short company of some dolphins
After a while we find new places to relax in
On Wednesday the Swedish boat Alexandra caught up on us and passed us very fast. They have a much faster sailing boat than us.
Lovely sunset and sunrises . Some knitting have been done also. Hopefully it will be more. Can’t get enough of the view here on the sea.. trying to catch it but it is not easy.
Lots of flying fishes. It is so great to see them flying. They fly very long and bounce on the waves. Not much more action on the sea a bird or two and we had pancakes mix in the waffle iron. Works perfect and was so great and extra great with my sister in laws jam of blackberries and raspberries, my favourite.
Getting closer to Cape Verde, we change or sail setting. It was different to have to genua set at the same side.They didn’t always stay tight together but most of the time.
Cape Verde we made it!!! It took us 5 and a half day. We crossed the finish line on Friday 11th at 18.03 local time and as the 17th boat. We are so happy that it went so well. We was sure that we would come in in the middle. The winner boat came in after 3 1/2 day. They are not a crushing boat.
Nice to have soil under our feet. The next day we had a relaxing day and found a restaurant with a great view.
Friday the 18th the next leg starts. Crossing the Atlantic
Sailing with Saphir 