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
The crew have arrived and the last preparation are getting done. Chain up, reversed and painted. New bag for the chain is sewed. Sun screen sewed. Food prepaired and more things. I have also have had time for some leasure. Going on a tour on the previous volcanos. It was very interesting.Dinner with our friends and costumes party.
Now we are ready to go!!!
A mix of picture from the last days
Sorry for not telling much about the pictures but wanted to put them in the blogg before we don’t have anymore wifi. So might fill in it later.
We are having approximately 250 steps from the boat to where all facilities starts along the pier, bar,restaurants, Arc office , lots off boat equipments stores and a club where we can get membership to use their pool and gym. Arriving after been sailing for a few days the boat needs to be cleaned from all saltwater. When we flushed the list along the boat we found a baby squid that had got stuck under the block. Edgar barely walks barefoot but now I believe it is time or?? Even here it is low and high water.
All food that was purchased in Sweden we took out vacuum pack some of it and I sorted out everything and made a excel spreadsheet. Now we are organised. Just need to remember to fill in when we start taking the food.
We also meet up with our friends Sofia and Fredrik. Me and Sofia went to Ikea and bought some food boxes. Also got material so I can make new cuisines for the cokpit
After a week of fixing we went home to Stockholm to spend time with our family and fixing a few things. It was an intense week and so lovely to be able to fill up with hugs and kisses and having the grandchildren sleeping over even if we didn’t get much sleep.
On flights today it is okay to bring on your knitting. Thanks to wooden knitting needles. My jumper is done and next project is a hat for Nellie.
Back in Las Palmas and two weeks left before the start. Time to sew the cousins for the cockpit. Since we didn’t agree on the colour I will have double work. Start with the blue but cutting both colours. There will also be cousins for our GT bench later. Everything is cut so in Caribbean I can do some sewing. Just when I thought I was done sewing we decided to change the old sunroof and use it in the front of the boat
There is also time for relaxing in between. Next to the harbour is a club with a swimming-pool, gym and restaurant that we could join for a good price. Let’s see how many times I will get ther though. The Arc registration is done . We have nr 313. On the Yb race app you can follow where we are the three/four weeks when we cross the Atlantic. Starting from the 6nov to mid Dec. Look for Arc rally 2022 and then Arc plus.
It is nice to meet the others that are going to sail with us. There are a few sundowners meeting, some dinners , party and seminars before we leave.
Ann and Veronica came down from Sweden to wave us good bye. They are staying in Las Palmas until we leave so I will see them as much a possible. Thank you for coming down
Our stay in Lagos was very intense. Not much time to explore the city. Had a walk around in the old town on Wednesday after cleaned up in the boat and between washing machines.
On Thursday we rented a car and drove to IKEA to get new pillows and bed quilts and some more stuff. Of course we had to have Swedish meatballs for lunch. After that we headed towards Tavira to meet our friends that was celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary together with their family and some close friends. Thank you Magnus and Poulina for a great party. It was so great to so see you and our friends again before we are crossing the Atlantic. And Eva Sandgren we are waiting for you to join us.
The day after we went to have lunch near the beach. To get to the restaurant you could walk out on a pathway our take a small train. No time for hanging on the beach sadly, but I got time at the pool before lunch at the house.
Back to the boat for on night and on Saturday morning we drove up to Cascais to celebrate Jörgen 70birthday. It was a great party. Many of their friends from Cascais and sailors. We meet two sailing families that will sail with us on the Arc+and Arc world Ellinora and Blue Sunshine. We are also going to sail with Jörgen and Louise and their kids when we go from Caribbean to Fiji.
We have a new plan on our circumnavigation since we got a place with the first group leaving Caribbean in January. This will give us five more weeks in Fiji. Here you can se the plan
On our way back to the boat we stopped in Albufeira to say hi to Sven-Olof and Bettan and see their new house. The house we passed was covered with seashells.
Monday we spent foodshopping and preparing for our next long leg. This time we will go 640NM approximately 1200km. So it is quite a long distance and the longest we have done so far. In the evening we had a lovely dinner with our friends Anna and Peter from Life@sea. At lunch on Tuesday we left the harbour . Just before Anna and Clyde from Viking Goddess came by to say bye . They are going in to Spain and spend the winter there. Anna and Peter was standing along the side and waved. I delivered cinnamon buns to them since it was kanelbullens day. Thanks for the lovely photos Anna and Peter. Enjoy your stay in Lagos.
Getting ready to trough the bunsAnna is standing there
The first 12 hours we went by motor to get as far out as possible and hope that no Orcas will come. When we had arrived in Las Palmas we heard about an orca attack outside Lagos. Feel so sad for the sailors and so humble that we have made it safe . We did see a dolphins far away. Not many boats out here just a few tankers. Some off them are really huge
The first days was okay waves and beautiful sunsets. It was so nice to set sail and enjoy the the sea. After the first night we found a squid on the boat. Later we also found one on the back of the boat.
Sleeping on the boat when it is only us we don’t use our ordinary bed instead we sleep on the sofa or on deck. A bit harder on deck since you have to hold on to something
On Thursday night it started to get rougher. The waves was up to 3-4 meters and came from back and side
The first to photos I s taken from the same spot and showed ho high the waves are when they come from the back.
After little bit more than four days we see land and the tip of Grand Canaria. It takes a couple of more hours before we get in to the harbour. Arriving we get welcomed by Sofia and Fredrik that arrived their earlier that day. Since it was late we stayed next to the harbour office for the night and the next morning we got or place. Here will we stay until the start on the 6 of November. Except for one week when we go home to see our children and grandchildren
Next day my brother Lars came to sail with us for a few day’s and Vittoria joined two days later. On top off that my cousin and his wife was in Lisbon and came out to Cascais on Friday. So nice to see them and have lunch with them. Me and Lars took a walk along the coast up to Boca do Inferno. The sea was very calm but got some nice photos of the caves
Meeting friends continues. Marie and Henrik came to Lisbon Friday evening and Saturday evening Susanne and Matti arrived. Saturday was spent in Lisbon picking up Vittoria, having lunch together with Marie and Henrik and at dinner Susanne and Matti join.
The original plan was to sail to Sines to meet Vittoria and then sail to Lagos. Due to the weather we decided to stay. On Sunday we took a walk up to Park wich is an oas in Cascais and then in to town for a lunch. It was blowing very much and in the gusts it went up to 15.7 m/sek or 30kn . Glad that we didn’t go out sailing and extra when heard that it had been an Orca attack not far from Cascais. In the evening we went out for dinner on Marisco and Praça wich is a very good fish restaurant in the harbour. Love theirs Tuna steak nikkei sauce. Early night since we all had to go up early on Monday.
Sailing with Saphir 