tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25070312048839112312024-03-05T01:55:58.114-05:00S/V Moitessier...Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.comBlogger172125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-84664405044164145282016-12-13T11:13:00.001-05:002018-10-02T15:26:40.826-04:00the Capitol<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I know, I know, it's been over 4 months now since I have last written. Most of you who have been following me know that I have a tendency to fall off the face of the earth when I go through any major changes, and so I totally forgive you for not sending out a rescue party, but for those who don't know that, all I have to say is...gee, thanks alot....just kidding (not really). Truth be told, I have been procrastinating this post now for quite sometime. Partly because life in NY has been super busy, partly because I have been a little uninspired, and <i>mostly </i>because I haven't really had the strength to allow myself to feel the sadness that surrounds me with life on land. We are currently living in Queens with my parents, working away, desperately trying to save money so that we can continue this adventure. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before we had even left Grenada, I found the idea of NYC to be so incredibly enticing and I couldn't wait to get home and spend some quality time with my family, friends, and estranged lover, New York. I couldn't wait to feel at home again, getting back to my "city-girl" roots, and being surrounded by culture once again. I had longed for the fast paced, have-anything-you-could-ever-desire energy that NY so plainly offers, that I forgotten just how much I had idealized it. Upon arriving within the first few weeks did I realize that New York no longer represented all things familiar and homely, and for the first time, I feel so completely out of place. This has been a difficult transition as I don't know if I have ever felt this way before about my beloved city... but the feeling is much like "a fish out of water" (<i>pun intended</i>)<i>...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I first arrived, all I could do was adamantly compare NYC to "the Capitol" in The Hunger Games. I know, I know, it is not<i> </i>fair for me assume that the majority of our readers are 13 yr-old teenage girls (although I do secretly wish to be an inspirational figurehead for all post-pubescent teens out there), and so I'll go into detail a bit here as to what literary reference I'm making. In the book/movie, the Capitol (according to wikipedia) is a "technogically advanced, utopian city where the nation's most wealthy and powerful live....[it is] known for its fashion and food....and [residents] are extremely shallow, always looking for ways to be noticed...In order to have a good time at a party and eat as much as they want, Capitol residents drink a liquid that causes them to vomit, thus providing enough room in their stomachs for more food. [They] seem oblivious to the fact that many of the residents are starving..." Though this may be an extremist point of view about this city, I can't tell you how often this rang true when I first started to regain my land legs. I would go out and try to enjoy myself after a long week of working doubles bartending, and all I would think was, man, this is so indulgent.....look at those girls decked out in Chanel, rocking killer heels, drinking $15 cosmos, and eating foie gras melted over Waygu steak tartare. Sounds glamorous, right? Until you realize that a night out on the town equals one week out on the ocean, a pair of Chanel boots equals a couple months out, and damn, look at all the homeless people sprawled about the city. While the elite get caught up with who the coolest designer currently is, where the next "in" rooftop bar is going to be, and what drug to snort to help lose weight, the rest of us are trudging through life, packed like sardines into the subway, living life like its some sad Groundhog Day, making ends meet so that we could live the same godforsaken day over and over again. I know, I'm sounding a little dark, but this epiphany has never rung so true. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Initially, I had every intention of documenting these feelings and getting it on paper so that there would be some tangibility to all I was feeling and all I had realized, but alas, we must realize that we are humans, and as humans, we are highly adaptable. All things that initially seem so foreign and strange, slowly wiggles its way into your life until it starts to feel commonplace. The life that you once saw as absurd, starts to feel a little more normal, and the life you dream of becomes just that....a flitting dream. I can't tell you how many times I have cried and reminisced over the mere thought of a night watch with Moitessier gliding through the water, with the warm salt air caressing my skin.....all the while sipping on my $15 Cosmo in some fancy new, hip place. Whereas the idea of sleeping in a rocking boat on anchor in the middle of nowhere was once so normal and mundane now seems so incredibly far away. I can't tell you how often my heart aches for that. I can't even imagine what it's like to freedive anymore and I often find myself sounding like a senile old lady asking Frank if I actually know how to freedive or sail a boat. Whereas once upon a time, our daily worries revolved around whether or not we caught a fish for dinner, now our worries are dominated by how long we will be stuck in traffic for, and when we will finally have the money to start a new adventure. This has been completely eye opening, and I can't deny that getting caught in the quicksand of life is not exhausting. I find myself telling myself that this is not real. That this only seems all too real because of the pain of suffering for the greater good. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still, though, telling myself this isn't enough sometimes....and I find myself being completely inundated by the notion that life will always find a way to catch up. And then I think, what about the people who aren't suffering for the greater good? What about the people who don't have a dream to live towards? What about them? How are they able to get through this? I have these thoughts often and often times these same thoughts coexist with the contradictory questions of what the fuck am I doing with my life, When I'm sitting down at a fancy restaurant eating fresh shucked Kumumoto oysters doused in a champagne mignonette with my successful fashion designer friends, (all the while wondering if this meal is really worth it) as they talk about their careers and apartments they own in Brooklyn, and my friends with families that own houses in Queens, these thoughts haunt me and make me wonder if what I am doing is the right thing. In these moments, I think to myself, I should be preparing for the race, the finish line, keep one step ahead of Life. Luckily (and perhaps unluckily) for me, I am still not convinced (famous last words). There is a part of me that worries about the future. A very large part of me that I'd hate to admit to or recognize. These thoughts haunt me and I have an overwhelming amount of guilt and fear for living the life that I strive to live. There is a feeling of frivolity that goes along with this lifestyle, and I fear that it is perhaps a little wreckless. I liken it to feeling like the nototorious hare, you know, the one in that story that takes a nap in the middle of the race overconfident in his abilities, only to find that the tortoise has slowly and steadily reached the finish line. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And through all of this, I find it ironic that New York was the lover that initially enticed me into this secret love affair with the Ocean. Without New York and all the oppourtinutieus it has afforded me, perhaps I wouldn't have had the gumption and foresight to live the way that I do. Without New York pushing me past myself, making me live my life like I'm in a constant mid-life crisis (which mind you, I have been doing since I was 16), perhaps I would've just kept on living this other mundane career driven life and perhaps I would not have tried to live the life thus far that so many older people have told me to be grateful for. I'm not sure what the right answer is, but my gut tells me that I am not yet done with the ocean and all the lessons it has yet to teach me. My gut is also telling me that the road that lies ahead is not gonna be an easy one and to prepare for never feeling like I'm at home until I figure out just what that means. Until then, I will leave you with knowing that no, Poseiden and Mother Nature, I have not yet written you off. I have not forgotten about you though at times it seems I may have. You are always on my mind, and no matter what, I promise I will find a way back into your arms again. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view outside my job</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">World Trade Center Transportation hub</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still my favorite building in NY…</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lovely Chelsea</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2brsRSUN0PmhtXn12w3RyMiUjWieFtA_ZWw-V6KwtbmjeBnEUevULVIgcrbKAoJud_rXca5Qzg2IeQTi5uemR-lpb0-i2Fy1GzOhrNhK0_xsX56iKJXPMHJXyl8aWRBYeECEqJCcrA/s1600/9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2brsRSUN0PmhtXn12w3RyMiUjWieFtA_ZWw-V6KwtbmjeBnEUevULVIgcrbKAoJud_rXca5Qzg2IeQTi5uemR-lpb0-i2Fy1GzOhrNhK0_xsX56iKJXPMHJXyl8aWRBYeECEqJCcrA/s400/9.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the Highline</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The east village, my favorate underdog</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QuvsXIW-LZTMW-1GmaKTw14h1hgA-cKXhaM7Z-OlRE-cCnYwsJKN9COjqRKLK4jToXsvZunQlFcHp4n-QFBtY6bNPknxLhhKWHSq-n0Y8YC8tf9aBf8iYG_45AUmCVVZO9ijkYOHwQ/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QuvsXIW-LZTMW-1GmaKTw14h1hgA-cKXhaM7Z-OlRE-cCnYwsJKN9COjqRKLK4jToXsvZunQlFcHp4n-QFBtY6bNPknxLhhKWHSq-n0Y8YC8tf9aBf8iYG_45AUmCVVZO9ijkYOHwQ/s400/11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is me looking up at the bright side….</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLoiA2RRN_izc_hHBT0GGxG1wKnZM4ljYDkVnwAIXd-qsXPS9LCWW9TEHnLgpCaHUOisFsvrY7uG40jKwmjQY-BWn8wtJ_DcsrW_4nNC96qKHPIQk-K6WuFKG3p-aOe774YzJx46ecQ/s1600/12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLoiA2RRN_izc_hHBT0GGxG1wKnZM4ljYDkVnwAIXd-qsXPS9LCWW9TEHnLgpCaHUOisFsvrY7uG40jKwmjQY-BWn8wtJ_DcsrW_4nNC96qKHPIQk-K6WuFKG3p-aOe774YzJx46ecQ/s400/12.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">….while being stuck in traffic for 2 hours</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good ol' Williamsburg Bridge</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Ferry rides</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-84356867162896410252016-09-05T18:33:00.000-04:002016-09-05T18:33:35.791-04:00Grenada<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After leaving the Tobago Cays, we spent several weeks hanging out in Grenada and preparing the boat to be left for the remainder of hurricane season. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but we had planned now for some time to leave the boat in Grenada and go back up to NYC for the season just to rebuild the kitty a bit. To be honest, I have been dreading writing this post as I'm not sure if I was quite ready to leave my life when I did (yes, I'm currently back in NYC, more on that later…), and writing about Grenada only leaves me with the empty feeling of missing Moitessier and all that she represents. </div>
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Anyhow, Grenada was absolutely amazing. The few weeks we spent there really made me excited to come back and spend some more time exploring all the little anchorages along the coast of Grenada. Aside from it being a beautiful island rich with history, the locals really make this place a diamond in the rough. I'm not sure what it was, but everyone seemed sincerely happy. This energy was certainly contagious and everywhere you go, people seemed open to making small talk or simply passing on a smile. Though it is still a poor island, you never got the sense that people were unhappy. Fruit in Grenada was also pretty stupendous, and the "Saturday market" in St George really shows the wide array of tropical fruit that can grow on the island. Essentially, "Saturday Market" is an open spaced market with outdoor stands packed with fruit, vegetables, eggs, and any other miscellaneous items you could think of. Every piece of produce is packed with flavor, and fresher than anything I have ever had, and all at very nominal prices. Tomatoes actually tasted like heirloom tomatoes, watermelons were crisp and sweet, mangos were meaty and juicy, and the guanabanas were tart and florally. I even had the pleasure of trying a wax apple for the first time, and it was amazing with its texture much like a pear, and its flavor similar to eating a rose. Sounds odd, but it was really so tasty! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturday Market</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Views from Fort George...</td></tr>
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Preparing the boat to be left on the hard was quite a daunting ordeal. Aside from the anxiety of having to leave MoMo for an extended period of time in a place that could potentially get hit by a hurricane, the fear of hauling her out took precedence over all others. For months, I have been dreading this very moment, going over the precise details of exactly what I needed to do get her into the slings. For those of you who don't know, driving a double ended sailboat is much like what I imagine driving a mac truck on ice would be. No brakes, no control.... And since Moitessier has a big ol' bowsprit, we had no choice but to back the thing in. Now another thing you may not know…<i>we suck at close quarter maneuvering</i>. Come to think of it, you may already know that. Normally, between Frank and I, I'm usually the more laid back one, throwing caution to the wind and playing things by ear, but for days before our haul out, I was an unrecognizable nervous wreck. All of this was compounded by the little fact that Frank had also injured his back days before our scheduled haul out, and so the task of prepping all the things that needed to be done for Moitessier to be left for a long period of time was left mostly to me. Yay. These tasks included cleaning out every nook and cranny and spraying it down with Lysol to aid in the prevention of mold while the boat was left unattended, getting rid of all food stores to keep critters away, cleaning out the fridge, stowing everything on deck, removing all sails and stowing its lines, removing the solar panels and bimini, topping up the batteries, flushing the dinghy motor, stowing the dinghy, draining the engine, the list goes on….I'll admit, I didn't handle the stress very well, and became an irritable neurotic mess, working frantically around the clock, nitpicking every detail of every thing that needed to be done. I knew this behavior is what psychologists call "transference,"putting the stress of hauling out onto other things in my life, but even knowing this did not help my situation, as I found myself neurotically vacuum sealing and labeling our food stores. Oddly, during this period, Frank and I did a role reversal, and I became him and he became me. He was the lackadaisical one, telling me not to worry, that it will all get done, just chilling and ignoring my detailed to-do lists…me, I was rigid and militant, losing sleep for a week straight, staying up all hours of the night obsessing over every possible scenario of the haul out, dinghying over to the lift every single day to see wind direction and current, making lists on top of lists, and lists for my lists.</div>
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In the end, the haul out went very smoothly, much to my delight/surprise. We had commissioned our boat buddies on Lyric to help, with Brad manning his dinghy alongside Moitessier, and Karen on deck to help with lines. This gave me the vote of confidence to do what I needed to do, and somehow magically backed the boat in with no injury to our beloved home. Pretty astonishing considering we hadn't touched a dock since leaving the states. MoMo is now sitting soundly on the hard (growing mold), and patiently awaiting our return. </div>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-12188449312860698622016-07-26T15:14:00.002-04:002016-07-27T12:44:21.385-04:00Lovely Tobago Cays...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After a short jaunt from Bequia, we ended up hanging in the Tobago Cays for a couple of days. Let me start by saying that these Cays are very similar to the Bahamas. I mean this from a aesthetic, topographical perspective, where they are small low lying islands with crystal clear aquamarine water rich with coral. Seeing it made me miss Bahamas so much, making me regretful that I took the amazing diving and marine life for granted at the time. We never realized that the water visibility and coral of the rest of the Caribbean would be so lacking compared to the Bahamas. Frank and I often long for the months we spent spearfishing, foraging, alone on deserted islands, and getting back to our primal roots. There really hasn't been anything else like it since as the islands of the Caribbean are highly trafficked by cruisers, cruise ships, and tourists alike, and it's so rare to ever be alone by yourself in an anchorage. </div>
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With that being said, I can say that the Tobago Cays are beautiful with coral that was semi-comparable to the Bahamas. I say this because a lot of the reefs here, sadly, are starting to die. With Horseshoe Reef surrounding the cays, spanning miles long, most of the coral is starting to be overgrown with algae, which is really sad as I can only imagine just how incredible it was when it was teaming with colorful, vivid, live corals. I suppose it has to do with the amount of tourism here, with charter boats and cruisers every where you turn. The really remote areas, where Frank and spent weeks without seeing single boat in the Bahamas, were always rich with different coral as well as a diverse variety of fish. Anyhow, I say this from a purely speculative point of view, I'm obviously not a marine biologist, so I really have no damn clue as to why all the coral is dying. </div>
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Nonetheless, we really enjoyed our time here. Though we weren't able to spearfish, as the cays are part of a protected marine park, we still spent our days free diving the reef, swimming with sea turtles, and exploring all the little islands. The diving visibility is amazing and the reef is so tall that that you were surrounded by reef even in 40+ft of water. Frank spotted a Hammerhead bigger than our dinghy, during one of our excursions, just skimming along in 5 feet of water. Though it would've scared the shit out of me, I am jealous that I didn't get to see it as I was busy exploring another part of the reef. I have never spotted a Hammerhead before, and when I imagine big scary sharks, Hammerheads always seem to make an appearance next to the Great Whites, so they're definitely on my bucket list. It was a pretty cool place to anchor your boat in as well, since the cays are protected from the seas by Horseshoe Reef, you feel like you're just anchored smack in the middle of the ocean with tiny little islands surrounding you (along with the million other boats). All in all, very well worth the $10EC per person per day they charge you to stay. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Petit Tabac...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">…little island where they filmed a scene in Pirates of the Caribbean</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cool cairns off the end of the beach</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boats everywhere :(</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXg-F6xLHGgpjlY6iXE9XmQgn2u-wHvnz2jXsg9fwkE-TNUPJH5reTseVvRV_BuwgWP5AOLPcdJE8caeqFfB7L1Kjp4Ktq9UfJtE-fI5qqPgR6TFNzkhtJhgQ8nPiV7YuN0pJ8Mg5ZQg/s1600/IMG_2254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXg-F6xLHGgpjlY6iXE9XmQgn2u-wHvnz2jXsg9fwkE-TNUPJH5reTseVvRV_BuwgWP5AOLPcdJE8caeqFfB7L1Kjp4Ktq9UfJtE-fI5qqPgR6TFNzkhtJhgQ8nPiV7YuN0pJ8Mg5ZQg/s400/IMG_2254.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hi MoMo...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2jOVcjjQk4HaaWCjHnmHeLniU0Y4G_UnNFysR0H3AT0Zgb95fIPtjCcIztQKNrEGbzkGnrMsHxtrKGK80epS0uWlpFsWz940Sp7FetK00R63jtMXv4r-S27nOvY1ARKzizaY3BFZDw/s1600/IMG_2241.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2jOVcjjQk4HaaWCjHnmHeLniU0Y4G_UnNFysR0H3AT0Zgb95fIPtjCcIztQKNrEGbzkGnrMsHxtrKGK80epS0uWlpFsWz940Sp7FetK00R63jtMXv4r-S27nOvY1ARKzizaY3BFZDw/s400/IMG_2241.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proud parents</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn3vylmHj3GrN088vkxEgrcJneNMS-4F0tZ50z7xwo6BMAPgEAREj23iStIGXpJ29CRCEveXC8f76NZrEV-sdeP9yICpXgvZynWFK7kh-ZmZOS6msNLw-LBkCOZM829_CSMKWJGN5bQ/s1600/IMG_0866.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn3vylmHj3GrN088vkxEgrcJneNMS-4F0tZ50z7xwo6BMAPgEAREj23iStIGXpJ29CRCEveXC8f76NZrEV-sdeP9yICpXgvZynWFK7kh-ZmZOS6msNLw-LBkCOZM829_CSMKWJGN5bQ/s400/IMG_0866.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby reef sharks...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkehte_e29JUPlaiS5riU4Bj5dtwEmgLetc45NPzC1BZxBsgcE9LeUxI_0fqmccfDjVT2ZW4J4lOtG9hiwBGEjO4of8imLibsRINXewI0dZb1hS5ClZjbsZaydKF2zmElJhXheqts3ag/s1600/IMG_0865.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkehte_e29JUPlaiS5riU4Bj5dtwEmgLetc45NPzC1BZxBsgcE9LeUxI_0fqmccfDjVT2ZW4J4lOtG9hiwBGEjO4of8imLibsRINXewI0dZb1hS5ClZjbsZaydKF2zmElJhXheqts3ag/s400/IMG_0865.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just swimming in the shallows on shore</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhGMItfBD_LqeyJyCn6WCvnqmdgR9zl1kx1wfkzwE-Y-YWGDJAhxjR-i4YKV3F7jv3bfg6Fb6mx4ArfSrZxsm2TZAaMrb-CEOZn2iYthcz-aOAwgqw3hpQW2b_TRfg27nojMO_178yw/s1600/IMG_0836.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhGMItfBD_LqeyJyCn6WCvnqmdgR9zl1kx1wfkzwE-Y-YWGDJAhxjR-i4YKV3F7jv3bfg6Fb6mx4ArfSrZxsm2TZAaMrb-CEOZn2iYthcz-aOAwgqw3hpQW2b_TRfg27nojMO_178yw/s400/IMG_0836.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Turtles everywhere….</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2052J-YfyLU_GDw2tdluBC6zxQHubQ7wYzxRODcI3zGmuuA3uWBS7mW4tDG3DdspLGyab1TSKY83I3LWsQsspG5vsL522M2K9Xy1JqqWOnoJKZStnpMM87EVSXE-2wVJ2szT9BU1MqA/s1600/IMG_0838.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2052J-YfyLU_GDw2tdluBC6zxQHubQ7wYzxRODcI3zGmuuA3uWBS7mW4tDG3DdspLGyab1TSKY83I3LWsQsspG5vsL522M2K9Xy1JqqWOnoJKZStnpMM87EVSXE-2wVJ2szT9BU1MqA/s400/IMG_0838.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was awesome…it's called a Sea Robin...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgbFaaQD1GcWNbjuPZF5da9CfQmj7L5IBYXRwzYarP80wdNB33OXqGj8cihrQ411BAGEefOYdzPLH4ofd4g6ZMuOAFiqy7PirUz8QRtuR5hBp0qC_IoA-kA7DBrBIEx6ZLgQVl51_l5w/s1600/IMG_0839.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgbFaaQD1GcWNbjuPZF5da9CfQmj7L5IBYXRwzYarP80wdNB33OXqGj8cihrQ411BAGEefOYdzPLH4ofd4g6ZMuOAFiqy7PirUz8QRtuR5hBp0qC_IoA-kA7DBrBIEx6ZLgQVl51_l5w/s320/IMG_0839.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">…also known as Flying Gunard. Looks like a butterfly!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipwFfAD-OBIcFhEVLmpyvfSHfaplgEWeSkKC6p-OdgNF9ZDCXjkLY4qkwJrRmdcuWY6N2Op_l1Nc5CGGSeQP5Ay6rYjEB67vkAPR8ECd-SO9exAihcb5VHR-weY6V0kMiHUpOp3pLznA/s1600/IMG_0840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipwFfAD-OBIcFhEVLmpyvfSHfaplgEWeSkKC6p-OdgNF9ZDCXjkLY4qkwJrRmdcuWY6N2Op_l1Nc5CGGSeQP5Ay6rYjEB67vkAPR8ECd-SO9exAihcb5VHR-weY6V0kMiHUpOp3pLznA/s400/IMG_0840.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uni</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRFUaEMnuXXPfajKwXLt39rjGUQ11sjXxZq4b6CdDBxy_QOxsp9K-qtnQK0M-tRGOmkCiqqdTV_TsWmYBIJFjiFsw5CCTwK187VssWOGBYIpMeKuW6CQ5eHTLI4CACHqllVIVfCGA2dw/s1600/IMG_0867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRFUaEMnuXXPfajKwXLt39rjGUQ11sjXxZq4b6CdDBxy_QOxsp9K-qtnQK0M-tRGOmkCiqqdTV_TsWmYBIJFjiFsw5CCTwK187VssWOGBYIpMeKuW6CQ5eHTLI4CACHqllVIVfCGA2dw/s320/IMG_0867.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stingray about to bury himself</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKDkI507YydAItlwgV6_c5zZORA62ArxaTSKNWsFvxSEhUU2eiaQVgktg9iFx69UcGEM2acv8AN2cQvUOjKb6ylfQpDjVzGvworSxPST3Uo2Qfbv3n4ozLR7lifV6ktRQVAoXyqYi_qA/s1600/IMG_0848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKDkI507YydAItlwgV6_c5zZORA62ArxaTSKNWsFvxSEhUU2eiaQVgktg9iFx69UcGEM2acv8AN2cQvUOjKb6ylfQpDjVzGvworSxPST3Uo2Qfbv3n4ozLR7lifV6ktRQVAoXyqYi_qA/s400/IMG_0848.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love these little cactus flowers</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sun set in the cays...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full moon shot at the bow</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-23354042720926593772016-07-25T00:25:00.001-04:002016-07-25T08:37:25.725-04:00Bequia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After leaving St Lucia, we spent a couple days in Bequia as well as a couple in Tobago Cays. Since we were rushing to get to Grenada for our scheduled haul out , we didn't really get to spend as much time as I wanted to in either place. Bequia is a lovely little island, with easy accessibility to some fresh produce and decent pizza (we went to the Bequia Plantation Hotel and really enjoyed the brick oven pizza there). The locals are very friendly and from what I saw the energy there is great, unlike in St Lucia where the energy is, I guess you could say, a little more desperate…understandably so considering the economic state it's in. If you plan on spending any amount of time in the Tobago Cays, Bequia would be the spot to provision until you hit Grenada. It has the basic fresh fruits (such as mango, soursop, and papaya) and vegetables (such as cucumbers, cabbage, and carrots) that you would need at relatively reasonable prices. We didn't really do much in those couple of days except provision and check out some nearby beaches and reefs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">During the brief time we had in Bequia, we also met our new found cruiser friends that, like us, happen to be obsessed with Hans Christians. They live aboard their Hans Christian 38 Mark II named Lyric, and have spent the past 2 years cruising the eastern Caribbean after deciding to leave their corporate lives. They bought their boat in St Thomas over two years ago and have not looked back since. I've decided since that people who obsess over Hans Christians are a little crazy, just like us, and I think that that's alright by me ….Shout out to Karen and Brad…you have a lovely boat and it's been fun hanging with you so far! Anyhow, I'm sorry I'm very uninspired to write lately, so I'll leave you with some photos and hopefully they can depict the laid back energy that this lovely island exudes…</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Church in town</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Houses along the hillsides</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taxi anyone?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walkway along the water into town</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of rain showers everyday….</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-37715914305619593362016-07-15T04:18:00.002-04:002016-07-15T08:29:42.685-04:00St Lucia<div style="text-align: justify;">
With the passage from Iles de Saintes to St Lucia being the last night sail of this trip, I thought I'd make an ode to night sailing as this is something I haven't really talked much about. What can I say about it except that it's a bit of a love-hate relationship. When I first started out on this journey, the very thought of a night sail initially always filled me with anxiety and fear. Though this is one of the most magical aspects of sailing, I think most people can agree that there is something inherently frightening about sailing through the night. I guess it is natural to fear the dark, as this is something that has primordially existed in us since we were little kids. How many of you remember dreading the moment your parents shut the lights off at night, preparing to fight the ghosts lurking in the corner, and creating monsters out of shadows? Being on the ocean is similar to that feeling, because as it is already it makes you feel small and insignificant. Couple that with the being in the dark in the middle of nowhere, and that familiar childhood feeling of vulnerability is once again revisited, only now you can't alleviate it by crawling into your mom and dad's bed. After over a year of passage-making (can you believe it's already been that long?), night sails still inspire a bit of fear, though I have grown used to them and have even learned to love them. Depending on the conditions, night sails can either be completely meditative and transformative, or they can be terrifying and exhausting. Since I'm sure it's obvious to you how it can be terrifying during shitty conditions, I'll talk about the good side of night sailing...</div>
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I find that it is often times during my night watches that I have had the most profound epiphanies about life. Something about sitting in the cockpit, by yourself, with nothing but the sound of the wind and the waves and the company of the stars and moon, that sets your mind into this meditative state. You feel very alone in these moments, and the feeling like you are bonding with some greater force, in this case the ocean, is truly remarkable. I'm not religious in any way, but in these moments, I can understand how this spiritual feeling can be overwhelming for a lot of people, and why people tend to embrace this "higher power." Especially when it's calm, and its so dark out that you can hardly tell the difference between the sky and the ocean, and all you can see in the distance are the stars in the sky and the green trail of phosphorescence, and the air is filled with that familiar sweet salty smell, these moments are transcendent. You wonder how it's possible for everything to be so magnificent, and you feel grateful to be alive to be a part of this perfection. </div>
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This feeling is with you throughout the night, and you feel high and giddy until stage 2 of the night watch sets in, which is sleep deprivation. This, for me as a self-diagnosed narcoleptic, is the most challenging part of night sailing. Frank and I have developed a watch schedule where we are on for 2 hours and then off for 2 hours. Between the hours of 2am-6am, I find, is the most difficult part of the night. You don't think it would be exhausting just sitting around pondering the meaning of life and scanning the horizon for other boats, but it really is...and the quietness of the night coupled with the rhythmic bouncing of Moitessier slicing through the waves makes staying awake that much harder. I find it helps to have a podcast or a movie on at this time, just to keep your mind from wandering into dreamworld and nodding off. Having snacks or hot chocolate really helps too, as for some reason, aside from being sleepy, night watches also make me voraciously hungry. I'm often grateful when I wake up to my watch to have Frank hand me over a steaming mug of hot chocolate or peppermint tea (yes, you wouldn't think that would be satisfying in the tropics, but night watches are breezy and can often chill you to the bones). </div>
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With that being said, the passage to St Lucia started off as anxiety filled as the direction of the steep 6 ft waves and the 20 kt winds made for a pretty uncomfortable ride. It thankfully calmed down for the second part of the night, so we were able to enjoy our final night sail of this journey. We arrived early morning in Marigot bay and picked up a mooring ball at Capella Resort and Marina. After spending a couple days living in luxury and enjoying world class facilities, such hot showers and lounging by the pool (note: you get to use the resort if you pick up a ball), we moved on to the Pitons, where we spent one night just taking in the grand view. This was really a highlight of the trip, and it's a shame that we didn't feel comfortable leaving the boat and exploring the island more. We keep reading about high crime in St Lucia, with boardings and dinghy thefts. It's not surprising, as it seems it is a poverty stricken country with high rates of unemployment. After having a long conversation with a really nice local at Soufriere Bay that approached Frank while I was at the Customs office clearing out, we discover that most of the money that is made through tourism is not reinvested into the country. From what we gather, most of the big resorts are owned by the foreigners, so a lot of that money goes out of the country and the locals only receive a tiny trickle of what is made off of the beauty of their island. Most of the citizens of the island can only make money off of what little they can sell to the tourists, be it fruit or handmade goods. It seems to be dog eat dog, with people struggling to feed their families, so it's no wonder the amount of crime here. And though there is fresh tropical fruit growing everywhere, most of it falls on private property, and so there is a strong sense of ownership and divide between the haves and have-nots. You can clearly sense the desperation as the "boat boys" here are pretty aggressive about making money off of you from the moment you approach the mooring field. We got a taste of it when we were hassled by these young boys on a dinghy that followed us from Soufriere bay to the pitons, offering fish, services, fruit, and insisting that they help with our mooring ball. And even though we politely declined them a few times, they still continued to harass us until we tipped them for "helping" us with our mooring ball, which was essentially them handing us the line. They then insisted that we pay for their fuel and which at that point, we stood our ground and refused out of principle as we were a bit exasperated by their aggressiveness and did not want to come off seeming like suckers, thereby targeting ourselves. Anyhow, we spent one night moored between the pitons. We even got to check out the little marine preserve off of the resort there, that offered really nice snorkeling with beautiful coral and large yellowtails that teased us knowing that we couldn't spear them. All in all, definitely worth the stop as the pitons truly are a breathtaking sight...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lovely Marigot Bay</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying Capella Bay Resort…</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging out by the pool.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exploring the reefs right outside Marigot Bay...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful coral here</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazing sunsets too!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Approaching the grand pitons...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A rare shot of both me and Frank free diving </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgP1UqcAtAzkAJ0t0DausA8r69FrYd_4W-wJH2rz-oTma9l1Q3DbH9peJcnPkoWFERyunUSg_WkuiXN99lz1FtKFybPhPYPY6eDHggxufnLyTPrOo0yW2tt_CbFbFGLvhaAz4NlnWiRQ/s1600/IMG_2580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgP1UqcAtAzkAJ0t0DausA8r69FrYd_4W-wJH2rz-oTma9l1Q3DbH9peJcnPkoWFERyunUSg_WkuiXN99lz1FtKFybPhPYPY6eDHggxufnLyTPrOo0yW2tt_CbFbFGLvhaAz4NlnWiRQ/s400/IMG_2580.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful coral here too</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leaving the pitons on a rainy morning...</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-4947050403175828642016-07-08T22:45:00.000-04:002016-07-09T09:55:21.068-04:00Islands of Saints<div style="text-align: justify;">
After a relatively benign trip from St Martin, we have finally arrived in Guadeloupe….well Iles des Saintes to be exact. When we first planned the route, we had planned on making our first stop in Deshaies, which is the first anchorage on the northwest coast of Guadeloupe. Since we hadn't anticipated that Moitessier would make such good timing during this passage, we ended up deciding last minute that we would skip Deshaies and move on to the anchorage in Basse-Terre, off of Marina de Riviere Sens (the next port for clearing in). Originally we had planned on making landfall in Deshaies the following morning, but with the winds in our favor, MoMo was cruising at a nice average speed of about 7 kts, making our would-be arrival in the middle of the night, which we all know is not something we ever want to do. And so we trudged on, moving further down the coast to make some headway, as we are currently already a little behind schedule (when are we not?). Upon arrival the following morning at Basse-Terre, we noticed that the "anchorage" was essentially a tiny sliver of shallower water off of the side of the island very very close to shore, with the depths dropping from 65' to 165' in a matter of 2-3 hundred feet. And so, once again, we decided to sail a couple more miles south to Iles des Saintes, meaning Islands of Saints in french and, boy, does it live up to its name. </div>
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Sailing into this set of Guadeloupe owned islands was such a lovely surprise after the stressful debacle of a morning we had with deciding last minute where to go. We hadn't done any research and didn't know what the deal was with all the mooring balls dotting the shore where the charts had labelled "anchorage," and so we tucked into Marigot Bay as this happens to be the only place around with reasonable water depths that you can anchor in. After dinghying it in to the town of Terre de Haut and checking in, we discovered that it would cost us 11 Euros a night stay on the mooring balls, or 60 euros for a week, which we justified as reasonable considering the mere 2 euro check-in fee into Guadeloupe. We also decided to take a mooring as our anchorage, though sheltered in settled weather, was starting to become unsafe with building winds clocking around and bringing in huge swells. We ended up staying and relaxing in this lovely town for over a week, awaiting a tropical wave to pass before moving on. We didn't do much but deal with some repairs on the boat (i.e. rewiring the SSB antenna, re-mounting our exhaust hose that had snapped loose, repairing an issue that had popped up in our steering, and so on…). We revelled in the homeyness and the "Europeness" that this little town exude, and I swear it felt like I was walking around some small town in Europe somewhere, with its delightful colorful houses, once again set upon a lush island backdrop. Though there isn't too much to do but just enjoy the beauty of this little set of islands, Frank and I thoroughly enjoyed taking it easy and just getting into the groove of the small island community here. There is a sleepy Sunday feel to being here, and as brief of a stay we had here, we quickly fell into a routine of walking into town, getting some gelato, some baguette and cheese, buying groceries, and simply marveling the quaintness of this place. My words are not doing it justice, so I'll just stop right here and hope that my photos can portray just a little of what I'm going on about…</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Underway….</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEjI4Tv2b7rFe2b62c-QrgZZF4WPWh3qFcis3F21iXEif0YjlacafQgI0nrSuaCuSXWj_jVi22hg5Idc9OLzXQBhW-RIdvrAwtKV1cSLcwliM8d-sc8bifDcZOLpe0UIcIpjEnRi5gQ/s1600/IMG_2281.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEjI4Tv2b7rFe2b62c-QrgZZF4WPWh3qFcis3F21iXEif0YjlacafQgI0nrSuaCuSXWj_jVi22hg5Idc9OLzXQBhW-RIdvrAwtKV1cSLcwliM8d-sc8bifDcZOLpe0UIcIpjEnRi5gQ/s400/IMG_2281.JPG" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's St Eustatius behind me</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Approaching Guadeloupe</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entering the Islands of Saints</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marigot Bay, where we anchored while it was sheltered</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On a mooring ball...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Town of Terre de Haut</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Church in the center of town</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've never seen this flower before</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goats everywhere…not sure if you can see in the photo</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hiking to the top</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fort Napoleon at the top...</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-68645087975150692372016-06-29T08:38:00.000-04:002016-07-09T09:55:52.384-04:00St. Martin (Part 2)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After spending 2 weeks in St Martin, we are finally underway to Guadeloupe. After Frank recovered from his back injury, we decided that we needed to spend some time on the island and explore it a bit since this, for some reason, this was an island that Frank had on his priority list We spent the first couple days of his recovery dingying around and checking out the dutch side as well as Maho Bay, a bay renown for the airplanes that land and take off directly over the beach. After a slightly rough dinghy ride out through the windward side, we dropped anchor directly off the beach and watched as plane after plane landed so close that it felt like you could reach up and touch the belly of each Boeing. It was pretty entertaining watching the tourists that were standing too close to the fenced in airstrip go flying, losing their hats and random articles of clothing, as a plane took off. This area is marked with signs warning you in both French and English and funny graphics against standing too close as the jet blast (from when the plane revs up to take off) was pretty strong, but people wherever they may be from, are often too curious for their own good. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maho Bay</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">On a last minute whim, after heeding some advice from cruising buddies on La Vidorra, that we randomly ran into (we had met and last seen them back in the Turks & Caicos), we had decided to make a day stop at Saba before moving on to St Kitts, as he had said that this little island was an absolute must see. Going out in projected 1 meter seas and 10 kt winds, we discovered underway that the forecast was not as predicted at all with the waves building up to 6-8 feet and winds picking up to 25 knots. This would've been ok with us if we had a protected anchorage in Saba to hole up in for the next couple of days as the predicted forecast for that week called for 25-30 kts, but knowing that Saba did not have any such thing and that essentially we'd just be anchoring up on the side of the island, we decided it was a bad idea to continue on. We made the decision to turn around because we had not allotted for enough daylight hours to skip on to St Kitts, and that day was really the only window in the foreseeable forecast to make way. Stupid, stupid. We realized it was really our own fault as we foolishly ignored our guts that morning when we were preparing the boat to leave. One thing after another kept going wrong, between me injuring my finger while opening a cabinet and Frank noticing that the base of our dinghy davit was coming loose from a stripped screw, we realized that should've just stay put. (Note: we later discover that the davit dilemma to be a manufacturer's flaw as they didn't design it so that it could be through bolted and instead took a shortcut and used machine screws screwed only into the wooden cap rail instead of our fiberglass decks….completely faulty for this application.) I often notice that we get into trouble when we ignore our instincts. For one reason or another, something always goes wrong when we ignore the signs that Poseidon subtly and tactfully doles out to us. That morning neither Frank nor I had mentioned to the other how we were feeling about the trip, which was apprehensive and anxious, because we just wanted to make way and move on. Though we have faced rougher weather, our hearts kept telling us that something was wrong and so midway to Saba, while shit was flying all over the boat, we quickly decided to just call it and turn Moitessier around. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm not sure if there is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon, where your bestial instincts always turn out to be right, but Frank and I have learned through the years that it's best to listen to them. Early on, even before we bought Moitessier, Frank and I had made a pact that if ever one of us gets "bad feeling" about something, that we renege on the projected plan, no questions asked. This has gotten us out of trouble many a time, when for example, in the Bahamas after being stuck in Staniel Cay for weeks, we were supposed to leave with a steady weather window, and at the very last minute, one of us has had a bad feeling and ditched the plan (even though, at the time we were buddy boating with Sailboat Furminger.) We come to find out later (after they had left bc their friend had to catch a flight home) that the weather picked up quite a bit and the seas had gotten so bad that all the crew members were hurling all over the place, on top of blowing out their headsail, thereby making it so that they could only make way at 3 knots and forcing them to enter the Elizabeth Channel well into the night, with no way of visually navigating. This pact even applies to when we go spearfishing and one of us has a feeling that we need to get out of the water, and shortly after hoisting ourselves into the dinghy will we often see an aggressive looking shark lurking around the corner. Though we've never had any iife saving close calls that we know of, these examples have taught us that there doesn't always need to be a logical explanation for why things happen the way they do. After all, we are doing this for our enjoyment, and at the very least, it has saved us from a fair amount of discomfort and possible repairs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And so, after deciding that we were gonna be stuck for a week because we lost our weather window, we decided to make the most of it and rent a car for 2 days to do some major car hiking. We found a place called Discount Car Rental, a small mom-and-pop rental place that had the nicest French couple, that picked us up directly from the dinghy dock. At a nominal price of $30/day (with a 2-day minimum), we were able see the entire island, as well as run some much needed errands. St Martin/Sint Maarten proved to be a charming island, with an interesting and diverse culture, not fully tainted by western society. Locals are incredibly friendly, and seem welcoming of us, and though you could clearly see its French and Dutch influences, with many things seeming to be subsidized by each country (at least from what we saw on the French side), there still seems to be a strong West Indies island culture intact. This was an amazing juxtaposition as it feels like someone uprooted a European city and simply dropped it onto this mountainous tropical island, much like one of those arcade games where the giant claw reaches down and plucks your stuffed animal of choice before releasing it down the chute. With its colorful little buildings dotting the streets so reminiscient of old Europe staged on a backdrop of turquoise waters, coconut palms, and oversized iguanas, you couldn't help but to admire the unique sensibility developed here. On one corner, you could have a Parisian style bakery scenting the air with fresh baked baguettes still warm from the oven and buttery croissants oozing melted chocolate, whilst simultaneously only a skip away, you could have a hole in wall little shack offering Caribbean staples like deep fried Johnny cakes stuffed with flaky salt fish, homemade hot sauce that could eradicate your taste buds, and rich oxtail stew with chunky potatoes and soft, fluffy dumplings. All in all, with that being said, there are far worse places to be "stuck in"…I guess Saba will just have to wait. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinghy riding around </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have been diving with this fish for so long and had<br />
no idea it was edible….yummy</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The quaint town of Marigot...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Car hikes...</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-16396556637689459202016-06-22T21:34:00.001-04:002016-06-22T21:34:36.833-04:00St. Martin<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHOeyABYBVIfx57a429rU-CGQVcVdnBCmqBowoqLIcyJKp9lwTQghyOfFBPON2H896oNGTCGogZygak6sALhRoTV3s1z1wpOPY8xPoEODxBS0n7LtORemjuU86sXbCwd9XWG55tOjbQ/s1600/IMG_1798.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Times; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHOeyABYBVIfx57a429rU-CGQVcVdnBCmqBowoqLIcyJKp9lwTQghyOfFBPON2H896oNGTCGogZygak6sALhRoTV3s1z1wpOPY8xPoEODxBS0n7LtORemjuU86sXbCwd9XWG55tOjbQ/s400/IMG_1798.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the anchorage….</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dutch side </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's funny how there's a certainty to some intangible things in life, that bad things, like waves, undeniably come in sets of three. Shortly upon arriving in St Martin, Frank tweaked his back and was laid up for an entire week. As if the passing of his dear grandmother wasn't enough, poor guy can't seem to catch a break, injuring himself the 2nd day we get here, forcing him to be stuck in bed in pain, with only his thoughts to haunt him. This, of course, was followed directly after discovering, back in the BVIs, that our Lavac toilet pump shat the bed, pun intended… With him being laid up, it was up to me to track down this pump. WIth my fingers crossed and hopeful, armed with the belief that we couldn't be <i>that unlucky</i>, I had my sister call around to both Budget Marine as well as Island Waterworld (the West Marines of the Caribbean) to locate it. Thankfully both places had it, of course at nearly $100 more than in the states, which I was more than happy to pay as it meant not having to worry about waiting til after dark so no one could see me shit off the side of the boat. Ahhhhh….the glamourous life of yachting…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So with Frank being out of commission, i spent the first week discovering this charming island on my own. Of all the beautiful attractions and beaches this place has to offer, my favorite sadly turns out to be the supermarket near Marigot bay. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. This market called Super U was really the highlight of the month. It's like a French Publix, offering a variety of all of my favorite foods at very reasonable prices (comparable to Walmart in the states). It had a huge produce section with crisp arugula, fresh basil, and cauliflower; a cheese section with balls of fresh mozzarella and Brie; and fresh baked baguettes that cost less than $1, all of which sent my heart racing. It also had a section dedicated to cured meats, terrines, rillettes, and liver mousses that nearly put me into cardiac arrest. I was even able to buy beef carpaccio and steak tartare in a package which had me wondering, why can't Americans have sophisticated palettes like the French? The cherry on top of all of this was the wine section, offering French wines for $3 a bottle, which turned out to be far superior in quality than any medium priced wines back in the states. With its subtle berry notes and soft finish slow dancing on my tongue, it was all I could do to not renounce my citizenship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">All of this was evidently too overwhelming for my deprived gluttonous inner fat kid, and I found myself chuckling at my frivolous purchases as I unloaded random cans of terrine, tripe, Roasted Chicken flavored potato chips, and cornichons from my backpack the first day. This subsequently gave me an excuse to go back nearly every day, picking up little things that we actually needed for the boat, and reporting to Frank about how he needed to get better so that he could check this place out. I was afraid that I was hyping it up too much to him until I saw his wide eyes light up like a kid on Christmas morning, when he finally felt well enough to hobble up to the market with me. Like me, he was completely overwhelmed, slowly scanning every single aisle, picking up random packages with his mouth agape, repeating <i>"Can you believe this?"</i> It was nice to see him happy, if only for a brief moment, and the shared glee made me secretly relieved to see that I wasn't the only crazy one overly excited for these foreign culinary delights laid out before us. Its the little things in life…</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tomato, Tomotto</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheese galore</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Did someone say liver, terrine, and blood sausage?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM8fJspR-7TLu3TlaQQiAlHJGlYfuIMs25hDIxzf3FdFOZKs7HEJ7jFQxTbPC8JcbmTkD5QY3JyVogZgEdolrBfFfgMPxLmMIVsmzI9aG15pdT6_pkPuZW0B-c7dgUau3zirHKEStVvQ/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM8fJspR-7TLu3TlaQQiAlHJGlYfuIMs25hDIxzf3FdFOZKs7HEJ7jFQxTbPC8JcbmTkD5QY3JyVogZgEdolrBfFfgMPxLmMIVsmzI9aG15pdT6_pkPuZW0B-c7dgUau3zirHKEStVvQ/s400/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yup, that says 2.8 Euro...</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-12848625713906535642016-06-16T20:37:00.000-04:002016-06-16T20:37:26.040-04:00Farewell Lovely Virgins...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"The shattered waves made a misty din, </div>
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Great waves looked over others coming in, </div>
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And the thought of doing something to the shore,</div>
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Water had never done to land before…"~<i>Robert Frost</i></div>
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After spending nearly a 2 months working in Charlotte Amalie, we have finally pushed off and moved on to St Martin. We initially thought that we would spend the season in St Thomas working, but after some complications with family life back at home with Frank losing a someone very close to him, we decided it best to just move on and get the boat somewhere safe during hurricane season so that we could deal with the things that needed to be dealt with back in NY. I spent nearly a month on my own in St Thomas, working in hospitality and getting to know this little island, which surprisingly turned out to be amazing. There is a tiny community here of young transplants that have decided to uproot and LIVE their lives. Though there is a sense of transience here, with people coming and going every season, you can't help but bond with the semi like-minded folk (I say this because well…they're not cruisers, but wanderlusts nonetheless), who have the same insatiable urge to live life on their terms. </div>
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Not gonna lie, being left alone anchored on the little waterfront of Charlotte Amalie, with the prospect of being alone with Moitessier without Frank, initially terrified me. With anxiety ridden thoughts running through my head…<i>What do I do if the anchor drags? What happens if the dinghy conks out on me? What if someone boards the boat? What if the weather picks up? What happens if there is a hurricane? </i>or simply, <i>How the fuck am I gonna manage without Frank? </i>These thoughts haunted me and I could only allow myself to take it one day at a time as I reassured Frank to fly back up to NY to take care of what he had to. Reminding myself that what Frank was going through emotionally was exponentially more taxing than what I had to undertake, I pushed myself to be a more independent sailor, and more self sufficient human being. The things I had taken for granted while Frank was here became all the more apparent to me as I found myself hoisting 5-gallon jerry jugs of gasoline onto Moitessier, walking to town to grocery shop alone, waking up in the middle of the night from any foreign sounds, diving on the boat to clean the bottom, and driving myself on the dinghy to and from work, in other words, simply being responsible for <i>everything </i>that I did. I made it work though and came out a stronger person in the end. I even made some wonderful friends from work while I was there. Thank goodness as that was truly my saving grace allowing me to avoid the blanket of loneliness that inevitably would follow with being by myself on the boat. That coupled with my family coming to visit for a week (which by the way was wonderful), and my sister staying with me on the boat until Frank returned, made the transition of being a lone captain to being an independent one all the more doable. </div>
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My sister even called me a "badass" at one point, which made being without Frank on MoMo (have i never mentioned that's Moitessier's nickname?) all the more rewarding, as she says she can't imagine having to do any of it period, let alone by myself. This compliment was followed by trips to the market where I hauled 6 gallon jugs of water in a cardboard box carefully balanced on my shoulders, dove to clean both the dinghy bottom and MoMo's underside, and naming her first mate where she had to learn to do all of the things that I normally undertake when Frank is here. It really brought light to all Frank and I have overcome as sailors, and all that we've taken for granted in terms of all the daily hardships we overcome that we don't recognize necessarily as "hardships" but simply "things that need to be done." Though I'm far from calling myself "salty", I'd really like to think that I'm ever so slightly more "seasoned." </div>
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One of the most disheartening things about life on the water is all the moments that you miss out on with those that you love so dearly. All the what ifs, all the guilt….unfortunately, this reality truly hit home for Frank. I cannot imagine the pain he's had to endure of losing someone he held so dear, on top of the stress he has had to deal with upon coming back and having to deliver the boat to a safe haven. But alas, that is the way of boat life, I suppose. The hefty price you pay for seemingly endless sense of "freedom." </div>
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Anyhow, so here we are…after briefly cruising the British Virgin Islands, which by the way are so spectacular in terms of both land and underwater beauty…we rushed over here after a small window that had opened up that wasn't 25 kts of wind on the nose with big seas. We got here with 15 kt winds and small seas, making the trip over from "the bitter end" of Virgin Gourda to Marigot Bay in St Martin pretty straight forward, a mere 16 hours with us averaging about 5 kts. Greeting Mother Ocean after only a couple of months of being landlocked was surprisingly frightening, and hoisting the fouled anchor that day had my hands shaking on our Cetol stained steering wheel, making me wonder if I would make it through the nightsail. But Poseidon was gentle with us, perhaps knowing what we've been through, and he welcomed us back to the ocean with open arms, greeting us with a sky alight with a beautiful lemon wedge moon, trails of twinkling phosphorescence, and the mermaids singing us along as Moitessier sliced through the ink black ocean…</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almaco Jack I speared at Meagan's Bay, St Thomas</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of St Thomas from Water Island</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St John</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entering the British Virgin Islands...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Overnight stop at Norman Island</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cero that we weren't allowed to spear in the BVIs</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chasing Tarpon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Underway to Virgin Gourda</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ISyUFVrHYb8ik253e7xaLSc1ooL6YVywEOW2UGIhaFk09q20hEKKJPy238Ea5WdvhMbNl_9W6rf9hTWgCOLctWUP9tuwaVKkR1W3W-e5fDGRm8_htIK_xubyA_XSWCQgokMn2gfnZA/s1600/FullSizeRender-20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ISyUFVrHYb8ik253e7xaLSc1ooL6YVywEOW2UGIhaFk09q20hEKKJPy238Ea5WdvhMbNl_9W6rf9hTWgCOLctWUP9tuwaVKkR1W3W-e5fDGRm8_htIK_xubyA_XSWCQgokMn2gfnZA/s320/FullSizeRender-20.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Squalls in Sir Francis Drake Channel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Sunset dinghy rides...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazing underwater world in the BVIs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUEl83luR3pIEs5j7a6anmRBoHANt5cgh3ThcVtrNspQOwCm-wtex5UVsiGgRpD89GNfCuYVqQgSv5Jhq0qYdNRqXMcqTA3L0T8YCxFSc6aFV5hjM9NRpdBJBh1X5M2faf2Edu_UV75w/s1600/FullSizeRender-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUEl83luR3pIEs5j7a6anmRBoHANt5cgh3ThcVtrNspQOwCm-wtex5UVsiGgRpD89GNfCuYVqQgSv5Jhq0qYdNRqXMcqTA3L0T8YCxFSc6aFV5hjM9NRpdBJBh1X5M2faf2Edu_UV75w/s320/FullSizeRender-6.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chasing Nurse sharks...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZE9tOA_5RSftDtbw0F41ccgvEY1_oLQWyAdcu9vm7dZNAXPOYOBbN-a9-NpjOCoob5arSi2B2uB5VOXZ6daZ7aeu_pG1BsZF5IeAVqXv_aMbPOHZal-wtrM88MfF6K9Hd1MB63DL-w/s1600/FullSizeRender-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZE9tOA_5RSftDtbw0F41ccgvEY1_oLQWyAdcu9vm7dZNAXPOYOBbN-a9-NpjOCoob5arSi2B2uB5VOXZ6daZ7aeu_pG1BsZF5IeAVqXv_aMbPOHZal-wtrM88MfF6K9Hd1MB63DL-w/s320/FullSizeRender-13.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conch Graveyard</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIsTfLR9w_7gpdqENJ2qug1FCSLUw9H1aqJ7Wzo6MSmreegLbjRPVQDIfbuF0yQZ4tBMSUe5HzR0HugA4D3IvCbmlIIOZVoQ6BCMd72E-EBI90V8CvwbKCA9hyphenhyphenJh1aMINbxqNhCfLkg/s1600/FullSizeRender-24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIsTfLR9w_7gpdqENJ2qug1FCSLUw9H1aqJ7Wzo6MSmreegLbjRPVQDIfbuF0yQZ4tBMSUe5HzR0HugA4D3IvCbmlIIOZVoQ6BCMd72E-EBI90V8CvwbKCA9hyphenhyphenJh1aMINbxqNhCfLkg/s320/FullSizeRender-24.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two toned fan coral</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYa9MDdLNzABKbLh7h1jfr-WjseT1reZ30ISqhQKucry6YlWyEGlQjXcxGr2108A1pNiSVolgHJ7W3tA4SGH2EDmxH9t4jg2kppR_sd_zIRYraHKNKJiruZ2NIWR4q9Ak0QK2uZ7MmHQ/s1600/FullSizeRender-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYa9MDdLNzABKbLh7h1jfr-WjseT1reZ30ISqhQKucry6YlWyEGlQjXcxGr2108A1pNiSVolgHJ7W3tA4SGH2EDmxH9t4jg2kppR_sd_zIRYraHKNKJiruZ2NIWR4q9Ak0QK2uZ7MmHQ/s320/FullSizeRender-17.jpg" width="336" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our own private beach at sunset...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgclcDLbOGPbVC2L39w6HZkRHMNH_7SrkeFV50za4evaXUxYkVLf_cFwHSfLmwi-ksygvanUvrnD6D35MjLCopP2nPiElcx1VGZV4abQud0Nn5Hz3NM5YxdzOxPuHAOioXsmK68o3-eiQ/s1600/IMG_1665.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgclcDLbOGPbVC2L39w6HZkRHMNH_7SrkeFV50za4evaXUxYkVLf_cFwHSfLmwi-ksygvanUvrnD6D35MjLCopP2nPiElcx1VGZV4abQud0Nn5Hz3NM5YxdzOxPuHAOioXsmK68o3-eiQ/s320/IMG_1665.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relaxing on hammocks at the Bitter End Yacht Club</td></tr>
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</span></span>Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-29127305816695650082016-04-13T12:33:00.000-04:002016-04-13T12:33:43.900-04:00Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When we first arrived in Charlotte Amalie and went ashore, we were horrified over the touristy strip of Rolex vendors and pushy high end jewelers trying to entice us into their stores. This little part of town caters to the cruise ship crowds, and apparently since St Thomas is duty-free, things like fine jewelry, Rolexes, useless high end crap, cigarettes, and alcohol are nearly half off. So imagine our dismay when the first impression we have of this place is of people coming from every direction trying to talk us out of our money and sell us things. That coupled with the thousands of people herding around the streets from the daily cruise ship drop off, oblivious to their surroundings and bumping into you, and the drivers yelling "<i>Taxi? Taxi?" </i>every half a block, it nearly sent us into a manic <i>I-don't-wanna-be-here </i>frenzy. But after getting off this main strip and exploring some of the backstreets, you discover just how enchanting this little city actually is. For some reason, tourists don't seem to venture past the busy touristy neighborhood and stay within the "safe" parameters of the stores, and so in just a few short blocks, you start to enter the locals territory. Small little shacks selling inexpensive local cuisine, like salt fish "pates" and stewed meats with beans and rice. Houses are painted in bright colors, with the paint peeling and faded out by the sun, creating a dreamlike dilapidated pastel facade throughout the city that is set upon lush green mountains. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's very "hilly" and you find yourself exhausted while trekking up each street. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The anchorage at night is my favorite as Charlotte Amalie twinkles like fireflies in the summertime, reflecting off of the water, looking like a sky full of orange stars. Walking around town, you get a feel of what it was like before it became a cruise ship mecca. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I sense a bit of contempt from the locals towards the tourists, as people would often ignore Frank and I and disregard our very existence, avoiding eye contact, or any interaction (except when they're hollering at us to take their taxi, of course). I don't really blame them since I can understand how there is an obvious cultural divide between the sheep-like, capitalistic, buy-buy-buy cruise-ship crowd versus the poorer, yet simpler living islanders. I find that there always seems to be contention when you artificially place people of extreme opposing economic/financial backgrounds together in the same place. Though you could argue that there shouldn't be any animosity because since tourism is the only industry here, and their economy is strongly buoyed by the tourists that spend their money. A Catch- 22, I suppose. One way or another, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I really love it here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I guess it's been a while since Frank and I have access to things while simultaneously being semi-immersed in a culture. It's an interesting juxtaposition of being surrounded by an unreachable culture, with its pigeon English (I often can't understand what a local is saying because of their heavy accents), and also being someplace that is so westernized. Kmart is a walking distance away from the dinghy dock at Yacht Haven Grande, laundry is inexpensive and easily accessible through the Crown Bay Marina, McDonald's is right around the corner, there's even take out Chinese food. Some markets are stocked with familiar treats such as Sour Patch kids, Smartfoods popcorn, smoked gouda and even Shitake mushrooms, <i>yum</i>. We're even able to get things shipped in using a <a href="http://www.mailstopvi.com/">mailing service (Mailstop)</a>, for a nominal price, as the USPS considers St Thomas american territory (we received a package from Florida in 3 days). It also helps that getting from one side of the island to the other is a mere safari bus ride away. For $2, you can basically take an open air "safari bus" from here to Red Hook, which is at the eastern point of the island and about a 1/2 an hour by car</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, which is a little slower paced and less touristy. You pick up these buses at any point in their route, and press a doorbell-like button when you want to get off. What a luxury it is to have things so readily available while surrounded by pretty blue water. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love this uphill house</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gee Frank, don't be so thrilled about the cruise ships...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bye bye cruise ship...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Fireflies...</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-851750953094463682016-04-08T17:58:00.001-04:002016-04-08T17:58:26.869-04:00Vieques, Puerto Rico <div style="text-align: justify;">
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After spending over 2 weeks in Vieques, out of all the places we've cruised, I would just like to say that Vieques has been our least favorite island. Don't get me wrong, it's still pretty, but in terms of all the islands thus far, it has been the most touristy and least beautiful we've been to. We anchored off of Esperanza to spend an additional week with my sister and her boyfriend. Since Vieques used to be a military testing/bombing range by the US since the 1940s up until 2003, the island itself is not the lush paradise that you would expect from any given caribbean destination. Everything has a little bit of a dead, almost desert like feel to it, where you could see that it could be as fruitful as its surrounding islands, but it simply isn't because of the bombings and pollution associated with that. Even in terms of coral, most places we dove on where you could see remnants of the once lively coral sadly were dead and gray. There were some spots near our anchorage where there was some live fan coral, but for the most part, the water was murky and devoid of any fish. It seems though that it is a little haven for hipsters, and I could see why this touristy strip of bars and restaurants paired with its pretty little beaches could inspire pale bearded college kids guarded with their straw fedoras and dressed like lumberjacks to visit here. It seems most days here are spent drinking yourself stupid and just relaxing, which to Frank and I is not our idea of traveling. Why bother when you can just do that at home? But ultimately, we made the most of it and spent a majority of our time just laying around on the beaches, jumping off docks, going on car hikes, and simply enjoying my sister's company. Since my sister and her fiancé had rented a Jeep Wrangler and an airBnB here, we took advantage of the landlubber luxuries and did our laundry at her place, took unlimited <i>hot</i> showers (I showered almost twice a day, everyday), as well as used her car to run errands such as propane refills and jerry canned-diesel runs. Thanks, Upbe…I miss you already :( </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sugar mill ruins</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little car hiking….</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My sister and her fiancé</td></tr>
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PS-As if there weren't more reasons for us to dislike Vieques, just FYI, there is a lot of petty theft here in Vieques. We had heard about this from other locals, but took it with a grain of salt until we had our dive gear stolen out of the back my sister's rental. Yup, a couple hundred dollars worth of masks, fins, etc. They even took Frank's swim shorts, which is completely absurd. So, if you do plan on visiting, just be sure to lock your dinghy and keep a good eye out for your stuff. </div>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-56796996107864985782016-04-02T17:07:00.000-04:002016-04-03T15:13:35.170-04:00Being Aware of Wares, Where, Wear and Tear, and just how Little I Wear….<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After spending only a week on the mainland, we skipped along the southern coast of Puerto Rico to Vieques to meet up with my sister and our good friends Sean and Shea.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This was the first time anyone has come visit us on this trip, and the first time we've had anyone else on the boat aside from Ashley.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's nothing like having visitors come and live with you, and inviting them into </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">your </i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">world,</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">that makes you realize just how different your world has become.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I guess it never dawned on me just how much things have changed, how I have changed, because every time I go home, I'm transported back into my old life, my old world, and quickly re-adapt</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the biggest things that has changed, is that I've become more aware.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sounds a little silly, but living this lifestyle, you have to be hyperaware of everything. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Something as simple as being aware of a hatch being open, or even something left on deck.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Being in the hands of nature, you start to see that there is a direct consequence for everything that you do… or don't do.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You leave a hatch open, chances are you ruin anything under that hatch when the daily tropical rainstorm comes along.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You leave something unstrapped on deck, odds are in favor of you losing it when the wind picks up, or when the waves build and rock your boat.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Having guests over makes you realize just how much you subconsciously do to avoid these little "inconveniences."</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Hmmmm….ironically as I'm writing this post, I'm hearing a pan-pan from the coast guard on the vHf of someone's 51' sailboat being thrashed on the rocks on western Culebra because his mooring ball drug while he was having lunch down below, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">shit</i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">…) </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Explaining to your guests things that need to be done and fearing that you are sounding a bit like a neurotic control freak when you're telling them how to properly flush your Lavac toilet, not to throw toilet paper in the bowl, not to leave things on countertops in case it gets rolley, to put everything away from deck before going to bed, and to shut off fans when you leave the room to save power. Keeping things neat and orderly has become a priority for us as there has been more than a night or two where we have been nearly thrown out of bed at 3am because of a sudden onset of a violent squall with stuff we left out, like dirty dishes, flying all over the boat. Realizing that we are now so much more subconsciously hyperaware, that we wake up at any unusual sound or movement, and tripping over our guests sleeping soundly as we get up instinctually to check for the source of the mystery sound. It's funny, we are so much more in touch with nature now that we are even able to gauge the windspeed just from the sound of our wind generator with incredible accuracy. We have routines in which we get up every morning, shut off the anchor light, check our power consumption, go up on deck, look around and see our surroundings to see if we dragged, check on the dinghy…so on. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Being responsible for all these little things as well taking ownership of your actions and inactions deeply changes your perspective and relation on things.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You start think about things more thoroughly, not just in terms of your living space, but you start to apply that notion to other parts of your life as well.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In a way, you simply take more direct responsibility over your life.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's not to say that this is necessarily a </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">good </i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">thing as it can just as well turn you into a paranoid, anxiety ridden nutcase. I suppose, just like everything else in life, there needs to be a moderate balance of awareness, as well as care-freeness. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Speaking of care-freeness, having guests on board also made me realize just how often I am naked without even realizing it. Oops, haha. I suppose that's just another side effect of living on a boat</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Aside from all that deep philosophical stuff, we had a great time with our friends and my sister. Sean ended up staying for about 10 days, while Shea was only allowed a brief 4 day stay. My sister was with us for close to 3 weeks. In that time, we took Sean and my sister to Culebra as well as St Thomas, where Sean flew home from, and my sister stayed on an extra week, while we sailed back to Vieques to meet up with her boyfriend (now fiancé…he proposed on the trip :) We took them on some dive adventures where they got to got see coral that they wouldn't have been to access without a dinghy. We showed them what it was like to sail from island to island. We did some spearfishing and found some conch. It was awesome to see my sister adapt to this life so quickly, and take to it. She really loved the simplicity of our life as well as being surrounded by nature, and says that she already misses the boat. I'm happy as that means that she will be wanting to join us again in the near future. Yay!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sailing to Vieques…</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shea and Sean</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Sister sister...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goofing off in St Thomas...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Island hopping</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diving under the pier in Vieques</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My sister the mermaid</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uni</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freediving</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First pic of Frank and I both spearfishing</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sean spearfishing</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Octopus Frank speared and I cooked…(first time ever<br />
preparing octopus!)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Culebra</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-88267544715469944832016-04-01T16:28:00.001-04:002016-04-01T16:28:42.626-04:00Puerto Rico<span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif; text-align: justify;">Hello again. Since I've last written, we have travelled through some of Puerto Rico as well as both Vieques, Culebra, and even a stop in St Thomas…</span><br />
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Before we had left the DR we had initially wanted to go from Luperon to Samana and check out the whales hanging out there in that bay during this time of year, but a weather window to Puerto Rico presented itself and we couldn't resist, so we set out from Luperon straight to Boqueron, Puerto Rico. This trip took us along the dreaded northern coast of Dominican Republic and across the notorious Mona Passage. Frank planned such a perfect window, that we ended up with a nice 2 day and 2 night sail with small seas, fair winds, and trails of phosphorescence in our wake, all of which helped melt away the anxiety we had built up about this portion of our trip. Catching a 3 ft mahi didn't hurt our mood either. Going from spending weeks in a third world country to Puerto Rico (which is essentially a Spanish speaking America, fully equipped with Walmarts and McDonalds), was surreal to say the least. And even though this was the furthest we have gone up to this point, we felt like we right back home, which was bittersweet. To be honest, Frank and I were a little underwhelmed by Puerto Rico itself. It felt much like being in Miami, as it is very Americanized, and coming from the simplicity of the Bahamas and the way of life in Dominican Republic, we felt we had traveled a long way to end up right back at square one. Perhaps it was the culture shock of being surrounded by all the things we love to hate but I was not ready to be back in America yet. This certainly didn't stop us from gorging ourselves on Wendy's til we got sick to our stomachs, as well as enjoy the luxury of having things be so easily available. But <i>still</i>. </div>
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The one thing we did genuinely enjoy while there was renting a car and driving through the mountains that make up the center of the island. For anyone visiting Puerto Rico, I would highly highly recommend it. Frank and I had to drive to West Marine way over in San Juan (on the northeast corner of the island) from Boqueron (in the southwest corner), so we decided to make the best of it and take the scenic route. Driving up across and around the mountains on sketchy roads with sheer drop offs on either side and steep 30% grades was a little intimidating at first, but well worth it. The ride is pretty much through a jungle in the mountains sprinkled with houses precariously perched in seemingly impossible ways on the super steep slopes. The roads snake their way through bamboo forests and rainbow eucalyptus groves with lush Tarzan-like vines draping from the cliff sides. Winding across the summit ridge line, you'll pass through countless coffee plantations and banana farms. Tiny villages with yummy baked goods to offer dot the valleys, burned out cars occasionally left abandoned on the side of the road are slowly being reclaimed by the jungle, and families can be seen going about their daily business on horseback. All of this works together to transport you back in time and away from the Americanization that seems so rampant on the coast. It was about a six hour drive in the end running from Rincon east through the country roads before eventually getting back to the highway and our business at hand. When we set out, we had no real plans, we just sort of quickly glanced at the map and chose what looked to be the steepest, and least travelled roads so long as they were heading generally eastward. Once we set out, we would randomly choose a direction at any given intersection, a type of exploring we have come to refers to as "car hikes." Frank and I have a long history of car hiking beginning way back when we first met and drove a loop across the US some 13 years ago. More often than not, these car hikes have led us to some of the most beautiful places we have been able to find. Being lost and not knowing what's around the next corner is one of the most thrilling parts of traveling for us. This particular car hike was one of my favorites...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was off the side of the highway :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Rainbow Eucalyptus </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bamboo everywhere...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First mate on watch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPkMQ86H46vCm5v5d6s9iCVgXLPA0IFsxAbQcrNAuDjTECHe8qrNVyhQG495V1bw5H-EnLGfbJpMWNqpuRStPV_hG2l3VwyI9QBkBC02448OFeHndOdQtRASk8TKpJbppnF-F9R1pSCA/s1600/IMG_0039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPkMQ86H46vCm5v5d6s9iCVgXLPA0IFsxAbQcrNAuDjTECHe8qrNVyhQG495V1bw5H-EnLGfbJpMWNqpuRStPV_hG2l3VwyI9QBkBC02448OFeHndOdQtRASk8TKpJbppnF-F9R1pSCA/s400/IMG_0039.JPG" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sailing along the southern coast of mainland, PR.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1X3N2gawX16c_R5WpItx1yWhqHwUYP851Wz_2HdK7BQIU_OzOmiWoo9fCV5jpmFP7ze2qRULKFyqJnytyCA6QxB1XsSiqI8ValzwKnbd2vJx57SqXXr-5Risxd3HkTOIjhlylHLR3vw/s1600/IMG_0023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1X3N2gawX16c_R5WpItx1yWhqHwUYP851Wz_2HdK7BQIU_OzOmiWoo9fCV5jpmFP7ze2qRULKFyqJnytyCA6QxB1XsSiqI8ValzwKnbd2vJx57SqXXr-5Risxd3HkTOIjhlylHLR3vw/s400/IMG_0023.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oyster/Clam stand in Boqueron where you eat<br />fresh shucked shellfish right then and there.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK7bOIhDdIrqiM9EfCmiAvDii-YU7vSnMvMKdSMITdYyQ_QN1rHLB7RVYkfmWi298oP3vtsAb2h-su36K_TN9D2G4vOLth0qALkXVo84tAqsVvR5tfdPNDffh-NK8OXfpV6hrru8xN6w/s1600/IMG_0021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK7bOIhDdIrqiM9EfCmiAvDii-YU7vSnMvMKdSMITdYyQ_QN1rHLB7RVYkfmWi298oP3vtsAb2h-su36K_TN9D2G4vOLth0qALkXVo84tAqsVvR5tfdPNDffh-NK8OXfpV6hrru8xN6w/s400/IMG_0021.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These black clams are native to Boqueron and were so<br />so so delicious. </td></tr>
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</span></span>Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-8961771694093885512016-03-13T10:54:00.003-04:002016-03-13T10:54:38.599-04:00More Caves and Abandoned Spaces….<div style="text-align: justify;">
We found after spending over 3 weeks in Luperon that there is so much to do. We found another cave to explore after Nick spoke with some real estate agents about possibly buying some property on the island. They took Frank and Nick on a tour that included property sitting over this awesome cave. The next day, we rented motorcycles again so that we could explore this cave some more. Needless to say, it was beautiful….</div>
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We also found an abandoned marina that was also pretty cool….</div>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-76512937152536361302016-03-08T16:37:00.001-05:002016-03-08T16:38:38.330-05:00Luperon Blows…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
After hearing from another cruiser that there were caves and blowholes nearby our anchorage, we decided to go and check it out for ourselves. Apparently there was a plan for a development in this area but it seems that it was abandoned mid-project. Getting to it was easy as it was just a matter of following a path through the woods…Not much to say except that it was beautiful. Another lovely surprise from Luperon…. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is where we beached our dinghy</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty staircase in the abandoned building...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">That would've been a lovely view</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awesome caves...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And crazy tree roots...</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJyVMD69cvYY7zZS8dHsnA7Nmcrl7azB5bNrBqOA3spYFeC0ksXs34xf_RonVG5e68FfGUD_XozrvUclnDeYWOxqkXsgBQ-2w-e46GhRn8f-MRvCVZxVkSbxWtTFch5qhyDtQ91F_uEg/s1600/IMG_0162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJyVMD69cvYY7zZS8dHsnA7Nmcrl7azB5bNrBqOA3spYFeC0ksXs34xf_RonVG5e68FfGUD_XozrvUclnDeYWOxqkXsgBQ-2w-e46GhRn8f-MRvCVZxVkSbxWtTFch5qhyDtQ91F_uEg/s400/IMG_0162.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Isn't DR amazing?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There she blows…</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-50805232069071334672016-03-04T13:19:00.000-05:002016-03-04T13:19:39.009-05:0027 Cascadas...<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We had heard about the 27 waterfalls from the locals, and that it was a must-see while in the Dominican Republic, so we all decided that…well, we must go and see it. We rented motorcycles from Papo at 500 pesos a day (about $10) and set out early so that we could have a leisurely ride through the countryside. The motorcycle ride was a major highlight of the trip and we really got to see how the locals get around as this is the predominant mode of transportation here. I can't exactly say that it was safe, riding here is a bit of a free for all <i>(*see note below about this). </i>Trucks and cars aren't hesitant about tailgating 5 feet behind you, and since there doesn't seem to be any road rules, it was one of those survive the moment situations. A bit scary but still so much fun!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since the waterfalls are a major attraction (rated on TripAdvisor as one the top ten things to do in the DR), you can imagine that this is a bit of a tourist trap. When you first arrive, you are given the option to do the first 7 waterfalls, the first 12, or all 27. It is done with a guide along with mandatory helmets and lifejackets. Little did I know, at the time, that I had gotten major food poisoning the day before. I was suffering from some mild symptoms earlier in the morning, but I had written it off, and so, foolishly I opted to do all 27 since we had come so far (plus, I was pretty excited about jumping off some waterfalls). Little did I know what I was getting myself into. For the first hour, we were pretty much just hiking up the mountain. I had no idea that we'd be hiking for so long, and my body was not happy with me. Since we didn't know that we'd be hiking for so long, none of us thought to bring water. About 20 minutes in, my symptoms were really starting to kick in and I was fighting off cold sweats and bouts of nausea, wondering if I would make it up the mountain without vomiting or shitting myself in my teeny bikini. Luckily I had taken Immodium earlier in the day, and so I was spared the embarrassment of the latter, but I simply could not enjoy the beauty of the hike up. After what seemed an eternity, we finally got to the top, where at that point I felt I had conquered Everest and looked to my guide as if he were my own personal sherpa. Admittedly, I was harboring a bit of unwarranted contempt for him as he did not slow down AT ALL during the hike, and was completely unaware of my woes. I wasn't exactly about to communicate to him in my broken Spanish "food poisoning," nor was I going to attempt to gesticulate "major diarrhea" and "want to die," and so I silently suffered with Frank and Lindsay being the only sympathetic ones waiting up for me during the hike. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the time we had reached the top, I was so drenched in sweat that I could not wait to get in the water. Jumping off the first waterfall was like heaven on earth. As soon as the cold water hit my body, I felt exponentially better. My nausea went away and I was able to ignore my upset stomach. It was an awesome time back down the mountain, and we had a blast sliding and jumping each of the falls. It took about another hour or so, and let me tell you, it was so beautiful and well worth the trip. I don't know if it was pure mental willpower preventing me from really being sick during the excursion, or if it was the effects of the Immodium, or simply adrenaline, but by time I got home that afternoon I had a full fledged fever along with muscle aches. I could hardly muster the energy to go to the bathroom every hour for the next 24 hours. At one point I was convinced I had the Zika virus, and luckily that was not the case and I was back to normal within 2 days. I had no idea what got me so sick, but I felt very fortunate that I was able to hold off for long enough that day to enjoy another little treasure of the Dominican Republic. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Lindsay @sailboatfurminger.com</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Lindsay @sailboatfurminger.com</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">*A word of caution though if you do decide to rent motorcycles here (or even a taxi for that matter) there really are not any rules at all.. Stop lights as far as I can tell are only there to determine who is the bravest. The only helmets I've seen were the ones they gave us for jumping off of the waterfalls . Passing two trucks at a time on a blind curve while going as fast as you possibly can is the norm. I'm still trying to figure out if the streets in town are ment to be one way or not. On top of that there are huge potholes, random herds of cattle, stray dogs, children, horses, chicken, broken down cars, etc all in the road so it can be a bit exciting at times. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">PS-Sorry if this post was tainted with my lovely descriptions of my food poisoning, but I really wanted to illustrate just how much I enjoyed the waterfalls even though I was so sick. </span></div>
Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-8021242395424031742016-03-03T17:11:00.000-05:002016-03-04T11:48:59.919-05:00Adventures in Luperon...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After spending 18 days in Luperon, I can safely say that I am absolutely in love with this little village off the beaten path. First off, let me just state that it is incredibly inexpensive to live here. An average meal out costs about $5 a person, but if you want to be frugal and cook your own meals, groceries are just as affordable: 2 bags of fruits such as mangos and papayas cost us around $2; 3 days worth of pork and chicken cost us around $10; and canned goods were found to be cheaper than even the states. Since the average income per month is around $250, you can imagine how far the dollar can stretch here, and it's no surprise to me how many ex-pats have decided to retire here and call Luperon their home. From a cruiser's point of view, this place is more than idyllic, with its incredibly sheltered harbor, to its access to the internet from your boat (at $15/week) , to the convenience of how close town is via dinghy, you can understand why we stayed for so long. As mentioned in my previous post, yes, the water in the harbor is pretty nasty, so no you won't be able to use your water makers, but at $1 per 5 gallons of drinking water delivered directly to your boat and into your tanks by the local go-to guy, Papo, who really <i>needs</i> to use their water makers. Papo pretty much delivers anything you would possibly need directly to your boat at a very nominal price…from fuel, to laundry washed and folded, to propane, to even groceries, making it very convenient to stay on anchor. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Aside from all of the logistics of being here, the Dominican Republic is also a beautiful country. On one of our first days here, we met the daughter of a local ex-pat that offered to take us to the beach, Playa Castillo, in the back of his pickup. The beach itself was scenic, with the mountains as a backdrop to the turquoise waters, but what was most impressive was simply the ride there. Words cannot describe how enchanting the countryside is, with its looming lush mountains, colorful little houses, cactus fences, and cattle fields. I felt was I transported to a different time, where life seems a bit more simple. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazing mountains...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Riding in the back of a pickup</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playa Castillo </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Lindsay and Frank in Playa Castillo</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Motorcyle rides...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little town of Luperon</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After this excursion, we decided that we really wanted to explore Luperon and its surrounding areas. We talked to the local gringos and asked for directions on how to get to Puerto Plata, a small city about an hour from Luperon by a guagua (bus) and set out to explore the city with our sailing buddies, Nick and Lindsay. Luckily for us, Lindsay is fairly fluent in Spanish and we were able to easily traverse the city. We had a great time just walking around, soaking in the culture and being tourists. If you ever get the chance, I must say, the city of Puerto Plata is a pretty place to explore.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puerto Plata...</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-3836256784964484372016-02-19T14:19:00.002-05:002016-02-19T14:29:27.342-05:00Dispelling the Myths of Luperon….<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After a beautiful night sail with 15 kts on a broad reach from Big Sand Cay (south of Grand turk), the winds died down at daybreak, just as the mountains of the Dominican Republic arose from the sea. It was an incredibly dramatic landfall, and a sight for sore eyes after spending so many months on the flatter islands of the Bahamas and Turks. We could smell the fertile soil of the island long before we could see it, and the sight of mountains amidst the vast ocean was something I've always dreamed of seeing in real life. What explorers must've felt like after months at sea, I cannot imagine…</div>
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Upon entering the harbor, we were greeted by a local named Papo in his penga and guided through the "channel." Apparently 2/3rds of first time visitors will run aground if they are not guided in. The channel markers are NOT in their correct places and both sets of our charts are lacking any sort of information regarding depths in the harbor itself. There are a few shoals and low areas to watch out for. Initially we had planned to anchor, but after realizing how crowded the anchorage was and not really knowing the depths, we opted to take a mooring ball from Papo for $2 a day. I'm glad we did as we have several boaters drag since (including our buddy boat <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sailboatfurminger">Sailboat Furminger</a>). Papo, as it turns out, is the local go-to guy for any of your needs, from propane, to fuel, laundry, and water all delivered to your boat at a very reasonable price. He even helped us rent motorcycles for $10/day. </div>
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Ok, so let's discuss the topic of Luperon as a cruisers' stop. We have read and heard many horror stories regarding Luperon. From a filthy harbor, to the rampant theft and crime, corruption amongst government officials, lack of services, and nothing to do… we were a bit apprehensive to say the least. I'd just like to clear the air and dispel some of the horribly inaccurate rumors. First, yes, it is a filthy harbor, you are not going to be able to swim off your boat nor use your water makers. Yes, there is some corruption amongst government officials, but let's be realistic, we are dealing with a third world country here and the money we are talking about is quite nominal (I suspect we overpaid "official fees" about $30. There was no greasing of palms or requests for tips, but they certainly were creative with the "fees"). All said and done, the total price is still half the price of clearing into the Bahamas or the Turks. But with that being said, I would never EVER dissuade someone from coming here. This place is a diamond in the rough and from what we've heard from local Ex-Pats, the closest you will find to what the rest of the Caribbean was like 30 years ago. The anchorage itself is incredibly sheltered, but it's hard to get enough scope out for proper holding (the bottom is a soft jelly-like mud, and bruce as well as new generation anchors supposedly offer the best holding). Even as I write this, it is blowing a steady 20 knots and the boat is not is rocking. </div>
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Luperon has been hands down, by far, our favorite stop in terms of beauty and culture. For the first time since we've started back in March, we feel like we are finally cruising. It epitomizes what we had first imagined cruising the Caribbean would be like before we had set out. It's a small, little fishing village off the beaten track, far enough from the touristy areas of which the Dominican Republic has many of to retain a lot of its true culture. Goats, cows, and chickens roam free among the streets along with packs of stray dogs. Fruit grows everywhere, from mangos, to papayas, to guavas, and you can smell the lush trees everywhere you go. The people here, though extremely poor, are exceptionally friendly offering warm smiles and greetings. Yes, there is petty crime here as with anywhere in the world, and you should take precautions and stay situationally aware to minimize your risks. But really I don't feel threatened here. The people are always trying to engage you in conversation, and we've even been invited to someone's home for lunch. We've roamed the streets at night, snapping photos of the locals just hanging out outdoors, and socializing with one another. We've sampled some of the local street fare, from tiny shacks to gringo owned restaurants and not once have we felt unwelcome. Yes, we felt out of place at times, but that is simply a part of traveling. So far, we've been here for over a week, and we are loving every single moment… Stay tuned for more about our adventures in Luperon...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Papo guiding us in...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guanabana growing on the side of the road.</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-56045262737886002822016-02-11T22:15:00.002-05:002016-02-11T22:17:03.939-05:00Top 9 Things to do in the Bahamas…<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since the Bahamas were our first real playground to explore via sailboat, I thought it suiting to write this post as an ode to our maiden voyage. We spent about a total of 6 1/2 months exploring these beautiful islands and really learned a lot about Moitessier as well as ourselves during this time. Here are some highlights, starting with our favorites:</div>
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1. <b>Marketfish Cay, Berry Islands</b></div>
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By far, my most favorite cay is Marketfish Cay in the Berry Islands. The snorkeling and spearfishing here is absolutely remarkable. And aside from it being one of the less inhabited of all the islands we've visited, this place has offered the most abundant as well as the most diverse type of coral reef. During our last visit to the Bahamas, we spent nearly 3 weeks here, without another boat in sight, simply spearfishing every single day. The only downside to this place was the amount of shark sitings we had, which happened to be the most out of all the places we have dove in, but that really doesn't deter from the beauty of this paradise. <br />
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2. <b>Mayaguana </b></div>
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Another favorite spearfishing spot! This island offered the clearest, bluest water I have ever seen in my life. This is really saying a lot since most of the turquoise waters in the Bahamas are quite spectacular. As mentioned in another post, the water here is so clear that you can drop a quarter in 35 ft of water and still see it on the bottom. The visibility for snorkeling and diving is remarkable. Mayaguana made it to my top 2 simply because it was the first place Frank and I had spotted and speared Stone Crab, as well as Slipper Lobsters. The coral here is quite diverse, and for those who don't necessarily enjoy free diving on deeper coral, this place also offers some shallow coral that you can explore on. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conch, Spiney Lobster, Slipper Lobster, Stone Crab!</td></tr>
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3. <b>Hermitage on Cat Island</b></div>
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Built by Father Jerome in the early 20th Century on New Bight in Cat Island, this hermitage offers some the most stunning views from atop of the highest peak of all of the Bahamas. Aside from this site being one of the cooler things I've seen, the island itself was made all the more enjoyable from the friendly locals who were more than hospitable. While asking for directions to hike the hermitage, we were offered not only a ride, but the use of this local Bahamian's car since she thought it was "too hot out" to walk up to the trail, and basically lent us her car for a couple of hours. We found that this was not an isolated incident, and that wherever we went throughout the island, we were offered rides with the locals patiently waiting in their cars while we grocery shopped. Incredible. <br />
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4. <b>Calabash Bay, Long Island</b></div>
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Aside from the amount of lobster and fish offered from spearfishing on the coral here (we speared 12 lobsters, 2 crabs, and a big ass snapper in one day alone), Long Island has a lot to offer in terms of pristine beaches and beautiful sunsets. Overall a favorite simply because of the beauty of this anchorage. Though the anchorage itself is by no means sheltered, we thoroughly enjoyed this little paradise with its soft white sands and incredible sunsets.<br />
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5. <b>Cabbage Cay, Berry Islands</b></div>
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Out of all of the islands, Cabbage Cay was the best in terms of conch hunting. I'm not sure if it's because it's one of the less travelled places in the Berry Islands, but we found it to be brimming with conch. It was also one of the more picturesque places with pretty little salt flats and idyllic beaches where you can pretty much beach comb in the nude as we didn't really see any boats or even people here. </div>
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6. <b>Thunderball Grotto, Staniel Cay</b></div>
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Though one of my least favorite islands was Staniel Cay due to high tourism and lack of coral to dive on, Thunderball Grotto was one of the coolest things I've seen in the Bahamas. Even with the tour boats bringing loads of fat, pale tourists in, I still thought that this cave was so beautiful. Perhaps it's because it was the first cave I've ever seen, but one way or another, I love this place! If you ever go here, be sure to explore outside the cave as well as the coral formation outside it is amazing.<br />
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7. <b>Plane wreck on Norman's Cay</b></div>
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This was one of the most spectacular dives I've ever done. This plane was one of the drug running planes in the Bahamas back in the 80s. As made famous by the movie Blow, based on true events about the cocaine smuggling into America, one of the drug smugglers, Carlos Lehder, had made Norman's Cay into his own private fortress. One of the wings of this wreck can be seen from above the water and as you dive under, you get this eerie feeling that someone is watching you. Creepy but also cool as hell since the plane itself is covered with colorful coral and tropical fish. <br />
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8. <b>Blackpoint Settlement, Exumas</b></div>
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I don't know exactly what the magnetic draw is for me to this place, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this settlement. Perhaps it was the offering of coin operated fresh showers along with a laundromat right in front of the anchorage. Or maybe it was simply the communal vibe I got from this place, as the population here is a mere 230. The locals here are incredibly friendly and we found that both times visiting this settlement, we were welcomed with open arms, with most people remembering our names. We were always greeted with a big smile and some nights, we found ourselves in deep conversations with some of the locals while we enjoyed our dinner. The happy energy here is remarkable, and though there really isn't much to do in terms of diving or really anything, every single person that we had spoken to had nothing but good things to say about living on this island. Sometimes, it's the simplest things that can produce happiness. <br />
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9. <b>Hoffman's Cay, Berry Islands</b></div>
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Last, but not least, Hoffman's Cay. Hoffman's Cay is famous for its 600-ft wide and 20-ft deep blue hole. A short hike up a well marked trail will lead you to the edge of the blue hole, where you can either jump off a short cliff and land in the warm blue water, or hike down a little further for those of you afraid of heights. Supposedly, from what I've read, the only living inhabitants in this body of water are oysters, though I've found that to be untrue as we did spot a single Schoolmaster snapper the last time we were here. Along with this blue hole, Hoffman's also offers a hike to the top of the island, marked ambiguously with a flip flop hanging on a tree, offering stunning views of the ocean side's white cliffs and big waves. </div>
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So there you have it, our favorites. I wanted to make this a Top 10 list, but to be honest, I couldn't think of a 10th one aside from the Exuma Markets in Georgetown. Of course, I couldn't include this since this is simply due to the fact that it is one of the only markets outside of Nassau that was truly well stocked and not super overpriced. Not exactly a tourist destination, but it certainly did bring me a great amount of joy to find fresh portobello mushrooms and arugula. I was tempted to add this, but stopped myself, haha…I think we definitely made the most of the Bahamas. My only regret is not spending time in the out islands of the Bahamas, such as the Jumentos and Ragged Islands. As well, I do wish we had more time in Mayaguana to explore. Perhaps on the way back to the states, we will stop to enjoy these more remote places. <br />
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-58540538345533884682016-02-03T20:18:00.000-05:002016-02-03T20:19:18.215-05:00Finally….A New Country!<div style="text-align: justify;">
We decided to stay an extra day in Mayaguana to get some rest as well as enjoy the spearfishing offered on the island. Initially, we had planned to leave that night after a couple of hours of sleep and continue on to the Turks & Caicos, but after seeing the water quality (we dropped a quarter in 35 ft of water and were able to see it on the bottom from deck level), we couldn't resist exploring the reefs. As well, our buddy boat, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sailboatfurminger/">Sailboat Furminger </a>has been having a bunch of mechanical problems lately, the most recent two being setting the engine room on fire while underway from Long Island to Crooked (a wire had shorted out and ignited their oil absorbent rag under the engine…see their site for more details), along with losing their throttle control cable also while underway from Crooked to Mayaguana, the day after the fire. What had happened with the cable was that they had paid a marina back in Baltimore $4K for someone to install new control cables and a dual action control arm as their binnacle mounted controls had broken at that point. Since they are new to the whole boating arena, they didn't notice that the mechanic had improperly routed the morse cables so that the throttle cable was sitting against their exhaust riser, which ended up melting and seizing the cable (you can't trust anyone!). When Nico went to throttle back, he broke the control arm as well. After they finally got anchored up later that evening, Frank was able to go over and jerry rig a simple system for them consisting of lines and pulleys so that they could again control their throttle from the helm. The sea always manages to find the weaknesses in any system so it pays to be handy...</div>
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After a good night's rest, we spent the next morning hunting in some of the clearest waters we've seen so far. Of course, the day's haul was stupendous, and we were able to spear some Slipper lobsters to boot. Frank and I have been looking for these elusive Slippers now for many, many years (at this point, I'd say close to 10). Ever since we've heard about these things, we have been hoping to spot one. This time around, not only did we finally see them but we managed to catch 4, and they were absolutely delicious. They are a lot like Spiny lobster in flavor and texture except a little sweeter. They however don't hide in the same way Spiny lobsters do. Normally when in search of Spiny lobster, we look under a rock or coral head, and they are usually just tucked up under there, sitting up, just staring at you, antennas waving around just waiting to be captured. With Slipper lobsters we found that they usually cling on to the undersides of the rock/coral in a nook very well camouflaged, so when you're peaking into a hole, instead of looking down, you would look up and along the sides of the walls. Though hunting them was slightly different than hunting Spiny lobster, preparing them was just as easy. We simply steamed them and dipped it in melted butter. In the same meal, we also prepared Stone crab, which were also just as delectable. It was a real treat as crabs tend to be a little more rare. I now know why they call them Stone crabs, as the shells on them are rock hard. I lost one in a reef trying to spear it, with no luck as my spear wasn't strong enough to puncture the tough shell, and all it did was deflect off before the little critter ran away. How frustrating! Frank, with the better spear and skills, managed to spear one that Nico had spotted right between the eyes (as you can see from the photo). All in all, our brief stay in Mayaguana turned out to be very worthwhile, and I wish that our weather window wasn't so short so that we could've had more time to spend exploring this beautiful, remote island. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">They really look like slippers!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love Mayaguana!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1LpigUB5fpwpEwL6wZQ4nbvi7xlEyLmnsWDOPvi8qeOKZiZHuAGe_u1QEEnvjXWNt7kRTTlTrhxk8A7oB33_U7fQ4UzJQTjR4gQ1ON0FxcVnD6tvctxPl3osCMBLp3TrO0dxyAbS66w/s1600/IMG_8612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1LpigUB5fpwpEwL6wZQ4nbvi7xlEyLmnsWDOPvi8qeOKZiZHuAGe_u1QEEnvjXWNt7kRTTlTrhxk8A7oB33_U7fQ4UzJQTjR4gQ1ON0FxcVnD6tvctxPl3osCMBLp3TrO0dxyAbS66w/s400/IMG_8612.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This poor crab didn't know what was coming….</td></tr>
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After sharing our feast with our Nico and Lindsay, we took a nap and awoke at 11pm to continue on to the Turks. With the winds at 10-15 knots on a close haul, we were able to have a beautiful night sail with a sky full of stars and a trail of phosphorescence in our wake. Getting through Sandbore Channel proved only mildly challenging as the 10 miles of the shallow "channel" was sprinkled with coral heads, so visual piloting was absolutely necessary. We are now anchored in Sapodilla Bay on Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos. We will spend the next couple of days here awaiting another weather window to open up so that we can take our next passage safely. I'm not sure what we're going to do in terms of fun activities as spearfishing is highly forbidden here and lobster season is over. I'm sure we will find something…</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beach that we are anchored in front of….</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1ZsPhkyeWZyXk-w1R7lU10eV6du11LHMne3NdCjwPt4no2-0VCdxFwd-byWvIN950jcUr_z3adpvRLaWcKc8V09GhRHRRWsP_QA9KneX6zD7WtedgZJo9hQwecASssI1tqbjB-oSzA/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1ZsPhkyeWZyXk-w1R7lU10eV6du11LHMne3NdCjwPt4no2-0VCdxFwd-byWvIN950jcUr_z3adpvRLaWcKc8V09GhRHRRWsP_QA9KneX6zD7WtedgZJo9hQwecASssI1tqbjB-oSzA/s400/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise underway….</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_L4y96hrMHAb5HnqZsOpqpRm9uw4xCD2QdNeboOq901jeY2aSHZAstnbCTbX-O82ig66YHl9qj9srRz6k2Zsqt7CFtEUYrRI2WRMWW-d0fQwhqbRxFs4XL_nq0ocgv-2Hawa9V8qrHA/s1600/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_L4y96hrMHAb5HnqZsOpqpRm9uw4xCD2QdNeboOq901jeY2aSHZAstnbCTbX-O82ig66YHl9qj9srRz6k2Zsqt7CFtEUYrRI2WRMWW-d0fQwhqbRxFs4XL_nq0ocgv-2Hawa9V8qrHA/s400/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chalk Sound, Providenciales</td></tr>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-19354944763039332802016-01-31T19:26:00.001-05:002016-02-03T20:19:48.618-05:00Long Island to Mayaguana<div style="text-align: justify;">
After what seemed like an eternity in Georgetown, we finally got a good enough window to leave. The one good thing about being stuck there was that we were able to meet yet ANOTHER younger couple cruising. Lee and Rachel Cumberland on Satori. Our time together was brief, and I wish that we were going in the same direction, as we did have a bunch of fun with you guys. It was so refreshing to find another couple like us, in a similar situation, going through a long refit of the same style of boat as ours (he has a Tayana 37). Lee's pragmatic sensibility, affinity for traditional style looking boats, as well as general handiness, reminded me much of a younger Frank. The same but completely different. Isn't it great when you meet an alternate version of someone you know? Check out their <a href="http://www.beautifulcrazyhappiness.com/">blog</a>.</div>
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So after leaving Georgetown, we spent a couple of days in Calabash Bay on the NW tip of Long Island as we couldn't resist the spearfishing there. After the last time, we remembered that this island offered some great reefs abundant with numerous culinary delights. In one day, we speared 12 lobsters, 2 crabs, a big ass snapper, a jack. I only speared 3 of the lobsters, so it was pretty much all Frank, but still it allowed us to feast with our friends Lindsay and Nico on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sailboatfurminger">Sailboat Furminger</a>. The next couple days were not as insane in terms of the haul, but were still pretty bountiful. We had to stock up our protein as our next couple spots offer scant protection and will serve only as rest stops for a couple of hours of sleep between passages. I may officially be sick of lobster…</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hand puppet show…..</td></tr>
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So here we are now anchored in front of Mayaguana Island. After a stop in Clarencetown, on the southeast side of Long Island, we had a short layover at Landrail Point on Crooked Island, both of which took a pretty hard hit during the recent cat 4 Hurricane Joaquin back in October (the one that took the cargo ship, El Faro, with 33 crew onboard). The hurricane came within 15 miles of Crooked Island with winds up to 155 mph, and it submerged more than 70% of the island with flood waters up to 5 feet deep. The islands from what we saw looked absolutely devastated. Roofs were ripped up, homes were sunken in sand, it felt eerily like a war zone. Mother Nature strikes again! It is so sad to think of all the people who lost their homes and their lives. Makes you grateful for what you have, and a great reminder that life is short. </div>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-37448715532172339952016-01-15T10:43:00.001-05:002016-01-15T10:43:26.657-05:00"And I'm One too Many Mornings, and a Thousand Miles Behind…."<div style="text-align: justify;">
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One of the things that people don't often talk about while cruising are the spells of restlessness you suffer from. You'd think that since we are on this "adventure" that every day would be filled with novel, mind expanding experiences. That the days of feeling "stuck in a rut" would be over. Nope, not the case. There are times when you just feel restless and bored, like you're directionless, floating around from day to day just "relaxing". I find this feeling very disorientating, and it most often happens to me when I've been anchored somewhere for way too long (in this case Georgetown) with too much internet. Right now, what's bothering me the most is being stuck here due to weather and not getting to be in St Thomas to work and just going into debt. Since being stuck here I find I have fallen into this mindless rut, acting like a crazy person, surfing the web often addictively, compulsively checking my Facebook feed and looking at Instagram pics. Basically doing a boat-load of nothing, repeating this meaningless act over and over again, while gaining nothing substantial from it, a bit like chasing my own tail…(but dogs make it look like so much fun!) I find that the less productive I am, the more depressed I get, and more depressed I get, the less productive I am. These spells can last for days and during this time I start to worry and panic about the future, our plans, being in debt, and so on. Yeah, pretty demented.</div>
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This feeling of direction-lessness, it's maddening and at times depressing. Not knowing what the next year is going to bring and not even knowing where you will be, can both be paradoxically exciting and mentally exhausting. You wonder if you're just wasting your life away, not settling down, buying a house, having kids, working towards a retirement...you know, what most people consider <i>responsible. </i>Perhaps this is the reason why people have these things in the first place...the house, the kids...so that they also have a reason to live, something to work towards. I guess I underestimated the power of this notion. Now I understand a little bit of why my father tells me he doesn't want to retire...he always says "if I rest I die" (sounds a lil more eloquent in Chinese, but you get the point). I guess not having something to work towards can be considered mental suicide. We all need some sort of structure and something to move towards. For some, it's all about the goal and doing everything in their power to get to that goal, losing sight of everything along the way. For others, it's not necessarily the end goal that matters but simply having a purpose. I believe there has to be a balance between these in order to be truly happy. But I suppose there is no right answer. </div>
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After all of this, I have to ask myself? What<i> am</i> I working towards? I know it's all about traveling and seeing the world and the wonders of nature....but is that it? No, it's more than that. I guess what I want from all of this is personal enlightenment. Seeing what life has to offer from a different perspective, a little outside the norm. Seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly both from myself and from this beautiful, cruel world…<br />
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-43320974216361960342016-01-12T23:13:00.000-05:002016-01-13T13:04:24.660-05:00El Derecho<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Been here in Georgetown for about a week and half now. Some of it due to weather, some of it due to procrastinating the things we need to do while we are here (fuel, water, groceries, etc)…some of it just from being boaters. I'm getting anxious to move on to the next place, because to be honest, Georgetown is one of my least favorite parts of the Bahamas. With the exception of availability of goods, like awesome groceries and other needed amenities, there really is not much to do here in terms of spearfishing or underwater activities. The sailing community here is large, with the anchorages full of other cruisers, which to me poses a deep love-hate relationship. I hate how many people there are here; zipping by on dinghies, anchoring way too close, yapping on the VHF. Sorry for sounding crotchety, perhaps I'm just getting used to being in less inhabited islands? That being said though, what I do love is the how cruisers come together in a time of need and once again, how they abide by philosophy of communal living. </div>
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About a week ago, a weather system technically known as a "derecho" hit the Exumas. A derecho, according to google, is "a widespread, long-lived straight-line wind storm that is associated with a land based, fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms. Derechos can cause hurricane force winds, tornados, heavy rains, and flash floods..." This particular one hit us unexpectedly, with winds reported at 70-100kts in some of the anchorage, I personally only noticed a sustained wind between 30-40 for a couple of hours on our anemometer. Regardless, it was a bit of a shit show. At the time, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sailboatfurminger">Nico and Lindsay </a>were on our boat just hanging out, making dinner with us, when out of nowhere within minutes, the winds go from 15 kts to 50 kts. Frank and Nico were in the cockpit, and Lindsay and I were down below preparing dinner. Of course we stopped what we were doing to check on what was happening, and next thing you know, we notice that Nico and Lindsay's boat dragging. The waves in Elizabeth Harbor were large and violent, and there was no way that anyone could safely get in a dinghy and drive over to his boat, which was a half a mile away. The waves were so strong that we were getting soaked just from them crashing over the bow, and into our cockpit. So there we were sitting helplessly watching their boat drag clear across the anchorage, while monitoring the VHF and the anemometer. At this point, I'm at the helm putting the boat into the wind and driving forward so as to take some strain off the anchor and keeping an eye on our neighboring boats. Frank was forward checking on the anchor and letting out more scope. Next thing you know, our friends' dinghy starts to blow vertically and the point on which their line was attached at the bow rips off their dinghy. Luckily, there was an aft line holding it as well, and Nico was standing close by, and able to catch it. There he was holding onto his inflatable, which at this point is behaving much like a flapping sail, You never realize how much windage those things have until they start flopping around the side of the boat like a dying fish. I call Lindsay who is down below to help because he was struggling to hold it. Frank rushes back, grabs a line, and they both struggle and tie the line to the dinghy. </div>
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Their boat continues to drag across the anchorage, and with every boat Vida del Sol (name of their boat) passes, we cringe hoping that they don't get closer. We watch helplessly as the boat slowly passes a couple other boats unscathed. We keep an eye on the anchor light at their masthead, and hope that it's still bobbing, indicating they haven't run aground. Eventually, Vida del Sol starts to get pretty close to another boat which at this point is now in our anchorage, half a mile later. We see spotlights illuminating their boat as it starts to inch closer to another boat. The owners of the said boat start yelling at Nico on the VHF shouting that he needs to get on his boat and drive away. Nico replies that he can't because it was unsafe for him to get in the dinghy. The woman on the other boat starts panicking and wailing like a banshee at Nico to get his ass to his boat now, which then ended with Nico calmly replying in broken english, "Look, be sure as soon as the weather is nice and it is safe for me get in my dinghy for go my boat, I will. But be sure I will make a stop to your <i>fucking</i> boat first." Nice...</div>
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This situation was rather infuriating as number 1, why would anyone WANT to sit and watch their boat drag clear across an anchorage with the possibility of it running aground and sinking...idiots. Number 2, the other boat was perfectly capable at that point to start their engines, hoist anchor, and drive away, why the hell didn't they? I know damn well if I saw a boat coming even close to us, that I'd be ready to get the hell out of its way, regardless of whether or not there was someone helming it. That to me was simply poor seamanship, not taking responsibilty for their own boat and leaving it to someone else to take care of it. Anyhow, luckily, there was no such collision, and Vida del Sol continued to merrily drift on by, naive to any potential danger. Shortly after, the winds die down to the 30s and Nico takes the opportunity to get in the dinghy and to his boat. He gets to his boat safely and turns on the engine, and pretty much drives it into the wind for the next hour or so until Frank deemed it safe to leave Moitessier and go over and help him re-anchor. All said and done, the only major loss was their solar panel, which decided to take flight and seek shelter elsewhere during the derecho. Very lucky considering all the close calls. </div>
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The next day, getting on the cruisers' net and seeing if anyone needed help, we re-discover just how amazing cruisers truly are. People, ourselves included, were offering help to whomever needed it as well as loaning supplies and offering what we could to each any boat that needed it. One woman lost one of her stays, and immediately 5 other boaters offered what they could to help her replace it, another ran aground and were on the rocks and cruisers came together on their dinghies to get it off. Some lost their dinghies, some floating away completely, while others flipped over, ruining their outboards. It was really touching to see people so selflessly come together. Georgetown wasn't the only one affected by this...it was as far north as Warderick Wells which had reported winds of 110kts. A lot of yachts, I hear, at Staniel Cay were found aground and on the rocks. I am so grateful that nothing happened to Moitessier, considering the conditions. We had seen worse in terms of wind and waves in both Miami and Long Island, but this system posed the greatest threat simply due to the crowded anchorage. I hope to not see one of those again anytime soon. </div>
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-35663028572764843492016-01-04T10:32:00.000-05:002016-01-13T13:05:08.892-05:00The Black Box<div style="text-align: justify;">
Have any of you heard of this idea of the Black Box? No, no, not <i>that </i>box. The<i> </i>box I'm referring to is an old mystical, sailor theory that every boat possesses an imaginary black box. Every time a sailor does something seaman-like, he pays a coin into this box. An aquatic, karmic bank account of sorts that one can draw from when shit hits the fan. Now this box accepts an infinite amount of coins, and the more you pay into it, the more you can draw from it when you really need it. This can be anything from changing the engine oil when it's due, to doing engine checks before starting it, to keeping the lines neatly coiled on deck, to climbing the mast to check your rigging, to varnishing your teak, there are countless ways to earn coins. This explains why some people go through huge squalls with no injury to their beloved boat, while others suffer dis-mastings, torn sails, and so on. </div>
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Since owning Moitessier, we have rigorously abided by this idea. Well, Frank more than I as his personality tends to lean more towards obsessive compulsion than mine. But regardless, we have tried at every opportunity to put coins in our account and so far it's really paid off. Now this leads me to think about how this idea can be applied to so many things in life. That perhaps there needs to be different Life Boxes of sorts. In this case, a piggy bank for relationships. More often than not, living in a such a small space, Frank and I fight over what is important to us in terms of Moitessier as a whole. We have different ideals as to what level of messiness we can handle on the boat, how we like our space to be, and so on. We get so caught up with being seaman-like and paying into the black box, that we forget that we also need to pay into our Life Box. This can be anything from random acts of kindness, like picking up after someone without nagging them about it, saying thank you when they make you a meal, a back massage when they are tired, a hot chocolate when they are on watch, letting them sleep an extra 1/2 an hour during your watch. These things after 13 years of being together are sometimes overlooked. This theory primarily goes back to mindfulness, being mindful of how your partner feels, being aware of the things that your boat needs in order to keep you safe. The more mindful you are of their needs, both your partner and your boat, the more coins you accrue in your boxes. The more coins you have, the more likely you are to weather some emotional squalls when you need to. The more "lifeman-like" things you do for one another, the stronger your love and the stronger your bond. <br />
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With the new year ahead of us, and most of us setting impossible resolutions, I found that this is a very interesting way of looking at life in general; whether it be your personal goals, fitness, career, whatever it may be, the more little things you do towards these goals, the more likely you are to succeed. Ultimately, it comes down to the basic principle of taking responsibility for the things you value and the things that are important to you. <br />
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Yu and Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967360527422590754noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2507031204883911231.post-13491922767363069082016-01-01T18:34:00.000-05:002016-01-01T18:44:43.332-05:00Happy New Year<div style="text-align: justify;">
Happy New Year, everyone....after spending the day yesterday in 25-30 kts of wind with big bumpy seas, we made it to Georgetown just in time to ring in the new year with our new boat besties <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sailboatfurminger/">Nico and Lindsay</a> on Sailboat Furminger. It was a pretty low key night. They greeted us with a lovely dinner of Poutin (a Canadian fast food specialty of French fries with gravy and cheese) which was a perfect ending to a rough day on the water. Reunited and it feels so goooood....</div>
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We ended the night watching 2 sets of fireworks blasting off in Georgetown and all I could think about was how lucky I was to have the opportunity to do this and all that we've been through to get to this point. What is it about a new year that makes people reflect? 2015 was a good year for us, it was the year we finally set out to begin this great adventure. Lots of ups, lots of downs, lots of surprises. Heck, we surprised ourselves in even getting this far....so here's to another great year. 2016, we're coming for you...I'm hoping it's just as fun, just as scary, and that we surprise ourselves once again. Here are some of my most favorite photos of the year....</div>
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Oh and PS: If you didn't notice my new Instagram button on the side tab, you can now follow me on Instagram under <a href="https://www.instagram.com/yus_world/">yus_world</a>. Enjoy!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yesterday's sail....big waves :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back in Miami</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First time in the Berries</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diving the plane at Norman's Cay</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashley's giant starfish....</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Campfire on Cat Island</td></tr>
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