Category: Fun in the Sun

Happy Holidays from Guadeloupe!

After the Christmas winds died down, we decided to say goodbye to Deshaies and head south to explore more of Guadeloupe.

Pigeon Island

Our first stop was Pigeon Island. The reef and sea life inside the Cousteau Nation Park is protected, meaning that anchoring and fishing is strictly forbidden. We anchored in the nearby cove for a couple of nights. We broke out the dive hookah and went exploring underwater. The water was the clearest we’ve seen since the Bahamas and the coral formations were just breathtaking. We hardly even noticed that it was raining buckets the entire time we were out. We dove until our flippers gave us blisters, then returned to the boat for another rolly night. Even though the winds had calmed down, it would be a few days before the seas followed suit. read more

Utuado: Exploring Inland Puerto Rico

With nearly 300 miles of gorgeous beaches, it’s no wonder why many people visiting Puerto Rico never leave the coast. Even though the coastline is breathtaking, there’s also a lot of beauty to explore inland. Puerto Rico is only a third of the size of Massachusetts, but it has several different ecosystems, including tropical rain forests, tropical dry forests, coastal mangrove forests, seagrass beds, coral reefs, and coastal plains. We rented a car last week and after checking on Kairos (she’s doing great by the way), we decided to head inland to explore the mountainous forests in Utuado. read more

Two Salty Sailors in Paradise: Our First Two Weeks in the BVI

The Thorny Path to Windward is well behind us and we are in the British Virgin Islands. We did it! We sailed here from the Tampa Bay area, covering 1600 miles. We battled lightning storms, repaired boat issues, gathered paperwork for importing the dogs, withstood our fair share of high seas, and spent several sleepless nights behind the helm on overnight passages. We are no longer the greenhorns who had trouble setting the anchor and who laid awake all night checking every 15 minutes to make sure it was holding. Nor are we the newbie sailors that didn’t realize that 20-25 kt winds on the nose in open water is near suicidal. We are no longer intimidated by docking in tight slips. We are now intimately familiar with our boat’s systems. We now have a good understanding of Kairos’s and, more importantly, our own limits. We have learned a lot over the last 130 days at sea. We’ve learned about our boat, about sailing, about liveaboard life, about ourselves, and about each other. read more

A Short Visit to the US Virgin Islands

We only spent 5 short days in USVI, but they were fabulous. Now that we are in the Virgin Islands, everything is so close. We are no longer tackling 140 mile overnight passages. We aren’t island leaping anymore, we are truly island hopping. We stayed in three mooring fields in USVI: Christmas Cove, Maho Bay, and Leinster Bay. read more

Adios Puerto Rico

We spent a fabulous four weeks in Puerto Rico filled with street food, lighthouses, sandy beaches, and amazing snorkeling. Puerto Rico really has it all and we are looking forward to returning in a month for hurricane season. After our weekend get-a-way in San Juan, we were ready to leave Salinas behind and sail to Culebra, PR. However, mother nature had a different plan for us. The trade winds were blowing strong, creating the choppiest seas we’ve seen yet. So instead of a 75 mile sail to Culebra, we broke the journey up into three legs, stopping in Puerto Patillas and Palmas Del Mar. read more

From Isolation to the Big City: Coffin Island and San Juan

Coffin Island

Leaving the party towns of Boqueron and La Parguera, we set out for Isla Caja de Muertos (translation: Coffin Island) on May 8th. It was Mother’s Day, so we both called our moms while in route despite the choppy seas. read more

Celebrating in Puerto Rico: Boqueron and La Parguera

Boqueron

We were back on US soil after surviving an electrifying Mona Passage and it was time to celebrate. Many cruisers stop in Mayaguez to provision after the Mona, but it was Saturday and we heard that Boqueron was the place to be on the weekends. Although we were sleep deprived and exhausted, we quickly perked up when we went to shore. The streets were full of artists, food vendors, and musicians. We spent the day sampling everything Boqueron had to offer. Oysters, meat on a stick, empanadas, tacos, chicken wings—no street food went undevoured. read more

Driving and Waterfalls in the Dominican Republic

Our scariest experience to date occurred during our time in the Dominican Republic. It wasn’t an ocean passage or a building squall we braved. The dangerous experience that we conquered was riding motorcycles through the Dominican Republic. Most Dominicans get around via motorcycles. It’s normal to see a family of five on a single bike or someone hauling two dead goats. The street conditions are poor with the roads covered in pot holes. Motorcyclists fail to obey elementary road regulations and pass on the left, the right, and sometimes side by side with two other vehicles. To complicate things more, stray dogs and livestock wonder into the streets. All of this combined creates a chaotic obstacle course that’s exciting to navigate. read more

An Unexpected Stop in Turks and Caicos

As sad as we were to leave the Bahamas, we were equally excited to visit the Dominican Republic. We couldn’t wait to hike up the mountain side, explore waterfalls, and devour cheap street food. We pulled up our anchor at 12:50am on April 8th. It would take us 32-36 hours (our longest sail yet) to get to Luperon. Leaving in the middle of the night would ensure a morning arrival on April 9th. The pups were confused why we were up moving around so much at such a strange hour, but once we turned on the motor, they assumed their passage positions. Jaela took the cockpit floor, while Baxter settled into the side cushion. read more

Mayaguana: Our Last Stop in the Bahamas

After topping off our fuel tanks at the Flying Fish Marina, we left Clarence Town around 10:00 am. Even though we replaced our fuel filter system and tightened all of the hose connections, we weren’t convinced that our fuel supply issues were fixed. This would be our first overnight sail and we expected to change filters and bleed fuel lines along the way. Sure we’ve left anchorages at dark before, but this would be the first time we’d watch the sunset while in route. The last thing we wanted to do was repeatedly bleed the engine fuel lines while underway in the dark, but there is only one way to test fuel supply issues—and that’s to run the motor. We planned to bail out into Atwood Harbor in Acklins Island if things became too difficult. All of our safety equipment was set up, we emailed out our float plan, and we had a backup plan if something went wrong. We were prepared for our first all-nighter. read more

Staniel Cay and Black Point Settlement

Our first stop after exiting the Exumas Cay Land and Sea Park was Staniel Cay. As we neared the island, it was obvious that Staniel Cay was going to be a very different atmosphere than the solitude we just left behind. Surrounded by all of these mega-mega yachts, we instantly felt a stroke of jealousy. I wish our boat had a 3 story slide into the water, jet skis at our disposal, and cool vintage Italian speed boats to zip around on. read more

Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park

We left Palm Cay Marina in Nassau on Sunday March 6th and headed to the Exumas Cays. The Exumas are arguably the best cruising in the world and we couldn’t wait to get there. The first places we visited are inside the Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park. These islands are all uninhabited and are protected by the Bahamas National Trust. It’s considered a NO TAKE ZONE, so fishing and lobstering are not permitted. You aren’t even allowed to take shells out of the park. These are absolutely gorgeous islands and the Trust does a great job of protecting and managing them—so we were happy to obey the rules. Not to mention we still had a freezer stocked with mahi mahi to consume. read more

Crossing the Gulf Stream

Well the good news is…WE ARE IN THE BAHAMAS! The bad news is…wait, there is no bad news! We are in The Bahamas and nothing broke. I’m so used to taking the good with the bad while cruising, that even as we were tightening our dock lines at the marina, I was sure the engine would crap out. Or the dinghy would fly off the davits. Or our bilge pump would break.  But none of these things happened. The weather turned out to be just as nice or even milder than predicted. We made great time despite fighting the easterly winds and found ourselves in Bimini in just 9.5 hours. All in all, it was a rather boring day. When it comes to sailing, I’m 100% in favor of boring. read more

Exploring the Keys

With strong winds in the forecast, we would not be crossing the Gulf Stream to The Bahamas anytime soon. This gave us the opportunity to spend some time in the Florida Keys.

Marathon—Boot Key Harbor

What a crazy place Boot Key Harbor in Marathon is! At night the sky is full of little lights. No, not stars. These are anchor lights. Each one representing a boat at anchor in the harbor. It is really a city of liveaboard boats. The harbor is conveniently located near grocery, marine, and hardware stores. There are plenty of restaurants and happy hours to choose from. You can take your dinghy to the beach, the gas station, or to do laundry. There’s even the Cruisers Net that meets on the VHF every morning to announce daily events, welcome new arrivals, and barter. Marathon has it all. Well, everything expect solitude. read more

Cruising is a Roller Coaster Ride: Our Trip to Marathon

Rob is at the helm and the pups are taking naps in the cockpit. I’m sunning myself on the bow of the boat when I hear a big splash. I peered over the edge and I see two dolphins playing and jumping right in front of us. They swim with us for a while and I’m smiling ear to ear with excitement. I think to myself, “we have found paradise”. read more

10 Lessons Learned from Life Aboard

We have been living aboard for 10 days now. I can’t believe it’s actually been that long. The time is flying by. We’ve learned a lot of things since moving on board. For example we just learned how to take apart and clean a carburetor. We also recently learned which way the valve handle should be pointed to ensure we are pumping the toilet to the holding tank instead of overboard (oops– fortunately we haven’t really used it yet). But in addition to learning about our boat’s systems, we have also learned (or relearned in many causes) some valuable life lessons. Here are our 10 lessons learned from 10 days of living aboard. read more