Grenada

This morning we lifted the anchor at 0630 to get from St. Davids Harbour to the Capital of Grenada, St. Georges. Its a nice little lagoon with the town build around the water. You just drop your anchor in the middle of the town. Here we checked out from Grenada (its Friday and we want to be in the Grenadines by Monday) and got some food. At 1400 we set sail to the north of Grenada and now we are safely anchored behind Isle de Ronde. Our aim for tomorrow is the next beautiful Island around the corner.
Axel

When approaching St George´s today I was looking very puzzled... When I started my trip 3 yrs ago I stopped there, had told Axel it was a run-down town but now we were looking at freshly painted houses everywhere, colourful new roofs, not many trees, all the debris from the broken down jetty cleared from the lagoon...did I remember this place at all?? Now Axel is looking at me thinking I´ve totally lost my memory! Thankfully a cruiser who has been in St G´s for the last 5 yrs cleared my confusion - 6 months after my visit hurricane Ivan hit the town TWICE and totally devastated it! This cruiser was one of only 5 boat owners out of dozens whose boat wasn´t destroyed - he gave us some excellent tips should we ever be preparing to face a hurricane when in harbour! His first hand account of being caught in a hurricane was frightening.

Also ironically 3 yrs ago there was a also cricket being played there, in Granville. That time it was a Cricket Classic with all the old and greats from cricket playing in a veterans game which I went to see and met people like Graham Gooch, Viv Richards and even took Syd Lawrence out for a sail! Today Ireland were playing England. Go the Irish!

Night night
Em x

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Arrived in Grenada

Just arrived in St. Davids Harbour, Grenada. Although we arrived in Grenada last night but I thought its better to go into a wider bay for the night and we stayed in Prickley Bay, from where we got out with the sun.
We are going to check in now and than i will have a look at a friends boat. Probably tomorrow we will head further north.
Axel

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On The Way to Grenada

We just left Chaguaramas in Trinidad and are now on our way to Grenada. A bit later then we thought but Emma had to pick up a letter this morning. No Wind right now and we are motoring. Chaguaramas is a great boat place where you get everything for boats you want. The last two days we were in the Chandlery and got lots of parts we needed.
80 NM to go, Sunny and very calm.
Axel

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Chaguaramas

Just arrived in Chaguaramas after a 45 NM sail from the north coast of Trinidad.
Yesterday evening we were going to the beach in Grande Riviere to see the massive turtles digging deep holes in the sand to lay their 70 - 120 tennis-ball-big eggs! An amazing moment. During laying the turtles are in a trance so they do not mind us watching or touching them.
We stayed out in the village for the night at some friends (Kevin and Larry) home. It was nice because the anchorage was super rolly. Grand Riviere is a crazy place in the middle of the Jungle. The swell on the beach was too big to land a dinghy so we had to make landfall some miles around the corner and than we hiked through the Rain Forest. A great adventure.
This morning we got up with the birds and were going to the woods to see the Pawi, an indigenous bird from Trinidad and very very rare! Thanks Carry, who is living with Kevin, and is doing a masters in biology about this bird. It was my first bird watching experience...very exciting! ;)
On our sail today it was raining almost the whole time with bad visibility but at least we got two big fish. One Great Trevally and one King Fish. The King Fish was longer then 4 foot!! one of our biggest fish ever.
Here in Chaguaramas we are only for getting some boat stuff and provisioning and I am hoping we are leaving Tuesday night for Grenada.
Axel

We forgot to mention that we went Scuba Diving in Tobago, off an island called Little Tobago before leaving and one of the largest coral brains in the world- very impressive! And rather alot of frisky sharks around. Ian Flemming (James Bond) build a beautiful house in an amazing location on Goat Island next to Little Tobago- a perfect spot for dreaming up crazy 007 adventures! Now its time for a Bloody Mary, relaxing and an early night...!
Em xx

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Arrived in Trinidad

hello all
At 0630 we set sail from beautiful Speyside, north east Tobago and arrived here at Grande Rivieré Bay north coast Trinidad at 1400. Its gorgeous, rugged, mountainous area covered in virgin rain forest (St David Forest Reserve). Its not an official anchorage here; its quite rolly so Dylen has had to go ashore to stop getting greener and greener from sickness! We are here to drop off Larry & Dylen who have been sailing with us for the last few days and also to see the huge Leather Back Turtles lying their eggs on the beach tonight!! We´ve already spotted a few as we sailed into the bay and, boy, they are huge - 5 to 7 feet! It hasnt stopped raining since we arrived here, I guess that´s why there´s such an expansive rain forest here.

Will head around to Chagaramas tomorrow...
Ciao
Em xx

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Anse Bateau Bay

We just popped around the corner to another lovely bay. We are trying to arrange a diving tomorrow and then we are off for Trinidad. On the north coast of Trinidad are nesting the Leatherback Turtles right now and we would like to watch them....
Axel

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Charlotteville

Arrived at Charlotteville yesterday evening after motoring for 2 hours into the NE Trade Wind. This is a lovely tiny little town full of character, set in a beautiful natural harbour on the north west coast of Tobago. The scenery around us is gorgeous. Heaps of little fishing boats & birds here. The little fish are jumping around Freefall! The 4 of us we went ashore yesterday evening to explore and had a nice (cheap) dinner & beers and met a few locals. There are only 6 other yachts anchored here. We are going to suss out the best spots for Scuba Diving.
Its overcast today so a nice cool day, perfect for a run or hike...
Em xx

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Englishman Bay

Tobago is getting better and better! We are cruising up the NW Coast and stopping in the most idyllic Bays with gorgeous scenery, walks threw the rain forest and nice snorkeling in the beautiful reef. On the way up we made friends with some Canadian / Trinidad Guys whom we are taking up the coast and back to Trinidad on Freefall...so lots to do!!! Tomorrow we will sail to Charlottetown and then to Little Tobago...
Axel

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Another Paddy=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=B4?=s Day bites the dust...

We had a fun St Patrick´s day & night yesterday in Tobago! Met some great local Tobagonian & Trinidadian people who took us into their home to join them for their big family reunion dinner. 10 of them were very keen to came partying with us after dinner and we had a long fun night with lots of face painting & Calypso dancing. I think I painted Green Shamrocks on at least 20 faces (& boobs - the ladies preference!). Strangers, from kids to a local writer in his 80s, were asking me to paint a shamrock on them...funny! Its 2 yrs ago since Axel´s 1st Paddys day, in Whangarei, New Zealand...uhhh ahhh, time flys!!

And the locals were very excited that Ireland beat Pakistan in the World Cup Cricket!! We haven´t yet heard if Ireland are the 6 Nations Rugby Champions...??

We´re off to snorkel on Buccoo Reef...

Em xx

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Beautiful Togabo

HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY TO YOU ALL! I hope you have a few Guinness or other to celebrate - we have found an Irish pub which serves Guinness!!
Em xx

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Tobago

What a nice island!! We cleared Customs and Immigration yesterday in Scarborough, got some food and water and than in the afternoon we were sailing around the west end of the Island to Buccoo Bay, close to Tobagos biggest reef, the Buccoo Reef. This is a beautiful Bay, with a little Town and beside all the little fishing boats is only one other sailboat anchored here. Swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, diving....that will be the agenda for the next days...
Happy St. Patricks Day,
Axel

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Tobago

Yipiehhhh, we just dropped the anchor in Scarborough, Tobago. Everything is fine!!!
Axel

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Tobago Today

Hello All

We arrive in Tobago this evening and in time for St Patrick´s Day -Yippee! We dont expect to find many Irish or any Irish pubs there but you never know, the Irish get around!

Yesterday was a slower day than what we have been use to on this otherwise fast trip but we were still going at 5-6k. Not much wind and at times still a little current. It was nice to have another sunny day with a beautiful sunrise & sunset. And we caught another Mahi yesterday. It took me one hour to land this 4 foot fella - what a fighter! Its amazing how they change colour - electric blue to bright green then completely white!

We dont know if it will be easy or not to send emails from Tobago so please dont worry if you dont hear from us for a few days.
Cheers
Em xx

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Nice and Sunny!

Mmmmmhhhhh, that´s nice! We can open all the hatches today without being afraid of getting a bucket of water inside the boat and we can have a sunbath in the cockpit!!
The windy and rainy weather is gone and we have very nice sailing conditions at the moment. 15-20 knot from the NE and our speed is around 8 knots. If we can hold that speed it will be Tobago by Thursday evening. That would be 9 days for 1620 NM! The fastest sail we ever had and that without the main for half the way!!
Everything and everybody is fine on board...
Axel

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Very Windy...

We had another windy night and are flying to Tobago. Our Genoa is only 20 % out and we are doing between 7-8 knots with winds around 30 KN. The sea is not too bad but its still pretty tough. We are getting squeezed against our cushions during our sleep and dancing around in the galley...In these winds i do not miss the main sail.
600 more miles and we should be in Tobago by Friday.
Axel

Lost count of how many fish we caught yesterday; threw about 4 little (1 foot) Bonito (Tuna) back. Too small for us! Then something really big made the line screech but then unfortunately broke it, taking off with our successful fluorescent green squid lure without showing himself/herself. Boohoo! Just some of the events onboard to amuse us.

Late Breaky: Bacon & eggs with bread Axel made in our new doughnut shaped minioven which we found by chance in Brazil. This sits on the gas ring & cooks break/cakes in super quick time - very economical on our propane!
Early Dinner: huge pot of spicy vegy soup with TVP (textured vegetable protein - mayb we´ll keep the next small fish we get!)
Cheers
Em x

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Stormy Night...

What a night. Wind up to 40 knots and beating against it with heavy rainfall is not the most comfortable night. The wind is howling threw the spreaders and the boat is pounding from one wave to the next with a big shivering bang every time. Inside the boat everything has to be tight down and the walk to the head can be quite acrobatic.
And then the mainsail gave up again. This time there is no chance to repair it so we need a new one. So the next 1000 miles we have to sail with our genoa only what makes the trip a bit longer, but FREEFALL sails quite comfortable without the main.
We are licking our wounds today and getting everything dry.
Everything else is fine,
Axel

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Dear Neptune...

Its now 10.30pm on Thurs 8th Mar and at 10pm local time (0100 Zulu), we crossed the equator! Wayhey!!! 00°00´, 43°58´W Made a paper boat and sent it overboard to Neptune with a Bloody Mary to put a little smile on his face and help make a wish come true. We both opted out of shaving our heads, a sailors tradition on the 1st equator crossing since this is our 2nd! Phew! So now we´re back in the northern hemisphere after 22 fabulous months of adventure in the southern antipodes.

1200nm to go to Tabago. The Amazon estuary is about 200 miles off to our left. Still no sign of the Doldrums and now we have North East Trade winds at 15k. With this great speed of 7-9k (still current with us) we should hopefully make it to Tabago in time for St Patrick´s Day celebrations on 17th!

Night night sleep tight.
Em x

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Gooood Current

Wow, we are flying along the cost of Brazil around 8 Knots!! Thats great. There must be a 2-3 knot current what is pushing us to the Caribbean. I hope that last a while! Last week our friends on Dream Catcher and Syren had the doldrums where we are right now and we are speeding along...Maybe we are lucky.
WE got a huge Mahi Mahi yesterday evening and i am canning the half of him right now. Still there is fresh fish for the next 3 days.

1145, 31.2°C, very humid, 100% overcast, Wind: 10-15 NE, Course:304°, Speed: 8 KN, Log 324 NM, 1277NM to Tobago, average speed:7 KN.

Axel

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Bye Bye Brazil...

Yesterday morning at 1100 we left Fortaleza and are heading now for Tobago, maybe we will stop in Suriname. The coast of Brazil is almost one big beach and lots of surfing is going on here. They have almost everywhere a good beach break and millions of peoples are hanging out on the beach with lots of football and volleyball games. Principally its a perfect place with its sunny, hot coast. The downside is the violence in the big cities and nowadays also outside on land. Everybody is telling you not to take your watch, camera, backpack with you and not to go out by night. Every Brazilian can tell you a nice story about how they robbed him and that doesn´t taste good. If you want to leave your boat, you have to find a protected marina.

During our time in Brazil we had no problems thanks to Brazilian friends we made in Recife (Naide) and Fortaleza (Doris, Luciano, Otto and Wladie) who took care of us and drove us safe to the nice places and beaches of Brazil. Thanks to them also from here.

Our plans for now was sailing to the Amazon and cruising up the river for a bit. But this we canceled after we talked to some Locals and Sailors. Its rainy season at the moment what means that large masses of vegetation and large tree trunks float downstream what is a serious danger for us. Beside that are the several serious attacks to sailors in this area. It would be a dream, but too much risk is involved.

Now we have 1500 NM to go to Tobago, probably 11 more days. We will pass the Doldrums (ITC-Zone) in around 2 days what means tons of rain and no wind for around a day.

0930, 28.6°C, 02°15S, 40°09W, Wind: SE 15 KN, Speed: 6-7 KN, Course, 303°, Average Speed 6 KN, Log 123 NM, 1472 NM to Tobago.

Axel

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Still in Fortaleza

We are going to check out of Brazil on Monday and starting our sail to the Caribbean on Tuesday or Wednesday. Fortaleza is the hammock capital of the world and we got six supernice hammocks yesterday.

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Picture Update!!!!!!!!!!

We stay in Fortaleza in the Marina Park and we could fix the Main sail yesterday!! I hope its lasting till Key West. After a little talk with our neighbors we are not sure anymore about visiting the Amazon!! They all say its very violent there and told us about the killed sailors from the last years, who tried to get up the river!! Its also raining season and wet wet wet...so we have a decision day today. Maybe Frensh Guina instead.

Thanks WiFi in the marina, I could update the Picture Galerie...
Have fun,
Axel

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our mobile number

..give us a call- we´d love to hear from you!!

0055 81 928 44 990

xx

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Stopping in Fortaleza...

Unfortunately we have to stop in Fortaleza to mend the main sail again...the three years sailing is making the sail very weak and especially the seams are coming off. So last night there was this weeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhppp and a big hole in the main. The last 8 Ports we were in i had to mend the sail. Everytime I think it should be strong enough now, but than the next bit is ripping away. Still very wet and the squalls are getting more and more aggressive! At the moment its blowing like stink and raining cats and dogs....very nice.
4 NM to go to Fortaleza...call us on the mobile...
Axel

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Rain Rain Rain...

What a wet passage....lots of rain. So everyone is fresh and clean. Its will be probably the cleanest passage we ever had. The wind is very variable as well as our speed. Sometimes we are flying with more than 8 KN and other times we are just moving with 3 KN!! But still not to bad. The waves are fine.
Axel

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