Helen: (Apologies for any typos - trying to use a Spanish keyboard - tried to use a German one the other day which is even worse cos it´s Qwertz instead of Qwerty - I never realised how much English uses Ys until then)
Anyway, C is feeling smug as all the museums we´ve tried to go to so far, bar one, have been closed. We did go to the Modern Art Gallery though...but the Tate Modern it wasn´t. Trying to get an opinion about art out of C is neigh on impossible. If he likes something, then great, you might get 5 mins worth of conversation...but if he doesn´t like something, he just says ´I don´t like it - I don´t have to have a reason for not liking it, only a reason for liking it´ and that´s that. Anyway, it was interesting to ponder if the art in the gallery (all south american) was ´bad´ art or if we just didn´t like it because we´d been brought up with different, European styles. We came to the conclusion that it was actually just BAD art - mostly it looked like people copying (not very well) European styles.
We also went to the castle - high up on a hill, with great views, the biggest Columbian flag you´ve ever seen and a great many windy, small, deep, dank and very very dark tunnels to explore. I´m sure none of you will be surprised to hear that C ran off and left me whimpering in the pitch black a couple of times, only jumping out to make scary noises. It was pretty eerie to be in the tunnels on our own...but then a hoarde of school children descended on us - at first we were, of course, indignant about the noise they made (we are British after all)...but then I started thinking that that must be what it would have been like if you were in the tunnel trying to escape from enemy troops following you shouting and screaming. Pretty scary. It´s also interesting how the mind can exaggerate things and adds two and two to make 5 - from the noise of the school group I thought there were hundreds of them - then only about 10 of them came down the tunnel!
Other than that we´ve been on the boat quite a bit...which was a good thing as we dragged our anchor the other day. The skipper and his wife had gone for sundowners on another yacht and we were just getting ready to join them...when 3 dinghies turned up to tell us we were drifting fast! C had to hang up on his parents (sorry!) and try to stop us sailing to Panama by ourselves.
Think that´s all our news - oh, except for yesterday´s adventure - we went on an all inclusive day trip to some private islands for snorkelling and beaches (you can´t go there with your own yacht) - ít was certainly quite an experience being herded around with all the other day trippers - just a small taste of what it must be like on a cruise liner. We all agreed that one day not having to worry about where we´re going/what to have for lunch was actually quite relaxing...but any more would be living hell...
Right, off to post our postcards now (buying stamps (the biggest stamps you´ve ever seen, an inch by an inch and half at least) was quite traumatic - it took about 10 mins, involving a written receipt and at least 3 members of staff - and it cost about 13 quid for 10 stamps!!)
Lots of love Hxx
PS I´m feeling v virtuous as I´m reading a book in German - nearly half way through, and I´m actually enjoying it!
PPS More photos on Flickr...
Wednesday 27 February 2008
Saturday 23 February 2008
Big seas and small streets
Helen: We made it to Cartagena in one piece...but had the roughest weather we've ever been in on the way over. The passage was 3 and half days - 3 days of which was great fun (we even managed to play the name game - Amelia's impression of Michael Jackson was wonderful - and James caught 2 tuna (he nearly caught a whopper...but it ended up the fish taking the whole lure and double hook - it was probably a mahi mahi, they seem to love the green and yellow plastic squid lures)). We'd been told that the trip from Aruba to Cartagena is one of the 5 roughest trips in a circumnavigation (cos the trade winds have blown all across the atlantic and then suddenly run into C America and have nowhere to go - the waves get reflected back and run into the waves going the other way, and, to complicate matters further, the sea bed shelves from 1000m to 200m in a mile or so, so all the water and wind gets funneled into a much smaller space). Anyway, the upshot of all this geekery is that the seas are supposed to be huge in this part of the world - we steeled ourselves for the worst, and got past the point where everyone said it was the worst with big smiles and clear blue skies 'Gosh, what was all the fuss about'...Well, that came later - we had 10m seas (from top of wave to bottom of trough), many of which broke over the back of the boat. Occasionally some came from the other direction too and slamed into the side of the boat really rocking her. These ones that come 'beam on' are the ones you have to watch for as they are the ones that have the ability to knock you over. In fact, our skipper said that if we'd been in a monohull, as opposed to a cat, we'd likely have been knocked down. So, well done Rahula!! She coped wonderfully - it was so stable inside even during these seas and 40knt winds that we managed to cook and sleep in beds without lee cloths. All very civilised. In fact, I slept through a large part of the evening it was so stable inside. I can see why people like cats! It was quite an experience sitting in the saloon watching great walls of water approach over the stern. Also quite humbling knowing that there's not much you can do about it! (In these conditions people often just shut the hatches and go to sleep letting nature take it's course...)
Anyway, that was our excitement. Hopefully that will be the only bad thing that happens on this boat - we've had enough go wrong on our other boats! So, we got here, and had a drunken barbie with another boat's crew using the tuna we'd caught to celebrate. It was strange approaching Cartagena - it was totally different from what we were expecting and different to what we've seen for the last few months - we've been used to palm trees and beaches and not much in the way of civilisation - Cartagena has 1m inhabitants and a skyline full of skyscrapers! But, there is also a lovely old town, dating from 17th C, with cobbled streets and beautifully cared for buildings. Did a bit of a recce yesterday (without a map so we could properly explore) and loved it. Going back today armed with the guide book to do some serious sightseeing!
Hxx
PS have heard from Susan and Murray that our torts have arrived in Scilly safely and are enjoying the greenhouse!!
Anyway, that was our excitement. Hopefully that will be the only bad thing that happens on this boat - we've had enough go wrong on our other boats! So, we got here, and had a drunken barbie with another boat's crew using the tuna we'd caught to celebrate. It was strange approaching Cartagena - it was totally different from what we were expecting and different to what we've seen for the last few months - we've been used to palm trees and beaches and not much in the way of civilisation - Cartagena has 1m inhabitants and a skyline full of skyscrapers! But, there is also a lovely old town, dating from 17th C, with cobbled streets and beautifully cared for buildings. Did a bit of a recce yesterday (without a map so we could properly explore) and loved it. Going back today armed with the guide book to do some serious sightseeing!
Hxx
PS have heard from Susan and Murray that our torts have arrived in Scilly safely and are enjoying the greenhouse!!
Sunday 17 February 2008
Time to get going again
Helen: Nothing very much to report today - went exploring yesterday and thursday - made way more difficult than it needed to be by the almost total lack of road signs on the island. But, we had a Royal Navy navigator doing the driving, so we got home ok eventually.
We had breakfast in the national park yesterday - C was over the moon as he finally got to use his new super geeky camp stove which burns just about anything you care to put in it. We had 'Hebrew Sausages' (it said on the packet 'We answer to a higher authority'!) and eggs (any way you liked as long as it was fried). Next stop was an ostrich farm - not terribly inspiring - C said they all looked and behaved like giant chickens - they do have v anthropomorphic faces though - all disney big eyes and lashes. But don't be fooled - apparently the males can run at 50mph for over an hour and can kill a man with one kick... Yikes.
Other than that it's been washing, cleaning the boat, fetching water and provisioning. We're off to Cartagena in Columbia this afternoon - should take 3-5 days depending on the weather and whether we stop or not.
H & C xx
We had breakfast in the national park yesterday - C was over the moon as he finally got to use his new super geeky camp stove which burns just about anything you care to put in it. We had 'Hebrew Sausages' (it said on the packet 'We answer to a higher authority'!) and eggs (any way you liked as long as it was fried). Next stop was an ostrich farm - not terribly inspiring - C said they all looked and behaved like giant chickens - they do have v anthropomorphic faces though - all disney big eyes and lashes. But don't be fooled - apparently the males can run at 50mph for over an hour and can kill a man with one kick... Yikes.
Other than that it's been washing, cleaning the boat, fetching water and provisioning. We're off to Cartagena in Columbia this afternoon - should take 3-5 days depending on the weather and whether we stop or not.
H & C xx
Thursday 14 February 2008
Sunny Amesterdam
Helen: ok, so who spotted the (wish I could say deliberate) mistake in the last post? I said 'curacao's hardly inhabited' when of course, I meant 'hardly UNinhabited' - we went to Willemstad yesterday and it's heaving. The guidebook said it's just like being in a tropical Amsterdam - they're not wrong. Bonaire had 13,000 people - Curacao, which isn't that much bigger, has a population of 150,000. It also had one of the world's largest oil refineries until Shell closed it in the mid 80s, and it still has one of the busiest deep water ports in the world, so, all in all, it's hardly a sleepy tropical paradise. There is (or at least was quite recently) a fair amount of money here, and the infrastructure to boot. The landscape is still scrubby and full of cactuses (cacti?) (found out why it's not lush and green like the rest of the east caribbean - no mountains = no rain) but it's full of houses. Bonaire just had a couple of settlements really, with big open spaces. This island is only 30 miles away but totally different. Will put up some photos soon (C and I got photographed yesterday when we were in town cos a journalist wanted a picture of a couple kissing for today's Valentine's newspaper...)
All the buildings here are really brightly coloured - purple, blue, yellow, green, red - apparently it's because a governor in the 1800s hurt his eyes looking at all the whitewash in the harsh sun, so it's a law that all buildings have to be painted. Makes the place look lovely and friendly. Willemstad is a World Heritage Site - the gabled buildings on the waterfront look just like Amsterdam.
C was pretty well behaved yesterday - Amelia is just like me and loves sightseeing and museums (James, the skipper and her husband, is just like C and hates it!) - we went to see the oldest continually used synagogue in the western hemisphere yesterday (has a sandy floor to remind jews of the exodus through the desert) and we went to a (v good) slavery museum. And he didn't moan much. He has asked to be excused from bikini shopping today though!! (Sobering thought from the slavery museum: slaves on slave ships had less room than a man in a coffin. Also interesting is the fact that as well as the African slave trade, there was apparently a v healthy trade in European slaves too...Didn't know that...)
Tomorrow we're off to an ostrich farm (for lunch too :) ) and then to see a plantation house, and then possibly the Curacao distillery - not sure we'll buy a souvenir from there though as Curacao liqueur looks revolting!!
Auf wiedersehn (practising my German as we've made friends with an Austrian couple on another cat...)
Hxx
All the buildings here are really brightly coloured - purple, blue, yellow, green, red - apparently it's because a governor in the 1800s hurt his eyes looking at all the whitewash in the harsh sun, so it's a law that all buildings have to be painted. Makes the place look lovely and friendly. Willemstad is a World Heritage Site - the gabled buildings on the waterfront look just like Amsterdam.
C was pretty well behaved yesterday - Amelia is just like me and loves sightseeing and museums (James, the skipper and her husband, is just like C and hates it!) - we went to see the oldest continually used synagogue in the western hemisphere yesterday (has a sandy floor to remind jews of the exodus through the desert) and we went to a (v good) slavery museum. And he didn't moan much. He has asked to be excused from bikini shopping today though!! (Sobering thought from the slavery museum: slaves on slave ships had less room than a man in a coffin. Also interesting is the fact that as well as the African slave trade, there was apparently a v healthy trade in European slaves too...Didn't know that...)
Tomorrow we're off to an ostrich farm (for lunch too :) ) and then to see a plantation house, and then possibly the Curacao distillery - not sure we'll buy a souvenir from there though as Curacao liqueur looks revolting!!
Auf wiedersehn (practising my German as we've made friends with an Austrian couple on another cat...)
Hxx
Tuesday 12 February 2008
leaving bonaire
Helen: hey guys, v short post, as our skipper is waiting to give us our 'sea brief' before setting sail for curacao. just wanted to say that we should be finally leaving bonaire in a couple of hours - think C and i have unfinished business here, and will likely be back - but it feels good to finally be leaving after waiting for so long (we've been stuck here for 5 days or so waiting for a sail to show up)
will write again when i can, but may not be til cartagena, as until then we'll only be anchoring in uninhabited bays (well, ok, so curacao's hardly inhabited, but after that it's just us and the fishies).
hxx
will write again when i can, but may not be til cartagena, as until then we'll only be anchoring in uninhabited bays (well, ok, so curacao's hardly inhabited, but after that it's just us and the fishies).
hxx
Friday 8 February 2008
Wednesday 6 February 2008
Moving on...
Helen: Thank you all so so much for writing, calling, emailing and commenting on our blog in the last few days. I can't remember a worse week, and your support really has made a massive difference. I don't think C and I could have been there for Hannah if we hadn't had a wonderful support team ourselves.
Things are looking up a wee bit just now. C and I passed our dive exams on Friday so are now Open Water Divers. And we found a new boat to take us to Panama - James (from Bromley no less) and Amelia (matriculated at Somerville, Oxford the same year as C) left the Navy and set off from the UK in March in a 35' cat - they're now here (we met them at happy hour at the marina) and they will take us to Panama via Cartagena. It's especially lovely of them seeing as they haven't taken crew yet... They are both great, and exactly the type of people we would hang out with at home. They climb, dive, and generally DO stuff (they even sailed up the Gambia river - only about 10 boats a year do that!). They bicker, just like we do, and their boat is like a floating 'Good Life' episode - solar showers with rain water for example. Looking forward to living/sailing with them immensely.
I've also been thinking about Matt and Hannah too and trying to make sense of last week. C and I were there and helped Hannah give CPR - it's not like it is on ER or baywatch or in first aid training - people don't just cough and sit up and thank you. But Matt looked peaceful, and it is likely he died before we started ressucitation. Hannah's taken him home now, and we are trying to take comfort from the fact that he died with his wife who he loved very much, living his dream, in a beautiful place. It's slightly ironic that he died just a few days after sorting out all of Nooka's problems...
Anyway, I've come to the decision that the best thing we can do is remember him, support Hannah, and repay the kindness shown to us in the last week by helping others when they need it. The best thing you lot can do for us is (and apologies in advance for the cliches, but if they weren't true they wouldn't be used so much...) make sure you live your dreams, whatever they may be - not everyone dreams of sailing round the world! - and don't forget to tell the people you love that you love them.
On a slightly different note I thought you'd like to know that there are 2 cruise ships in port today. That's 5134 extra people, all trying to cope with the fact that they use guilders here instead of dollars, and all wandering up and down the high street buying rolexes and 'crafts' in the 5 hours they have before leaving again. Tick. Done Bonaire. Honestly...
Think we might have a BBQ tonight - then, if we have more than 200 amp hours, we might watch Finding Nemo on DVD - if the boys have been using loads of juice though, we might have to resort to Pass the Pigs...
Lots of love
Hxx
PS The world really is a small place - found out a few days ago that Hilary and Tony, the guys who looked after us when we left Nooka, used to live in Blackheath, and sailed at Bough Beech at the same time as me - must've shared a changing room with Hilary about 15 years ago. Six degrees of separation and all that...
Things are looking up a wee bit just now. C and I passed our dive exams on Friday so are now Open Water Divers. And we found a new boat to take us to Panama - James (from Bromley no less) and Amelia (matriculated at Somerville, Oxford the same year as C) left the Navy and set off from the UK in March in a 35' cat - they're now here (we met them at happy hour at the marina) and they will take us to Panama via Cartagena. It's especially lovely of them seeing as they haven't taken crew yet... They are both great, and exactly the type of people we would hang out with at home. They climb, dive, and generally DO stuff (they even sailed up the Gambia river - only about 10 boats a year do that!). They bicker, just like we do, and their boat is like a floating 'Good Life' episode - solar showers with rain water for example. Looking forward to living/sailing with them immensely.
I've also been thinking about Matt and Hannah too and trying to make sense of last week. C and I were there and helped Hannah give CPR - it's not like it is on ER or baywatch or in first aid training - people don't just cough and sit up and thank you. But Matt looked peaceful, and it is likely he died before we started ressucitation. Hannah's taken him home now, and we are trying to take comfort from the fact that he died with his wife who he loved very much, living his dream, in a beautiful place. It's slightly ironic that he died just a few days after sorting out all of Nooka's problems...
Anyway, I've come to the decision that the best thing we can do is remember him, support Hannah, and repay the kindness shown to us in the last week by helping others when they need it. The best thing you lot can do for us is (and apologies in advance for the cliches, but if they weren't true they wouldn't be used so much...) make sure you live your dreams, whatever they may be - not everyone dreams of sailing round the world! - and don't forget to tell the people you love that you love them.
On a slightly different note I thought you'd like to know that there are 2 cruise ships in port today. That's 5134 extra people, all trying to cope with the fact that they use guilders here instead of dollars, and all wandering up and down the high street buying rolexes and 'crafts' in the 5 hours they have before leaving again. Tick. Done Bonaire. Honestly...
Think we might have a BBQ tonight - then, if we have more than 200 amp hours, we might watch Finding Nemo on DVD - if the boys have been using loads of juice though, we might have to resort to Pass the Pigs...
Lots of love
Hxx
PS The world really is a small place - found out a few days ago that Hilary and Tony, the guys who looked after us when we left Nooka, used to live in Blackheath, and sailed at Bough Beech at the same time as me - must've shared a changing room with Hilary about 15 years ago. Six degrees of separation and all that...
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