Back In The Water...

First thing Monday morning, Don came and lifted us up onto the special catamaran trailer, so that we could finish the final touches of our Anti-Fouling

 We have been working around the rain all week, however Monday morning stayed clear for the guys to finish the buffing on the gelcoat, then mid afternoon we were again heading back to the water...

Liming...

It would be remiss of me not to mention something about "Liming"...

Liming is the national pastime here in Trinidad - they have it down to an art - Liming is hanging around chatting - or "the art of doing nothing".  Liming sometimes involves food and drink (often quite a few drinks, whiskey and Rum are very popular here).  The exchange of tall stories ad jokes - PROVIDING the activity has no explicit purpose other then hanging around.

Liming in Trinidad is acknowledged as a form of performing art!

Steel Pan

Saturday morning up very early to watch the All Blacks thrash France!  30 - 0 "Go the All Blacks!"

When we were in St Helena, we had tied onto a mooring with too much rope.  The rope had scraped a little of the anti-fouling off the bottom, so we decided that due to us being out of the water we would repair this.  Well, this turned into us sanding and re-antifouling the complete bottom again - we were both covered in "black" sanding and anti-fouling by the end of it.  Now we know why they wear the painting suits!

Last night we went to listen to Steel Pan Bands.  There were 5 of them.  The hosting band showed us their trophy room - these are just some of the trophies, certificates they have won since 1940's...

The room was full, both sides with trophies.

The steel pan bands compete each year.  The music they create is extraordinary, the energy and fun they all have is wonderful.

More on Trinidad...

We had a break from the boat repairs and headed to Asa Wright - It was a former Coffee-Cocoa and Citrus Plantation, now a Nature Reserve comprising of about 2000 acres.  They have numerous bird and butterfly species, along with 4 venomous snakes and other wildlife.  It was gorgeous in this Tropical Rainforest...

The photo on the left below is a "Jack Fruit"  They are the heaviest Tree Borne Fruit in the world

 We had never seen Hummingbirds before - what energetic little birds!

After leaving Asa Wright, Jesse stopped at a property where we were treated to fresh mangoes from this mans tree - the mango trees, which are in the background were huge.  He also gave us lots of lovely limes (guess what they were for?)

We then headed to "Caroni Swamp" - an estuary system comprising of 5611 hectares of Mangrove Forest and Herbaceous Marsh.  We boarded a flat bottom boat and headed off.

This "Boa" Snake (on the right) was sleeping up a tree (thank goodness).  We were directly below this snake in the boat.

The red in the photo below are Scarlett Ibis - they are the national bird of Trinidad.  They flock to this area of the swamp in the early evening.

The sight is magnificent and the colors of the birds are extraordinary...

Trinidad...

Day after we arrive its Richards birthday - I can tell you that making a surprise Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache, was not such a surprise!  I made this while we were crossing from Tobago to Trinidad - the aroma alone was a huge give away!

Upon arrival we were immediately greeted with radio contact "Our Rose, Our Rose, this is Sea Rose" - Sue and Brian who had taken us sailing from Cape Town to Saldhana were here - what to do but to catch up for a drink or two (and dinner of course).

The cruisers here have a radio connect at 0800 every morning, welcoming new cruisers, asking if anyone needs advice on contractors or help in any way, offering information on "social" get togethers etc.  We have found the cruisers are a very very social bunch so far!

Sue and Brian had introduced us to Bill and Gene from catamaran "Out of the Bag"  Last weekend, Bill and Gene (Aussie and NZ'er) asked us to join them and we went to Scotland Bay for the night.  It was a wonderful break from the organising of work on Our Rose.  We had a lovely time, swimming, eating, drinking and telling lots of stories and jokes.

Out Of The Bag

Our first thing on arrival inTrinidad was to find the right contractors for our repairs.  This ended up taking over two weeks to find and co-ordinate, so on Monday 2 June we were once again hauled out of the water.  Bill and Gene kindly came and helped us also.  What a professional operation this was.  At Power Boats, Don, who is so friendly, helpful and professional asked us to be ready at 13.30.  Of course at 13.15 it started to pour with rain - Murphys Law!  However, once it stopped, Don was there with his guys ready - they have built a purpose built trailor to haul out catamarans - it has hydraulic arms that support under the bridgedeck and the slings that support the hulls are moveable, to support all different widths of catamarans.

Where we are here there are literally hundreds or maybe thousands of boats, most being stored here for the "hurricane season" and others having repairs like us.  This is a lovely sunset overlooking some of the stored yachts.

There is a guy here "Jesse James" - his business is called "Members Only" He has targeted his business to Cruisers, offering trips to the supermarkets, fresh markets, movies etc.  He also organises trips to various spots on the Island.  Two days ago we did the "Taste of Trinidad" trip.  We were collected at 0900 and arrived back at 2000.  During the course of the day we tasted over 80 different foods and met some interesting characters.

We tried cow heel soup, lovely fruits this lady is selecting for us

These trees are Cocoa Trees - the white flesh in the Yellow Pods was delicious.  Inside the white flesh was the cocoa pod/seed.  Apparently, the cocoa here "saved" the cocoa from extinction (so Jesse says).  By the way, he also says "Brian Lara" is the best cricketer in the world - this caused quite a bit of discussion with the Australians and Us on the trip!

Stairway to Heaven Man, he sold fresh watermelon, huge snails and fish - Richard just about got "wasted" chatting to him as Richard was down wind - check out the size of the "herb?!" smoke in his left hand!

Jesse James does a wonderful job and we would recommend him if you are ever in Trinidad

Tobago to Trinidad

After some very friendly instructions from the "Heavily Armed" Coastguard at Scarborough, we managed to anchor.  The holding was not the greatest, however our Rocna dug in nicely.  We went ashore and completed as much of the customs and immigation as we could, due to it being Sunday.

We went ashore the next morning to finalise the immigration papers, then headed to get some fresh provisions.  We were not gone long, when we looked back at Our Rose, and from the angle we were looking at her from, it appeared that she had drifted - right in front of where the Trinidad/Tobago ferry comes in.  We were to find that the ferry had in fact arrived and pushed Our Rose out of their way with the thrusters!  

She wasn't however as close as we thought and not in their direct path.  We up-anchored and headed off smartly... Beware, the holding at Scarborough is not good!  We headed up the coast, stopping at various bays.  We ended up anchoring at Mt Irvine Bay, where we stayed the night.

The next morning (14 May) was Marks Birthday, we started the day with beautiful tropical fresh fruit platter, and then a cooked brunch.  We stopped at all the bays he had remembered from past trips swimming and snorkelling, finally anchoring for the night at Charlotteville, where we had to check in with customs again.  That night, we took Mark to a restaurant, where you had the choice of two items!  

We love this sign, on an old small shed - you would be lucky if they had any internet!

The next day we up-anchored, put out the screecher and headed to Trinidad, arriving at 17.30 where we had to check in with customs again.

The rules in Trinidad and Tobago are very strict - you must plan where and when you are going and have it signed off with customs.  If you are stopped by coastguard, at any time, you must produce the document that states you are where you said you would be!  This is due to drug/gun/blackmarket issues that they have had here on the coast.

Summary... South Africa to Tobago

Summary South Africa to Tobago/Trinidad

WOW… so much to note!

The sea states, the different skies, clear versus cloud “shadows”, the “noise” of the wake and waves (always worse than its bite!). 

The beautiful phosphoresence at nite off the side wash and wake, the dark shadows of winged “passengers” who join us for a free ride, the Rock’in and Roll’in and keeping balance in turbulent seas…

The glowing lights and looms on the horizon of passing ships (why don’t they have AIS and show on the Radar?)…

Keeping the batteries charged (a constant challenge with power steering, fridges/freezers, radar etc) ...

Running (?!) to close all hatches as the rain starts…

Some TRX exercises on calm nites, Jen on the SSB trying to grab the grib files for weather, watching the sea temperature creep up and up, as do the sea miles (thousands of them)…

Aternating engines on still nites to keep us moving…

Thinking ahead to the next day – what to bake?, to eat?, and when to catch up on shuteye, what to read (never read so fast or so many novels at once). 

The watch crossovers…

The milestones – Equator/GMT/Mid-Ocean Swims/Best Mileage Days…

The sail changes (midnight in 25 knots…. Bring it on!)…

Brainstorming Boat improvements – helm seat, sail sheet configurations etc etc...

Enjoying “Chinese laundry” days…

The fish watching (Dolphins, Yellowfin Tuna, Flying Fish) and Fish catching – Skip Back Tuna, El Dorado – losing fish (7 lures, just “gone”!)…

Watching Movies and TV series (over 300 to chose from)  PUMPING the Tunes on the amazing Fusion Stereo…

Planning ahead for repairs – smashed in side window, busted pulleys and snapped halyards…

The art of Water-Making – an “Essential” luxury to keep us in some sort of normality and comfort…

Taking in stunning sunrises and sunsets, following shooting stars across star filled night skies…

Dreaming of Rum Cocktails or a Ice Cold Beer at the next port of call ( a “dry” passage is a safe passage!)…

The realization any pre-passage fears are gone and replaced with enjoyment of each days activities – Living in each moment of the trip!

Some Statistics:

Slowest Day            98 Nautical Miles

Fastest Day             200 Nautical Miles

Average Day            135 Nautical Miles

Fastest Speed            17.2 knots

Average Speed            5.6 knots

Water Used (on average)            300 litres per day

Sea Temperature Cape Town            17 Degrees Celcius

Sea Temperature just before Equator            30 Degrees Celcius

Total Mileage (Mykenos South Africa to Tobago)            5400 Nautical Miles

Biggest “Luxuries”

*The winner by far is… Water!!! Twice (or more daily) Showers, Washing Machine, Clean Boat etc etc.

*Music – huge thank you to Roddy from NZ & Phil from SA for being so generous and helping us with such a wonderful selection

*Movies – huge thank you to Phil from SA – what an amazing selection!

*Sound System – Fusion with Sub-woofers is awesome

*Freezers – Icecream, Iced Coffees etc what more could you ask for?

*And obviously a beautiful luxurious catamaran home “Our Rose”.

*Screecher – thank you to Johan & Marlene for advising us to order a screecher – we would have been much slower and lost without it! And also for all your advise and suggestions along our journey in building our Luxurious Home!

Fernando de Noronha to Tobago...

Sunday 28^th April we cleared out – the reverse of clearing in – they again all came to us to the office at the top of the pier.  At 1100 we motored away – very light winds, so we sailed/motored for the first few days, counting down to the Equator.

Wednesday 1 May, we crossed the Equator – celebrated with masks and hats (Mark gave us) a bottle of champagne (Marks girlfriend Tracy had given us) which was a real treat as we have a “dry” boat when we are at sea.   We switched charts from South Atlantic to North Atlantic Ocean.

Clocks back another hour.

Sunday 05/05 – lots of rain!

Monday 06/05 – Richard discovered frayed main halyard… Mark attached harness and up the mast he went.  Yes, it was serious – he cut it and rejoined it, however this was not to last and our main halyard snapped – now no Main!

We were heading to Isle de Salut (Devils Island), best known from the Novel and Movie Papillon.  However, we decided that due to wind shifts, our diesel diminishing and the broken Main Halyard, coupled with the Broken Window that it was best if we make a change of plan and head straight for Tobago – things need fixing.

Tuesday 07/05 – Found Screecher halyard was also fraying – immediately changed it and using Spinnaker Halyard.

Thursday 09/05 – Clocks back another hour.

Sunday 12/05 we arrive in Tobago... Our first Bluewater Crossing complete!

Saint Helena to Fernando de Noronha

Saturday 13^th April, leave Saint Helena.

Back into the rhythm at sea.  We eat “really” well – baked bread, homemade sausage rolls, muffins, cakes, pies, thai curries, pastas etc etc.  With two freezers and two fridges we are able to carry a lot of fresh/frozen goods.  EVEN icecream – what a luxury at sea!

No wind for the first few days.  We stopped motoring midday Sunday serviced the generator, then went for another swim.  Motored again, then finally Monday we were sailing again – screecher up!

22^nd April – clocks back another hour.  At night we have 6 Brown Noddies (birds) who hitch a ride.  They arrive about 2100 and leave about 0600 the next morning.

25^th April – a school of dolphins come to say “Hi”

Friday 26^th April – we arrive Fernando De Noronha – an island off Brazil (yahoo we are in South American waters).  We did not have a courtesy country flag, so I drew one with watercolor pencils, which we lamenated and flew, along with our “Q” quarantine flag.  As we neared, we begun radioing port control – no response…  we then motored around the moored local boats to see where we could anchor – quite a swell there – some local tour operators were helpful when we yelled out to them.  We found a good spot and anchored.  We still had no response from port control, so decided to take all our documents and go ashore.  We lowered the tender, put on the outboard (for the first time since leaving) and headed ashore.  Port control was at the end of the pier.  We found the reason we had no response on the radio was due to the fact that no one spoke English.  Our clearing in experience though was delightful – Port control, Customs, Immigration all came to us at the small (airconditioned – thank goodness over 30 degrees) office.  They brought “google translate” up on their computer so that we could communicate – Portugese to English.

It is a Eco Status Island and Reserve.  We had to pay USD$110 per day just to anchor and go ashore.  Needless to say, we were only there for 2 nights.

Richard went for a dive with local operators.  The island is for tourists, predominantly from Brazil – I loved how they were all so very confident with themselves – all shapes and sizes in “G-String/Thong” Bikinis (Richard and Marks eyes were neally popping out of their heads) and Men in very skimpy “speedo” style.  I am very sorry to say we didn’t get any photos as we had left our cameras onboard, then the day we cleared out it was raining.

Saint Helena

The first experience of “Clearing In”… obviously vastly different from air travel! Flying our “Q” quarantine flag, and the courtesy Saint Helena Country flag, (and of course our NZ flag) we arrived at Saint Helena - we were notified by Port Control to pick up mooring number 15.  We were then told to wait and Customs would come to us.  Shortly afterward, two people arrived via passenger ferry, we filled in forms and were then given permission to go ashore, where we were required to go to Port Office and pay fees, then to Immigration which was at the Police station, where we filled in more forms and had our passports stamped – we were then free to explore Saint Helena.

The people of Saint Helena are incredibly friendly… everyone acknowledges you when you walk past them – a big smile, a wave or a “Hi”.  We had a late lunch with a very welcome cold beer.  Later in the afternoon, we were walking up a hill when we came across a lady carrying her groceries… I asked her if she needed a hand – this was how we met “Mildred”, a delightful 82 year old, with a twinkle in her eye – she had been to meet friends for drinkies and was on her way home.  She was thrilled to be given the our arms to steady her and we all carried her groceries.  When we arrived at the entrance to her home, there were 48 very steep stairs – Mildred negotiates these every time she goes out – this is probably why she was still so agile!  Use it or lose it!  

She insisted we meet her the next day, which we did.  We ended up back at Mildred home Friday for late afternoon drinkies – what a lovely interlude.

Richard and Mark walked up (and down) Jacobs Ladder – 699 steps (900metres)

Friday we hired a car ($20 for the day) and explored the island.  It was where Napoleon died, therefore we went to see Napoleons grave (though he was exhumed and taken back to France some time ago). 

We looked through his house he was exiled to before his death. 

We went and met Jonathan, 182 year old Tortoise, who lives at the Govenors residence.

http://youtu.be/rnTz-avnIxA

The roads were incredibly steep, with very varied scenery (lush to baren).  We couldn’t believe how many NZ Flax bushes were here – actually more concentrated than anywhere we had ever seen.

Flax - covers as far as the eye can see!

Friday morning, before heading off in the car, we cleared out again.  As they are closed on the weekends, you clear out on Friday, then leave when you are ready before Monday.  The reverse of clearing in – Immigration (police station), then port control, then customs.

Saturday 0630 we watched Saint Helena and the very friendly hospitable people fade into the distance.

First Leg at Sea – South Africa to Saint Helena...

We immediately got into the rhythm our new life, which consisted of shifts.  We do 4 hourly shifts during the day from 0600 and 3 hourly shifts at night beginning at 1800.

First day out, we caught our first fish – a tuna – delicious Sashimi!

The weather to begin was lovely, turning to rain and thunder on the morning of day 3.  We were cruising along nicely.

http://youtu.be/5n0BI2WGcI4

Day 4, I was on midnight to 0300am shift, we were on a beam reach and the wind was getting up to 30 (ish) knots, we were sailing along beautifully.  About 2 hours into the shift, there was a big “bang” noise, I came inside to try and see what it was, and Mark came up from his cabin and he was drenched – the large Port Aft window has cracked – it had completely opened up, let in a huge amount of water and then closed up again.  This was incredibly scary!  

We had to make immediate repairs, Mark and Richard used epoxy, glue, putty (everything we had available) to try to close up and secure the window.  

The decision now was, what to do???  We were so close to the gentle trade winds – do we carry on, or do we turn around and try to head for Namibia for repairs.  We had been sailing away and north when we left SA, therefore we would experience the seas again associated with leaving a coastal region.  We ended up deciding the safest was to continue to the trade winds.

Friday 05/04, first time change – clocks back 1 hour.

Monday 08/04, stopped in the Atlantic for a swim – AWESOME!

Tuesday 09/04, Eleven and a half days after leaving South Africa we arrived at Saint Helena

Our Rose Blessing...

Finally the time was right to “Bless” Our Rose.  It is our second to last night (Tues 26^th March at 18.30 at Mykenos in South Africa), before leaving on our passage.

We had asked our Darling Friend Chris from New Zealand to write some words for us, which we added/changed.  We had a bottle of our favourite champagne and with Hannah Robinson in our minds and hearts, we share our blessing with you.

TANGAROA, God of the Sea, We ask your blessing upon this gift to us, Our Rose.

We give thanks for her, for her beauty and for the joy she will bring to all who sail with her

Protect her, as she sails forth from here in to excitement, adventure and the unknown.

Watch over those who will be cradled in her arms, surround them with your protection and safe guard them on their journeys.

AMEN

Clearing Out...

After a massive week of having all of the final things fixed on Our Rose, Provisioning for two months or more, saying goodbyes, we finally had come to the day where we would be “Clearing Out”.   Our goal was to be heading away by mid/late morning.  We walked to V & A Waterfront Marina Office, where we needed a letter confirming we were paid up and leaving the marina (which is required by customs), we then walked 10 minutes to port area to Immigration, we filled in forms and they finally stamped our passports.  It was then off to Customs a walk of 15 minutes into city centre.  We queued and when our turn came we thought we had all the documents, however we had not been told we would require a “Export” document, a document that needed to be supplied from Rudi (boatbuilder), via a Clearing Agent – OH NO.  So, on the phone to Rudi – to cut a very long story short, urgency was put onto this piece of paper and we finally received it at 4.00PM.  We speed walked back to V & A Waterfront, onto Our Rose and we were finally ready to leave…

Alan the newest Nexus owner, and Roger of Nexus Catamarans came to :”Throw off the bowlines" – so that we could "sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in our sails”… and they waved us off…

We sailed overnight and arrived at Langebaan at 03:00am where we stayed for two nights, doing final provisioning. 

We finally left South Africa, Six Months after arriving on Thursday 28 March, at 17:00, the wind was forecast for a southerly to help push us away from the coast – here begins our First Crossing…

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You...

Our time here in Cape Town has given us have the opportunity to have some people come into our lives that we will always be grateful to - they have made our time here a wonderful part of our journey...

Phil Southwell - firstly, thank you for designing such a beautiful boat that we are now so fortunate to call our home... secondly, thank you for all your wonderful support, suggestions, downloads and genuine friendship - we can't wait until you join us somewhere in the world!

Paul Rackshaw - a Maverick owner who has given us so many suggestions and helped us with decisions along the way.

Francois from Raymarine - you have given us so much help in your own time - thank you

Joe & Tariq - Jo Fensham Yacht Upholstery - you have done a stunning job of our upholstery and you have made us feel like friends, not clients

Heinz - Multi Marine - you have given us so much of your time outside of business hours - you have been a true help and we hope you and your family will also come join us!

Neil - the man who can "do it all" for Maverick.  Neil, you have been the answer to making our beautiful boat the boat she is - you have helped us so far beyond what is expected of you from Maverick and we will always be grateful for your help and support - again we hope we never loose touch and see you somewhere again on our journey.

Jonathan from Ysterplaat Medical - the time you gave me was something I will always be grateful for.  My regret is that we didn't end up having time for you to come to our boat before we left Cape Town, please keep in contact and hopefully we will see you in the Caribbean.

Alan Harrington - a new Nexus owner - thank you for your suggestions, thank you for the red wine and thank you for wanting to help keep us safe on our crossing across to the Caribbean - we look forward to seeing you again - the Fruit Cake challenge is on!

Roger and Andrea - Nexus Catamarans - where do I begin - you have been so much fun, and help along our journey.  We will truly miss you both and again, look forward to seeing you when you come to see us in the Caribbean.

Claire - We met you after being in South Africa only one month and you have been a wonderful friend to us both. We know that we will all see each other again - we believe in everything you are and everything you wish to do in your life

Mark Wannenburg - our skipper - already so much time has been give to us by Mark - he is a wonderfully knowledgeable Skipper who has become a wonderful friend in such a short time.