A Very Merry Christmas to all...

We would like to wish all of our many friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Our house renovation is complete but as in all things it took much longer than we anticipated. We are very happy with the outcome and are enjoying the new kitchen. The big news for us is the addition, on December 6th, of a new granddaughter Emma in Calgary. All is fine there and we are expecting to have her and her brothers and dad and mum over in Vancouver for a week over Christmas.

We are counting the days before we head back to Trinidad to relaunch Kilkea II and and head out for some sailing through the Caribbean for the rest of the winter. It will sure be nice to be back to warm water and sunny days. We still have not decided on our future cruising plans but as long as we are having fun we might as well keep doing it. Once we get back to the boat I hope to start blogging more on our adventures.

Fall on the west coast

Fall has arrived on the west coast and the leaves are starting to turn colour. Our renovation is still ongoing but we have hopes of having it completed by mid Oct.

We still have not made any decisions on our cruising plans for the future? I had thought that by being home for awhile that an obvious answer would pop to mind on what dreams we want to fulfill but they have not. We will see how we feel when the bad weather starts to roll in and the temperature drops. Will the lure of warm days with sunny skies and warm water of the Caribbean beckon our return and kindle our sense of adventure for distant shores? We will sail from January until May and maybe by then will have an answer to our questions? Maybe not! We always talked about how wonderful it would be to visit Sweden and Denmark?

up the west coast

Well we are still alive and I see we have not put out any information for a couple of months. The house has taken up most of our time along with dealing with some family issues and we did not get away until the end of July. Our power boat Kilkea started up right away and all the systems checked out and we set off for a three week holiday up the west coast to an area called the Broughton archipelago which is about 150 to 200 miles from Vancouver. No roads up here or towns just beautiful fiords and mountains. The fishing has been good and we have met up with some old cruising friends in this part of the world. We will be back at the house towards the end of the month and hope to have all the restorations finished by the end of September. We hope!!! Otherwise we are well and looking forward to getting back on Kilkea II in Trinidad and heading out somewhere? This is just a short note so everyone will know we are still out here and doing well.

Life is easier on the water than land.

A couple of weeks ago on a Wednesday we found we had a hot water leak in our crawl space under the house. It had steamed up the whole underside of the house and we had to have the restoration people in to start the fix up. We left on Thursday for Calgary and had a fun week with the grand kids and parents over there and hoped that when we returned the house would be fixed up. No such luck as we arrived back to most all the flooring being pulled up in the kitchen and hall ways on the main level and all sorts of noisy dehumidifiers, heaters and fans running. Now it is a complete rebuild of the kitchen and seeing we are at that we might as well do all the bathrooms. Now the irony is not lost on us that we felt the boat was a lot of work to maintain but compared to this it is a piece of cake. This will keep us busy for most of the summer but will not stop us from getting out on the water here for a month or so, that is if I can get some time to get it up and running. Oh well it is fun to have projects on the go.

some pics in no order

Mahi Mahi caught off Ascension Island

black parana type of fish at anchor in Ascension Island they can clean the bottom of the boat in a few hours

 Jamestown in St Helena

boat anchored in St Helena

At Etosha in Namibia

a pride of lions eleven in all at Etosha

we parked in the car not more that ten feet away from these amazing lions and stayed for over two hours watching them and they us. If we got out of the car we would have been lunch.

Marian on a small sand dune in Sossusviei

Our abode in the desert in Namibia

having a bath at a abandoned diamond mine outside of Luderwitz

table top mountain with its table cloth on in Cape Town

South Africans love to have picnic lunches

N

some of Marian's cousins on there dairy farm

Caroline photographing on the way around the Cape of Good Hope

Home

 It was a very busy time in Trinidad getting the sails down and putting bits and pieces away on the outside and Marian busy cleaning up everything inside on Kilkea II. On Wednesday morning we moved over to Peake's marine which is a big full service yard with a very large travel lift and hauled out of the water. By that evening we had the full canvas top put up and the portable air conditioner plugged in and running and went over to friends on Infini for dinner and drinks. It was a fun evening with us Kilkea II , Infini, and Mantra together, all having just completed sailing around the world. It does put you in a different mind set being with people with similar thoughts.

On Thursday we did lots more of putting things away and packing to go home. That evening another BBQ with lots of cruisers and more fun conversations. One of our concerns is that we may find home rather boring as for the last nine years we have had a very social life with countless dinners out and happy hours spend with so many interesting sailors. Always learning about new places to go and things to do whether how one gets on the internet or where the grocery stores are, as well as how to fix things on the boats.

Friday morning we left Kilkea II in the yard and headed to the airport where we flew up to Toronto and spent the night and then to Vancouver in the morning May 02. I was great to be home and see the Vancouver part of our family. It has been nine months since we left for Singapore so we sure notice the growth of the grand kids. Our son has finished building his new house and moved in in April so now we have a house to live in again which is very strange. Marian just spent Saturday night here and then on the third was off to Sydney and another sixteen hour flight to visit her sisters family and say her goodbyes to her sister. It was a tough week for her down there and she was exhausted when she arrived back here on the 12th.

I stayed home here and did a lot of garden clean up, house stuff and even managed to play two games of golf with some old friends. It is rather strange out with them again as it seem the last nine years never happened and that it was all just a dream. I think it will take us some time to get used to living on land again. I also looked for a new car for us as we have just the old 1994 Mazda pick up truck. The used marked seemed expensive versus buying a new car and this being the end of the 2015 season there were some incentives to buy new. This we did yesterday and now have a Acura RDX which is a five passenger SUV. Now we can drive over to Calgary to visit our daughter and grand kids over there. It is about a ten hour drive through the mountains so we look forward to doing that shortly. We have lots of other projects on the house and then we have Kilkea the power boat which I have only been down to once. She is still floating in the boat house and seems to be in good shape so we will start to get it all together so that we can get back on the water which seems to be more comfortable for us at this time. We hope to head up the coast this summer where we will run into lots of our old boating friends in this part of the world and maybe even some our ocean sailor friends so if anyone is going to be around this part of the world let us know.

Trinidad and a Circumnavigation done.

We arrived in Trinidad at sunrise on Saturday morning and tied up to the customs dock and opened a bottle of champagne as this marks our completion of our circumnavigation.. We left here December 01 2009 and have sailed around the world so we are happy about that, maybe more than happy!!

Our sail up from Brazil was completely different than the last leg from Ascension island with us doing four or five 200 mile days have winds from abeam around fifteen knots and a current that flows up the south American coast of around three knots. We did 2037 miles in ten and a half days so pretty good. We did not have to use the engine at all, had no problems with the ITCZ doldrums or any thunder storms on the way just sailing along reading our books so as easy a passage as we have ever done. We have been busy here on the boat since we arrived taking all the sails down and madly cleaning up the boat to put it away for awhile as we hope to be home in Vancouver on May 01 or 02nd. Our crew, Ray and Brenda, left this morning and will spend a few days on the island before flying back to Sydney on Saturday. We had a great time with them and are still good friends after over two months together.

The sad news is that on the way up here Marian got news of her youngest sister, Rosalind, passing away in Sydney Australia from cancer. She was only 54 years old and leaves three young children behind aged 16-14-12 so very sad for everyone. This is why we have not stopped on the way up as Marian wants to get down to Australia as soon as possible. It would not have been possible for her to make it in time for the funeral but hopes to be down there next week. Again one of the not so good things about cruising.

We have now sailed over 60,000 miles in Kilkea II and we will leave her here on the hard until later this year or early next. Then we will sail in the Caribbean for the season and see if we want to continue with this life style or sell the boat and move home. Right now we suspect that we will sell her so if there is anyone out there who wants a good boat let us know.

A short visit to Brazil

We have been here for just a few days to take on some fuel and provisions and will sail off tomorrow with the high tide. We are about ten miles up a river and it is very hot with high humidity so not comfortable in the daytime but the evenings are nice and we have the AC working so not too tough.

 Our plans are to sail up to Trinidad and leave Kilkea II there for the summer and go home to Vancouver around the beginning of May as we have many things to sort out having been away this time for so long. We may stop for a day or two at Devils island in French Guiana depending on weather and winds. It will be slow going for the first few days going through the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) before we get north of the equator and start to pick up the north east trade winds which will take us all the way up to the Caribbean. We hope for some good sailing and making some good mileage. The only thing will be the first few days with probably some rain and thunder storms in the forecast. So far this part of the world for sailing has been very easy on the boat and us so hope it stays that way for a couple of weeks more.

Brazil

Well we made it to Jacare Marina in Brazil this morning just after 6am. We are  up a river about fifteen miles and it is now really hot! It took us nine days to do 1200 miles so the slowest and calmest passage yet. We will stay here for a few days to re provision and see some sites before continuing on to the Caribbean which is another 2000 miles away. At least that run should be faster with good winds except when crossing the ITCZ. Now it is time for some sleep and try to keep cool.

Off to Brazil the next four days.

Today is Monday and we have had an uneventful trip up to now with little wind and smooth seas. We have managed to sail with the foresails up and the wind behind at about 5 knots so very slow. The last 24 hours we have had the engine running as there was no wind and lots of rain showers coming through but no wind and boy is it hot and muggy! 

We have had some good meals with Marian and Brenda cooking up a storm. On Easter Sunday we had a visit from the Easter bunny with lots of chocolate eggs. These need to be in the fridge to keep them from melting. We had a big breakfast  of pancakes and eggs and finished the day with us sharing a bottle of wine with dinner. So all in all we had a good holiday weekend. 

We now plan to be in Brazil on Thursday morning early so hope to be tied up in the marina by noon. The marina is called Marina Jacare which is 18 miles up a river so I imagine that it is going to be real hot when we get there. So just two more days to go. This has been the slowest passage we have ever done so rather boring from a sailing point of view.

Off to Brazil, The first three days,

We departed Ascension island on Tuesday the 31st of March after clearing out on the Monday.. We had some trouble getting the anchor up as it had caught up on an old wreck or whatever was down there and it took us about 45 minutes to get it up. We thought we may have to hire a diver to get us unhooked. 

Well off we went heading to Brazil as we have finally made up our mind of where we are going and have decided it will be the Caribbean. The winds on this leg are very light and the first three days have been as forecast with winds from the ESE around 10 knots which is not much. We have  managed to sail with the genoa out to port and our ballooner to starboard both on the poles so we have solid sail up in front of us and are managing around 5 knots of speed. The seas are very calm and it feels like we are not moving with the view never changing  and the sun setting right on the bow with lots of bright colours. We have a rising moon which will be full on Saturday and provides us with great visibility. If the wind stays as forecast this will be along trip at such slow speed. Twelve hundred miles will take us about nine to ten days. Normally we would do this in seven. The good news is that it is very pleasant coasting along and with four of us we get lots of sleep.

South Atlantic continuation

On Saturday the  21st we left with winds up a little more than we would like and had 25-30k winds from astern which makes for fast sailing but lots of motion onboard making sleeping and everything else difficult. We had just two days of that and then the   winds dropped and we even had to run the engine for the last four hours into Ascension where we dropped the anchor on the 25th and celebrated our arrival before we cleared in the next morning. This island is mountainous but greener than St Helena and the sea has a big swell from the north pounding in on the white sand beaches and the black iron shore. This island is military, owned by the British but has a big American presence with so many antennas that are used for the tracking of the satellites launched out of Cape Kennedy in Florida. They have a two mile runway that was a contingency landing site for the space shuttle when it was flying. Here it is difficult to go ashore with the landing being some cement steps that you have to judge the swell just right to get off or you go swimming. Today, our second full day, we tried to go ashore this morning but the swell are just too big and it would be folly trying to go unless we really had to. We will bob around for the day at anchor and so some swimming with lots of small fish that are all around the boat and watch the turtles swim by. The big white sand beach in front of us is covered with turtle tracks above the surf line where every night they are laying eggs. There are thousands of them here mostly green turtles so maybe some hope for their survival.

We drove around the island yesterday seeing all the sites and ended up at the American air base with a typical US bar and restaurant. Not great food but a nice change. The swell is down so much easier to get ashore and today we are doing the intenetting and tomorrow we will check out and head over to South America at Brazil. Another 1200 miles so hope to  put a blog out in a couple of  weeks.

Ascension Island ...South Atlantic

 The South Atlantic..

We sailed from Ludiwitz leaving on March 5th bound for St Helena about 1400 miles away. We had a very fast start with winds in the 25k range for the first two days and then slowly came down to the 15-20k range for the rest of the trip. The whole sail was very comfortable and with four of us onboard we managed lots of sleep and reading of books. On the 10th we celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary by sharing a bottle of champagne at dinner. On the 12th we received the sad news that my brother Eric had passed away. This is when being away living this sailing life is no fun at all. We had been expecting this as he had fought for the last three years against the multiple myeloma cancer that he had. Still being only 61 years old is far too young to die. We will all miss him..

We arrived in St Helena on Friday the thirteenth around 1600 hrs and tied to one of their mooring bouys. We stayed onboard for the night and cleared in the next morning at Jamestown. This is the island Napoleon was sent to the second time he was defeated and here he died. He was buried here but 25 years later his remains were sent back to Paris where is today. We saw the house he lived in and the old grave site. This island is the top of a volcanic mountain with vertical cliffs jutting out of the sea with little or no vegetation on them but in the middle of the island it is green with clouds swirling around you on the higher areas. The top of the island is around 2800 feet. The only way in or out of St Helena is by boat which comes from Cape Town once every three weeks so rather remote. They are building an airport which is due to open next year and will completely change the island for better and worse. No cell phone coverage and the cost of internet is crazy. The shopping is ok but you have to go to all the stores as they all have slightly different produce and food stuffs. It is like going back in time. The people are great with so many different backgrounds and they all refer to themselves as Saints. We stayed for just over a week and left the following Saturday for Ascension Island 700 miles NNW.

update

We finally left Cape Town on Wednesday the 25th and sailed for three days up to Luderwitz in Namibia. It was a different feeling on Kilkea II with the addition of our two friends who are crewing for us up to where ever we end up. The sail here was very pleasant with fifteen to twenty knots of wind from behind with calm seas so very pleasant for all concerned. This place is very different with the old German town have many of it old buildings still standing and in pretty good condition. It is very small with just about ten blocks of size but with a yacht club and supermarkets close by and very friendly people. We rented a car for a day and did some touring. We went through a abandoned diamond mine that is now a tourist attraction and learnt much about the history of the business and how it all came about.

This is just a short note to let everyone know that we will depart tomorrow the 5th of March for St Helena island about 1400 miles away. It will be good to get back into warmer water as the sea temperature here is around 14 degrees C. It will be good to be back at sea again so we can relax. We plan to stay there for 5 days or so depending on the weather. Then it will be off to Ascension island which is a further seven hundred miles up the Atlantic. Lots of fun. At that point we will make the decision to either head to the Carrib or the Med? It will be a lot different having crew and lot of sleep.

pictures

cape cobra on our walk up to a cave

our shadows while walking up sand dunes

marian walk up the dunes

more sand

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part of a pride of eleven lions

Elephant at the water hole

the king of beasts

carting wine from Ernie Els winery

Vergelegen winery which is spectacular

our rondoval up at Waterberg plateau

Cape Agulhas

short note

We have been back in Cape Town for ten days and have been busy visiting friends and family here in South Africa. It has been a delight to get to know new family members and some of their friends as well as reconnecting with some of the Irish group who like to spent some of their winter here.

We have been joined by two of our cruising friends from Marmaris in Turkey back in 2007 who are English by birth and lived in Canada for ten years before moving to Sydney where they now live. Ray and Brenda have sailed their boats around the world a couple of times and are going to travel with us up to the Carribbean or to Europe as we still have not decided exactly where we are going. None of us has any time constraints so there is no need to make any definitive plans. It will all become clear once we are underway. We have most all the provisioning done and there are just a couple of small boat jobs to finish and we will be away up to Ludiwitz in Namibia which is about five hundred miles up the west coast of Africa. Then we will head for St Helena and will decide which way to turn from there. I think we have over two hundred bottles of good wine onboard right now so will not go thirsty.

Namibia

We are just back on Kilkea II after ten days up in Namibia. We had a great time having a holiday from our holidays. We flew into Windhoek and rented a VW Polo which was a great little car which did us very well. We drove for five hours up to the entrance to Etosha national park where we stayed at a very nice lodge which can accommodate a hundred and sixty people but being the rainy season there we just six of us there! We spend two full days in the park, just a very small part of it as it is huge, and drove on sandy roads through the savannah and saw just tons of animals. From lions to Elephants, giraffes, rhinos, and tons more. We had a good time sitting beside eleven lions who were sleeping under a couple of trees in the heat of the day (37C). Well we were in the car about five feet away from the nearest of them. They have no fear of the car but if you got out I think you would be lunch. The lions had just killed a juvenile Rino and were full of food so not too interested in us at all. We watched the carcase of the rino as all the animals came to take a look or to feed on it. Everything from the vultures to hyenas and all the other scavengers of the area. The weather was great all the time we were in Namibia with clear blue skies and the temps up in the high 30s.

We next went to Waterberg Plateau which is like table mountain in Cape Town with view for the resort our over the Kalahari bushlands which are flat all the way to Botswana and beyond. There we did some hiking early in the morning and spend the afternoon in our private rondavel with a dipping pool in front just reading our books and relaxing. After a couple of nights there we drove down to Sossusvlei which was a seven hour drive half of which are on dirt roads. This is the area you see in most of the books on Namibia with huge sand dunes that go all the way to the ocean. An amazing area and we spent two night just outside the park gates in a semi tented air conditioned room. We then moved forty k down the road to a very nice resort run by the same group as the one we stayed at in Kruger. Here we were spoiled with service and fun things to do including riding through the dessert on quad bikes. More on this with some pics latter.

Cape Town

Time... where does it go. I must be getting older as it seems like we just got here yesterday and it has been four weeks since we arrived. We have been busy as usual sightseeing, finding our way around a new city, and socializing with all of our cruising friends as well as meeting more of Marina's cousins who live in Cape Town.

We arrived at Simons Town just before New Years and stayed until the 12th when we sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Town. It was a very unusual day as we had little wind which is very unusual for this Cape but made for a very nice day for us as we have had Marian's sister Caroline with us for the last few weeks and it would not do to go out on a blustery day with her onboard. We are now at the V&A marina in downtown Cape Town which is very nice other than the big seals/sea lions that lie all over the docks. We have been entertained by the new cousins with dinners out at their houses and travelling to wineries which are numerous with wonderful gardens and old colonial homes. The wines are terrific, some better that others, depending on your taste and the prices are very inexpensive compared to Canadian prices. Caroline will be with us for a few more days and then we will have to get out of the country and reenter to get new visas. More on that later.

On the boat front we are having a new main sail being built along with our Jib being recut as we have never been happy with the way it sets. This will give us new sails all around now which should be good for many more years of sailing. We have also been doing lots of small jobs on Kilkea II for our next journey up the Atlantic. This week we will do some more winery tours and are enjoying the warm weather in the day and the cool evenings. Also we will try to do the boat trip out to Robin Island and see where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years sometime this week. We are enjoying South Africa especially the people who are so very friendly.

pictures from the Cape town area

sailing past cape Agulhas with a bottle of two oceans wine which we left in the bottle as it was 0500 in the morning!

baby sea gull in Simons Town marina

Cape of Good Hope



Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope from the ocean.... nice calm day of which there are few

Table mountain in Cape Town



from Table Mountain overlooking Cape Town

Table Mountain on our arrival to Cape Town

Maclear's cairn on top of Table mountain

Picnic lunch at one of the wineries



Sea lions on the dock beside us at the V&A marina in Cape town

At Cape Agulhas

The Atlantic and Indian oceans join here

view from Table Mountain