Soufriere

bank of St Lucia - the fanciest building in the town

new neighbors for the night

prime property

locals preparing for the day - selling fruit, moorings and anything else you might need from their boats...

you definitely have to have patience when the locals swarm your boat as soon as you arrive in the bay

the Catholic Church & town square

catnap in the shade

our wifi spot, next to immigration & customs. convenient.

welcome to skippers

is there another kind of liquor?

next to the church

almost every street has a house destroyed by fire, with no obvious effort to rebuild

corners of the church square 

fairy lights and coconut carvings for atmosphere in a local restaurant

you can never have enough colour

view from the restaurant

Sourfiere was our first real sailing destination. We had perfect conditions and the new main sail couldn't have performed better. We even tested out the autopilot - I can't believe what a huge difference it makes. I can lie back on my pillows in the cockpit and literally change course with my toe, on the autopilot screen, while I read my book. Now I finally understand what all the fuss is about!

The town itself is very colorful and full of character. The only building not covered in bright colors is the Catholic Church, in the centre of town. The interior makes up for it though, with blue walls, red stain glass windows and multicolor statues.

As soon as the locals realize you are a friendly traveler and not a difficult tourist they immediately welcome you and assist you wherever possible. Also, their prices suddenly drop from ridiculously exorbitant right down to the same as what their friends would pay. If you take a genuine interest in their local cuisine they will demonstrate how to make the various dishes and even go as far as to take you to the market and help to find the best ingredients at the real-non-touristy prices for you.

We spent one night there and left to St Vincent island the next day. 

Marigot Bay

our first view of Melody in the bay, as we came over the hill from the airport

1st few hours on Melody - happy happy faces!

view of the beach from our boat 

sunset towards the entrance of the bay

morning rainbow 

one of the best things about cruising? almost any time is beer time ;)

St Lucia's local beer, named after the famous Pitons, further south.

admiring our refurbished jib

Wolfgang, Nina, the kids and us

Ruf prepping for our first day sail to the neighboring bay

Castries, the neighboring bay, where we did our first sail and groceries for the boat.

Castries is St Lucia's capital and a port of entry by both sea and air

the lighthouse in Castries Bay

last evening in Marigot before we sailed to Soufriere

we arrived in St Lucia on May 6th, to finally return to Melody and meet the wonderful Klein family in person, that had been taking care of her for the previous 4 months.

Wolfgang, Nina and their two children had been cruising with Melody from Trinidad up to St Lucia. we had only ever communicated via email so it was wonderful to finally meet our new friends in person.  

we were so blown away by the brilliant care they had taken of Melody, we felt (and still feel) truly blessed by them and their contribution to our boat. Nina and Wolgang are the kind of people who you immediately feel comfortable around so it's difficult not to become fast friends with them.

rufus and I were in a bit of a state of (good) shock when we arrived back on Melody. It all felt very surreal but we were so happy to be back. I immediately started unpacking our bags and "making home" while the boys busied themselves with the boat mechanics.

after we said goodbye to the Klein's the following morning, we stayed about 1 week while we familiarized ourselves with Melody and the new upgrades that had taken place since we left in 2012. after a short sail to Castries, the neighboring bay, for shopping we made our way to the Sourfiere.

its so good to be back on our boat. It's been a long time since we have had our very own home so this is extra special for us. the future is bright!

P.S. the NYC and SA posts will have to wait till we get to Trinidad and put the boat on the hard. the islands were traveling now are more interesting at the moment ;) 

A Brand New Beginning

Manhattan skyline from the bay

everyone knows her name

our apartment building in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

we always manage to find boats and ships and anything maritime or nautical, wherever we go...

NYC underground

Mad Men for Miss Moss

I took a shine to the mosaic artwork under the city

more mosaics under the Museum of Natural History

amazing waffles at this place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

from freezing NYC to toasty St Lucia island - first day back on Melody!

First morning in Marigot Bay, St Lucia

last sunset in St Lucia before we headed off to St Vincent

Friends!

We are back! Back on the blog and back on the BOAT!!

For those of you who are new to our blog, in 2010 we bought an old steel boat with a couple of friends, renovated it for a year and a half and then sailed it across the Atlantic Ocean in Sept/Oct 2012 (see the old blog at offtheline.co.za). We set off from South Africa to Brazil and then on to Tobago ( the smaller island of Trinidad and Tobago). Ruf and I then left to Zambia to pursue work opportunities while our 2 friends, Vivian and Daniel, continued to sail the Caribbean for another year (last year, 2013, to be exact).

After working out our contracts and saving all our hard earned cash we bought out Viv & Dan's shares in Melody (the afore mentioned rust bucket) and have returned to her fat steel belly to continue and complete our world domination, I mean circumnavigation ;)

On our way back to the boat, from Zambia, we had to re home our legendary dog Jack, spent a month in SA with our family and friends (unfortunately more doing admin than spending precious time with our favorite people - boring but necessary) and then finally a week in New York. 

I'm planning to do posts on all the above but I first have to tackle the mammoth task (or so it feels to me) of sorting and editing/resizing all the relevant photos. Can you say PRO-CRAS-TINATION?!

We are currently on our planned route from St Lucia, where we got back onto the boat, south down to Trinidad where we want to do some work on this sturdy lady before we hit the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean. We just arrived in St Vincent (one island down) and so, when the power onboard ( we only have one solar panel and a wind generator to power the boats systems and electrical devices, including and not prioritizing the laptop) and, hopefully free & unlimited, WIFI are in abundance the posts shall appear for your enjoyment!

I have included some Instagram shots to wet your appetite, but mostly because it's the easiest thing I could come up with for visuals. I am lazy after a days worth of semi-rough sailing, rain (boohoo!) and my old best friend - sea sickness. So I feel I am being quite generous and productive considering the circumstances. It's a tough life in paradise... :P

over & out