S/V L'ORIENT

You might believe that bobbing off the coast of Bonaire would create service issues when anything goes wrong. Kirstin and I have been quite self sufficient........almost never paying someone to work on the boat. Occasionally, a problem emerges that requires reinforcements......and that happened this week. Our problematic outboard began acting up. After Tom exhausted every trick in his book to fix it, we coldly and soberly picked up the "bat phone" and summoned our good friend Thorsten, or more precisely Professor Doctor Thorsten. He's a close friend and also a Phd in rocket science (no joke). We've begun our work and I'm confident of success. Since he works for beer, we can afford him. More to come.

The happy scuba couple The days pass here in Bonaire incredibly quickly.........our days have some variety, but, happily, not much. Just a resequencing of our favorite activites, day after day. Meals on the boat, happy hour, diving, watching the moon rise over our 360 water view. The rare frogfish (the yellow blob) But life in Bonaire really revolves around diving. How high is the wind ? Is it safe to pick a distant dive site? Each dive is about 70 minutes at about 40-60 ft under the water. We explore the giant coral formations here and basically watch the fish (large, small, and occasionally wierd) going about their day. We signal each other under water to describe what we're looking at.....a private language that only two people on earth can use. The experience is kind of meditative and really clears your mind. No media, no people, no cars, no jobs (hahaha). The 20 minute ride back from the dive site is filled with the dive-recap conversation........"can you bel...

Emily came for a visit this past week. She had a huge agenda...............painting Crabby, learning to scuba dive, and generally getting into trouble. She accomplished all three..................and broke a few hearts while she was here. The first three days involved scuba certification.............early to bed, early to rise. We drove her to her scuba school where she learned theory and had practice diving from 8 AM to 4 PM each day. She could just get cleaned up by happy hour, so a full day to be sure. That Mahi didn't have a chance After her certification, we dove almost every day................and saw turtles, frogfish, eels, and other crazy critter-life. We found time for throwing the football, and even bought a mahi from a local fisherman so Emily could try her hand at emergency fish surgery..................alas, the operation was a success but the patient didn't make it. Alas, the time went too fast and we put her on a plane today...............she's ...

This is the question we encounter most often when we're visiting (ugh, or working) back in the US. Without a house, car, kids living home, full time jobs, etc..........what do we do all day ? Well, to dispel any notions that we've become lazy, frivolous wastrels; I'll attempt now to fill you in. Going diving 7:30 AM- Slowly waking from last night's festivities, I stagger to the galley and start the generator. I begin the water making and power generation process. Since I still would like to complete my slumber, I also turn on the aft cabin A/C and return to bed. 8:30 AM- OK, time to actually get up. We've already accomplished a lot (the batteries are now charged and our reverse-osmosis water maker has added 150 liters to our tank). And, it's breakfast time........fresh mangos and cereal.........and possibly one of those yummy raison buns. We read the NY Times to be sure we are up to date on all the world's crises............hard to feel close to any...

Did we sink ? Did we sell the boat ? Have we decided to quit cruising ? None of the above.......we're just in paradise now (Bonaire) and between diving, hiking, happy hour(ing) and reading, it's hard to work anything else in. Typical day......wake up (by 10:00AM), eat tropical fruit for breakfast, do a quick boat project, lunch, dive for 75 minutes, get caught up on all the news we don't care about;  then happy hour, dinner, sleep, repeat. To catch everyone up, we left the boat in Grenada from mid August to the end of October. We were lucky enough to catch Carnival in Grenada before coming back to the US. The festivities start at 3am with an event called Jouvert where people walk down the street with vats of paint and used motor oil with which they cover themselves and anyone in the vicinity. I had to take Kirstin's word on this as she attended with boating friends (as I decided that getting up in the dark to be covered in motor oil was not appealing) - she arrived ba...

Serena 2015 Cruisers will tell the uninitiated that offshore sailing is statistically safer than golfing.....which strictly speaking, is correct. However, any offshore sailor who tells you he/she hasn't thought about the unlikely yet terrifying scenario of being caught in a storm far from help......is just full of shi*. In 2012, we met a number of wonderful people and made several close "cruiser-friends". We follow these people through e-mail, blogs, and by meeting them from time to time in the islands. In 2012, no friends we made were closer than our Finnish friends, Arja and Henti (they appear in our posts from 2012). Serena (their boat) was a sturdy Malo 50. Arja and Henti themselves were very experienced sailors, having sailed Serena from Finland to the Caribbean, a trip certainly not for the feint of heart. Arja and Henti, 2012 In the Spring of 2013, Arja and Henti began the long trek back to Finland in Serena, with two family members as passengers. Seren...

Carriacou The question, delivered in a West-Indian patois, burned through me like a hot knife. "Excuse me?" "You put the boat name in the wrong place" was the retort from the fat, lethargic functionary at the Customs and Immigration Office. To be 52 years of age is to be self aware. There are lots of people I've met who based on their superior intellect (if not superior manners) could justifiable inquire as to my level of intelligence. I didn't, however, include this fleshy oaf among that group. Kirstin, while seemingly friendly to all in her midwestern way, is quite protective of her husband. When provoked, she can be surprisingly aggressive in these situations. So, I quickly gave her that pained smile that said (in our own unspoken, microwave communication) "Sweetie, let that one go". We subsequently found out from talking to other cruisers that this woman seems to think everyone who walks through her door is stupid.  So,...