Sweet days before the crossing

Wednesday we will sail towards the Azores! You can track us on the Garmin Inreach website, where we will also post messages. This is the link:

https://share.garmin.com/J22AJ

We look forward to sail across the ocean again. The sailing will be more challenging than when we came across with the trade winds, but we are up to it. Jaspers father Henk is going to text us weather updates again, and we also hope to catch some weather fax images with the SSB receiver along the way. And maybe a fish.

We placed an extra dyneema back stay as a backup, thanks to our neighbors of SY Rajac, who gave us the dyneema and a block. While Jasper was climbing into the mast to attach the line, wearing his heavy boots, their two young kids were watching. After their father explained what he was doing one of the girls said, “yes, I get it, but what does this man have on his feet?” How sweet! This reminded us it will be strange to ware shoes again back in Europe.

After days of preparing the boat, Angie and Alex of SY Twoflower convinced us to join them for a sail towards Mayreau, along with SY Anixi. This turned out to be the best idea. The sailing was beautiful and it felt like a big relief to have the boat sailing again. And she was fast. We were running 6 to 7 knots with two reefs, leaving the bigger boats of our friends behind! In Mayreau we anchored in Saline bay among a few other boats. We met up with our Irish and Canadian friends at Dennis Hideaway bar by the beach and the evening turned into a good one with friends, music and dancing, as if a virus terrorizing the world was nonexistent.

(pictures by Alex and Angie of SY Twoflower)

It is incredible how many nice people we have met during the last weeks, on land and in the bay. And to hear so many stories. I cant count the times we were listening to someone, trying to absorb it all. One person full of stories and as many lives is Dennis. He runs the bar and restaurant by the beach and a resort up the hill. In fact, he runs the whole island, he says. He takes care of everything and everybody. And that includes the cruisers in the bay. While we were at his bar, drinking a cola and paying what we owned him from the night before, he served us a full plate of freshly cooked dumplings, breadfruit and chicken, “just to taste” and poured some rum with the cola, “because seriously, you are in the Caribbean”. He understands the sailors very well and it is nice to meet someone who knows we are not all millionaires. He is a sailor too, started working on commercial ships at the age of only 12, which made him the youngest sailor of the country. At 19, he was already a captain, another record, and sailed a lot of charter boats. Now he wants to buy a fishing trawler, if he can find someone who will buy and take care of his resort. “But the bar, I´ll keep!” he says.

Thank you everybody, for turning our time in the Caribbean into this unforgettable experience! For welcoming us at your islands and boats, for helping us out, for telling us your story and for being the best neighbors and friends! We hope our paths will cross again!

X Sanne and Jasper