New bay new stories:)

Just put an anchor and the show started go on. There is a shallow not marked place in middle of the bay so if you do not check carefully charts or pilot books there is quite a big possibility to get stuck there. We new it so no problem. But one sailing yacht didnt and......  right in front of us they went aground. We saw all that because it happened quite close where we stay.  And of course we went to help.  Result, two hours of all kind of effort to take it out from the shallow, and it was out. But it needed a tug ....because the boat went hard hard to mud (that whats happens when you go fast inside any bay).
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​We are now  in Clarkes Caurt Bay, Grenada.

Came here because we wanted to check another boatyard for next hurricane season.  I mean the bay is not the most beautiful and atractive to choose, but because of a Clarkes Court marina we wanted to come here and check how it looks. One thing is when you read in internet about it, another is when you see it yourslef.
And so here we are. The boat yard looks safe and so on.,,but ...its not cheap. and don,t know..we diidnt like it too much. Also you need to pay quite a lot if you live on your boat while on dry.  So need continue checking . We will.

Meanwhile we enjoy this bay. Egoi was soooooo happy to find a bar where they put Tv and football match. So here we are now:) In a perfect bar for sailors watching Barcelona- Real Madrid match!.
if you are sailor you will understand why its perfect.:) And if not, we will explain:
perfect is that bar from where sitting and drinking a beer you can see your boat at anchor:)

Click here to edit.

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Life on anchor continues.. More at anchor than sailing.. but thats how our  life on boat goes here....We sail.. of course.. from point A to B.. .but the majority of time we swing on anchor in some bay. Till we get bored or feel that we saw enough there.. Or till  some time schedule is pushing or we have some friend or famyly coming.  
This time in less than two weeks to Grenada  is coming  my famyly and our friend Remis from Boston!. He and his son! ...We will sail through Grenadines till Martinique and for sure we will have a super super time! But till then we are staying here in Grenada ..again and again enjoying as much as we can this slooowwwwwww life:) 

 Our Grain de Sable continue st David bay. We started exploring the island by land and when finally decided its time to go , came windy and  rainy days ( like now its raining too) so we prefered to stay here till all will stabilize again. Weather is little bit  strange here...rains a lot and wind comes  from east and south east mostly.  Many squalls and many days with grey like in the north of Europe sky. At least its hot...water and air..so thats nice. ...But we are still waiting those constant "alisios" winds and clear skys.. And our solar panels and wind generator too- need more sun and constant wind to charge fully all bateries and have a pleasure to run the fridge constatly. Now we are  disconecting it every night and switching on again in the morning to have at least at midday cold beer to drink:)

Also the water is not very transparent now ...Probably its because of all rain and derbis from the rivers..So we can  hardly sea anything while snorkeling. Maybe later in other bays the visibility will be better.... 

But all these negative parts has their good sides.. Because of the rain we sail less and stay more on a boat and continue doing all those small jobs we have on list.  LIttle by little our floating house is becoming more and more cozy. At least for us:)    
Some rainy days  we spent hiking  in the island- visited the crater lake on the highest mountain of Grenada, saw mono monkeys, walked to neighbourhood beaches around, visited the capital St Georges few times and of course went to supermarkets...
Here in the bay  there is no any vilage near..so no shop...nothing..just one bar with fish and chips and beer in Grenada Marina. That means that everytime we need something there is nothing to do but to take the bus and go to town.  And if the weather is not nice and we dont feel like leaving our boat alone at anchor for a long time the only thing we can do is to  improvise in the galley:)

And this is the topic we always finish speaking about when meet with  other sailors....FOOD!..Where to find "that and that", how to keep fresh "that and that"..what to do with "that and that"......I think in the life on land if you are not a super cheff.. hardly speak 30 percent of what we discuss here..
But i like that..Somehow this life without easy access to the shops makes us more creatives and also gives the possibility to discover new tastes and learn many tricks..For examle do you know how some sailors make famous greek dish tsasiki ? When there is no natural greek yogurt and cucumber in all island?.....So..they mix small triangles cheese( quesitos) with powder milk , water and lemon juice- thats GREEK YOGURT:)...peel green papaya , cut it in small pieces ( THATS "CUCUMBER") add salt,  oil and garlic and mix all!..And thats "tzaziki"!... Probably the taste is not bad  but yeah...call it tzaziki maybe would be too much, no?...Anyway...here you have a new dish...what you can eat with fried sweet potato...fried green banana...or just with bread. 
There are more tricks i am learning...but maybe to put them all here in blog i would need to create a new page of -CREATIVE GALLEY?
not yet maybe...
 i still need  to practise....cooking has never been mine big passion as i could spend all life eating just salads:)......but never say never...

Safely arrived to Grenada!
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It was not easy to leave Tobago, but it was raining too much the last days and was showing rain all the comming week too so it was the right time to leave.

77 miles...night sailing with light winds..NO RAIN!!!!!!....and day 17 of November we entered St David Bay in the south east of Grenada. 
ANd once again we made a right choise! Beautiful bay!!!!!....More-...is a wild bay with just a Grenada marina on shore and a small walking distance till the main road where the buses go to the capital St.George.

Very remote...calm place.....Friendly people..free wifi on shore....free SHOWERS!!!!!....small cozy bar with cheap beer...dinghy dock...free fresh water on shore...and washing machine for 3 euros( finally my hands will rest :)))
And with really a nice and well protected boat yard on land.....This is one thing we want to check in south of Grenada. - all boat yards...prices and conditions... Now we are in Caribbean sea.....so one day ( around july ) we will need to decide where to hide from next hurricane season (2017).ALso we need to houl out our boat ...so maybe Grenada could be that place.

But ok.we have lots of time:)

...and sooooooooooooooooooo many islands to visit before!

Still in same bay of Tobago...This time not because of "some problems",  but because WE WANT. Nobody was locking us here. We could have gone to other bay many days ago, but as you see-we didnt:) We are still in Charlotteville enjoying this amazing bay. We feel here so confortable, safe and relaxed that is really difficult to put an anchor and leave. 

Actually  it happens  when we stay longer than usually in some place.. We become friends with locals and  sailors around, than dinner on one boat, breakfast on another , drinks on ours and so on. Also we start exploring all surroundings and discover  special spots where lime trees grows for a rum drink, or find a place where wild bananas grow and we finish having 50 or more small bananas which in 2 days become ripen and we have to eat them almost all at once:)

 We enter to daily routine which creates feeling more of a  real life in one place than traveling..

Days goes and  goes and we get use to live slow. For example normal day on anchor looks something like this: 
it starts with the sun rise ( no alarm clock..nothing..we wake up alone!) wake up,  than  quick jump to water and morning swim...(that is one of the best things you have living on boat!!!)..than coffee preparation and  breakfast and after we start doing some small works on boat (the list in endless!) which can take hour, two or three. and than again to water and if the water is clear and there are no jelly fishes around in the water  (some days who knows why but all bay is full of small jelly fishes ) we go snorkeling and Egoi tries to catch some fish for lunch. Than lunch and after of course siesta time. Later short dinghy ride to the beach, some swim, yoga or play beach padlle game and before dark back to boat thinking what to make for dinner. And after all - glass of rum and movie time! 

Other days we go for long walks- to the highest point of the mountain around or next bay or next village. In the need of sightseeing or searching for fruits. Its so green and wild here that we love these walks. Sometimes we go two of us alone and sometimes in a company of our friends Helma and Bob from neigbour boat ,Sunny Spray,  from Holland. Locals never go more than 50 meters by foot so  we are always alone on road...I think they take us as crazy when they see us four walking from one vilagge to other by foot. Specially when it rains like crazy and we, beeing totally wet  still need  5 kilometers to make...

Believe it really rains here!  Since the last week. We thought that the rainy season is finishing, but it seems that we are wrong. Luckily our boat is dry because we managed to reseal all windows just before the rainy days came. So now inside is dry, just the maraton of opening and closing hatches its starting to bore us. You cant imagine how many times a day we need to close and open all windows on boat!....
.At least one thing is good-  rain lets us  colect lots of fresh water for showers and all. In beginning we were sleeping with all windows open and than at night when its started to rain one would wake up and  rush to close all them....But the last days we sleep with all closed and even if its hot as in sauna inside we prefer sleep swetting but relaxed than worrying to didnt hear rain comming and make all baot wet. Thats the life on boat:)..

Once a week we try to catch a local transport and go to Scarborough (The Capital of the island)-for shopping. Like most of the people do when they work all week , no?...So do we.  It takes almost and hour or more to get there but thats Ok cause we have time:) Scarborough has two 'normal' supermarkets  where you can find not all but at least more than here in Charlotteville. Prices are quite high, but in Caribbean islands this is to what everyone needs to get use. Forget fresh dairy products and fruits like apples, pears, some vegetables like salads and tomatoes because they are crazy expensive.. And the meat...This is like delicatessen here. ALl is frozen and even than its very very limited. And the same with wine. Cheapest wine bottle can cost around 7 euros and believe its really not  even a good wine...Better do not try and stay with Local Rum and local beer.  Good that we still have some bottles of wine from Spain left, but when they,ll finish we will need to wait till Martinque. This is the island where mostly all boats sails to stock. And so we will. For sure:) But not just for shopping:)

Till than there are still many island on the way to see. First of all it will be Grenada, but we are waiting till the hurricane season oficially will end(end of this month) to leave. Till than we will still stay in Tobago and once we are ready  we.ll try some more bays to see.  This island has all you need for cruising life-people are friendly, its very safe and you have good health centers in each town if you need some help.

I,m talking about that because i had my both ears blocked and more than two weeks strugling trying to hear . But finally i gave up and went for doctor. And i was really surprised when they attended me without any problems and cured me:) And all for free! I just had to write my name and my date of birth. Thats all. Amazing...No one asked mine nationality...nothing! Just listened to my problem and fixed it...Incredible:) So simple and human....

p.s. I,m forgetting something! . There is one curious thing I discovered about Tobago. To tell the true the sailors couple from Russia told us about that.
Do you know that in seventeen century Tobago was a colony of Latvia?????????...
To be more correct -a colony of Courland which was a vassal state of LIthuanian-Polish union.
 
But for more exact information I leave you here a text from Wikipedia:

"History

Great Courland Bay Monument
Courland had a population of only 200,000, mostly of Latvian, German and Scandinavian ancestry, and was itself a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at that time. Under Duke Jacob Kettler (ruled 1642-1682), a Baltic German, it established one of the largest merchant fleets in Europe, with its main harbours in Windau (today's Ventspils), and Libau (today's Liepāja). During his travels to Western Europe, Duke Jacob became an eager proponent of mercantilism. Metalworking and shipbuilding became much more developed. Trading relations were established not only with nearby countries, but also with England, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and others.

The Duchy's ships started undertaking trade voyages to the West Indies at least as early as 1637, when a Couronian ship attempted to found a colony on Tobago with 212 settlers. An earlier European settlement on the island, a Dutch colony, formed in 1628, had been wiped out a few months earlier by Spain. The first Couronian colony met a similar end, whilst a second attempt was essentially blockaded by Spain and strangled in infancy by 1639. In 1642 two ships under Captain Caroon with about 300 settlers attempted to settle on the north coast near Courland Bay"


                                 You live and you learn...
or better
                               You travel and you learn....

If you want to live slow......start to  live on a boat in tropics!!!...
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Maybe its the heat, a culture or all togather, but here, even the most nervous person can discover his inner peace..
Yesterday we checked the calendar and could not believe that is almost a month since we left Europe and are back on boat. Time is flying, but we not:) And we start  to like it !

SO now we are in Tobago. island which  long time ago we  wanted to visit by  boat.  2009  we were here during the time when we were visiting Trinidad, Chaguaramas bay  by sy RagaineII.  We came to Tobago by ferry from Trinidad, Port of Spain with Egoi parents who came to visit us on Around the World trip. But now, we arrived here with our own boat!  And thats another story:)

When we lay  in the beach and watch Grain de Sable swinging  on anchor in front is still hard to believe we are here. And not in a hurry!...We can stay as much as we want!..Funny how dificult it can be to accept that you are in paradise and  you can have it all for you:)...Our brain need more time ...
MUCH MORE!!!!....
Even if we are slowlly entering caribbean rythme...still we are not stopping to make plans, prepare boat, paint, varnish, sew, clean and so on and so on..... 

And in Suriname it was even worse!!!.. Uff..CRAZY..

After a quite tiring flight (and some adventures in Amsterdam Airport- they didnt want to let us flight without return ticket or other ticket proving we will leave Suriname after) from Amsterdam to Paramaribo with a local Suriname airlines  we arrived to our boat. .It was dark already so we decided to sleep outside on deck because it was too late to start instaling all electricity and so on. First night on boat with sounds of jungle and of course mosquitos bites too:)
Than the next morning came...Time to inspect the boat and see what these five months did harm for her.
To be sincere we epxected worse situation...Ok. There were lot of  humidity inside and we had to clean all, but all all all inside, but apart from that all the rest was Ok. Thanks to Noel from waterland Marina who took care about Grain when we were out. Electricity worked without any problem, engine started without any extra effort too, all equipments turned on...Only in the mast we found a  few wasps nets and on the arc two small birds made a nest and laid some eggs there..
And the hull. River and its current left its mark..Almost all antifouling paint went out..

So since the first day we started to prepare our Grain for sailing. Working from sunrise till sunset- in the heat of 37 or who know how much. If we had to do it for someone else probably in the first few days we would quit the job. But when its your own boat ...suddenly you become a superman and become a working machine:)
Later after arriving to Caribbean Sea and jumping to blue water you feel like you won a prize and all hard job was worth the effort. We were very  happy to visit and discover Suriname, super country! ...But after some time we started missing clear water...snorkeling...and swimming without any fear of any Anaconda or Crocodile attacking you:)
Also we had a very good friend Juliet visiting us and wanted her to have a nice time sailing and enjoy togather some days on anchor in Tobago.
So after  almost two weeks of hard work preparing our  boat  finally we left towards Tobago. 

According pilot guide it supposed to be calm and relaxed trip with trade winds blowing from the east and current pushing us up toward Caribbean Sea. But .....ufff.....
What a trip we had!
First ...leaving the river. Wind and steep breaking  waves totally to the nose ...Luckily current was helping us all time ( again  Total Tide program was right) so we could made our way foward. But for taking the last boy in marked channel ( water here is very shallow and you have to follow strictly the buoys) we had nothing to do  but switch on engine if we did not wanted to finish aground . Wind was totally on the nose and there were no way to do it just by sail.  After the boyed channel we  could finally turn west and start heading towards Tobago.  But than a big black cloud came.
 A VERY BIG!!!!........and a thunder...So, genoa out  ... jib on...main sail reefed  and wait.. What will come?
A HUGE SQUAL AND TONS OF WATER!!!.Thats what came...Welcome to Tropics!...Black clouds here will be quite frequent. But worst of all is the waiting process, when suddenly wind calms, comes the dark ...and who knows what gonna happen. 
We will need to get use to that.

​After this cloud a fresh wind came and all next day we had nice 20 knots wind from the beam and 1 knot current helping us . We were making 6-8 knots all time, counting miles and planning time of arriwal. ANOTHER MISTAKE!....Never plan so early. The third  day another black cloud came...And a  very strong wind, which suddenly start blowing almost to the nose. And like this from 3 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon. We saw gusts reaching 50 knots sometimes!!!! And the current too. It changed direction and start slowing us...Lets say it was not the most relaxed passage at all. Grib files were showing 15 knots from the east all time, but what we got its just one more time shows that apart from global there is always a local weather to consider. Be prepared for all.

Poor Juliet:) It was not what one can imagine when decides to come to visit friends  living on boat  and sailing in exotic countries which they show on their photos:) At least the last day she could enjoy watching dozens of dolphins and fregatas around us getting close to the island ....And a turtle comming to say us hello after setting an achor. But as a first time sailor she managed all so well and made us super company! And  now has great adventure to remember. 
 It was really a pleasure to have you with us, Juliet!!

Its really great here!  Bay is big, so there are plenty of space to anchor. Its deep,13 meters where we are now,  so we had to put all chain and some meters of rope too, but bay is very well protected and holding is good.  Later we saw it was possible to anchor closer to town , but  we  got used to our place and decided do not move.
Vilage is very small but we like small places.  There are few little shops( better, like this less money to spend) for very basic needs and a great library where all cruisers go to get wifi. Our " second home" how we call it:) 
Bay is surrounded by jungle and in a short walk we could find lots of fruit trees. Pitty now is not the season for mangos...but oranges, bananas and papayas are already on our boat:) Also lots of cacao trees everywhere, but like we say we are still not so prepared to start roasting cacao seeds and make chocolate. But time will come...for sure:)

So days goes relaxed.. .Every day some small job on boa, .bath, snorkeling...hiking around and for now enjoying the moment.- Caribbean style:)
How long we will stay here yet no idea. Two weeks, month...more? 
​

Tropic heat, sweating, endless preparation work on boat, cold ,Parbo, beer , jungle noice and smile on our faces!!!. We are back to Suriname!
More than a week working from sunrise till sunset...sweating,,,burning...cleanning all boat after leaving her 5 month alone in tropic humidity...but still smillig and every morning after listening hauling monkeys hauling with all the power to wake us and all jungle up we can,t be more content as we already are.
Is something you can,t understand with brain ,,just with heart.  

WE BACK ON OUR GRAIN!!!!!!!

..This time is just this short post, because there were really no moment to sit.. relax and write ...so we leave it for next time. Now we are in the last preparations and...... tomorow with A COMPANY OF OUR FRIEND JULIET:)we are leaving!!!

To Carribbean sea!!!
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TO TOBAGO!!!..

By by Suriname...country of magic nature...peace...most lovely people...cultures...and alll alll alll alllll.....
Paragraph. Haz clic aquí para editar.

...By plain, of course... Happy to see families and friends again...but  sad to leave our Grain in this tropic paradise...Somehow its seems we just have left Europe and now its time to go back again. But this is the life. We need some numbers in our account for Caribbean cruise later!!!!:)Also for updating our home and buying some thigs....our "lady" is 40 years old already so need some real and some "cosmetic" updates..
But thats for our return. First need to work. We leave our boat in Waterland marina where we know she will be very Ok. We had plenty of time to prepare it for almost 5 month of hot tropical sun and rain attack so she will be fine. Humidity here is so high and it rains a lot so it was very important to assure there is no where leaking inside...ANd if it was somewhere....silicon saved all! ..ALso mosquitos and all other insects is a problem in this kind of climate . SO lost of water with vinager to clean all inside and chinese strange powder in dangerous places. We read that helps so will see.
To avoid bees or other insects making there home inside the mast we coverde all possible entrances in the mast with a tape. That also was important to do for to avoid water in boat bilge.
Diesel tank full...water tanks full and all the seacock closed. Electricity disconnected and all electronics too.....
All clean and ready ......
...Just our bodies not....totally not...
..Especially when it come to put long trousers and shoes again.....
uffffffff
thats so uncomfortable!!!!!!!!!!!

We,ll be back soon , SURINAME!!!!!.

SO...where to start? Some facts about the country, our adventures.....animals...Waterland marina..heat, humidity, mosquitos...tropic fruits...diversity of people and religions or  chaotic Paramaribo town?
..lot to tell..
But first want to say  we are really content of our decision to come here..We didn,t know nothing about this country and people at all,  but now we know we made a good choice.  Is a wonderful country with really...very very friendly people everywhere. We feel safe and our boat is in a good hands. We will leave it here for 4-5 months because we need to fly to Europe to work again...so we are relaxed because this is the right place to leave it.
Our marina( the only marina is SUriname) is a beautiful resort as well and its located in a remote place surrounded by jungles. Its owner Noel is really great man. He promised us security and even a service to check our bilges and ropes and so on... Is not expensive place comparing to Europe and Brazil as well. Also its  deep in river (about 30 miles in) so there is no swell at all,  fresh water and every day small breeze of wind which is coming along the river.   And no hurricanes, what is very very important! our Grain will stay here when the Hurricanes season in Caribbean so is nice to know we dont need to worry about them  ...Humidity is very high, but with mosquito nets on   ( the ones we made during Atlantic crossing) we will leave small hatches open so air will be able to enter and ventilate our home meanwhile we will be out. The only problem is rain...because it rains at least every two days, so boat must be well inspected before leaving for to be sure nowhere is leaking . Luckily, at least now inside our Grain is dry so hope when we come back we will find the same.

This resort is just 15 minutes walking from main road where we can take a bus to the Capital Paramaribo...so communication is good. You can not come back too late because last bus leaves city around 4 o clock , but we are not night birds so for us thats not a problem. ALso its possible to hitchhike a car..so sometimes trip  is even shorter.
Conclusion...if you like peace and relaxed place when you come back to your boat - this is  a right place .

There is another possibility- stay on anchor or boy 5 miles away from here in Domburg village, but as we are going to leave the boat for long time here we decided to head  directly to marina. Price here if you leave your boat for more than three months drops down a lot, so for us it was worth staying in marina and having non limit water and electricity access .In Domburg you have to pay some euros too... for  dinghy landing and showers on shore.  So if to pay we prefered to pay here. .I leave you a website of this place ,,,,,beautiful place!!!!..  See WATERLAND MARINA SURINAME

During weekdays we are here almost alone...people come  on weekends basically. So all 5 days we enjoy peace and silence of the river and jungle around.. Just at nights all alive creatures wakes up and starts the show...One night we got scared a lot because some strange and loud noise woke up us. Seemed like some lions are .....near by. But later we were told that there were howling monkeys howling so loud. They say there are lots of them around, but we still didn't see any. Just heard them...and lots of nights after. Now we are used to this sound....but believe., first night was not very funny ..I woke up frightened and started closing all hatches. Me crazy, I know. But we are just three boats here and our is the only which have people on board. Two others have owners away....so we are totally totally alone. There is just a security man, Jonhy...great guy...who time to time pass near and tells us stories about the wildlife, like for example which night he saw a crocodile here in marina and so on. Not joking!!! He also promised to bring us crocodile meat....so we are waiting:)

But this peace finishe once you leave marina and enter Paramaribo....What a chaotic place!!!!......At a first glance it looks like a mix between Latin American and South Asian city with a touch of Europe because all streets and publicity are written in dutch...Suriname was a Dutch colony, but after the slavery there came lots of people from Indonesia, China, Lebano, Caribbean countries and Brazil to work.....So imagine how big cultural mix it can be! And religion also!,,,Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Budists......No fights no racism ....Nice example to follow

But if you need to fix some papers or other stuff,,prepare with patience.!
After resting and cleaning the boat after arrival we went to city to make out official check in. You know...customs, immigration and so on. In internet we read that it is quite tricky here, so better take a taxi and do it with some local who know the places and all stuff. But we decided we will do it ourselves,,,as we were doing always. Had a paper with names of the streets where to go so thought that will not be difficult....We were wrong. It took us entire two days to do all!!! SO if you come to Suriname by boat...first go to Customs. Than directly to MAS (maritime authority Suriname) where is necessary to enter well dressed. We came like always....shorts and flip flops..and were not alowded in.  Had to go  back to boat and come next day again. As much elegant as we could:)  After MAS next is embassy. There you get a  Tourist Card  for 30 euros each). And finally Imigration.  And all done.  Time to enjoy SURINAME!!!!!

Is not a big country,,,,but it has a very big area where you cant go by car- A JUNGLE!.) So you can either rent a car and see what is possible to see,,,or take one of a tours which are crazy expensive and fly to jungles. Of course we wanted the second option, but ...its not to our pockets..So we rented a ca ,and tried to see what is possible by road and do a tour by ourselves.  We went to see old cacao and coffee plantation- Paperpot where in 2 hours walk we saw capuchino monkeys and big lizards. After drove on the only road to south till Brokpondo and tried to find some waterfalls (result negative because the road was so bad that our car could not go there, finally), than we went to west till the City Albina near Maroni river which makes  border with French Guyana and took river canoe to go to Galibi- indigenous living village on the estuary of the river - and with local guide went to see turtles at night. We saw just 1, but it was  huge! A Green turtle!!...Next day we took a little canoe back to Albina and  in 2 hours trip had more scary moments than is all Atlantic crossing:) Canoe was too small for us three and a driver and his son....so every 10 minutes we were taking water in .ALso there were waves in the river and the wind blowing from the back so many time we thought we will over keel and who knows...maybe finish our trip in a stomach of some crocodile or anaconda...After all you laugh and have good memories,  but not those 2 hours:)
Last day of car we went to see some river villages near ....and of course made fruits and vegetable shoping .
Car rental is very cheap but you have to drive on a left side of the road ( after 5 days driving we are still alive, so as u can see its not very difficult:)THe same is with green and red lights on boys...Here as in all Caribbean sea and America the entrance lights are opposite. WheN entering you have to leave green light on port side and red on a starboard. VERY IMPORTANT!!:)

SO again...even if i repeat..but really..we love this place. Ok its really hot,,,around 35 degrees every day...And we don,t know what to do with all our warm clothes...thick sleeping bags and blancets...Hard to believe that from now we will not need them on board anymore...Just bicini, short trousers and T shirts..VIVA LOS TROPICOS!!!!
 It rains almost everyday a little bit, so its incredibly green around...plenty of flowers and strange plants and trees. Mangos trees grows everywhere. But mostly in cemeteries,,,trees there are full of fruits. And taste well. Checked:)...Almost everyone speaks English and no one is bothering you trying to sell something and so on. Locals are polite,,,and helpful. Little bit...ok,,,more than little bit...SLOW....but we were prepared for that. Tourism is just starting here so  even in a capital there are very few tourists around. There are no beaches on the coast...just on the rivers...so big masses of tourists  are not interested to that. Maybe this is the reason why people are so friendly with us:)
After the summer, back on boat we plan to sail up to Tobago, but first we would like to stop in Guyana- another river country of South America. After entering in Suriname and experiencing life on boat in a jungle river before entering blue Carribean waters we want to enjoy this way of life a little bit more:)

We are in Suriname!!!!.....Deep inside the Suriname river in smallest marina ever we ever been:)...Quiet, remote and very very beautiful place...We are in Waterland marina of Suriname.  After 18 days at Sea that's just perfect:)  Still is hard to believe there is no noise of wind outside...and no need to tie all things because water is so still that sometimes its looks that we stay on a hard .  Atlantic was so wavy last 10 days that we forgot what is means to put a glass of wine on table:)
But all is done. Our fourth Atlantic crossing is finished! In few sentences it was different ...like all they were,,, but this time it was with OUR boat so it was special:) We are glad to say that our Grain was performing great. Now we trust it more than before and like it more ...much more!!! We saw its weak points( like automatic and and wind vane steering system), but they all are fixable ,,,need just time and money.  We will manage. 
 
There were many days with so little wind and days with lots of it and in all time Grain sailed nicely. its very stable and rigid boat,so we glad about it. Maybe its not the fastest sailing boat, but when you are in middle of Atlantic with huge waves that is not important. You need to feel safe in a ship you are,,,and so thats how we felt . ALl way till Suriname, which we  reached in a deep deep night.

After 18 days of no land  in windy night we  arrived to Suriname river entrance. It was 38 miles which we had to sail till marina. Unfortunately tides that day were not favorable during the day, so we needed to enter at night. What was quite stressful in beginning till we reached first boy . After we saw that the lights works perfectly,  Boys location are the same as in Open Cpn and Garmin charts ...and there were no trafic at all , so we relaxed and after 7 hours of sailing and motoring we safely reached Waterland marina. It was very windy in the entrance with short steep waves so we used motor and reefed jib in front to get more speed, so care in needed. But apart of all that finally we saw that  it was even better to enter river  at night. it was more easy to distinguish all light than in day , when green can easily disappear between color of water. ALso we had bright moon which was helping all way so much.  Only to stay awake and attent all night was  little bit tiring .. But when you see the contours of land after almost three weeks of sailing you forget a sleep totally. 
We always say no more time of entering unknown place at night, but after again it happens  to get close to shore before down and we go forward. Its not easy..not at all....but after all its all experience..and its never enough.
Now its time to make some tourism, move our legs on land on  and see what this wild and so unknown for us country can offer. 

And here are some photos of crossing..this time is not too much, because once at sea we forget a camera totally. Need to force my self to use it and so that's not the same as in land. Probably  because  is the place which i think any photo can express........how the sea is ..how we feel. ,,the colors...the movement...all....  Is a  place where one has to enjoy the moment by its own and see how fast all around is changing.  Photos would show the same...but in reality there is never nothing the same at Sea ....

​DOWN THE HILL
That's how it looks sailing in Atlantic with winds and big seas. WaveS come...lift up the stern ...and than with a full power- surfing all way down. And than another...and another..and than some crazy wave which comes from who knows where hits the boat and big amount of water comes on you.  After so many calm days before...than comfortable 15 knots for other few days..finally we got lots of wind.
It started blowing 20- 25 knots and like that till now. And it would be super nice sailing if not those big waves. They make all much more complicated. Reading, sleeping, cooking and etc..But the biggest problem is steering. Few days ago a big  wave crashed on stern of the boat and broke our wind wane wooden plate. It happened at night so it was quite not nice to start uninstalling broken plate in the dark and try to fix it. So it was left for the next day . With the day light all looks better.  Luckily we had another plate on board so with little effort Egoi managed to install it there. My father gave it for emergency  and so we gave it use.  But not for a long time. Huge sea and strange broken waves made steering by wind vane impossible, so finally we decided  to stop fighting of trying to make it steer and started steering boat by ourselves. . If it happened in beginning of the trip probably we would fight more and would manage it work properly finally , but now we were tired of constantly trying to put in on course.  But each of us has two hands no? Needs to shorten hours of watch keeping  -3 hours each with 6 hours of rest and lets steer.  For 3 days we can do it:)

All the rest is going very good. We have plenty of water left and diesel we almost didn't touch. Fruits  and vegetable except onions, garlic and potatoes are finishing..but there  are still cold beer in the fridge and liters and liters of wine left. We do not fish anymore because after the past Mahi Mahi which we had for lunch for 3 days no one of  us  miss it. For now we prefer rice, pasta or some beans instead. Actually when its so hot food is nots priority anymore..
Days here on water became hotter and hotter. Inside the boat even more. Now we sail with all hatches closed, so you can imagine...  A real sauna! Humidity almost 100 precent and a heat:) Outside little bit better , but even at nights we can stay in swimming clothes without problem.  But we love it. Somehow this is what we were looking for- a real tropic weather. With sun , heat and rain. After so much sand and dry wind in Canary island and Cape Verde its such a pleasure to get rain finally!

Hope the next post will be already from Suriname. After fresh water shower and quiet long sleep in calm waters...

p.s. right after writing this text we one more time managed our wind vane to steer. Seems that we discovered our mistake and learned how to adjust it now. So again hands free !:)

CAPE VERDE- SURINAME 291 NM LEFT

CAPE VERDE - SURINAME 373 NM LEFT

CAPE VERDE -SURINAME 489 NM LEFT

CAPE VERDE-SURINAME 615 NM LEFT