Slow-Mocean

Update from Colombia

2011-01-13T09:53:00.000-05:00

Cartagena proved to be a great destination and we had a great time. Christmas and new Years were filled with plenty of city wide celebrations and we had a great Christmas holiday with friends on Reach and Lions Paw. All three admirals cooked the meal and it was extraordinary. After all that food it's time to get back in the water and get some long needed exercise though. We have since moved

Winter Wonderland

2010-12-13T08:40:00.001-05:00

We left Aruba for Colombia and had to at least see this place people talk about. The Monjes are a small archipelago of islands north of the the entrance to the lake Maracaibo are and they are also very close to if not in Colombian waters which is why the Venezuelans have built an outpost here. These islands are basically 5 rocks within a 10 mile area. Two of the rocks to the south are known as

Aruba

2010-11-28T08:44:00.002-05:00

Well it's been a long and eventful summer. Not much to do with cruising unfortunately but were back now. We arrived back in Curacao to find the boat in great condition. The desert climate of the island makes for a great storage site. No mildew or mold in the boat and everything seems to be working fine. We completed epoxy coating the saildrives, cleaning and waxing the hulls and we finally

We Got Crabs!

2010-08-20T11:41:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about traveling is that you come to appreciate the tastes home just that much more. We have encountered plenty of good eats while cruising the East Coast and the Caribbean. We encountered the Conch for the first time in our lives as we sailed to Bahama and have enjoyed them ever since. Fresh fish is always a favorite from Grouper to Mahi Mahi and Tuna the selection is

Quick Update

2010-06-27T12:51:00.002-05:00

Unlike many of our friends who have no access to the net at this time we are swimming in it and still haven't got the decency to do an update. We are still in Spaanse (Spanish) Water Curacao and are putting the boat up for the summer. The simple fact is, we are a bit homesick for some Seattle summer. The summers down here are just brutal. We are going to take a month long trip to South Korea

Hello Curacao

2010-05-06T09:55:00.001-05:00

Well we finally cleared out of Bonaire and are now resting peacefully in Curacao. Bonaire was a great place to hang out and it gave us an opportunity to learn scuba and enjoy some very nice water. If you ever get to Bonaire and want to learn scuba or need tanks, I would highly recommend Rob Vershoor at the Sun Rentals in front of the mooring field. They are close to the boat and are

Breakfast in Bonaire

2010-04-08T07:23:00.017-05:00

Goedemorgen! The weather has been unusually calm with the last few days being overcast, light winds and a nice rain shower every so often to keep things cool. The water is still quite clear and the island is a lot less dusty. We are waiting the arrival of Aileen and our generator parts and in the meantime we play with the fish. These are some pictures we took while feeding

Blowing Bubbles

2010-03-19T16:14:00.000-05:00

We have made no effort whatsoever to move since arriving in Bonaire. The island has been great and Sunny was getting a bit homesick so I sent her packing off to Memphis to visit her sister. She was able to drive to Georgia and visit Bonnie and William in their new home. Looks pretty swanky. Aileen also flew from Seattle to meet her and they drove from Memphis to Georgia again to see William

Karnival

2010-02-14T17:11:00.000-05:00

Carnival here in Bonaire is a very different animal than what we have seen before. It is a very family oriented event compared to the last couple we have attended. No really loud sound trucks with skads of loosley clothed ladies hanging out of every opening. No chest pounding Soca. No whining or stab dancing either. The costumes are much more elaborate and it seems the participants put a lot

Lot's of Boobies

2010-02-10T22:25:00.004-05:00

Hello from Bonaire. Not doing well at keeping the blog up to date so I will try and fill in the space between now and the last post We spent the holidays in Grenada due to the great internet connection and planned our trip to the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) We found another boat doing the same, Stardancer III skippered by an Australian named Kieth. We made plans to leave once he

Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle a Rum

2009-12-25T06:55:00.002-05:00

It's been a wild ride this year and we've had a great time so far. Looking back we have done quite a few things and met some fantastic people along the way. As I was looking back over our path this year to recount our many fantastic anchorages and ports of call, it became clear to me that the most important thing was not so much the places, as beautiful as they may be, but the people we have met

The River

2009-12-06T06:15:00.002-05:00

We have been absent from the net as of late because we have been without it completely. It was simply not available. Can you remember a time when the net was not there and we actually put letters in envelopes and trusted our government to deliver them for us? Now that we just email I guess there is no reason left to put trust in them. I digress. We motored south of Trinidad to the Venezuelan

The Scarlet Ibis

2009-11-11T13:12:00.005-05:00

Currently Slow-Mocean and crew are in the Manamo River in the Orinoco Delta Region of Venezuela. This is turning out to be the greatest trip we have ever taken. Too many sights and experiences for my feeble mind to put into writing but I will try and write about a few. The Scarlet Ibis is a beautiful bird reminding me of the white crane you see in Japanese art with the black wing tips. This

Festival of Lights

2009-10-30T19:15:00.011-05:00

Were a little late on this post as the festivities have been over for a couple weeks now. We were fortunate to be taken to a Divali celebration here in Trinidad.I don't imagine many people equate Trinidad with India or Hinduism or for that matter many people probably don't know what Divali is. I will not enlighten you here, I'm sure. All I have been able to gather is that it celebrates the

Greetings from Trini

2009-10-20T10:11:00.001-05:00

Had a great sail down to Trinidad and found a YSATT mooring to keep us tethered to the anchorage. So far Sunny has kept me busy hauling around her bags of shopping goodies. We took a nice tour to the Divali celebration and hope to get some pics posted soon. We are preparing to head further south to the Orinoco Delta and visit the Warewoa Indians and check out a rain forest river delta

Moving on

2009-10-11T12:47:00.006-05:00

The time has come to stop hiding from the hurricanes. Grenada has proved to be a wonderful place to spend the summer. It has been hot but the summer trades, great bays and the people of Grenada have made it a real pleasure. Not to jinx the season here but the weather has been much calmer than we could have hoped for. We were only in contact with three lows since June and none of them were

Be the Captain

2009-09-24T22:29:00.003-05:00

Please take a moment to answer the poll at the bottom of the page. You can help guide us through our next stage of the trip. We are a bit undecided as to where we should go. We could go north to Puerto Rico and get some some rum, mail and parts for the boat. We can head South to the offshore islands of Venezuela and see the sights along with carnival in Trinidad. We can head East to the

Refreshment

2009-09-18T16:18:00.014-05:00

Since it was raining we decided to spend a day exploring the island. The mud is amazing and after you slide down a hill with 5 lbs of it on each foot a waterfall is a refreshing pit stop.We arrived at Mt. Carmel Waterfall on the East coast of Grenada a few miles south of the town of Grenville. Who can resist standing under a waterfall and being pounded by thousands of gallons of cool

Oil Down

2009-09-06T10:07:00.010-05:00

We were invited to an Oil Down Saturday. I had no idea what that was so we decided it was a must to attend. Basically, you have to think of a bunch of guys cooking in the back yard on a weekend. It's that sort of event. The Oil Down itself is a type of dish which is made of local ingredients and cooked in a pot over open fire till done. The guys in charge of this event were Cuddy and Justin

Taste of Summer

2009-08-17T09:18:00.004-05:00

Nothing says summer like fresh roasted corn. We found some corn being cooked over real charcoal and it smelled great!Unfortunately, corn comes in lots of different varieties and feed corn is an acquired taste it seems.

Jouvert

2009-08-10T11:15:00.006-05:00

This is an interesting way to start the day. At around 5am we were awoken a mile offshore at anchor by the sounds of Soca music blaring across St. Georges Grenada from a truck and trailer who's only purpose is to haul a generator large enough to power all the speakers they can load on. We quickly got up and put on our dingiest clothes as we were informed they might not make it back in one piece

Addiction

2009-07-31T17:18:00.007-05:00

I hesitate to write about the following subject but have no other way to get this off my chest. Sunny just won't listen to me anymore and seems to be in the clutches of an addiction.Sunny and I first purchased some in St Maartin on the street and little did I know she had gone back several times more without my knowledge to get more. As we travel through the islands people are always selling

Oops!!

2009-07-26T05:31:00.006-05:00

So we decided to get out of Rodney Bay finally and we made the long 4 mi journey south to the Capital city of Castries. The anchorage is at the head of the bay along the side of the main road leading into town and is quite a busy road. The anchorage itself is about 20-30 feet deep and except for us and a couple tugs rafted together it was quiet and deserted.Sunny decided to drop the side shades

Dominica Road Trip

2009-07-20T06:17:00.011-05:00

While in Portsmouth we made the acquaintance of Pam and Chris aboard "Wild Cat" a Lagoon 38. We decided to split a car and tour the island together. I got to drive which was an experience in itself with very narrow roads and left hand traffic. I feared most the L/H roundabout which I successfully did manage to navigate in the end. We started off in Portsmouth and headed up into the hills to

Dominica and the Indian River

2009-07-20T05:01:00.006-05:00

I believe the Isle of Dominica will go down as one of my all time favorite islands. I may find prettier islands someday but it will be the standard I hold the rest to. We pulled into Portsmouth and were immediately welcomed by the locals. They have been called everything from boat boys to the Banana Mafia, but our experience was very positive. Alexis was there to meet us and he made his

The Saints

2009-07-20T04:25:00.007-05:00

We sailed from Nevis directly to Deshaies, Guadalupe and then down to Basse Terre to pick up some fuel and french Baguettes. We hadn't shopped in quite a while so we were getting a bit low on veggies. Basse Terre is the perfect place to fill up though as they have a great market area downtown and good street food. Later we left for Iles Des Saints which is a small archipelago of islands just

Welcome

2009-07-19T17:53:00.000-05:00

Going for a new look and feel here by switching over to Blogspot vs. Sailblog. While I like Sailblog for some of it's ease it does not allow more than one picture per post and I think pictures are nice to have when describing things we see and do along the way to give a better understanding of what it is we do all day. Please follow along if you like and we always appreciate feedback from