Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Sailing Calicoba

The journey began when we landed in St Martin and joined Michael on Calicoba. There we met all the crew that we would be traveling with for the next couple months. We started by working on boat jobs to get Calicoba ready to go sailing. We needed to find a grill, and find a dinghy, a mast light, and a few other odd jobs around the boat... it took us the better half of 2 weeks to get it all sorted out and get a good break in the weather to make the jump to Statia. 
The wreckage from Irma was pretty devastating. There were so many boats sunken or destroyed completely. They are still putting it all back together and moving sunken ships out of the water but it’s a slow process. There’s still so much to do. The boat yard was full of boats slowly making their way back to the water. Replacing a keel here....replacing engines...replacing masts....the works. 

Some will probably never touch the water again...:(

Michael, captain of Calicoba made a new friend while we waited for the Bimini to be sewn up. 

Lol Tyrone’s trying to be like Michael. Just being silly waiting for weather to calm down so we can sail off to Statia. 

We made it!! Even with the ship in the way the sunset was still amazing. It was the first one we got to see while at anchor on Calicoba. Finally out of the harbor of St Maarten. 

I thought this was an official building at first but it just turns into a night club on Fridays. We missed out on that but I like the buildings in Statia. 

Climbed the hill in search of a meal. There’s Calicoba resting in the anchorage...so crowded :)

Cobblestones!!! Gives a town a romantic feeling I think. 

Someone went to shore for a fresh water shower...haha I think it looks better on Maya...jussayin 

That’s a happy grin of someone about to have fresh lobster for dinner!!

4 good lookin tails. 

So happy to be back on the water...

Set sail for St Kitts. First mate Maya driving the boat so captain Michael can hoist the main. 



Bye bye Statia

Setting the sails properly so we can get our lean on ;)
4 crazy aussies sailing around the Caribbean...watch out!

The wind and swell kicked up quite a bit but we finally made it past the point and pulled into St Kitts. 

We settled in the nice little bay called Frigate Bay with a view of a few nice beach bars. We got beers and more importantly internet at Shiggity Shack and Boozys on the Beach. Nice little stop over but we wanted some more seclusion and moved on a couple days later. 

I can’t make this up! No filter. Just nature. 

We had to go into town for provisions and to do some exploring. We had a feast fit for kings in this little spot. There were so many vendors selling different food so Everyone was able to get what they wanted. 

Locals were selling fresh veg and fruits on the side of the road...but the price was marked up so ended up not buying from them...oh well

I spent one morning just sitting with my laptop at Shiggity Shack watching the pelicans dive for fish...

And the fisherman casting nets...

We woke up early one morning to find a massive double rainbow behind the boat. Couldn’t resist a nice shot like this one. 

It’s too bad the rum office was unmanned!?!

Pork chops on fire!! They were so tasty. 

Boat projects are never ending. This guy wanted to put in floor boards in the room and build deck chairs. He was a happy guy when he cut that last piece of wood!



We stayed anchored at the SaltPlage for a couple weeks waiting again, for 30+ knots of weather to calm down. The reggae band made for a great night! 

This Raggae Beach Bar was a little touristy for my taste but still the view wasn’t half bad. 

I like this view better tho... this was taken at a bar called Shipwrecks Beach Bar and Grill. Tyrone and I wandered off, hitchhiked and landed at this place. 

Next Tyrone and I made our way into town to find another beach bar and some WiFi so I could get some work done. It was a rough day at the office but this rum surprise helped get me through it :)

Needing provisions, we hitchhiked into town to get food and look for propane. We stopped at the food court to get some shawarmas with our new friend who insisted on buying us a beer before lunch. It would be rude not to :)
We got all the groceries we would need for the next few days but we didn’t have any luck with our gas tanks. Tyrone is trying to find out how we can refill our gas bottles but every other island has a different method or whatever....we are S.O.L for now. We think we have just enough to get us to Antigua which is where we will be in a few days. 

So in the meantime why not crack open a few coconuts!?! My very talented friend here climbed several Coconut trees and gathered enough coconuts for us all to share. Delish!

We took the others to Shipwrecks beach bar for some lunch and a nice view....and MONKEYS!!!!!!! 





Just hangin out....scratchin ma butt....



Tyrone in all his glory hahahaha....that’s a captains pose if I’ve ever seen one!

Getting some Valentine’s Day love!!! It was a great Valentines. We spent it sailing and exploring a little bit of Nevis!

You can see how much we are heeling over....and this is a nice calm day!

We weren’t moored for 2 minutes and we spot a random jet ski floating out to sea!!! I said finders keepers but that’s not what panned our.....Lol they went and rescued and waited for someone to come claim it....the guy who rents them out on the beach thought we stole it when he saw that it was connected to our boat. He didn’t even say thanks when we explained what happened and that we had to rescue it from floating out to sea.....

And this is how the apocalypse started.....one bite from a drunken monkey... lol kidding he doesn’t have teeth;)

He really is the bars mascot...the drunken monkey.... quite obnoxious and cute and funny at the same time. 

He really loved Tyrone. And his little hands are SO soft!!

Careful tho.....his soft little hands are mischievous! 

One of the best Go to island games is cornhole !! It’s everywhere. It looks like a victory dance but I think he lost to the local man who sits here and plays all day long hahaha

We hitched a ride into town to find some dinner and this public library caught my eye! I don’t know. I just love it. The stones. The shutters. The open air and the books you can see the open windows.....makes me wonder what treasures lie in there....


We made the most of our one day in Nevis and hiked to a waterfall. We saw a few banyan trees along the way....Unfortunately I couldn’t make it all the way up....without shoes my bare tootsies slowed me down way too much. It was a 5 tier fall and I stopped at the first one...it was still a nice 5 miles of exploring done today tho! 

Our little friend was here to welcome us back for a cocktail after the hike :)

And here he is up to no good again...lol 


This gal found me yesterday and I showed some love and now she found me again today!! She decided to get some more rubs and nap next to Ty’s flippy floppys.....


We finally caught a dorado!!! We hooked a couple barracuda before finally hooking up a mahi mahi. This guy will feed us for dayyyyssssss!!! Michael discovered that if we have a tarp down it’s less messy....and just dragging the tarp behind the boat afterwards is an efficient way of cleaning up :) 


 Just before we pulled into Antigua we crossed paths with this mammoth. Ty says it’s getting ready for some race it’s about to take a spot in. 

Weeeellllll we were about 4 miles out of the harbor when the Genoa ripped. It wSa small tear but we furled the sail away so as not to cause more damage...and when you are only making 2 knots of speed there’s only one thing to do.....jump off and get dragged!! Too hot not to get wet for some of us:)

I had a run in with a very sharp corner on the sugar scoop. And I am too afraid to see what it looks like under that bandage at the moment. So.....maybe tomorrow....(couple days later it’s healing nicely) 


Hey hey finally made it to Antigua! It’s all that and more ;) spent some time on the white sandy beaches and went to the top of the hill in English Harbor to a place called Shirley Heights for sunset. Wow it was so beautiful up there. We ate some bbq and listened to some live music and danced all night! Here are a couple photos of the view...







We danced the night away and in the morning we parted ways. Our journey sailing Calicoba has come to an end....for now. :) it was fun while it lasted and who knows?...maybe Michael will need some old crew for a Pacific crossing at some point!! 

4 comments:

  1. Omg looks like you guys have been super busy and having a blast with great company. What's next?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well... it's everything valid! When you sail the Caribbean you sail in style, regardless of how you go about it.catamaran tours panama

    ReplyDelete
  3. Through more recent technology, the number of hulls that a sailboat has is also an important consideration yachts for sale when determining what distinguishes one ship from another. Multiple hull sailboats are also more commonly referred to as catamarans.

    ReplyDelete