Atlantic crossing - Greetings from the other side

It took us 16 days from Cape Verde to Grenada "the so called Spice Island".

We sailed double handed (without crew) which turned out to be the right decision for us.

The perfect weather window made it possible for us to sail all the way without having to motor. We arrived with near full tanks (Information panel still showed 100% full fuel tanks)! However, our autopilot did drain our new batteries overnight and we needed to switch one engine on every night for approximately one hour.

We knew, thanks to our our daily downloaded Grib files, that the first 3 days were going to be sporty to say the least (gusts up to 37 knots with 3-4 meter waves) which made cooking impossible and some of our pre-prepared meals came in handy. Everything could only be done one handed – so flossing teeth for example was out of the question 😊. It started to get better with each day and we really had the perfect crossing overall. We are very happy.

We were relieved to get into refugee free boat waters (it is so terrible for these poor people). We sailed with a group of other boats, some of which had more action than others. 2 sailors had bruised or fractured ribs, 1 sailor a complicated open arm fracture which needed to be operated, 2 sailors lacerations above the eye, 1 sailor fell overboard but held onto a rope, 1 badly damaged toe which needed stitches , 1 boat reported a broken mast, one motor stopped starting, one broken autopilot and one boat had the side window broken in by a big wave and water coming in. Lucky for us we stayed incident free.

The only time my heart beat a little faster was when Sven banged on the cabin window hatch in the middle of the night shouting "get dressed, bring large torch, turn on iphone video, get flares .... we are being followed". Sven quickly rolled in the jib sail, turned engines on and took off at full speed. Fishing boat followed us also at full speed and came close. We could clearly see them when we flashed our torch at them, then they suddenly turned back around. There could have been many reasons for this short chase, but maybe they just tried to get us away from their fishing nets ? Anyhow, it was at 3 am so not a very pleasant experience. And as things go, there were also no other boat in radio reach at that moment.

We did not have a single minute of boredom and did not miss Elon Musk's Starlink for internet connection (but are likely to get it at some stage) . We listened to audio books and music, watched downloaded Netflix movies and just enjoyed the sailing and freedom. It was a serene cleansing experience.

We did 4 hourly shifts during the night and 2 hourly shifts during the day. It was often too noisy to sleep in the cabin (due to big waves). Sven just slept in the cockpit and I rotated looking for the best spot depending on the conditions.

The Atlantic crossing passed so quickly! We were a little disappointed and could have kept going. This was not the same experience for everyone, some could not get off their boat fast enough.

Here a few pictures from our adventure.

Our last night in Cape Verde.

Sven assembled a home made autopilot as a back up solution (just in case). We saw something similar on another boat.

A picture of our overall journey. But wind was better than forecasted and we arrived a day earlier than predicted. On the second picture below you can see the increase in daily temperatures, the closer we headed towards the Caribbean.

We looked at ship tracking before we left - so many boats around the world. However, once you are out on the water there is no one for days and no radio noise at all, We only saw 6 cargo ships on AIS but could only spot 2 throughout our 16 days journey.. We had a few radio conversations with fellow sailors when they were in radio reach. Other than that it was just us, the ocean and the solar system doing its perfect magic. It was a special and humbling experience.

We often sailed in butterfly style as shown below (Code zero and jib). We did not want to buy a parasailer just for the crossing.

Temporary new table cloth (Atlantic crossing map under a plastic mat) which we updated every morning.

Wow, this is worth celebrating – Sven catching his very first fish in 56 years. I was secretly hoping for a Mahi-Mahi fish and got it. Then I was secretly hoping for a Tuna and go that too!!!

Sven has proven that we did not need to buy an expensive fishing rod and net as I had suggested and that a handwheel with some additions will do just fine. This also explains where my cutting board disappeared to (but was kindly replaced with a new one).

There were lots of seaweed carpets everywhere which made catching them a very likelihood and so we did too.

We killed the fish with alcohol and could not believe that this method works in seconds . Sven fileted the fish and we ate/cooked them straight away in various ways (raw, ceviche, pan) – yum.

Sven's secret fishing gear weapon. We let the fish tire out before pulling them slowly in, then offering them an alcoholic drink.

Sea weed carpets.

We also got seafood jumping on board of their own free will (second photo is side of a flying fish )

A photo of some of our breakfasts, snacks and meals. We had salads and fruits right to the last day. We also had some special vacuum packed treats from Germany (smoked Landjaeger and smoked beef) and Icy poles. We had plenty of time to eat and ate one warm meal a day. We also had back up meals in case the fridge/freezer stopped working and / or it was impossible to warm up food on stove due to bad weather.

A full rainbow one day with calm seas and some waves one other days.

Caroline was 0.00 % (alcohol free) all the way with one exception midway. A justified celebration with a bottle of bubbles. Sven did have the occasional beer. Clouds, air and water reflected in the champagne glass .

I also tried to do a sneaky selfie halfway without Sven noticing... but.... it was impossible to achieve. So posting the attempt.

We read about squalls which are sudden, sharp and violent increase in wind speed. One of the reasons we always had 2 reefs in the main sail. I asked an experience sailor how I would know... They said: "you will smell, feel and see it and can get between 0-20 squalls during the crossing". We only got one and we did see it and feel it as predicted. The wind became stronger, cold and came from a different direction. It lasted a few minutes only and that was it. We kept checking the radar during the night.

Our oranges and apples count down calendar.

We knew that oranges and apples would last us all the way so we bought 1 orange and 1 apple per day for each of us …. we could clearly see how far we still had to go 😊 (we bought them in Las Palmas). We kept some of the more delicate vegetables in the fridge (in plastic containers). Not washing (just wiping them down with a cloth) was the right decision. Some other boats washed them and had some rotten fruit and vegetables after a week.

Our journey from Gibraltar - to the Canary Islands - to Cape Verde - to Grenada.

Calm waters greeted us when we entered the Marina.

We also received a warm welcome from our fellow sailors who arrived before us. Many are still to come including some boats which left 1-3 days later (they avoided the stronger winds but had to motor later).

It was 9.45 am in the morning when the Marina manager welcomed us with a very strong Caribbean Rum Punch. This alcoholic drink was chilled and very refreshing and this "liquid Breakfast" went immediately into my (Caroline's) head.

Most of the boats we sailed with had Starlink (Elon Musks) and therefore had some Internet access during their trip. We got a surprise when we checked our emails and Facebook/Whats up messages after 16 days with 1'112 new whats up messages popping up. It is fair to say that most of them were from the small group of boats we sailed with (they sent each other photos, played "I spy" etc)

Lovely people from the 2 boats we sailed with and arriving on the same day. We sailed differed routes but saw each other on AIS every now and then. It was comforting to know that other known boats are out there.

After our Rum Punch reception we celebrated for the rest of the day and slept heavenly that night (our first full sleep in 16 days).

We are getting used to new local foods. These were a welcome present from the local Tourist Office.

There are some luxury boats in this Marina - our view onto some of them from our boat window. The big one is owned by Mexican mining tycoon Alberto Bailleres (estimated fortune of more than $13 billion), His beloved Mayan Queen IV is worth about $200 million and got some press 5 years ago when the Australian model/crew member died on it.

Another Superyacht is called Aquila and even has a door bell ... and of course security code pad for the gangway.! Aquila can be chartered for US$ 1,000,000.- per week !!!! Unbelievable.

We left the marina the next morning to explore the neighbourhood.

The path leading into the next village had some unusual recycled Gas cylinders along the pedestrian path.

Buying 2 local sim cards.

Beautiful walk along the water to get back to the marina.

Marijuana is part of the local Rastafarian religion but is still illegal in Grenada, so are most other substances except alcohol and tobacco. The laws are very strict but many still smoke Marijuana openly in the streets.

Here some street vibes of local women selling their fruit and vegetables.

A Tsunami reminder at the beach!

We walked 45 minutes to a beach for lunch (ate BBQ Lobsters!) and returned 9 hours later. Enjoyed a festival with music, games and dancing and watching dinghy races.

I watched these talented man playing ball games and asked if I could take a picture with them. They happily obliged.

BUT THEN SVEN HAD TO TOP IT BY STICKING OUT HIS BELLY AS MUCH AS HE COULD!!

Check out BOTH their faces. The people watching this giggled too.

Music and dancing.

Twins coming for a chat.

The atmosphere, music and activities were electrifying and so was the Dark Caribbean Rum. We quickly got tipsy in this tropical heat. To cool off Sven decided to swim back until it got dark, we then continued to walk back along the main road.

We are staying in the Marina for one week. We have a hire car for the next 2 days. After that we will explore Grenada and some other islands by boat. Hurricane season here is between June 1st and November 30 but rains can come as early as May and linger later, We are likely to spend the hurricane season in the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) - they are East of Venezuela, but need to sit down soon and plan a little.

Below is link of our live position 

https://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/vessels/KWILENA/CURRENT-POSITION/1/503113040 

Below is our interactive map of all anchorages and marina stops to date (road trips are not shown on the map).

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1j2hVU8cenT9-aasLyDWIAIpBTASPo44&usp=sharing 

Below is a our new Predict Wind location of our boat

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV-KWILENA-1/