On the coast of Guadeloupe

Can you feel the tranquility of this moment above? We are finally out on the vast seas. Cannot with words describe the feeling of having everything and nothing in front of you like this after being kind of locked up in one place for such long time (almost two months). This is where we belong. The sea is addictive and the freedom that comes with it is a feeling I'd never want to live without, ever again.

Regarding the previous post: I am so sorry for all of you who doesn't get the point of art. Not that I in any way need to explain myself to you strangers out there but FYI: I quit smoking more or less when we arrived to Caribbean for six months ago (which I also think that I earlier mentioned here on le blog) and I feel very happy with that decision. I still smoke maybe 5 cigarettes per month (earlier 1-2 packages/week), but I'm doing my best to not over do it as it feels much better without the nicotine. For that video I posted below though, I would have smoked in it even if I would've never tried a single cigarette in my whole life, because it was what made the movie for me. 

And also: some of you guys really need to stop telling people what to do, if I would have listened to all wannabe cops and moral preachers (vad heter moralkärringar på engelska?) that I met in my life, I wouldn't have gotten far that's for sure. Everyone are free to do what they like, no? I smoke when I want to, I drink when I feel like, I smoke a spliff when I feel the lust for it, I swear and use inappropriate words whenever I find it suitable etc etc and if you have any kind of problem with any of that, well, then that is your problem, not mine. 

Have a good Wednesday you all and try to chill down now some of you. Life was made to be enjoyed and you shouldn't waste your precious time on getting annoyed for what other people choose to do with theirs. This will only make you bitter and boring. Take care of yourself, it is a too heavy task to try to change others.

xoxo

nogreaterlove

Got sick and tired of my blonde/orange hair the other day. Feels good to be back to dark again.

Good bye Antigua

Early morning in Antigua. Still loads of things to do around here but we will make sure to finally be able to leave super early tomorrow morning. We've been here in Antigua for almost two months now which wasn't at all what we originally planned for, but we've had a really good time on this island and also we have solved loads of things (getting a new boat for example) during our time here. But now finally will we be back where we belong, on the sea in good wind, alone just the two of us, moving forward towards new destinations. We'll hopefully make our first stop in Martinique on the night of the 27th but I'll be sending you a note through the satellite connection when I get the chance.

no sailing today thank you very much

Think I'll stay in bed for the rest of the day.

Suits me most perfectly after a late bar night last night with our lovely new friends.

h a n g o v e r

Stormy weather

We were kind of supposed to leave towards St Martin today to visit our new boat, but this heavy rain and thunderstorm won't let us. We just had some gusts up to 60 knots of wind here in this bay and when studying the storm potentials on this excellent website, it also looks like we should keep an eye out for a tropical storm that is now building East of the antilles. We know that we aren't in the most perfect place on earth at this time of the year considering what season it is but let's hope no hurricanes will arrive at least before we get ourselves away from here.

Will need to be in Martinique by the 28th at the latest.

Rum for all

Here's our friend Byron. He's homeless and spends his days hanging around here in between Nelsons Dockyard and Falmouth Harbor. He sometimes asks people for money and so also us and I guess we've given him some dollars every time we had something with us. Since we have gotten to know each other better now as we've been around here a few months, we occasionally buy him a bottle of rum, too, because that's what he anyway will go and buy for the money. Who doesn't get happier with some warming and delicious rum? I know I do. And once when we had cleaned the boat here and we gave Byron some clothes that Alex no longer uses, he turned around and looked at us with a bothered face: "Clothes? For what? Does it look like I'm homeless or what?" whereupon he cracked up in his characteristic loud laughter while he happily grabbed the bag. Ahahah. Gotta love this guy. Think we'll need to get him another bottle of Cavalier before we leave this place.

Some of the highlights

While we are busy here with packing and moving and god knows what else, maybe you'd like to go through some of our old favorites from this tour. There is the long Atlantic crossing, one night in the Souk of Rabat in Morocco, the amazing feeling of Cabo Verde, one day of hitch-hiking in Corsica and much more... 

We can't wait to get out and explore more of the culture and people of these Caribbean islands too, we've just been so incredibly tied up with work in the past weeks. Hoping to get some vacation from boat work in the following 2-4 weeks, starting after this weekend. It's soon time to sail away again..

Here's the highlights page.

Sorry to keep you all on tenterhooks

So this is now our new 43' baby. It was a rainy, dark and windy night when we began looking around for another boat online. Something that could match our requirements with additional space, a boat with a longer length of hull to make us go faster and we wanted her to offer a possibility for us to be able to rebuild it a bit to our personal taste. Suddenly we found her. We both went oooh and aaah for a long time after she showed up on the screen. We obviously had to go visit her to find out if she was that beautiful, fast and gracious as we had imagined her to be.

And yes she was. 

Designed by Halsey Herreshoff, built in Bristol 1971 and structurally made for off-shore race. Being made in the early 70's she is what we normally call a classic yacht, a classic with fiberglass hull and with beautiful and characteristic wooden details both in the interior and the exterior. Many of you have wondered why we want to change boat when we have something so good for cruising as Caos, and yes you are right: the Hallberg Rassy 352's are most definitely excellent live aboard cruisers and although it is around 30 years since they began to produce them, they are still one of the most sought after models for people and couples wishing to sail around the world in comfort and safety.

But we have now lived almost two years on Caos and we've felt that although our boat has proven to be the most reliable, safe and comfortable boat on the planet, there were a couple of things that could have made our life just a bit better:

- Additional space for all of our things. And we're not talking only shoes anymore, it is Alex massive amount of tool boxes that takes most space, all of his surfboards (and he wish to add more to the quiver), we also got the diving equipment, hundreds of books, loads of galley and cooking utensils and all kinds of other things we carry around here. Alex also bought Caos before we met and before this tour was planned and I think that he never really could've imagined to have to fit all of those things, one woman and her wardrobe and go sailing around the world with that boat when he first bought it.

- Additional speed and pointing ability. Since Alex been racing quite a lot in his youth, he hasn't been too happy when other boats have passed us by when sailing. It will be a new interesting life here for us where I hope to see him less frustrated and more relaxed while sailing.

- Different design and more possibilities to redesign a boat more suitable for our personal preferences.

So we've been looking for something unique, something with beautiful lines, plenty of space and longer LWL. And we've found it all in this beautifully gracious boat.

What we will be missing though, and what our Caos possesses, is the comfort at sea. The Hallberg Rassy boats are made and designed to live on, and being very very comfortable while doing so. This Herreshoff on the other hand, is fast and offers a total different sailing experience but wasn't made for the exact same purpose as the HR352's and therefore we will have to adjust our life on water to suit the features of this new boat.

There is this deeper draft to consider, the cockpit is not as protected as the one on Caos, the galley is much larger but on the other hand it isn't as usable in high seas as is the galley of Caos and so on. There are quite some new challenges with this new boat that's for sure, but we are convinced that with Alex passion and skills for building and designing we will be able to adjust her to our personal comfort and style. This new boat gives us a wonderful project and a challenge that we've been dreaming of for a very long time. 

Now begins the long process of making this boat prepared for the rest of our journey around the globe. We can't wait to see what memories she will be able to bring us in the future. Hoping to have her ready and fully equipped by the end of this year.

Daily purchase/fruit shopping in Saint John's

Pineapple, mango, tamarind, soursop, orange, kiwi, banana, starfruit, melon, sugar apple, papaya....  

One misshaped cake

So I ended up trying out a guava sponge cake roll instead with an old recipe that I had here. By the way, what do you call this thing in English/American? It's called rulltårta in Swedish and kääretorttu in Finnish FYI, but when I google translate this into English it says Swiss roll, and I don't know if you guys refer to Switzerland when you're talking about cakes like this or where did you get that from? Please advice.

Perhaps you can't even figure out what I'm talking about here as this very cake in the picture turned out to become the ugliest swiss roll/sponge cake roll/rulltårta that I've ever made and it is not very reminiscent of how they really should look like. It became too stiff and ended up breaking in three pieces when I was about to wrap it up into a nice roll. Nevertheless, I'm trying to convince myself it has some kind of arty design to it and the taste is seriously to die for.

Here's what you'll need:

3 eggs

2dl / 1cup sugar (I used cane sugar)

2dl / 1cup all purpose flour

2 tsp vanillin sugar

2 tsp baking agent

1 dl / 0,5 cup milk

filling: whatever jam or preserve you prefer.

Whisk together eggs and sugar to a fluffy batter. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well for some minutes. (Don't eat it all with your fingers before you got it into the oven!!) Pour the batter onto a buttered or paper covered baking tray and put into the oven on 220°C/428°F for 8 minutes. Make sure to watch it carefully at the end so it doesn't get burnt at the top. When ready, bring it out from oven, remove it from the pan while flipping it over onto baking paper covered with sugar. Now remove the top paper, spread your filling all over the cake (guava, strawberry, apple jam for example) and wrap it all up into a nice roll. Cut in slices. Your cake should hold together much better than mine, otherwise who cares. It's the taste that is important. This is one of those basic cakes that I've baked since I learnt how to bake when I was around 12-13 or something and it is equally delicious every time. First time I'm trying it with guava though. 

Baking break

Not too much fun things happening around here at the moment, can't wait to sail away in a few days. We're both dying to get moving on the sea again. Currently we're still busy with cleaning, organizing, moving out and unloading things from the boat to make space for visitors arriving in ten days, and simultaneously I'm trying to get some of my work done while Alex fixes with his things here on the boat.

I'm taking a break from work now though, I've been dreaming of guava muffins for a while too long so it's about time to try them out. Never seen or even heard of such things as guava muffins before but I figured they would make a good combo. Not as easy to get hold on fresh guavas here on this island as is on Martinique for example so I'll have to use this preserved jam thing instead, will get back with the results later on if you're interested. 

And regarding the boat, I know that you all are curious to know what new boat is it they're going to change to???, and I must say that we don't put you through this waiting because it's fun (although it is quite fun actually) but because there in fact is a technical reason to why we can't reveal it just as yet. Maybe in a day or two.

Maybe you guys can guess a little in the meanwhile, what type of boat do you think we are changing to?

Papers signed

So the papers for the new boat are..... SIGNED!! Which technically means that we now have a new family member to start nursing and making her ready for a continued tour across the oceans of the world. Will give you more details of it all very soon, don't worry. We just have so incredibly much to do around here at the moment so that will have to wait a while. I hope you can be patient.. We are very happy and content with this decision, but also a bit nervous because there are some serious amount of work that has to get done with the new boat to make her as well prepared and ready for extensive offshore cruising as our beloved Caos is..

Here's the info of our faithful Hallberg Rassy 352 - Caos if you are looking for an amazing blue-water cruiser which is completely prepared and equipped for a circumnavigation. Hoping to find her a new owner/s in the nearest future.

Dear followers and fans

Today we've hit a magic number. We're now having 400 Followers here on Blogger. Thank you all for following! And you're not only quietly following behind the screen as we can see on our backlink statistics, relatively high Pagerank and our Alexa rank, you guys are incredibly keen on sharing your thoughts about this blog with others, too! I don't think we could have ever imagined having so many of you amazing people following our voyage around the world, and it seems like it all is increasing with each day. Every month, there are now a steady 110.000 unique readers reading my ramblings and participating in this amazing journey we've embarked on. Some months we've hit even higher numbers due to loads of big links sent our way, but since May onwards this is the minimum amount of readers that we have had for each month and 110.000 is a seriously fantastic amount of people, don't you agree?

We're also soon up with the insane amount of 3000 facebook fans, there's now almost 500 Twitter followers and we have more than 700 RSS subscribers on Google reader. Incredible. 

Thank you all cool people out there that we have got the chance to "meet" here online through this diary of ours and all of the ones we've had the possibility to meet IRL thus far. Many of you readers have been truly amazing sending us fun, thoughtful and interesting emails and comments, you've been sharing your expertise in areas where we've needed help, you have been a wealth of knowledge in everything from literature to places to go, places to see and it is always a joy to hear from you guys (with the exception of a few blog trolls that come and go).

Thank you again for reading and sharing, we hope that you all will be following us and our adventures for a long time to come.

P.s: For the ones sharing our journey this week, there is a delicious price to win. One of those two scrumptious rum cakes can become yours, only thing you have to do is to share our journey on your blog or on one of your social media sites and you are automatically in the competition. Just send us a note and you're in the run to win. Only four days to go..

It's all about time

One other good thing with leading a life like we do, far from it all to repeat myself for the hundredth time, is that you have all the time in the world to make all those things you never usually would have the time for. At home in the city, you continue to collect pages from magazines, handwritten notes and bookmarks are slowly filling up your computer with things that you should get back to, to read one day when "there is time for it", but you always end up not coming back to it, simply cause a normal life doesn't offer much free time in the end. A normal life is too busy anyway and doesn't in fact offer that much free time to reflect, breath and to do what you always wanted to do alone, in peace. Our society is not made for this type of relaxations, it is made for working hard and constantly delivering results.

Here, on the other hand, we have all the the time we wish to read all of those books we always wanted to devour, we have the time to check off all those movies from that miles-long list of old classics, Alex has all the time he want for all of his boat projects (never ending, he always find something new to do), I have plenty of time for my book project (I see no end to this either, never thought a book would take so much time to write/photograph/edit) and also I can take my time to try out new interesting concoctions whenever I feel like. If you have followed us, you should know that I've been curious about the meat from the goats here in Antigua for quite some time now, and while we've tried the famous local speciality goat water a couple of times in several different local restaurants, I've finally had the chance to try it out myself, too. 

This goat stew on the picture is made with tons of garlic, a massive amount of yellow onion and a spicy pepper sauce. This was my first time ever to cook with goat but I prepared it more or less like I would have done with lamb. The meat itself is very low in fat with almost no marbling, just what I guessed, and I cooked it very slowly over low heat. Made for a good meal with butter and lemon cooked rice and enjoyed with a refreshing bottle of sparkling water. I'll probably try the curry stew version next time.

I have tons of more Caribbean delights and interesting new ingredients I wish to try out when there is time for it, and it is definitely a joy to be able to go them trough, one after another. Guava muffins or guava cake is something I wish to have the opportunity to get together soon too, maybe already tonight.

One night in Antigua

Lots of work done here today. We slept an amazing 13 hours last night and worked for approximately 12 today. Up again quite early tomorrow morning to finalize some stuff with the moving of things from the boat to our storage on land and then we have approximately 3-4 days left here on this island for this season as it seems, before we set sail towards new adventures in the Southern parts of the Caribbean island chain.

I'm also still fixing with this blog as you might have noticed, far from done with it, and I'm currently filling up with some highlights from this tour and also adding posts into the food/drinks section. If you have any suggestions on which posts to add in the highlights page, please let me know. Would be fun to know which posts from this journey have been your favorites thus far. I hope you all had a good weekend.

Running away

Quite often since we began this journey of ours, we have received the same question: What are you running away from? Just like a journey around the world, and a detachment from what you might think is "normal" is something that must be "wrong". We have sometimes met this perception that exists out there that people who are not interested in locking themselves up with a conventional job or who're not interested in settling down in one specific place, must be "running away from something bad". And every-time I receive the question I laugh and I wonder: Where the fuck do you want me to begin?

If you have read this blog before, you should have also understood what we actually are running away from, it is partly explained here, here and here. But if you have a second to spare I can try to refresh your memory, but listen closely as a few of you seem to have missed the point in what earlier has been said.

We run away from conformity, from routines of an everyday life that doesn't suit us and times and appointments that we have no interest in living by at the moment, we run away from cold air, snow and miserable weather. We also are not very fond of the psychological climate that sometimes occurs in both big cities and small villages where people tend to become jealous, bitter and fake when they are not fully content with their own lives. We want to escape mundanity and stagnation. We also wish to eliminate the closeness to people who are everywhere around us, the ones who are insecure and who take their bitterness out on others. We want to get released from the stress and pressure that sometimes is a part of the normal everyday world. In the normal world, the society and the people like to box each other in to categories, and as long as you know who you are, this shouldn't be too much of a problem, but here on the seas you almost don't have to face that conflict at all. We do not wish to stay in one place for the moment as the world is huge and offers so many possibilities. We want to see it all, experience it all, smell thousands of flowers and taste a vast amount of fruits before we know where we wish to settle.

Both of us have gone through quite a few relationships in the past, long and short, good and not so good ones, not so serious and the very serious ones, but this is the first one where we both feel that we finally have found completely right. This journey is a fantastic way for us to get even closer to each other, to get to know every part of each other without too much of outside distractions which hopefully will help us prepare for the day when we wish to begin expanding this little family of ours.

We have always been explorers, vagabonds, travelers, free-spirited gypsies in heart and we are immensely interested in different cultures, in inspiring people, in the simple but beautiful things, the real, naked world and its natural wonders - and in order to stimulate those interests, we must "run away" as you call it, to be able to experience for real. For us it has never been enough with only "visiting" places for a week or two, we've always wanted to become a part of the cities, towns and countries we stayed in as we know that this will help opening up our eyes to the magics of the world, even more. We have embarked on this journey to get a chance to breath, to be able to feel something new. We do this to get a chance to feel free, you know, we want to study what type of feelings and thoughts one can experience, create and embrace when not following the rules and codes of a mundane traditional way of living. Do you know how much there is to feel, understand, experience and see when you are no longer part of the normality, but instead free on your own? There are many people in the "normal world" who can inspire you to make business in the best ways possible and who can teach you a thing or two about ... things. But there are not many people out there in the locked up world that has something new and inspiring to say about true things. Because it sometimes seems like everyone are copies of each other. And as soon as one inspiring person arrives, people tend to imitate that very one and suddenly you don't know who is who, as they all blend into the same soggy mixture where everyone desperately tries to be the one.

Me and Alex are dreamers, doers and even creators and we love life too much to lock ourselves up when we know that there is a possibility to sail the oceans of the world. We have no will to live by someone's else law or order for the moment as we know that there are other ways to go in this life and we know that there still exists the possibility to feel much more free than what you do in your "normal" world. Therefore we have taken the chance and the possibility to release ourselves for a while. We have given ourselves the opportunity in getting out of the normality and into the wild. Into a world where only we (and the weather) decides what we will do, where we will go, what time we should wake up in the mornings. For the moment we are not interested in anything else than making ourselves, our families and closest friends happy and content human beings and the rest of the rules, worries and questions a normal world might offer we do not pay too much attention to.

I know that some of you might think that this all sounds selfish, but this is our truth. We do what we want, we go wherever we wish, we go to sleep and wake up whenever we feel like, we have the whole wide world as our playground, we have not much to complain about as we don't put ourselves in trouble and pain and we are making sure that we can fulfill all of our dreams, the small ones and the big ones, one after another, day after day.

Why? Because we can.

Lime juice

The best juices are the ones free from artificial flavors, colors and preservatives. I prefer to make my own as often as possible to gain the important and healthy vitamins that only fresh fruit brings. Back home in Barcelona I used to make orange juice almost every morning of beautiful orange fruits from Valencia, here it is merely lime and mango versions that are on the schedule. This refreshing, slightly acidic lime juice is perfect for anytime of the day in this tropical heat.

For one glass of lime juice I use:

 ✓ 1 large lime fruit

 ✓ 1,5 tsp cane sugar

✓ ice cold water

Squeeze the juice from the lime into a glass, add cane sugar or brown sugar, pour in ice cold water, mix well and top it up with a couple of ice cubes.

Happy Weekend you all

just a sneak peak of what was hiding inside of the package..

Good morning

What better way to start off the day than with plenty of tropical vitamins?

Sugar apple (pretty similar to the South American cherimoya which I love), starfruit and mango. Because yes, there are plenty of other delicious fruits in the Caribbean than only my beloved mangoes.

One commenter reminded me of the quote from one inspiring man who once upon a time in the 50's left his successful career as an actor in Hollywood, he walked out of a shattered marriage, he defied the courts and set sail on a journey to the South Seas with his children. A remarkable story was later on written in his famous autobiography Wanderer, which continues to inspire people all over the world. 

Delivery

Just got a package from Brazil.... what can it be?

Will show you soon, I'm sure you will like it.

It is very interesting to read your thoughts by the way, like in the previous post below for example. Most of you can relate to what I have to say, some of you don't and that is fair and highly normal as we all are shaped differently - but also quite a few of you have the tendency to read wrong into written words. You should never believe that I judge peoples lifestyle or have any objections to the choices they make, as long as they are happy with what they've chosen. What I've always questioned though, are those people out there who wish to be happy and want more of their life, but who don't take the advantage of their inner strength and go out there to grab what life has on offer because of fear of failing, fear of embarrassing themselves, fear of being left alone and lonely or because they need to prove something to everyone else around or whatever else reasons there can be that prevents you from doing what you truthfully dream of. You know the ones who stay in destructive or unfulfilling relationships or with boring jobs or in places or towns where they do not feel like they belong even though they know they would have been much happier and more fulfilled with something/someone else. You know the ones who dream and dream but never come to fulfill any of those inner desires because of fear. Those people are the ones I speak to when I say what I said in the post below. You others shouldn't allow yourself to take my words too personally, if you do I must assume you are one of them I just mentioned.

Try to make yourself happy, be conscious of what you really need, what you really want, who you are deep inside, don't lie to yourself and try to enjoy your life to the max, you got only one. Life shouldn't be much harder than that, some of us realize this when they are young, for others it takes a whole lifetime to figure this out. Everyone chooses individually when the time is right. And obviously, it goes without saying that you are free to choose to do exactly the opposite of what I just suggested if you think that works the best for you.

Now if you excuse me I will try on what was hiding inside of this colorful package. Talk to you later.

Fear and falling

What many people do wrong in this life is that they don't dare to make mistakes. It can drive me insane when I see so many human beings with great potential being locked up because they are afraid to fail, afraid to fall, and desperately they hold on to the only reality they ever knew, thinking that this must be the only way to go, even when they're not content with their life situation. But it is not before you let go of your lifelines, when you've released yourself to the risks of the reality, when you fully opened up your eyes and acknowledged the truths around you and when you have fallen on your own knees a couple of times that you fully can become you. Do you really want to remain a pale shadow of what you could become? Do you really want to limit your own personal development just because you are afraid? Afraid of what? What is it that could really hurt you? Take some risks, enjoy your life, break some rules, don't look back and remember that there are thousands of other ways to go than the safe road you always walked along. Life is grand and holds a mountain of opportunities, both technically and mentally. Don't limit yourself to the minimum.

All things coco

And I ain't talking about Chanel this time.

What is more refreshing under the sun than fresh coconut water straight from the fruit?

I think I could live on coconuts, mango and ... rum and all things made of them. My three all time Caribbean favorites.

The scrumptious Caribbean Rum Cake - Win your own! (Tävling)

Having read raving reviews about the flavorful Caribbean rum cakes at many occasions now, particularly on the Caribbean guide Uncommon Caribbean, I have been dying to personally find out what all the fuzz was about. I have myself concocted my own cakes spiced up with rum a couple of times but never had the chance to try out the real traditional Caribbean versions before now. In Antigua, just like in most other Caribbean islands, they produce their local rum and also their local cake based on that very rum. I have not tried more than the Antiguan version thus far but it appears to me that they all are more or less based on the same type of basic sponge cake and it is then the local rum that is added that makes the whole difference. Some adds up a coat of nuts on top, some fill their cakes with less rum than others, but true is that the rum cake, just like the rum, plays a part in the culture of these tropical islands. Caribbean is the birthplace of rum after all, so no wonder. 

The Antiguan rum cake is filled with the traditional Cavalier rum, a sweet and quite mellow rum that I have came to appreciate during our two months here, so I was kind of expecting a quiet and mellow flavor with just a tiny bit of rum added, but after opening the package and carefully removed the cake from the plastic wrap I was instantly shocked by its strong rum scent. The fragrance reminded me of the scent that comes when you just opened up a bottle of your most favorite flavorful rum, intense and round. And when I had taken the first bite I realized how much rum there actually was hiding inside, the cake was literally dripping from it! We had planned to take just a small bite of the cake, as we couldn't resist but tasting it right before dinner, but there were no way we could've stopped our selves from eating it all in that second. It was so damn good in every way imaginable and the sweet and smooth taste of the cake made for an excellent mélange with the intense rum and the nutty cover that we had to devour it all until the very last crumbs. Needless to say, the dinner wasn't that important any more after that cake gluttony.

I'm glad to have tried out this thing now and I will most definitely continue my rum-cake exploration with as many other versions as I possibly can during our remaining time here in the different islands of the Caribbean. And just because I love you guys so much and you always (OK, most of the times) make me smile from the comments and emails you keep sending us, I would now like to give away not one but two of these cakes. The one shown on the picture is the smaller on 4 oz, but the give away cakes will be the normal, large size of 24 oz (680 gram).

The only thing you have to do to become one of the two happy winners of your very own Antiguan rum cake sent from us here in the Caribbean with a personal photo postcard added to it, is that you should help us spread the word about our journey. I'm sure there are plenty of more people out there who are willing to join our adventures and I would love to grow our little family here online, so in whatever way you are able to spread the word, that would be good enough for entering the competition. May it be a text and link in your blog (if you have one) or that you share our journey on your facebook wall, or that you add us on Twitter and tweet about our journey or whatever else way you can figure out to share our adventures. No participation is too small or too big and you share in the way you find suitable. It would also help if you are a friend of ours on Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter and/or a follower here on Blogger so that we can follow your participation closely.

The competition is on until next weekend, Friday the 22nd of July, and we look forward to immediately after the drawing send these absolutely scrumptious cakes with a carrier straight home to the doorstep of two happy winners - with a personally written and photographed postcard included from Alex and me.

Let the game begin, and please send us a link or email on how you have shared our journey with your friends!

__________________________

Tävling: För att vara med i utlottningen av en alldeles egen saftig, underbar, ljuvligt god rom-kaka från Antigua, är det enda du behöver göra att dela vår resa med dina vänner. Vare sig du skriver om och länkar till oss på din blogg (om du har en), på din facebook-vägg, twitter eller vad du än kan hitta på, så är det bra nog för att kunna delta i tävlingen om de två rom-kakorna som vi kommer skicka med ett personligt fotovykort från mig och Alex här i västindien. Lägg även gärna till oss som vänner på Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin och bli en "follower" här till höger för så att vi kan följa ditt deltagande på bästa sätt. Var vänlig informera oss om ditt tillvägagångssätt via en länk i din blogg eller via email och du är automatiskt med i tävlingen. Två vinnare dras den 22e juli. Lycka till!

Disclaimer: This competition is not sponsored by the product/brand, the cakes are bought and sent straight from us. The cakes comes in fully closed factory packed container with paper cover and plastic wrap inside of the cover to remain perfectly fresh and wonderful for their arrival.

dreaming

lots on our minds here in between hard work at the moment. so much to plan for, so much to see, so much to do and to fulfill, so many things we wish to indulge in and to explore.... the world is full of so many opportunities. we just have to be awake and go through our lives with eyes wide open to be able to catch them when they arrive. 

Updates

The link to our Twitter page here to the right hasn't been working the last couple of days but seem to be alright now again.

Also many other links, facebook plugin buttons and pages on this blog are not in complete order but I have had so much other things to do so not had the time to sort it all out as yet. But you guys are patient, I'm sure.

It all should be perfected in the end of this week or so.

On storing

I was previously mentioning that we do not buy so much stuff/clothes any longer. There simply ain't the same interest nor need for it, but one other important aspect of it is of course that there aren't much space left on a sailboat for storing too much of things anyway. This live-aboard life is very special in many ways, it would definitely not suit everyone as you can't have all the conveniences and comforts as a land based home allows for and there are loads of things that you have to relinquish to be able to move out on the seas and into a boat of this size. Much of our things had to be left on land and I also sold out much of my clothes and shoes both before we left on this tour and also during this journey on my vintage store to make space for what really is necessary.

I kind of like this transformation that we have gone through during the 1,5 years we've been living together on the boat. We have slowly adapted to the cramped lifestyle and with time we have been able to figure out what really is needed and what is not. I mean it's all about compromises and valuations. Do you need a house full of material possessions and wide, large spaces to be happy, then you can't live on a boat. But are you more interested in having a large world as your home, the freedom to move around as you wish but you don't care too much about materialistic comfort, then a life aboard a sailboat could be something for you. We would love to have them both one day in the future but since we aren't that wealthy to have that possibility just as yet and while sailing is our current priority, we have had to eliminate some things and adjust ourselves in a way that we could fulfill this sailing dream in the most comfortable and convenient way.

Given the fact that we're carrying a big bunch of tools, surfboards, diving equipment and god knows what else we stuffed this poor boat with, the storing of things must be very carefully planned. We kind of have figured it out by now although it took quite some time, and for clothes we have found the most perfect things for storage: these foldable storage boxes from Blue Performance. They are everything we need and they are designed to ease the living on a boat. They are light as paper, are easy to mount on the walls of the cabin so they stay where they are supposed to during sailing, they have shelves for maximum use of space, they are perfectly transportable and you can easily store them on top of each other when that could be needed. Every piece of garment is now kept in these boxes and the shoes are properly stored in similar ones in a way that we actually can move around here on the boat without having to climb over things. Storing is a major important aspect of life aboard a boat since there aren't so much space to play around with, and a mess in such a tight area is something that really can make your life a hell. Glad there are solutions though for most things in life, and these boxes have really made our life easier in many ways. Yes there are some lockers, wardrobes and drawers in the boat too, but these things are perfectly usable when you need to store more than the original closets allows for. What I also love with them is that they are made in ripstock nylon that lets the clothes breathe instead of having to have them in fully closed containers where things easier can get mold. Ripstock is also made with a special reinforced technique that makes the fabric resistant to tearing and ripping.

To be comfortable and happy living on a boat takes some time as you have to adjust so much from normal way of living, but if you have the time and the will, there is a way. Like with everything else in life. 

Evening sky

Just one cozy track of the night. Miles Davis always seem to suit for a peaceful, mellow evening.

Lunch break

When not in the mood of cooking (it is almost too hot to cook here during the days anyway) we enjoy going to one roadside shack where Grace, a Grenadian woman who lived on this island for more than 20 years now, serves the most delicious Antiguan food. For 15 ECD (approximately 5:50 USD) you will get a plate of home-cooked, authentic meal based on either baked chicken, lamb, curry conch or baked pork served with the traditional rice and beans, some plantain banana, macaroni pie and fresh salad. We've tried many local restaurants around here but the best so far must be this one, Grace Before Meals is the name of the place and it is located in a small bright-colored orange/yellow house on the road between Falmouth Harbor and Nelson's Dockyard. Make sure to check it out next time you're around if you want to enjoy a delightful Caribbean meal.

Plans for the following weeks

This week: Still in Antigua to finalize some boat work. Leaving to St Martin on Sunday or Monday for a quick visit. We will then make one more stop in Antigua before we head down South no later than 24th of July. Might be we will have the time to visit Guadeloupe here once again, let's see. But important is to arrive in Martinique on the 29th of July at the latest as  that's where we will pick up family for a week of sailing in St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines. Thereafter will we continue cruising around in those areas during the remaining part of August. Looking forward to finally discover Mustique, Tobago Cays, Bequia, St Vincent and more...

Pages updated

I've just updated the text in our "About Us" page up at the top of the page. I'm also happy with the collage I made to illustrate us and our tour around the world. It gives a good feeling of what are our believes and what we're doing on this journey/this life, right?

7 mangoes later

I cannot express my love for these fruits well enough. They are absolutely divine and I can eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and before I go to bed. Simply can't get enough of their sweetness.

P.s: Sorry, the blog is still a bit disordered, I'm working on it. 

New site..... soon up and running

Hey guys, I just want to tell you that this blog might be offline or under construction during today and also tomorrow as I'm implementing new features and a new design to it. I was completely done with the layout and ready to move the whole thing to a custom made site at Wordpress for some weeks ago when it suddenly hit me that I didn't want to change blog platform. Don't feel like loosing links in comments and the followers here in the sidebar so we will continue hanging on with blogspot for the time being. Our new domain should also be working just shortly. Anyway, no more news than this, just want to inform that if you can't get some links working or if you see some other strange changes here on this blog this weekend, it's only me working on making this site even better. All should be back to normal (or better) in a couple of days.

Have a great wknd you all.

Fashion at sea

Considering the fact that I earlier lived in a house where my walk in closet was as big as the whole boat we live in today, I think I've made a damn good job in weaning myself off the relatively serious shopping syndrome I possessed in my previous life. I have not the same hunger for new things, new labels and the obligatory new designer high heels that I earlier always made sure to convince myself that I needed to update my wardrobe with once a week back home in the city. I have came to the understanding that there are much more important things in life than things. Here on the oceans I simply don't need so much. Give me 20 bikinis, a couple of dresses, shorts and tops and I will be fine. I must say it feels really good to not live for consuming any longer, I'm comparing with the normal society now where you almost are forced to believe that you need so much things all the god damn time, because let me tell you one truth: you don't actually need  more than you  physically need, if that makes any kind of sense. 

I bought myself one new dress the other day though, the green one you can see on the picture. It cost me 20 ECD(Eastern Caribbean Dollar) which is equal to approximately $8 and with this one included I think I have spent a maximum of $100 in the past ten months on clothes. $100 in ten months? Interesting thought, especially when comparing with the crazy amount I used to spend on fashion back home. I honestly think that Alex have bought himself more clothes than I have in the past ten months and who could ever think that was a possible equation. Just yesterday he found himself one new pair of Henri Lloyd jeans which he told me that he needed, apparently good for cold rainy evenings (even though I can't find the logical meaning in wearing jeans in the tropics but anyway..)

One other important aspect of this all is of course that I don't go out on social functions and parties like I did before, and when you are out in the nature most of the time like we are, who needs fashion anyway. The clothes that I need and want should be easy to put on, easy to take off, they should be comfortable and cozy, they should be able to deal with the heat (and sweat) in a good way and they should be as light as they can be. Just like with everything else in life nowadays, I want it all to be as easy as possible to deal with to reduce the amount of hustle and headaches.

One thing that I laid my eyes on the other day though, was a beautiful Ralph Lauren swimsuit that I think I have to go back and make mine, with blue and white stripes and navy colored foundation and all, perfectly suitable for lounging on the boat... will show it to you later if it's still there when I go back to the shop next time.  /T

It's all about love

Check out what Taylor at TGood has to say about us and our travels on his stylish lifestyle mag. 

Varnished and done

You remember that thing Alex was building? It has now got two coats of clear wood sealer and six coats of Goldspar Satin varnish. The opening is now rounded to perfection and all the edges are excellently matched sanded to fit the place where it now should get mounted. Soon it's in place. More pics coming soon. /T

Drink of the night

Like I said earlier on our Twitter: I am such an extremist. No alcohol whatsoever for one week/ten days, and the following I tend to jump on every possibility that comes my way to sponge something alcoholic. Malibu is one other sort of rum that I can't get enough of. Makes for such sweet and delightful drinks that I'm almost able to convince myself that it isn't alcohol. So I drink it like juice and get drunk accordingly. Malibu mixes best with pineapple juice and coco Lopez like I showed you here, but it goes also very well down with sprite zero and a squeeze of lime for an extremely refreshing and a bit lighter version of a tropical coconut drink. Incredibly fresh and perfect for hot summer nights here in the Caribbean.

Cheers to life and have a great Thursday evening you all. /T

Time for a break

There's been a lot of work done here lately. Boat work, budget calculations and planning for the new boat, blog projects, book projects, photo assignments, body work at the gym, article writings, designing of that new website and everything else in between. Can't complain too much though, all of that will hopefully lead us to an even brighter future and everything we work on is completely self-chosen so we'll continue to work on, move on towards our goals. I remember we once said something like mmm, it will be so wonderful to finally have some peace, no work no nothing, just peace, on a deserted island far from it all... but we have slowly but surely understood that people like us we can't be just still doing nothing. At least not for a longer period of time. We need our projects and new exciting goals to look forward to, to be able to enjoy life fully - even if we physically might be away from it all. As long as we can be our own bosses and plan for our days as we wish, and as long as we enjoy what we do and have the time for what we love, then we're more than satisfied. And if we on top of all that have the freedom to move on the sea and in between countries as we wish, then life is pretty damn close to perfect.

But now let's leave work at home for a while and let's spend the rest of the day at the beach. Will try to have one complete afternoon with nothing but r e l a x a t i o n. Talk to you later. /T

Feel like getting tipsy tonight

Sometimes there ain't nothing better than:

1 part Mount Gay rum

2 parts diet coke

Maybe you could toss in a song like this too to make it all even one step sexier.

And that was the final words of wisdom I had to share with you all for today. /T

Mmmmmm mango

I never really thought of the fact that sorbet actually is so incredibly easy to produce. But it is. Ridiculously easy in fact. And what is more tasteful and suitable under the hot tropical sun than a big bowl full of sweet, ice-cold fruit sorbet? This very version that I concocted beats many many of the fabricated ones that I've tried in the past and I must say I definitely prefer it this simple: no dairy products, no sugar, and as pure and natural as it possibly can be. 

You know I've been raving about the Caribbean mangos at many times before and I still can't get enough of them. The ones used for this sorbet are not the super sweet ones, these are larger in size, the african ones as Alex likes to call them as they reminds him of the ones he use to eat back in Angola when he was younger - and these mangoes, which I don't know the correct name for, has a lightly almondy taste. They are still sweet and juicy, but much more firm in texture and nutty in taste than the ones I spoke about for some weeks ago. I used two large mangoes for this sorbet, one lime, some wonderful honey that we bought in Morocco in December last year and some water and that's really it. Couldn't be easier even if I tried.

For two bowls of sorbet you will need:

2 mangoes

1 lime

1/2 cup (1dl) water

1/2 cup (1dl) pure honey 

Peel your mangoes and cut it into small pieces. Puree now this well in a bowl, but make sure to leave some smaller chunks for a nice natural texture. In a small pan, bring your water to boil. When boiling, remove from stove and add the honey. Mix well for an minute more or less. Leave it to cool down. When cooled, pour this into your bowl of mango puree and squeeze in the lime juice from the fruit. I prefer to add also the pulp from the lime, but that one you can ignore if you don't like it. And that would be it. Done. Finished. You have your very own mango sorbet. Obviously you'll need to freeze this thing to be able to fully call it a sorbet, but you get the point. I froze mine in zip-lock bags, very convenient as our freezer here on the boat is so small and a bag like that only requires minimal space.

You can also exchange the mangoes to strawberries or pear or whatever fruits you prefer. I will definitely try out more of them in the nearest future. I would also love to add some mint into this particular one, but unfortunately they didn't have it in the local grocery store at this time.

Go ahead and try it, I'm sure you will love it! /T

Good morning

I am very anxious to try my homemade mango sorbet that I concocted last night. If only the freezer could have been a little bit more efficient... and it doesn't quite help that we're in the tropics either, things rather melt than freeze in this heat. Will get back with the recipe and photos in just a while. Have a good day you all. /T

Too hot

An editor from one of the largest sailing magazines in the US of A contacted me the other week and told me they wanted to buy one of my photos for an upcoming article. One with a woman sunbathing on a sailboat, "I'm sure you got plenty of them" the editor said and I agreed. So I screened through my collection and I found this one. That was definitely a woman sunbathing on a boat in my eyes and I sent it over. One day later I got the response that said: "I'm sorry, this won't work. This is way too hot for us. Our membership is made up of a lot of middle-aged and retired men, some of whom probably have weak hearts. You would kill far to many of them with this shot, and we can’t afford to lose any these days" 

Man, what could I respond to that? Fair enough for the honest reply but I got kind of perplexed by the answer. I mean, you simply just don't go to McDonald's, ask for a cheeseburger and then get surprised when you get cheese on your burger. And you definitely don't go to a hip hop club and expect to hear christian choral music, there are other places you should have considered for an evening like that. What exactly did he expect? Yes I am very aware of that Americans in general and the American sailing/cruising world in particular, are very conservative compared to the same in Europe, but c'mon, I wasn't even topless. The only two things that I find disturbing with this photo though, is my ever so terrible hair color. I kinda miss my chocolate brown hair when I see this mixed disaster. Also it is a bit annoying that my ass appears to be much lighter in tone than the rest of my skin. I guess I have to sunbath more in string from now on.

Well well, c'est la vie. At least I can show this photo to you guys without anyone getting a heart attack here. Right? You must have seen plenty of sunbathing girls before, haven't you. /T

One favorite lifestyle blog writes about The World Tour

Go check out what Nalden has to say about our world tour. Nalden.net is one of the coolest lifestyle magazines online, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands - and the website is truly amazing. 

That ass of mine have by the way been traveling quite frequently around the world wide web these past six months since it first was published back in January when we crossed the Atlantic ocean. I wonder how many extra sails North Sails have sold because of that photo. We must agree on that it was quite a successful product placement? Without even intentionally being one. /T

Question of the day - How do we make money on this journey?

New feature on the blog: Questions and Answers. We get plenty of emails sent to us every week and we regret that we can't answer them all in person. A way for us to give you our view on some of the most common inquiries is to publish some questions here, so that all of you can take part of our thoughts.

First question out today is an email that was sent to us for a couple of days ago. Here it goes:

Hi. I'm an Italian sailor and I love follow your tour around the world.

I feel you like some friends that send me postcards... and I can see these postcards on your blog.

I'm glad to know that the tour is not only like a long cruise: little problems , decisions, works, etc... all this things give spice to the boat life. I feel you are not bored!!!!

I have an ordinary question and doubt. How can you make money? A tour is expensive: hotel, dinner, boat maintenance, and other things.

Can you give me an answer? I will not wait for a very private explaination , but a simple answer about the way you make money. Charter? You are consuming your personal money? Photos?

Thanks.

Best Wind

by Luca

Thank you for your email Luca. This is a very frequent wondering among our readers and I remember we touched the subject quite briefly for a couple of months ago, but here it goes again in more specific details. 

Luca didn't ask how we saved up for this tour so that we can keep for another time, but just shortly: When we had decided that we wanted to sail around the world, we made sure to sell off a lot of our personal belongings. We also juggled around with some savings and made clear that we had cash enough to upgrade the boat to perfection and also to be able to live on the boat for 1,5-2,5 years. We did spend more than we originally planned for during the first year out, but we do still have some savings left for an additional year or so. Now, we don't have any bank loans or mortgages at all so this makes life one step easier for us. We made sure to pay off what was needed before we set off on this tour and we also made sure to upgrade and equip the boat to utter perfection so that we didn't have to deal with sudden failures or unpleasant maintenance for a long time to come.

Since our original plan, that was to sail only for around two years, have been changed to sail indefinitely and for as long as we still love and enjoy this amazing freedom, we need to make sure that we get in cash during the time. I think I said it before but it suits to mention it here again; this life and this tour is not a vacation only for us, it is a lifestyle and our everyday life - and we need to make sure it is sustainable for as long as we still enjoy it. The ways to make money differs quite a lot to what we would have done back home on land, but we do what we have the time and the possibility to do and as long as we feel good and happy with that, we will continue in a similar way.

The main importance in life right now is to be free from stress, free from obligations and normal life obstacles and to enjoy the world, the places we get to see and unlimited time with each other. And as our everyday needs have drastically decreased during this first year on the sea, so have also the amount of money that we need to be happy. It is definitely easier to feel fulfilled for a low cost on the sea and in connection to the nature, than it is back home in the big city life on land. We are also very glad that we no longer (well currently at least) are part of the wheal of consumption that is so easy to get tangled up in on life on solid ground.

These are the ways we have made money since we left our home in Barcelona for nine months ago:

- The blog. Having an independent blog that hits around 150.000 page views and 90.000-120.000 unique visitors every month, we now have the possibility to get paid for this story that we have published online. There are several different types of advertisements and sponsorships that appears on this website and I have found a good strategy for what brings in relatively OK amount of incomes every month. We do get a lot of inquiries from companies that wish to send us free stuff for us to promote on the blog, and while that is fun at times depending on what things they offer, it is also of significant importance that our partnerships brings in some real money. This blog is definitely both business and pleasure to me and they both need each other for me to be engaged to it, to this extent. I'm sure you already figured it out, but I spend quite some time on this site and things in relation to it. Something like 2-4 hours are spent every day on this blog, sometimes even more, and I can honestly say that I wouldn't have been online this much if it didn't give me at least some type of payment. This blog is my true passion, a great part of my life, a fantastic way for me to share what I love, it is my baby that I love nurturing and improving with every day that pass by, but it is also the greatest source of income for me at the moment and the business side of it is almost equally important as is my personal interest in it. And as I know that many of you love numbers, I can reveal that I currently make somewhere between $500-1000/month on collaborations and partnerships through this blog. That's not a lot, but I do hope to increase this with time.

- Alex skills. Besides of Alex being a skipper who occasionally takes on shorter yacht deliveries for some good extra incomes I also think I might have told you that Alex is one handy man. I'm not only talking about mounting furniture's bought in IKEA or fixing with simple mechanics of the engine - no, this man is particularly skilled when it comes to work with wood, composite and whatever else you can think of that has to do with boats and other handcrafted things. He could basically get a job at any famous boatbuilder in the world with his knowledge and expertise and he has decided to take on shorter projects when there is time and space for it, if the money is right. On the projects he's been doing so far, he have made well enough for us to live on and to top up our savings during the very same time. I was not aware of his skills to this extent before we left and I was confused when he first told me that he might be willing to do some work on other boats, one week per month or so - Work on boats?? But you're a mastering engineer! - but I have with time found out that he loves the art of building and he also has a fucking gold mine in his hands. Literally. Pretty good to know for the day when our savings might be gone and vanished, if we are not yet ready to get back to the normal world that is.

- My photography. I sell some of my photos from this blog to private clients, information on this can be found here. This has proved to be a very popular thing and I wish that I will continue to have the time (and the clients!) for it for time to come. I have also been in touch with various sailing/travel magazines for publishing my photos in their publications, but I must admit that I have been extremely lazy in sending in samples and portfolios like they've requested. I maybe should be more active on this part, but on the other hand it is a tough industry where you have to work your ass off to be seen and published, the payment is quite low for photos nowadays and also I really do hate to have to promote my creativity as I believe that it all should come out naturally. With this blog on the other hand, I do already see a good future potential and a profit and with the blog I'm also free to work in my own tempo, on my own conditions and the photography shown here pays off in other ways, indirectly. One other thing that I definitely would wish to be able to do in the future, are those destination wedding photos that I spoke with you about earlier, and I hope that I will get in some clients for at least this year to begin with. That would be seriously fantastic. (Let me know if you are in need of a wedding photographer in the Caribbean in 2011 or early 2012.)

- Sponsoring. Again, when having such a large blog (large in visitors), you will get companies interested in being seen on your website. Because of this we get loads of things for free or for a discounted price. Hotel nights, clothes, boat equipment, marina visits .. you name it. This is a great way for companies to be seen on our website and a good way for us to have some fun without spending too much of money. We are very restrictive though. We do not let just anything come up on our site, and only the things and services that we could consider spending our own money on will have the chance to be connected with our blog. We love working with the places and brands that we have been having the chance to work with in the past and we do hope to get more of these for the future. It is one of those great win-win deals you can establish if you have a niched blog like ours and one of the benefits I love with the whole social media industry that I've been working with for the last five-six years now.

We are fortunate that we have our creative skills that can give us a bit of extra incomes along the way, but even without it I'm sure we would be able to spend a good time with only our savings for at least a couple of years around the world. I will get back to you one day soon with more specific calculations on how to save up for a journey like this and what are the budgets and so on, but this post is too long as it is already so let's wait with that for another day. Let us know if you have any additional questions on this subject. /T