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Geographically part of the Leeward Islands and politically part of France, Guadeloupe is situated in the Eastern Caribbean, with Dominica to the south, Antigua to the north and Montserrat to the northeast.  The territory is big compared to its neighbors and consists of many different islands. Basse Terre and Grande Terre are separated by a river and make up the “mainland”, while La Desirade, Marie Galante and the Saintes are lying in a semi-circle around the bottom. Even more islands are scattered about the mainland, making this area very attractive to sailors and cruisers.

 Deshaies anchorage                                                                                               © Liesbet Collaert

The “mainland”

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For tens or even hundreds of years, Colombia has been a very dangerous country to visit, by land or by sea. In recent years, however, the bad reputation has lifted (Venezuela took over) and every day a constant stream of backpackers explores the region. Many cruisers follow suit, especially since Colombia is nicely on the way to Panama and its amazing San Blas islands. It is the perfect place to break up the long sailing trips west.

Cabo de la Vela, Colombia                                            ©Liesbet Collaert

Cabo de la Vela

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When you live a life on land, your day follows a certain routine. You get up at a certain time, have breakfast, commute to work, return home late afternoon or early evening, have dinner, watch some TV or entertain yourself another way and it’s bed time again. The weekends are something to look forward to and thoroughly enjoyed. Most things go the way you expect them to go.

 The weather forecast predicts wind, but if there is none, you have to motor...            © Liesbet Collaert

Living on a sailboat is a tad more adventurous and less straightforward. Part of the reason you choose to go cruising, is to get away from the familiar environments and the daily routines. Although sailing might sound exotic, things aren’t easy most of the time and definitely not predictable. After four years on the water, my mind wanders many a time to how life on shore would be. It sounds so easy, so comfortable, so much less tiring. I think about a comfy couch, vegging in front of a TV, reclining with a good book in the yard, anticipating and looking forward to a fun-filled weekend, filling a grocery cart full of enjoyable and affordable foods and a hot shower with water pressure… I think about the fact that you can actually plan something and follow a routine that rarely changes.

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The “C” in the ABC-islands, north of Venezuela, stands for Curaçao. Until a year ago it was part of the Netherlands Antilles; now it is a country in itself. Unlike St. Maarten, the official currency (the florin or Antillean Guilder) is widely used. You can pay with US dollars everywhere, but expect change in local cash. The island is relatively big in comparison with its neighbors, but is easily seen in a couple of days: renting a car one day to see the western part and exploring the historical capital Willemstad by foot the other day.

 The waterfront in Willemstad                                                                                         © Liesbet Collaert

Checking into the country is a bit of a hassle and quite time-consuming, since all people aboard have to make their way to Willemstad from the only long-term and totally protected anchorage of Spanish Waters. There are buses about every hour or two, but they are not punctual and take a bit of time to reach their destination. Once in the center of town, you walk to Customs (Douane) a few blocks west of the bus station, across from the floating market and obvious by the huge sign on top of the building. The officials are friendly and in about half an hour, you have your first piece of paper free of charge. Next, you walk over the Queen Emma floating bridge, or take a free ferry when it is in the open position and follow the water north towards a big wharf.

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When cruisers and sailors are asked why they choose this lifestyle, many answer with the standard and cliché “Because it gives us so much freedom”. True, your sailboat is your floating home and you can drop and pick up anchor in many places worldwide, giving you an immense area to explore or settle for a while. You have your belongings with you wherever you go and to “just be out there”, sailing on a massive ocean or smaller sea, gives you a tremendous feeling of freedom. Wherever you are, once the anchor is down, there are restrictions and rules you have to abide by. You can read up or learn about these places ahead of time and, because you are free, you decide whether to skip them or pay them a visit. Most things you do are entirely up to you, except when (boat) problems arise.

  A grey day for a sail on the ocean                                                                           © Liesbet Collaert

The sense of freedom disappears, however, when you take that one, all important thing into account; the thing that really decides when you leave and how the trip and the schedule turns out. It is called the weather and it is ever-present and not always very predictable. Every prudent sailor checks the weather forecast, via different sources at that, before heading out, especially on a longer trip. We base many decisions on how “it is looking” and pick days that promise to be comfortable enough, wind and swell taken into consideration. These periods are called “weather windows”. The amount of rain is less important, unless they are part of forecasted periods of heavy squalls.

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Most people who are familiar with Bonaire are either avid divers or windsurfers. Or cruise ship passengers. Others who have heard about this small island north of Venezuela reside in the area or in the Netherlands. Together with a handful of other small Caribbean islands, it was part of the Netherlands Antilles until recently. On 10/10/10 Bonaire became an integral part of the Dutch Kingdom, together with Saba and St. Eustatius (Statia), while Curaçao and St. Maarten separated and became new countries.

 Almost every day a big cruise ship docks in the beautiful waters of Bonaire                 © Liesbet Collaert

The tri-island area Bonaire, Curaçao and Aruba is referred to as the ABC-islands, but much more than starting with the first three letters of the alphabet they don’t have in common. Curaçao is big, industrial and diverse, Aruba is very touristy and gears to an American market and Bonaire is most famous for its fantastic diving and environmental approach. It is a watersports paradise, whether you explore underneath the water surface or skim on top …

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Giving up your accustomed shore life, to move onto a sailing vessel is a huge change that entails preparations and adjustments in many ways. Once that big step is taken and you have gotten used to living aboard, similar experiences of a smaller scale will occur. Every time you leave a place where you spent some time and made friends, it feels like you are leaving a part of yourself behind. It is a bag of mixed feelings and day to day adventures soon turn into fond memories, while you “move on”.

 When you leave a certain popular area, you leave friends and fond experiences.          © Liesbet Collaert

My husband Mark and I sailed throughout the Eastern Caribbean for the last three years. After going up and down the island chain once, we knew the “lay of the islands”. We anchored in our favorite spots, knew where to pick up decent internet signals, shopped in the best stocked and most affordable supermarkets, knew which day the local vegetable lady showed up, attended the greatest happy hours, saved our dirty laundry until we reached a harbor with a do-it-yourself washing machine and frequented the places we liked. Every year, we would sail to and explore a few different parts of this or that island, but those adventures were short and in close vicinity. Every time we ended up in St. Martin or Grenada, we stayed put for a few months to work or spend hurricane season. The excitement took place in between these destinations, when we mostly “did what we wanted” and during the occasional weekend.

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How I sometimes wish I could jump in my car and run the errands I need to run within a couple of hours’ time. When the tank is running low, I’d pull over at one of the many gas stations and fill her right up! But, I don’t have a car and even if I did, it wouldn’t be of much use while I’m living on our sailboat in the Caribbean. As I have realized many times before and as I probably have mentioned before as well: life on the water is a tad more difficult and inconvenient than life on land and some of why we chose this life is because or despite of that.

 Leaving Tyrrel Bay in Carriacou to - maybe - obtain fuel in Clifton, Union Island (SVG)    © Liesbet Collaert

Mark and I try to sail our boat as much as possible which results in not needing all that much diesel. Normally, we take our dinghy to a fuel station on the water and fill a 5 gallon jug, whether it is gas for the dinghy or diesel for the big boat. Fuel in the Caribbean has become very expensive (compared to US prices; similar to European prices), but if you buy a little bit at a time, it’s not too bad. Now, however, anticipating a long trip to – for us – unknown territories west, we want to leave with a full diesel tank and some spare gasoline. Being on a budget and having principles, we looked into a few things to spend as little money as possible on this fuel mission.

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While people in most of Europe and North America regret that the summer is over and hope for a pleasant Indian summer, I (and other cruisers in the Caribbean) can’t wait for it to be done! Even though fall has officially started, the days in the Eastern Caribbean are still extremely hot and humid and the nights are only slightly better. Day temperatures are around 32°C (90°F), with a heat index of 40°C (104°F) and at night it is a “pleasant” 28°C (82°F). The biggest reason for those uncomfortable days and nights of sweating non-stop is the fact that there is … no wind!

This picture of paradise does not show the heat, humidity, lack of wind and many bugs! © Liesbet Collaert

During hurricane season, nobody wants one of those big named storms coming their way. Here in Grenada, none of them passed by so far. They all went way north of us, but we still feel their presence of not being present. They suck all the wind away from well around them, leaving areas of hundreds of miles without wind. If there is one group of people relying on this wind, then it is the sailors and the cruisers, the human kind that lives on the water, where there is always supposed to be a breeze. The saying goes: “It is always cooler on the water”. That is, if the breeze is not hiding or being “taken away”. The presence of the wind is not a matter of survival, it is a matter of comfort, productivity and flexibility and it plays many roles in the daily cruising life. And, to be honest, no wind also has some advantages.

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Competitors are already training hard for our local event. Come and see some of the best regional and international kiteboarders and windsurfers compete for freestyle and race crown.

Lots of prizes to be won, as always the party scene at night will be pumping....

see you there!

Since the time I was in my twenties, roaming the world, backpacking in Southeast Asia and exploring cheap and far flung places, my grandma - and other “real” adults - kept saying (in Dutch)“It is good you are doing this NOW. You gotta do it when you’re young!” When I set out sailing, my grandma - still hoping I would settle one day - once again gave her full understanding and support for my desire for adventure and, once again, stated that I should do it while I am young, even though, “young” is becoming more and more a relative term. On the water, we have met a lot of cruisers who envy that we are sailing the world while we are young, but at the same time, they are happy for us, for being able to “do it while we are young”. The older cruisers fully enjoy their life on the water, but one of their only regrets is that they wish they started this boat life earlier, while they were “young”.

 Irie under sail in the Bahamas                                 © Liesbet Collaert

Truth is, the longer Mark and I are cruising the Caribbean waters, the more we realize that you don’t have to be young to do this (granted, much of the manual labor involved must be way easier when you are not approaching 70, but on the same note, we so much respect the retirees and are in awe of their accomplishments). You also don’t have to be strong to live on a sailboat, you don’t have to be male, you don’t have to be white, you don’t have to be of a certain nationality, you don’t have to be rich and you don’t have be anything, really. The water is for everybody and people of all nationalities, cultures, backgrounds, religions, ages, and skills comprise the sailing and cruising communities of the world.

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Life on the water is a little bit more challenging than on land, for more than one reason. Just like you don’t just walk out the door to go for a walk or jump in the car to go shopping, you don’t pick up the phone to call for help, park the dinghy in the garage or close the door behind you and are safe. Dinghies don’t have seat belts and sailing routes don’t have traffic lights or lanes. When you fall overboard during a (night) passage, chances that you survive are low; when you are anchored in a remote area and somebody means harm, chances that they get what they want are high.

 Seas can be rough during a crossing                                                                              © Liesbet Collaert

Safety Gear

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While cruising up and down the Caribbean island chain for a few years in a row, you get used to certain routes, sights and anchorages. After the first year, you have favorite places to stop and hang out and you look forward to coming back to certain areas and their charms. The familiarity feels good and the fact that you’ve been to these places before, makes the planning and the voyaging easy. All you basically have to “worry” about is the weather, but all the rest (where to provision, where to find fuel, where to anchor in the best holding, who to meet and greet…) is knowledge you gathered previously.

 Around the corner of Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou                                                                    © Liesbet Collaert

A big group of long time sailors in the Eastern Caribbean stick to this beaten path between Grenada or Trinidad and St. Martin or the British Virgin Islands. They enjoy running into other cruisers they know, they take advantage of the steady trade winds to sail from island to island and don’t mind spending years in the same area. Most of these people are retired and are living their dream in the tropics, with the comfortable reassurances and familiarities of places they know. Mark and I do a bit of the same, revisiting places we like, as long as they have internet. But, when the weekend comes around and we can afford to take some time off, we like to do something different or even sail to a new place. Sometimes we want to explore on shore, but most of these times, just relaxing in a pretty environment is all we desire.

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One of the greatest things about owning your own sailing catamaran, while living and cruising on it - whether it is in an exotic place or closer to home - is that you can be “away from it all” for an extended period of time. You don’t even have to get off your boat for days or weeks on end, if you choose to and if you prepared well enough. Cruising sailboats are set up and equipped to be self-contained and what a joy that is, to just have your house with you wherever you go and be comfortable without external help.

 A little piece of paradise in the Grenadines                                                                    © Liesbet Collaert

The next greatest thing while living on the water is to be one with nature. Isn’t it just awesome to accept, collect and use what Mother Nature provides? Sometimes your dependence on the environment is a bit risky and tricky and totally unreliable and many times, you are just a puppet of what the elements have in store for you. You stand by and watch; you have to take it as it comes and base all your decisions on the present and the predictions. You have to let go of all the plans, hopes and expectations. You have to be able to not get what you want (anymore). But, the days when nature does provide some perfect wind, well-needed sunshine or useful water, are the happiest in a sailor’s life!

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Most cruisers sailing up and down the Caribbean island chain prefer to do so along the leeward side. As a matter of fact, that’s what Mark and I have been doing on our sailing catamaran Irie for the last three years as well. Why?  This side of the islands offers relative calm water and a multitude of protected harbors to pull into when desired or required. The negative? One most likely has to motor a big chunk of this coastline, because the land blocks the wind in many places, especially when hills and mountains represent the scenery. For this very reason – trying to sail the whole way and not use the engines – we decided to do it differently and choose the windward side of St. Vincent to reach the Grenadines. Little did we know that there was another, huge, advantage to sticking to the leeward side...

 Approaching the Pitons from the north                                                           © Liesbet Collaert

Plenty of people have done it before and in theory, it does make sense to pass an island along its windward side. The wind should stay strong and persistent, progress should be faster and diesel should be saved. If the predicted sea state is not too choppy, with manageable wave heights, the sail can even be relatively comfortable and pleasant! With such a prediction, SV Irie left Rodney Bay on the northwest side of St. Lucia at 4am, planning a 10-12 hour journey to Admiralty Bay in Bequia, which is part of the Grenadines. Since we were already on the leeward side of the country, we took the flaky wind as it came and managed to slowly sail down to the Pitons, averaging 4 knots. For some reason, the current became very strong in that area and after battling with it and staying pretty much stationary for an hour, we switched on the engines to make some headway towards the channel between the islands. At that moment, a pod of dolphins joined us briefly to wish us farewell.

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