Author: Ally

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New Reads for the Year!

It’s funny that I have found a passion for reading books, because growing up I never read. My mom could read a mystery novel in a day, but I never liked reading. That was until I stumbled upon a book “A Sail of Two Idiots: 100+ Lessons and Laughs from a Non-Sailor Who Quit the Rat Race, Took the Helm, and Sailed to a New Life” and I was hooked for life. That was three years ago and ever since then I read everything I can about sailing and life in the Caribbean from books, blogs and stories in sailing magazines.  
 
So that makes buying gifts for me easy!  This past Christmas my husband bought me two new books and actually they were not about sailing, but living the dream in warm sunny weather. (Close enough).  

The first one is by Ryan Stone called “Leavin’ The Grind Behind…: Get Palm’d in the Virgin Islands.

 
What I love about this story, is I could totally relate to him. They were from the Seattle area and fell immediately in love with the British Virgin Islands. So much so, that their life revolved around their next trip (which was a few times a year). He had an encounter with the famous “Foxy” of Foxy’s Bar in BVI and supposedly it is rare to meet the man in person. This bar was made famous (again) by Kenny Chesney in his video “When I See This Bar”.

 

 

Ryan eventually started a business focusing on their passion for the Caribbean life selling swag on the internet. But sadly, it appears they are no longer doing that. (But I like the idea!)

 

His story was quite different. He was dumped by his wife over the holidays and as a cargo plane pilot found himself sitting by a pool in the Philippines feeling depressed. The next moment, another guest at the pool convinced him to move to the Philippines and he did. A few days after he arrived, he met his (future) wife and he’s never been happier living on the beach.

I can’t keep up with all of the magazine articles – in fact, I’ve started a binder to keep track of “to do” articles, places to go, “how to”, etc. Again, we subscribe to Cruising World, Blue Water Sailing, Sailing, Cruiser’s Outpost, Multihull Quarterly, Multihulls, Passage Maker….that’s just a few of them. Okay, so at least I recycle what we don’t keep.  A more carbon friendly media is sailing blogs and I stumbled upon a new favorite! (I’m always bummed when the sailors go home). This new one is called “Jake And Jill Adventures“. 

http://www.jakeandjilladventures.com/blog/
I love getting their updates and they also have a YouTube channel, so you can follow them along virtually. They are selling swag on their website too, so stock up!
 
Well, that’s our newest reads and someday down the road, we’ll have something real for you to read too! Cheers and happy dreaming!

 

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Seattle Boat Show – The Largest Boat Show on the West Coast

For years, Scott and I have been going to the Seattle Boat Show. This show is in January and is located in two spots. One at the Century Link convention center and also at Lake Union. At the convention center they have a lot of ski boats, fishing boats, lots of booths and a handful of sail and large power yachts.  They offer a free shuttle to Lake Union where they have a lot of trawlers and a power yachts.

We stopped at a few booths, mainly with the purpose of talking to marinas. We quickly found out that many marinas don’t offer space for live-a-boards, or if they do, they have a long wait list. (Yikes, we don’t have a boat yet, but once we do, we’ll need a spot!).  We did talk at length with Foss Harbor Marina in Tacoma. Very nice guy and they don’t have a wait list. In fact, one of their residents happened to be there and she not only sold us on the marina, but also on composting toilets. (yes, odd, but very useful info).  He said we could come down any day and take a tour, which we will do one of these Saturdays. With Scott working from home, he has the flexibility to work anywhere, so this could be perfect.

We did talk to City of Des Moines Marina, Port of Everett Marina, Port of Edmonds and Shilshole Marina. Some had a few wait lists and some didn’t. Guess we’ll have to figure that out when the time comes.  
From there we also talked to yacht charter and lesson companies. We talked at length with Bellhaven ASA Sailing & Power School in Bellingham. Here we can get our certification to bareboat a catamaran anywhere in the world. San Juan Sailing also offers this service. 
Another fun thing we would like to do is simply charter a power boat here in the PNW and there are many companies, that offer day training and charters, including Ship Harbor Yacht Charters, Blue Pacific Yacht Charters, Crown Yacht Charters and Anacortes Yacht Charters. For information and rates, visit their websites.
We found a few new cool items too (of course, when we’re finally boat owners!). One was the Electric Paddle. Simple idea, your small motor runs off a battery and it can last up to a few hours. Perfect for your tender. This company is local and is based out of North Bend, WA!

Another new product to the market is Bella d’Vine the “ultimate outdoor beverage holder” from Sun Chaser products. They retailed for about $15 and we definitely will get these when the time comes.
For long term cruisers, you might wonder how do you get your mail? Well, we found a company that does just that! Dockside Solutions will receive your mail, scan it and forward it to you. How cool is that!?  And this is also a local company based in Seattle. Visit their website for rates.
 Scott immediately fell in love with Yacht Controller. This device lets a captain single handle his vessel with a joy stick. They can range in price of anywhere from $9,000-16,000. One cool thing about it, is it controls your prop in seconds (or a few rotations), whereas if you did it manually, your prop would rotate too many times to making docking more difficult. Scott does not want to be “that guy” coming into the marina where everyone is watching him dock the boat and then hit a piling.
We did see a few boats that inspired us, but to be honest most of the boats at Lake Union were all trawlers and we are not looking for a trawler. It’s just not our style for a live-aboard. Again, older Meridians are perfect for what we are looking at. The ones they had at the show, were a bit too small.  We did go on the Meridian 408 Aftcabin 2007. Keep in mind, we’re looking for something we can live on, so it has to be “apartment like”. Here are a few shots of it:

One thing we look for at shows is storage. Notice above, the closet. That’s a big one compared to most. We look to see how many storage compartments are under the bed, under the couch, etc.  We also look to see how they utilized the storage. Here are a few cool ideas:

It was a cold and damp day, so we didn’t spend a lot of time lingering around all of the yachts. If we found a warm one, we definitely took our time to check it out! I like the idea of a fireplace, but Scott felt it was a waste of space. Sure, on a hot summer day it would seem so, but when it’s 40 degrees outside and you live on it then that’s a different story.
Needless to say, this was a quick show for us due to the weather. We are looking forward to the Fall show, Boats Afloat at Lake Union next September where it should be warmer.

For now, look for my next blog on “new reads”. There are so many new books coming out, that I can’t keep up. Follow me on Twitter at @allyr2 for tips and stories about boating!

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Antigua – Part 4 Fun Beach Photos

sunset caribbean beach sailing

Antigua Beach Photos

Part 4 of our vacation blog, includes fun beach photos of Antigua. There’s something about being in the Caribbean that makes you want to take tons and tons of beach photos. Perhaps it’s because we can look at them at home on days that it’s wet and rainy?  During our stay, we walked the beach during the day and also during a few sunsets (well we have to get our steps in!).

So along the way, we snapped away. Enjoy!

 

Do you see a dog in this photo??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, sadly this sail boat washed ashore. It still had plates, etc on the inside 🙁

 

 

As Kenny Chesney’s song “It’s That Time of Day” says ……(of course we’re in Antigua not BVI)

It’s that time of day
That we all knew would come
To pay for all the rum
And pull up anchor cause we’re done
It’s that time of day
I see a cotton candy sky
So many colors in my eyes
Proof again God’s aliveThis ain’t a goodbye
It’s a “till I see you again”
What a wonderful time
We’ve all shared my friends
Another day at sea
Has come and gone away
So adios to Jost
Adios to Jost
Adios to Jost
It’s that time of day

Thanks for following our blog! The Seattle Boat Show is this weekend, there will be a new update on that soon, along with a “new reads” blog. Stay tuned!

 

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Antigua Part 3

tourist spot antigua

Antigua Eco Excursion

We love Antigua eco excursions! When we booked our trip to Antigua, we knew we didn’t want to spend everyday sitting by the pool. Since our life long goal is to end up in the Caribbean splashing in the waters, we wanted to have a few water excursions. We had another circumnavigation tour booked on a very very large power cat for the middle of the week, but it got cancelled. In some ways, we were relieved after we saw how many people were crammed on it. We had just done the Xtreme tour around the island on Monday, so we really didn’t need another.

 

On Friday, we had booked another tour with Adventures Antigua , called the “Eco Tour”. This boat was a bit bigger than the extreme, but much smoother. It held again about 20 people. The boat had two 250 hp engines with a turbo booster.

This tour began at the cruise docks and headed north to Long Island and then to Hell’s Gate.

Long Island is the only island that has residents on it (of the 22 small islands surrounding it). It is very very exclusive  and has a high end resort on it called Jumby Bay. We were told that rooms run $8000-$15,000 per night and are used primarily for celebrities. No we didn’t see Mariah or J Lo. In fact, it looked a bit sleepy.

Mangroves of Antigua

From Long Island, we went to see an island, completely made up of mangrove trees. Mangroves are key to the sea life, as many live in and around their root system for protection. China purchased the island below, but locals protested and insisted the island remain untouched or developed. Supposedly, they have agreed.

 

 

From here we went to Rabbit Island and ironically, there are no rabbits on the island, only birds – lots of them! The entire hillside was covered with pelicans.

 

Hells Gate Island

From here we went to one of the main attractions – Hells Gate Island. This small piece of land is located between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It also has a cave that you climb up to and through and come out on the Atlantic side.


Video of Hells Gate Island

Facing the Caribbean side

 

 

 

 

 

Down below is where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean. You COULD swim to the other side via an underwater cave…but who would do that?!! Instead, we climbed back up towards the guy in the orange shorts to get on top of the island.

Now on top of the island

 

 

The rocks are limestone and extremely jagged. You had to be very careful, finding the perfect “step” and “handle” to climb up into the cave and then go carefully back down. Here’s where you can put one foot on the Atlantic side and the other on the Caribbean side, but the water was gushing so hard, all I wanted to do was get out of there! We then swam back to the boat and off to Bird Island for lunch.

Bird Island Tour

Bird Island has a short hike to the top of the island to give you great vistas. It also is home to the The Antiguan racer (Alsophis antiguae)  which is a harmless rear-fanged (opisthoglyphous) grey-brown snake that was until recently found only on Great Bird Island off the coast of Antigua, in the Eastern Caribbean. It is among the rarest snakes in the world. Ironically, one crossed our path on our hike!!

 

 

 

Facing the Atlantic Ocean

Turned around and now this is the Caribbean Sea

We finished the day snorkeling just a few yards away from Bird Island (about where you see that island in the background).

The boat then returned back to the Cruise terminal to drop us all off. It was such a fun day and again, I highly recommend www.adventureantigua.com.

Stay tuned for Part 4, a collection of fun beach photos!

 

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Antigua Part 2 (land based tour)

atlantic & caribbean ocean view

Antigua Land Tour

Taking an Antigua Land Tour. Our blog is primarily all about boating and boating and more boating. But there was so much to see and do in Antigua, that I wanted to share what we did on land. All boaters have to disembark some time, so here’s what we did on Antigua.

In my previous blog, I shared the photos of Nelson Dockyard, which we saw both by boat and on foot. We did a land tour with a cab driver named “Wall”, which Sandals arranged for us.  Our first stop was Jolly Harbor. We knew it had some condos on the canal and beach and wondered what it looked like. So that was our first stop.

We took a few photos on the beach and also with Wall before heading off to our next stop.

 

 

 

From there we drove south towards Falmouth Harbor and onto English Harbor. Follow the yellow line on the map from Jolly Harbor .

 

Nelson’s Dockyard

We did the full tour of Nelson’s Dockyard with a guide (see photos in previous blog). The buildings are still all original as they were in the 1700’s.  From there we went up to Fort Shirley, where there is a museum (and quick history movie) and Admiral Nelson’s former home. From the vantage point, the British could watch out from all directions for intruders.

This view is overlooking the Caribbean and Nelson’s dockyard down below.

 

 

 

This is one of the fort buildings.

This is what is left of Admiral Nelson’s home.

 

This view is behind his home, facing the Atlantic Ocean.

 

This is the view from the 2nd floor of his home, again overlooking English Harbor.

Just down the road from Fort Shirley, is Lookout Point. The views here were absolutely stunning. To give you an idea of where we were, here’s a map. Look out point overlooks both the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

 

A closeup view of the “hook” you will see a house on top. That belongs to Eric Clapton.

looking towards Africa if you turn left and then South America if you straighten out.

Yes, it was straight down, no fence!

 

This one was of the original fort buildings still standing at Lookout Point.

Shirley Heights Lookout

From here, we drove down the road to Shirley Heights Lookout. This houses the original Guard House. This spot is famous for it’s sunset party they throw every Sunday with a steel drum band. We didn’t make the party (so we didn’t take this photo), but you get the idea.

Instead, we took in the views and enjoyed the scenery. Photos don’t do it justice – so make time to go visit this famous site!

 

 

Again, looking down on English Harbor and Falmouth Harbor

 

It too, was treacherous on the edge with no fence. Beware.

 

In all, it was one of the best tours we’ve taken! There is so much history on Antigua dating back to the early 1700’s. You won’t regret visiting the sights of this island!  Part 3 coming soon!

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Antigua Part 1

English Harbor Caribbean Island

Antigua Boating Excursion

Scott and I arrived in Saint John’s, Antigua on Friday January 15, 2016, for a 10 day stay. This was our 3rd visit to the island and was one of the best vacations we have ever had.   The following day, we found out that the weather earlier in the week was rainy and cloudy, but we had nothing but sunshine our entire stay.  We stayed at Sandals Resort and the first few days, we simply relaxed by the pool and went sailing on the Hobie Cat.

 

Then on Monday, we had our first boating excursion with Antigua Adventures on their “Adventure Xtreme Antigua” boat, which went around the entire island. This took us from the Caribbean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and back to the Caribbean. It had three 250 hp Yamaha engines on it, so it was fast! We stopped many times for different activities.  This was one of our favorite trips we’ve taken and the crew Sean, Trevis and David were fantastic!

We started at the north end of the island at Dickenson’s Bay and stopped at Long Island for a quick history lesson. There are a number of small islands between reefs that line the northern eastern part of the island.

First stop was Hell’s Gate (more on that for our next excursion).

Then we stopped at Sting Ray city, which is southwest from Hells Gate.

We were not in the waist high section, but almost neck deep (for those of us only 5′ 3″). Figures our GoPro HERO5 Camera  had a dead battery and we didn’t know it, since it’s new to us.  The key was to shuffle your feet in the sand, so they knew you were present. They would then swim past you touching your legs. I admit, it was a bit weird and creepy, yet cool. Friends we met, Tony & Nicole took a bunch of photos with their Go Pro, so once they send us some, we’ll post some photos. Instead, this is what I took from the boat.

 

 

Then the folks at Sting Ray City also took photos of each of the guests holding a sting ray.

From here we traveled to a small island and had a wonderful lunch with great views of some catamarans anchored in the bay.

 

 

 

This cat had a cute german shepherd on board, but I couldn’t get it in the photo

After lunch to traveled south to Nelson’s Dockyard, located on the south end of the island in English Harbor. First we passed by Eric Clapton’s home, situated up on the cliff’s of the island. I will tell you that the swells were very large as we turned the south east corner of the island. Luckily our boat was fast, but it certainly went up and down, getting through them.

 

 

Nelson’s Dockyard still has all of the original buildings and now houses many large yachts. According to Wikipedia, English Harbour quickly became a focal point for the establishment of a naval base in Antigua. Its position on the south side of the island meant it was well positioned to monitor the neighboring French island of Guadeloupe. Additionally, the harbour is naturally well-suited to protect ships and cargo from hurricanes. The first reference to the defense of English Harbour occurs in 1704 when Fort Berkeley was listed as one of the twenty forts established around the coast of Antigua. By 1707 naval ships used English Harbour as a station, but no facilities had yet been built for ship maintenance or repair. By 1723 English Harbour was in regular use by British naval ships.

 

 

(The following land based photos were taken on our land tour with our guide a few days later).

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
From Nelson’s Dockyard, we snorkeled at the Pillar’s of Hercules just outside of the harbor.
From here, we stopped at Rendezvous Bay, to relax and enjoy some rum punch!

 

 

We then made the journey back north towards our resort, but first stopping at Saint John’s where the cruise ships are located, dropping off some passengers. Wouldn’t want to run into one of these in the middle of the night in the ocean!!

 

 

In the end, it was a fantastic day! Small group (about 18 of us or so) and a great crew! I would definitely recommend it! Check them out on http://www.adventureantigua.com/.
Part 2 will feature our Eco Adventure with this same company, coming soon!
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Caribbean Bound!

We are headed to Antigua in a few days! Antigua is one of our favorite Caribbean islands. We first visited it during our honeymoon in 2003 and then returned five years ago in 2011. On our last trip we circumnavigated the island, which takes you from the Caribbean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. That transition is significant and the swells were about 4′ high. But we loved it so much, that we have booked two excursions for this trip.

One of the excursions, includes swimming with the stingrays! I’m both nervous and excited about that. Then we are also doing an “Eco Adventure” to learn about the island and also go caving. That’s what the Caribbean is all about…island time and learning about their nature.
Anytime we go on vacation, I’m watching the weather forecast like a hawk……I admit, I’m addicted to weather!  I have six weather apps on my phone and I tend to check them a few times a day.  Here’s the forecast for Antigua from one of my favorite site, www.intellicast.com. Perfect weather, if you ask me! We’ll be there for 10 days, so it’s great to see sun on the forecast for everyday!

Another favorite site, is www.wunderground.com and they say the same thing:
Since we’ll have so much time to relax and lay by the pool, I’m bringing 4 of my books about living on board in the Caribbean. There’s no better place than that, to really get the feel of the story.  Stay tuned for lots of photos! Bon voyage!

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New Reads

Well, knowing that I was having another surgery in October, I bought more books. Now I have so many to read, I can’t catch up! If you don’t already know this about me, I am not a reader. Yep, you heard that right. Except, I LOVE to read true stories about people who go and live their dream on the water.
During the summer, I would grab a book, sit on the deck, soak up some rays and plow through a book. Now that winter is here, I haven’t spent as much time reading as I normally would.
 Right now I’m reading Living on Island Time, All the Time: Sailing and the Pursuit of Happinessby Kristen Miller. She and her husband are in their mid 20’s and buy a small sail boat and sail to the Caribbean via the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). They live a very primitive lifestyle. For example, during hurricane season, they rode out the season in the Dominican Republic in Luperon. Because they only had a couple hundred dollars to live off of for six weeks (before they could tap into their savings), they didn’t do much except exercise & clean the boat. I give them kudos to that, as I know we couldn’t do that. We would probably spend the days drinking and soaking up the sun.

 

 

 The book is only 154 pages, so when I bought it, I thought, better have a backup book. As I searched for another, I came upon a three book series by David Beaupre. His first book, Quest and Crew: A True Sailing Adventure (Volume 1)is an autobiographical memoir beginning in 1999 when he came across an article about living in the Caribbean for $15,000 per year.  Now he had to convince his wife. And so began his adventure and soon his second book,Quest on the Thorny Path: A True Caribbean Sailing Adventure (Volume 2) came out in 2014. Finally in April 2015, his third book Quest for the Virgins: A True Caribbean Sailing Adventure (Volume 3) was released. I haven’t read them yet, so don’t ruin it for me. I think I’ll have some great reading material for our trip to Antigua in January!

 

 

 This past summer, one of my favorite books I mentioned a few blogs ago, Convergence: A Voyage through French Polynesia told a story about a sailor, John Silverwood they met one day. John & his wife Jean  had two kids and they became friends while anchored one week. Soon that family had to set sail for  Figi and then Australia. About one hundred & seventy miles into their trip, disaster struck. They were hit by a rogue wave, lost their boat and had to be rescued. John was severely injured and lost his leg in the ordeal. He also wrote a book about the event, called Black Wave: A Family’s Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them. While I try to only read happy go lucky in the sun type books, I was intrigued by this one, as it could save our lives some day. I haven’t read this one yet, but probably will wait until after our two sailing trips in Antigua. (that will be another blog, but we are so excited).

 

Knowing how much information I am trying to absorb, Scott gave me a handful of books for my birthday – all about living aboard.

 

The two on the left, are simple and basic. Great tips and guidelines. Right now I’m reading “Living Aboard a Boat” by Mark Nichols. This is a great book for anyone considering living on a boat. He starts from day one and shares with you the pros and cons. He tells it as it is. One thing Mark doesn’t do, is tell you the obvious things you should do (i.e. buy life preservers, etc). He gives in depth detail about buying a boat and he learned by experience, as one of his boats was a lemon.
I haven’t read the fourth book yet called “All in the Same Boat” by Tom Neale. I figure, I better save something to read for next year! Scott’s parents saw the books and asked us “so when is this happening”. Well, actually we get that question all of the time and we don’t know yet. It will all depend on when I go back to work now that we sold the wine shop. Then we can save up some money, pay off some debt and hopefully go boat shopping by next summer!! That’s the plan at least. So stay tuned for more new reads!  Cheers! Ally

 

 

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Weather Weather Weather

Yes, it’s true. I’m obsessed with the weather. We live at about 750 ft above sea level looking down onto the valley. From our deck we face Southwest, straight to Tacoma. Looking north we see the SeaTac tower.  So when bad weather is coming our way, we see it long before the folks down below do.

On Facebook, I post a lot of weather photos & videos and often, they are just the same shot over and over. Like I said, I’m obsessed with weather. Weather determines everything when it comes to boating. It doesn’t matter if you are going out on your 25′ Bayliner on Lake Washington or going sailing in the Puget Sound. Nasty weather can sneak up at any time.
Here’s an example of the many photos I’ve taken of different weather patterns coming our way:

Obviously, if you are on a boat in the middle of the ocean, you can also see what’s coming your way. But if you live here in the Pacific Northwest, often our mountain ranges will block any bad weather coming your way. That’s why I love the weather site www.weatherspark.com as it uses data from NOAA and gives you a lot of detail and information.

We live at the base of the Cascade foothills and often, when I am traveling towards our house, I run into all kinds of crazy weather. Imagine what it’s like in the Cascades? Here’s what I’m talking about:

I have lots of weather apps on my phone, including NOAA, Accuweather & Intellicast. All of these weather apps will send you a weather alert and keep you updated. Living at the base of the Cascades, we get a lot of wind and with no protection, we get a direct hit. Add rain to that formula and it’s like being on a boat as the windows get pounded by wind and rain.

One thing is for sure, we live in a region that brings us all kinds of crazy weather, beautiful skies & gorgeous sunsets. If I could get paid for every weather pic I’ve taken, I’d be rich by now. Enjoy some of my favorites including ones I’ve taken on our trips.

If you love weather pics, then follow me on Twitter and Instagram, as I post them often! My twitter handle is allyr2. Cheers!

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Not All Articles in Boating Magazines Are Just For Boaters

We subscribe to A LOT of boating magazines. The more information we can learn and keep the better. But there’s more than just boating information out there. I have an entire binder full of articles ranging from boating safety, to tips, weather, to places to visit and then there’s also the food related articles. 
Many of the food related articles can be used easily at home. Here’s just a quick snapshot of some articles I have saved recently. In this article in Coastal Living, it explains how to clean a fish and lists the best fish for grilling.

Living on land, we forget that boaters have to deal with bugs and this was a great article. Many of the tips can be used at home too.

I save a lot of recipes that I like in boating magazines. Everyone tells us, our pantry will be limited and we’ll have to eat very simple dishes. In addition, there aren’t any grocery stores in the middle of the ocean, so it’s time to learn how to make your own staples. So to be honest, I’m not a big baker. When I need bread, I just buy it. Well, we were out of bread today and I remembered an article I saved. See below.  So today I made this VERY EASY bread recipe, and it turned out great! 

So don’t just look at the photos and quick boating articles…..there is much more out there! Cheers!