We spent a good five months in the Caribbean, 158 days and nights to be exact.
158 days that were very special.
We will never forget them.

In the current quiet time here in Belgium, thoughts travel back and I venture a first personal look back at this so different time in our family life.

On 5 December 2021 at 9.27 a.m., I crossed the finish line on the west side of the island of Grenada with Lady Blue after our 17-day Atlantic crossing. At 10.25 a.m. we were firmly moored at the jetty of Port Louis Marina and had land under our feet again.

And on 12 May, after a very tasty farewell breakfast on the American catamaran Change Up, we got into the taxi and our plane took off for USA at 2.57 pm local time in Antigua.

We sailed to eleven Caribbean islands with Lady Blue, anchored, went ashore and explored them. Sometimes we stayed planned longer, sometimes unplanned longer and some islands we skipped altogether, such as St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica. After our long stay on Grenada, we realized again that we wanted to travel slowly, that we wanted to spend a lot of time in the places. As a result, we did not want to and could not visit all the Caribbean islands.

It was a journey from the southernmost island of Grenada to the north. Always northwards. With the prevailing constant winds from north-east at 15-25 knots, we sailed thus always upwind. Heeling and the up and down in the waves were set as soon as we raised anchor.

The time on the island of Grenada was marked by the community of sailors in the ARC+ fleet. In the southern bays of the island we spent our first Caribbean days & nights on the boat. Marina Le Phare Bleu was our base for weeks, where we had to digest the shock of the medical emergency and seek new energies. The community of sailors who stood by us during this difficult time was one of the special moments of this trip for me personally.

We continued on 24 January towards Carriacou. Always nicely to leeward of the islands. But as soon as we stretched the tip of our nose out of the island cover, the big Atlantic waves came rolling in. Especially between Grenada and Carriacou they are not to be trifled with and we had two very unpleasant crossings between the islands.

In Tyrell Bay, the big bay in the southwest of the island, we spent a nice evening with Stefan and Nancy from World Traveller, before we went on to Clifton on Union Island on 28 January. Our first time clearing in by boat. Oh boy, was it exciting. The sequence of Immigration, then Health Office, then Immigration again and finally Customs has to be followed. After we had all the stamps on all the forms, we were happy and proud. We were now in the state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In German called "Die Grenadinen" for short.

Here we were sheltered behind the reef with a bunch of kitesurfers in front of us. The artificial island Happy Island was the place for us sailors for the evening sun-downer on two evenings where we met with old friends from the Casamara and Caris.

After a detour to the west of the island to Chatham Bay, we went on to the legendary Sunbrella Island, as the small pile of sand is called among sailors. On the maps it is officially called Mopion Island. A place of longing for me since I discovered it years ago in the sailing videos of Sailing Insieme.  

The Tobago Cays were our next stop. Fortunately, we were there at a time when there was little wind, because anchoring behind the reef was the order of the day here too. And we learned to dinghy in a force 5 headwind. We even stayed dry, thanks to the barely present swell. Here we finally found turtles, colourful fish and an underwater world that shimmered in all colours. Our "aquarium", as we called it.  

At 8 a.m. on 8 February, we set sail for Bequia. No clearing out and in, because Bequia is also part of the Grenadines. We headed north at 18 knots NE. Sailing upwind with the genoa in third reef, the main in first reef and full mizzen. Shortly before Bequia, the engine started and at half past four the anchor was dropped in the bay of Port Elizabeth. Our engine stopped and never started again. At first we thought it was a "normal" mistake. But in retrospect it turned out that the diesel injection pump was broken. So our days on Bequia were marked by countless attempts to get the engine going again. But there were precious moments here too. One evening we experienced a private tour of the 125-foot luxury yacht Celtic Spirit. Amazing, this ship. Also included was an excursion to the turtle breeding station.

On 18 February, under sail, without an engine, we went to the Volvo Penta specialists in Martinique. Together with David, a 29-year-old French sailor, we had some of the best sailing hours of our year ahead of us. 144 nautical miles full of sailing moments, full of laughter, full of life. After 30 hours, we also completed the anchor manoeuvre without an engine and the anchor lay safely at the bottom of the bay Grande Anse d'Arlet.

We spent 30 days in Martinique. We climbed the island's highest mountain, Montagne Pelee, we explored the lighthouse on La Caravelle peninsula in sweltering heat, we treated ourselves to a night at the Residence Ocean hotel, we danced along with the people at the local carnival and we enjoyed the overdose of delicious food that European culture provided us again. Our engine was also finally repaired in Case-Pilote by Frank and his team and we could move on.  

From St. Pierre, full of energy, we planned to complete the route to the Iles des Saints in one day. But in the afternoon Julia, the skipper, decided to head for the northernmost bay in Dominica under Q-Flag and spend the night there. WalkAbout was there, who we hadn't seen since Grenada and who had become close friends there. We spent a wonderful evening on board full of stories about the past days and weeks. The next day, 21 March, we continued to the Iles des Saintes, the southern offshore islands of Guadeloupe. On Terre-de-Haut we finally met Escape, with Volker and Annelie from Solingen.

We had taken a fancy to the little island and stayed for six days. We had planned to stay overnight. There we met Maupiti again, borrowed two golf carts, explored the island and enjoyed the time. The hike to the highest point with sporty shimmying on blue hemp ropes to get to the first floor of the old watchtower should not be missed here either.

In the northwest of Guadeloupe, we spent two nights in Deshaies. We explored the botanical garden together with TripleA and at night I caught a boat (Oops, I haven't written anything about that here on the blog yet. More info about catching boats at night here: LadyBlue on Instagram)

We arrived in Antigua at the end of March. In the Catamaran Marina, in the south of the island, we docked for four nights with bow anchor and stern lines (for the very first time for us with the Lady Blue - an adventure). Many sailing families were still here and we spent a lot of time together at Sweet-Ts and the Marina Bar with BigBubble, Sylvia, MagicDragon, Luna, TripleA and Chula.

On 8 April, Lotta's birthday party was held on the beach off Jolly Harbor. 14! Boats came, most of them sailors' families. It was an unforgettable beach party. Languages buzzed, old bonds refreshed, new ones forged around the campfire singing and the obligatory birthday song in five different languages: German, English, French, Swedish and Dutch. Collecting Moments. There it was again.

Two days later, it was on to Barbuda at the same time as Ryan & Sophie in PolarSeal. Immediately the regatta fever was there, the kids trimmed the boat and we arrived first in Barbuda at Princess Diane Beach. Yippee.

Enchanting beaches, crystal clear water and lots of family boats awaited us. We spent a whole week there until we ran out of fresh water and sailed back to Antigua, Jolly Harbor on 18 April. The last two days on Barbuda we anchored in Low Bay and met up with Luna to go on an excursion with local guide George to the lagoons and bird sanctuary. An eventful day. You can read more about it here, in Julia's blog post.

With full water tanks, we went together with our buddy boat Pacific Blue to the project "Antigua Round" - clockwise. Deep Bay, Bird Island and Stingray City were visited by us and we spent a great week before motor sailing back to Falmouth in the final doldrums, so Julia joined us for Antigua Sailing Week.

Antigua Sailing Week - A giant among worldwide regattas. After two forced breaks in 2020 & 2021, it was back this year.  85 sailboats and spectators from all over the world came. And my wife in the middle of it all. Through our network and strolling around at the Pontoon and asking, she still got a regular place on the sailboat Cricket, a First 35, skippered by local legend Sandy Mair. One skipper and five crew. Julia by far the youngest. And from Sunday to Friday I got back a exhausted and happy young woman every evening. A week of pure sailing. In regatta mode. In Antigua. In the sun. Without children. One can be happy about this rare event in life.

I was hiking with the kids to the viewpoint armed with binoculars, rescued Dinghis with wife and children without petrol, towed them to a race catamaran and was promptly invited to join them from Thursday on in the regatta. In the catamaran class. Only opponent: Alex Thompson on Tosca. Alex Thompson. Who doesn't know him. Here you can find more information (Alex Thomson Racing). And we won! Well, at least a partial race. Crew of the catamaran Penmanship: Five adults, 10 children! Unforgettable moments for Marla, Lotta, Ronja and me. Here's the summary of the Sailing Week: At the second 0:32 you can briefly see the light blue catamaran Penmanship behind the blue catamaran Tosca.

And that was the end of our sailing in the Caribbean. Preparation days followed, again in Jolly Harbor, to prepare Lady Blue for her journey on a freighter across the pond.

Finally, a little evaluation of how we had spent the Caribbean nights.

We proudly note that we were at anchor more than 2/3 of the time. Convenient on the one hand paired with great freedom and independence. Just our thing.