THE BEST DAYS OF OUR LIVES ........

Three years of cruising on the yacht " ARITA " and no-one could possibly have told us of the incredible experiences that we would have ............ No two days have been the same, no sky has held the same clouds, no peek over the side in the morning, while sipping that cup of coffee, has ever yielded the same ocean floor .............. Nothing we could have said would have lived up to the treasure we have experienced in simply sailing from FLORIDA to CURACAO by taking the slow, long way around ....... Just island hopping and taking the time to see, to feel, to touch and to taste this life ....... And when all is said and done, we did no more and no less, than anyone else could have done ........... We sailed like we were campers on a floating home, but we experienced things fit for 'Kings and Queens' ........ Here are just a few photos to bring back those memories of the last three years .............. And we have now come to a momentous turning point, for we love this cruising life and the magic that it holds ....... This has been as close to a 'real paradise' as one can get, and added to this has been the pleasure of sharing it with all who have followed us on this magical journey ..... We will never forget when these pigs swam out to us seeking food ..... Talk about 'salted pork' ...... Our dinghy horsepower versus four pig power .....



Or the Maypole dances and Laurie caught up with the drummers of the 'Junkanoo' parade in Abaco, BAHAMAS ....



Of jungle trails and traditional sailboat building from local timbers in CARRIACOU



Or the beautiful beach in the Exumas, BAHAMAS or the way we crawled through the mangroves to see those very shy flamingoes in Virgin Gorda, BVI .....



Or the incredible views of life under water and above it ........



And how do you explain the awesome beauty of a single passion flower or the peacefulness of a sleeping boobie bird, home from the fishing grounds .....



Or the way we threw food packages in blown-up ziplock bags to the hundreds of fishermen in dugout canoes along the HAITI coastline till there was no more to throw and still they kept coming, with calls of "Give me, give me" .......



Or the wonderful 'uniqueness' of the intergration in MARTINIQUE ...... So very French .....



Or to read the 'hope' in the faces of these school girls in CUBA, and to see the contrasts on their roads ......



But it was hard to beat 'Carnival' in MARTINIQUE for sheer colour and art ....



Or to see a lone fisherman clean his catch of conch shells or to be anchored at the finish line of Island Regatta races in Georgetown, BAHAMAS ....



Or to be able to witness the incredible beauty of the 'Classic' yachts entered into the annual Antigua Classic Regatta ..............



Or to see a fishing boat built 45 years ago, entirely out of cement and chicken wire, and still floating and working in a CUBAN harbour, or to see eye to eye with a bright green iguana in PUERTO RICO .....



Those fabulous Bahamian races in crystal clear water ......... So hard to describe the spectacle ..... You have to be there to see it ....





And throughout the islands there is wildlife ... You just have to take the time to see it .....



And there's 'wildlife' on ARITA too, when the 'Queen of Florida' had a birthday ... Or to reflect on that 'ZEN' moment .......



So after three years of incredible sailing through the Caribbean, we have decided to make a change, a huge change ...... A profound change ...... WE ARE GOING TO SELL OUR BEAUTIFUL KETCH " ARITA " ...... Yes, it is really true, but here is the good part, we have bought another yacht already...... It will be hard to replace the grace and the history that is ARITA, but here's our reasoning ....... We love this cruising lifestyle and we want to cruise for at least another fifteen years ....... Each and every time we wanted to have friends or family come to visit, we simply did not have the space, despite the fact that ARITA is 52 ft long ............ Space enough for cruising, space enough for all the cruising supplies and space enough for the two of us, but not space enough for five or six people ...... So with grandkids growing, and distances likely to be longer as we head into the Pacific Ocean we decided to go BIGGER ...... Not more 'classic', just bigger .....

Well, like the rest of the world we went online and searched, discarding one boat after another until we found a 'possible' in VIRGIN GORDA' ..... A former charter boat named "SOUTHERN COMFORT" ..... Anyway the name seemed right, after all, we are heading 'southern' and the 'Queen of Florida' is southern and there's nothing wrong with 'comfort' ........ So if you look at the map and see all the little blue lines, you can be sure that we just about flew all of them to get to VIRGIN GORDA in the BVIs to go take a look at this yacht .........



Laurie doing a quick 'skype' to her daughter who is expecting a baby girl in September, while we wait anxiously for the highspeed ferry to take us across from TORTOLA to VIRGIN GORDA .......



OK, THIS IS HER ...... AND THAT'S THE "QUEEN OF SUDDEN COMFORT" SITTING RIGHT THERE ON THE AFT DECK .... You may have to do a double-click on this photo to zoom in .... We did say we were going bigger, didn't we .............Oh, and it has five heads ....... Definitely going to change that ....... And it is not built of wood but of 'fantastic plastic' and we can live with that, for at least down below it is all wood and really 'cozy' .............. And spacious enough for two wheelchairs .... You know, for later on ...... Might even put in an electric head ....... Our future 'handicrapper' ......




Lots of bunks and lots of space and lots of everything .......



Best we could do was put in an 'offer' to the broker ........... This is a huge step for us, and there's no turning back .......



We made the call to the yacht broker by using our computer and 'skype' and wait to see what will happen .... We take a walk to smell the water-lillies in the pond, but our senses are numb ... Wonder why .....



Our return flight to CURACAO is even more of those blue lines, and we end up arriving late at night in ANTIGUA having stopped off in St. MARTIN and St. KITTS...... Now normally you have to stay in the transit lounge till your next flight takes off ...... Not so in ANTIGUA ..... Though you are not officially in the country, they ask you to step outside the airport and do whatever you want ....... Our next flight is due to depart at 0500am ...... That's a six-hour wait ......



Those benches are hard and the mosquitoes fearsome ........ We have moved rapidly from potential 'two-yacht' owners to homeless people on a park bench outside the airport ...... Are we having fun yet? ...



Beautiful cloud formations in the morning as we fly south to St. LUCIA, BARBADOS and then TRINIDAD ....... We are on 'CLOUD NINE' .... It is over there on the right somewhere ....



We spend a night with wonderful Willie and Mark, on "LIAHONA" in TRINIDAD, the sister-ship to 'SOUTHERN COMFORT' that has inspired us all along, and an email arrives telling us our 'offer' has been accepted by the seller ..... THE DEED IS DONE ..... And on the way home to CURACAO, amazingly we fly over those very anchorages we were in less than two weeks ago, in Los Roques, VENEZUELA .... Just beautiful from the air ..... Which brings us full circle, in that our cruising experiences are just too beautiful to ever give up .......



Experiences like these magnificent tropical flowers ......



And the Carnival head-gear that surely was inspired by these same flowers ...... And we mean colourful ....



So it looks like the sudden 'Queen of Comfort' is going to become the " QUEEN OF SOUTHERN COMFORT" ....... What a title, and what a pleasure ...... We'll tell you later all the changes that need to be made .......



Emotionally, we will always be bonded to "ARITA", after all, we were married on the foredeck, but with a bit of goodluck there will be an adventurous couple who will be inspired by our travels ..... Who may want to follow in our footsteps and to sail her to far away places, for it is not everyone who has a 'Classic' John Alden ketch build from a single giant tree by a master craftsman, of beautiful 'kauri' wood, the finest boat-building timber in the world .....



Do a double-click on the photo of the 'Tobago Cays' and you will see "ARITA" anchored in the middle somewhere ............



Memories of three years of wonderful sailing and islands and anchorages all to ourselves ......



Of magnificent places few will ever see unless you come by sea .......



And of mountains and volcanoes we have climbed, of rock cleavages we have crawled beneath and estuaries we have explored ..... For this has been our cruising life ........ And the lifestyle we have chosen .... Nature's gift to all of us, and if you can't escape, then follow along with us on this magical journey some more .....



Of rocky outcrops and beach bars and palm trees that sway and sing .......



And of grotesque masks at Carnival, to scare the devil right out of you, and to see 'culture and pageantry' woven into exquisite art forms, that are both mystical and masterful ...... And all discarded after three days of Carnival .......



So did the birds do it first and the people copied their colours, or was it the other way around? .........



No, it is nature and its Creator that are the inspiration to us all, for look at the unparalleled beauty that is within so many things ................ Even those things created by man ..............



But our 'first love' will always be "ARITA", a magnificent ketch, beautifully crafted with so much history .............



But after three wonderful years on the water, it is all about the experiences and not about the boats............ It is what you go through each day and what you reflect upon during your shower at the end of the day and those memories just before you fall asleep ............ And of course there's a huge difference between " Hope in your soul ...... and soap in your hole "........... Goodnight !!!! .....