Ties is born

26 july, 12.02 at Bonaire

Mother and son are fine, daddy is proud.

Waiting...

We have a good time in Bonaire. People are friendly, our little house is very nice, the cat is used to the house as well, we meet nice new people, our boat has a good place in a harbor and most important, I'm still feeling good with the baby in my belly.
It may come out now. That's a strange thing. Because it could also take another two weeks before it will  come, we don't know. We are ready for it, that's for sure. And at the same time...are you ever ready for such a thing...?
In the meantime, we snorkel a lot, Maarten goes windsurfing with our neighbor about twice a week, he works on the boats and repairs things with his sewing machine for people on the island. People start to know he's here and start to know what he's capable off, that's very nice.
On a island like this, a lot of people come and go, so everybody is used to quick contact and for short periods. So are we, after traveling on a boat for a year. So that's a good thing.
We're good and looking forward to be with the three of us!

Bonaire, natuurpark.

Bonaire

Here we are!
It's hot hot hot in Bonaire, but we do enjoy it to be here. We are very happy with our new home. Sleeping on the boat was a real problem with the heat and the mosquitoes. In our sweet little cottage we have a big bed with air-conditioning. How luxury!!
There are more luxury things to enjoy in our house: a big fridge, a freezer, a normal toilet, a shower and a washing machine! We love being on our boat, but have to admit that after living on the boat for a year, we really enjoy the 'normal' house stuff. Especially with my big baby belly!
We also like it to really live here for a while. That's a big difference with traveling, when you only stay for maximum a week or two. Bonaire is a small island, so it's easy to find your way. We love the animals on the island, for example the iguana's in our backyard and the donkey's who run around freely.
There's a lot to do for us: Cleaning our boat, fixing our boat, going to the obstetrician, finding work and making new friends. We enjoy it all.

We had a great time in Sint Maarten. The carnival on Queensday -30 april- was a big party. You can see an movie from it on our website--> movie (filmpjes) number 9. Then Maarten worked hard and with a lot of joy on the La Goelle, another Dutch boat. From Sint Maarten lots of Dutch friends are going in a different direction. So we had lots of goodbye-drinks.
With boat Tahira we sailed to Sint Barts, what an expensive island!!! If you don't pay attention, you pay €6,- for a bear!?!?! That only happens once, ok, twice to be honest... It is a pleasant island to be. The nature is lovely, the people are friendly, nature is beautiful.
Yesterday, the plan was to leave the island for Saba, but we didn't make it. We sail together with the Tahira and they had motor troubles. Smoke and water in the engine room--> no good! We threw a line to them and dragged them to the harbor. Quite exiting to throw a line on open see to a uncontrollable boat! But we made it.
Now Maarten is helping Arthur out with his engine. We hope that the right parts arrived this afternoon. The plan is to leave tomorrow, if the reparation is finished this evening. We'll see. We skip Saba and go straight to Los Rockos, an island above Venezuela. In about 12 days we'll be in Bonaire, where we're gonna live for about half a year. That's gonna be a new phase. Looking forward to that too.

For the carnival movie, you can also use this link:
http://youtu.be/tIYEYXa0e4I

With Maarten in Sint Maarten

It's april now and Mell & Nick told me to write more in English! They are right!
I went home in the beginning of april, because my mother was sick. She recovered good, but can't speak very well (and that's an understatement...). We hope that will be alright in the future, but we don't know...
On board is everything ok. I'm becoming a big lady, with my baby-belly. Everything is fine with the baby, it kicks a lot! I'm feeling good and can still climb a crater. We did that in Sint Eustatius where we just come from. A very nice walk together with the Tahira.
Maarten has got a new hobby--> windsurfing. Here in Sint Maarten the wind is very strong and good to do that, so he's having fun! He's also going to work here on board of the La Goelle. They wanted him to help with the preparation for their big crossing next month. So that's what he's going to do the next couple of days. Except on monday, than it's Queensday and we're gonna celebrate that in Philipsdorp, on the Dutch site here in Sint Maarten.
Miss Luna is very fine as well. Lazy in daytime and playing and running around the boat in nighttime. We were in a harbor lately in Basseterre, Sint Kitts, and then she goos off the boat at night. No problem so far.   But bringing a big friend with her to the  boat was a problem--> a big fat cockroach!! At the same time we're trying to get  rid of them -already for months!!!!- so we kicked him immediately out. She was so proud she caught him...

Tickling a turtle

Did you ever see a turtle dancing...? 
Watch Daan and klick on the grey words:
Dancing turtle

It's really paradise!

Caribbean life

We're in Chatham Bay, Union Island. It's very pretty here! Turtles swimming round the boat, nice little bars on the white sandy beach, snorkling and spearfishing, we can do it all here. Our dinghy had to be repared, so that was a bit unhandy for a couple of days. Can't go anywhere when you're ankering. Fortunately we have friends around us who pick us up. And in two days Maarten repared it again. 
"We don't do anything with Valentine", I said to the waitres....not knowing that Maarten and Nick arranged a surprice dinner at that bar that evening for Mell and me. Very nice. They even arranged a big dinghy so the lady's and there dresses wouldn't get wet. It was a perfect evening. 
Need to solve some problems back home with our house. Luckaly we got friends and family who're helping us. Meanwhile I get a pregnant looking belly and feel good. We're doing fine here in the Caribbean.  

Our cat has defecated on our boat!

Pregnant!

It's time to share our big news on our blog--> We're gonna have a baby. I'm 16 weeks pregnant and everything is going well. We've seen the little baby twice on a ultrasound. Everything is already there, little hands, little feet and most important--> the heartbeat. We're very happy with it and of course it's changing our plans a bit. We're not going through the Panama Channel. We were already in doubt of this, because we don't like the big crossings. We decided earlier to see in Suriname if we would still go round the world. We found out in Cape Verde that I was pregnant, so that made our decision very easy: we stay at this side of the world. The plan is to give birth in Bonaire. That's one of the ABC islands. They speak Dutch there, what I like when I'm having my baby. And it's a good place to be in the storm season. So we'll probably be there from June till November. Of course we're already making plans for after that, maybe we go to America, the inter-coastal waterway...but we'll see. That depends on so many things. 

First we're gonna be in the Caribbean now, until May. 

We're at Grenada now. A beautiful green island. We liked our last anchor-place a lot, next to Prickly Bay, with the Wisper Cove Marina nearby and a nice sandy beach where we could barbecue. Now we're anchoring by St. George. We role a lot at the anchorage. We stay here for a short period, to get some groceries and then move on up North. We're heading to Carriacou, which should be very nice. 

Rain and other little inconveniences

It rains a lot and hard here!

It's nice that it's cool for the moment, so we enjoy that now. Soon enough it will be hot here in the Caribbean.  We even sleep under feathers! That's really nice. Although the swell makes us roll a lot, so I don't sleep that well.  Maarten sleeps better. 

Saturday and sunday were working day's. The cockroaches war is still going on. So I cleaned the whole kitchen and every cupboard, took everything out and than sprayed. After that we made sure we were gone for a couple of ours, so the bad smell would be gone by the time we got back.

On sunday we cleaned out the bilges. We knew there was a bit of water in them. What we didn't know was the couscous-explosion who had taken place there. It was such a big mess!!! And couscous goes everywhere...bleh. But at last it was al nice and clean again. 

Sunday at 15.30 we discovered a little water leak above the alternator and that the alternator broke down. So no more power and without the sun and wind the sun-panels and wind-generator worked just good enough to keep the fridge cold. And that was important, because we were having a sunday afternoon boat party. 

At 16.00 we were still in our old clothes, when the first guests arrived. With about ten people, drinks, snacks and soup, we had a lovely little party. So the day ended very nice. 

Now it's monday and we're bringing the alternator to the mechanic. It's of course in Caribbean style...he didn't show up in the right time. Now, a couple of hours later, it's dry and time to jump in the dingy to see if he arrived. 

We made it to Tobago!

The trip was horrible, sick all the time, but once we're in the Caribbean it's all forgotten. Almost immediately, almost... It's so amazing we made it up to here ourselves. With our own boat. I'm walking on the white beach with the palm trees behind me, looking at the incredible view of the boats. One of them is ours and we're really here. Wauw.

Leaving Suriname

We loved it a lot here! But it's time to go. Actually we planed to leave two day's ago. Arranging things here takes more time than you think. And yesterday we had a big adventure with another boat who got of his anchor. No fun at all. The damage was not so big, with all the people around we managed that. Maarten made me almost have a heart attack. One boat was drifting to another one, where I was drinking coffee. Maarten saw it happening and went with his dingy between the bumping boats! The last thing I saw off him was him being splashed! BUT fortunately he jumped off the dingy in time, but it really freaked me out.  So after this 'event' witch took us all day too manage, because the skipper was not on board... we needed some rest. Excitement exhausts you.
Tomorrow we go. Heading for Tobago or Grenada, depending on the wind.

Glad to be in Suriname!

We arrived safe and well in Suriname, Paramaribo,
our boom broke, but we repared it already.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!