December 2023: Something with Dolphins
“Just make something with dolphins” I was asked. Here we go, showing the dolphins of Tiputa Pass of Rangiroa and Hapatoni Bay in Tahuata.
Nora chasing sharks
Nora is getting more relaxed and better and better at freediving. To a degree that she cannot help herself not to chase sharks.
Proximity FREEFALL
As freedivers descend in the water, the volume of the air inside them gets more and more compressed, thereby changing the buoyancy of their bodies. Lungs, for instance, are compressed in the depth of 30 meters to only 25% of their original volume. This means, typically, at 15 to 20 meters of depth, freedivers can stop using muscles to go deeper. One can just relax and sink deeper and deeper because of the negative buoyancy. This is called a FREEFALL. If you freefall close to an underwater cliff, then I call this a proximity freefall. For me, this is the closest (and the safest) alternative to the crazy wingsuit proximity flying. And I bet that it is more relaxing too.
The end of the world
I read that some people are afraid of the end of the world. So when we heard a sailor saying that “Ua Pou is the end of the world” we instantaneously knew we have to check this out. Once we arrived on Uo Pou we decided to rent a car to get to two very remote villages. Each is an hour or so 4×4 drive into a dead end street. If Oa Pou is the end of the world then these two villages are the ends of the end of the world. What we found were two wonderful communities. Each has a townhall, a school and a well used place to play petanque, volleyball or football. And a church, of course. And, most of all, we found very happy, content and friendly people that seem to live a life in a spiritually rich community. Having seen the ends of the end of the world, I must say, that am not afraid of them.
November 2023: Goodbye Tuamotus
To get out of the Cyclone area we left the Tuamotus and sailed from Fakarava via Tahanea and Makemo to the Marquesas. This year`s sailing back to the Marquesas was only a 4-day and 4-night upwind “battle”
Oops, we did it again
Last year we were so impressed by the sharks in Fakarava that we officially renamed this atoll to Sharkarava. We had to come here again and got a breathtaking “welcome back” from hundreds of sharks
October: ENGINE repaired
After more than 3 months and 1600nm with only one working engine we finally received all spare parts. Our friend Jens put the engine back together. Successfully 🙂
Rescued
Christophe, the local fisherman in Rangiroa helped us get to Rangiroa and through the currents of Rangiroa`s northern pass Avatoru
September 2023: Bora Bora & Co.
While spending time in Papeete we had our rigging checked. Guess what: The rigger urged us not to sail any more because at least one shroud needed replacement. We opted to have that repaired immediately so that we could continue sailing (with one engine) while waiting for Volvo to get their act together. The waiting turns out to be very nice because we took the opportunity to visit Moorea, Raiatea, Tahaa, Bora Bora and beautiful little Maupiti. We also found some time to get better in freediving, windsurfing and wing foiling. A year ago Nora could hardly dive 15 centimeters deep. After a freediving course in March in Czech and the coaching of David she now does more than 16 meters.
Freediving into a plane
Next to the airport in Papeete there is a sunken PBY Catalina airplane. Of course, we had a closer look at the plane and particularly it`s fuselage which lays in a depth of 18 meters
August 2023: Back in the water - back to repairs
We made it back in the water in June in Hiva Oa. But one hour into our trip to Tahiti one of our Volvo engines overheated (a lot). We went back to Hiva Oa and tried to repair it. In the Marquesas, however, it is not possible to have a cylinder head repaired. So off we went sailing to Tahiti. Here Volvo has checked everything. Once all spare parts arrive – maybe next month – they will repair the engine. In the meantime we have been enjoying Rangiroa, Tahiti and Moʻorea
June 2023: Back on the boat...
… but not back in the water yet
December 2022: Sharkarava
From the Marquesas we went to Fakarava in the Tuamotus to do some snorkeling and diving. What a lovely place. We were particularly impressed by snorkeling and diving with the sharks. That is why we now call Fakarava Sharkarava. See yourself
The young man and the sea
On our way from Ua-Pou to Nuku Hiva Dion hooked a yellowfin tuna. While Dion is fighting with the tuna the crew gets distracted by a school of melon-headed whales. Unfortunately, several sharks found the tuna to be an easy snack
Wowquesas
People are extremely nice here. When strolling around you constantly hear a friendly “Kaoha”, Marquesan for hello. But what you hear even more often is a “Wow, Wow, Wow!” coming from your friends or from your own mouth when again and again you are stunned by the beauty of these islands. We thought it is better to not post any pictures, because they will not pay justice to how beautiful it is in reality. No worries, this was just an idea. We will share some pale, unisensual, two-dimensional (under-) representations of these islands we now have officially named Wowquesas instead of Marquesas.
October 2022: Arrived!
After almost 20 days at sea we arrived safely in Hiva Oa, Marquesas, French Polynesia. We sailed a total distance of 3300 nautical miles. We had no major technical problems and no one got hurt, besides many squids and flying fish that ended up first on the deck of Barbarella and later in our frying pan.
September 2022: Goodbye Galapagos
After almost 8 weeks in Galapagos it is time to leave this nature and animal heaven. We plan to leave on September 13th for the 3000 nautical miles crossing to French Polynesia. Leveraging the South Equatorial Current, Nora, Phil, Dion and I plan to sail a bit north; a total distance of 3200 miles. Keep your fingers crossed 🙂
Kings of Galapagos
For us it is obvious. The sea lions are the kings of the Galapagos. All of the Galapagos? Well, maybe not all of the Galapagos, but for sure they are in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, Isla de San Cristobal.
July 2022: Galapagos
We safely arrived in the Galapagos after a pleasant, less than 9-day long sail. We were lucky that we did not have to motor at all, although, once we had left the Panama Bay the wind was straight against us. So the 650 nautical miles turned out to be 1050 nautical miles of beating and tacking against the wind. Good to know we can sail against the wind.
Panama Canal fast forward
Interested in crossing the Panama Canal with us? In this video you can do that in just 15 minutes.
July 2022: Pacific
We made it to the Pacific. Due to Corona we did not make it in April 2020. Due to Corona we did not make it in spring 2021 either. Due to a lightning strike, we did not make it in January 2022. However, we are now finally in the biggest ocean of mother earth.
Caught
On July 1st 2022, exactly 4 years after Barbarella left her home port of La Rochelle, the webcam at the Miraflores lock of the Pacific side of the Panama Canal caught an orange object.
Sharks and rays
Snorkeling in Guna Yala is great. See yourself
June 2022: Guna Yala
Guna Yala, formerly known as San Blas was wonderful. Our most precious asset was our watermaker and our solar panels. The Gunas would come every day to get good fresh water and charge their smart phones. In addition they ask for rice, sugar and other needed items, which they would trade for fish, lobster and crabs.
Grand reopening
Barbarella is back where she feels the best: cruising. We motored and motor sailed two days to San Blas. We just did not have the time to wait for fair winds to finally leave Colombia. Well, there are situations when motoring does not feel too bad. Nora actually said that she had not known that motoring was so easy [compared to sailing]. In October 2019 we filled up our diesel tanks in Gibraltar hoping this diesel would last until the Pacific. Now we will burn the last litre of Gibraltar diesel when crossing the Panama Canal, hopefully in a couple of weeks. To celebrate our safe arrival in San Blas we even reopened the Barbarella Sailing Bar
812
812 days in Colombia. Is that a lot? Not if you consider the beauty and the variety of Colombia and the friendliness of its people. Considering that we planned to stay for 7 days only, IT HAS BEEN A HELL OF A LONG TIME. Keep your fingers crossed that we finally will make it out of Colombia on Monday, June 6th 2022.
April/May 2022: Sea trial and Schnapsidee
On Wednesday April 27th the language finally changed! For 3 weeks I had been hearing that “tomorrow” we would do the first sea trial, meaning we go out on the water to test engines, steering, electronics and calibrate compass, radar and autopilot. The “tomorrow” was followed by 5 days of “we will do it today”, during which nothing happened. Then on April 27th I was told “tomorrow, for certain”. And on April 28th we actually took Barbarella out! The result was that there were still many issues, but none of them critical. This means another 4 – 5 weeks of chasing spare parts, chasing workers or DIY and we should be free to sail again. That comes handy, since the temporary importation permit of Barbarella expires on June 11th and after that date it will be difficult to keep Barbarella in Colombia without fines and bribes.
So I celebrated the successful sea trial with Winslow, a friend from Cleveland and with Nicolas from Cartagena; and, among other drinks, with a bottle of great Colombian Rum.
Somehow the following headache did not teach us to stay away from alcohol for more than a day. Meaning on Saturday we went out again with a bunch of friends for “just dinner and then home”. “Just dinner and then home” ended up with Winslow and me talking to the two girls from Berlin, Sophie and Anna, at the next table. They had to leave Cartagena the next morning to go to Isla Salmanquilla, 40 nautical miles south of Cartagena, where they had a booking at a hotel the next day. After another round of coco locos someone mentioned (must have been Winslow, I guess) that he knows someone who has a boat that just passed a successful sea trial. After another round of coco locos it was unanimously felt that we should all meet at 7:30 AM at Barbarella, i.e. in a few hours, to sail to Isla Salmanquilla. And so we did! In German we call this a Schnapsidee – which is a great German word that combines Schnapps and Idea – meaning an idea that comes up when you are drunk and you think it is great, but the next morning, when sober, it might not appear to be the best idea any more. Anyway, we did go. Luckily it turned out to be GREAT. It was so good to be back sailing Barbarella after 385 days of its immobile status and repairs.
February 2022: Visiting the Amazon jungle
While Nora is sorting things out in Europe, the lightning damage repairs continue and we keep on waiting for many spare parts, Jürgen and I spent a week in the Colombian Amazon jungle. What an amazing place. Right at the river Amazon, 1100 Kilometers upstream of Manaus, where Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet. No road leads to this area. Everything has to be brought in by plane or – like Colombian beer, motorbikes, cars or fuel – has to be brought by boat almost 2000 Kilometers to the Brazilian Amazon river and then 300 Kilometers upstream to Leticia. Not an easy undertaking and because of low water levels there has been a shortage of fuel and beer while we were in Leticia. Fortunately there is a lot of illegal Brazilian beer coming over the Brazilian boarder, and the Peruvians supplied fuel.
Vacation in San Blas and Panama City
Christmas, New Year’s Eve and beyond 6th of January (Días de los Reyes Magos) is one of the biggest festive and holiday season in Colombia. Nobody is working. Instead of waiting for workers and spare parts not showing up in Cartagena and getting frustrated, we decided we would have a holiday in Panama.
Our fellow sailors Neal and Darlene Petersen offered us to join them sailing on their high performance catamaran “El Gecco” to San Blas and to spend Christmas there. It was an easy decision, so we hopped on their boat and sailed to the beautiful islands of San Blas together with them. The passage was extremely interesting. We have sailed with people that had done sailing races before. However, we have never had a privilege to do a passage with someone who had done so many solo trans ocean races and even raced twice solo around the world. Once in San Blas we met with Ferdi and Deon – father and son – who taught us free diving and made sure that every day there was fresh fish and seafood for dinner. Thank you Ferdi and Deon :-).
On the New Year’s Eve we had fun in Panama City.
Now back in Cartagena we are busy fixing Barbarella so that we can sail to San Blas again, in our own boat, as soon as Barbarella is fit and repaired, hopefully, in April or May 2022. Fingers crossed.
2018 to 2021
Find all our pictures and videos from 2018 to 2021 here