Blanquilla - by Amelia

Blanquilla is a cool island. It has nice sand beaches and lots of cool shells. Me and mom found a bunch that are really colorful. Even orange ones. There are also lots of flamingo tongues. Flamingo tongues live on coral fans. When they die they come up onto the beaches. We found at least a hundred here. It was one overnight sail from Los Testigos to Blanquilla. The water is crystal clear. There are lots of boats around us and the snorkeling is ok.

Today we had to make paper mache for art. Alex made a dragon and I made a fish, just like the one we are going to catch on today's overnight sail. I am going to make a scape book of all the places we are visiting in Venezuela before we come home for 6 months. Yesterday the coast guard came to our boat and boarded us. We gave them cookies and I don't think they liked them. They only ate half of them. They spoke Spanish and Dad only knew a little bit which is poco in Spanish. All Dad knows is dough cervasas por favor. They just wanted to see our boat papers and passports. Mom still made me put all the electronics away just in case.

I am looking forward to going and seeing Los Roques. We are going on the sail today and tonight. It looks like it will be so much fun. Can't wait to see the snorkeling.
Love Amelia

Push Pins

I ski but I am not a skier. I sail but I am not a sailor. I snorkel but I am not a swimmer. I am a small town base brat, doing things I never could have come up with on my own.

I remember when Graham and I moved into our first apartment together 20 years ago. He started telling me about how people back packed around Europe. I am sure my first question would of been, "Where's Europe?". I remember how excited I was at the possibility of taking a plane and flying to a different country and setting off exploring. We bought a map of Europe and taped it onto a big piece of cardboard and pinned flags in all the countries we wanted to visit. We began to save and plan and dream. As much fun as it was to talk about it and dream about it I still didn't think we would actually go but I kept putting one foot in front of the other in the planning process. Then before I knew it we had all the money saved up, the three months off, the travel plans and we were off. It was totally possible.

If someone had told me all those years ago as I pushed pins into countries in Europe that some day I would be sitting in the cockpit of a 43 foot sail boat in the dark, with no land in sight, with my two children on board, I would have never believed them.

This is our fourth overnight sail and it is definitely getting easier. Alex isn't sea sick. The kids actually slept through the whole night. The anxiety left after only an hour out this time. We have sailed the whole way. Graham has rigged up Artemo so she sails FAST downwind. It is wonderful.

In the middle of the night I could hear Graham yelling at me, "Julie, Julie, get over here you gotta see this". Of course I wake up in panic mode and then he tells me that he was watching the waves break along the boat and then there right before him on a few feet away in the darkness were dolphins. SO COOl. I didn't get to see them but I fed off his excitement. How lucky we are to be experiencing all of this. Blanquilla is about 9 nautical miles away and we have about an hour an a half more to go.

I can't help but wonder what life has in store for me down the road. Will I be reflecting 20 years from now, saying, "20 years ago I never would have thought that I would be....." Maybe I can imagine up the next crazy dream.

Off the grid

Here we are in Los Testigo's. It is such a strange feeling. Feels like we are in the middle of nowhere. There are about 6 little islands and they are fairly low lying. Looks like there are almost no people living here, just a very small fishing village. We are anchored in front of a small gap between two of the islands and we can see the waves breaking in front of us. There is a beautiful white sand beach that goes on for a while on one side of the gap and the water looks crystal clear. We spent the afternoon there today. Late last night one other sail boat appeared. They have a website written on the side of it (www.sailselah.com). We went over and met them today and Amelia made them a bracelet with their boat name on it. We invited them over for happy hour and ....THEY SAID NO??? We are missing our friends Dave and Cheryl from Aries, big time!

A few fishermen rowed out to us today and asked in Spanish for what we thought was a camera. I said, "No but we have hot chocolate chip cookies". They looked at me in confusion. I said the only Spanish I know, "Une Momento". I gave them a big plate of hot gooey cookies that Alex made and they seemed happy. Turns out that they were looking to borrow a snorkel mask to clean the bottom of their fishing boat. Makes more sense! ha.

There are HUGE jelly fish in the water here. They are about the size of a basket ball and they have a red rim. I am not a big fan of swimming with jelly fish. The fishermen say they are harmless....?

Everyone on Artemo is very happy. We have tons of wind, so we can play the WII now! Today the kids woke up and hit the cook books. They have been really enjoying cooking. Last night they made sushi. Dave and Cheryl from Aries managed to make it to Grenada to meet us before we left for Venezuela and they gave us a few speciality items that we have been enjoying. Sushi seaweed wraps being one of them!

Today Graham rigged up a pole that will keep our Genoa sail way out to the side on our down wind overnight sail tomorrow to Banquilla. I am soooo happy. This will mean no flapping head sail. I hate the sound of flogging sails. Now our main and Genoa will be wide open and we should get the maximum amount of push we can get from the wind. We are going to head off before the sunset this time. We are hoping this will help us get settled before the darkness sets in.

We are all suffering from internet withdrawal, hence yet another blog post from me. It is strange not being able to see you all online. Funny how a little green dot next to your names on google talk, an email or a quick skype call can make us feel closer.

Thinking of you while we are off the grid

Julie

Normal

Pitch black, no lights from land or other boats present and Artemo was rolling back and forth from side to side. The motion felt so foreign to me. I just couldn't believe that it could be "Normal".

The wind was coming from directly behind us and the waves were coming from right beside us. Graham had worked his quiet magic in Grenada and rigged up these lines to hold the main way out to the side to catch the maximum amount of wind. It was working but the roll....oh my, "the roll"! We thought we had everything latched down but we found a few more things that came loose and began to bang around. This added to my panicky feeling. I felt my legs begin to shake and I realized it was fear.

I sat next to Graham and asked him, "The boat couldn't roll over on this point of sail...right?" I just wanted him to reassure me all was well. He was not in the mood to play the, "Everything is ok Julie" game. I sat back on my own side and I gave myself a talking to. I took some deep breaths and then it was as if Artemo whispered to me..."It's ok I've done this before".

Beautiful, wonderful, sturdy Artemo. Her strength overtook me and I wasn't scared. My legs stopped shaking and I began to relax. Amelia came up from below and saw how calm and peaceful I was and she mimic'd this. We enjoyed the night together on deck.

Night ended and the glorious sun rose. So good to be able to see again. About an hour ago Graham yelled, "Land Ho". Finally we can see land. We also had the opportunity to talk to our friend Ross from Gemini on the SSB this morning and we got to talk to Dad. This made the ocean seem a little smaller.

Amelia and I made a big batch of crepes and Alex and Graham got the fishing line all worked out and we are trawling. Right now I am sitting in the cockpit. Graham is sleeping. Alex is reading and laughing out loud and Amelia is watching Gilmore Girls. The islands of Los Testigos are really coming into sight and look beautiful.

Artemo has both her Genoa and main way out to the starboard side and she is bringing us in!

Venezuela here we COME!!

Just a quick note to let you know that in about an hour we will be heading out to Venezuela. This will be our first time heading out in the dark. We are all excited. We should arrive tomorrow before lunch in Los Testigos. I will try and update our position reports on the way! Sooooo exciting.