The Godess of the seas, our experiences, opinions and lessons learned
We have been stuck at Shelter Bay Marina for a week now. Not that we did not plan for some time here, but it all seems to go a fair bit slower than anticipated. I’ve planned to get a fresh layer of ‘Sea horse friendly’ antifouling in Panama as this[…]
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We entered the Colon breakwater around 5am under sail. The polluted diesel in the tank made us weary of starting the engine. The fuel filters might clog up at any time. But it was now time to lower the sail and turn the key for final approach into the marina.[…]
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Passing behind Aruba, we came out of the protective coverage of the Islands. The seas picked up to 2 meter swells at a 5 second interval, pushed by a 20 to 25 knot wind. We sailed in a North Westerly direction having the waves on our beam (side of the[…]
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At noon precisely, on the 4th of February, the first leg of what’s to become a massive journey back to Asia officially started. It will be sort of an extended sea trial, as Ah Ma had been sitting pretty at the marina for a long time. Now finally she can[…]
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All crew is aboard, the last groceries are stowed away, time to make the last run to town to visit customs and immigration. We join the morning traffic jam down Caracasbaai weg, off to customs first. The lady at the Marina office didn’t quite know where the new location for[…]
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Today we finally will depart from the island I once called home. I’ll leave with mixed feelings as I’m afraid I won’t visit this island any time soon again. Curacao has gained a special place in my heart. I raised my first born here, founded my company and learned many[…]
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A few more days before we set off on the first leg of the long journey to the other side of the Pacific. The last few days were spent finishing off some of the last tasks on the to-do list. The running backstay has been replaced with a fresh string[…]
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Two suitcases filled with almost 50kg of bounty from TaoBao and local shops accompanied me from Macau back to Holland. Here I’ve picked up two life vests and my Marcom/B Radio license documents and said my goodbyes to my parents and brother. It is now time to head out to[…]
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The plans for 2020 are to cross the Pacific and ‘bring her home’. Ah Ma became ours on the island of Curacao, in the Caribbean. A 30 hour journey from our hometown of Macau. For our cruising plans to be feasible, we need the boat to be close to home[…]
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I saw this post on a facebook group, asking, what is the name of your boat and why. It made me realize I never posted this draft in how Ah Ma became Ah Ma. And as we are still stranded on Curacao, waiting for engine parts I thought let’s finish[…]
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