In
our last Dream Times we were in a young mans paradise called Fortaliza. It
wasnt easy for Christoph, Lars and Claus to leave this paradise but they
all promised the beautiful girls that they will return.
We
hadnt been sailing for long when one of our crew Maiken developed stomach
pains and was very sick. Eventually all of the crew were also sick except
for old iron guts Dennis. Despite this illness, which did not last for
long, the sailing was very good and we crossed the equator on April 19. We
were now back in the northern hemisphere and heading for French Guyana. We
celebrated with cold beer from South Africa.
After
4 days we arrived back in Kourou, the intended port was Cayenne but the
entrance to that port looked too difficult. We took an overland trip to
Cayenne to check it out and discovered that Kourou was the better and
cleaner port to be.
The
atmosphere in Kourou was very friendly and the opening hours for the local
bar were when the bar tender felt like opening it. While in Kourou we
borrowed an indian canoe and went up the delta river to the rain forest.
We travelled for 3 hours where we found a shelter and decided to stay for
the night. When we unloaded the canoe we found that we had forgotten the
hammocks, we then collected a lot of fallen leaves and tried to make a
comfortable bed for all.
During
the night we were talking about all the animals in the forest and some
people got a litle scared and agitated. Because of this it was decided to
leave the machetti outside to stop any of the crew seeing shadows and end
up attacking each other. We all managed to survive the night and the next
day we returned to the yacht.
The
following day we visited the space station just outside Kourou, we were
lucky to obtain special permits to visit the launching station as well.
We
then sailed for Tobago where we were to meet Dennis´s parents. Dennis and
Susan spent a few days with his parents, Rene arrived back from Denmark
and Maiken left us to return home.
We
then set sail for Martinique. The seas turned rough (seems to happen when
Rene is on board) and we took in a lot of water because the front hatch
was not closed properly. The toilet was also sucking water into the boat
and the teak decking was also leaking at the edge of the cabin. We spent
the first day in Martinique drying things out and doing all the necessary
repairs.
The
repairs are done and the teak deck is not pretty any more but now there
are no more leaks.
Lars´s
parents and sister came to visit in Martinique and after spending a few
days on the island they departed with Lars joining them. Claus also left
us in Martinique.
It
was also here that Craig from New Zealand joined us after 3 days of
flights and island hopping to get here. Craig brought with him a lot of
fishing gear so that we could all have some fun fishing.
We
spent about 10 days in Martinique before departing for Antigua. During
this sail Craig organised all the fishing gear and we transformed the
yacht into a high tech fishing machine with 4 trolling lines behind it. We
managed to catch a bigeye tuna and the crazy kiwi ate the fish’s heart.
Craig offered the heart to the rest of the crew first but all refused as
the heart was still beating.
We
have been dining lately on all sorts of seafood as Craig has shown the
crew how to catch crayfish. We have been eating sashimi, marinated tuna,
crayfish and wahoo lately, all prepared in different ways to what we are
used to. It was all good so now we are looking forward to the seafood
delights we can taste while crossing the Atlantic.
Today
we depart for the Azores, it will be a 3 week sail so we are all getting a
short haircut for the journey. We are keen to leave Antigua now because
while it is a beautiful island prices are very high here.
See
you on the Azores
Dream
Team