Wednesday 9 October 2013

Rolf, Silke and Chester are getting (a) Second Chance (42)

Our "next life" is getting a "second chance": While Bob is outfitting a now again floating Next Life, our Second Chance (42) is getting ready to leave Les Sables-d'Olonne, France. At the same time, Rolf, Chester and I are getting ready to leave Victoria BC for Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The plan is for us to meet Second Chance 42 in the Bahamas. 
For more updates, check out our new blog SecondChance42.blogspot.com
See you there :)

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Next Life's next life


This will be my last entry on this blog. Next Life has been sold by the insurance company and we are thrilled about who bought her: it's our friends Bob and Catherine from Kevalli House! They are planning to fix her up and use her as a research vessel. We are very happy about Next Life's new purpose in her next life and wish Bob and Catherine good luck with all the work and safe travels. 

Meanwhile, Rolf and I are looking forward to getting back on the water with another Lagoon 450. We will most likely call her "Second Chance" and be back in The Bahamas next winter.

Friday 22 February 2013

Beautiful Kevalli House on Stocking Island

Instead of writing about our days after we ran aground, I'd like to focus on the beautiful place we stayed at. Just know that we worked a lot during that time, getting things off the boat, rinsing and drying, sorting and packing.
Bob and Catherine welcomed us at Kevalli House, where we felt instantly at home. Check out their web site at www.KevalliHouse.com or let the following pictures speak for themselves. Among others, they were so kind and let us have a BBQ for all the rescue helpers at their place, an evening we enjoyed immensely. We were truly stranded in paradise and met a lot of amazing people in the process.
View of 'Hole 3' and Kevalli House

Our living room

Our bedroom (dog not included!)

Upstairs Air Deck

View from the Air Deck North West

View from the Air Deck South West

Entrance to cottages with Air Deck on top

Rolf sorting through our stuff

View of the beach on the East side of the island, behind
Kevalli House

Gazebo with view over the beach and ocean

Rolf, Bob and Silke on the main house's deck
overlooking Hole 3



Wednesday 6 February 2013

Going home

Today, we will fly to Ft. Lauderdale, where we will stay until Friday (Feb 8) to be able to get the required health certificates for our pets for the flight to Seattle. Once in Seattle, we will drive home with a rental car. Having the pets and Chester's big crate makes the whole thing a little more complicated than usual.
Gosh, we are looking forward to coming home and seeing our friends. It's time.
Once home, I will write a little bit more about the last two weeks here, plus publish some gorgeous pictures of this place.

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Wednesday 30 January 2013

Pictures


Taken the morning of the disaster. Next Life in all its glory had arrived in paradise.


Taken during the rescue mission after we had run aground. Waves pounding the boat
and pushing the boat even further onto the reef.


Taken the next day before the salvage company arrived.

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Tuesday 29 January 2013

Next Life aground - this is what happened...

So, we ran aground going through a cut between Guana Cay and Fowl Cay just outside of Georgetown in the Great Exuma Islands.

You might be wondering how this happened to us. And I even go as far as saying "...to us of all people", meaning that we both are very cautious people and were very well aware of the danger of reefs in this area.

The problem was that we had travelled with the Navionics Chart Software happily and safely for months and for more than 10,000 Nautical Miles. We had also travelled to Alaska and back with the Navionics software without ever running into any problems. We trusted the software, not blindly, mind you, we would still have our guards up. But we trusted it enough to make our passage planning based on the information it provided. For the route we took, Navionics did not only show the depth of the cut as being sufficient, it even showed it as the recommended route to take.

At the same time, the angle of the sun was such that we could never have seen the reef before it was too late. Local people who helped us said that there would have been no chance. And on top of that, the tide was such that the water didn't break in front of the reef, so there were no waves to indicate that reef either.

So the charts said it was okay to go and it looked like it was okay to go and that's when we ran aground.

We overheard people talking about the stranded catamaran in the supermarket yesterday. They were looking at pictures on their camera at the same time, so we started talking to them. I hadn't seen the boat after it had come off the reef last night and when I saw the pictures of Next Life floating with the water up to the salon table, I felt sick.

The insurance's surveyor is coming today, so tonight, we will know more.

The hardest part for me, I think, will be to go back to the boat later today and see the full disaster first hand. Rolf says it will still take some time for the salvage company to lift the boat up, so that we can see whether there are any more personal items we can take off the boat. I'm full of hope while trying to prepare myself for the worst. We only took the bare necessities like documents, computer equipment and such, cash & credit cards and some pieces of clothing with us when we abandoned ship.
We left so much behind, I don't even want to think about it.







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Monday 28 January 2013

Rolf, Chester, Sparkles and I are okay, BUT...

Rolf, Chester, Sparkles & I (Silke) are well/ sind wohlauf.

But our boat is not./ Aber unser Boot nicht.

Yesterday, we ran aground in the Bahamas and even hours of trying didn't get Next Life off the reef./
Wir sind gestern in den Bahamas auf ein Riff aufgelaufen und selbst stundenlange Versuche haben Next Life nicht davon runterbekommen.

When we finally abandoned ship just before darkness set in, we had water in the stern pantoon up to the floorboards./
Als wir letztendlich kurz vorm Dunkelwerden das Boot verließen, stand das Wasser im rechten Teil bis zum Kabinenboden.

We hired a salvage company that will hopefully take the boat somewhere safe at some point today./
Wir haben bereits eine Firma kontaktiert, die hoffentlich heute das Boot an eine sichere Stelle bringen wird.

Latest news from this morning was that the boat is afloat with water up to the salon level, so the bedrooms are completely under water. I'm very grateful since the fuel tanks are still intact and the sea life in this area is safe. That was my biggest worry overnight. /
Letzte Neuigkeit von heute morgen war, dass das Boot schwimmt mit Wasser drinnen bis auf Höhe des Salons, die Schlafräume sind also völlig unter Wasser. Ich bin so dankbar, dass die Dieseltanks nicht beschädigt wurden und somit Tiere und Pflanzen hier nicht in Gefahr sind. Das war letzte Nacht meine größte Sorge.

We had a lot of help from some amazing people and are staying in a beautiful cottage close by for now. /
Wir hatten eine Menge Hilfe von ein paar tollen Menschen und sind derzeit baw in einem superschönen Ferienhaus in der Nähe untergebracht.

Rolf is currently on the way to the boat to set the anchor and maybe still get some things off it. / Rolf ist derzeit auf dem Weg zum Boot, um den Anker zu werfen und vielleicht doch noch einige Sachen mitzubringen.

Don't worry about the four of us, we are okay. /
Macht Euch über uns vier keine Sorgen, wir sind okay.

By the way, my phone is gone, Rolf's phone is intact, his Bahamian number is +1-242-5246170
Mein Handy ist ueberrigens weg, aber Rolf's Handy ist funktionstüchtig, seine Bahamas Telefonnr. ist +1-242-5246170.

We will let you know more once we know more./
Sobald wir mehr wissen sagen wir Bescheid

Silke & Rolf

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Saturday 26 January 2013

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Wednesday 23 January 2013

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Tuesday 22 January 2013

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Saturday 19 January 2013

Greetings from the Virgin Islands


Written on Jan 17, 2013
Okay, time for another update. I hope I can get it together, after my 2nd or 3rd or so Soggy Dollar Bar “Painkiller” (BVI, Jost van Dyke Island,White Bay), homemade. Want the recipe? Here it is:
2-4 oz/60-125 ml dark Rum
4 oz/125 ml pineapple juice
1 oz/30ml cream of coconut
1 oz/30 ml orange juice
grated fresh nutmeg
In a shaker filled with ice, mix ingredients and shake well, pour into glass and top with nutmeg.

We had a marvelous evening at White Bay yesterday, having three of those Painkillers, recipe apparently a secret, but I got it from a cruising book anyway. We were sitting on comfortable chairs on a beautiful sandy beach under swaying palm trees, watching the stars and getting drunk. We had arrived late that afternoon, with the beach almost deserted. Still beautiful the next morning – until about 9am when all the day visitors arrived en masse! So we left. It seems to be a "problem" of the Virgin Islands that they are extremely busy with boaters and tourists. More than any of the other islands we have visited so far.

Beautiful Beaches! Lee Bay, Great Camanoe Island, BVI
Gorgeous! White Bay, Jost van Dyke Island, BVI
Home of the Soggy Dollar Bar and its Painkiller.
Gorgeous, yep, but only before 9am and after 5pm...
Same White Bay as above, but after 9am...

It’s interesting to visit so many different Caribbean Islands in such a short time. You develop an instant like or dislike to any island as they are distinctly different. Our favourites so far were St. Lucia (lusciously green, great fruits, amazingly friendly people, nice relaxed “ya mon” attitude), Antigua (beautiful remote and empty beaches, beautiful houses) and the Virgin Islands (group of little islands reminding us of home a lot – if you disregard the warm sun and water).

This could be home!
Little Harbour on Peter Island, BVI
So much like home, even down to the stern ties.
Little Harbour, Peter Island, BVI
Today, we arrived in the US Virgin Islands. Made it in all right, but already got a warning from a park ranger about two hours after entry: We had brought Chester on shore as we have the past nine months, not considering we were in a National Park. Most of St. John is actually a National Park and dogs are not allowed on any beaches and only allowed on shore if on leash. Luckily, the park ranger we met was very nice, we only got a verbal warning – after he took a picture of my passport with his iPhone... 

I’m writing this after sunset, between rounds of Rummukub, while Rolf is sewing = improving on the lazy bags and Chester is waiting for me to hide his ball again, complaining with an impatient “hmph” if it takes me too long to hide it again after he brought it back.

Still on our way North, we are considering putting “Next Life” into a Charter Fleet. It’s up for discussion whether that’s a worthwhile and smart thing to do or not.  We are not out to make much money with it, instead we are hoping for the potential charter company to maintain the boat well – instead of having it sit idle for 9 months a year without any maintenance. Gotta think about it some more. This all started when a guy from Horizon Charters approached us in Antigua, saying that this cat (Lagoon 450) was exactly the one he was hoping to get into his Charter Fleet. We would like to have it based in The Bahamas, though, not Antigua. There wasn’t that much sailing in Antigua, unless you sail to the other islands, which I can do without (I don’t enjoy going between islands for more than 2-3 hrs any more – a leftover of the Atlantic Crossing?). I’m still looking forward to the beautiful waters and remote beaches of the Bahamas. We do like the Virgin Islands with its mountains, but it’s just too busy here. We might miss mountains in the Bahamas, though. We will see.

Jan 19, 2013
Rolf is getting the boat ready to leave for The Bahamas tomorrow. It'll be a 3 days/2 nights trip (argh!) and quite a few more days without internet on top of that. So long!

Thursday 17 January 2013

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Monday 14 January 2013

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Saturday 12 January 2013

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Tuesday 8 January 2013

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Thursday 3 January 2013

On our Way North

You might have noticed that all the updates lately have been SPOT notifications. That's because we rarely seem to have internet these days. Today is an exception, we are in Jolly Harbour on Antigua, leaving towards (!) St. Kitts tomorrow. Usually, Rolf and I prefer small, secluded anchorages, hence no wifi service. Gosh, our spot on Green Island (Antigua) across form Rickett Bay was GORGEOUS! Kazaio, you absolutely have to go there on your way North!

Green Island Antigua - that's how we like it
So, sorry that most if not all you will hear from us the next few weeks will be SPOT notifications. Just know that we are on our way North, planning to keep long distance trips to a minimum. Neither Rolf nor myself feel like doing any overnighters, unless we absolutely have to. We are planning to be in Florida around middle of February and at least I am planning to be home first week of March. It might be later for Rolf, depending on how the 'summerization' of the boat will go. At this point, we don't even know where we will park it for the summer...
Anyway, I'll try to update this blog with some news whenever I can. For now, he hope you had a marvelous Christmas and we wish you all the best for the year 2013.

Tuesday 1 January 2013

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