Warm salt water is hard on metal. Sailing in the Caribbean, where water temperatures before entering the motor are already 30-31 degrees Celsius (86-88 F), the heat and salt eat away at the motor. Although Lulu doesn’t have a lot of motor hours considering that she was built in 1991, the motor needs lots of …
We have been in Colombia for over a month now, we left Aruba on the 9th of October and landed in Santa Marta on the night of the 11th, with the marina welcoming us on the morning of the 12th. Colombia wasn’t really on my radar prior to the trip, I was aware that we …
On September 20, we packed our bags and flew away from Lulu, leaving her at the Varadero Caribe Marina on Aruba (pictured above, taken from our plane on the way out). It was our first time away from Lulu since we left Sweden, and we headed to the US to see Jodi’s family and friends. …
New country again after 3 months, we had to remember how to dock the boat, turn it around from a dock and then we berthed Lulu in a marina for the first time since Puerto Rico when we picked up guests back in March. The trip to Aruba was very calm – unusually calm – …
When deciding to go on this long sail, I told Magnus that as long as I could have a washing machine, I was good to go. But the washing machine needs water – we need water – so Magnus had to install a watermaker also. Until recently, our watermaker has been wonderful and a source …
Boats need care just like cars and houses, and in some cases even more so because the salt water environment is really hard on just about everything. Marine life attaches to the hull and in some cases grows like crazy, and the salt water makes even stainless steel rust a bit. Stainless isn’t free from …
We have been living on Lulu for a year and a month now! Currently, we are planning for the coming months. Next on the agenda is to get Lulu’s anti-fouling bottom paint refreshed. We bought three gallons of really expensive paint that hopefully will work better than the prior paint, and we will also add …
Wow! One year living full time onboard our boat Lulu, what a milestone! It took a while to get used to living onboard, as everything from cooking and sleeping to washing clothes and taking a shower have their own unique challenges. Our favorite part about sailing continues to be the people we meet and the …
Magnus has a diving certification since the 1990’s when he dove off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, but Jodi just started snorkeling here in the Caribbean and hasn’t yet worked up the courage to get dive certified. So mostly we snorkel, but a few days ago we met some really friendly boaters, John and …
After enjoying St. Croix and Christiansted for several days, we sailed back toward the Windward and Leeward islands. Our first planned stop was Buck Island, a marine national park off of Saint Croix. It was a lovely island with pristine white beaches, and a dedicated snorkeling area. There were lots of buoys to tie up …
We don’t often go out for meals, so we were thrilled when we stepped into Toast Diner on St. Croix and discovered they had a lot of vegetarian options.
We continue to wait here in Puerto Rico for the order that Seldén messed up, it has become a long wait and at times tedious, but life could be worse than anchoring off beautiful islands in the Caribbean. Our pantry is well stocked, so we have been hanging out at various natural harbors and the …
We have been sailing in Puerto Rico for three weeks already, hard to believe! Our arrival was timed to pick up friends from Sweden, who planned on spending Easter with us. Entering the US on a sailboat was a new experience for us, and the US has been the most difficult country to enter by …
One thing that people talk about when sailing the Caribbean is the “green flash” – that elusive bit of green color that the sun shows upon sunset. So far after three months of sailing, we have seen it once. Before having seen it, when I had just heard about it, I imagined the sky turning …
We have been in the Caribbean for over three months now, hard to believe. Some of our favorite spots in recent sailing have been the Iles des Saintes just south of Guadeloupe, and the islands of Antigua and Barbuda. Iles des Saintes for the combination of protected anchorage, variety of snorkeling options and easy walks …
Since we left the Canary Islands, we have only spent a few nights in a harbor, and only once have we connected our electrical cable to the power supply at the harbor. This is possible due to the support systems that we installed before taking off. As there are only two of us on the …
When you arrive in a new country in a sailboat, you have to raise the “Q” flag, which is a yellow flag, on the starboard (right) side of the boat. This shows your intention to clear in to the country, and you are allowed a little time between when you arrive and when you go …
It’s been almost a month since our last blog post, we have been sailing the Windward Islands of the Caribbean. That is Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada & Carriacou, and Martinique. January started off wonderfully, we had a gorgeous lobster dinner on the beach in the Tobago Cays with our buddy boat …
We landed in Saint Lucia on 11 December 2023, and are in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) for New Year’s Eve. Having watched a lot of sailing videos and talking to people about the Caribbean, I had a lot of preconceived notions about what it would be like in the Caribbean. It has been …
On Monday 11 December 2023 at 16:15 local time, Lulu crossed the finish line of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) after 22 days and 7 hours of sailing. It was our first ever race, so all the official start countdowns and finish line confirmations were new for us, and made it extra special. The …