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NOFOREIGNLAND

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Route

Start Date: August 4th, 2018

Start Location: Hamburg, Germany

Countries:

Germany

France

Spain

Portugal

Spain

the ocean

Address: Here we are

A barbecue on the beach…

The weekend 23rd/ 24th of November was very special and nice for us! The sailors from the other boats we had met the prior weekend told us they wanted to make a barbecue in the neighbour bay. We joined them and tied our boats all together. Each boat had a front and a back anchor. The front anchor was set Continue Reading
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Sinta Claas is coming to town

On Saturday 16th November we heard that Sinta Claas and the zwarte Piet, a Dutch tradition, was arriving with his boat in the harbour of Willemstad. It was a nice festival for the kids with Sinta Claas and some attractions. On the same day some of the sail boats from Spanish waters were coming also to the harbour and had Continue Reading
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Enjoy life

For our time in Curacao we rented a car for 20$ per day. That made things easier with the kids. You don't have to wait for the bus at a fixed time, you could do shopping and laundry much easier which made life more comfortable. But don't ask us about the quality of the car. The German TÜV would not Continue Reading
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First day in Curacao…

Curacao belongs to one of the ABC islands and is part of the Netherlands Antilles. As official language is Dutch, Papiamentu and English but a lot of people speak also Spanish. The bay of "Spanish waters" reminded us of the Prickly Bay of Grenada. There were a lot of boats on anchorage but not as crowded as in Grenada. Nevertheless, Continue Reading
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Big adventure with a group of fishermen

2nd-4th November Since the people from the coast guard were very official and the anchorage place was a bit roly we moved to another island where it should be much quieter. The place was called fishermen’s hut because some fishermen lived on that island in their hut. On the second day we visited them. They stay on the island for Continue Reading
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Visit of the coast guard

1st November From Aves de Barlovento we needed 6 hours (30 nm) to get to Aves de Sotavento. When you get there the first island Isla larga has a coast guard called "Guarda costas". We were contacted by them via radio communication because we were in front of their island and asked if they allow us to anchor there. They Continue Reading
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Lobster time…

30th-31st October Isla Aves de Barlovento: Since our water tanks are limited to 600l and our reserves went slowly to empty we decided to do the final step and visit the islands of the birds – Isla Aves de Barlovento and Isla Aves de Sotavento. We had to sail 30 miles which meant 6 hours of sailing with more or Continue Reading
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Big surprise at “Dos Mosquises”

27th-29th October Becqueve: Since we had enough wind to sail we did so and needed 1,5 hours to our next island Becqueve. Since our anchorage place was a bit roly and their weren’t any fish to see we decided to discover the next island. The island Dos Mosquises had a small reef with some big fish (about 1 metre long). While Continue Reading
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Islands Sarqui and Carenero

22nd-23rd October On the island Sarqui Rocky and Suram went with Dieter in the SUP. When Dieter went spear fishing he had always 3 friends around him when cleaning and cutting the fish. Since we weren’t surrounded by any lights the night was very clear with thousands of stars. We could even see the Milky Way! This was such an amazing Continue Reading
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Crasquí: meeting a nice family

20th-22nd October The only island with two restaurants: Crasquí. One restaurant belongs to a family with a 3,5 year old daughter who Charly liked to play with. Their restaurant was made with a lot of small lovely details and the family with Alejandra, Lipe and Alegría was very nice. We ate lunch on one of our days and had delicious Continue Reading
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Noronky: just marvelous!

18th-19th October Since Gran Roque was an island to declare into and had no special flair we continued the next day to a small island called Noronky. We were the only sailors and were totally alone but the islands of Los Roques are safe and you don't have to be afraid. This was a feeling of real bluewater sailing. You Continue Reading
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Arriving at Los Roques…

On 14th October we started from Grande Anse in Martinique to the Venezuelan islands „Los Roques“. We needed 3 days on the Carribean Sea – unfortunately with less wind on the last two days so we kept one engine running. The unbelievable thing was that we were accompanied by the full moon as it had been on our other sailing trips before. Continue Reading
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Los Roques trailer

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Au revoir, Martinique

Tomorrow we will move on to Los Roques - a group of small islands of Venezuela. After almost 3 months it is time to say goodbye to this nice island Martinique. We had some wonderful moments with Charly's friend Anika and her family.
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Discovering things at second glance

The first stay in Grande-Anse was not very long because the small village has only two small shops where you can buy the very necessary things. After some time our fridge and water tanks were empty and we didn't know that we could get water from here. The second time we knew better that we had to go to the Continue Reading
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Our second tropical storm

We watch the weather forecast on the webpage "windy" always very precisely. We knew that on Sunday 22nd September we would get more wind at Martinique (around 25-30 knots). We heard from another sailor that this area of wind got the name "Karen" and was announced to be a tropical storm by the National Hurricane Center. We prepared ourselves and Continue Reading
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Nice time at Grande-Anse

At 13th September we changed the bay from Fort-de-France to Grande-Anse again. Charly got a new snorkeling mask and Niklas a new swimming vest. Both things had to be tried out at the beach and the two were very lucky. Charly was so fascinated from the world under water. She discovered our anchor, some fish and was very proud when Continue Reading
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Meeting new friends in Fort-de-France

We always go back to Fort-de-France for a couple of days for food-shopping and for the children to have contact to other kids at the playground. This time we were lucky that we also found a girl on another boat being on anchorage. Her name was Anika and she was 4. Charly had a good time with her as well Continue Reading
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Beautiful bay at Grande-Anse

The next stop was at the bay Grande-Anse. The bays are very close next to each another. Grande-Anse is a larger bay but you don't have the feeling that it is too crowded. There are a few restaurants but all are closed except one due to low season. The beach is the best we have seen at Martinique. The sand Continue Reading
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Crazy stories at Anse Noir

The next stop before we went back to Fort-de-France was our "turtle bay": Anse Noir. We experienced some exciting happenings there. The first one was when we did our anchor check (snorkeling to the anchor to see if it has digged itself into the see floor) that Dieter noticed one turtle snuggling against our anchor, touching and petting it. It Continue Reading
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Les Anses-d’Arlet

There are some stories to let you know about what we experienced before the tropical storm: After we left the bay of St Anne Suram discovered our deck of the boat... We went more or less by accident to a bay called Les Anses-d'Arlet. We were told that you could swim with turtles in this bay. The water was very Continue Reading
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“Dorian” passed Martinique

During the night we didn’t get much sleep because of the anchor watch and the gusts of wind that were quite heavy and had a lot of rain. We also saw boats where the anchor didn’t held. We didn’t want to change with them during rain and wind and the work on deck of the boat that had to be Continue Reading
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A storm is rising…

The latest updates show us that the tropical storm will have more effect on Martinique as we expected. Therefore we considered going into a marina next to Fort-de-France but the owner was very weird and told Dieter lies that they were full and didn't have capacity. Since we had some appointments at the vet with Suram and the audition center Continue Reading
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Actual news: Watching tropical storm “Dorian”

At the moment we have studied the internet pages windy.com and nhc.noaa.gov (National Hurricane Center Website) very intense because of the tropical storm "Dorian". It is facing the Caribbean Islands St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Two days ago the center of it should directly go through Martinique what made us of course a bit nervous. Luckily we didn't Continue Reading
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Stop at St. Anne

We spent 5 days in the beginning of August in the bay of St. Anne and Le Marin. It was not our favourite place to stay because there were a lot of boats on one spot. The good thing was the yacht shops in Le Marin (which is the next town to St. Anne) where Dieter bought some spareparts for Continue Reading
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Bay “Anse Noir” or where the turtles live

A few days later we crossed from Fort-de-France to another bay called Anse Noir. It was 45 minutes away and there was absolutely quietness. The bay was very small but you could swim or drove with the SUP to the beach. The water was cristal clear and you could see from the surface of the water to the ground. We Continue Reading
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The invasion…

On Tuesday 30th July all boats had to leave the bay of Fort-de-France for one day because their was a special festival called „Tour des Yoles“. Traditional boats should stay in the bay on that day. That is why we moved to the opposite bay. It took only 45 minutes and we were exited how the other bay looked like. There were few Continue Reading
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Problems with the anchor

After having spent some days at Fort-de-France we rented a car to get to know the surroundings a bit better and to look out for some other bays. We went to Le Marin because they should be good for spareparts of the boat. When we got closer to the bay we were shocked to see so many boats on mooring Continue Reading
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Saving rain…

... for our water tanks. One day at the end of July it rained the whole day. It only stopped for a few minutes an then continued. Claudi had the idea to save some of the rain water for the water tanks. Since the bay of Fort-de-France doesn't have a water access at the promenade where you can stop with Continue Reading
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Caribbean French life

We were back in the country of the baguette ;o) From our anchorage position to the promenade it was only 100 metres. The first day Dieter did a crazy thing. He swam with a dry bag from our boat to the promenade and bought a baguette and pain au chocolate in a bakery for our breakfast. Then he swam back Continue Reading
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Goodbye Grenada, bonjour Martinique

After three weeks it was time for us to leave the Prickly Bay of Grenada. Unfortunately, there weren't any children to play with for Charly and Niklas neither was their any playground and we got a little bored there... We talked to some other sailors what could be a nice next location, keeping also the Hurricane season in mind. This Continue Reading
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Beachtime

Next to the marina was a small beach with some palms where Niklas and Charly had a great time. Since Brasil we didn't have time on the beach because in French Guyana and Suriname you couldn't find any white beaches... The two were so happy and Charly couldn't stop to jump into the water and out again ;o)
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Grenada – the island of the waterfalls

We rented a car for two days and wanted to explore the island a little more. To drive a car in Grenada as a foreigner you have to buy a driving licence for 20€. Then you are able to drive a car for 3 months. We found out that Grenada has a lot of waterfalls and visited two of them. Continue Reading
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Videos on youtube

GOING ON ANCHORAGE ON A SANDBANK IN BRASIL
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First impressions of Grenada

We lie with our Whitebird in Prickly Bay where it is easy to do the immigration and customs paper work because it is next to the marina's office. This point was easy to fulfill on our checklist. In Prickly Bay are around 100 other boats which are on anchorage or on a mooring buoy. Because of the start of the Continue Reading
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Crossing to Grenada

On 22nd of June we started our journey to the Caribbean Sea. First we needed 4 hours to get out of the Surinam River to the North Atlantic. The weather forecast said we should have 13-14 knots of wind and a wave of 1,5 metres. Our new dog Suram behaved very good on board. He didn't get seasick. After the Continue Reading
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Suram from Surinam ;)

Behind the restaurant of the "marina" lived a lonely street dog. We noticed that he got water and some dry food from one woman of the restaurant. Due to this reason and because he didn't look thin we just observed him. After a while we realized that he was always alone leaning against the wall of the mole. We went Continue Reading
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Our trip to the jungle of Suriname

Dieter's mother visited us in the beginning of June for 10 days. She stayed in a lovely resort where we had a good time together. One highlight was the journey to the upper Suriname river into the jungle. We had to go with the car for two hours until we reached a point of nowhere land. From this point we Continue Reading
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“Welkom” or “Goede dag” to Suriname

Suriname is a country of various religions and ethnics that live peacefully together. No matter if you are from India, China, Indonesia, Africa ... The „weird“ thing is that the main language is Dutch beside En glish. Many other languages are spoken due to the wide ethnic diversity. The history behind this country is that the Dutch first colonised Suriname Continue Reading
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Ever heard of Surinam?

On Monday 27th May we left the criquet for the neighbour country Surinam. In the morning Claudi was awakened by a beautiful bird singing. When she looked through the loop to the mast there was a gaudy yellow bird sitting on one of the steps of the mast 😉 On our way to Surinam we tried to fish. Generally we Continue Reading
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Alone in the criquet

After one and a half week in St. Laurent we travelled back in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean. We turned right to pass a few days in the criquet of this area. The criquet is a small side river next to the Maroni river. You can anchor just in the middle of the river (the deepest point is around Continue Reading
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A video of our jungle journey

Before we left Frensh Guyana we discovered some small rivers. We were alone, no other boats, no people - only some monkeys. We anchored below the stars and on the day we took our dinghi for some side trips into the jungle where nobody has been before. Discovering the Criquet from Dieter Otto on Vimeo.
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Enjoying St. Laurent du Maroni

The next stop was also in French Guyana and only 90 nm away which we did in a day-night trip. Our destination was the small town St. Laurent du Maroni. St. Laurent lies at the Maroni River which divides French Guyana from Surinam. The Continue Reading
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Wild life on the Îles du Salut

10 nm away from Kourou you can visit the Îles du Salut. It consists of three small islands named Île Royale, Île Saint-Joseph and Île du Diable. These islands have a historic Continue Reading
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Our time on anchorage in Kourou

We arrived in French Guiana on the 27th April. We spent one week in Kourou anchoring in the Kourou river. The good thing of French Guiana is that it belongs to the EU and we could use EUR and our mobile phones with our normal contracts ;o) French Guiana has good quality supermarkets. This time we went with the dinghi Continue Reading
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Speady Gonzalez from Lencois to Kourou

When we left Lencois on 23rd April we had 660 nm before us. We planned to do them in more or less 5 days. We didn't expect to reach Kourou in French Guyana in 4 days!! We had good winds between 15 and 22 knots from the side and made an average speed of 7,5 to 8,5 knots. Generally we Continue Reading
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Crossing from Cabedelo to the island Lencois

On the 10thApril we left Cabedelo in the morning with down streaming water, heading north. We had 800nm (1600 kilometres) at the South Atlantic before us to reach the island “Isla da Lencois”. We were told that this is the last stop in Brazil which is safe to stay. In between there is “No-go-area” where sailors shouldn’t stop. Every day Continue Reading
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A fantastic week at Lencois

Lencois is a small sandy island with a small village. About 100 people live there, the houses are built very simple. But the people are very friendly and it is a safe place, not like Cabedelo or Belem. Nothing is locked, no big metal fences, no police. We found 3 small minimarkets and a house which sells fish. Of course Continue Reading
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How Charly got lost in a supermarket…

We have several supermarkets around Joao Pessoa/ Jacaré. We like to buy in the supermarket "Carrefour" because it has a huge variety of food. That's the reason why it is a bit bigger than the local ones. Continue Reading
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Going for anchor on a sandbank

Before we could continue going north we had to do an oil change. When Dieter had done it on the starboard side he detected water in the oil. This promised nothing good. It meant that we had a leak in the sail drive. We suspected it came from the happening with the parasailor that was wrapped around the propeller on Continue Reading
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Wonderful moments in Alter do Chao

We arrived at around 4 o' clock at our accomodation in Alter o Chao. Everybody had recommended this village, also one of the bosses of the marina in Jacaré. The funny thing was that we only had a small paper with the name of the accomodaton which we showed the taxi driver. He knew it and drove us there. It Continue Reading
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Last day in Belém and welcoming the Amazon

On our last day in Belém we visited a big fishing market and bought some spiny lobsters and a gilthead. We found some old telephone boxes and showed Charly and Niklas that those were the phones you used in "former" times ;o) The next day we went to the harbour Continue Reading
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2nd day of our stay in Belém

In Belém happened also funny stories we wanted to tell you about. The first happening was with Charly: When we put our luggage into our room in our accommodation Charly, curious as she is, discovered on the blanket on our bed some small gift. As she knew from former hotel stays usually there is always a small piece of chocolate Continue Reading
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Making holidays from holidays…

In the beginning of March Dieter’s mother visited us for two weeks in Brazil. The kids were very happy to see their grandmother again. Dieter’s mother visited us for two weeks in Brazil. The kids were very happy to see their grandmother again. The first 4 days we spent in Cabedelo until we flew with the plane from Recife to Continue Reading
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Carneval in Jacaré/ Cabedelo…

On 4th March we had carneval in Jacaré, the village really close to our marina. First we prepared ourselves with some glitter, make up and some accessories ;o) Claudi bought several accessories from her carneval visit in Olinda. Charly got an Alice band with flowers, Dieter wore a captain's hat, Niklas went as pirate (but was too sleepy to celebrate Continue Reading
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Circus in Jacaré

We had the opportunity to visit a circus behind our marina. For Charly it was a lot of fun because the kids of the Swiss family joined us accompanied by 3 other children. The show lasted for 2 hours and costed 1,20€. There was a pause where you could buy some refreshments, popcorn and candyfloss. After the pause was a Continue Reading
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Carneval in Olinda!!!

On the 2nd March Claudi got her chance to visit the carneval in Brazil. Carneval lasted from 27th February to 5th March. First we thought about going to Rio de Janeiro where you could watch the "real" samba ladies but you sit in a kind of stadium on a fixed sit and look at the trucks with the best samba Continue Reading
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Beach, ice cream and a fish

After a few days in the marina we went to the beach again. Drinking a cold coconut and having a nice bath in the ocean let us feel good again. One day we wanted to eat an ice cream and ask in the marina if someone wanted to join us. Continue Reading
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Excursion to João Pessoa

Joao Pessoa is a town next to Cabedelo. We went their with the Swiss family we met in the marina on the 23rd February 2019. Right in the centre was a park with a lot of enjoyable things for children as you can see below: Charly was very Continue Reading
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Pool time…

Next to the marina is a small pool we can use. Charly and Niklas liked to spend refreshing moments there because of the hot weather. Sometimes comes a man with a small wagon full of ice cream in the marina and rings a bell as it was known Continue Reading
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Hot, hotter, Brazil

We are here in Cabedelo in the marina Jacaré Village. They have two pontoons, a nice place where you have a bar and can have something to eat and chill out in hamacas. Next to this place you can use a small pool which is perfect for Charly and Niklas to have fun in the water. When you want to Continue Reading
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Part 4: We made it to Cabedelo!

14th February: At 2:30 in the night Dieter realized that the V-belt of the right engine was broken, so he turned the left engine on. In the morning Claudi repaired the V-belt with Dieter's help. Unfortunately, there was nearly no wind at all and we had a sea like a mirror! We couldn't really imagine that this happened on Continue Reading
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Part 3: celebration of crossing the equator

When Claudi got up on the 12th February she detected a rainbow. We had the same procedure like the last days: with 10-12 knots of wind we could stop one engine that was running. In the afternoon at 17 o'clock the sky became dark again and we had an enormous shower that lasted around 25 minutes. Actually, Rocky came in the saloon Continue Reading
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Part 2: Our first squall after one week… ;o)

In the morning of 7th February we made only 3 knots. This was too slow for the Autopilot and it went out of the rudder. We got a warning message to our plotter and I didn't want to wake Dieter up so I hurried up to push a button on the plotter to stop the noise. Unfortunately it was the Continue Reading
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Part 1: First 3 days of the crossing

Before we start telling you details about the crossing we like to give a general overview about our life on board: we have to admit that 14 days in total on board were not easy. Charly and Niklas did well although they could have needed some more diversification on the boat's life. For Dieter it was the most challenging part Continue Reading
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Brazil-we made it!

From 3rd to 17th February we did our Atlantic crossing from Mindelo (Cabe Verde Islands) to Cabedelo (Brazil)!! We made it and cannot really believe it that after 14 days on the ocean we find our feet! It is indescribable for us what we achieved! You will read about our crossing the next days! We just wanted Continue Reading
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Exploring the city…

On Tuesday 29th January Charly and Claudi went into downtown to dive into the atmosphere of the small town Mindelo. Visiting the local market to buy some bananas, grubbing at local clothes market and going into the supermarket to restock the fridge... Mindelo is really save but you have to take care of pickpockets. When we left the marina we Continue Reading
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Diving in Mindelo

When we arrived in Mindelo on the island Sao Vicente we got help from the staff of the marina because we had only one engine running. We got the parking space at the fuel station... The next morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast at the cafe/bar in the marina. We got to know some other sailors Continue Reading
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Trip Fuerteventura to Cape Verde: Day 7-8

26th January: After breakfast we wanted to find out what was wrong with our left engine. Dieter checked oil in the sail drive and in the engine and both were all right. That were good news! On the other side it meant that there had to be something around the propeller which caused the different noise of the engine. Dieter Continue Reading
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Trip Fuerteventura to Cape Verde: Day 4-6

23th January: At around 18 o'clock we achieved half of our way (455nm). In the evening the waves crashed again heavily under the boat. It was psyological terror and we decided to run the left engine. Nevertheless, we have to admit that the sky full of stars above the ocean is amazing!! 1000 of little lightning stars... The moon rised Continue Reading
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Trip Fuerteventura to Cape Verde: Day 1 – 3

Finally we got the right weather forecast to start with our biggest trip so far to cross half of the Atlantic to Cape Verde. We would like to point out that it was a really adventurous trip but wasn't dangerous at any time. 20th January 2019: After a good breakfast and saying farewell to our Continue Reading
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Future plans

Now it's time to tell you about our next steps we are going to take. Since we talked to a lot of different people the last weeks where we can go and which places are nice to visit we changed our plans several times... It was Dieter who suggested Claudi to rethink about crossing the Atlantic. For her it was Continue Reading
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Golden hours

Since we rented the car for two days we drove on 12th January to some other small villages and stopped in Tuineje for lunch. We ate in a small restaurant near the church and had a wonderful time. We took our time for lunch, relaxed in the sun and enjoyed a coffee while thinking about the amazing time we have Continue Reading
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A long journey to Arrecife and back to the boat…

Three weeks ago we took new molds from Niklas' ears for his hearing aids in a shop in Arrecife. Finally they were ready and Claudi made a long journey with Niklas to Arrecife... Below you can find the steps we had to made: 1. rent a car, Dieter drove Claudi and Niklas to Corralejo (in the north of Fuerteventura) where Continue Reading
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Life in Gran Tarajal

Since 5th January we have been in Gran Tarajal now. This small village in Fuerteventura is not so crowded of tourists and has all we need. Dieter's mother Ingeborg stayed in another village for a few days and visited us with a friend. She brought some things from Germany which we required ;o) Continue Reading
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Having trouble with the anchor or with the dog…

On the 5th January we wanted to start early from Arrecife because it was about 50 nm to get to Gran Tarajal in Fuerteventura. We planned to visit Dieter's mother there. Unfortunately we needed around one hour to get away from our anchorage place! Dieter realized that the anchor got stuck between an Continue Reading
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Visiting Arrecife

The second day in Arrecife we visited the city and enjoyed eating an ice cream in one of the best "heladeria"s near the harbour. In the afternoon we had time for the playground which was opposite of our anchorage place ;o) Continue Reading
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Ciao La Graciosa, hola Arrecife!

On 3rd January we said "adios" to our small island. We left in the morning for Arrecife in Lanzarote. It was only a short trip, that's why we arrived in the early afternoon in Arrecife. We decided to anchor in the old harbour and enjoyed two fantastic days. On our arrival day we Continue Reading
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Visit in “Museo chinijo”

On our last day in La Graciosa Claudi went with Charly and Niklas to the smallest museum in the world. It was a nice little exposition about animals living in the sea and the island La Graciosa. Here you can have a look what we experienced: Continue Reading
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Happy New Year 2019

We decided to celebrate with the other two families and to make a barbecue on our boat at New Year's Eve. Since there were only few restaurants opened - some already fully booked, the menu of the other ones a bit too expensive - we made up our minds and found it more easier to celebrate on one of our Continue Reading
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Having fun on the beach

One day Anita, the daughter of the French family we met, stayed with us for an afternoon. The two girls enjoyed their time together. We went together to the beach where they blew bubbles what they liked a lot... Another day Claudi put a big "bubble maker" into her beach bag. Our French friends accompanied us to the beach. All Continue Reading
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Going shopping…

From time to time we did a bigger shopping tour because the local supermarket was too expensive to buy everything and of course doesn't have everything... That meant one of us took the ferry at 8 o'clock to Lanzarote. From the ferry you wait Continue Reading
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“I am riding my bike”

On the 25th it was time for Charly to ride her new bicycle... She was very happy and proud of it ;o) We also went to the church to have a look at the crib. Please have a closer look at the right picture what Charly was doing... No words!
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Santa Claus was there…

This Christmas was very special to us. Not only that we are in the sun and not in rainy, bad weather Hamburg, but also that we had an enormous storm. It started two days before Christmas and had its peak on 24th. We had more than 40 knots with some heavy gust of wind. We were lucky that we tied our Continue Reading
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Time with grandma before christmas

On the 11th December Charly's and Niklas grandmother arrived. Charly was really happy to see her again. She stayed in an apartment on the island and we spent some nice time with her. Unfortunately, she had to leave before Christmas... We had a nice experience on the 16th December. By accident we saw some children and some adults going through Continue Reading
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How does La Graciosa look like?

We would like to give you an image of the small island we are living on at the moment ;o) The church
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It’s fishing time…

Dieter wanted to go fishing on La Graciosa and knew that you needed a fishing license for it. Said and done! Claudi went to the mayor of the small island and he told her that after having filled a formula (you also need to show the passport of the person in charge!) you have to pay 15,79€ in the bank Continue Reading
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Little adventures in La Graciosa

In the week 49 we discovered "Playa Blanca", the beach in front of our boat. Dieter managed to get Rocky on the SUP. The stayed there quite relaxed ;o) Claudi saw a small octopus swimming near the beach. It must had been ill or disorientated because it had no fear of humans. Two men took Continue Reading
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How to decorate a boat for Christmas

When you have on the temperature 22 degrees which felt like 27 or more in the sun it is hard to think of Christmas as you know it from home when it is cold, bad weather, maybe snow and you join the Christmas markets with hot spiced wine and delicious things to eat. We would like to show you some Continue Reading
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Baking Christmas cookies…

On 1st December Charly and Niklas got their self made Advent calender and were really happy... What is the best way to get into the groove of Christmas? You bake Christmas cookies! On December 5th we decided to do so. It was a lot of fun for Charly and Niklas ;o) Continue Reading
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La Graciosa

Life is very simple on La Graciosa. The slogan could be "back to your roots" or "take your time". We don't have electricity on the berth. All plugs are constructed on the berth but the Island doesn't have electricity for the marina. We heard that it is a struggle between the electric provider and the marina. So we live on Continue Reading
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… to the Canary Islands

Day 3 28th November: In the morning a 3 metres wave was forecasted but it felt like we had waves of 30 cm ;o) At 3 pm a cargoship (speed of 21knots, 144m long, 22m wide) passed 2 nm at our portside. If you think about the size of the North Atlantic and a huge cargoship coming that close to Continue Reading
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Crossing the North Atlantic…

Day 1: We finally started at 26th November at noon to the Canary Islands. After the first half hour Dieter noticed another fishing ship passing by but couldn’t see it on our plotter. We realized that the plug of our AIS wasn’t connected due to some maintenance before. Claudi repaired the plug and we were relieved that it worked again Continue Reading
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Portimao: Part 4

Week 19th - 25th November: One week more in Portimao... Unfortunately there is not so much to tell. We study every day the weather forecast and hope to get suitable weather conditions to reach the Canary Islands. We want to go to La Graciosa, one small nice island in the north of Lanzarote. We were there 5 years ago and Continue Reading
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Portimao: Part 3

Yes, we are still in Portimao. The two conditions - wind coming from the right side and the high of the waves- don't play together. When we face a low pressure area on the north Atlantic we get high swell, meaning high waves in our area. Yesterday, 17th November, there was a low pressure area in the north Atlantic with Continue Reading
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Portimao: Part 2

In the morning Claudi went with Rocky for a walk. Generally it is Dieter's turn while Claudi prepares the breakfast. But sometimes it is nice if you change the procedure ;o) Rocky had a lot of fun at the beach, playing with a stick in the swell of the water... During the day Claudi and the Continue Reading
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Spending time in Portimao – Part 1

One week had already passed by in Portimao (5th-12th November). We enjoyed the weather a lot. We had almost every day 18 degrees and nearly no rain. Charly did Stand Up Paddling with Dieter in the marina and to the other side of the river Arade. We went to the other side to the beach also with a dinghy. Continue Reading
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New friends in Portimao

We met another Brazilian family with a two year old daughter and had a good connection between us from the first time. Charly and Katharina liked each other from the first second... We enjoyed the time we spent together with them, talking, laughing and didn't think about our plans what and when we will go on. That was a thing Continue Reading
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Changed plan: Portimao

... Unfortunately, we are not in Madeira ;o( After having past 30 nautical miles (the waves, the winds were fine) Dieter didn't feel well and we finally decided to turn back to the Portuguese coast. We arrived in Sines at 1 o'clock in the night, slept until 7 o' clock and continued our way to Portimao. The lighthouse Continue Reading
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Heading to Madeira

Today 2nd November we are on our way to Madeira. We changed our plan to go until the end of the Portuguese coast to Portimao. This trip is really important to us because we want to know how the "real" Atlantic waves are. If we and especially Dieter like them, we will probably cross the Atlantic ocean. Otherwise we will Continue Reading
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A special project in the marina of Oeiras (Lisbon)

On 31st October we drove into the city of Lisbon by train. For the kids it was a big happening ;o) Unfortunately, it has been raining since two days, we visited el Mercado de Ribeira. This was a huge hall where you could have a look around all the different stands of food, eat or just watch the people. After Continue Reading
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Good morning, Lisbon!

Sunday 28th: The temperature sank to 15°C at daytime and got cold during the evening and night. Since we had no heating on board we appreciated the sun during the day... We would like to move to the south but we were waiting for a new generator. Our generator was nearly brand-new. The engine ran Continue Reading
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Lisboa, we come!

On Thursday 25th we had no wind either but we wanted to arrive in Lisbon because Charly's best friend from the kindergarten was waiting for us... She was in Lisbon for a couple of days to spend some time with Charly. Charly was so excited when she realized that she would see Yepa ;o) On our way to Lisbon Niklas Continue Reading
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Short stop in Peniche

After having no wind at all we motored to Peniche, our next stop before going to Lisbon. Since the harbour of Peniche is not big, we went as package to another catamaran. The harbour master was very friendly to us because we didn't have direct contact to the runway and we only had to pay the price for a monohull! Continue Reading
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A nice place to stay: Nazaré

The next morning we went further to Nazaré. We had no wind and glassy water which looked really bizarre. I stayed some time with the children on the salon and we listened to nursery rhymes ;o) We arrived in Nazaré in the afternoon and discovered the seafront and enjoyed the rest of the day. Continue Reading
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Our way to Figueira da Foz

After spending 5 days in Porto we continued on 21st October. Since there was proposed to be not much wind we were prepared to run the engines. In the end we had times where we could sail up to 8 knots with the help of the motor until we reached Figueira da Foz in the evening. On our way we Continue Reading
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Discovering Porto

On Tuesday, 16th October we reached the harbour of Porto. The funny thing in the morning was that this marina had a "service for rolls". Even if you don't ask for it, you get fresh rolls which are put on the deck of your boat - every morning at 8:30 ;o) Wednesday night we spontaneously decided to have dinner in Continue Reading
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Thank you for…

... your comments! We are very happy about receiving comments from you. We are glad that so many of you like to read our blog ;o) After two months and a half being away from home we sometimes get a feeling of homesickness... You miss some things you don't have but to discover the ocean and foreign countries havn't stopped! Continue Reading
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“Diving” in Póvoa de Varzim…

Póvoa de Varzim was a small harbour but had a nice town to discover. On Sunday 14th October there was a festival in the city of different groups of boy scouts. We spent 5 days there but we have to admit that laying in a box Continue Reading
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Sightseeing in Porto with the family

On Saturday 13th October we decided to drive with the rented car of our friends to Porto. We had a nice trip in the old town. On our way we saw a jumble sale in a pedestrian precinct. Charly liked it a lot and bought a brace lace for herself ;o) Small "lady" Continue Reading
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Our way to Póvoa de Varzim

We spent two days in Viano do Castello because we couldn't enter the marina. It was full of boats and had no space for our "small" baby ;o( We stayed outside near a floating runway. The evening of our second day should bring heavy wind. The current and the swell from the Atlantic were sometimes so strong that Whitebird was Continue Reading
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Next stop: Portugal (Viano do Castello)

On Tuesday morning we noticed next to our anchorage place a fishing boat. It was only a few meters away. It seemed as if our bay was a fishing spot because there were even more fishing boats around. The atmosphere had something special when you are part in a lot of seagulls waiting for some fish wastage... Continue Reading
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Anchoring in a national park…

There was supposed to be nearly no wind for Monday but in the morning we could sail 6 knots without the help of our engines. Later the prediction was right and we had to run under engines. We heard from another sailor that you can anchor in a zone of a national park (isles of Atlantic Galicia). First you have Continue Reading
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2 days in Muros

On Saturday 6th, October we left Camariñas and were a bit surprised about the wind. We had 25 - 30 knots from the side although "windy.com" told us there should be 17 knots in the area we wanted to cross. Nevertheless, we could sail around 6 knots. In the afternoon we arrived in Muros, a nice little town with a Continue Reading
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Excursion with the dinghy in Camariñas

The nights have been already cold yet. When the sun came out in the morning it was always nice to have breakfast outside to enjoy the warmth. In the afternoon we made a tour with our dinghy along the river Porto. We felt like driving in Brasil through the jungle ;o) Where the river ended was a small village. Continue Reading
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Camariñas: in the marina and on anchorage

Our next destination was Camariñas. On our way we saw a group of dolphins of about 10 which looked really impressing when they swam through the water to hunt some fish. We also wanted to get some fish and put out our fishing rod. We had something on the hook but unfortunately it was only alga ;o) On our way Continue Reading
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La Coruña – 6 days and our first guest on board

In La Coruña we stayed until the 3rd October. Nearly 2 months have passed of our journey and we have undergone so many situations... Now we needed time to recover for some days! The difficult thing is to get a daily routine on board because every day is different and you never know what will bring the next day. That makes Continue Reading
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Biscay: Day 3

27th September 00:15 - 7:30 Night session Dieter 8:30 sunrise - ocean was quiet, nearly no wind, put on the engines find out an interesting thing when our accident with the rudder happened (you can see the variation in our navigation line): we were between the border of France and Spain! 12:00 by Continue Reading
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Biscay: Day 2

26th September 8:30 sunrise Pictures of the Bay of Biscay 20:00 Dieter heard a noise of an alarm and was wondering why he saw the waves from the opposite side running against our boat. The rudder system wasn't working and the autopilot went down. This meant we couldn't steer our boat! We had to check quickly Continue Reading
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Biscay: Day 1

25th September: We started at about 9 o' clock after a small breakfast to our Biscay crossing. Dieter and Claudi were really exited about what was going to happen in the Biscay and what was expecting them. Most of the time you hear only "bad" stories of people who crossed the Biscay. Before we decided which day would be the Continue Reading
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Île-de-Sein

On the 24th September we went to the small island Île-de-Sein, 4 hours away from Brest. We knew from another sailor whom we met in Roscoff that a dolphin welcomes the boats arriving at the island! We wanted to see the dolphin – of course! We couldn’t believe our eyes when we actually saw him swimming next to a mooring... Continue Reading
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With the SUP in the marina

We stayed in Brest until the 24th September. Finally the time slot was stable for the next 5 days. The wind should be 16 knots from the back. Until we started our „trip“ through the Biscaya we experienced so many unbelievable things. Dieter and Charly went with the Stand Up Paddeling Board through the marina. That was so much fun for Continue Reading
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Waiting in Brest…

5 days are over and the wind hasn't been on our side yet. We don't want to leave the harbour when we know there are waves of 3 metres waiting for us... Time will come, we have to be patience. This is what we have experienced so far while one of us was doing maintenance on the boat: Riding with Continue Reading
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Roscoff and our way to Brest

The next day on the 15th September we went to the small marina of Roscoff. It was nothing special to mention except the happening that Rocky ran away from the boat. Dieter and Charly went for a shower and Claudi was taking Niklas to bed when she realized that Rocky wasn't on deck! Maybe he searched for Dieter and Charly... Continue Reading
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Magical place in the mouth of the river

From Guernsey we steered back to France. This night we didn't want to stay in a marina but lay in a mooring spot in the river Le Trieux. In the beginning we were not sure if the mooring (a buoy with a chain that is connected to the ground) was strong enough for our boat. It had Continue Reading
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One night in Great Britain…

Our next step was Guernsey, one of the British Channel Islands. When leaving Cherbourg with rainy weather on the 12th September we had to go round a Cape where the waves "cleaned" our front deck. We knew when entering Great Britain with our own vessel Rocky was not allowed to leave our boat except when arriving by ferry. We were Continue Reading
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New adventures in Cherbourg

We stayed 5 days in Cherbourg. It was a big modern harbour where we got a welcome present in form of a small package of petit fours (small French cakes) 😉 The wind was constantly coming from the wrong side... So we detected some new things we hadn't experienced before. One thing was fishing! You could Continue Reading
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How deep is the night or a very long trip to Cherbourg

Our next stop should be Cherbourg in the very north of France. Since the time frame for the weather was not optimal to get to Cherbourg the next days we decided to do our next move on the 6th of September. The weather forecast supposed wind with 11-14 knots from the side and at the end of our trip it Continue Reading
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Moments at Boulogne-sur-Mer

We went out of Calais at 7:15 with the last opening of the bridge for the morning. There were a lot of boats that wanted to leave the harbour... Rocky jawned - it was very early for him ;o) Our next stop was the nice little city Boulogne-sur-Mer. When entering the harbour we saw a seal that seemed to look Continue Reading
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Experiences in Calais…

We experienced some funny things in French culture. It was 29th of August and we had the "crazy" idea to allow us a breakfast in a café in Calais. Since their was no real breakfast on the menu as we know it from Germany we decided to order two sandwiches with ham and cheese and a coffee. Since they didn't Continue Reading
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Salut la France!

We had an exiting day as we travelled to Calais. We started really early at 7:30 because we knew that we had to pass a bridge in Calais before entering the marina. They opened the bridge only every hour and the last opening was at 18:00. The day began very relaxed. We had nearly no wind when going out to Continue Reading
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Heading to Belgium

Tuesday 28th was a good day to reach Belgium. Unfortunately, we couldn't sail because there was nearly no wind. But we could make a big step forward towards the harbour of Zeebrugge. We crossed two times a shipping channel of the real big ships but had always luck that we passed them during the right gap. The most impressing thing Continue Reading
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Wind until 23 knots…

On Saturday 25th we started early in the morning to go out to the Northern Sea again. This time the waves were even bigger due to more wind from the side. Since Claudi was not so comfortable with the weather we decided to move to the next port at Scheverningen, next to Den Haag. We wanted to go further but Continue Reading
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Sightseeing in Harlem

We stayed until Saturday, 25th August in Ijmuiden until the wind finally changed. Friday morning we decided to make an excursion to Harlem. After 5 days in the harbour we need so see something else... And we had luck because the sun was shining on our trip. Harlem was a nice town with small alleys, pedestrian precincts with lots of Continue Reading
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Days in Ijmuiden

On Monday 20th we left Terschelling at 8 to go out to the Northern Sea again. This time we had short waves for the first hours which were not comfortable for Dieter's and my condition. For the children it was no problem - they were playing and enjoying themselves. Our goal was to arrive in Harvinghaven, Ijmuiden. On our way Continue Reading
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Some days in Terschelling

We planned to go on Friday 17th to the harbour of Harlingen which is onshore of the Netherlands. Unfortunately, we had to realize that our way through the Wadden Sea was no good idea because the tide was too low to bring us through. Therefore we cancelled our plan and moved Whitebird to the island Terschelling. Before entering the harbour Continue Reading
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Ameland – a small little island

Like yesterday we planned a tour through the Wadden Sea. And like yesterday we got stuck one time ;( It is not so easy to reach the exact way where the water is high enough when you are 2 or 1 hour before high tide... This time we had the wind from Northwest before we entered the Wadden Sea so Continue Reading
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Goodbye Germany, hello to the Netherlands

For Wednesday 15th we planned to stay another day in Borkum because the wind was supposed to blow against our direction on the Northern Sea. Therefore we slept a bit longer, Claudi went running to the bakery with Rocky to buy some fresh rolls and we enjoyed our breakfast. After that we talked with other sailors about their plans and Continue Reading
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Visiting Borkum

On 13th of August we arrived in Borkum. The weather changed quickly from sunny to windy and rainy. We drove by bus into the city of Borkum on Tuesday and enjoyed the atmosphere of "downtown" Borkum with the old lighthouse and the traditional "Borkumer Kleinbahn" which goes from the harbour to the city center and back again. In the afternoon Continue Reading
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We are sailing…

On Sunday 12th we left Wangerooge for Norderney. This was the first time we could set all of our 3 sails and stop the engines because we had enough wind to move forward ;o) It was an awesome feeling that Whitebird gave us! Unfortunately, we had to start the engines again because the wind became too weak in the afternoon. Continue Reading
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A day in the harbour…

Saturday 11th August: After another windy night the day showed a mixture of sun, rain, wind and dark clouds at the sky. In the afternoon the sun came out and Charly, Rocky and Claudi went to the beach while Niklas took a nap and Dieter time for maintenance at the boat. Charly and Claudi relaxing in a Continue Reading
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Adventure to Wangerooge

On 9th August we left Cuxhaven at 10 o'clock through the flap bridge. Our first stop was at the diesel station in the yacht harbour. We had 6 hours calculated to get to Wangerooge. The wind was more or less silent at the beginning and should become stronger in the afternoon. Of course we had heard and checked the weather Continue Reading
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Cuxhaven – big steps settled!

7th August: A really important day for us! We had to solve the problem with our autopilot as soon as possible because spare parts need time to be sent or even a new system is not easy to get rapidly. Talking to the hot line of Raymarine gave us the clue that the electronic control unit had to be replaced Continue Reading
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From Glückstadt to Cuxhaven

After checking the wind and the tide we started at 10:30 from Glückstadt. Since our autopilot stayed silent we were forced to operate our boat manually by steering wheel. This gave us a feeling of "back to the routes"... Wind was not too much but we could set the fog as support for our engines. We waved some big ships and Continue Reading
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Leaving Hamburg…

On Saturday 4th August we left our lovely town Hamburg. We invited our family and friends to a small breakfast on the landing stage and celebrated our farewell until we untied our lines at 11:38. Our first way point was Glückstadt. Unfortunately, we couldn't sail because we had 5 knots against us. After our first nautical Continue Reading
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Having fun on board

What do you do when it is really hot on the boat? You give your kids some water and some toys to play and have a lot of fun ;o) Some nice sunset impressions from the Hamburg harbour...
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Being in the Hamburg harbour

There are only a few days left until we will leave our beautiful city Hamburg. On the one hand we are sad to say goodbye to our family and friends but on the other hand we are so exited what will wait for us on our big trip. For the beginning I would like to give you some impressions on Continue Reading
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700 days to go

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Northern Sea 2016

Our first trip without skipper. We started our trip in Emden with destination Borsfleth (about one hour with the car north of Hamburg). We left the main Emden lock without any problems. Both new engines worked fine, the wind from the correct side meant the command “engines off”. We sailed with good speed along the Ems to the island Borkum. Continue Reading
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