sugar apples & silky oak / trinidad

Sugar apples. Chaguaramus Harbour, Trinidad - WEST INDIES (September 2017)

Chaguaramus Harbour, Trinidad - WEST INDIES (September 2017)

Chaguaramus Harbour, Trinidad - WEST INDIES (September 2017)

Chaguaramus Harbour, Trinidad - WEST INDIES (September 2017)

day passage / grenada to trinidad

On September 1st, 2017, we moved SV Smoke from Grenada to Trinidad's. The last items on the boat's worklist would be completed in the Port of Chaguaramus. Then the boat would be moved to the port of Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Caribbean Sea. Day-sail from Grenada to Trinidad - September 2017

Caribbean Sea. Day-sail from Grenada to Trinidad - September 2017

young badass sailors / grenada

Young Badass Sailors. 

In June 2011, Tormentina and Raivo were ages 2 & 9 months old when we left the East coast of the United States to make a crossing of the North Atlantic to Europe. 

They had at that point, never even gone on a day sail. My husband James said, "Don't worry Somira, the coast of Canada is really long. If the kids are miserable, we can just pull into port." 

21 magical days later we pulled into Cherbourg, France and were greeted at the dock by our friend Mathieu Feron. He had a bottle of red wine, a fresh baguette, and camembert in hand. My Cambodian-French cousins came to visit bearing gifts of sweet plums and cherries. We had our floating home in a foreign country. We were sold.

Six years, 30,000 ocean miles, a dismasting (+subsequent 3 years of being shipwrecked on the island of Navarino), & the birth of two younger siblings later, these two amazing kids crossed their original sailing track on the paper chart in May 2017, just off of the Brazilian coast by Recife.

This portrait of them was taken just over a year ago, aboard SV Smoke, a 62' Chuck Paine Bougainvillea that James was representing for sale & was preparing for a delivery to Punta del Este, Uruguay, where the boat was eventually sold.

With this upcoming voyage, the kids would be crossing the equator for the third time.

Young badass sailors - Tormentina (age 9) and Raivo (almost 7).
Aboard SV Smoke. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

nutmeg / grenada

Nutmeg, the official spice of the spice island of Grenada.
Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

local oranges / grenada

Local oranges. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

Local oranges. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

passion fruit / grenada

Beautiful colors of the local passion fruit. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

Better than plastic toys... local passion fruit. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

bubbles / grenada

Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

crabs & cocos / grenada

Admiring the beautiful shells of crabs caught for us by local fishermen.
Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

jelly cocos / grenada

Pearl savors our favorite tropical treat - jelly coco water & meat - aboard SV Smoke.
Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

Cocos on Australian Silky Oak.
Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

bucket bath / grenada

The simple joy of a bucket of water. My boys in the cockpit of SV Smoke.
Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (August 2017)

old friends in new ports / st. david's harbour / grenada

Such a treat for us to have friends in the same port... I love the sailing community and the ability to reconnect with people in new places. So thankful for friendships that endure after many years and sea miles apart. Awesome & special time for us to be together with these beautiful people & look forward when we get to connect again.

Paul Stratfold / Gizmo. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Raivo & Thiago Samir / Gizmo. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Tormentina. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Thiago Samir & Pearl / Gizmo. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Paul Stratfold & Tarzan / Gizmo. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Silvo Franceschini / Barbarossa. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Shiralee Fitzgerald / Gizmo. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

pau cova / grenada

Portrait of Pau Cova.
Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

evening swim antics on the dock / grenada

Raivo, Tormentina, & Alexandra. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Tormy & Alex. Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

tormentina & alexandra / grenada

So proud of my oldest daughter Tormentina.... I think back to the days when we were without a mast on Navarino Island. At age six, she entered first grade in a foreign country where no one else spoke English, made fast friends, and soon was reading and writing in Spanish and one of the top in her class.

There was no transport on the island to school, and we did not have a car. We lived aboard Anasazi Girl at the Micalvi Yacht Club - 1.5 km out of town, and she made the commute on foot four times a day (6 kms total) as everyone on the island came home for the long meal of the day "almuerzo" (aka lunch) before resuming work/classes in the afternoon.

In all kinds of inclement weather and in Austral winter season (when she left in the dark & came home in the dark), she never complained about the difficulty. She was always excited and full of life - so passionate about making friends and about learning.

That same year, she learned how to sail an optimist on the Beagle Channel, in frigid water temperatures, wearing a full body wetsuit, booties, and gloves - one of the youngest kids in the fleet.

In Grenada, what a treat it was for her to be in the warm waters of the tropics, making fast friends again, and sailing optimists in St. David's Harbour in nothing but a bathing suit.

My beautiful daughter aboard Smoke / Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Alexandra & Tormentina. T's first friend on the Island - the joy of childhood friendship.
Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Alexandra & Tormentina / Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

our tiny topless figurehead / grenada

Smoke / Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Smoke / Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Smoke / Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

Smoke / Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (June 2017)

temporary new home / sv smoke - chuck paine bougainvillea 62' / grenada

After we hauled out Anasazi Girl, James launched Smoke, a Chuck Paine Bougainvillea 62', owned by a Kiwi friend from Auckland.

James managed a refit of Smoke in January 2016 and was also representing the boat for sale through Anasazi Ltda. The job on Smoke allowed us to pay off the remaining balance on our replacement mast - so we are eternally grateful for this work which officially gave us our sailing freedom.

The plan when we arrived in Grenada was to complete the owner's work list and potentially move her to a new location. The owner of Smoke allowed our family to move aboard, so for the next several months, we called this beautiful sailing vessel our home.

Our plan was for James to work on Smoke, to completely decomission Anasazi Girl for storage on the land, and we would all fly back to Chile in time for the start of the next school year, which began early March 2018.

Launching SV Smoke, Chuck Paine Bougainvillea 62'
Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (May 2017)

SV Smoke
Corinth, St. David - GRENADA / West Indies (May 2017)

one month project in grenada

Big group hug for James as he leaves the Micalvi Yacht Club for the Guardiamarina Zañartu Airport.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

The kids said goodbye to James at the end of January as he departed Navarino Island for a one-month job in the Caribbean refitting a 62' Chuck Payne aluminium monohull called Smoke - a beautiful vessel, perfect for sailing in the Chilean channels.  The owner is preparing the boat for sale and using Anasazi Ltda / with James as the central listing agent. James' management of the refit project was an ideal situation for him to know the complete inner workings & current status of the vessel.

Tough decision to take the job, as this 34-day strech was the longest he will have been apart from the three kids, but the project would bring in the final funds needed to pay off the remaining balance due on our replacement rig. It has been sitting, ready to ship since December 2014, at Ballenger Spars in Watsonville, California. Thanks to Buzz Ballenger for his patience and all his hard work to get us sorted with this project.

Our next next hurdle will be to organize the logistics & raise the funds for transport/shipping, and any misc. bits and pieces needed to step the rig.

For me, James' job away meant solo parenting of my three wild ones:  on Navarino Island for two weeks, then two weeks with them on the mainland.  As part of government health control, all pregnant women living on Isla Navarino are required to leave six weeks before their due date. There are no doctors, midwives, or medical staff/facilities for birthing on the island. This control reduces health risks for both mother & child and avoids a possible medical evac by helicopter.

My job in February was to pack up the family, shut down Anasazi Girl, and move us to the mainland to the city of Punta Arenas - 30 hours, 300 nm by ferry through the Beagle Channel and Straights of Magellan.

Our plan was to meet up with James in Punta Arenas at the beginning of March and then travel 3 hours north to the small mountain town of Puerto Natales for the birth of #4.

Big year for us - becoming a family of six and making big progress with our Chilean business, Anasazi Ltda. to bring us closer to getting Anasazi Girl back up and sailing.