VLOG Episode 06: A Land-based Adventure!

A Letter from Our Number One Fan

Guest entry by Elise Møvik.

Ever since the guys left home to go on this trip, I’ve been looking forward to visiting them just after the Atlantic crossing. I landed on St. Lucia the 15th of December, five days after the guys had crossed the finish line and just in time to join the cheering crowd when the crew learned that CoCo won the ARC’s cruising class A.

Peter and Elise on the Beach in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia.

I arrived at Hewanorra International Airport . On my customs sheet I wrote down one thing – caramel cheese from Norway. I found myself to get surprisingly nervous when we had to write down if we were bringing any food in to the country, so I figured I’d just write it down, although it felt a bit weird to think of the eccentric, brown, Norwegian cheese as something to clear through customs.

Dinghy ride ashore.

When I arrived in Marigot Bay a few hours later, I immediately recognised someone that I had been waiting to see for about three months. Peter showed me down to the bay, where CoCo was moored just next to a charming restaurant. This beautiful little bay, with its palm trees and blue waters, astonished me. We went inside the boat where I was greeted by Sebastian and Henrik who was working on a failing water pump. I would later learn that one cannot be anything but incredibly impressed by the skills shown by these three guys, when it comes to fixing whatever problem that presents itself on board. I would also learn that Peter has the coolest friends, and that this crew works well together. Henrik and Sebastian is also two guys that has patience enough to let me learn and join in when we are sailing around, and the two of them plus Peter has taught me a lot about sailing. I can hardly wait until the next sailing vacation! After a nice dinner in Marigot Bay we sailed north to Rodney Bay, where the price-giving ceremony and celebrations would take place. The guys met up with some of the crews they knew from the ARC and I was introduced to some truly wonderful people. The whole night different people came up to the guys, congratulating them and telling them how impressed they were. I couldn’t do anything but smile from ear to ear the whole night, as I was so insanely proud of the CoCo crew. It was really cool to be there.

Elise showed tremendous skill as a deckhand and managed to perform her duties with exceptional grace.

After having spent the first week on St. Lucia, we were looking forward to setting sails towards Bequia, where we would spend Christmas. Taking a morning bath in the warm ocean and sunbathing on the deck didn’t exactly give us the Christmas spirit like were all use to. Nevertheless, I found it very exciting to experience something new, and one couldn’t pick a better place, or greater people to spend this time with away from home. We spent Christmas Eve on a beach with our feet in the sand, and were served delicious food, wine and even GLØGG, as the owner of the restaurant was Swedish. After Christmas, we set sail for towards Tobago Cays. I have never seen such clear water and white sand in my life. Here we snorkelled with turtles, and we also saw a huge stingray and some beautiful fish near the great coral reefs. Additionally, Peter prepared a feast for us in the evening, with fresh lobsters on the grill. I almost had to pinch my arm to realise that I got to have this amazing experience.

The mandatory Wallilabou coffin pose.

After having spent the second week around the Grenadines, we made our way back to St. Lucia to pick up a friend of Sebastian, Hanna, who would be joining us for the next twelve days. After quickly getting to know Hanna – she is one lovely, sociable and outgoing person! – CoCo set its course towards Martinique to celebrate the coming new year. Here we got to see a great fireworks show, we went to a concert in town and had a delightful three course dinner with the crew of Spinnvill at what is most likely the slowest restaurant in town. The spirit on board was as always very high, and after celebrating New Year’s we were ready to see some more of Martinique. For almost two more weeks we sailed around seeing bays like Anse Noire and Grande Anse d’Arlet. Here we snorkelled, drank beer, laughed and simply enjoyed life. As visitors, Hanna and I discussed how we never wanted to leave this paradise, as it is just incredible to be here together with the guys. When the time came for Hanna to leave for home, I realised that I was leaving in a week myself. Never has a vacation gone faster, even if this one actually was five weeks long. This last week included having ice cream in Wallilabou bay, where some of the scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean films were shot. And as a big sucker for these things, I naturally loved this place, and I do believe the guys also enjoyed it. We then went back to Bequia, where we enjoyed sundowners out of holed-out pineapples. From there we headed back to St. Lucia where I went on a final adventure with Peter, zip-lining through the jungle. Needless to say, this was a cool experience to finish off this trip with, and I now feel that I have been through everything that I could’ve hope for on this five week voyage in the Caribbean.

Docked in Wallilabou. Elise looks excited.

All thanks to Sebastian, Henrik and Peter for putting such an effort into every day, sailing to the best bays, telling thrilling stories, playing music to set the good mood, making the best-ever-tasting drinks for our own happy hour on board, and in general making me feel as part of the crew. This vacation has truly been the most magnificent and enjoyable one yet! I wish the guys all the best, and a fantastic trip further on. Safe sailing! Elise.

The underwater ballet.

VLOG Episode 04: Cruising in the Caribbean

Ms. Gjeruldsen’s Travelling Show

Guest entry by Hanna M. U. Gjeruldsen.

Full focus at the helm! From left: Sebastian, Hanna

Monday 29th of December I got out of a taxi in the Rodney Bay Marina parking lot on the island of St Lucia. Instantly a stranger asked me if I needed any help, and awkward as I am, I quickly said no and started to stare intensely at the sky. I gazed down the parking lot, and saw somebody whom I’d seen before. A blond, tall man with glasses, and the grace of a gazelle; my best friend Sebastian. We gave each other a hug and I followed him down to the bay. On our way we passed three people Sebastian knew; Peter, Henrik and Elise. I introduced myself, and we walked further on to what would be my home for the next twelve days: S/Y Coco. A vessel on sea water called a sailing

yacht. I managed to board the boat without being eaten by birds, and as I climbed down the ladder, I knew I was climbing down from reality, and into adventure land. And what an adventure it was…

After the first dinner, I gave the crew presents. Peter got the very famous book “Dating for under a dollar”, a gift also intended for his better half, Elise. Henrik got a book that reflected his personality “Gangster rap colouring book”, and it is safe to say he almost shed a tear in happiness. Sebastian got “Dancing with Jesus”, to improve his holy dancing skills.

After the first night of gift-giving and pizza, we went to Martinique a.k.a. France. Martinique can be summed up by hermit crabs, napping locals, sand and rain forests. Events that stood out in the capital of Fort-de-France was New Years Eve the day before New Years Eve, having dinner at a restaurant with the slowest waiters and best food, shopping with Elise, and (somehow) eating together at McDonalds. The crew off S/Y Spinnvill became our boat friends. It is nice to have boat friends, and I told them the old tale off the unfortunate tomatoes crossing the road.

We travelled onwards to Anse Noire, or the bay of black water. An event at by this almost desolate beach stood out in particular: Snorkelling for the very first time. I love swimming, but pretending to be a fish was a very strange and challenging experience. I was fortunate to have such a patient teacher: Sebastian. He told me the secret of the turtles, and we quickly became a part of the turtle community. I will never forget that…

In another bay, called Grande Anse d’Arlet. Sebastian took lots of wonderful, graceful pictures. After dinner we went back to the boat, where Elise temporarily worked as a Moroccan medium. After “the great bay” we sailed furhter south to Cul-de-Sac de Marin. This is where I ate taco pancakes. But, as I have jabbered on long enough about vacation and relaxation, the time has come to say something about that which is most important when aboard a sailing yacht – THE CREW!

Peter is a captain. The captain. Captain Captain! He laughs a lot in short intervals. He is a very calm person and he is very determined. His determination even brought on his new nickname “The King of Toilets”. Peter has a good sense of humour and will never give up. He also knows how to steer the boat in the best ways. That’s why he’s captain.

Henrik became my best friend to his great pleasure on this voyage. We became best friends by telling each other about our interests and hobbies. Henrik likes to sail, play ice hockey, but he doesn’t know what his favourite television program is. That’s why we’re best friends.

Sebastian is weird like me, super smart like Einstein (or someone else), and is very good at opening the fridge in a graceful manner. Sebastian is a person I know. He has achieved the status: “quite well” on the “quite well-scale”.

Elise is easy to talk to, is interesting to converse with, and has several other interests than “boat”. She has been an excellent shopping partner, and we’ve had lots of wonderful nights sitting on deck smoking and drinking while the boys have been fixing toilets, or made us dinner. I’m very happy that Elise was there. It has been very nice to have another girl on the boat.

Hanna quickly settled into the no-care Caribbean lifestyle.

The trip is over for my part and now I’m in England. All I can do is to think back and think of my wonderful friends on the beautiful, adventurous vessel surrounded by sea water: S/Y CoCo.

Vacation in France

December 29. saw the embarkment of Hanna which increased the number of souls on board to five. The day after Hanna was entered into the ship’s manifest we departed Rodney Bay for Antigua. However, when we were halfway to the french island of Martinique it was decided that sailing for more than 24 hours with less-than-weathered guests was unwise. Furthermore, Hanna was flying back to Europe in just over a week and we didn’t want to rush south.

Instead of sailing for well over a day we sailed a little less than four hours and anchored outside Martinique’s capital Fort-de-France. On Martinique, it turns out that the New Year celebration starts the day before the actual day. Public fireworks and a free concert was a very nice arrival treat! New Years Eve was spent wining and dining at a hotel in the capital in the company of the crew of S/Y Spinnvill, another Norwegian yacht.

Fort-de-France was larger than any other town we had visited yet in the Caribbean, so we were able to stack up on enough “tea and biscuits” to last us for a long time. A very smart thing to do, as the last week has been spent doing almost nothing. It is safe to say that the last week has been amongst the most relaxing weeks aboard S/Y CoCo so far.

We have visited several places, never more than an hour or two of sailing apart. First we visited Anse Noire and Anse Dufour. Sebastian had read about these two twin bays before departing Oslo. The entire crew enjoyed some excellent snorkelling and Cpt. Peter even managed too harpoon us some fresh fish for dinner one night. The second place we visited after Fort-de-France was Grand Anse d’Arlet. As the name not very subtly gives away if one knows a bit of french, this is a large bay. We enjoyed many a cup of rum punch in this large bay. Finally, we are currently anchored just off Cul-de-Sac du Marin.

Even at it’s most relaxing, life aboard can be challenging. The last week’s challenge has been a leaking toilet. To understand what has happened, one needs a bit of background information. You see, the toilets aboard S/Y CoCo are a bit special compared to the typical sailing yacht. When CoCo was new it was delivered with very nice Baby Blake toilets in real porcelain with hand-operated pumps for flushing. The standard today is plastic toilets from Jabsco with electrical pumps for flushing. During a thorough overhaul in Finland the toilets aboard CoCo was modernised. As the owners wanted to keep the nice porcelain toilets, a special adapter was fashioned to make the vintage Blake toilets fit a Jabsco base. This is the source of our worries. So far we have regrettably not found a way to remedy our leaking toilet (luckily only one of them are broken!). Regardless, the spirit aboard remains, as always, positive.

Happy guys in the dinghy during transport to or from a beach bar. Location unknown. From left: Henrik, Peter.

Hanna was thoroughly thrilled with the table decoration on New Years Eve.

Henrik enjoying one of the last Pitons from St. Lucia.

Fireworks in Fort-de-France.

Elise found a diving mask very handy when chopping onions in the galley.

The photographer found some time to experiment. Peter was the victim.

Elise has not been complaining while aboard CoCo.

All smiles from Henrik.

Captain Peter battling the toilet trouble.

Some sailing yachts apparently come without sails. And mast!

Hanna and Elise (from left) enjoying a rum punch.