And now….

On the 2nd of February we arrived at St. Vincent. We got a lovely warm welcome from our friends Oliver and Karlijn from Flyer (for the Dutch readers: www.flywithus.nu). It is so nice to arrive somewhere and be welcomed by people we know!

The last day of our trip was very smooth: good wind, nice seastate: very relaxing. We told each other that if this would continue, we wouldn’t mind the trip not yet ending. But it did end, and we did arrive!

I really thought that the moment of arrival would be a moment full of happiness, feeling ecstatic, being fully aware of the fact that we just did cross the Atlantic Ocean, popping champagne straight after arrival. But it wasn’t. Maybe because we had such a relaxed day, during which we could slowly get used to the idea of arriving, maybe because it is hard to imagine how it is to arrive after more than 2 weeks at sea. We arrived, got ourselves a mooring ball and then the normal to do list after arrival needed to be done: tidy up a bit, finish the logbook, make sure we are secured.. I think it took us an hour before we were ready to pop the champagne. Except from the champagne (because we don’t do that after every crossing) we felt like every other crossing. Good thing about this was that this meant that although we weren’t overly excited, we weren’t overly tired either!

Funnily enough, a bit part of the evening we spent talking about ‘and now what?!’. I guess we need some mindfulness training to enjoy the moment a bit better instead of straight going into looking forward. We discussed options, but none of us are completely sure what is next, except from enjoying the Carribean!

Our first week was spent in quarantine. We had sent an email to SVG arrivals when we knew better when we would arrive and we managed to get a PCR test done the morning after arriving. SVG arrival was very responsive and very helpful, when we where still underway and after we arrived. Before we left we read that we would get the test results within 72 hours. When we asked to schedule a test they informed us that the waiting time had increased to 7 to 10 days. We could go for a speed processed test, but this test cost 4 times as much, so we decided that we would go for the longer wait. This was a good decision, because we didn’t mind to quarantine at all! We spent the time cleaning the boat, doing laundry and doing some boat jobs. We also were allowed to go snorkling. There was plenty to keep us busy! Normally, when I arrive at a new place I want to go out and explore as much as possible. I feel like I want to see everything, do not want to miss out. This sometimes puts a lot of pressure and because of this, quarantine worked out great: no pressure to have to do things, because we weren’t allowed.

After a week we got the test results and we were free to go. We moved our boat to anchor and a couple days later moved to the next island: Bequia. Here we felt the Carribean vibe for the first time! It is awesome!

And now?
We know we need to make plans how to continue. We always said we would make plans after we crossed the Atlantic. And now we are here, we keep on delaying making decisions. Miguels dream was to sail to the Philippines. But the longer we sail, the more we realize we do not like the long passages. And crossing the Pacific is a very long passage. Little by little, Miguel has accepted that sailing to the Philippines will not happen (at least not now). That leaves us the options of staying in the Carribean, or sailing back to Europe. This crossing seems to be at ubit more tricky then the crossing we just did. I am not sure if I want to do another crossing, which might mean Miguel needs to get crew on board. Or we ship Saetta back, and we fly back, although this is very expensive. So there is plenty to think about, and decisions need to be made in the next couple of weeks. After all, we are depending on weather windows and we do not want to miss them!

Other then the practical, there are also other reasons to consider. I love going to new places, exploring the wonders of this world. What a beautiful things we have seen and there is so much more to see. But I also find it hard. Like Miguel says: the highs are high, but the lows are low. I wouldn’t mind going back to a more structured lifestyle again: not always having to think about where to go next, what to do. But go to work and enjoy free time. I might regret saying this after working again for a month (after all, we always want what we don’t have), but it is how I feel now. Where this life has to be, it’s still completely open!

For now, we really enjoy being in the Grenadines. So when we are not discussing difficult topics, we enjoy the sunshine, beach, local rum, company, scenery: the great cruisers life!!