March | 2016 | Sailing on Neko

It has taken us 3 seasons to finally hit the brakes a bit and put into practice the fine art of stopping to smell the roses.

Yes, that’s us.

This may seem laughable to some who think we are already going at a snail’s pace, but some cruisers no doubt roll their eyes thinking our speed is that of a delivery captain. But for us, we are trying to slow down and shift our approach to living this life more as it was intended. We have the gift of time so why not really take advantage and use it. I stopped spending most, not all but most, of my time in the new places planning for the next place.

Enjoying some underwater time.

This is especially hard for me because I love to plan, research and examine my calendar like it is the Zapruder film. This was put into play during our last stop in the picturesque Turks & Caicos, where we spent a month in Providenciales.

Small coral reef growing next to our boat.

Surprisingly not purple, Prince’s or “the artist formerly known as Prince,” house on the island.

more conch lessons

James makes friends everywhere

Enjoying a night out and about with James & Charlotte

Cigar hunt

Not only did we take a last minute side trip to Haiti, we also enjoyed meeting some of the expat community and getting a small glimpse into their lives on this alluring island.

Enjoying a fantastic Syrian dinner made by Aida at Ben’s lovely home with neighbors from across the globe.

Celebrating Chloe’s birthday with half the island.

Best of all we had spur of the moment visitors which I honestly believe would have never happened if we’d planned in advance. Don’t worry I still love my iCalendar, but now I am filling it in more as a diary than an advanced planner.

Sophie ready for her first dive.

Off to the beach

Sophie enjoying the ride out to the dive site.

Eileen, Turks & Caicos, Feb 2016

Eileen takes a dip…

Same spot Eileen took a dip, Sophie sees some friends.

We took a side trip to Haiti from the Turks & Caicos. New friends, Ben and Chloe, wonderful people we met in Providenciales, run Caicu Naniki travel agency and specialize in trips to Haiti. Earlier we debated sailing the boat to Haiti around its western edge and underneath to get to the Dominican Republic. Although it is said to be a calmer route, it is significantly longer than sailing directly from the Turks & Caicos to the northern shore of the Dominican Republic bypassing Haiti altogether. That, together with the fact that our boat would not be insured while in Haiti, drove us to choose the latter route. So we were really glad to get an opportunity to go to Haiti anyway. It was just a short trip for 3 nights but it felt like being transported to another world and time.

Living large in our private jet to Haiti, okay okay, so maybe it wasn’t a lear jet but we were the only passengers.

Haiti is a beautiful, mountainous country. It is little developed and as the plane swooped in we saw green hills as far as the eye could see. The people of Haiti are quite special, particularly given the hardships of their life.

First sights of Cap Haitian

Stunning to look at, they stand tall and look you in the eye when addressing you. They have a sweet, slightly shy personality and are always willing to help out. Every wave or “bonjour” is met with a smile and a return salutation. They speak a version of creole that is completely unintelligible to us, but also speak French and quite a few speak English. So communication was not really a problem, especially since Charlotte and James speak some French.

Colorful loto kiosks everywhere

Colorful dress

Colorful music

Colorful kids

We were picked up by Dominique, who served as our ever-patient guide and driver. She is a dentist by training and has many and varied interests, but took time out of her busy days to help us. She seems to know everything about Haiti and we couldn’t have done this trip without her.

Dominique the only smart one who took a ride up the steep hill to the Citadel.

Their lives are very hard, however. The country is the poorest in the western hemisphere. There are none of the comforts that we take for granted back home. Refuse collection is a problem and the people live amidst appalling amounts of waste.

The UN and various NGO’s are there, but it is not clear what they are doing. The locals call them “turistas” because they can most often be found at the nicer resorts having a grand time. We don’t know the facts, but did see UN soldiers staying, drinking and eating at our beach resort. However, we did see them patrolling the street also. We just think the country needs better aid in terms of major systems – water, sewer, garbage collection, security, etc.

We stayed around Cap Hatien, the northern capital. We did not travel to Port au Prince, the capital as it is quite a way south and west. We did travel to the Citadel, built by 20,000 laborers from 1804 to 1820. It’s quite impressive, considering that the sovereign “Republic of Haiti” was established on January 1, 1804 as the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the second republic in the Americas, the only nation in the western hemisphere to have defeated three European superpowers (Britain, France and Spain), and the only nation in the world established as a result of a successful slave revolt. Henri Christophe, emperor of the newly free country’s northern half, decided it needed forts to defend itself from the French and enemies to the south, and the Citadel is the centerpiece of it. It’s a magnificent fort and seems truly impregnable. It is well preserved, including the many armaments scattered about.

Citadelle Laferrière

Will they make it up the hill?

All our fantastic guides

Field trip for local school children.

Hundreds of unfired cannonballs

Most of our pictures have a small caption embedded in them. But this simple picture has a story that we have to tell. There was smoke and the sound of drumming coming from this little settlement. Danny, our guide at the Citadel – well not really a guide, but a guy who attached himself to us and through persistence proved valuable to us – informed us that it is voodoo being practiced. He told us that one time a man brought his cow to the voodoo priest to be sacrificed. The priest told the man to do it himself. The man thought he was stabbing the cow with a machete but he was really stabbing himself. He was under a spell and thought he had a cow with him when he was actually alone. It was a creepy story.

Anyway, Cap Hatien is a feast for the eyes. We could not get enough of just looking around at the city, its citizens and scenery. We took about a billion photos and thought we’d share some with you.