Where The Ocean Took Us
Published by Kelly Girl Waterhouse at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 Kelly Waterhouse
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Discover other titles by Kelly Girl Waterhouse at Smashwords.com
Title 1 – Sailing The Waterhouse: Swapping Turf for Surf
Introduction
The ocean allowed my husband and I to sail to many amazing places in our thirty-five foot sailboat. We visited over thirty countries within four years. The images in this eBook include our favorite stops along the way and some unique experiences we encountered on our vessel.
Many of the photographs have a short description which will provide entertainment. But if you want more of the story or information on the destination, I will insert page links to our website (www.SailingTheWaterhouse.com) for access to more information at your leisure.
I hope you enjoy the voyage.
Bon Voyage
Moorea, is the name of our vessel. She was built in 1974 in La Rocelle, France by Michel Dufour. We never tested our boat on the open ocean. But we knew she was sturdy and like her crew, was prepared for adventure.
Mexico
Los
Frailes, Mexico:
One anchorage that sticks out in my mind is Los Frailes. We had to
wait out strong winds from the north with seventeen other boats.
Camping out were two groups. Gringos from the States and Canada,
taking advantage of the free beach and Mexican Fishermen making a
living from the sea.
The men lived in dark tin shacks. No modern conveniences in their camp, just the tools they needed to fish.
Another location in Mexico that sticks out for us is Isla Isabella. This island is difficult destination for most travelers to visit. There isn't a hotel on the island, but a fish shacks and thousands of birds...like this Blue Footed Boobie.
The Frigate nests here too.
Pelicans call this island home as well. Notice the white stained rocks. It is dried up bird guano. The smell is eye-watering...maybe the main reason for the lack of hotel accommodations.
Polynesian Islands
Ua Poa Island, Marquesas. This anchorage was small but beautiful. Polynesian Islands
A crown of flowers and a hearty Polynesian laugh.
Kelly catching his first Mahi Mahi. It took days to eat...breakfast, lunch & dinner.
The Haka Warrior dance is something common in among the Polynesian Islanders. Each island group or even island has their own version of the dance. I asked these kids on Makemo Island (Part of the Tuamoto Atolls) to teach me theirs.
We
found an artist on Makemo Island whose canvas is Black Pearls.
The
Black Pearls we have from him has a Mahi on one side and a Tiki on
the other.
A fish and farmers market in Tahiti.
We found flying fish at this market. This is something we didn't need to purchase since we would find dried up flying fish on our deck after a night-time passage.
Suva,
Fiji:
This is one of my favorite photos of government agents from Suva,
Fiji.
They boarded our boat to clear us into the country. They
were very gracious and
professional. It was a pleasure to have
them aboard.
In this photo are parents watching an elementary school's program. No chairs needed. Just sit under the shade of a tin roof and on top of a tarp. This little girl was wondering who the pale looking guests were.
Most villager's homes are simple consisting of a concrete floor, four walls and a tin roof. This one has electricity. We found this pleasant woman sitting outside enjoying the day.
Prison in Fiji: At first glance I didn't realize this was a prison. The mural looked too fanciful to occupy convicts. Though this may look like a pleasant theme park, I doubt the inmates are having fun...as it should be.
I believe this dish came from the sea...like seaweed. Normally I try new food, but this one wasn't as appealing to me with the flies landing on them. But it seemed to be a local favorite.
Vanuatu: Here is another market in Vanuatu. I love seeing a live chicken in the basket and live crab strung together. They also used the palm fronds to carry the taro and other vegetables. Very eco-friendly.
Niue: This is a picture of the coast line of Niue Island. We never heard of this island before visiting it. Many haven't since it can't boast of white sandy beaches or tranquil bays. The whole coastline is jagged rock. But it does have amazing caves to explore and Talava Arches....(see next photo)
This is a Talava Arch which was formed by the sea. This was once a cave which collapsed. The ocean's waves worked it away. No one knows how long this arch will last.
New Zealand
A Maori Marae in Rotorua, New Zealand. A Marae is the place where the tribe meets. The carvings are intimidating and appealing.
Great Barrier Island, New Zealand: This island off the coast of North Island near Auckland. We decided to anchor in Port Fitzroy harbor to take in the lush landscape. When venturing on shore we found a map with over 60miles of trails for tramping (The Kiwi term for hiking).
On our tramp, we discovered hot springs, waterfalls and beautiful mushrooms. This place was a Hobbit's paradise and ours too.
Indonesia
Indonesia: This vast island nation is amazing. The ambassadors of the islands are the fishermen. Many would come up to us to trade their fish for some trinket or other item. This fisherman had a small catch he kept under his canoes floor board. Look how narrow his boat is. and the rough planks that make up his vessel. Amazing.
Komodo Dragons...can't say I like this creature, but we spent a day on the beach with them happily risking our lives. The saliva from this dragon is deadly. The bacterium kills its prey, so we cruisers and a few local fishermen that were walking the beach with these guys were careful to keep clear of its path.
Krakatoa Valcano: Minding our own business with another our friends on sailing vessel, Ohana Kai, we heard a loud boom. It was the dormant volcano decided to erupt! We got an explosive show that day.
Bali, Indonesia: A stop at a coffee and tea plantation is a must when visiting Bali. These coffee beans are roasted by hand, not machines and it shows in every last aromatic drop of coffee. Summatra coffee from Indonesia is perfection. The earthy roasted aroma lingers in my mind as I look at this photo.
Thailand
Phi Phi Leh, Thailand: Does this beach look familiar? It is the beach from the movie The Beach, starring the sexy Leonardo DiCaprio. He was playing that bewildered traveler looking for meaning in life and got more than he bargained for. If you haven't seen the movie you should because the beach is one of the best parts of the film. In real life the beach lives up to its beauty, but that is before the fifty tour boats start lining up the shore line.
This photo was taken on Phi Phi Island (the big brother to Phi Phi Leh). The kids were having so much fun; I wanted to capture their youth, to keep it timeless.
This is Wat Phramahathat in Nikon Si Thammart. Alot to say in one breath. What I like about this photo is that it reminds me of our guide. See next photo...
Here is Kelly placing gold leaf on the King's statue. Our guide showed us how to do it and gave us pieces of gold leaf to do the same. He speaks only a few (like three) words of English so his tour was in Thai. But somehow he figured out that Kelly and I didn't have children. So he would take us to the Fertility God so we could make him offerings too.
Maldives
Male, Maldives: This nation consisting of low lying coral crushed atolls is 100% Muslim. When we arrived at this nation we read that pork and alcohol products were not allowed on shore and not to bring any other religious icons or bibles on shore either. This made us careful not to step on any toes. But after a few days of staying there and seeing the price of imported water, we found out that the mosque provides clean drinking water. So we went to fill up our jugs. A man that came up to fill his jugs saw all of ours and helped us to fill our containers.
As we all know, Coke products are in many countries. But did you know in the Maldives they make Coke from desalinated water (salt water processed into drinking water). As far as we know it is the only place allowed to make Coke this way. Kelly loves pop, so we filled up with it.
Countries Along the Red Sea
Aden, Yemen: We spent three quick days here. Friendly people this impoverished city of neglected buildings, an influx of Somali women begging and lack of visual prosperity.
I love this photo of a normal day on the busy streets of Aden. I had to be careful of taking pictures of the women since they do not like their photos taken. I decided to take candid photos of street life instead of a direct photo of women.
A little surprise...it is rare to get photos of women in these countries. These college girls were different, they didn't mind at all. Each of them was going to college for challenging careers. One wanted to be a News Anchorwoman, one a French teacher and the other a Pediatrician. I hope they can make their goals happen. By the way, do you see the Oreo styled cookie box in the background?
As I mentioned before, Aden is a poor city. From some of the conversations we had with the locals, it seems most of the wealth and the power of the nation is in North Yemen. Years before in Yemen there was a civil war between the North and South. The war maybe over, but the tensions between the two are evident. So when I look at this man in the street I wonder what his intense thoughts are.
Sudan
Saukin, Sudan: Motoring into this small port at day break we saw these stone ruins with golden notes of color from the rising sun. It felt peacefully disturbing but was a spectacular entrance to a city decimated by years of civil war. Walking through the town you step back sixty years. Donkeys pulling carts, foot peddled sewing machines and exposed wiring on buildings. I loved the faces we encountered on our walk through the small town...see next three photos.
Three men visiting with the sword maker.
A man buying fruit asked me about my camera. I told him it was a gift from my father. He showed me his beautiful gold watch.
This boy looks sad, but he was full of smiles right before I took his photo. I wonder about him every time I see his picture.
Cairo, Egypt: This is Egypt, pre-Arab Spring. It is hard to get a picture without hundreds of tourists in the way, but I managed to find two men having a discussion in front the Great Pyramid of Giza. The best shot all day.
This is a view of Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. We were told the burning bush is within these walls. See next photo.
Christians from around the world visit St. Catherine's Monastery in order to see and touch the burning bush. In fact all throughout Egypt there are Coptic Christian churches and museums that tell of the story of Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus traveling to Egypt to escape King Herod. If you are interested in making this pilgrimage, the rooms were about $15 per night at the monastery which included room and food.
Mediterranean
Turkey: Beautiful anchorages are easy to find in Turkey and you can usually find ancient ruins to mill around in too.
Greece: The Corinth Canal in Greece was fantastic. Transiting the canal saved us about 480 miles. The canal was completed in 1893 and cost about $200 US dollars to use. It’s length is 3.2 miles with a width just over 80 feet. Large merchant ships don't transit this canal since they would scrape their hull along the towering rock walls.
This picture was taken of us from Tristan on Ohana Kai. He was hoisted to the Mast's Spreaders.
Italy: This is Procida Island. Not a high-end tourist island like Capri, but one that is just as appealing to me.
The steep hills of this island are a trip, but how they managed to build on them is another. When I see this small vehicle on this single lane road, it makes me smile.
I don't think any picture can show how dangerous it is to drive along the Amalfi coast. See the cars lining the narrow two way street.
People ask us which countries have the best food. Italy ties with Thailand as number one. But visiting the farmers markets in Italy is the best. The baskets of sundried tomatoes, buckets of olives and fresh mozzarella floating in whey are my favorite things to buy. Then I like to get in a cappuccino to keep my energy up in order to carry all the things I got back to the boat.
Bosnia: Okay Bosnia is not on the Mediterranean, but we left our boat in Italy and took a ferry to Croatia. That is where our friend came to pick us up and whisk us to his homeland, Bosnia. We had a spectacular week in and around Sarajevo but my favorite visit was to their family farm. Wood fences made from the lands trees, stacks of straw one story tall and animals roaming the property. The mountains reminded me of the sound of music and the food was homemade.
Gibraltar: Did you know that on top of Gibraltar lived a community of Babary Apes. They are thought to have been imported from Morocco hundreds of years ago. They say that if the Apes leave Gibraltar so would the English rule. They are the only wild living apes in Europe.
Crossing the Ocean
On our way to the Caribbean
Grenada: The annual Grenadian Sailing Festival is held on the pristine shores of Grand Anise beach and where many small “work” boats crewed by Grenadians raced for two days. To qualify as a finish for each race, after crossing the finish line, one crew member from each boat is to run up the beach to drink a shot of rum. A fun spectator event and some of the rigging had bamboo spars as part of the rig. There was also racing for larger vessels that occurred all week long.
Curaco, Part of the ABC Islands: Carnival in Curaco is fun! There are bigger cities to attend carnival, but I feel this is a safe and fun place to have carnival and a time of year when the locals really strut their stuff.
We watched for hours the beautiful costumes and floats passing by us. We were at the end of the 3 mile dance where the participants looked exhausted.
Panama
Panama: This is a Mola. It is an embroidered panel made by Kuna women that incorporate it into a blouse. There are about five to six layers of fabric to this Mola. To make the pattern and specific color to show, the fabric is cut and stitched.
Here is a Kuna woman wearing a traditional outfit with her Mola. It is said the women rule the home in their culture and bring home the money. The husband usually fish and are a bit dependent on their wives. Kuna's are one of the shortest ethnic groups in the world. They don't get much taller than five feet.
We came across a restaurant entertaining their customers during Sunday brunch with traditional folk dancing. The colorful costumes and stamping of the feet made it fun to watch.
Riding a bus in Panama looks fun. In fact if we had our public transport this colorful, maybe more people would use it.
Throughout our voyage we flew the United States flag. It was during the time when people said Americans were disliked abroad and when Anti-American sentiment was high. We never took our flag down even when sailing up the Red Sea. We were not going to hide who we were and we wanted to be good ambassadors to the people we met. We also wanted to show Americans that is safe to travel beyond our borders. Just be travel savvy.
To learn more about our story and how we managed to take four years off to cruise the world, read my book called Sailing The Waterhouse: Swapping Turf for Surf by Kelly Girl Waterhouse.
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Excerpt from Sailing The Waterhouse: Swapping Turf for Surf
Before The Boat
I had been thinking about a way out. Even after tossing around the idea for a while, neither of us would commit. Finally it was the candle party I hosted that became the catalyst, and put us in motion to pursue our dreams.
It was the kind of candle party a woman feels obligated to attend, because the host had gone to her party. The problem is, once you begin the hosting circuit, it turns into a reciprocating suffocating cycle of cooking and lingerie parties that eventually evolve into innocently organized money gift-giving parties. Only a good friend would pay $25 for a two-inch forest-scented candle when they could get a generic pine-scented candle for a buck at the drug store. When you reach this point of throwing money away, the reality of a Ponzi scheme eventually comes next, under the guise of women who are re-circulating $500 amongst themselves. When I finally came to my senses and said no, I was admonished for not participating.
My husband and I started to seriously question what we were we working for. Looking at our car payment, cable package, high mortgage, new clothes, and a lifestyle that focused on the material goods we acquired, was no longer satisfying to us. We wanted something more, like a real challenge and yet it was more than having a challenge. It was also understanding our mortality because our life experiences taught us how fragile humanity really is. We have no guarantee of walking this earth tomorrow.
So we sold our house to live on a boat. It seems like a simple act but it took us over a year to do it. We paid down our credit card debt by cutting back on our small luxuries of HBO, DSL internet package, avoided buying cell phones, and dined out less, basically becoming socially inept by our peers’ standards. The signs were evident that we were on a course for change. Once we left the house, it caused a bit of commotion among our family, friends and some casual observers.
Why would you want to live on a boat? was the question we were frequently asked. My husband was vague with his answers because he didn’t want to go into any specifics, but I would say proudly, “Because we want to sail the world!” At that moment there would be a puzzled look on the questioner’s face, and a response of, “What?”
Before we could leave on our sailboat, we had to save money for cruising. That meant living on our boat for a couple of years. This allowed us to get to know our vessel. She was a big boat for us. So we had to learn how to sail her, especially me.
The following pages reveal the odd challenges we faced with this new dock-dwelling lifestyle. But the many peculiar experiences we encountered as Live-Aboards—people who live on boats full-time in a marina—helped prepare us for our adventure.
Eventually we had a proper bon voyage party and left the Strait of Juan de Fuca with our wanderlust dreams for a pleasure-seeking life. Unfortunately those dreams were tested with unexpected foul weather off the West Coast, also known as the Graveyard of the Pacific.
About the Author:
Kelly Waterhouse (aka Kelly Girl) grew up in Minnesota, practically in the middle of a corn field next to one of the 10,000 lakes within the state. Not afraid to get her toes wet, she relocated to Seattle, Washington shortly after graduating from college in the early 90’s. It was there she met a man named Kelly, who became her husband and taught her how to sail in the briny waters of the Puget Sound. That is when their vision to cruise the world began.
Discover other titles by Kelly Waterhouse at Smashwords.com:
Title 1 - Sailing The Waterhouse: Swapping Turf for Surf
Connect with Me Online:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@KellyGirlWater
My blog: http://www.SailingTheWaterhouse.com