Before we started cruising, I used my soda stream every day!! I don’t like flavored soda full of sugars, but I LOVE sparking water with a slice of lime and I also add sparkling water to my wine to make wine spritzers. I really wasn’t sure how I was going to survive without it.
I was not going to purchase single use bottles and create even more plastic pollution. I also did not want to purchase and lug cans of club soda back to the boat.
I started researching how to exchange and/or fill empty Soda Stream canisters in the Caribbean and my research was not coming up with good news and I almost didn’t bring my Soda Stream with me….. But, I am very happy I did!! I have good news for all of you Soda Stream users, on boats cruising the Eastern Caribbean.
YES, YOU CAN ENJOY YOUR SODA STREAM WHILE CRUISING THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN!!!
There are at lease 4 islands in the Eastern Caribbean that will refill or exchange empty Soda Stream canisters! Here is the list!!
St.Thomas – Caribbean Inflatables, www.caribbeaninflatable.com tel: 1-340-775-6159 Note: Here you need to have the freedom valve for them to refill the canister
In Grenada you can drop your cylinders and get them back refilled within 24 – 48 hours at the following service stations: Budget Marine at Spice Isle Marine Services Prickly Bay Marina (Marina Office) Secret Harbour (Marina Office) Sherri Roopchand – Wholesale Yacht Parts Whispercove Marina CK’s Super Value John Hovan – Fast Manicou Grenada Marine (Marina Office)
NOW, I have even better news for all of you Soda Streamers…. In other places like Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic you can refill your own Soda Streams using Dry Ice.
Click Here…For a quick instructional video we made while refilling ours. I kept it under 2 minutes and low resolution so it should be easy to watch for those of you with slow wifi or limited data. When Using Dry Ice, you can refill a Soda Stream canister for less than $5.00!!!
Here is the direct link it the ^^Click Here… ^^ didn’t work
The Yacht Club Marina at Palmas del Mar is by far the nicest marina we have visited since we’ve move on board!! This community of boaters and staff are the friendliest group of people we have met along the way.
Palmas de Mar is a gated community located about 3 miles South of Humacao, Puerto Rico. The Yacht Club is the marina between the community and the sea.
The town of Humacao has almost everything you need to provision and many well known US food franchises to satisfy your cravings from back home.
The pool is inviting and a great place to spend the afternoon reading a good book. It’s perfectly located on the side of the marina where the trade winds are always blowing, so you can work on your tan without getting too hot!!
Rafael at the Tiki Bar, by the pool, makes the best Cheeseburgers in the entire Eastern Caribbean. I am not exaggerating either!!! He makes a 16 oz double cheese burger that I will still be craving from the other side of the world! I can’t even count how many we’ve eaten in the past few weeks.
Rafeal and his famous cheeseburgers!!Target Rent a Car is conveniently located in the parking lot of the marina. They have newer cars that are clean and in decent condition. They charge between $35-50 a day, depending upon the time of the year. We also rented a car one-way to the San Juan airport. A one-way fee of of $40.00 is applied, but thi was still less expensive than getting a taxi and we ran around to do some shopping before leaving for the airport and on our way back from the airport to the marina.
Since we are at a marina we decided to have our rigging professionally checked. We contacted Joaquin from The Rigging Shop. He was very through and did a great job. The cost was only $80; money well spent for peace of mind that our rigging is in good condition and ready for another year of cruising.
I can not recommend The Yacht Club enough!!! We have never been a crew who has liked being in a marina. We have always come in, gotten done what we needed to do and left…. This Marina has sucked us in and we are going to have a hard time leaving this community that has made us feel so welcomed.
To learn more about The Yacht Club Marina watch out YouTube video below.
1.) As a family we are going to reduce our use of single use plastic items.
It is heart-breaking to see all of the plastic that is floating in the ocean and washed ashore abandoned on uninhabited islands. Do you know that every straw that you have used in your life time is still around somewhere; whether it is laying on a beach or in a landfill is pointless. The point is, it is still on this planet and with every straw, plastic stirrer, bag, bottle, etc, that we use, it’s accumlating and adding to the the plastic pollution on this planet. It’s only a small step, but we are going to do our part and this is how.
– We have been using reusable water bottles, but sometimes we forget them. If we forget them this year, we will stay thirsty because we will NOT purchase single use plastic bottles of any kind. When we purchase fresh coconut water we will take reusable bottles for them to fill.
– We have purchased reusable copper straws. When we go out to restraraunts we will take our reusable straws and ask the server not to put straws in our drinks.
– We will also take our own cups to beach bars and restraraunts that use single use plastic cups. They will use our reusable cups or we won’t purchase a drink.
– We are usually very good about taking our reusable grocery bags to the store and will continue not to use plastic bags.
2.) Keep up with our Blog and Vlog.
After looking back over our pictures and videos last year we realized that we are missing a lot of islands and adventures because we didn’t didn’t take any pictures or videos. It’s crazy!!! We are traveling to some of the most beautiful and remote places on this planet; places that most people will never get to see and we didn’t take ANY pictures or videos to share!!! Ugh, we promise to be better this year.
3.) We want to not only learn Spanish but be fluent in Spanish.
We will be traveling through Spanish speaking countries for the next year and we don’t want to be a typical tourist who visits for a few days and leaves. We want to immerse ourselves in the Latin Americian history, culture and language.
Today is the first day of the rest of our lives!! Our goal everyday is to be happy and make this planet a better place to live.
From Culebra we had a short 25 mile, downwind sail to Ilsa Palomino (Palomino Island) which is about 3 miles of the coast of Puerto Rico. The luxurious Waldorf Astoria, El Conquisador Resort owns part of Palomino Island and uses it exclusively for their guest. There is a comfortable fast ferry that travels back and forth from the island to the resort about every 1/2 hour.
We pulled in and picked a morning ball up next to our friends on Saltair 3; as known as Trio Travels. They arrived a couple hours ahead of us.
Cole was already to go explore the island and paddled over to get Tyler as soon as we arrived. Tyler threw his paddle board in the water and they were off. Rich and I stayed onboard and enjoyed a late lunch before heading to the island.
After lunch we dropped the dingy, motored ashore and beached the dingy on the beach on the Northern side of the ferry dock. After walking along a huge fence which stretched along the beach and dock, we couldn’t find a way off of the beach and on to the other parts of the island, but we couldn’t find the boys either. We did find a small 4′ high gate that was pad locked and figured the boys must have climbed over the gate to get in. So, we did a quick look around to make sure no one was watching and climbed the gate. As we were walking around the resort we found the boys, playing miniature golf!!!
Our conversation went like this:
Tyler: Hey, how did you guys get in here?
Rich: we climbed the fence at the gate. How did you guys get in?
Tyler: We climbed the fence too.
Tyler and Cole together: Everything in here is free!!!
There were all types of fun games on the beach to play.
If you didn’t want to play games you could find a chair on the beach and work on your tan.
Or, relax under the shade of a palm tree.
……
The next morning we dinghied over to a small sandy spit call Isla Palamintos. We thought this place would be the perfect place to fly the drone, and we were right!!! The two islands are surrounded by a huge reef.
We had the entire island to ourselves!!!
We are more thankful everyday that we get to live this amazing life. Remote islands like this make us truly appreciate everything we have given up to be here. Life is not about how many things you can accumulate, but about how many memories you get to enjoy together.
Tyler produced a video about our time at these two islands: Click Here!
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Culebra has always been one of our favorite islands. It’s small and quaint, but there is a huge ferry that travels to and from Fajardo, Puerto Rico a couple times a day that costs only $2.50 each way. This makes provisioning at a larger island easy and inexpensive. You get the best of both worlds here!
Another of the many things that makes Culebra so charming is that people own golf carts to run around the island. We rented golf carts with the crew from Saltair 3 to explore the many beaches of the island. We decided to splurge and upgraded to the off-road version for an additional $5.00!!
The first beach we stopped was Zoni Beach on the North Eastern side of the island. Zoni Beach stretches at least a mile with creamy white sand and lined with palm trees. You can spend hours here and be the only human enjoying this beach the entire time.
We stood by the same tree a year ago and had our pictures taken.
Zoni Beach 2016 ^Zoni Beach 2015 ^
Quite a change, huh? The 2016 family looks a lot happier. We are standing closer together and Rich and I have lost some weight!!
After Zoni Beach we drove around town where Tyler and Cole found their perfect vehicle; an old VW pickup truck. Cool Ride dudes!!
I can definitely picture these two driving around an island in truck to find the perfect surfing spot.
Then we toured a few more beaches.
It was lunch time, so we ate a local style lunch at a kiosk on Flamenco Beach and spent the afternoon body surfing. I can’t believe we didn’t get a picture of the delicious Garlic Shrimp Mufungo!! YUM!!!
That night our friends on s/v Trebuchet captured Sail Pending while taking a picture of the beautiful sunset.
Since Culebra is located off the Eastern Coast of Puerto Rico, it’s fairly easy to travel to and from the East Coast of the United States. If any of our friends, up North are looking for a quick get away to a warm place this winter, I recommend checking out Culebra. Just book a flight to Puerto Rico, take a taxi to Fajardo and get the next ferry to Cluebra. This island is as casual and chill as you can get. You can find a beautiful beach that you will have all to yourselves or a lively beach bar with a fun vibe and live, local music. If you are looking for a posh, all inclusive resort, this is not the island for you, but if you are looking for a fun getaway with a little adventure thrown in, then this island is perfect!!! Have fun and get away to somewhere warm!! It looks cold up there. Brrrrrrrr…..
If you want to see more of our time in Culebra, please check out Tyler’s video at the link below:
Who would have thought that one of the hardest parts about cruising and traveling full time is deciding where to go next!!
We moved aboard Sail Pending, October 2015 and spent 3 months familiarizing ourselves and getting comfortable with her around the Virgin Islands. But, since February, we have been on the move, as full time travelers. We have sailed over 2000 miles, visited 12 different countries and 64 different islands.
The 2016 Hurricane Season officially ended on November 30th!! So, this means our insurance now allows us to go wherever we want until June 1st, 2017, which is the start of next Hurricane Season in the Nothern Hemisphere.
Just knowing that the entire world is ours to explore, in our floating home, is amazing and just a little overwhelming!!! Who would have thought that this decision would be so freakin’ difficult.
I am sure most of you have heard that we have decided to explore the Western Caribbean with extended stays in the Dominician Republic, Cuba, Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. There are three reasons we have decided to go this route:
1.) Getting to explore Cuba, before the influx of tourism.
2.) The 1000km long Mesoamerician Reef which is the second largest barrier reef system in the world and stretches from Cancun, Mexico to the Bay Islands of Honduras. We’ve been snorkeling the same reefs in the Virgin Islands for 10+ years and the reefs are becoming bleached and are slowly dying. We want to sail along this barrier reef and be able to snorkel everyday.
3.) Staying for an extended period of time in Guatemala is relatively inexpensive. The exchange rate is 7.5 Guatemalain Dollars to $1.00 USD. We will be able to rent a car for about $90 USD a month; marina fees for Sail Pending will be about $250 USD a month, and a really nice rental house with all utilities, will probably cost us about $450 USD a month. We’ll be able to live cheap and explore Central America from land.
We’ll keep a close eye on the weather in June and plan to sail up the Rio Dulce River in Guatemala beginning of July 2017. This is where we’ll keep Sail Pending in a marina. We will be far enough inland during Hurriane Season, that we will be considered, “outside of the Hurricane Box” and this will make our insurance company happy.
But, staying on the boat, up a mosquito infested river with Crocidiles is not what I consider a fun time…. So, that’s why our plan is to rent a house even farther inland in the town of Antigua, Guatemala. This charming town is by the base of a volcano and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the amount of history, culture and ruins surrounding it. We will completely immerse ourselves in the Spanish traditions and learn the language while we are guest’s in this country. Here are a couple of pictures of the town that I found online.
So, stay tuned for more videos and pictures of our journey. We are getting a new and improved drone while we are back in the US for Christmas, so we will have more drone footage, as well. Thanks for following along!!
As our first season is downwind from us and a new season is approaching, we are going to look back over the past 12 months and give you a list of our favorite Eastern Caribbean Islands. Everyone has different tastes and I know our list is probably different than someone else’s list. This is just our opinion. Below is a map to see where we have traveled.
Last year we visited 11 countries and 62+ islands from Puerto Rico to Trinidad. Here is the list to our top 10 islands.
10.) Trinidad; We really enjoyed this island because it was so different than the rest. It had the huge city of Port-of-Spain and the remoteness of the Eastern Coast. The Indian style food was delicious and the people of the island were friendly. We visited places where tourist don’t go and WE were the ones getting our picture’s taken. We are sorry we didn’t have time to visit Tobago, but maybe next time around. (Literally, We will have to go the entire way around the world to get back to Tobago from where we are going.)
9.) Water Island and USVI’s; I am looking forward to movie night at Water Island and just sitting in the water watching tourist come off the Kon-Tiki. I know I am weird, but this feels like home and I am ready to get back for a visit.
8.) The BVI’s; OK, OK, I Know….The BVI’s are crowded and things are expensive (VERY EXPENSIVE!) You have to hit the stores at the right time to get semi-fresh food and I don’t know how I am going to spend more than $2.00 on a beer. But, I am looking forward to going back to these islands. It is an easy sail from one island to another and they are beautiful and fun!!
7.) Culebra; Is just off the coast of Puerto Rico, but feels like its 100’s of miles away from the US. The beaches are beautiful, the snorkeling is excellent, the hiking is good if you stay on marked paths, AND the best butcher in the Eastern Caribbean is located in a small back room of the grocery store. (note: not sure why we can not find any pictures of Culebra? I guess we have to go back and take more)
6.) Antigua; Beaches, Beaches, Beaches. How can you not love an island with 365 snow white sand beaches. One for each day of the year!!
5.) Montserrat; The people of this tiny island still live here because they love it and they are happy to show you why Monserrat is such a special place that even an active volcano won’t make them leave. Monserrat’s first settlers were Irish (white) slaves and St. Patty’s Day on this island is a must for any true blooded Irish person. It is a week long national celebration.
4.) Dominica; This country was truly amazing. The people were proud of their island and their culture. The locals tell us that there are more centenarians here than anywhere else in the world. Dominican’s pride themselves on living off the land and preserving the special resources of the island. They use herbs to heal everything from arthritis to cancers and also have the lowest health care cost per capita, at less than $300 per person, per year.
THE KIDS GOT TO PLAY IN A TREE HOUSE THAT WAS BUILT IN A CINNAMON TREE!3.) Martinique; The French islands really have it going on. Maybe its the food that gets us, but the islands are green and lush. For the most part people are friendly, but they are French, so what do you expect? Provisioning is easy because fresh items like meats and cheeses are flown in from France daily and fresh fruits and vegetables are grown locally on the islands.
2.) The Grenadine’s are a small group of Islands between St. Vincent and Grenada. The islands of Bequia, Canouan, Mustique,Tobago Cays, Mayreau, and Union make up these islands. They are not easy to get to unless you’re not on a boat and there really aren’t any posh resorts to stay at, but these islands are spectacular!! Every beach and every view is as beautiful as a postcard. The people are friendly and the snorkeling is amazing. This area truly is paradise and this is the area where we spent the most time last season and we still feel like we could spend more. It’s not #1 because of the lack of provisioning and stores. You have to come to these islands well stocked with food and spare parts.
1.) Guadeloupe; this was our absolutely favorite group of islands. The French food was amazing and provisioning was easy at every stop. The snorkeling at Iles de la Petite Terre was the best we’ve seen. The hiking was amazing and they had good trails. We loved everything about Guadeloupe and this is the one island we think we could live on if we had to choose one.
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A couple notes to the above list:
St. Martin/Sint Maartin; Would probably be farther up the list if it wasn’t the Marine Center of the Caribbean. We spent WAY too much money on boat parts and spares while we were here and did WAY too many boat projects. We worked more than played.
Grenada; I know people are wondering why Grenada isn’t on the list and here is why. Currently, there is a lot of crime against cruisers on the island, which makes it not so desirable. Also, there are SO many cruisers that spend months/years anchored in the same spot and it is very neighborhood like and “clicky.” Yes, Grenada is a beautiful island, but there are so many other wonderful islands around we found it very easy to leave and we were ready to go. BTW, If we only had to judge Grenada on the out islands of Carriacou, Sandy Island, and Petit St. Martinique then it would be pretty high on the list. We loved these islands.
So, There’s our list of the TOP 10 Islands in the Eastern Caribbean. What islands are your favorite?
Sail on Sail Pending 