The music’s beat at Carnival helps keep the rhythm in the street as dancers jiggle their way to towards the end of a three mile parade route.  The float carried the music, food and beverages (beer and cocktail drinks).  The dancers glistening faces wore exhausted smiles as they swayed past.

We arrived in Curacao two days prior and almost missed the party.  Carnival was in the last few days of a two month celebration of spectacular parades and parties.

Instead of being a spectator, next time I want to  join the party on the street and wear one of those colorful costumes. I now have it on my bucket list.  

If this is something you would like to try, check out Curacao’s Carnival website for more information on being a participant.     http://www.curacaocarnival.info/eng/index.php  

Bike with Moorea in Bay

Like the sails on our boat we felt our Dahon folding bikes were essential to our voyage around the world.   The bikes gave us freedom to travel away from the harbor and to get into the guts of a culture.

Sure you can hop on a bus or grab a taxi in most places, but the bike allowed us to stop where we wanted. We were able to explore side streets and meet people at our own pace.  Since they were little bikes it became a conversation piece or at least put a smile on a person’s face when they saw us peddle by.

We rode our bikes in many countries like Mexico, Tahiti, Tonga and Italy.  But our longest trip on the bikes was on Roti Island in Indonesia.  We decided to take a break from surfing, in the fishing village of Nembrala to the larger town of Baa.

Locals checking out bikes in Nembrala

It would be 24 miles of undulating hills, peaking at 500 feet in elevation and rural interior.  We weren’t sure what to expect for restaurants in between the two locations, so we packed water and food.  The plan was to stay in a hotel once we got to Baa.

Along the way we ran into a market.  We met teenage boys crowding around our rides, old women carrying their goods to market and people shouting out ‘Hello Mister & Misses” as we peddled down the paved road.

Boys with be boys

When we arrived in Baa, there wasn’t much to see.  The town resides next to the ocean.  The old ferry delivers visitors and supplies from the large island of Kupang.  It seems the ocean is the main supporter of this islands livelihood by supplying fish and seaweed  along with attracting foreign surfers.

The only hotel in town was booked with guests.  But after waiting 20 minutes, a room had opened up.  We think one of the hotel workers had given up their room for the night.

Robert took us out to dinner

Everyone we met were generous and friendly.  One man named Robert, treated us to dinner and told us to spread the news that Indonesia was a safe place to travel.  You could see the pride he had in his homeland.

Indonesia is an island nation diverse in culture and adventure.  It does have its flaws however…corrupt government officials trying to get money out of us, but if you can dodge them, you will find the people to be wonderful.

Not only did we bike through Indonesia, we learned how to surf and hung out with Komodo Dragons.

Click Here for more Stories and Photos of Indonesia

Our Tried & Tested Survival Tips to Living on a Boat With Your Spouse.

1. Husband – Test how far your wife can throw a coffee mug.
   I could only throw a dish 34 feet that is why we got a 35 foot boat.  My husband is lucky a man because I can’t throw anything.  Your wife might have a better arm then me…so you may need a bigger boat.
2. Wife – Stay out of the way when the tools come out.
   If your husband is up to his arms in oily grime and you see grease smudged hand prints on interior walls and your kitchen towels…this indicates trouble.  Look around.  If he has all his tools spread out in the cabin and you hear cussing from the engine room, it is serious.  Don’t complain about the mess, offer to help or even sympathize. You would be safer just going to your stateroom with a good book and staying there until he is finished.  This may take hours so bring a snack.
3. To the Couple- Respect Each Other’s Space & Resolve Quarrels Quickly
   Since you will be living in a small space it’s hard to sneak away like you can in a big house.  So when you see your spouse is reading or writing…avoid making conversation.   We all need a mental break from each other.  Finally, arguments.  In our relationship we swiftly resolve our disagreements.  When they are resolved they don’t come back in a snarky…”I told you so” comment three months later.  We learned early on, even before the boat, to communicate.  This is the most important tip I can provide.  It kept us from throwing each other off the boat during an ocean passage.

That is how I see it.  But if you have some tips of your own, let’s hear them.

Happy Sails,

Kelly Girl

Kelly fixing our outboard

“If you can’t find him cute, at least find him handy.”This is a phrase I  heard from my seventy year old friend, Don.  Every time he’d say this, his smile would be wide and toothy.

When it comes to my husband, I feel I got both.  He’s a cute handyman.  Luckily for me he knows how to fix the many gizmos that would break on our boat.  Sometimes I would be the one doing the damage.  In a single day I broke a few to many items.  I decided not to confess to one of them-stopping up the head (toilet).

So if you want to cruise on a boat, I would recommend having a handy partner go with you.  There will be times the trusty equipment you purchased will fail.  It may be something you can live without or a key role in getting from place to place.

So you may be surprised to find yourselves looking for boat parts and new equipment instead of watching the sunset in a beautiful location.  But even though there may be many repairs needed to keep your vessel going, it is usually done in spectacular locations.

But the kitchen had some good qualities.  It had a large refrigerator, a dishwasher and could hold more than one person in it and it would not lurch unexpectedly.   I know…these points I make aren’t typical attributes for a rundown kitchen.  Yet after six years of cooking in a galley that could barely fit two people and at times I would have to be strapped into (I’ll explain), a stationary kitchen, even one as malfunctioning as mine, was going to be a luxury.

Don’t get me wrong…my galley was great!  I would whip up some tasty meals on our boat.  I would make empanadas, sushi, pressure cook whole chicken, and throw together a home-made apple pie.  My husband would help me make fresh corn tortillas for fish tacos.  I didn’t even miss not having a microwave.

Those were the good times.  However there were times when I wanted a dishwasher.  It seemed like we were constantly washing dishes.  And there was a time I had a complete melt down in my galley.

It was when I was in the final stages of completing a big bowl of potato salad.  We were on a passage that had rough seas.  Usually I strap myself into the to the galley to keep me from flying out of it. But I didn’t.  So after I had spent hours cooking the potatoes and letting them cool before I peeled off the skin then cut the onions and diced the dill pickles it all when to hell.  I was mixing in the mayo.  The boat lurched and my bowl of potato salad flew out of my hands and completely dumped out onto the cabin floor.

I had a complete meltdown, like a two year does with a red face and horrific screams.  My meltdown was worse than a two year old’s since I could swear like a sailor.  Luckily for my husband this only lasted a few excruciating minutes and I came back to my senses.

So having an old stable kitchen even one as dysfunctional as mine was not a problem.  But here is the weird thing…now that we have a new kitchen with a working stove, beautiful cabinets and counter tops, I miss my galley.

I think it is time to get back on the boat.

Over all Kelly and I prefer to eat street food because that is where the locals go and usually it’s safe food.  But before taking on any eating adventures, I start building my immune system to handle less hygienic eating establishments.  I believe my tips work and I will share them with you.

Start with #1 to build up immune system in order to handle #5

1. If you drop food on the floor, eat it.  Don’t wash it, just eat it.
2. Don’t wash your hands before you eat, especially after handling public items, like shopping carts, door handles.
3. Eat your yogurt warm.  Make sure the consistency is soupy and has been at room temperature for a few hours.
4. Pick a local restaurant that is suspected of unhygienic practices.
5. Put some food outside on a picnic table, preferably near a smelly barn full of manure.  Let some flies land on the food then eat it.

If you think this whole list is disgusting and you can’t get past numbers one and two, then you need to watch a young child eat.  They eat things off the floor and never wash their hands before putting things in their mouth and somehow they survive.

Of course these are only suggestions but there are many reasons why you should eat street food on your trips.  Check out my top Five .

Moorea - Nav Desk

So we didn’t expect it to be too cold…we were wrong.  Since we both worked full-time and had an hour commute, we were away from our boat all day.  I was the one to come home first.  Many nights it was just below freezing outside and inside the temps were in the mid-thirties.

To warm up the cabin, I would turn on two small space heaters then start the oven to bake bread I had bought at the store.  Then I would curl up under layers of blankets waiting for my husband to return.  When he came through the cabin hatch, he would say it was cold with an interior temperature of 57 degrees.    Eventually the cabin would get up to 62 degrees.

When it was time for bed, our stateroom (bedroom) would be in the mid-forties as we crawled into the sheets.  We brought only one space heater into the stateroom due to the lack of floor space for it to rest upon.  Both of us would be wearing caps to bed and long johns.

These are some of the experiences, but check out the short video below.  It shows the icy docks and boat.  It was very slippery walking from and to our vessel.  Like I said, I will never forget our first winter living on Moorea.

Fair Winds,

Kelly Girl

1.       It’s Authentic Cuisine

No one is catering to your foreign tastes like tourist hotels do.  Instead these street vendors are making the tasty food to satisfy their customers which are the locals.

2.       The Price is Right

The price will not be grossly inflated.

3.       You are Mixing with the Locals

This is one way to strike up a conversation with the locals.  Even if you are in a country where you don’t speak the language, in my experience I have found one or two fellow customers wanting to engage in a conversation.

4.       It Supports Local Business

Your business will help support the local economy.

5.  Chances are You Won’t get Sick

If you pick a vendor that looks busy and appears to be hygiene conscious like wearing a hat to hold in hair or has their cold food cold and their hot food hot, you should be okay.  At least that has been my experience when eating Street Food.  If the local guy is getting his customer’s sick, he would be out of business.

I will be on BlogTalkRadio December 28th at 5:30PM (Arizona Time).  Tune in to hear about how we (an Average Middle-Class Couple) were able to make our dream of sailing the world come true.

Write up from BlogTalkRadio

Kelly Girl Waterhouse 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.

During their journey, Kelly Girl kept journals and wrote travel logs that covered over 30 countries. Kelly & Kelly Girl are accomplished world circumnavigators, sailing to 30 countries covering over 35,000 nautical miles. They shared a journey that many people can’t imagine or even know where to begin in order to live it themselves.

Sailing The Waterhouse:Swapping Turf for Surf, reveals the couple’s challenges of transitioning from a land-based life to living on a vessel and their first ocean sailing experience.

Kelly Girl Waterhouse will be talking to us about how she made her dreams come true and you can too for the New Year, 2012.

Stateroom Berth is smaller than a full sized bed - Storage underneath -

In a boat, you have to evaluate everything you put into it.  Why?  Because you can’t put too much stuff on them or they’ll sink, especially a small boat like Moorea.

My Galley - Frig is right of stove & under the white covers

Since we lived in a marina, we had no need for gardening supplies.  I didn’t need a large vacuum to clean carpeted rooms.  In these small living quarters, a handheld vacuum replaced the large one and I used a rag to clean the wood floors.

Instead of a large refrigerator, mine was about the size of a large cooler.  So I would shop for food more often.

I didn’t have a walk-in closet, mine was the size of an oversized suitcase.  We only kept on board the clothes we wore and could store our seasonal clothing under our bunk.

That brings up another point for living on the boat.  Every place that had a seat, there was storage space under it.  We kept tools and spare parts for the boats there.  I had shelves I could store my pantry supplies and other galley items.

In regards to two people sharing this limited space.  We grew closer as a couple.  If we got into an argument, there was no place to hide so we had to deal with it.

Now we are living in a small house, we are careful about having too much unnecessary stuff. I feel that if we own too much, it will start owning us.  So we are keeping a minimalist lifestyle and counting down the days until we get back onto a boat.

Cheers

Kelly Girl

View  More Pictures of  our boat, Moorea 

Moorea - Nav Desk