Meiringen, Switzerland

August 14th - 20th

We left London on August 13th and took several trains (including the underwater chunnel!) to arrive in Zurich, Switzerland late in the evening.  Our high speed train from Paris to Zurich had a major delay due to train crash / accident from the train in front of us which closed down the track, forcing us to backtrack and go another route.  After one night in Zurich Hilton, we jumped back on the train and headed to the Swiss Alps region, the Interlaken-Oberhasli district of Switzerland.   

We spent out first night in Meiringen, preparing for our backpacking adventure through the Swiss Alps.  

Meiringen is home to the Sherlock Holmes Museum.  Here's Gene with the Sherlock Holmes statue outside the museum.

Kat with the waterfall in the background 

(Famously known as the waterfall where Sherlock Holmes died - we didn't realize he was a real person!)

 Enjoying pre-hike beer & pizza in this Swiss Pizzeria

 Festival in Meiringen the night we were staying there.  Here are the women and men of the town dancing in their traditional costume (Lederhosen and Dirndl).

London
August 10th - 13th

We arrived in London on the morning of August 10th after an overnight flight.  We checked into our hotel and were eager to walk around the city.  

Here are some pictures from our first glimpse of the city of London.

We arrived on a Saturday and the park and the city as a whole was completely packed with people.  There were so many different nationalities and languages spoken; London is definitely the most multi-cultural city we've been to yet.

Hyde Park and the river that runs through part of it.  

One of the guards standing perfectly still outside of Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace 

(and no, we did not see Kate, William, or their new baby, Prince George)

Gene posing in front of the Hercules statue 

This was day 2, August 11.  We started by sightseeing at the Tower of London. 

Square inside the Tower of London area.  This building houses the Crown Jewels (with a crazy long line of tourists waiting to enter to see the jewels).

St. Paul's Cathedral

Rosetta Stone inside the British Museum

 

Part of the Egyptian exhibit inside the British Museum 

Big Ben

 

After walking around London for hours and seeing the majority of the main sights, we were ready to get off our feet.  We took a river ride down the Thames River, enjoying the boat ride while our tour guide entertained us and pointed out various sights of interest. 

The London Eye 

(Our tour guide calls it The Wheel of Fortune since it nets about 2.5 Million Pounds per year!  It's about 20 pounds per person for a 30-minute ferris wheel ride - we decided to skip it.) 

London Bridge 

(from the children's song)

Kat with a view of the Tower Bridge behind her

The next day, August 12, was my 31st birthday!  We ran around the city again this day, hitting a few more attractions that we missed the day before.  Later that night, we went out with Price Lindsey, one of Gene's best friends from high school that moved to London ~5 year ago.  We got to see the opening performance of his play that  he was the main actor in and also one of the producers.  Afterwards, we went out with him, the other actors in the play, and some of their friends.  Good times!

West Minister Abbey

West Minister Abbey 

Within the Top Dome of St. Paul's Cathedral

Outside the top dome of St. Paul's Cathedral

The view from the top of St. Paul's looking down at the Thames River

Kalalau moves on to new owners :( and Kat & Gene travel around the world... The blog continues!!

Much has happened since our last blog post!  

We returned to Florida after an incredible 8-month sailing expedition through the Caribbean just in time to get the boat clean up and ready to put on the market for sale.  We had Kalalau hauled out for bottom painting / antifoul and spent a solid week cleaning and polishing every crevice.  By the time we were done, she was sparkling, looking brand new, with all minor fixes completed!  Honestly, she looked better than she did when we bought her!  Not to mention the extensive list of upgrades we did as we were preparing for our sabbatical.  

Shortly after getting the boat cleaned up, Gene posted Kalalau for sale on the Leopard online forum where many current Leopard owners or prospective buyers stay attuned to the market, general Leopard boat questions, maintenance, etc.  Sure enough, within 24 hours, we had several seriously interested buyers and a even a couple of offers.  Within one week, we had found the perfect new owners, accepted their offer, and had them on the boat for a sea trial.  Of course, they loved her (who wouldn't!), and the deal was closed shortly thereafter.  The new owners are a wonderful family from Vancouver with 3 sons.  They plan to take a year off similar to us and sail around the Caribbean.  We're excited to hear about their upcoming experience and plan to follow their blog!

We are very sad to say our good-byes to Kalalau, but we are also very excited for the next leg of our adventure - our Round the World trip began on August 10th!!

We have decided to continue with our blog to share our stories and pictures from our Round the World trip (just ignore the title of the blog from here on out!).  Our travels began on August 10th and below is the list of countries we will be visiting (in order).  We're currently in northern Italy having just completed backpacking on the Alta Via 2 in the Dolomites (Italian Alps).

Be on the look out for blog posts covering our adventures as we travel to these countries over the next 4 months!

• Europe
• London
• Switzerland (Alps)
• Dolomites, northern Italy
• Florence
• Tuscany
• Cinque Terre
• Rome
• Amsterdam
• Paris
• India
• New Delhi
• Nepal
• Kathmandu
• Everest
• Thailand
• Laos
• Cambodia
• Hong Kong
• New Zealand
• Chile
• Patagonia

Final memories of our Kalalau...

Moored just outside of the marina at Staniel Cay, in front of the Thunderball Grotto.

Sitting pretty at her home dock in Lighthouse Point.  This was our last shot of her, just before we left for the airpot to begin our Round the World trip.

Georgetown, Great Exuma Island, The Bahamas

Friday, June 14

We left Rum Cay and sailed to Georgetown on Great Exuma Island.  We were running extremely low on fuel and Rum Cay hasn't had diesel in years, so we were forced to move on.  We had a beautiful sail to the Exumas, passing Long Island along the way.  And we happened to catch a blackfin tuna and a mahi (unfortunately, the mahi had worms so we threw it back).

Blackfin tuna!  Just in time for lunch.

Lunch time - Tuna Sashimi

Approaching Long Island (half way to Great Exuma Island)

 Gene's cutting open the Mahi and notices the worms in it's belly

Finally arrive in Great Exuma.  Here we're entering Elizabeth Harbor.

Sailing south down Elizabeth Harbor

We dropped the anchor in Elizabeth Harbor just outside of Exuma Yacht Club in Georgetown and headed off on the dinghy in search of a good restaurant to get some conch fritters.

The Chat N' Chill, a little restaurant on the small island just off of Stocking Island in Elizabeth Harbor.  They weren't open this evening, but Gene and I went back on Sunday for the Pig Roast party.

The sun was quickly setting, so we headed into Georgetown.

Kalalau looking pretty in the sunset

Little channel that leads to Lake Victoria where we parked the dinghy

We ate dinner at one of the local fish frys on the bay.  

The table next to us had picked up these soup mixes - haha.

The next day, Gene noticed this seagull standing on the owl which is supposed to scare away the seagulls.  Nice try!

Rum Cay, The Bahamas

Thursday, June 13

We spent Thursday in Rum Cay to relax from our crossing and explore the island.  Aside from a small marina (no power or water), a tiny grocery store, and a small bar/restaurant, Rum Cay doesn't have much.  We took the dinghy into the marina and heard from one of the boaters there that the mail boat hadn't been to the island in 3 weeks, so they were completely out of beer, most provisions, produce, etc.  The mail boat was scheduled to come to the island Thursday night, so there was so excitement from the locals in anticipation of having supplies.

Clubhouse of the marina

An old restaurant at the marina, no longer in business.  Used to be a big party spot for fishing boats and sailboats before the Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy wiped them out.

The main square and public park

 The main dock 

This is where the locals await the mail boat carrying all of their supplies.  There's Kalalau anchored out in the bay.

Government building

Flush canal - flushes the marina

We had a BBQ on the beach Thursday night, inviting some other cruisers that we met at the marina and a couple of locals.  

Here's Gene on the back of Harvey's 4 wheeler going to pick up some ice for the beers.  

Crossing from Puerto Rico to The Bahamas - 5 Days Way Offshore

Saturday, June 8 - Wednesday, June 12

After one night in the marina in San Juan and a fun night out with Keith and Billy, we set sail early Saturday morning.  Luckily we had Billy with us for the crossing because 5 full days in open ocean 200 miles off shore would be really tough for two people alone.

The crossing was pretty calm most days.  We had one day of stormy weather with a few squalls with winds up to 36 knots, but aside from that, the weather was really mild, without much wind.  The little wind that we did have was almost directly behind us, so we had to push our heading further east (further off shore) to keep up some speed.  This prolonged our crossing by a day and a half more than we originally planned, but we managed to make it to the Bahamas by Wednesday evening with just enough fuel, anchoring in Rum Cay just as the sun was setting.

Leaving the harbor in San Juan, Puerto Rico, several US Navy ships docked in the cruise ship area.

We actually caught a few fish during our 5-day crossing!  

Gene preparing to fillet the first mahi that we've caught since January

 Billy caught this huge wahoo.  I think it's almost as tall as he is!

Crazy guys with the wahoo.  We'll have wahoo on the boat for weeks.

Gene reeling in what we think is a big yellow fin tuna... unfortunately, it turned out to be a bonita.

Billy & Gene with the Bonita

Land Ho!  

We arrive in Rum Cay on Wednesday evening around 6:30 pm.