Good Bye to the Med for now

This is a painting we had made of EcstaSea sailing away from Alghero, Sardinia in 2013 when we were leaving the Mediterranean for the Caribbean. We felt that we were "done" in the Med at that time. As we strolled along the beach we saw a young artist painting this scene of Alghero with Capo Cacciao in the background. So we asked him to paint EcstaSea sailing away and he did! We have it hanging in our Tucson home on our blue wall.

Well, little did we know at that time that we would be back so soon. But after a 2 day sail, here we are back in Alghero. And here is a picture of Capo Cacciao for real in the background:

We wintered EcstaSea in Alghero for 5 winters and are happy to do so once again. It is one of our favorite old walled cities on one of our favorite islands in the Med.

So she is out of the water, safe on the hard, and we are flying back to Tucson for the winter.
Be good Esea and we will see you next May....

Back Home Again in the Med

So yes, we did enjoy the Caribbean but... we missed the Mediterranean. So here we are again and it feels like home. In fact, we are starting right back where we started 8 years ago in Palma, Mallorca. We hired a great delivery Skipper, Dan Vallopi, and he and crew sailed EcstaSea over from Charleston.  Richard says "nothing goes to weather like a 747" and not needing to do another Atlantic crossing, we were happy to fly over and meet them here in Palma.

Here is a picture of Captain Dan and of course, my One and Only Captain... Richard.

This 16th century cathedral on the waterfront greets you as you sail in to Palma...

It's been great fun to reconnect with all of our favorite places and people from 2 years ago. So of course we are eating, drinking and being "merry" as we celebrate our return. Friends that we thought we would never see again are surprised to see us, and hopefully as happy to see us as we are to see them.
We settled in and anchored out on the southeast coast of Mallorca for the full moon and lunar eclipse on  September 27th. We were up all night "moon gazing" and can only say that She was magical and mysterious as always. And the eclipse was truly surreal and  "otherworldly"!!!

We have had a number of projects on EcstaSea after her ocean crossing, but have taken time to get away and anchor out in  some of our favorite coves. And we took a wonderful trip to the other Balearic Island of Ibiza.

The old walled city of Ibiza...

On the north side of Ibiza there is Binneris Beach and we always take some time there. Right in the middle of the bay is this great big rock that everyone calls the "Buddha" rock.

The bay looks out to the west and on Sunday evenings all of the old hippies (of which we are proud to be a part of) gather to drum the sun down with great reverence and enthusiasm.

Here are just a few of the drummers before sunset...

And from shore as we are celebrating another sunset, here is a picture of EcstaSea and the Buddha rock....

We also enjoy the Hippy markets and the year end bargains on the coolest clothes. After a week of playing on Ibiza we came back Mallorca  to finish our boat projects and get ready to sail to Sardinia. We will leave EcstaSea there for the winter as we used to, and fly back to our Tucson home for the winter. The last few years we have been completely and utterly confused as to what time of year it was. We never quite settled into the winters on the boat and the summers on land in Tucson. So our 6 week jaunt here in the Med has been to re-adjust our seasons and be back in the desert in the winter and on EcstaSea in the summer. And this feels more normal and natural to us.

We know that we are always showing beautiful sunsets as it is our favorite time of day. Twilight  for us so mystical as it is neither day or night. But surprise...(and it was for us) this picture is of a sunrise!!!
Now my Captain says "we don't do anything that we are proud of before 10:00am" and that is generally true. So i am not sure how and why we were up for this wondrous moment, but we were and wanted to share it with you...

It has been an easeful transition time here and for this we are most grateful.
We are truly blessed and know it, so we say "Thank You" to the All that Is. And we are happy to be home again in the Mediterranean.

Monsoon Madness and the Med

When the Monsoon rains come to the desert, it is a BIG deal. In fact, in Tucson we call it Monsoon Madness and we love it! And this summer it has been magical and magnificent. The clouds form over the Catalina mountains behind our home every afternoon and then they explode with thunder, lightening and a down pouring of abundant rain. And every cactus, plant, animal and human dances with joy! All of life not only "needs" rain, but comes to life with spontaneous exuberance...
So here are a few samplings of color and flowers of the desert after the rain:

This is our front yard with the Bird of Paradise orange and yellow against a green backdrop...

And a beautiful butterfly enjoying the nectar...

All of the plants and trees around our fountain...

And the greenery and purple flowers in our back yard...

And look at the mountains in the background. We have never seen them as green as they are this year...

So as you can tell, we have loved being in the desert during the monsoon time--especially this summer. It was a Monsoon Madness to the max!!!

And.....
We have been on EcstaSea for the last two years in the Caribbean. And we have loved the Caribbean Sea, warm and inviting, full of such a variety of life to behold as we swam and snorkeled.
And....
We have missed the Mediterranean Ocean and Europe.
So.....
We have changed our mind about the Caribbean and chose again. And we now choose to be back in the Mediterranean.  And so we have made it happen.
We are on EcstaSea now in Palma, Mallorca for a few weeks. Then we will sail her to Sardinia, Italy and put her up for the winter. We will then winter back in Tucson and be back on EcstaSea next summer.

We love the Med and it feels like home to be here again....

We are not dead....but we are Grateful!!!

One of the big highlights of this summer for us was going to the 50 Year Reunion Concert of the Grateful Dead in Chicago. It was over 4th of July weekend and we met 6 of our closest friends from California there. Now Richard had attended many of their concerts way back when, but I (Willow) had never been to one of their concerts. And yes, Jerry Garcia died 20 years ago but the other original band members were all gathered for this 50 year reunion.

So we gathered in Soldier Field Stadium with 70,000 other Dead-Heads for quite a ride! I had never been in such a big crowd and yes, it was daunting and overwhelming at first, but you've never been around a more mellow, loving crowd as this.

Please note that my husband is wearing a tie dye shirt that he wore 45 years ago to the Dead concerts. Yeah it was a little worn (moth eaten holes and torn at the seams) but he still looked "bitchin" as usual!!!

The Captain blissed out on the music...

And as darkness fell Willow turned on her glowing tierra to add to the craziness of the moment...

The psychedelic light show was magical....especially for the thousands of Stoners already rocking to the beat....

The band and the music did not disappoint.....

It truly was an "EXPERIENCE"!!! Too hard to describe, you just had to be there...



We found Chicago to be a city full of life and enjoyed sightseeing and getting to know it. We even enjoyed the museums and this statue so playful and light-hearted as my husband...

After our time in Chicago we traveled on to Highlands, North Carolina for Richard to play in a golf tournament with his brother-in-law, Paul. Well....they didn't win but sure had a hell of a good time trying!

Golf during the day and fancy cocktails, dinner and dancing in the evenings to keep us women happy too.

And then traveling on to Charleston, South Carolina to see the rest of Richard's family.

One fun filled evening with Richard's two sisters, Judy and Vicki and his mom, Betty. If I remember correctly, there were a lot of Margaritas and laughter involved with this dinner!

And back to our desert home in Tucson. We are especially enjoying the desert this time of year as it is the monsoon season. We have torrential rains almost daily with dramatic thunder and lightening. And then the rainbow coming off of the mountains behind our house. The desert is as green as we have ever seen it and we are so thankful for the blessed rain.

It's been a busy and wonderful summer and Life continues to surprise and amaze us with it's wonders.
Aaaahhhhh.....

Glynda, not Nemo

We are resting, relaxing and spending time here in the British Virgin Islands before sailing on to the States. And best of all is the great snorkeling here. We have a favorite cove that we always anchor in because the snorkeling is fantastic---really, it's like swimming in the best aquarium in the world!!!
It's Benures Bay on Norman Island.
And it's here where we met Glynda.  No, we did not find Nemo--but we found Glynda, or rather, she found us.
Now you must be wondering who Glynda is, and i am going to tell you. Better yet i am going to show you...
Soooo, we are snorkeling and as always, in awe of the splendor beneath the ocean when i notice a little yellow fish hanging around the Captain. And not only hanging around but swimming in his hair, and all around him. Now she liked me too (but just a little) and she would swim right in front of my goggles so i could see her, but she clearly was enamored with my husband. She was the only one of her kind and no matter how far we swam, she stayed right with us for about an hour until we sadly had to climb into the dingy and go back to the boat. It was uncanny, yet sweet and we really did not want to leave her but what could we do??? bring her home in a fishbowl???
Our time with her (and you may wonder how we know she was a "her"--she was clearly feminine and as are all females, in love with my husband who is the one who named her "Glynda" by the way) was magical, playful and even spiritual as there was genuine interaction and communion. And lest you think we are crazier than normal, it was a once in a lifetime experience!!!

And even tho these pictures cannot convey the essence of our time together, here goes:

This is a short video of her from our GoPro camera:

Isn't she cute?

See how tiny she is:

She swam in sync with the Captain right where he wears his wedding ring around his neck:

Just under his chin swimming along:

Oh she loves my man and snuggles with him as only a fish can do...

See, she likes me a little:

We also enjoyed watching the many sea turtles swim and surface all around the boat as we were anchored out:

And even got a good picture of one on the bottom as we snorkeled around it:

And of course, an underwater selfie:

And how we wish we could capture the beauty and color of the fauna below the sea to show you, but that just doesn't seem to be possible. Yes, the magic of the Caribbean is below the surface!

And since nothing could top our time with Glynda, we decided to move on out of the British Virgin Islands and sail north to Charleston, South Carolina where we will leave EcstaSea for the summer.
Thank you Caribbean and most of all....Thank you Glynda!!!

Last Antigua Moments

As we prepare to begin the sail back up to the States to leave EcstaSea for the summer, we took full advantage of our last days on Antigua.

Shirley Heights where you can not only see the panoramic view of the island, but dance the night away to the awesome steel drums, is still one of our favorite places. So we went back several more times to drop into the Caribbean beat and enjoy the best "dark and stormy" rum drinks on the island!

We also returned to our favorite coves to anchor out, snorkel and do what we do best....nothing at all.

The Captain (altho it's really the First Mate's job) dove on the anchor,  checking to see that it is well set---notice the thumbs up!!!

He also enjoys diving down and picking up the conch shells just to look at their beautiful pink colorful undersides
:

And he always puts them gently back where he found them...

And now we are ready to sail on up to the British Virgin Islands on our way north. Thank you Antigua and Barbuda for our wonderful winter time with you...