2-Year anniversary!

Unbelievable how time flies! It was two years ago today that „Marianne“ decided to come into our lives and safely take us on the trip of our lifetime. She took good care of us, while at the same time keeping us in a sort of captivity for 24 months: 7 square meters for two people. With our floating house, our lovely little snail shell, we have visited fourteen countries on three continents and three different oceans. The fourth continent is almost in sight. We left the Pacific Ocean behind us after only a short time, and the Indian Ocean became our main habitat all the way to the most southern point of the African continent, Cape Agulhas. And now we have started sailing the Atlantic Ocean, which will take us to Brazil, through the Caribbean, up to the U.S., and will allow us to bring Marianne to her new home, Germany.

201228_204337906257858_4057582_o(1)That we have made it this far is truly incredible. There were a few time points where we almost had to book a ticket back home and call it a day. For example, on our arrival on the Salomon Islands, where we were to see our Marianne for the first time, the previous owner of Marianne had a pretty bad accident. At high seas, the boom hit him hard on his chest and threw him off the boat, however, luckily he was able to hold onto the boom, which eventually moved back and allowed him to fall back into the boat. Regardless of two broken ribs and broken sternum, Paul was able to navigate back to land. Even though in pain, he told us all the important things about Marianne before flying back to Australia to go to the Hospital. Luckily, everything worked out and our crew, consisting of a Captain without mentionable experience of high seas, and a Smutje without any experience at all, was ready to set sails to Papua New Guinea.

240995_214455578579424_4843877_oWithout a beard and without a clue, we stepped foot on Marianne and would not leave her again for the next three weeks and 1500 kilometers. Not everything went to plan. Our tuna diet left us slightly slimmed down, and at the end all we had left was one can of corn and half a liter of water. Bearded and scrawny we had gained our first little bit of experience and had arrived safely. That was all that mattered right then.

But all this took place a long time ago. By now we have figured out how much toilet paper, toothbrushes, cereal, satellite phone credit, fruits and music to take on board in order to have a safe and comfortable trip to our next port of call. We have grown to a strong team that has learned to see the good in everything and not to worry too much about things that do not go to plan. We figured that’s the only way to go: don’t worry your pretty little head about it … just fix it already! After every sunrise on land, we drink our coffee and go off to find some of the best or most interesting indigenous musicians that country has to offer.

The further we are away from Germany, the more we think about family and friends back in our far away home. We are extremely grateful for all the support from family and friends, not only from Germany, and without YOUR help, we most definitely would not have come this far. Only thanks to your help can we record and publish our first album as part of our own record label, very very soon.

778922_533839256641053_1308538725_oBut before that can happen, we still have to finish our longest trip yet. We are counting every mile and can’t wait to arrive and discover all the interesting culture and musicians in our 15th country on the fourth Continent (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America). Priceless is what all the past experiences are, that have led us both to smile and to cry and have made this one hell of a trip.

We want more! Brazil … here we come!

Leave a Reply