The sun21 crew at the press conference after their arrival in New York (Beat von Scarpatetti, David Senn, Michel Thonney, Martin Vosseler, Mark Wüst, from the left)
Arrival in New York City
The mayor of Miami, Manuel A. Diaz, presents the crew the Keys to the City of Miami.
Arrival at Martinique.
The sun21 heading to Martinique.
On the way to the Canary Islands.
Due to a storm the sun21 sought refuge in the harbour of Casablanca (Morocco).

Weblog

Mar 15, 2007: Great Inagua Island – Bahamas

24°C / 75°F
Position:21° 22' N-73° 24' W
Wind: 36km/h

After quite a stormy night and a near collision with a cargo ship, we arrived at Matthew Town on Great Inagua Island, Bahamas.

Just after sunset, they arrive every evening. They come from all directions, flying in groups of 60, 40 20, sometimes one or two; all of them land on a group of mangrove trees across our boat. There, they perch for the night: More than a thousand white herons. The strictly limited sector of the mangrove wood, where the birds sleep, appears white in the dark night as if snow has fallen onto the trees. In the morning, when we wake up, most of them are gone again.

Monday, March 13th, was a rainy day. The next morning, the sun was back and invited us to continue our journey. Other than the weather forecast, the sun stayed with us the whole day. In the evening, the wind became strong. It blew during the night with 25 to 30 knots. Big waves, crossed sea followed – quite a challenge for our skippers Michel and Yves Thonney. In the middle of the night, a cargo ship approached us, with a course directly towards the "sun21". Beat heard the faster turning motors and climbed onto deck. The skippers tried hard to navigate the boat through the rough sea manually; it was very difficult to keep the course and to avoid the danger of a collision.

The sea remained very rough until we came closer to the Great Inagua Island; but we fortunately had enough sunshine during the whole day in order to float at a speed of 6 knots. In the dark, we anchored in front of Matthew town. Every ten seconds, the bright beacon lights of a big lighthouse illuminated the "sun21". Tomorrow, we plan to get the clearance for the boat and the crew to enter the Bahamas islands.

Comments

Isolde Schmid:

Ich bewundere Euch sehr und freue mich mit Euch, dass Euch ein Heer von Schutzengeln begleitet. Hier hörte ich heute abend die Trommeln und Pfeifen vom Bummelsonntag, leider regnet es und ist kalt.

Liebe Grüsse Isolde Schmid

tatjana aus zell (D):

solli martin bi dere schilderig vo dene wysse Reiher mues ich grad an de Bsuech vo de barbara schneider bi de no stehende Bäum am Schlipf dengge, magsch di no an de Silberreiher erinnere, wo in dem Moment über sälle Platz gfloge isch?

Au wenn sälle Dag ä truurig End gno het, isch de Reiher sider für mi zumene Hoffnigssymbol worde, und wenn ich mir vorstelle due ...tuusig vo dene schöne Tier direkt vor mir z´seh, do hüpft mir grad s´herz, alles gueti witerhin für euri Fahrt, es duet mir so guet, nebe all dene weniger ermuetigende sache, immer wieder chönne euri Reis verfolge!!

Ihr und euer Boot sind ä ächti Muetchnoschpe (Mutknospe) würdi Joanna Macy wohl sage, alles Liebi und Gueti euch ! Tatjana