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 19, 2007: Labyrinth of islands

22°C / 72°F
Position:23° 26' N-75° 42' 30'' W
Wind: 27km/h

Floating through shallow, clear turquoise water, we are trying to find our way through a confusing abundance of islands, atolls, reefs, cliffs, lagoons and stranded ships.

This part of our journey: Floating through shallow, clear turquoise water along an endless necklace of small flat islands ­ Long Cay, Long Island, Exuma islands. Yesterday, we anchored near the West coast of Southern Long Island. This time also, we made an excursion to the island, to the shore – big ledges between white sand beaches. Behind the coastline, wilderness consisting of thorny bushes, low trees, puddles, some wet, some dried out ­ an eldorado for mosquitoes that seemed not to have sucked blood for a long time. There, we discovered two newer land houses with beautiful gazeboes overlooking the sea ­ towards sunset. But, they were empty and abandoned. It was painful to see such deserted and wasted mansions that did not date back too long. Here, we saw two testimonies for the whole history of the Bahamas:  Soon after 1492, in the 16th century, the indigenous people called "Awarak" were completely exterminated – "usual" colonial genocide. Probably, only their culture was stable and sustainable. Everything that followed since the 17th century was a constant up and down, a conquering and giving up; and finally, since the 19th century, the Bahamas have become the refuge for everything that Law and Order had forbidden: Slavery, alcohol trade during the prohibition, prostitution, drugs. As we read, it seems that today the capital Nassau is experiencing just now one of its booming periods – we should have a look in a few days because our itinerary will touch the island New Providence where Nassau is situated.  "I simply do not know where to go next...", Columbus wrote on 14 October 1492 in the middle of a confusing abundance of islands, atolls, reefs, cliffs, lagoons and stranded ships – dear reader, whether we will find the right way out of this labyrinth, you will hear tomorrow if we do not get lost.

Comments

deplaix:

pls update your position on google earth

thanks

LORNE COOK:

After Miami will you stop anyplace else in Florida,or is it nonstop to New York City?

s/v Socia:

I was good to meet up wih Sun21 that day, and I was happy we could run you into the beach in our dinghy, even if we had to burn fossil fuels to do it. One must be a little flexible, yes? On our catamaran, a sailing cat, we burn hardly more fossil fuels than you do, and go about the same speed, without the batteries and solar panels. Is it worth all he complications when mariners have been sailing the seas without fossil fuels for centuries, both for pleasure and commerce? Maybe we just need to be better sailors! Fair winds for the rest of your journey!

-Jeff, Roger and Eliot

S/V Socia

Black Point, Exumas