The last official leg of our trip went to White Bay on Jost van Dyke which houses the famous «Soggy Dollar Bar», where you swim ashore with dollars tucked into your bikini to buy drinks, especially known for their frozen (prescription-free) Painkillers! Several bars spread out along the coral white strech of sandy beach, Millie was actually escorted by a turtle on her swim in! Took a few tries of anchoring the boat to Get it right, but then the boat lied perfectly with the anchor buried deep in the coral sandy bottom of the turquoise bay. Needed to get some souvernir tshirts, as this at least for the kids was the high point of the trip, and then another nice meal of fish tacos, heavily loaded nachos and the new favourite drink for the whole crew: ginger beer. The kids made friends with a dog and a couple of older guys who were just as hung up as they were on winning the Pea- bag throwinggame- both Erik and Christian will have to go straight to their woodsheds as we get home to make the boxes for the game and Cornelia and I will have to sew the peabags. After a long day of swimming and playing and lunch at white sands, yatzy and music on the boat commenced. There was also a Concert with live music an a bonfire at a little restaurant on the adjacent beach- perfect setting for our last full holiday night!

To wake up and know that the holiday is about to come to an end is sad but at the same time it fills you with a feeling of being so lucky to once again being able to travel to distant exotic places. A thing we must never take for granted- this lesson was learnt the hard way more than 2 years ago when our adventure was put on hold indefinetely! And this is definetely not the last sirkussaeter adventure!

Early morning coffees and bookreading on deck with the caribbean silky warm wind rocking the boat gently. A 3-4 hour leg toward a Bay near the airport, (Bellamy Cay), laying in the net up front in the cat, swaying with the waves, wanting this day and trip to never end.. this trip has already had its share of celebrations with both 17th of May and Eriks 45th birthday. Today – the 26th of May is Erik&my weddingday- our 10 year anniversary – I guess we couldnt ask for a better way and place of celebrating that too here with close friends.

As the sun is about to set in the Bellamy Cay where Double Trouble lay, we’ll have yet another caribbean meal (this tile at «the loose mongoose»), probably another and last game of yatzy and then as the pitchblack caribbean night with the heavy star loaded skies above sets- we’ll be gently rocked to sleep by the waves yet again!

After a night of medium heavy winds, we woke up to sunfilled blue skies and went dipping in the sea for one last time, doing our spa-ritual on the portside back of the boat, getting ready for our looong trip home. Just a short dinghy ride and a 3 min walk to get to Beef Island Airport (fully planned with docking the boat literally next to the airstrip we also thankfully escaped another corefrightening looking-death-in-the-eye ride on the Tortola roads like the one we experienced as we arrived! two weeks back).

As we got ready to depart, Erik got the boat spick and span for the next crew joining him as soon as we left, the boat looking somewhat like a gypsycamp with bedsheets for the next crew hanging out to dry all over the boat(no Lil Bits laundry here!)

As our adventure ends today, a new one is just about to begin on Double trouble – I must admit that it is with slight envy we tagged off leaving «our» Double Trouble to Erik and the boys- Even so we wish all the best to the 4 friends taking over the vessel for the coming ten days; Erik, Anders, Morten and Stian!

Ship o’hoi, and stay safe! ❤️

In order of appearances, Double Trouble’s magnificent crew:

When you’re the best of friends
Having so much fun together
You’re not even aware you’re such a funny pair
You’re the best of friends
Life’s a happy game
You could clown around forever
Neither one of you sees you’re natural boundaries
Life’s one happy game
Sharing all that you discover
When these moments have passed will the friendship last?
Who can say?
There’s a way
Oh I hope, I hope it never ends
Cause you’re the best of friends

(Somewhat freely reproduced from the lyrics «Best of friends» from Fox&hound, Todd&Copper)

Thank you ever so much, Eriksens, for a truly wonderful, funfilled adventure together! ❤️

Last day on Anegada we spent the whole day at ABC (Anegada beach Club)with the children a good 5 hr continous poolswim, ginger beer on the rocks, carib with lime,ABCs famous BLLT(bacon lobster lettuce tomato) sandwich. ( this being after the morning SUP in the mangroves).

We managed to go by the food store Lil bits to stock up on what we needed just in time before they closed up and then headed over to the boat to Get all dressed up for our Anegada-good lobster dinner at The Wonky Dog. We ordered way more than we could eat but still we needed key lime pie and sticky toffee pudding for dessert, the whole evening was topped off with our own private beach disco with a DJ! The Double Trouble crew danced the evening away until the bitter end! The 8 of us stumbled into bed tummies full of lobster and feet knackered from dancing in the coral beach sand, humming the tune of YMCA.

Early leaving from Anegada after bananabread and blueberry muffin delivery from Barry the mooring-guy, and the Bay turtle came up close to the boat as though to greet us «farewell and safe travels»!

On the next leg we were headed to Diamond Cay located between little Jost van Dyke and Jost van dyke, a 4-5 hr sail. Most of our crew experienced a little seasickness, all happy as we finally reached Diamond Cay and hooked up to a mooring. Sailing into the bay you pass Green bay and the Sandy Spit on Starboard side, a tiny all-sand Island with a couple of palms, and you need to swim ashore to Get there. We knew we were running low on dinghy fuel, but turned out it was critically low, so 3 of us went for a hike the Road over the hills to the next bay- Little harbour- up and down immensely steep roads(where the cars were actually going backwards up the hills in order to Get up at all!), just to find that the fuelstation there was no longer in use….

With the caribbean sun burning away Erik ran to the next bay, another 6-7 km up similarly steep hills, and luckily the fuel- lady in Great harbour got him a taxi for the return to the private Dock where Mille and I were anxiously waiting.

With the dinghy all fuelled up we went into shore, to Foxys Taboo And took the hike over to the Bubbly pool, a cool and cooling experience for all of us.

The evening meal was taken in at Foxys taboo, and during the night the Floodgates opened so all the above head hatches in the cabins had to be sealed really quickly! Luckily we’ve learned the drill by now!(yes we have all slept in drenched bedding a couple of nights due to slow reactions on closing overhead hatches…).

Awakening to a new sunrise with clear skies, bookreading and coffee in a hammock on deck before a short boatride to Great harbor for fuelling at eriks newfound gasstation lady, waterfilling and grocery shopping at Rubys marketplace, here we could se Irmas damages up close with the villages church roof completely gone and window covers hanging crookedly. Christines bakery was expected to be a real treat, except they only accepted cash which we were low on so no fresh baked goods for us- not this time…At the main Foxys we hung our Norwegian flag with the boats name and all our names written on it- should any of our friends come by there some time, they can actually pick it up and bring it back for us, otherwise it’ll stay there till the end of time!

A small peak into our home for the past fortnite:

Leaving Gorda sound in the morning after a morning run in the velvet morning heat, passing Necker Island once again, this time on our Starboard side. With nice winds we got both the genoa and the Main sail up and with Cornelia at the wheel we made 7,5knt and scooted along with flyfish jumping out in front of the boat and blue oceans on all sides apart from a couple of other sailboats.

As we approached Anegada the first thing sighted are the palmtrees popping up from the Island, and as you come closer the breathtaking view of Anegada and its streches of turquoise waters and white coral beaches comes into view. The name of this hidden gem, Anegada, meaning «drowned Island», was fortuntely not drowned by Irma.

Approaching the Island you need to be aware of shallow parts and coral reefs and stay on your chosen course and not turn off course until you are lined up with the red and green markers. If you do so you are bound to hit the shallows or «two Sisters». Safe and sound past all the hinders, we hooked onto a perfect mooring, and took the dinghy ashore to Anegada reef Hotel- lobsters in a lobstertrap as we walked along. Small pastel pink yellow turquoise and green houses and hotels, just like pieces of pastel saltwater taffy! A long afternoon of fotball on the coral beach of Lobster Trap restaurant, soft drinks, cold Caribs, sunsoaking, bookreading and pure relaxation followed by a fresh lobster meal at the the lobster trap. They say you havent had real good lobster before youve had the Anegada-good lobster, and well, its actually true! All BVIs lobster is fished here and exported to the other Islands of BVI .

Shopping in all the little local giftshops, spending half day at the Islands cool laundromat washing dirty clothes.

We rented a pickuptruck with benches on the back – airy and nice view and hurled down the coral beach roads with Countless Cows, donkeys and goats roadside. Watched the flamingos from the watch out place and went all the way to northern part of Island to beautiful Loblolly Bay for snorkelling and swimming in torqoise sea soaking up sun on the bright white coral sand. Topped off with swimming in the pool at Anegada beach Club hotel(ABC for the locals). Here we tested the famous BVI painkiller drink- lives up to its name🤩

We finished off the day with steakdinner at Potters by the sea(we forgot to book by 4pm so we were actually close to getting no food this evening… you need to book by 3 or 4 pm in the restaurant and at the same time put in your food order- just remember that and all will be good).

Flods of heaven opened as we were going back in the dinghy, so just a little wait before we did so. Back in the boat we went for the evening yatzy game and all of us got yatzy at least one time, some of us several times!

Barry shows up every morning to collect the mooring fee and today he also brougt bakerydelights: banana break and cinnamon rolls straight from the oven! At least 3 turtles are swimming around in the Bay popping their cute little heads up occasionally-beautiful creatures and a sight for tired eyes!

Early am we got up and lotioned up to go SUPing in the mangroves and along the eastern coastline together with Tim the guide. We hauled up on the trucks back sideways with all the sup boards loaded on a trailer behind- hurling down the coral sand roads to the settlement , and into the brush where the SUP boards were launched.

Loads of fun, spotting a couple of baby sharks, several tiny super fast turtles and a ship wreck. A conch pile formed as a heart and several of larger white conch piles in the distance, put there by the conch divers to scare the conch off of coming closer to shore(?). The sea is only foot deep as far as the eye can see and we could actually spot the contours of the Virgin Gorda in the distance. Lovely Start to the day on this beautiful heaven on earth island. (I am sooo close to just jumping off «double trouble» and staying behind- I’d stay here a lifetime if I could…)

Done with morning of bliss we caught Bretts shuttle over to the ABC for some more swimming and lunch’s- maybe we will walk the 40 mins along the beach to Tipsys for their famous frozen painkiller- time will show!

And of course the soggy xmas pudding swim cap is with us this time too- launched firstly in the ABC pool- also going to be worn on the swim into soggy dollar bar at Jost van dyke- just wait for it! Thanks GAZ❤️🤗

Injured toes seem to be the theme of our holiday! First out was Cornelia the very first day, even before we reached BVI, stumping her big toe to bleeding alongside the main road of St Martin. The next was Erik to break his metatarsal or toe on his birthday- two radiologists without a portable xray machine but clinically fitting with a broken metatarsal! And then Petters toe came in close contact with a rock next to the football field at Bitter end, and the bartender at The yacht Club brought real gin to desinfect it! Stung quite a bit but worked like a clock!

According to seabatticals informationsheets aboard the boat, the most common insurance claim/loss of the prepaid depositum is loosing ones dinghy. We’ve been laughing at all the idiots managing to loose the dinghy- I mean, how STUPID must you be to loose or forget you dinghy when thats your only meant of getting to shore from your boat apart from swimming ? Well, this afternoon we found out, when we 4 adults all sat and watched the sunset, beer in hand, when suddenly we realised that it was our dinghy afloat far far away from the boat… Stupid is as stupid does, and we are obviously no better than the next sailor- though luckily Captain Eriksen threw all valuables quickly from his pockets and jumped in and rescued DT’s dinghy, so that we once again could come ashore and have another delicious meal, this time at the Bitter end yacht Club celebrating Eriks 45 birthday! Hooorray🇳🇴

New day arriving with a hothot morning jog followed by fooballplaying at the beach and footballpractise. In the midst of all this the jawdropping spotting of Lady Gaga on a beachchair with her bodyguards- we think-and the whole boat went nuts – completely starstruck!

To get the whole crew back on earth we grabbed our cossies&creditcards and jumped in the dinghy and anchored up at beautiful exclusive Saba rock for lobster,conch&burgerlunch and soaked up the caribbean sun with tummies filled with delicious food and drink on the little beach in the back. Fishfeeding with the chef and wouldnt you know it, Cornelia charmed the wits out of Mr Mississippi -who happened to be there lurking in the bushes just waiting for Christian to fled the scene- he came running to her whenever Christian left her side to do something- it was quite hillarious, we almost (unwantingly) had a new crewmember!

After a long day of eating well and soaking up sun, we jumped in the dinghy for some swimming off the back of the boat and some porkchop barbecue on the boat. Yet another superduper day rounded up with a game of yatzy.

After a nice long morning lay-down on Cooper Island beach with coldbrewed ice coffees and some quality reading/free wifi-time, we turned our boats nose toward Virgin Gorda (the fat Virgin, named after the shape of the Island). Nice head winds so we got up both the Genoa and the main sail, and got the feeling of real sailing with the Cat! There is no way to describe the power that you feel when only the sails and wind take you forward- both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, leaving you quite lightheaded in the beginning before you realise that you will not die, and that the boat is quite stable!(not saying that all aboard this boat had this feeling…)!

We went to the Baths by Spring Bay and hooked onto one of the nathional parks moorings, took the dinghy in to the dinghy rope and all of us jumped into the water and swam the last bit to shore. Beautiful white beach enclosed with palms and limestone formations. Creeping through low cave entrances and swimming through narrow passages just to enter beautiful small «bathtubs» of water with crabs and all sorts aquatic animals. A must-see place. We even found a little bar («poor mans bar»)and shop there!

Its not allowed to stay over night at the Nat. Park moorings at the Baths, so we made our way back up towards Spanish town harbour. On the way up we spotted the most amazing white Sandy white beach (Valley trunk Bay)and decided to try to set anchor for the first time on the trip. We needed a couple of tries, but the second time it went well and the anchor stuck well to the bottom. Though the winds shift fast here and are strong, and so are the currents, so Capt Eriksen stayed aboard to see if the anchor stuck in place and the rest of the «Double Trouble» crew got in the dinghy and went to shore, the feeling of «Pirates of the Caribbean»-style entrance to this remote, dreamy white beach for a little stroll and a game of football before finding another mooring for the night.

With the crew back on the boat after a short trip of bliss, we headed up to the moorings outside of Spanish town, at the Virgin Gorda Yacht harbour. We had noted that something wasnt sounding quite right with our port engine and it kept on sounding a loud alarm every time it was at low tripcount. So when we were all mooringed up, Capt Eriksen headed down in the port engine room with his head lamp and tools. with the hatch open we could se the whole engine Shake and jump, something quite clearly amiss and the dynamo and fan belt were not it the correct placing in relation to eachother so the batteries were not charging. But our fine captain did figure out what was wrong- the big bolt holding the motor together had broken in two, so there was no way of going further out to sea without getting that fixed! Robert the boat guy was informed, and the deal was to Get help at the docks inside the at the Virgin Gorda yacht harbour of Spanish town. Just after 6 am the next day we were up, to beat the morning wind and waves. Knowing we only had the Starboard engine and the dinghy to Get our 41ft catamaran of 1665kg safely through the narrow passage entry path that had a righthanded bend into the port(see the screenshot below)

we all got ready with the ropes and bumpers ready on deck and we tried to notify the Dockmaster on the radio channel 16/74: «Dockmaster, Dockmaster, this is Double trouble, we are approaching Spanish Town Harbor with our portside engine down and need assistance!» but alas, there was only a sound of silence… we tried several times, but up on cloud nine somebody was clearly awake, and so was a couple of all american and all Australian sailors docked right by us om their own moorings, so before we knew it Mr America had his dinghy lodged on our port side back of the boat and Mr Australia had his dinghy tied up to our Starboard front and with these two, our two captains and Double troubles own two ladies, we got DT safely to port after what seemed like nervewrecking endless half hour! Just about more than enough exitement for one day(let alone for the whole trip I would say)! Thank goodness for the unspoken courtesy and genuine wish of strangers to help people in need at sea!

Safely in the Virgin Gorda Yacht harbor of Spanish town, we needed to do some shopping. One birthdayboy aboard(Erik), and therefore a present needed to be sorted out. With this fixed, and still waiting for the repair guy, we headed up on the Island to the supermarket to stock up on food and the works. Erik let a couple of the locals with less items in their baskets jump ahead in line-despite his head about to blow a fuse in the heat of the caribbean sun-and then, you see, you shall be rewarded; packed up with a huge load of shoppingbags, one of the locals from the shop line came by and saw us, and wanted to give us a ride back to the harbour with the words: « you do something good to me- now my turn to do good to you». The town is quite well rebuilt after the roamings of Irma, which we mentioned to him, and he agreed and could tell us that in the aftermath of the storm, they cried, drank, cleaned up and rebuilt, drank some more, they went to bed drunk and woke up drunk and thanked the lord when they found a cold beer in the ruins, and then piece by piece they were able to build up their home and community again. To loose your home and everything must do something to you- but it sure cant break their caribbean spirit- like the man said; nothing can break our spirits! Nothing! Friendly goodhumored caribbeans❤️

With the engine fixed, the watertank refilled and fridge full of tummydelights we headed out of the harbour upwinds to Gorda sound. Just out of the harbour a beautiful seaturtle came to greet us safe travels, just like the ones you see on perfect glossy pictures from promotional magazines, but this time it just swam there, right alongside the boat! Today I got to try to be captain, and wow its fun to be at the wheel. Got to try it both by motorpower and with the genoa up! Sailing into Gorda sound we passed Necker Island (Richard Bransons own Island)portside, wow- boy did we want to swing by there…Todays leg was probably the longest until now, and reaching Gorda sound we mooringed up by the «Bitter end yacht Club» (a newly built place with foods, drinks and lots of beach activities) and jumped into the cooling Caribbean waters after a long day at sea.

Bitter end yacht Club, near prickly pear and Saba rock

Early morning coffee and a bath in bathtub temp deep blue waters -little by little the full set of two families awaken. The next leg of the route is planned by the two captains and the crew gets ready for liftoff from the mooring- heading off to the Indians and Pelican Island for some snorkeling in the deep blue waves!

The final destination for the day and mooring Dock for the night ; Pirates Bight , Norman Island. here they have the coolest ship bar/restaurant Willy Ts with its own 3,5 m jumptower where Millie jumped off doing a backflip, leaving the three guys gobsmacked in her wake💪🏻. Willy T (William Thornton) is a converted tanker named after the architect of the US Capitol building. The original was lost in the hurricane Irma which is now a man made reef. Norman Island is referred to by locals as Treasure Island due to legend stories of lots of buried pirate treasures….

It being the day before our constitution day- 17th of May- we got all dressed up in our best caribbean formal wear after a long swim and bathsession off the back of the boat with shampoo and the works, we enjoyed a 3 course meal in the fancy Pirate bights beach bar and grill. Brightly coloured caribbean drinks, conch fritters, baby back ribs and lightly seared tuna. Happy 17th of May one day early🇳🇴.

Waking up on the actual constitution day- coffee in the morning sun 6am- morning jog with my Bestie in already too hot weather, and then a couple of calls home to say «happy constitution day» to loved ones we miss back home. a drizzle of rain in the dinghy ride back to our Cat and then breakfast on board mixed in with som more swimming/diving/sunscreenmarinating before all loose objects are strapped down ready for new adventures.

By the way: the term «Turning on a penny»- all these huge catamarans are spinning on the spot with ease before heading out to sea- so extremely fascinating! Wouldnt believe it before I actually saw it with my own eyes, they do actually turn on a penny- for real!

And with the days starting so early there is no end to what adventures we can cram into it: lifting off again we headed over to Treasure Cove just around the bend from the Bight for some cave snorkelling. Mama Sæter needed to stay on ship due to extensive encounters with the Caribbean sun with not-enough sunscreen on- what a novice!

Liftoff again – and for the first time we reefed the genoa – sound of silence and 4 knt headwinds, amazing. Heading for Cooper Island and getting really good at spotting available moorings- got the best one this time too, and this time around it wasnt already taken, lucky for us! Well anchored up in Manchineel Bay more fun awaits!

This never-ending wonderful caribbean 17th of May was waiting to be filled with yet another couple of highlights- more swimming, wrestling on the watermat, drinks ashore Cooper Island beach Club at sunset and another 3 course meal, this time on «Double trouble» with doritos, beef on our Starboard fancy barbecue and 3 layer Devils chocolate cake! And wouldnt you know: Even the local police boat came by the cat during the meal to say hi and happy constitution day! 17th of mai celebration will probably never be the same again for any of us!

Oftentimes a picture says a thousand times more than words-magical blue skies, sleepy exited happy faces having breakfast in a mild breeze outside in the local marina breakfast coffeeshop.

After a full English/caribbean breakfast with all we could want and need at a local coffeeshop at Sopers Home, our preparation for setting sail was set in Motion. Delivery from rite way market directly to «Double trouble» in the marina of Sopers Hole- enough to keep us hydrated for the first leg of the trip- the boys really worried that we wouldnt have room for any food! The ladies went to the local market to stock up on food and snacks for the next 3-4 days and a couple of gallons of sunscreen.

In plain view of the guests of Omars fusion restaurant the 4 adults with Erik at the ships wheel maneuvered our 41ft large cat out of the harbour with great elegance avoiding all the multibillion vessels located all around us and then we headed directly to Cane Garden Bay(West Tortola)to pick up our first Mooring for the first time out at sea.

We «stole» someone elses mooring, a «boatyball», found the perfect spot, but with smiles, apologies for not understanding the caribbean mooring-game and a couple of dollars extra we got to stay on the boaty boat mooring and stayed for a couple of nights. Perfect beach, braids&pearls in all the kids hairs and amazing seafood at the local beach restaurant «paradise Club lounge bar&restaurant» where we had our first caribbean fish tacos!- SERENDIPIDY!

With grandfathers taking each the fam’s to the airport at 3.30am in the morning the journeys start was smooth. Carrying only handluggage we whisked through ticketbooths, tax free and onto the plane. First headed for schipol, Amsterdam and then an 8hour flight to St Martin. Stepping off the plane in St Martin with the silky warm wind stroking over our tired faces was just pure bliss. The flight was quite a bit delayed, but luckily we had 6 hrs to spare in St Martin. That was fortunate cause checking in there took just about 2 hours for the 8 of us… and we were the only ones in line…The bags seemed to have soaked up moisture along the way, so the handluggage weight max 12 kg hour by hour ended up between 17 and 25kg each by the time we reached St Martin and had to be checked for the last leg of the trip(in a mini plane with propellers).

Though the checking in took long, we had a couple of hours to spare and the 8 of us headed over to Sunset Beach bar where the children jumped in the waves of the sunset beach with jumbojets and smaller planes roaring right overhead-quite the experience! With some beers soft drinks and Mexican food in our tummies we prepared for the last 4 hours of the trip..

After showing the covid passes and antigen test papers another 10 times, we crammed into the plane with 21(!) seats and open cockpit and headed up into the sky with turbulence and clammy hands and pounding hearts- but once again the pilot got us safe back on the ground so that we could present our covid passes and antigen tests another 10-15 times before we got through the BVI customs at Beef Island.

In the pitch black evening of Beef Island we got into driver Eric’s minibus and hurled along Tortolas narrow roads with honking horns over kidneywrenching bumps to Sopers Hole- But we made it there in one piece, and 24 hrs after the journey began we collapsed in our selected cabins of “Double Trouble” outside Omar’s Fusion restaurant.

Just a little inexperienced in sleeping in a boat with overhead windows, we woke up in soaked beds cause the skies decided to give us a little welcome to the BVI shower- fast learning; don’t sleep with the top windows open(or wake up fast when the rain starts and shut them at lightning speed).😂 But waking up to this sight made it all worth while!

The children so wanted to take a morning bath in the bathtub temp water, so of course the 3 Young boys twisted our arm and got their way. But then, all of a sudden little brown bits and corn came floating… and yes, it is what you think- the boats dont have septic tanks so all is flushed out into sea instantly… needless to say the boys came out of the water quicker than captain hook facing the crocodile, and had to be hosed down a couple of times… more things to be learned the hard way😆 and later, when Robert the boat guy came to show us the boat, we asked him about this and all he said was: «I wouldnt go swimming here in the marina- theyve seen a 10 ft shark and lots of huge barracudas here because of the restaurantremnants that are flushed etc»…. oh ye heatartack- no more monkeys swimming in the marina! And go to the bathroom mid-sea!!

The doors of the world were shut so abruptly two years ago, and our travels ended – but now another window opened and we are extremely fortunate to be able to complete our journey!

We left our dreams in Costa Rica 2020, before we were able to head down sailing in the Caribbean as was the original plan – but now The British Virgin Islands are awaiting in the horizon. “Double Trouble», our home for the coming weeks, waiting for us at Sopers Hole (Frenchmans Cay, down the southwest end of Tortola)🤩

And as for the vessels name, this time we are two families travelling together- it seems somehow destiny is pulling our leg!

Climb every mountain: Mama found a jungle house up in the hills of Uvita – Morpheo eco retreat, definitely a place to visit!

The house was just as amazing as it seems, but the drive up (and down) were nerve-racking – but that was only until we (Erik) really mastered the joys of locking the wheels in 4WD and then it seemed like wed never done anything but ascend and descend steep mountains. Luckily we filled up the car for a week up there, so no need to make “short” trips down to the store a couple of hundred vertical meters below the first few days. And if the sounds in the jungle of La Carolina lodge left us feeling like listening to a sound machine on full crank, up here we felt like we were INSIDE it! Amazing – the view, the senses tingling, going to sleep with and waking up to roaring howler monkeys in the distance(or even quite close), huge Golden Orb spiderwomen hanging around in their nets and all other sounds the jungle of Uvita has to offer(the female is the big one about 7-10cm in diameter if you measure with the legs, the male about 1/4 of her size).

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Getting up to the house…. “Keep calm and drive on!”

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Morpheo Eco Lodge, Uvita;

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Sirkussaeters phy-ed class consisting of breaking personal records and competing against each others times (to those of you who have had close encounters with any Saeter-member, probably not very surprising) going up Uvitas own Kitzbuehl hill(s) ascending up to Morpheo Eco Lodge – … As always in this family, with ones own honor at stake, no one was spared (or “handed” any wins); the uphill run marked the end of the freeletics-session every afternoon.

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The property has its own waterfall a short hike from the house; like living the jungle book, surprised that we didn’t bump into Mowgli or even Bagheera (ok, wrong continent, I know, but still).

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Uvita had a lot of things to offer, amongst these, Marino Ballena nathional park was a must: located on the south pacific coast at the footsteps of the community’s of Uvita – Bahia Ballena, in the province of Puntarenas, Osa, Costa Rica. The park pertains to the Area of Conservation for the Osa region and was officially declared as a Marine National Park in 1989. The park is named after the Humpback whales that migrate there from mid July and October, and again in December through March from feeding and mating grounds in the north and south hemispheres to the warm tropical waters of Costa Rica; Isla Ballena (whale island) and Punta Uvita (tip of Uvita). The sandy beach and rocks of the national park forms an actual whales tail on low tide, which we were so fortunate to have in mid-view from our eco-balcony. Stunning, as its views make you feel so small. Unfortunately destiny didn’t mean for us to take in the view of the playful, beautiful, majestic whales; not knowing what the future will bring probably is a good thing, because then you are able to enjoy every moment to the fullest until destiny has it its own way…

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6 days in to our stay at Morpheo in Uvita, the Norwegian government called all Norwegian citizens home. Right before this though, Erik got a new surf-friend, that happened to have his own surfboard shop making his own surfboards – Esneyder Valencia, “Colo Tico Surfboards”. So the last day of our Uvita-stay, he swapped in his old bord and bought a new, custom made, pure CR board which will be packed down with TLC and brought to Norway. He got in a couple of good rides out of it before packing it down, though. And we are most definitely coming back!

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Osa Peninsula – As we realized we had to try to get home ASAP, there were no available plane tickets for travelling out of CR other than through USA until 3 days later. Since Trump had declared that no Europeans were allowed into the country or in transit a couple of days earlier, we had to wait for a chance to go through Colombia and from there directly to Europe… To us these 3 days came as a last bonus, a way to be able to take in the last of what CR has to offer for now. Not wanting to be stuck in San Jose with all the other tourists trying to get home, we decided to swing down to Osa Peninsula, which we knew was a MUST when going to CR. It was originally our main attraction on our travels to CR, and we had planned that we were going to go there for a long time about one week later(but of course, with the world as we all knew it turned up side down, we would now be in Norway by that time). What a stunning place – another paradise on earth. Waves crashing onto deserted beaches, Soundmachines on hyperalertmode – we were bumping into Howler monkeys, white faced monkeys, Toucans, Macaws, Boas, Huge groups of peccaries, white nosed coatis and green parrots everywhere we turned.

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“Adventure is out there, never stop exploring!”

Epilogue: As this last post is finally finished, our family has been home in Norway more than 3 weeks already, returning 3 months premature from the adventure. We escaped getting stuck in Colombia on the hurried travel home, for which we are very grateful. We hope and are determined in our hearts that we will be able to continue and finish our cut-short adventure one day when the world is once again re-opened and things slowly return towards normality. So, until then, au revoir for now and happy Easter.

EVERYTHING WILL BE

OKAY IN THE END,

IF IT´S NOT OKAY

IT´S NOT THE END.

John Lennon