We first met Nils (s/v Kairos) at the quiet anchorage in Barbuda , and quickly became fast friends. Nils was one of the first Scandinavian base jumpers and a renowned filmer of base jumping, making IMAX films, which meant he had to jump with a heavy camera on his helmet. That ultimately led to shoulder injuries and he had to quit jumping about 10 years ago. He is divorced with 2 grown children, and has been sailing alone for 3 years. We spent many hours visiting and when it came time to leave Barbuda, we bid our farewells and sailed off to different harbors in St. Marten.
A few days later Nils sailed in an anchored beside us in Marigot Bay, and a couple of days after that, Curt (s/v Bellis) sailed in from St. Bart's. He is another solo sailor from Sweden, who Nils first met in the Canary Islands. Curt was a dairy farmer; and has 3 grown children. His first wife and love of his life, died very young, and his second marriage became intolerable. He divorced, was offered a good sum for his farm and he decided to buy a boat and go sailing. He also has been cruising for about 3 years.
The four of us became a team, sharing stories, and projects. We fondly introduce them to our friends as the Swedish Meatballs, but they are far from that description. They are bright, interesting, funny, sensitive people who have made our time here pass quickly. Nils is waiting here for a friend to join him to sail back to the Azores; Curt was waiting for his passport to be mailed here from the American Embassy in Sweden, as he plans to cruise the east coast of the states and needed a visa. We were appalled at the hoops he had to jump through to get a cruising permit for our fair country, including a face-to-face meeting at the embassy. Show up at 8:00 a.m., no sooner, no later. He finally got his meeting 6 hours later.
When we first arrived here last month, Nils began to contact a woman in Italy that a friend from Australia had insisted he should meet. He had tried to connect with her, Cristiana, months ago, but she never responded to his overtures and he had dropped it. But, he said, seeing Bill and me together encouraged him to try again. This time, she answered his phone call, intending to tell him she was-not-interested-in-a-relationship-thank-you-very-much. But something clicked between them and they began a fast and furious long-distance relationship. Nils spent hours with his computer in the local bars talking on Skype, reported to us every day on how wonderful she seemed to be. She was an actress in Germany before building her ecologically-efficient villa in Italy, so we were not surprised when her picture arrived: she's drop dead gorgeous! Next thing we knew, Nils was thinking of flying to Italy, and then he had a ticket. He would leave his boat in St. Martin to fly to Italy for two weeks--he had to know if they were suited. Bill and I felt like parents (with a fifty year old hopelessly romantic son) and loved watching the birth of this romance. We hugged sad good-byes (again), and Curt dinghied Nils to the airport in early April. Bellis and Act III would surely be gone to the British Virgin Islands by the time Nils returned.
We waited nearly a week for good weather to leave, then had no problem spending longer than expected at Tintamarre. We can't swim off the boat in the lagoon where we anchor comfortably in St. Marten, so we spent many hours in the water at Tintamarre. By then, we realized it would be only a few more days before Nils returned from Italy and if we went back to the lagoon, we could hear how the trip went. Were they well-suited after all?
Nils was surprised to see us dinghy up to Kairos, and the huge grin on his face told us all we needed to know. The trip went better than he even imagined, her villa has a nearby marina, she'll meet him in the Azores in 7 weeks, and then .... ahhh the stuff of fairytales.
Curt was also still here when we returned, but left within hours to head through the Bahamas on his way to the States. I have a hunch we'll see him again in the northeast. We'll provision again this week and expect to really arrive in the BVI's' soon. We only have to be in position to head for Bermuda sometime in late May.
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