Welcome on aboard SV/ JUCA

Our philosophy is to live in peace and harmony with each other and to have lots of fun doing it! We practice compassion and unconditional love and experience that there are no mistakes only stepping stones while we grow on our journey.



We have sold our house in August 2009 and moved from Mangawhai / New Zealand to Norfolk/Virginia to board our Sailing Vessel Juca in January 2010.



Juca is the name of our beautiful 60 foot Morgan, and the name is a creation of the first initials of our amazing inspiriations, Julia and Carlos.



I hope you all will enjoy reading our blog and following our travels around the Caribbean.



Tuesday, August 24, 2010

First day at school in Luperon


Our first day at school is over and boy what an experience. When we arrived in the morning we talked to the principal first. Luckily we had met Jula with her boy Anton a couple of days earlier. Jula is from Cuba and speaks perfect spanish, but they do live in Germany so they also speak perfect German. So Jula has enrolled Anton into the Luperon school as well. They help us greatly to bypass the language barrier in the beginning, what more could we have asked for. So Anton understands a bit of spanish, so our children have to dig up their German to communicate to Anton to find their way around the spanish speaking school.... I love it.

I had promised Julia and Carlos that I would stay with them for the first week, but the teacher did not want us there. When I picked up the kids at lunch time, they were so angry and annoyed. They said that school was boring and they also complained that they could not understand the teacher at all.... that was so cute. So Carlos ran off and got lost on the way back to the Dinghy dock and Julia was letting loose about the teacher... not only couldn't he understand them but he also pronounced her name wrong. The spanish people cannot pronounce the J, they say Hulia instead. So she tried to set him right, but luckily he could not understand her. Little Julia defending her name and rights! She also complained that the class was too easy and I had also forgotten to leave her with some money that she could buy something to eat and drink in her breaks. She is so cute....

We had a pretty quiet relaxing afternoon after so much excitement.
I had a good talk to Julia and Carlos again and explained to them why they are going to that school and I said to Carlos that as soon as he could speak spanish he does not need to go to that school anymore, that got him thinking and hopefully movtivated......

The next day they went to school again full of enthusiasm and hope for another day in school with lots of fun. I am very proud of both my children. On their second day I gave them some money (25 pesos ) for their lunch break and they already got greeted by some of the children at school, so here we go, they settled in nicely. When Sven and I were on our way to pick them up from school, school had finished a bit early and here they are already on a motorbike on their way to the Dinghy dock, you should have seen our faces when they passed us. They are pretty self sophisticated.....

Sunday, August 22, 2010

One more day to go.....










One more day to go and then it starts to get serious. From tomorrow on Julia and Carlos will join the Luperon Public School. Today we went to the shop to buy a uniform for them.... a blue shirt and a khaki skirt for Julia and long pants for Carlos. They look very cute in them and they are both excited and also a bit apprehensive at the same time. We will see what the day and this experience will bring us.
The last few days we have been really busy socialising again. Another boy has arrived in the harbour of Luperon. He is here for a 3 week visit with his parents. They are Germans and the boys name is Anton, he is 7 and only speaks german, very much to my delight. Surprise surprise, Julia and Carlos are very taken by this boy and trying really hard to speak German to him and I have to say.... all this hard work of speaking two languages is finally paying off. They are doing really well, and this is encouraging me now even more to send them to the local school here.
So after having two girls here to play with them, we now have two boys to play with.... so next time I am hoping for a boy and a girl....that would be great.
Yesterday we took Almos, Antony, Carlos and Julia to the beach, and the boys had a blast. A break from this energy bundles for us Mum's!
Tonight the big boys went out fishing and they got a big Yellow Tail Travelly, yeah a break from our chicken lunches...... guess what we are going to have for dinner tomorrow.....right fish a la carte......

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Carlos and his new friend Almos












Carlos has found a new friend, Almos from Hungaria and even better it is a boy and he is 6, hurray, some male company for Carlos. Unfortunately Almos cannot speak English or German and so they have to communicate via sign language and sounds. It is very funny to observe the two boys when they play.....but there is no doubt about it, they like each other very much and appreciate each other company even more. Yesterday Almos came with his Dad and picked Carlos up for a Dinghy sail, they soon came back ..... not enough action on the little sailing dinghy they rather jumped on our boat and played pirates and monkeys and jumped along the ropes, very much to the delight of Sven :)
Today we went to the Playa Chicquita (small beach) and we had a refreshing swim in the water. Carlos learned how to do a flip and was very proud of himself with his achiement. It has been very hot today, it seems to get hotter by the day......luckily we are always having a breeze throughout the day which makes it a bit more bareable....


Another day in Paradise











Today we decided to take the Dinghy a bit further outside the harbour to go snorkeling. We packed our gear and zoomed along the waves in the sunshine. Once we arrived at our destination we threw the anchor and got our gear on and jumped into the water. The water was exceptional clear today and we could see for miles. Julia and Carlos enjoyed the snorkel in the crystal clear water very much and we saw a few corals and a few interesting fish. Sven went diving while we snorkeled and he told us later that he had seen another big Lion fish. After a couple of hours of enjoying ourselves in the water we went home for a late lunch.... we were all starving.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

A new location for our Yoga classes





We have moved our Yoga classes from Puerto Blanco to the Luperon Yacht Club. On Friday we had our first class in this beautiful place and it is nearly perfect for our morning classes. It overlooks the harbour from Luperon and it is very quiet, a perfect setting for chanting, kirtan and relaxation. After 1 1/2 hour of Yoga we all relaxed by the pool had something to drink and enjoyed each other company and the scenery. If you would like to join us, you are welcome, we are there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 7.30 and 9. See you there!!
It was Sarahs first time to attend a Yoga class, she love it so much, that she continued to lie in Shavasana in the pool :)

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

What a beautfiul morning

When I got up this morning I was greeted by this beautiful sunrise and I wanted to share that with everyone.... I let the pictures speak for me..... May this beauty radiate throughout and beyond the Harbour into everyones heart ....lots of love, light and laughter to all our friends and family....

Cleaning Day on the boat












Today we are having a cleaning day on the boat. First thing in the morning Poppa and Andy came by and asked if we would like to have our Barnacles removed from underneath the boat. I don't know how many times they have asked us, but several times since we have arrived in Luperon. Finally today we said yes and you would not believe how quickly they got changed into their dive gear and before we knew it they were in the water and half an hour later our boat had been freed from all nasty barnacles.....yeah.....
Then after breakfast I tried out my beautiful new washing-machine. What a luxury, what a treat I can do my own laundry again. No more carrying heavy basket loaded with dirty washing into town! So I threw in my washing, filled the drum up with water and the cycle goes for up to 12 minutes.
After that you open a valve and dump the water and fill it back up again for another rinse.Round about 3 to 5 minutes later, after once more dumping the water, the washing goes into the spinner and after about 2 minutes your washing is nice and clean and ready to hang outside. With the warm trade wind that we have got here, roughly 1/2 hour later you can bring your washing back in and fold it and put it back into the draws as nothing was ever dirty or worn.....sounds very simple and I am very much in love with my washing machine. It is so amazing how your values in life change, living on a boat in the Carribbean.
Once the washing was done I vaccumed and mopped the floor and hey it feels like a spring clean in the middle of summer...... if you could picture me bearly dressed on my knees and sweating like their is no tomorrow. I sometimes wonder if I am going through Menopause or if it is just the heat here in the Domincan Republic ?!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Having so much fun


Another week - another day - another Monday, the time is just flying and I cannot believe that we are already in the second week of August, I have the feeling that the time is just flying out of the window. Julia had her second haircut, since we are here in Luperon, this time it is from a proper Hairdresser and you can see the difference, she looks really cute.



Today we had taken the opportunity to do some schooling with Avery and Kaylee. I had received a unit study from New Zealand about Celebration, so first we listened to the story about " Ben and his bike". Its a story about a boy that gets a bike for his 5th birthday and then learns to ride his bike. Once he learns to ride his bike, his family is celebrating the event. Once we listen to the story, the children had to write the story in pictures. From there we went on to create our own little book. We cut paper into the shape of a book and then we sew the pages in the middle together. After that we took a picture from the author to put into the book and the children had to think about the contents of the book, a beginning, a middle and an end of their story. They cut out pictures from magazines, wrote a story alongside and then drew pictures.... the books turned out really nice. And I was really impressed by their effort and creations.

Avery's book was called "Little Pigs Birthday", Kaylee called her book " Bumy the Bee", Julia's book was named "The Wedding Day" and Carlos named his " Piglets Big Movie".

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Four Friends on a boat


We have finally found some friends for Carlos and Julia down here in the Dominican Republic. There are two girls with the name of Avery and Kaylee living on the Sailing boat "Happy Our" here in the harbour of Luperon. Avery is 6 and Kaylee is 8, so the perfect age to play with Julia and Carlos. They have lots of fun together and hearing their laughter in the afternoon fills my heart with joy. Once in a while we have got the odd fight and a few tears, but most of the time they are a bundle of joy and you can hear them for miles :)

Today they are playing on JUCA and I just made three batches of Playdough. We have got now six different colours and they are busy making a "Sponge Bob City", all of them are very creative! When they play together I have a chance to catch up on some of my staff. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story........

Another trip to Santiago


We had to do another trip to Santiago to do some shopping and to to buy a washing machine. We borrowed the car of Jerry and made plans to leave early in the morning with Jay and Stephanie and their children. We managed to leave at 9.30 in the morning, not early enough to miss the worse heat, but early enough for all of us. We filled the car up with 4 kids and 4 adults and I would say we were full and was wondering how on earth would we fit two washing machines and shopping in. But we cross the bridge when we are there. The trip to Santiago takes roughly two hours and it was an easy trip. I had packed a few drinks and buns to eat for the kids and had taken blocks of paper to draw and scribble on. We did not hear a peep from any of the children during the whole trip. Once we arrived in Santiago we went to the shopping mall "Jumbo"...... ahhhhh shopping in air conditions, what a treat. We quickly decided on our choice of washing machine and had lunch in the mall and then finished our shopping spree in the supermarket. By 4 o'clock we were all getting tired and it was time to head back to Luperon. When we came out of the mall the heat was nearable unbareable. The car was loaded to the maximum and we kept buying cold water on the way back. We had to stop once for the restrooms and bought some fresh vegetables on one of the roadside stalls. We made it back in time to collapse, to have dinner and watch a movie..... wow I thought shopping in New Zealand was a mission, but here it seems even more of a mission......however it was fun and I would not want to swap and miss these experiences at all.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Success of Homeschooling

This week we have taken a break from schooling, however Julia and Carlos still learn lots of new things every day.
I have figured that times have changed and instead of writing letters to the grandparents, they can email their Oma's and Opa's to keep in touch. Thus I have signed both of them up for their own email adress and this will be their first step to keep in touch with their grandparents and of course their current friends and friends to come. I know there is Facebook to keep in touch, but I would like to keep the tradition of pan pals a little bit. Long story short, I have arranged with the grandparents, that they will write to Julia and Carlos once a week and they have to write back. This brings me to the next subject that I would like both of them to learn, typing. So I have discovered a really awesome free webpage, that offers typing games and typing tuturiol, even I can improve my speed typing.


It has been now 8 month since we started homeschooling the children and I have to say it is amazing to see how much they have changed. I am very glad that I can wittness so closely there progress and the development. I must say it more work then I thought, but it worth it, thats for sure. Julia's reading is awesome and her love for books is increasing by the day. The way she participates in teaching and submits her work, great work Julia. Carlos questions are quiet tricky and very technical so I often have to ask Sven to answer and explain, which is simply great for the development between father and son. The other day he asked what the difference was between a 2 stroke and 4 stroke motor was, and they sat together and the way Sven explained it to him, beautiful to watch. Carlos also has developed a very creative side in him and the pictures that he draws are amazing. He draws with lots of details and passion, awesome, especially that I can give him the opportunity, support and time to explore this side in him. Keep up your loveley pictures Carlos.


I believe we all have come along way with our homeschooling and even though it is hard work and they both push and challenge me in their own way ....... I love every minute of it and would have not wanted to miss this great challenge and experience.


After a long summer break school will starts again in the Dominican Republic. So I am still eager for both of them to experience the schooling system here in Luperon. One of my motiv is to have a little break myself from schooling and children all day every day. However my biggest motiv is for them to learn and to pick up the spanish language and hopefully afterwards they will appreciate our teaching/schooling time together even more. Apparently I am a very mean teacher!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Adventure tour to Playa Punta Rusia











We got invited by Jan and David to join them for a trip to Playa Punta Rusia. Yeah, another trip down the country side.... another excursion to a beautiful beach. We had to wait for a dry spell, as we had to drive through a river to make it to the other side. Well that sounded very exciting right from the start. We made plans to go Monday this week if the weather stayed like it was. We were lucky and so we packed our bags in the morning and met Dave and Jan at 9 am at Puerto Blanco. David and Jan have got a truck where four of us could sit in the back, wow Julia and Carlos loved that. We took our matrace to make it as comfortable as possible.




Once we reached the river we all got a bit excited and all jumped up on our feet to see what was going on. David checked the level of the river before we went through. It was a beautfiul ride through the country side and we went pass lots of eggplant fields, banana plantages and various other orchards, it was mind blowing what grows in the Dominican Republic.

After a two hour ride we arrived at Playa Punta Rusia. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the beach and the water. I have to say it had opened my eyes again, that Luperon is certainly not showing the best side of the Dominican Republic. The beach and the water were amazing and we spend all day swimming in luke warm water and enjoyed ourselves. Little restaurants were plotted along the beach, so we had a yummy meal for lunch. At round about 3 o'clock we packe our bags again and made our way back to Luperon. Jan and David did not use the direct way back home and offered us a bit of sighseeing from its best and we got to see a bit more of the Dominican Republic sitting at the back of the truck. We were all exhausted that day, but very happy and content that night.