Seb & Anne

Seb & Anne Blog revival..2008 overview

2010-01-10T20:54:00.011+01:00

So after 2007 came 2008... (no shit ?)

Anne was very occupied this year with the recordings of Flikken Maastricht, so busy she even did not have the time to join for an all-road trip though Turkey !

Together with a few friends (Hans from Touratrek, Mat and Petra from the BMW Boxertoko, Roemer, Margjen, Ewout, Gerben and my roommate for the trip, Leendert) we flew to Turkey and drove for a bit more than a week in the south and middle of Turkey. Basically just seeing where we would end up, some tracks off-road, some stretches on the tarmac.

In and around Göreme, the village build entirely out of naturally formed sandstone peaks, the riding was spectacular, every off road enthusiast's dream!!

Didn't Anne ride at all that year ??
Of course not don't be silly ! She travelled by bike multiple times to and from Maastricht during the recording periods. Also we met a motorcycle instructor who gives off-road trainings in the south of Holland (Roel from motorrijschool Selling). With his we had our first real off road training, and this is where I got hooked to off road riding....
Here is Anne conquering a muddy corner..

During the year, Anne met up with our former collegae and friend from the DiveProvo time, Sally, in London. Where she now works as a teacher ! She must be the coolest teacher in the world !

After two years working and riding the bikes we both started feeling an urge, a little itch.. and realized we hadn't been diving since August 2006 !.. it had been two years since we had been in the water..
So we bought two new drysuits and went for a week diving in Malta to visit our former employers and friends from Dive Deep Blue divecentre. When we first jumped in realized this was the first time we could dive without having to take care of customers.. :)

Nothing much changed since we left Malta two years earlier, except that Dive Deep Blue extended their business with Tec Deep Blue, providing Technical Divers with all their needs, a few new great wrecks were sunk, and the marine live preservation at divesites seems to improve the wildlife, making the site more interesting for divers. Hopefully that keeps on progresing the next years. We'll be back to check !!

So far 2008...

Seb & Anne Blog revival..

2010-01-10T19:46:00.010+01:00

It has been nearly 3 years since the last update on this blog.

Not that nothing happened during the last three years, I was probably just too lazy to write anything. On the contrary, we have been doing quite a lot, and are now starting our new adventure, we are expecting a baby girl early April !

But first things first, let's give you a quick overview of the past three years....

As you know in 2006 we decided to go back to Amsterdam, get a normal job with lots of time to enjoy what we missed during the diving years.
I started working at the head office of Tommy Hilfiger here in Amsterdam as SAP / IT coordinator, and Anne became an assistent producer via a good friend of us. Among others she has been working on a show called "Draadstaal" and latest three seasons of the popular Dutch police series "Flikken Maastricht".

But like mentioned, in earlier blogs, the main reason to start working in Amsterdam/Holland was to enjoy traveling/holidays/city live and so on.

So the end of the Summer of 2007 we took the bikes back to the Alps, for a three week ride.

Passing most of the higher passes in Europe like the "Galibier" at 2645 meter above sea level, a

and the highest motorable pass in Europe,
the "La Bonette" with its peak at 2802 meter !
(No, not 2800... but 2802 !)
Little did we know....

Motor season opening 2007

2007-04-10T22:14:00.000+02:00

Hello !!!

Allthough we have been riding once in a while after our return from the French/Corsican tour. It was about time to hit the road again for some serious touring...
Easter (long) weekend promised to be sunny so we set off for a few days off winding roads in Belgium, Luxemburg and, to try something new, the German Eifel area.

Our first day went through the Belgium Ardennes, over familiar roads, but nevertheless lovely riding. We spent the night at Motor Inn, Baton Rouge.
Run by the Dutch couple Ben and Hetty who welcomed us as if we had been coming there for years. And we will from now on!!!!

Next day we set off for Luxemburg and via Trier we followed the river the Moezel. All in all a 250 KM journey. We had never ridden in Germany before, and it sure was an eye opener. Great roads, stunning scenery, more than enough bents, twists and hairpins to use all the rubber available......

Early evening we were welcomed by some pure Amsterdam hospitality... Biertje ??? at Hexenhaus in Bullay, Germany. Run by Paul en Pien, a Dutch... no sorry Amsterdam couple who started a great Motor Hotel a few years ago. They had there Season Opening party that night, with barbacue, band... and enough beer..
But apart from that, we had a great room (Indonesian style) and slept like babies to get ready for the next day, another day of No highways, but only the regional roads all the way to Liege...
Did I tell you already that those roads are great ?? Flat tarmac, lot and lots of corners, bent and twists, hills, great food...

Oh yes we have some pictures, not many... we were to busy.,.... RIDING !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas & New Year !!!!

2006-12-22T08:39:00.000+01:00

To all of you a merry Christmas and a Smashing New Year !!!
Aan iedereen Prettige Kerstdagen en een geweldig Nieuw Jaar toegewenst !!!

New Photos and Movies

2006-11-12T18:34:00.000+01:00

Click here

for more pictures !!

Corsica
Scala di Santa Regina

Corsica
St-Florent to Oletta

Last stage... and a stage it was

2006-11-06T12:00:00.000+01:00

After arriving in the pouring rain in Nice, we set of for a 2 day trip towards Anne’s aunt and uncle in Saux, France, close to Cahors. In Corsica Anne’s bike started having trouble with the starting engine, but we managed to push start is pretty easy. But the starter trouble was just the beginning of the problems. It was harder and harder to keep the bike running, even after the engine was warm and running for a long time. But on the highway it ran, so we kept on going. But then after a regular stop, we had to push start the bike, and the clutch started slipping… making it almost impossible to start. When we finally managed, Anne drove away, and couldn’t get above 80 km in 3th gear… 4th gear was slipping…..
We had enough…… we got of the highway at Arles, which turned out to be a very beautiful roman/medieval town where the Dutch painter van Gogh lived and lost his mind in the process. So did we…

We found a great little hotel in centre of town, in the old post distribution centre Hotel Relais de Poste, and called our insurance to inform them about the slow death of the bike…
The owner of the hotel was very helpful passing calls and messages from French salvage crew and garages and the Dutch alarm service ANWB.
The bike good not be fixed quickly for the trip back and it was send on a big truck back to Holland.
Since we had some days waiting for this news, we visited the old town, found van Goghs house, the roman amphitheatre and theatre, and had some great meals with some Rohne wine… very nice..
Anne left for Cahors by train, and I set of by bike, a good 500 KM. In the afternoon I arrived and was warmly welcomed by Hanneke and Kees with a very necessary beer.
We spent a few days relaxing and getting spoiled in the wine area of the Cahors.

After two days I set of on the bike again direction The Netherlands. A good 1100 Km.
The plan was to ride it in two days, stop around Orleans, and arrive a day later when Anne would arrive by train. So I left not at all in a hurry at 9:300. Since I arrived at Orleans already at 3 o’clock I continued for a bit, so at 6 o’clock I was 200 Km underneath Brussels, and that feels like you are nearly there… so after dinner I set off again for the last 400 Km. Finally after some slippery moments around Antwerp in the rain… those roads in Belgium are crab !!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I arrived at 22:30 in Vught. My arms and legs so cramped and cold I nearly fell over with bike and all when stopping at the driveway of Anne’s parents. I was warmly welcomed with a nice glass of red wine and a warm bath. And slept for 14 hours straight.
Anne arrived that afternoon, by train also after a 13 hour journey.

So back in Holland, what do we do….. well try to get a job… fix Anne’s bike….. and play with the nephews..

So all in all a great holiday, great biking, great food, great wine, and our heads clear.
During the trip we came to the conclusion that we missed Amsterdam, friends and family and a normal live, with time for things like cinema, great bars/cafes, concerts, motor trips, everything we did not do anymore on the Islands the last few years, due to the long working hours, or because it was just not possible. So we decided to go back to Amsterdam, get a normal job with lots of time to enjoy what we missed the last yeas.

So see you somewhere in Holland the next couple of years !!

Final days on Corsica.

2006-10-31T13:35:00.000+01:00

During the final days in Corsica we stayed in Bastia, waiting for my bike to get a new Voltage Regulator. During our last trip from the mountains to Bastia, I nearly boiled the battery, which was overcharged big time. But luckily I noticed it just in time and was able to make it to another BMW garage. So we had some days to enjoy Bastia and the surrounding area, including the old village of my great-grandmother.

Bastia is a real city, people still live in the centre of town around the old harbour. Although the city tries to live on tourism, the old town still looks and feels like it must have been the last few hundred years. Here and there you can see apartment buildings being done up, but most still look old and very very "used".

The last day we went into the mountains again to try and find the birthplace of my great-grandmother in the tiny village of Penta. Half an hour from a regional road, up into the chestnut forest, again lots of pigs, cows and gravel. We arrived in a village of about 10 houses. Over a cobblestone street we passed under a house that I could vaguely remember from when I was about 10 years old. Via a resident we met walking his dog, we ended up 10 minutes later at the desk of the major, who took out all the old birth records from around 1890 to 1920. Since I didn't know my great-grandmother I tried to call my father. After walking just out of town and climbing on a rock I just managed to get some kind of signal and got through to my dad. Ghiponi was here last name, the major looked at me and said, my grandmother was a Ghiponi from this village. In the end it turned out that his grandmother and my great-grandmother were sisters. So I have got a major in my family !!! We could not find the correct birth records, but we will stay in contact to try and find some more information. The house turned out to be the correct house, so after taking some pictures we left my "roots" for Bastia and Europe again.

Corsica Part II

2006-10-23T16:17:00.000+02:00

After a week touring around the Cap Corse (the far north of Corsica) we set off to visit the rest of Corsica in several stages.
Via the mountains around Corte, and the fabulous canyon of Scala the Santa Regina. (Of which I will publish a 'road movie' in a later. ) We went back to the West Coast, to follow the coastal road past Porto/Piana and Ajaccio.

The south of Corsica is quite different than the North, one off the main differences were the more archeological sites, with the famous prehistoric menhirs (standing stones) From which it is not yet sure who they represent or were made by who.
Here to the right the statue number 9 from the site at Filitosa.
One of the theories is that they represent invading "sea people" who ended up in Corsica after a failed invasion of Egypt.
The stones where later used for building material so many where broken in the process.

In Ajaccio we found a small hotel in the centre of town, but after a afternoon and evening walking around, there was nothig really interesting, so we left the next morning towards Sartene, the Vendetta Capital of Corsica. This city still has his old charm, with narrow streets and corridors, inbetween the houses. Some streets are so narrow that you can only pass through them one at a time. And a lively atmoshpere on the central square.

After two nights which we set of north again through mountains.
Going over a couple off mountain passes,avoidig collisions ith pigs and cows and after a flying descend we suddenly where at sealevel in the eastern plains south of Bastia. Like falling out of the sky and landing in flatland Holland.

Family Buissiness, St-Florent

2006-10-05T11:14:00.000+02:00

After Calvi we were off direction Cap Corse. Along some spectacular cliffs and good tarmac through the mountains of Northern Corsica we arrived in St-Florent. The village of my father.

Walking around the harbor that afternoon, the quest was finding my uncle Paul. Since it was around apperetif time, the best guess was one of the local bars.
Not long after we found him, and he pleasantly surprised.

After a while my nephew Ulrick showed up, and both started calling around for a studio for us to rent. So within 10 minutes we had a house in the middle of town for the week.
The day after as is a Corsican tradition, dinner with the family.

Did I mention how great a motor country Corsica is ?
Two trips so far around the Cap Corse, some parts wide open roads along the cliffs were you can really fly through the curves, other more challenging with lots of holes and gravel, narrow blind corners, but always beautifully views of the sea, the mountains and the villages.

Anne getting up close and personnel with a 1 horsepower.

Jippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

From Nice to Corsica... on both bikes !!

2006-09-29T15:42:00.000+02:00

In the end we stayed two nights in Nice, close to the BMW garage. We took the time to enjoy Nice, wich is a very busy, but still very Mediterranean city. The cities boulevards and roads around the centre and thus sea are packed with traffic, somethimes 5 rows each way. But the good thing is all the motor and scooters in town and there are tons off them, ride as I like it best, passing everywhere, left right in the middle, and the cars let them and give them room... well just enough.
The mechanic managed to get it running fine again (even better), and after I had changed all the broken lightbulbs and installed a new battery (Still not sure why I broke all off them), we got on the ferry to Corsica.

So we were in Corsica. A bit earlier as planned, but the weather on the continent was not helping and to be honest, I wanted to go really bad to the Island.

We ended up in Calvi for the first week, and by luck the first campsite we found, and that had campers for rent was the same one I have been on before with all my friends when I was around 18. 2 minutes from the beach and 15 minutes walk to town.

In the morning Anne goes to get bread....
and I do as if I know what I am supposed to do...

From here we have been riding through mountains and along some stunning cliffs, road vary from good with good tarmac and curves to 30 or less KM an hour stretches with hairpins, no rails or barriers, patched road-repairs which are repaird again, and washed away again.
Oh, and cows here and there, and a horse...

Tomorrow we leave to a new village in an other region, so we keep you up to date...

First stage, France !

2006-09-27T17:48:00.000+02:00

OK, and we are off,

Via Belgium (Houffalize) we started our trip. Left the highway in Liege (Luik) and haven't really been on the highway since. Spend one night on a campsite in Houffalize, after tasting some nice beers off course.

The next stage went towards the Vosges (Vogezen), the first bigger hills, and in very nice weather we ended up in a Motorpension run by a Dutch guy, Wim ,Gites Les Tronces.
See his website for some pictures.
After going from one little village to the next even smaller, you end up in a forest were the tarmac ends and you drive through sand and gravel for about 5 minutes.
And then you are welcomed by the to dogs and Wim, off course I have a room, and dinner, you dont want to drive this road by night do you ??
We stayed for two nights so we had some time to drive around in the Vosges. The weather was not very pleasant the next day, so we drove in the mist over Col the la Slucht

After saying goodbye to Wim we were off to the Jura, the second hills/moutains range. And in beautifull sunshine and over winding roads we found after some struggle a very nice campsite in the little village Port Lesney. And in the last sunshine of the day we set up camp there, deceiding to stay there an other day to do some hiking.

But next morning the rain started, and did not stop till the next night. Although we managed to have a great walk in the hills, we were soaked and needed a fireplace in a local bar and some heartwarming local beer to get back to life.

So next morning we put the still wet tent back on the bike, and left for sunshine, SOUTH,
Through the Alps, towards and past the Grenoble, still not a single mile on the higjway !!
We found the sun, and a very empty campsite in the moutains, sunny during the day and freezing at night. Here we managed to dry our tent, and hike in the sunshine.
But still not warm enough for our liking, so off we went again, to Nice !!!
Through real motobike country, corner after corner for hours, untill,,,,,prrrrr,pang,poef...... the BMW stopt......
By going downhill I managed to start it again, but it started running worse and worse.
10 KM before Nice, it died, and no hills anymore, so we bought jumpcables, and started the bike again, but not faster than 40 km an hour in 5th gear.... and then the motor-Gods interveined..... a BMW motorrad garage, the last 200 meters I pushed the bike into heaven.

To be continued........

On the road again !!

2006-09-12T17:06:00.000+02:00

So we came back from the Turks & Caicos Islands, to spend a few weeks in Holland preparing our European motorbike-tour.

First off all, sorry for all we did not meet, see, or called during our short stay here. But no worries, we won't be gone longer than 6 months... we think.... maybe...
The weeks here were filled with fixing bikes, shopping for goodies, meeting some family and friends.

The bikes are up and running !! We'll be traveling with a 1982 Kawasaki Z440 LTD and a 1977 BMW R60/7.
Thanks Martijn for doing most of the work on the BMW during my absence.
I was a bit worried when it looked like this :

But in the end it all worked out, and we have wheels !!!

So what is the plan ??
We leave through Belgium (Ardennes) to the east of France. Through the Lorraine, Elsace, Franche Comte, following the Dordogne river, and than one way or the other to Corsica. In Corsica we will spend a few weeks, visiting every corner of the island.
After Corsica there are a lot of options, and we will decide once we're there.

On this website we hope to keep you up to date where we are, and if we have found our little bit of paradise.

See you !!

Seb & Anne

Motortour 2005!!!!!

2005-09-26T11:02:00.000+02:00

Finally, after 9 months without a motorbike, we were back in Holland for a full month!!
A month of bikes, babies, beer and good food.
On Friday morning we left for the Belgium Ardennes from Vught (Anne's parents) with 10 people on seven bikes. Martijn en Simone, Martijn II, Maarten en Pascal, Lennaert, Ron en Wendy, Anne-Marieke en me on a mixed collection of bikes, from street racer to big all road and tour to all-round. After hours over smaller roads, through the south of Holland and north of Belgium, we finally reached Luik (liege) at around 4 o'clock.

Luik is a little bit of a maze... just a little bit.... so who knows how to get through town, and get back on the highway???? Yes we all know when we come from the 'normal' route.... but we didn't did we....
So at 5 we finally found ourselves back on track, into the highway through the hills strait to Achouffe!!! But hang on, the shops close at 6!!! How about the Belgium beer for when we arrive!!!
This must have been the thing on Lennaert's mind, so he signalled to me, that he was off, and he opened the throttle on his big former police bike and was gone, a few tried to keep us for a while, but after a real police bike came into the picture Len was on his own.

After a bit more than an hour, we all arrived at our destination, a wood hut, with burning wood fire, in the middle of the Belgium woods, just outside Houffalize, welcomed by a big smiling Lennaert with a few cold bottles of Achouffe!!!! Thanks Lennaert’s!!! After a full day on the bike, it was the best glass of beer we had in a long time!
Although they spend a day on the bikes themselves, Simone and Martijn managed to make us a wonderful dinner, after which we ended up in the local hotel/pub for some more of the Belgium delight. (beer that is...)

That morning, we were still coming to live with coffee and fresh bread and Arden ham, bought early in the morning by Len and Martijn again, who drove to Houffalize while everybody else was still in bed dreaming about hobbits and gnomes, when we heard some running BMW engines in the garden, when Koos and Marise arrived.
They had left the north of Holland at around 7 in the morning to be in time for our first motor tour of the day!
So after Koos and Marise had warmed up a bit with some coffee, it was riding-time!!!

Lead by Len, we took of for a trip through the Belgium landscape, nice corners, little villages, and sometimes an empty piece of road where you could open up the throttle. When we arrived back at the houses Bart, Renske, Giel, Laurine and Neeltje had just arrived by car. And where already busy walking, moutainbiking or just chilling out.

Later that afternoon after a quick coffee a couple of die-hards stepped on their bikes again for a late afternoon trip just to get it out of our system.... We ended up at lots and lots of dirt and gravel roads, not really a problem for Koos and me on our big off-roads, a bit a problem for the all-roaders, but harder for Martijn and Maarten on the racers......hahahahaha

After a good meal and a few beers at the local bar, the next morning very early, Renske, Bart, Maarten and Pascal (did I forget anyone) went for a little morningmotortrip, just to arrive back when the majority got their morning coffee.

Early that afternoon, the first few left for Holland again, the once left went cycling or riding the bikes. The motor trip led us through Belgium a Luxembourg for well over 5 hours, with a small break for bite to eat and a coffee. The roads in Luxembourg are great!!!!!!!!! Great tarmac, lots of twists and turns, sometimes slower tight corners, but also lots of fast and very fast ones!!!!!!!!!!!! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

That night a brilliant meal at hour local hotel/restaurant, to leave to Holland again 'early' in the morning. Koos and Marise left to take the highway back, Martijn, Simone, Anne-Marieke and me had some more time, so we took the inside little roads. 7 hours later we arrived exhausted and with a wooden ass back in Vught. (Martijn and Simone had another hour to go..)

All in all a very pleasant weekend, of which I have very good memories and would like to do again as soon as possible.
Lennaert, thanks for organizing the houses and the trip, Simone and Martijn for spoiling us with great food, and everybody else for turning up, it meant a lot to us that all our friends were there!

P.S. If you have any pictures of the weekend, please email them to sebastiensam@yahoo.com

Photos Panto

2005-09-11T10:57:00.000+02:00

Hereby a few more pictures

Seb & Anne's panto !

2005-09-11T10:36:00.000+02:00

About half a year ago, we were asked by John from O2 Technical diving if we were interested in joining the Panto this year... The Panto ??? what the...... is a Panto.It turns out to be a British theatre thing where at the end of the year a theatre play is performed, where guys play a lot of the women’s roles, and the play is a 'known' story, but with that years jokes, people and add-ons..This year it is a Caribbean Cinderella (Assepoester...in Dutch).I was talked into the role of the royal messenger JoJo the Dolphin. A hand puppet who appears on key moments during the show bringing news and letters... And getting to use a big watergun !!!!Anne is backstage hand, handing out props to actors and things like that...The theatre where it is all going to happen next week is a full size theatre, with all the light, effects, sounds. The show is a full on production with a lot of thingies to happen during the show.So the rehearsals have been going on for months now, and finally this week the last full dress rehearsals with all costumes, sound-/light effects and all scene changes. We have 5 evening performances and one afternoon matinee. For this matinee a big group of children are flown in from Grand Turk to see the show.And even the prime minister and British governor both have a small role (on a video screen that is.)All in all a lot of work, for us not even that much (twice a week for a couple of months) but for the producers and directors, stage managers it is a hell of a job, but the results so far are amazing.A spectacular show, very funny, proper costumes, scenery and singers and dancers. See the pictures !!

Rebreather training

2005-05-26T19:50:00.000+02:00

For 5 very full days in a row we were fully closed!!We followed the fully closed rebreather course (Buddy Inspiration) at O2 technical diving, under the watchful eye of Ariane.?????rebreather?????? what the hell is that !OK here an as simple as possible short explanation, if you want to know a bit more, email me.The main difference with normal scuba equipment is that a rebreather reuses you exhaled air, by cleaning it from carbon dioxide (CO2), and adding the used portion of oxygen (O2).This way the system uses way less gas than a normal scuba system (open system)Because you reuse the gas, no gas will escape, so no bubbles, no noise, and animals will think your one of them, and you can approach them very close...(even sharks...)Next to that, the rebreather keeps the oxygen level of the breathing mix at an optimum level for the depth your diving at, and adjusts it when the diver changes depth. This causes less nitrogen build-up, so longer bottom time.Together this means you can stay down under up to three hours!!The training itself consisted mainly of emergency drills, the rebreathers are less forgiving than normal dive systems, so you really need to be conscious of what your doing (what your breathing), and act if something goes wrong.As soon as the alarm buzzer goes off, check the gauges/computers and act according to the problem.So during training dives, Adriane simulated all possible problems and malfunctions by closing our tanks, showing us simulated readings on oour gauges, and asking us questions to check if we reacted properly and quickly enough.All in all a lot of fun, and plenty of time to enjoy the dives, with passing eagle rays, sharks and enormous groupers and snappers.So now we're certified to dive with a rebreather to a max depth of 40 meters (same as normal diving).Next step will be (after we gained some more hours experience on the rebreather) Trimix and rebreather.This way you have the benefits of the rebreather, but then to a max of 100 meters. This will open up more deeper wrecks and reefs...We'll keep you posted on new rebreather adventures !Ariane, thanks for the course !! You are a great instructor, and even though we were already scuba instructors you didn't give us any slack, which helped us becoming properly trained rebreather divers.

Sister act

2005-03-22T19:53:00.000+01:00

We had a busy visiting schedule the first few months in paradise.This time it were Willemein (Anne's sister) and Raphael.Willemein highly pregnant, so not too much sun and little swimming/snorkeling. But a holiday just to relax and enjoy the good things in life........ sleeping and eating.... and sleeping again....and euh...eating .So every morning after they dropped us of at work (yes we still call it work..), they returned home to have breakfast in the morning sun on our terrace, followed by a deserved nap, followed by lunch at our terrace again...On our day of, we went the four of us to Bugaloos on the beach, to try the local varieties of Conch (big...big... sea snail) Fried, stir fried, cooked.... very nice, very snail...Raphael had one day of diving with us, but as you can see on the picture, the sea was a bit rough that day. Willemein who came on the boat to make sure I brought Raphael back from the dive, had slight trouble with the 'motion of the ocean'. Luckily she was alive again just in time for a splendid diner at Bay Bistro that night.All in all a perfect Holiday in paradise, lots of sun, beach and good food.

Wherever we go

2005-03-10T19:56:00.000+01:00

Wherever we go on this 'blue planet' there is always a steady group of visitors!Last years in Malta, we had a big number of friends and family stay or at least dive with us.This time we made it a little bit more difficult, moving from around 3 hours flying time to over 7 hours...But even here we can welcome numerous visitors.First to break the 'silence' was Lennaert, shortly joined by Neeltje.Lennaert enjoyed numerous dives, with and without us, and could start experimenting with his new underwater camera housing and of course his new diving computer! While Neeltje had a try in conquering the deep. Their visit was concluded with an excellent meal at Grace’s Cottage, one of the more up-class restaurants on the Island.(Thx !!!)The pictures are all by Len or Neeltje with or without the underwater housing, and edited by me …

Culinary highlight

2005-03-01T19:55:00.000+01:00

2005-03-01 After Lennaert and Neeltje, it was time to welcome Martijn en Simone. They were ready for a relaxing holiday after hard work back in freezing Holland.Lucky for us they are both very skilful cooks, so almost every night and during our days of, the whole day, they would surprise us with all delicious homemade dishes, and in-between snacks.Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!We felt very spoiled!!! Both enjoyed the Turks beaches, our 'seaview' balcony, the snorkeling at Smith's Reef, and the oppertunity to dive from the Dive Provo boats (our employer). And we had a nice day exploring the mangoves and Iguana island by sea-kayak.And they could not leave the Island, before visiting the Conch Farm, were they breed conch for consumption, and tast different ways to cook conch at Bugaloos. Were they are keeping their conch fresh, by keeping them in a pen just of the beach. So if you order a conch dish, the chef, first has to get wet, before he can start to cook.The pictures are mostly Martijn en Simones, edited by... meThanks again for all your cooking, cleaning and making our lives very luxurious for a few weeks!

Swimming with.....

2005-02-01T19:56:00.000+01:00

Things can happen on these Islands.Snorkelling with wild dolphins in one of them.During a trip to a dive site, we encountered a curious group of bottlenose dolphins, which seemed not only interested in speeding in the boats bow wave, but were very playful even when the boats slowed down.Decision was quickly made (don't think of the 6000 feet of water underneath you), get in there !Instead of following the dolphins trying to get closer with a camera, which makes the dolphin’s swim off. I just free dived down, and tried to stay down for as long as possible, the dolphins approached pretty close.Every time a small group came past, one of them would come and examine me from close by...WOW!!!After a way too short time, the show was over and I found myself alone in the deep blue.A big OK sign to the boat, and I was picked us to continue the trip to the dive site.But it can even get better than that..A few days later, Anne and Jules were diving with guests at West Caicos when they spotted an Humpback Whale mother and the calf in shallow water in-between the boat and the Island.Again here, no hesitations.... get in there !!!!!!!!!!!!!Anne had a unbelieveble close encouter, underwater !!! with a mother whale and here calf !!It must have been an amazing site, the size of those animals are enormous. Like watching a big bus swim..Well, I am not jealous.... yeah right !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Seb(The pictures are not mine, nor taken that day, but just for illustration)

Our house.....

2005-01-01T19:57:00.000+01:00

So we arrived at the Turks & Caicos.We live in a nice bottom apartment of a two apartment house.It is spacious for two people and have a guestroom, big kitchen, living room and all the comforts of a real house !!TV, with a lot of American channels ... jippie... comercialcommercialcommercial...Internet, a playstation, monstrous refrigerator, even bi9gger washing machine....Outside balcony, with a little seaview.So everything a tired dive instructor needs.

Here we are again !!!

2004-12-31T20:09:00.000+01:00

Hello all of you,Here we are again, it took a while but finally we have everthing setup to start out weblog again.So, where the hell are we ??The Turks & Caicos Islands ...... to be more precise, we live and work on one of the islands Providenciales.The Islands are located just above Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in the Carabien.The North shore looks out over the Atlantic Ocean, the south over the Caribien sea towards Haiti.Around the Island there is a barrier reef stretching out to a maximum of 20 miles out shore. After the reef, a wall... dropping at some points straight down to 6000 feet (2 km). Some parts of this 'reef' just stick out of the sea to form small islands or cays, like French Cay and West Caicos.The diving is almost all wall diving, with the top of the wall varying from 40 feet to max 80 feet (10 meter till 5 meters).Next to all the classical reef fish, we encounter lots of Carabien Reef Shark, Nurse Shark, big spotted Eagle rays, great Barracudas and Hawskbill Turtles.The diving itself is very simple, hardly any currents, dives start immediately under the boats, drop along the wall, follow till someone is on 100 bar (1500 psi), turn the dive, come up the wall, swim back along the top of the wall untill under teh boat again. Can really get lost.Visibility changes from 30 meters and further on good days, and 10 meters plus on bad days.The Island itself is not the classic Carabien Island, although the relaxedatmosphere is still there. The majority of buildings are luxury hotels, beach villas. So no idillic old villages. Lots of big American cars, one good straight road, and the rest just dirts tracks, with lots of loose stones. The prices are European, that is... expensive, beers in a restaurant/bar start at around 4 dollars. A Burger around 12 dollars and up....If you are a beach person this is the place to go to, miles and miles of white sandy beaches, with nobody on there !!! Easy water access, good snorkelling spots, and hardly any waves.