Royal Botanic Garden, Melbourne

A day out with my high school bestie MW & her husband SJ in Melbourne. First stop, Cafe Domain which is located opposite the Royal Botanic Gardens. A great place to catch up with friends or watch the world go by. Food was good too! Salt & Pepper Calamari Lovely Cold Cut Platter MW & I :) A short stroll at the Royal Botanic Garden in Melbourne. A wefie! Thanks for spending the day with me MW & SJ! :) After that, I met up with Alex and his high school friend Suresh at Hosier...

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It's Back to Singapore

If you read our Haul Out in Trinidad post, you might already know why we decided to head back home for a while. A silly and painful mistake that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We flew back to Singapore on 12th May 2015. I was really glad and grateful that I was able to see my family and friends again. Even though we've been back once a year for "holidays" it was always too short. So the plan was to get a job for six months, save up and get back to Raptor in December for the next sailing season in the Caribbean. Alex and I were both extremely fortunate to find work again in our...

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Haul Out in Trinidad

We departed Store Bay, Tobago at 11:55pm on 24th February 2015 and arrived in Chaguaramas at 12:30pm the next day. We picked up a mooring opposite the Power Boats Boatyard (N 10.40.724 W 61.38.072) for a week. Clearing in at Chaguaramas was fairly easy compared to when we cleared-in at Scarborough. The Customs and Immigrations office are within 50m of each other.   We hauled out at Power Boats on the 2nd of March 2015, mainly to re-anti foul our hulls and service the engine. But as you know, there's always something more that needs...

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Recipe | Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Nutella, Cocoa, Cashew Nut & Chia Seed Whole Wheat Banana Bread  (photo looks a little dark but rest assured it's not burnt.. It's the chocolate!) :) Ingredients: 2-3 ripe bananas (mashed) 2 tablespoons of butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon baking soda a pinch of salt  1 egg 1½ cups of whole wheat flour/all purpose flour 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 2 tablespoons brown sugar or nutella (optional) 1 teaspoon chia seeds (optional) 1 teaspoon flax seeds (optional) 3 tablespoons of crushed nuts peanuts/hazelnuts/cashews/walnuts/almonds...

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Carnival in Tobago, Trinidad & Tobago

We were fortunate to have made it in time for Carnival which was held on the 16th & 17th of February 2015. We heard that it is better to go on Tuesdays, and so we did. The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual event held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The event is well known for its participants' colourful costumes and exuberant celebrations which begin right after Christmas. Here's some info about its origin.."Like the cosmopolitan mix of peoples and cultures that shaped the island, Trinidad's Carnival has many influences....

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Tobago, Trinidad & Tobago

Beautiful sunset from our anchorage in Store Bay We finally made it to the Caribbean!  Trinidad and Tobago is the southern most island in the Caribbean, situated northeast of Venezuela (just 11km away). It was a 3 day sail from British Guyana. We departed at the river mouth of Baganara on the 10th February 2015 and arrived on the eve of Valentine's day. Our initial heading was towards Chaguaramas, Trinidad. However, Alex calculated that if we stayed our course, we would arrive after dark. It would be too risky for us (a single prop) to...

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Essequibo River, British Guyana

Raptor in Essequibo River Guyana is the only South American nation in which English is the official language. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to the south and southwest, Suriname to the east and Venezuela to the west. Essequibo is the largest river in Guyana and the largest river between the Amazon and Orinoco. It flows from the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil-Guyana border 1,010km northward through forest and savannah into the Atlantic Ocean. We set off from Domburg, Suriname on 3rd February 2012 and...

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