A few days after arriving in Gibraltar Jonathan left Merryn in Queensway Quay Marina where she is having an electrical refit. He flew from there to Geneva where we met at the main station after a month apart – very romantic. It was scorching in the city and we celebrated with cold beers before taking …
I departed the Caribbean in late May, leaving Jonathan to sail Merryn across the Atlantic with Jon and Peter. Happily Merryn arrived safely in Gibraltar today. Meanwhile, I had returned to London where I spent a few days visiting family before heading to Ste Foy. I was really looking forward to cooler weather in Europe …
We reluctantly departed St Barth on 24th April heading to Sint Maarten where our replacement VHF radio awaited us. Sint Maarten is the southern Dutch part of the island, the northern part being French. There is an enormous lagoon occupying the south western part of the island, accessed by lifting road bridges. Entry from Simpson …
We spent a full three weeks in dusty and frequently rainy Jolly Harbour Boatyard. It was ten days before our new fuel injector pump arrived from America and in the interim we took the opportunity to have Ivan and Jayden of Nautical Marine Services do the engine 2000 hour service. This was complex and comprehensive …
On departing Iles des Saintes we had another very ‘exhilarating’ sail north to the mainland with the forecast 22 knots of wind rapidly increasing to 43 knots in the squalls – that’s a severe gale! Thankfully it was only for a few hours and, as we made our way up the western side of Guadeloupe, …
Having had a wonderful stay in Marie Galant we were keen to explore some of the other islands south of Guadeloupe. We initially headed up to the south of the mainland and spent a few days at the marina just south of Pointe à Pitre. This is an excellent spot that is the finish line …
Instead of resting our aching muscles, we spent the day after the Boiling Lake walk at Carnival. Carnival is a big event in the Caribbean with parties all week culminating in two days of madness on Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras. The Monday event starts at 4am with J’ouvert or daybreak. Revellers in fancy dress …
At the end of January we made the long passage north from Bequia, bypassing Saint Vincent to arrive at Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia just before sunset. We arrived expecting the new chart plotter we had ordered from America to have also arrived. That was not to be, so we spent over a week in the …
After the first snows in October the weather turned bright and sunny again. We had to buy boot crampons but we were still able to do lots of wonderful walks in the mountains. We were joined, in early November, by Iain who was one of Jonathan’s colleagues in Antartica back in 1999. Ian was …
The last ten days of August have been less settled and less warm so we’ve been slightly more restricted in our trips. Before, we were heading high into the mountains seeking cooler air, but now we are in search of sunshine. As soon as we saw a forecast for two consecutive days of good weather …