March 25, 2018

Fly by

Drones are a pretty amazing new piece of technology. Here's a very short glimpse of [...]

December 4, 2016

Back to reality

I wake to find that we are the only boat at anchor in this spot. Our yacht hangs in a mere 3 metres of clear turquoise water, nicely enclosed by an island to either side of us. There’s sand, pebble and shell, which appear [...]

April 19, 2016

Cover girl

Just a little post to show that one of our images is gracing the front cover of Ocean Navigator magazine this month, along with an article on anchoring inside [...]

January 18, 2016

Flying the flag

Jess is in this month's Yachting Monthly magazine as the only female member of the panel contributing to an ensemble article called "How to anchor like an expert". 8 sailing pros were consulted on their techniques and [...]

July 3, 2014

Too close for comfort

I have long been aware that there is a fine art to anchoring well. It’s something that varies with each boat, each anchorage and the conditions that you’re presented with and it’s only on the rare occasions that someone gets it wrong that you truly…

November 1, 2013

Landlubbers no more

A short note to announce that we’re free! After over 4 and a half months of marina time (our longest ever) as we combined sitting out Pacific hurricane season with increasing our crew number we are at long last back on the hook at anchor. And the…

February 10, 2013

Rude awakening

It’s 5:30am, the boat is rocking violently from side to side and James and I are covered in water. Had we been on passage this might be something that we were expecting or at least prepared for. But no, this time, we are actually at anchor. The…

January 3, 2013

Sun, sand and Santa – a month in San Blás

The San Blás islands, also known as the Kuna Yala, is home to the Kuna Indians who are in charge of the entire archipelago of over 350 islands and retain autonomy without interference from the national Panamanian government. The archipelago is…

June 1, 2012

Just a quick note…

So, in the previous post I mentioned meeting all the lovely people in the Isla Mujeres anchorage; firm friends that we hope to stay in touch with and who helped us so much. However, I should point out that it was only after a week and a half that we…

May 16, 2012

Mexican sojourn

The crossing from Cienfuegos, Cuba, to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, took us 3 and a half days and was a fairly straightforward and non-eventful passage. Since our trip from the BVI’s to Cuba, James and I are a lot more comfortable doing longer passages…

April 25, 2012

What a drag…

I love our anchor. We’ve anchored in so many places, so many times, that the two of us have a very good, quick system in place for dropping the hook. We always check how well we are set and log our GPS position and have never really had any major…

April 12, 2012

The kindness of cruising strangers

In order to separate the flesh of a fresh conch from its bone it is important to make a hole in its shell one ring in from the outside at an angle the same as 2 o’clock on a clock’s face – Valois taught us that. Similarly, when laying a second…

March 20, 2012

One night in Statia

St Eustatius, also known as Statia, is a tiny island, only about 3 miles wide, with around 3,000 inhabitants, lots of wild screeching red parrots, roaming donkeys and small flocks of wandering goats. Although so very small it is a country in its own…

February 14, 2012

The middle of the butterfly

So, for those of you who have not brushed up on your Caribbean island topography, Guadeloupe looks like a lopsided butterfly. Its western wing is called Basse Terre and is covered in mountains and volcanoes with clouds hovering at their summits; its…