river sailing – Water-log

December 24, 2016

A river runs through it

In our years at sea we’ve sometimes had a break from the ocean swell or bouncy anchorages and chosen to sail on a river. Yes, it is unlikely that you will get an easy sail but even motoring upriver is a lovely adventure in itself. Plus, you’re…

January 25, 2015

Life upriver

Whangarei is just a little way north of Auckland and the town basin dock lies 15 miles upriver from Whangarei Harbour mouth. This means it's a perfect spot to have your boat for a while if you're planning on any big boat projects or other work as…

April 19, 2013

Beggars can be choosers

Since leaving the UK in October 2011 we’ve spent very few nights away from the boat. In fact, in 18 months, we’d only had 5 nights that we didn’t spend on board. Our plan to sail up the Pacific coast of Central America was very much influenced by my…

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…

November 11, 2011

Escapees and explorers

We have sailed up the Rio Guadiana, a river which acts as part of the border between Portugal and Spain. It's a lovely spot and we've been here for a couple of days. It was recommended to us by Tom Meyer, who we met when anchoring at Alvor. He said…

We left England in 2011 aboard Adamastor, an Angelo Lavranos Crossbow, intending to circumnavigate in a couple of years.

After crossing the Atlantic and enjoying several months in the Caribbean we reached Panama, where we decided to start a family. Now we combine our cruising with being full-time parents to our daughter, Rocket, who was born en route in Mexico. We crossed the Pacific ocean with her, from Mexico to New Zealand, exploring all the South Pacific islands in between.

Our crew expanded with our son, Indigo, who was born in New Zealand. Our journey then took us back out to the South Pacific and onward into South East Asia. We spent some time sailing in Indonesia and then welcomed a baby girl, Autumn, born on a flying visit back to the UK. After returning to the boat we continued to cruise the Indonesian islands and, due to Covid-19, spent 8 months in Labuan Bajo in the Komodo islands. We then headed north, hoping to sail towards Malaysia and Thailand, and landed in Singapore at the end of 2020.

Once borders finally reopened we headed up to West coast Malaysia, spending some time at a yard to re-rig, re-antifoul and also raise some kittens! With the boat spruced up and the cats adopted we are now cruising between the Langkawi archipelago and the Thai islands, where there is an anchorage for every wind direction and plenty to explore!

It’s been 12 years, 38 countries, 2 oceans, 3 babies en route and 30,000 miles since we set off and you can follow our progress here.