February 4, 2012

The French Caribbean

Martinique, our playground for the last week or so was a strange beast. Imagine everything that you have pictured in your mind about a tropical Caribbean island; then add the rastas, resplendent with their dreadlocks and spliffs; include the…

January 30, 2012

Island style

This is a long overdue post all about St Lucia. Overdue largely because we needed a break after crossing our first ocean. We were straining our eyes, scanning the horizon for that first glimpse of land, all over-excited. But, we’re sailing, so, once…

January 19, 2012

Rodney Bay, Marigot Bay, Castries, Anse la Raye, Soufriere, Pigeon Island

We've been tripping along the Western coast of St Lucia; visiting mangrove bays and palm tree beaches; snorkelling among brightly spotted eels, luminous fish and giant sea urchins; diving off the boat to swim in beautifully clear waters; gorging…

January 18, 2012

A Hard Day’s Night

We are now fifteen weeks into our trip and I thought that it was high time to elaborate on a term that I’ve thrown around rather a lot: nightwatch. Contrary to what my father may think, when you are on a long passage such as our Morocco to Canaries…

December 15, 2011

But what will you eat??? – Food for thought

In the previous post I mentioned that we have 4 fantastic cooks on board. Surprisingly, the question that we all got asked the most often before setting off on our circumnavigation was "what will you do about food?". Well, there are two kinds of…

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…

November 9, 2011

Alvor, Portimão, Ferragudo, Faro, Tavira, Alcoutim and Sanlúcar de Guadiana

So, we continue to slowly wend our sleepy way towards Gibraltar. Now that we are into November the weather is not as consistently good (so still good enough for all you English lot to be jealous) so we've been doing a fair amount of wind dodging.…

November 4, 2011

The pros and cons of dropping the hook

Since our last post we have spent most of the time at anchor so I thought I would devote this latest bit of news to what we have learned from these days (and nights) spent on the hook. Pro: Staying at anchor is free and you gain exclusive access to…

October 24, 2011

Vigo – Viana do Castelo – Peniche – Sines – Praia de Arrifana – Lagos

Yup, I'm becoming a master of geography, not to mention my Portuguese pronunciations! I have fallen head over heels in love with the Atlantic coast of Portugal and urge anyone reading this to plan any future holidays there. The people could not be…

October 16, 2011

The Big Bad Bay of Biscuit (as it is it fondly known)

So, an update was promised and here it is. After the shaky false start of Friday the 7th we were finally able to set off from Mylor the next day with a repaired alternator and a bruised wallet. We had a great sail across the Channel (no fog this…

September 23, 2011

Home sweet home… at last!

Just a quickie post to confirm that we are afloat! Adamastor is indeed back in the water after what must have been 2 full years on the hard standing (under a tree, with her sails left on etc...). We have been living aboard since Wednesday. New…