Festina is back in passage making mode for the first time in several months . We spent two completely windless days anchored out in the bay off Jolly harbour , fitting a new hatch , going through the checklists and safety procedures and generally converting the boat back from a floating caravan into something more […]
Thankfully , Bryony’s week with us did not quite live up to her billing as “the Droughtbuster”! It was a bit rainy to begin with – but not too bad , and about as nice as you could hope for by the end. I cannot quite comprehend how a week can go by so fast […]
Life has been very kind to us over the last few months , allowing us to spend our time in a huge variety of anchorages that provide a gorgeous tropical view in daylight , and by and large, sheltered peaceful nights. In effect we were overdue for a bit of adventure. From English Harbour […]
From barbuda again The trades are blowing strongly again , and we are back in Barbuda , anchored once more in the lee of its stunning East facing coast. There is only one building along the whole 11 mile beach – a small hotel of exquisite taste , but so it should be ; the […]
A gap year, whether taken as a youngster or, as in our case, near our dotage, should be an opportunity for learning new skills, broadening horizons, taking stock; an education in its broadest sense. I fondly imagined that once we had got the Atlantic out of the way we would have all the time in […]
Judging by the flowers and the nesting birds , Spring is coming to the Caribbean. For those of you that don’t know , the sailing season out here runs from December to June , as outside those times one is likely to encounter a Hurricane , or at least some hairy tropical storms . Thus […]
We are back in English Harbour once more, having taking Ben and Steph on a nine day whistle stop tour of Barbuda and the wilder anchorages of Antigua. We had been worried that by recommending they meet us in Antigua they would not have such a good deal as our previous guests but this proved […]
Most of you will know that in their wisdom , the seafarers this side of the pond interpret red and green lights in completely the opposite way that we do back on “our “side , but as we found out there are still more coloured phenomena that can lead to confusion over here . Last […]
In Cadiz we met a nice Dutch couple who tried to dissuade us from coming to the Carribean as they had found it to be far too windy , and we would be much better turning left with them into the Mediterranean. Others who had sailed right around the world told us that some of […]
At the South end of Martinique is a piece of Napoleonic history that , depending on your point of view might bring a patriotic tear to your eye or a feeling of disbelief at the folly of mankind . Martinique was held by the French , and the British fleet was based in Rodney Bay […]
The Grenadines have been a naturalists paradise . Offshore we have seen the elegant Tropic Birds , and as we move closer in it has been fun to watch Boobies and Terns feed on flying fish which in some ways are even more fascinating aerodynamically . Along the shore the Frigate birds bank , soar […]
From Grenadine Medley Of all the Grenadine islands , there is one that stands out as being completely different. Mustique has long been the haunt of the rich and famous and is I think privately owned – or at the very least owned by a private company. Thus , when you land , there is […]
Prickly Bay at the South end of Grenada to the Grenadines doesn’t look far on the chart – but unusually for the Caribbean it’s a beat ; a boisterous one at that , and it took all day. But it was certainly worth it. Once you are amongst the little islands there is a marvellous […]
Festina continues her somewhat haphazard course through the Windward islands. Having explored Martinique with Peter, we returned to St Lucia to put him back on his plane and continued south, bypassing St Vincent to windward and coming to rest in Bequia, the first of the Grenadines. The light winds that we experienced with Peter are […]
With 2 days of Peter’s stay to go we sailed the 15 miles from Rodney Bay at the North of St Lucia , to the Pitons – those astonishing iconic volcanic plugs that appear in every article about the Caribbean, but are somehow even more imposing in the flesh. There was no hurry so we […]