Venture 2010

Having arrived in Bermuda on the 6th May, we've been here now for just shy of 3 weeks. We've seen several boats come in and depart on the same journey we're expecting to undertake - the Snark, Bavarian Spirit, Triple D, Otra Vida, and while they have been filling up with jerry cans of extra fuel, we have been waiting patiently for a better weather window. It's possibly a futile exercise as who knows when it's going to come. Daily emails from all those guys is telling us that there hasn't been a lot of wind around and when there is, it's often on the now. However, after receiving a slightly better window, we are planning on leaving tomorrow. Hence, my brief input into the blog to try to get everything up to date before doing ... read more

The passage to Bermuda started out as a very pleasant one. We had the wind on the beam and were making good way for the few days covering almost half our distance. The wind then backed and came onto the nose, relentlessly for the remainder of the trip. It took us a further 4 1/2 days to complete the remainder of the trip with some tacking and some motor sailing (depressingly). This with a few tears in the genoa meant for a more challenging passage than we'd imagined from looking at the original forecast. We also made good use of some of the extra fuel we had on board. With all that, when we did arrive, what a delightful arrival it was! We were met by Alice and Caducues who left at the same time as ... read more

Anguilla's history has been quite a story to tell. In 1967, Britain granted Saint Kitts and Nevis full internal autonomy, and Anguilla was also incorporated into this, against the wishes of many Anguillians. This led a rebellion with a boat full of Anguillans heading to St Kitts with an American mercinary. There was guns fired with noone injured and since then Anguillan achieved what they were fighting for and were allowed to secede from St Kitts and Nevis and is now a British Overseas territory. It is said that they took particular umbridge to the Governor of St Kitts publicly stating that the Anguillans will do as they are told and that St Kitts is not a nation to be messed with. It's quite a flat island and is quite pricey with large exclusive resorts. It ... read more

Barbuda's 11 mile beach has to be one of the best in the Caribbean. The name indicates the length and the sand is the softest powder with a hint of pink given by the crustaceans local to here. It's not that easy to get here, unless you make use of the local hotel's helicopter. To sail here, the wind has to have no north in it otherwise there's an uncomfortable swell. We left Antigua early in the morning to arrive in Barbuda before midday with the sun behind us to ensure that we could navigate through the reefs and shallow water. The photos help to give an indication about the place. The town doesn't seem to get tourists at all. To get into Codrington there's a two mile boat ride to get past, which was incredibly ... read more

It's not easy to show on the blog without creating lots of inputs where we've been exactly. So we arrived in Guadeloupe on 17th Feb and spent some time in Marie Galante, a small circular island South of Grande Terre (the East side of the butterfly), going to Point a Pitre (surprisingly similar feel to Southampton water), The Saintes (lovely) before going up to Deshaies to hop to the next island. For some reason we only appear to have photos for Marie Galante. The place itself is like going back to a different era. They cultivate a lot of sugar cane here and we visited one of the rum distilleries here. They pride themselves on their rum making techniques here which allows them to make rum stronger with their method. ... read more