As a kid, my brother teased me for every little mistake. This is the privilege of an older brother. But, I became very self-conscious. Because I am naturally brilliant, I started school when I was only four. And like most young geniuses, I was physically awkward, a ready target for dodge ball bullies. This made me more self-conscious. I learned to take teasing well. My ex-husband once picked me up for a date wearing a t-shirt that said “I’m with Stupid”. But I did not enjoy feeling self-conscious. So I stayed within the confines of those activities that I could [View Full Entry]

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too lazy to write much... telling story by pics thru facebook... friend me to see [View Full Entry]

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Back in Antigua. We had a few spare days so we decided to spend a week travelling through Belize. No super special places but we had some great experiences chatting to the locals. It was a huge relief to be able to speak in English - to find out information and to just have a proper conversation with some of the people. Garifuna culture is big in the costal towns. They have a interesting history - basically they are decended from a bunch of slaves who revolted against the English who then herded them onto boats and dumped them on Roatan [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone Have now left the Caribbean, last port of call Antigua, where Nelson established a base some time ago. An interesting wharf and museum (Nelson wasn't there - must be attending to his column), and a natural enclosed harbour where you go when a hurricane is imminent. Happens quite a lot, but not this time of year (a good arrangement, in our case). Our haven is now haring across the Atlantic at a fair lick, to arrive in Madiera in 5 days. The clocks go forward an hour each day! We're at the mercy of storm, tempest and Moby Dick [View Full Entry]

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There was a break in the weather and it looked good for traveling, so we set sail for Antigua- the yachting capital of the world. On our first day of the trip we decided to stop in Dehais, a small anchorage on the north end of Guadeloupe, to rest for the night. Then we awoke at dawn the next day and continued our journey. We arrived in the southern end of Antigua by late afternoon and had to decide where to anchor, either Fallmouth Harbour or English Harbour. These two harbors sit side by side and are separated only by a [View Full Entry]

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Non such bay in Antigua is a huge inlet. There is one main anchoring area, off green island next to a perfect sandy cay. In the anchorage were a number of massive boats, huge almost ships. There was a boat which we called phileas fog, maybe it was used in the movie, well boat, but really a small ship. There were fantastic yachts, with crews running round dressed in khaki shorts and white t shirts. If the rain fell they were out with their chamois leathers. (just like us of course(!)) We anchored and the sea was so flat, we had [View Full Entry]

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Barbuda Reefs, blue blue sea, white sand, a handful of yachts and a few wild donkeys. The wind on the reef is causing a huge roar, and the boats anchored close to it must be deafened. We are anchored back a bit amongst the coral atolls, and the last few days have been totally idyllic. We have snorkelled, the nearby atolls are amazingly rich in sea life, we saw a big ray fluttering on the bottom. Standing on the boat you can see the sand quite clearly in the translucent blue water. Barbuda is basically a desert island, it is inhabitated [View Full Entry]

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Falmouth Harbour again, somehow it seems very good to be here, especially after our night sail. In the morning we woke up about 9 am and soon got the shambles of the boat organised, it looked a bit like a washing machine inside, we bundled up all the dirty washing, towels, sheets etc and prepared to go ashore and see the customs. The night before we had literally dropped the anchor at the entrance as soon as it was safe to do so, and when we woke up we found we were anchored just off the reef, but in quite a [View Full Entry]

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Bequia to Antigua Sitting in Bequia trying to make sense of the weather. Chris Parker on the single side band, his voice scratchily coming over the ocean from Tortola, says there is a huge low in the north of the Caribbean which will cause 85mph wind in that area. The result of this is that there will be a ‘swell event’. In the Caribbean this means some huge waves and up to 13’ at 10 second intervals. He was not that clear about when it would arrive. So we decided to head up north as quickly as possible. We went to [View Full Entry]

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I will apolagise now as after I promised I would do no dangerous activites we were offered the chance to climb a volcano and get really close to flowing lava... At the time it sounded a great idea. The 6 am start to get to Pakaya wasn´t ideal, the 2 hour hike to get to the lava (only 4km..) again wasn´t that fun but I did get pictures of lava!! The hike up was through jungle, then sand and then lava rock that crumbled under your feet. Both Amy and I have lava rock scars from it falling onto our legs [View Full Entry]

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