Hi Guys
I have missed your regular updates - good to know all is going well and you guys are ok.
I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year and birthday Lisa - was thinking about you.
I lost my Dad very suddenly in November so not been a great time for us - very slowly things are getting back to some sort of normal.
No changes at school - Mr George still parading in the playground in his lycra!!! Mrs Carpenter due to leave at Easter for baby number 2 - so relief teacher to start soon.
No other gossip I'm afraid - pretty dull eh!!
Girls miss the boys - speak about them all the time.
Much love to you all
Take great care of yourselves.
With much love
Jackie & Family
Hiya Hi darling, so nice to hear from you and sorry to hear about your dad. Must of been a shock, send my love to your mum. We are now in Martinque and heading to Dominica on Friday. Can't imagine wet cold weather now as been so long on over 39 degrees! Say hi to Linda if you see her and say hi to your gang. See you in Augusy when we return. All our love Lisa xx
Hiya Hi darling, so nice to hear from you and sorry to hear about your dad. Must of been a shock, send my love to your mum. We are now in Martinque and heading to Dominica on Friday. Can't imagine wet cold weather now as been so long on over 39 degrees! Say hi to Linda if you see her and say hi to your gang. See you in Augusy when we return. All our love Lisa xx
76th !! Hi Guys,
Just checked the ARC site and see that you have arrived safely in 76th place on the 13th. Hope St Lucia is providing rum punches and plenty of R&R. I'll email The Admiral for her take on the adventure! Lol Lazybones, Iain & Hollydolly xx
Hangover city!!!! Looking gorg as usual after a heavy night Mrs D! Beautiful and Au naturel!!!!Loving the up dates of your adventures. Love to you all Mrs Cxxxxxx
Caribbean here you come!! Hope the prep has gone well and no doubt the excitement of for the start of tomorrow's epic adventure has reached fever pitch! We will follow your progress on the ARC website - The Admiral has reliably informed me you have a little yellow box on board so we should be able to track you. Keep safe, keep Samuel down below (duh! as if he'd be anywhere else) and let us know when you reach for the rum punches! Lots of love Iain, Lazybones & Hollydolly xxx
Delays... We are delayed by 48 hours. We leave tomorrow (Tue) at 1300. Can't wait now. All very excited. Quiet and tired children after all the parties. Now the hard work...
Love to all, xxx
WOW - Some adventure!! I am glad to hear that you are all still in one piece!
Let the boys know that Mrs Galt has now left school to have her baby - no news yet. Mr George still an embaressment by wearing his cycling tights in the playground - not a pretty sight. The new class 3 teacher, Miss Keller is lovely.
The school are about to pick the parts for the christmas play - will I have any Marys' this year I wonder??
Class 3 are off to Exeter Priory this week to learn more about Tudors - that's what they are studying this term.
Class 2 took a trip to Exeter Fire Station - of course, I offered to help with lifts on this one!!
Lovely to see you all looking so well in the pictures. Take care of yourselves.
With love and best wishes
Jackie & Family xx
Dear All
Loving your blogs and pictures - please keep them coming. Love the picture of the boys ice skating - we too have been ice skating recently for Poppy's birthday - think I'm a natural!!
Boys looking really full of life and very healthy.
Keep having fun and stay safe.
Love Jackie & Family xx
News to the girls Dear Girls, We are in Gibraltar. We are going to sail to the Caribbean for Christmas where it will be nice and sunny. We have school every day on the boat in the morning. There are children aboard other boats that we play with. They are from England and New Zealand and Australia. What are you doing for half-term? How was school. Samuel x
Dear Ploughmans Thanks for continuing to follow our exploits. The boys miss all their BSPS buddies, including the girls, and looking forward to seeing you all again soon. Samuel took to skating, Cameron took a little longer. Understand it is pretty cold at home and while the weather is poor we are not taking the 21 degrees for granted yet. It would be lovely to see you all if you could escape... Half term is coming...?
Best wishes,
Gill & The gang x
It looks like its about to get exciting We love the pictures. Boys amazed to see a lizard on Cameron's back never mind the monkeys. Zoe would like that. Life here much as usual. Rugby going well. Missing Cameron's drive!
Enjoying reading the weekly summary from the team. Really missing it all. Enjoying the life but looking forward to being back on the side lines next Sept. love to all
Hi Aidan Hi Aidan did you see the monkey on my back and the lizard to,
we have met lots of friends we have seen dolphins to we have had BBQs on the beach and played in sandduens seen jelly fish gone swimming and had loads of fun. my Email is:
cameronduncan2002@Yahoo.co.uk
Peg face competition is on!!! Yo Duncan's more great adventures loved reading your entries Cameron well done and how exciting to read all the amazing things you are seeing and learning. I would have been scared stiff having monkeys running all over me! The competirion is on for when you get back on who can get the most pegs on thier face!!!!I'm already practicing!!Looking forward to hearing more and will start looking at where we can meet up next year on your travels???Must love and adventurous kisses Liz & co xxxxxx
Hello from the Duncans Guys,
So sorry that we have taken so long to get back to you. We are still weatherbound in Gibraltar, which is getting a little tiresome but we have hired a car and been to Ronda (nice), Marbella (disappointingly not at all TOWIE or glam), Seville (stunning) and Malaga (airport pretty much the same as every other set-down at every other airport!). That said the technical woes have nearly been resolved and we are ready to head out into the Atlantic and the next leg - if the hull is not anchored to the bottom after all the weed-growth having been here 10 days or so.
It would be lovely to see you all. How about quitting work for a week or two and coming to see us? We think we are going to ramp down our programme for the Caribbean as the kids are finally meeting other ARC kids and beginning to enjoy being live-aboards. If we charge off like headless chickens at the other end they will distance themselves from all that. Why not see when you are likely to be free and we can then try to judge where we are likely to be.
Sounds like work is going great for all of you. Well done all the Cs industrious at both school and the office. The boys find “boat-school” a pretty hard concept to grasp and the head-mistress finds it perhaps even more stressful. Liz, she'd love to have some female company as it's all a bit willies and bums with all boys on board! Try to get her on skype (luluduncan1), particularly in the next week or so if we're still here as the iPad is nearly always online.
I’ll get Cameron to respond separately to Aidy. Again our apologies for being so late in responding and thank you so much for your messages.
Lots of love,
The Duncans xxx
School work!!!! Have loved reading your adventures so far and would love to be a girlie on board for you Lisa may be next year but unfortunately work calls at the mo. All looking lovely and brown and happy. Boys hope the teachers are not too strict!!!Just think get the work done and when you land its all playing from there onwards for the rest of the day. Have fun on the beaches and swimming. Have you seen any more Dolphins boys? Much kisses Liz Ric Issy & Ady xxxxx
WOW Dolphins Great blogging boys loved reading your stories and adventures WOW how wonderful to see Dolphins and a family at that! They are beautiful creatures and I know Issy and Ady loved seeing them on our travels. Sounds like you are both having a fabulous time and we can't wait to hera all your stories and see the photos. Much love Liz Rick Issy and Ady xxxxx
Yo Duncan's what a wonderful time you're all having. Love the volcano photos how exciting seeing that erupt! You all look so relaxed and enjoying your amazing adventures. Catching up on all your blogs with interest. Would love to catch up somewhere with you next year so we'll start looking at your agenda. All good here Rick loving his job and back into it. Issy working hard at GCSE's a little stressed poor thing. Ady changed schools in Sept and now settled and loving the amazing sports opportunities. I'm loving my job and just had a promotion so all good. Nearly finished my course and started another one. Still doing our training together Rick & I. House still under renovation been a long old process but will be finished ready for a Duncan visit when you land so always a bed here for you! Enjoy and make the most of your travels and each other much love the Cawleys xxxx
Good Reading OK I am now getting all this, and liking it. So far I know most of these passages, have done them in reverse. ( In Menorca we had three Sprays all moored next to each other on Christabel Concrete.) All seems to be going well and I do know that "old man Duncan" is now happy that you are handling the boat well and the "help Dad" phone calls have stopped. Well done! Following in family footsteps of becoming "sea wolves"
I am in Valence, half way up the Rhone, having a recon engine fitted on Thursday. Exciting spending money isn't it!!
Geography lesson; Who was the most famous man stationed in Valence? Boys only and of course any other young school kid visitors. Internet is allowed for research. What is the difference between Valence and Valencia?
Valence Dear Robert, Gilly here... I have to say that I have spoken to the boys and wracked my brains (and cheated with Wikipedia) and I have no idea. I think you may have to give me more. Our thoughts are Napoleon during his early years, Petain or even de Gaulle. The only link with Valence and Valencia is that there is a Duncan living in each of them! Glad you are enjoying the blog - wehave been lazy for some time with it and need to get back into it. I have to say the Balearics have not been that great by comparison to, say, Corsica or Sicily. We have met a lovely ARC family but the weather is poor and, as you know in liveaboard life, this has a major effect upon morale. It seems on the up now and we are in Ibiza - which is lovely. There is now a time pressure to get to Gib - which should be 06 - 09 Oct, a few days there, then into the Atlantic. Exciting times.
Best wishes to you on Insprayation. Delighted to hear that you are back on board.
Lisa, Gill, Cameron and Samuel have left their comfortable lives in Devon to fulfil a long-held dream to sail the Atlantic as a family. We normally live in Devon but are now embarking aboard Fabiola, Grandpa's beautiful Grand Soleil 52. We start in Turkey and are heading through the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic and around the Caribbean before bringing Fabiola back to the UK. This is our story... ... full info
Jackie Plowman
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Hi Guys I have missed your regular updates - good to know all is going well and you guys are ok. I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year and birthday Lisa - was thinking about you. I lost my Dad very suddenly in November so not been a great time for us - very slowly things are getting back to some sort of normal. No changes at school - Mr George still parading in the playground in his lycra!!! Mrs Carpenter due to leave at Easter for baby number 2 - so relief teacher to start soon. No other gossip I'm afraid - pretty dull eh!! Girls miss the boys - speak about them all the time. Much love to you all Take great care of yourselves. With much love Jackie & Family