Island Wanderer - Arrival 14.04N 60.57W

At 0341 local time, 0741 uk time, we crossed the finish line in St Lucia after travelling for just under 18 days. We covered nearly 3,000 nautical miles and arrived to a warm Caribbean welcome!   IMGP1176[1]. read more...

Island Wanderer - Last night at sea. Day 17

Our last dawn at sea was spectacular, the best so far.    In the movies, we would then sail briskly towards our destination in thesteady trade winds, bathed in Caribbean sunlight, watching as the palm fringedbeaches beckoned and the sound of steel drums permeated the air.In reality we spent the entire day motoring through damp humid air, withthe sun  never managing to break through the dense cloud cover. Our arrivalwill be in the middle of the night, about 9 hours from now. We travel in companywith a small group of other boats that are all converging on Rodney Baytogether. Despite the weather, spirits are high as we eagerly anticipate our arrivaland we have spent the day readying the boat to spend at least part of a night ina marina. The highlight of the day was when Doug. read more...

Island Wanderer - Becalmed. Day 16 15.43N 56.40W

Becalmed, mid Atlantic, yet almost within reach of their destination, the crew decided to abandon the sails and try the engine, a far more reliable, though noisy and expensive and quite frankly boring method of propulsion. The consequential time penalty will have to be paid, but seemed a small price to pay when, in less than two days, they could be sipping rum punches on pristine white beaches. (Rather than not drinking tea on board a boat that somehow seems smaller every day) Never ones to miss an opportunity, the lack of wind did present some interesting alternatives for the crew. The fishing gear was launched and Derek’s line was soon spooling off the reel. As he bravely fought the large silver fish that kept jumping out of the water as it was reeled in, we were all hoping it. read more...

Island Wanderer - Day 15 16.35N 54.32W

Another night of squalls kept the crew occupied as squall after squall hit the boat from 9pm until midday today. As the crew came on watch they were greeted with black skies, variable winds and rain that could drench to the skin in seconds. Visibility was poor and the concentration required to keep going was considerable. On the up side, there was wind, which was expected to die by today, so although not the most pleasant of nights, progress was fairly swift. The female members of the crew finally managed to complete a night watch involving numerous reefs and other manoeuvres without a “helpful” male enquiring whether they “could manage on their own”! Would it be uncharitable to think the rain had something to do with this? The day continued overcast, hot, windy. read more...

Island Wanderer - Day 14 17:10N 51;56W

Warm sunny and flat seas – that's the summary of the day’s sailing. The moon is now out for much of the night and is incredibly bright. In a few days time it will be a full moon and we will see if the rumours are true that you can read a book by the moonlight!   We were treated to a huge pod of dolphins yesterday evening, that stayed with us for about half an hour, and another moonlight encounter shortly after midnight.   Last Friday night saw round two of the pub quiz on the SSB radio, with team Island Wanderer narrowly missing out on victory once again by a single point.   No fishing for the last few days since we still have Dorado in the freezer and we have been flying the gennaker during the day.   The aroma of the boat is set to improve since the. read more...