Hope's and Howard's Sailing Adventures

Atlantic and Mediterranean Cruising on board Lady M

Happy New Year!

Having thoroughly enjoyed the past week or so with Sonia, first in Guadeloupe, then Les Saintes for Christmas, the unspoiled Dominica with so much to offer the naturalist, and now Martinique (more blogs on each to follow), we all wish our readers a very happy, healthy and hopefully prosperous New Year.

French Caribbean Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Hope, Howard and Sonia!!! We are looking forward to our Christmas dinner onboard Timing, having worked up an appetite during our hike around most of the main island in Les Saintes, Terre-de-Haut, and had a swim.  This is a truly magical place…..

Timing ready for Christmas

While it took a bit of effort to bring the boat down the Western shore of Guadeloupe in order to be in Pointe a Pietre for Sonia’s arrival by plane from Bordeaux via Paris today, it is just so wonderful to be reunited with her after 15 long months so it was all worthwhile. The passage from Deshaies on Monday was significantly more challenging than we expected based on forecasts.. Read More

Montserrat

The ~34 n. mile passage from Nevis to Montserrat ended up being closer to 41 n. miles because we had to make a couple of tacks en route. Even though we were reefed, it wasn’t a particularly comfortable trip due to the lumpy seas generated by the stiff breeze. However, we did have the company of a Goldstar 50, ‘Calypso’ who happened to leave Nevis about 5 minutes before us… Read More

Montserrat Here We Come!

Well, we departed our mooring in the lee of Nevis Peak on Sunday morning with reefed mainsail and reefed genoa but as we started to clear the end of the island, it became obvious that we would be struggling to make Montserrat in one tack and we saw wind up to 27 knots so we decided not to put both ourselves and the boat through unnecessary stress and instead turned.. Read More

Exploring Nevis

When a rather large motor-yacht, which played extremely loud music, anchored close to us in what had been a very quiet and unspoiled Whitehouse Bay in St Kitts, we decided it was time for us to move on.  The wind had picked up so we ended up rolling out just the genoa and then reefing it for the short (7 n. mile) passage on a beam reach between the islands.. Read More

Beginning a New Phase of our Caribbean Adventure – Saint Kitts

Having confirmed with Chris Parker that the best opportunity for heading to St Kitts wthin the next week or so was on Monday, we left Penns Landing, after an errand in Road Town, and headed straight to Virgin Gorda, checked out at Gun Creek and then departed around 4pm for Saint Kitts.  So, we rounded Prickly Pear Island, passed between Necker and Eustacia Islands, then having rounded the north end of.. Read More

Heading towards Saint Kitts and Nevis

We are pleased to report that the part for our generator arrived, has been installed and one or two other issues with the generator hopefully resolved by our wonderful mechanic, Sebastian.  So, we are now free to start exploring more Caribbean islands, yea!  We are hoping to set off for Saint Kitts tomorrow as we think the weather window is favorable with the wind slightly north of east and so.. Read More