Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic
Atlantic passages: the Canaries, Caribbean, West Africa, transatlantic crossings and the South Atlantic.
Publications are arranged chronologically – from the earliest to the most recent. Select a title to open the full entry.
It Blew Hard After the Calm. Across the Ocean to the Canaries
It Blew Hard After the Calm. Across the Ocean to the Canaries Previously — How We Sailed Through Gibraltar By evening, a following wind had sprung up (in Spanish, that sounds like “viento…
The Island That Doesn’t Exist. La Graciosa
The Island That Doesn’t Exist. La Graciosa Prologue... It is generally accepted that there are seven Canary Islands. Tourist websites add, with due political correctness: seven large ones…
Informalities in the Canaries
Informalities in the Canaries for those travelling by sea As we had expected, no one is particularly interested in whether sailors have visas (so far, on this side of the Atlantic). Durin…
La Graciosa. What the Canaries Have in Common with the Wild West
La Graciosa. What the Canaries Have in Common with the Wild West Our first inhabited island along the way is La Graciosa. They say around 500 people live on the island year-round. Three h…
Of the Canaries and the Gardens of Eden
Of the Canaries and the Gardens of Eden We managed to slip across from Gran Canaria to Tenerife before the storm. The marina staff actually congratulated us on it. A bloke with Alexander …
Tenerife. How Our Dinghy Went Looking for Caves
How Our Dinghy Went Looking for Caves The wind is roaming gloomily with the clouds. Nastya settled down to her schoolwork, while we set off from Masca to Los Gigantes in the dinghy (a sma…
Tenerife. Masca for the Whole Family
Masca for the Whole Family We try to avoid places overrun by tourists. But some simply have to be visited because of their wondrous beauty. Masca Gorge and the village of the same name ar…
Tenerife. Masca for the Whole Family. Continued
Masca for the Whole Family. Continued The story begins here — Masca for the Whole Family At night, a light was burning in Masca. The evening before, through the binoculars, we had spotted…
Yacht Kids
Yacht Kids In Tenerife, at the Las Galletas marina, we came across a well-lived-in cruising yacht flying the Dutch flag. Canvas awnings, vegetables and fruit in nets beneath the solar pan…
La Isla Bonita
Next stop — La Isla Bonita Up at 4 a.m., and just fifteen minutes later we weigh anchor and leave Masca for La Palma. 52 miles, and so far there is not a breath of wind. We have to round …
La Isla Bonita. Continued
La Isla Bonita. Continued The beginning — La Isla Bonita La Palma is one of the world’s highest islands in terms of height relative to area (the third, I think). Its highest mountain, Roq…
La Palma: In Search of a Quiet Haven and Life at the Bottom
La Palma: In Search of a Quiet Haven Clocking up the miles by car around La Palma , the captain and first mate never gave up hope of anchoring off the island. We drove around the south in…
We’re Sailing to the End of the Earth
We’re Sailing to the End of the Earth We set sail tonight for El Hierro, the end of the earth in the pre-Columbian era. For their farewell promenade around La Palma, the crew of Lady Mary…
El Hierro. Arrival at the Edge of the Earth
To the edge of the earth At 1:45 on 9 April, Lady Mary cast off from the marina on La Palma and, with a steady light beam wind, set a course for the island of El Hierro—the very edge of t…
Setting the Sun by Hand, or Why Sailors Need an Anchor Windlass
Why Sailors Need an Anchor Windlass The art of travelling is the art of changing plans. In the morning, as is customary in the Canary Islands, the wind abruptly shifted to the opposite di…
El Hierro. Europe’s Westernmost Lighthouse
El Hierro. Europe’s Westernmost Lighthouse Beyond it lies only the ocean. Before Columbus, people believed that this lighthouse stood on the boundary between the known and the unknown wor…
Places Like This Are Shown in the Movies
Places Like This Are Shown in the Movies The northern coast of El Hierro. Punta Grande Hotel When we pulled up to a small, austere building made of volcanic stone, we had no idea that thi…
Where Have the Canary Islands’ Indigenous People Gone?
Where Have the Canary Islands’ Indigenous People Gone? The Guinea Ecomuseum on El Hierro Having taken an interest in the history of the Canary Islands a long time ago, we read a little ab…
How We Got Fresh Water. Illegally
How We Got Fresh Water After spending five days at anchor near the town of Mogán in the south of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, we decided to top up our water in the marina. Well, w…
Mum Was Right: Lying Is Wrong. The Sequel to Yesterday’s Story
Mum Was Right: Lying Is Wrong. The Sequel to Yesterday’s Story The story began here — Why Mum Taught Us to Tell the Truth Even at the Ends of the Earth. It’s a Small World When we arrived…
Why Mum Taught Us to Tell the Truth Even at the Ends of the Earth. It’s a Small World
Why Mum Taught Us to Tell the Truth Even at the Ends of the Earth — ...And what are we going to tell her? — We’ll say we lost something. — What, are we all going in to look for it togethe…
Informalities: Leaving the Canary Islands Without Visas
Leaving the Canary Islands without visas. The departure procedure from Spain’s island territories deserves a story of its own. Over the past week, we left the Canary Islands and made it t…
Off to Africa
Off to Africa Arrival in Morocco , Agadir Marina. For three days, Lady Mary had been beating into the trade wind, aiming straight for the very point it was blowing from. On the morning of…
Yacht Kids and the African Heat
The African Heat It came, descended upon us and knocked the wind out of us—that very African heat. At eight in the evening, a thermometer in town read +45°C. The air dries you out more fi…
From the Yacht to the Altai Mountains via Morocco
From the Yacht to the Altai Mountains Agadir–Marrakesh After giving both masts, jutting sadly into the African sky, a final hug, the crew of Lady Mary went ashore. The evening before, we …
Moroccan Transit. The City of Fez. Another Cinderella Story
Another Cinderella Story “Who is that?” we asked Mohammed, pointing to a portrait of a lavishly dressed couple with two children. “The king and queen,” Mohammed replied proudly. “She’s fr…
Moroccan Transit. The City of Fez. Look, Don’t Buy
Look, Don’t Buy The story begins here — Moroccan Transit. The City of Fez. Another Cinderella Story The children were hungry. And no palace-courtyards could distract them. Mohammed called…
Wind, Wind, You Are Mighty! How the Captain and Lady Mary Sailed from Morocco to the Canaries.
Wind, Wind, You Are Mighty! The Storm Begins At dawn we set out from Agadir ( Morocco ). Ahead lay 340 miles of Ocean. I mean, 340 miles is how far we have to go—the Ocean itself is bound…
She Runs Along Through the Waves, on... Sails Reefed Down as Far as They’ll Go :). How the Captain and Lady Mary Sailed from Morocco to the Canaries.
She Runs Along Through the Waves Part 2. (Part One — Wind, Wind, Mighty and Strong ) By morning it eases off; thirty knots already feels like a light breeze, and I unfurl the genoa halfwa…
Past Buyan Island, into the Realm of the Glorious... How the Captain and Lady Mary Sailed from Morocco to the Canaries
Past Buyan Island Part 3, the final part (Part 1 — Wind, Wind, Mighty Are You , Part 2 — On It Runs amid the Waves ) There’s something nerve-racking about approaching land after an offsho…
The Canaries Without a Visa: Continuing the Story
The Canaries Without a Visa: Continuing the Story. Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. The other day, like a respectable newly arrived citizen, I went to register my arrival at the port immigration…
Farewell, Morocco and the Colours of the Eastern Bazaars
Farewell, Morocco Farewell, Morocco, we are flying home. It is such a shame that Fez was ours for only one day. I would gladly have stayed longer in that magical hotel, wandering the web …
Lanzarote. How We Were Blown Out of an Anchorage
Lanzarote. How We Were Blown Out of an Anchorage First Mate’s Diary, 10 May 2015 We had heard rumours that the southernmost marina on the island of Lanzarote was terribly expensive. The r…
Preparing for Life Aboard
Summer is over, and so is its sultry bliss... Everyone else’s sailing season is drawing to a close. With us, everything is back to front. We’re getting ready. We spent the holidays at hom…
Around Gran Canaria. A Captain’s Travel Notes
Around Gran Canaria The passage from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Puerto de Mogán, around Gran Canaria, was hot and almost windless. Only the head sea left by two weeks of southerly wind…
The Tale of a True Captain
The Tale of a True Captain. The whole truth from the first mate 🙂 I’ll skip the usual “despite the distance, we’re always together” and “always stay as wonderful as you are” (though of c…
Ready, Steady, Go! — A Race Across the Atlantic
A Race Across the Atlantic. The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC-2015) is due to start from Gran Canaria on 22 November. The maxi yachts will cover the 2,700 miles to the Caribbean island…
Marinas and Anchorages of the Canary Islands
Reference Information Canary Islands. Marinas and anchorages we visited between February 2015 and March 2016. Prices are per day for a 40-foot yacht. Information updated. Tenerife — marin…
Creating a Vegetable Garden on a Sailing Yacht
Creating a vegetable garden on a sailing yacht. And what are we going to eat out in the ocean? Besides tinned food, we’ll eat our own home-grown produce (well, “eat” may be a bit of a str…
Drying the Oars for Christmas
Drying the Oars for Christmas Sanding and painting, and electrical problems on the eve of Christmas Eve From the captain’s letter El Hierro. When I hauled the yacht out for sanding and pa…
Christmas with the International Yachting Crowd
Christmas with the international yachting crowd. Who are all these people, and where have they come from on their yachts—the ones who roasted a ram on a spit on Christmas night in La Rest…
Silly Pictures and a Sewing Workshop Aboard the Yacht. A Potpourri :)
Silly Pictures and a Sewing Workshop Aboard the Yacht Preparing for the Move My daughters and I are busily packing for our move aboard the yacht to join the captain, and getting our Altai…
10 Observations from Four Days of Moving Back onto the Yacht. On Friends
10 Observations from Four Days of Moving Back onto the Yacht The Crew Lady Mary Is Back on the Yacht I’ve somehow been incredibly lucky with my friends. I have no idea why they do it, but…
On Borscht Aboard a Yacht and Looking Dashing and Slightly Idiotic ))
On Borscht Aboard a Yacht Moving aboard the yacht, stocking up on provisions, and preparing to sail This week is devoted to packing, rearranging and drying out the lockers, sorting throug…
Canary Carnival. 4 Facts and Lots of Photos
Canary Carnival. Tenerife The main event of the Canary Carnival caught up with us on the island of Tenerife. During Carnival, it is better to travel by bus to the capital in the north-eas…
Waiting for the Storm
Waiting for the Storm The weather forecast promised winds strengthening to gale force. At times like this, it is important not to leave the yacht unattended at anchor and to be ready eith…
How We Saved Our Clothes, and Then Got Rescued Ourselves
How We Saved Our Clothes Strong winds in the Canary Islands are nothing unusual. When you live aboard a sailing yacht with children, something is bound to get blown into the sea. It’s fin…
An Encounter with Whales in the Atlantic and Other Tales of Life Aboard a Yacht
An encounter with whales. How, before our voyage to Africa, we spent a month practising self-sufficient life aboard the yacht, played with whales between the Canary Islands, and revelled …
“A Family of Farmers’ Triumphant Exit from Their Circumnavigation,” or Our Canary Islands–Senegal Passage :)
And in Senegal, and in Senegal... At anchor on the outskirts of Dakar . We’ve made it through a difficult passage—from the Canary Islands to Senegal . The first mate and the young sailors…
Canary Islands–Senegal. Arrival
Canary Islands–Senegal. Arrival Life on our ocean passage to Senegal became bearable after 12 March. The swell subsided, and the wind gradually slunk away with it. The crew perked up, reg…
Greetings to the Atlantic from Baba Yaga and the Polite Russians
Greetings to the Atlantic In the depths of the Atlantic, voices can be heard from big ships and small sailing boats. Or perhaps they are otherworldly forces... And it is very nice when th…
Senegal and the Senegalese — from the Anchorage
The Senegalese at the Dakar anchorage On our “arrivalling” 🙂 in Senegal, Lady Mary disentangled herself from all the traps set by the local fishermen and headed for the anchorage of the …
The Tale of How We Sailed to Senegal Without a Visa
Getting a Senegalese visa on arrival by yacht. The captain’s notes When it comes to visas for Russians travelling to Senegal, the internet offers three versions: — Timatic and Wikipedia: …
The Joy and Sorrow of Gorée Island. Senegal by Sailing Yacht
Lady Mary off Gorée Island The best place in urban Senegal ! A staging post for slave traders. Who lives inside an anti-aircraft gun, and do Russians surrender when the only berth is occu…
Shit Cruising and Other Peculiarities of Anchoring in Dakar. Senegal Under Sail
The peculiarities of anchoring in Dakar. Shit cruising 😉 Prologue AAAA!!!! OOOO!!!! Go on, get out of here! I yell at the top of my lungs, leaping around the mainmast in my underwear and…
From Dakar to the Saloum. Senegal by Sailing Yacht
From Dakar to the Saloum It is not worth sailing from Dakar to the Saloum at night: the waterways are thickly laced with fishing nets. Your brain and eyes get a workout the whole way with…
The Mangrove Delta of the Saloum. Senegal by Sailing Yacht
The Saloum Delta. Its Inhabitants The first living creatures we saw that morning in the Senegalese backcountry were a pair of pelicans. They glided sedately among the fishing boats, tippe…
Everything’s Fine: We’re Sinking! Senegal by Sailing Yacht
No one in the crew yet suspects that water has begun pouring into the bilge... are we sinking? Plan B According to our original plan, we wanted to make our way through the channel into th…
Big Changes. Senegal by Sailing Yacht
Big Changes Changing Scenery After the town of Foundiougne, the mangroves came to an end. “The baobabs came out onto the hillside,” and the great dry land began. The jetty in Foundiougne …
Turn the Yacht Around and ALGA! Senegal by Sailing Yacht
They say there is no word for “back” in the Turkic languages. And “forward” is “algA”... There’s a joke about this: An Altai army is galloping through a mountain valley. A glorious khan i…
From Senegal to The Gambia by Yacht
Course: The Gambia On our way back to the ocean along the Saloum, we tried to ride the ebb current and follow our own track, deftly skirting shallows, banks and bars. Once again, we began…
Clearing In by Yacht in The Gambia
Captain’s notes. We’ve arrived. Lady Mary dropped anchor opposite the old ship-repair yard in Banjul, in a place with the optimistic name Half Die. It was Friday, and the authorities were…
Lamin Lodge. Baba Yaga’s Fairytale Tower. Sailing the Gambia by Yacht
Lamin Lodge. How we chased monkeys around the “uninhabited ruins,” the peculiarities of African architecture, travelling salesmen, and our first African friend. An epigraph demonstrating …
The Flora and Fauna of The Gambia. People, Animals and Fallen Baobabs
The Flora and Fauna of The Gambia I’ll have to add an epigraph :). The internet can’t cope, so the post is being uploaded backwards, in little pieces, with no chance to edit it. And the t…
Sailing Passage from The Gambia to Cape Verde
Sailing Passage from The Gambia to Cape Verde
People Just Don’t Believe We Sailed from Africa on a Yacht with Our Catch—What Are We to Do? )))
We sailed from Africa on a yacht with our catch
The Gambia. The Goings-on at the Lamin Lodge Anchorage. The French :)
The Gambia’s largest and busiest anchorage lies 5 miles from the capital. It is the same old Lamin Lodge. Here we are aboard Lady Mary, along with a couple of dozen boats left until next …
5+1 Facts About The Gambia
Fact 1 — Crime and Safety Every Gambian hastens to assure you that The Gambia is hospitable and safe. When we go to the main market, our local friends advise us to keep our money in our u…
James Island. Sailing Up the Gambia
James Island. Up the River Gambia to a UNESCO World Heritage Site At half past six in the morning, reveille was sounded aboard, and we began preparing for our main journey through The Gam…
From an Oil Spill to a Tropical Storm—One Day in the Life Aboard a Yacht, in Pictures :)
The day began with an oil spill and ended with the anticipation of a tropical storm . Picture One: Anthropogenic “Beauty” In the morning, during lessons in swimming underwater beneath the…
The Kingdom of Crocodiles and... Flamingos. Sailing the Gambia River
The Kingdom of Crocodiles and... Flamingos What instructions children are given in the mangrove wilds, what a crocodile had for breakfast, and why Gambian fishermen visit yachts at two in…
How We Capsized in the Dinghy. Cape Verde Islands
This story happened to the crew of Lady Mary two and a half times in the space of twenty-four hours, and it did not teach us to sit still and behave ourselves. But it did lead us to some …
If You’re Planning to Cross an Ocean: Across the Atlantic on a Sailing Yacht
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can... 🙂 Before leaving a faraway country for one even farther afield, you need to make sure, well in advance, that you: Try the national dish. This…
Atlantic Crossing. Five Minutes In—Flight Normal :)
Atlantic Crossing. Five Minutes In—Flight Normal 🙂 Days 1–3 The crew is almost in good spirits, and there is almost some wind. For the first day and a half, short, confused waves kicked …
Atlantic Crossing. Days 4–5
Atlantic Crossing. Days 4–5 Not a single vessel since the second day of the passage. We switched on the radio a couple of times—it just crackled dismally; AIS says we’re alone in the Univ…
Atlantic Passage. Days 6–8
Atlantic Passage. Days 6–8 We’re exactly halfway across the ocean! For the first time in the past six days, a ship passed along the horizon, reminding us that shipping lanes do exist, and…
Atlantic Crossing. Days 9–10
Atlantic Crossing. Days 9–10 From Storm to Calm During the night, a squally wind hit us with a heavy downpour. And off Lady Mary went, galloping over the waves as if on dry land. She reac…
Atlantic Crossing. Days 11–12
Atlantic Crossing. Days 11–12 The season of momentous dates has begun 🙂 Yesterday, 1 October, Ladunya turned five and a half. Our little junior crew member really isn’t so little anymore…
Atlantic Crossing. Days 13–14
Atlantic Crossing. Days 13–14 Two weeks in the Ocean of Calm. To be honest, one day would have been enough, just for contrast. Three days without wind in 35-degree heat feel like “stiflin…
Atlantic Crossing. Days 15–16
Atlantic Crossing. Days 15–16 For the first time in ten days, ships appeared during the night. Or rather, their lights did. Three faint patches of light off the starboard side drew our at…
Atlantic Crossing. Days 17–18
Atlantic Crossing. Days 17–18 Yesterday was cool, thanks to the clouds. Of course, on a day like that we get zero electricity, but at least there’s air and shade. The humid heat gave our …
Atlantic Crossing. Days 19–20
Atlantic Crossing. Days 19–20 Calms again. Yesterday we were still making some sort of progress. Our beautifully spread sails carried us towards our destination at a speed of 40 miles per…
Atlantic Crossing. Days 21–22
Atlantic Crossing. Days 21–22 Trade winds? Nope, never heard of them! 😉 All night we were a motorboat, which allowed Lady Mary to reach the wind by morning )). A five-knot close reach co…
Atlantic Crossing. Days 23–24
Atlantic Crossing. Days 23–24 Laaaaand!!!! At 17:10 ship’s time, the 23rd day of our transatlantic passage began. The captain decided to approach the unfamiliar shore at night. Heaving to…
Passage from French Guiana to the Caribbean. Days 1–3
Passage from French Guiana to the Caribbean. Days 1–3 The channel of the Maroni River, which forms the border between French Guiana and Suriname, runs so close to the tropical rainforest …
Passage from French Guiana to the Caribbean, Days 4–5
Passage from French Guiana to the Caribbean, Days 4–5 Venezuela is abeam (directly off to the side). The weather is lovely: hot, with a swell, but almost no wind. We’re wallowing lazily, …
Passage from French Guiana to the Caribbean. Days 6–7
Passage from French Guiana to the Caribbean. Days 6–7 “If some crap can happen, it will definitely happen at night.” — This needs to be added to the list of Murphy’s laws for sailors... W…
Gone with the Wind—or How We Caught a Yacht in the Ocean
At the anchorage off the southern tip of Tobago there are six sailing yachts, three motor yachts and a couple of excursion boats. Some are anchored, some are on mooring buoys—and one has …
Is It Easy Being a Caribbean Father Christmas?
How to Help Father Christmas When You’re in Grenada 🙂 If Father Christmas didn’t have helpers all over the world, the old fellow wouldn’t last long. Is it easy, at his age, to fly around…
Tobago. From Repairs to Celebration
Tobago. From Repairs to Celebration If something important that holds your mast up has torn away in the ocean, thank God you made it :). Then get on with the repairs, watching for a weath…
The Past and Present of Pirate Island: Tobago
The Past and Present of Pirate Island: Tobago The history of its discovery, an ancient relict forest, a search for waterfalls, and the bay where an Englishman once lived and where the des…
Pirate’s Bay: Christmas, or Why Have an Accordion on a Yacht?
Pirate’s Bay: Christmas, or Why Have an Accordion on a Yacht? Pirate’s Bay—pirate-free for 200 years; how Swedish families live aboard a yacht. Cruiser get-togethers: it turns out Russian…
Caribbean Gallop. Grenada: Plans and Circumstances
Caribbean Gallop. Grenada: Plans and Circumstances Why, of all the ways to travel around the Caribbean islands, did we end up galloping? New Year in the West Indies: meet everyone. To und…
Caribbean Islands. Clearance
Caribbean Islands. Clearing In on a Yacht The most interesting yacht clearance procedure is in Trinidad and Tobago. On the other Caribbean islands, the formalities are fairly straightforw…
Martinique. Coffee, Friends, and Headless Joséphine
Martinique. Coffee, Friends, and Headless Joséphine Having arrived at the last French Caribbean island, Saint Martin, the whole crew fondly recalls our previous little piece of France—the…
Passage to Cuba. From the Lesser Antilles to the Mysterious Turks and Caicos
Passage to Cuba. From the Lesser Antilles to the mysterious Turks and Caicos. What people write and read on the open ocean, what big stupid fish will bite, and a little mathematics that t…
Turks and Caicos. Who’s Painting the Water Here?
Turks and Caicos. Who’s painting the water here if the island is uninhabited? Spearfishing, life à la Robinson Crusoe, and a not-quite-real picnic As we approach the first island in the T…
Passage to Cuba. Police Off an Uninhabited Island
Passage to Cuba. Police Off an Uninhabited Island. Waiting for the Wind with the Inhabitants of a Coral Reef Having worked out the number of days and stops remaining before Havana, the ca…
Cuba on the Horizon
Cuba on the horizon. A meeting on an uninhabited island. How we sailed over to visit some South Africans and stocked up on giant shells The boat rang with the captain’s joyful cry: “Laaaa…
The Plywood over Paris, or How We Sailed Right Past Cuba
The Plywood over Paris, or How We Sailed Right Past Cuba. How, on Dad’s special day, just before entering port, Lady Mary’s engine died in a stiff headwind—and where we ended up being car…
How We Received the Bahamian Border Guards
How We Received the Bahamian Border Guards With no engine, Lady Mary spent the rest of the night bucking through a strong close-hauled wind, making 3 miles an hour. The captain was consid…
Cuba. Clearing In by Yacht. Visa and Customs Formalities
Cuba. Clearing in by yacht. How we covered the final miles, what American aircraft ask Russian yachts, and who is interested in the crew’s body temperatures. . Repairs and provisions So, …
Cuba. First Impressions
Cuba. First Impressions When, while completing the formalities, we said that our young sailor’s name was Lada, the inspector beamed: “Oh, like the car!” We did not yet know why they knew …
Cuba. A Second Look
Cuba. A Second Look. How a planned economy affects digestion, what the shops, cafés, ice-cream parlours and public toilets have to offer, and why, after her first walk, the first mate cri…
To Cuba by Plane: How We Nearly Got Busted for Importing Drugs
To Cuba by plane. How we nearly got busted for importing drugs. Can you bring a mountain of dried herbs into Cuba? The crew returns to its floating home “What’s this?” demands a customs o…
On Buckwheat, Russians and Foreign Lands
On Buckwheat, Russians and Foreign Lands. The First Mate’s Musings While Making Porridge Aboard the Yacht I’ll add my two cents’ worth about how we Russians need buckwheat when we are far…
We’re Leaving for the Yucatán
We’re leaving for the Yucatán, Mexico. 300 miles against the Gulf Stream “If you’re holding an elephant by the hind leg and it’s trying to run away, the best thing to do is let go”... Tha…
How Ten Siberians from Three Yachts Met by Chance in Havana
How ten Siberians from three yachts met by chance in Havana. What are the odds of meeting, in a port on the other side of the world, a crew from your own city? — Cuban magnetism, new frie…
Transatlantic Menu. A Food Chronicle of an Adult-and-Child Crew for All 23 Days Under Sail. Passage from Cabo Verde to French Guiana.
Transatlantic Menu. A Food Chronicle of an Adult-and-Child Crew for All 23 Days Under Sail This is a new section! There will be a link here — General information on provisioning and food …
Time to Get Out of Here
Time to get out of here. Storm season, babies aboard during a thunderstorm, playing shipwreck, and rotating squalls Lady Mary is bringing to an end her longest stay since the Canary Islan…
Provision List for a Transatlantic Passage and How Long Food Keeps in Tropical Seas. Fresh-Water Supplies and Consumption, Waste Aboard a Yacht. Our Experience
Provision List for a Transatlantic Passage and How Long Food Keeps in Tropical Seas. Fresh-Water Supplies and Consumption, Waste Aboard a Yacht. Our experience Lady Mary set out for the w…
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail. Chronicles of Crossing the Caribbean Sea Along the Edge of a Hurricane, Hoping for a Fair Wind. Days 1–2 Goodbye, Mexico! We enjoyed being you…
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail. It Has Begun!
Along the edge of Hurricane Irma—under sail. Chronicles of crossing the Caribbean Sea along the edge of the hurricane, counting on fair winds. Days 3–4. That very wind has begun. Seasick.…
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail. A Waterspout and... Birds
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail. Crossing the Caribbean Sea along the edge of the hurricane. Days 5–6. Shifting winds, a waterspout, kamikaze passengers, approaching the reefs…
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail. The Pirates of “Zero” Island
...Six boats with 40-horsepower outboards are circling Lady Mary. Black faces grin at us, but for some reason I picture wolves baring their teeth, saliva dripping from their fangs... Day …
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail. Days 7–8. About Birds
Along the edge of the hurricane—under sail. Days 7–8. About birds. Mass deaths among swifts fleeing Irma, and smuggling aboard an oil tanker It’s a good thing people can’t fly the way bir…
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail. Lightning and... Silence )
Along the edge of Hurricane Irma—under sail. Days 8–11. The most terrifying lightning in our seafaring history, dancing on the coachroof, and musings.... What if we got rid of one mast? T…
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail. Storm
Along the Edge of Hurricane Irma—Under Sail. Day 12. Storm and Arrival in Colombia The engine coughed I n the morning we wallowed in the calms, with 40 miles left to Cartagena. If this ke…
Our Yachting Journey Began with Our Child’s Asthma: The Road to Sailing Around the World
How our child’s bronchial asthma set us on the path to sailing around the world. It was asthma that pushed us towards sailing—and ultimately towards a round-the-world voyage. Our daughter…