Sailing Princess Arguella

Saint Martin, March 4th 2020. Last chance to party… Our stay in Saint Martin was a short one this year, cut even shorter when I came down with a nasty read more..

I am writing this update two months after our visit. This was our last island visit before the shadow of Covid19 overtook us and as such I am (currently) nostalgic read more..

Barbuda  February 2020 If you like  to get off the beaten track, beautiful, creamy white sand beaches as far as the eye can see with hardly a soul on them, read more..

Simon’s brother, Roger joined us for (almost) three weeks timed to celebrate Simon’s 65th birthday with us. Together we had some great sailing, some well deserved liming and awesome fresh read more..

 This blog post mostly focuses on the beautiful places to visit on the different islands that we visit, the truth of the matter is that after more than a year read more..

Christmas in Bequia and New Year in Martinique (as well as a chunk of January 2020) have been very lovely. On the day before we are due to sail south read more..

Beating to get off the beaten track Many folk imagine that sailing in the Caribbean means that you have the opportunity to anchor up in deserted bays and have the read more..

Putting our feet up in Tobago   After three months of (more or less) hard work in Trinidad, Tobago is the reward that every hot, sweaty cruiser deserves. It is read more..

Little did we think when we arrived in July that we would need to extend our three month visa, but mission creep can be a terrible thing! Our revised relaunch read more..

The World is your Oyster. Except when the Oyster is your world. Although our initial plan was to spend August in Trinidad and then to sail west to Bonaire in read more..

If you are a cruiser and you decide to stay in the Caribbean in summer (or hurricane season) then you have a few choices of where to stay to escape read more..

“I feel as if I’m on holiday” said Simon on week two of our stay in the Grenadines. Strange to say this, perhaps, as some folk imagine our lives to read more..

If you don’t love snorkeling (and/or diving) and you live on a boat, you are surely missing out on half the world that you are visiting as soon as you read more..

One of the nicest things about revisiting some of our favourite islands in the Caribbean chain is that we already have happy memories of them. Bequia is one of those read more..

Up until this trip we had spent a grand total of four days in a marina in over 6 months. Three of those four days had been in Le Marin read more..

We sailed down to Les Saintes to break our journey before going further south to Martinique. A small archipelago of five islands which along with Marie Galante are part of read more..

We took a deep breath after having anchored in what must be the windiest anchorage in the Caribbean (when it isn’t completely becalmed with all boats lying differently around their read more..

We waved goodbye to our friends doing the more conventional thing of getting the hell out of the Caribbean and sailed down to Antigua from Saint Bart’s. The trip down read more..

St Bart’s has a certain prestige that seems to incite a reaction all around the Caribbean. When we told an Antiguan lady that we had just been to St Bart’s read more..

      If one of the most attractive aspects of cruising the Caribbean is the variety that can be had within a short day’s sail, I recommend the sail read more..

  This 50th anniversary carnival parade in Philipsburg was a riot of colour, noise (sometimes too much noise for the skipper) and free refreshing drinks distributed from the floats which read more..

From our bay overlooking Grand Case, Anguilla was just across the water. A mere half day’s sail away, we were sometimes tricked us into thinking we could see white horses read more..

 Our friend Chris got there before us and posted pictures to tempt us there. Grand Case instantly felt like the sort of place where you can sling your hook and read more..

There are islands in the Caribbean which have wonderful snorkeling, long, sandy beaches and turquoise waters. There are islands with French culture and cuisine, affordable restaurants and boulangeries (a definite read more..

So far, two islands have really enchanted me. One is Granada, where we spent long enough to start to feel at home. The other is Guadeloupe that we visited briefly read more..

Our friends, Rob and Sally, flew to Martinique to join us on the Princess for three weeks of cruising up to Antigua where they flew back to the UK. By read more..

On our meander down the Caribbean island chain we were originally unsure how far south we would sail until we read about Grenada in the guide books. “Spice Island” as read more..

I start this entry with a confession. Union island is part of the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines chain. Having checked out of St Vincent in Clifton, however, we couldn’t read more..

ARC or not the ARC? We crossed the Atlantic as part of a rally organised by the World Cruising Club called the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (or ARC for short). read more..

  After arriving at Saint Lucia before Christmas we decided to sail south to the bottom of the chain of the windward islands (the lower part of the Caribbean chain). read more..

This island lies towards the bottom of the Caribbean chain and is classed as one of the Windward islands, so called because when beating north, these islands lie to windward. read more..

An Atlantic crossing requires skill, pluck, a decent boat, some wind… and most importantly of all, a great crew. Harmonious crew dynamics when living together in such a confined and read more..

Having had a little time to relax in the sunshine after our crossing, it is fun now to look back at our trip together, reflect on some of the highs read more..

After all the planning and dreaming, finally we did it! The passage exceeded all our expectations and in the end, the Princess sailed like a dream. We had the perfect read more..

After seven days at sea in sometimes exasperatingly light winds, we were excited to see land loom up in front of us. Cape Verde is an archipelago of ten islands, read more..

Las Palmas to Mindelo, Cape Verde. : 850 Nautical Miles Left: Sunday 11 November at 1pm. Arrived safe and sound and with everything working (more or less!) Sunday November 18th read more..

November 1st to November 11th All of us at the restaurant having celebrated both Cathy and Ron’s birthdays. One more to go… my 50th will be at sea… We arrived read more..

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  We had settled in to our routine of watch systems and enjoying sunsets and sunrises on what was a trouble free sail from Gibraltar south towards the Madeira archipelago. read more..

    We had scheduled to spend a week in a cheap and cheerful marina on the south coast of Spain as our final stop before heading over to Gibraltar read more..

Leaving Mallorca we were excited to be back out at sea again after almost a month spent in and around Palma getting the Princess sorted. It had been a productive read more..

Las Illetas is a quiet holiday resort between Palma and Megaluf (or “megateuf” as I called it, the party town of the island). This little corner of Palma bay has read more..

  Palma, capital city of Mallorca is famous for its extraordinary cathedral, La Seu and its Gothic Palace, once an Arabic fort, the Palau d’Almudaina, both on the quayside and read more..

We visited two Italian capitals, one after the other: Palermo, the Sicilian capital and Cagliari the capital of Sardinia. A great way to take our leave of Italy with a read more..

Sulphur, fire, storms and sunsets in the Aeolian islands The Aeolian Islands are comprised of eight islands, two of which have active volcanoes; Vulcano (from which we get the word read more..

  Syracusa Afer our lovely passage from Lakka in the Greek island of Paxos, we made our first landfall in Siracusa (Brits call it Syracuse). This is a gem of read more..

    Corfu was our base for the best part of two summers, the home of the Princess for several years before we bought her and the marina team at read more..

Our first taste of living on board the Princess and cruising beyond Corfu with Rob and Sally. read more..

Sitting on the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away… When we budgeted for a month of repairs we were rather optimistic about what could be achieved within read more..