Our journey is almost over (for me and the boys anyway). We are flying home from San Juan, Puerto Rico, while Neil gets a crew and sails back to Edinburgh. The boys and I are looking forward to going home soon to see family and friends. We had such an amazing journey, but there are […]

Before I left for our journey I was sure that by the time I came home I would know more about sailing. I had not realised all the other things that I would also learn. 1. How to gut a fish This is not something I ever wanted to know how to do. Neil has […]

We finally don’t have any deadlines. (Except, I suppose, we need to go home eventually.) When we were sailing in the Mediterranean we had to rush around to get repairs, meet family and get to Las Palmas for the ARC. We can now relax and explore at whatever pace we like. Though it does feel […]

We are finally in the Caribbean following 18½ days sailing the Atlantic ocean. Completing the ocean crossing has certainly felt like a great achievement. We arrived 2 days earlier than we had planned. The chart plotter on the boat gives an ETA depending on speed. It felt good watching this slowly change, but I did […]

We are with over 200 boats in the ‘Muelle Deportivo de Las Palmas’ in Gran Canaria. Most of the boats here are on ARC too and everyone is very busy preparing so there is quite an atmosphere of activity. We are also on a pontoon with lots of other boat families, so there are plenty […]

  One concern I had before we started sailing was about how isolated we would be. It was going to be just the 4 of us, with no other family or friends for a year. I did know there would be other people sailing and that we might meet people when we stopped in a […]

Before we left the boys asked me what each day was going to be like while we were away. They wanted to be able to imagine how life would be different on the boat (I also think they were hoping for less school work). I found this question quite hard to answer. We had been […]

I feel seasick! This didn’t come as too much of a surprise as I knew I was prone to it. It isn’t always bad but it’s always there. I had hoped that after 2 months of sailing that I would have completely adjusted. I haven’t. I really should have prepared more! I did some minor […]

Unfortunately housework continues even when you are sailing. Most tasks only vary a little. Cleaning is the same wherever you are, but cooking on a boat is completely different. Cooking on a boat is pretty complicated Getting everything switched on Before you even start you need to turn on the gas for the cooker. There […]

Sailing with two boys has many challenges. Keeping them entertained while sailing or motoring can be difficult, especially when Neil has to work and I have to be in charge of steering. At home we relied on tablets, TV, computers when we needed to get things done but with lack of power and Wi-Fi this […]