Our last ‘Toucaneers” to join the boat were Geoff and Mia Sherman, arriving in Kingstown, St Vincent on Sunday 4^th January. They’d booked a hotel for a couple of nights in case we were held up and I’m sure would have been happy to wait there for us even longer if necessary. However, the strong trade winds and high seas showed no sign of abating until at least a week later, so after a ‘Team Toucan’ meeting we decided to head off from St Lucia on Sunday morning with 3 reefs in the main and a tiny scrap of headsail for the 30NM passage between the islands. Continue reading “Wet N’ Wild – St Vincent”

With our arrival in Martinique, we also entered into the Windward chain of islands, so called because they lie to windward of the route taken by the old square rigger sailing ships arriving from Britain and Europe. They’re impressive, majestic volcanic islands with sheer cliffs rising out of the sea and lush, dense vegetation. Continue reading “Pirates Of The Caribbean – St Lucia”

One of the great things about sailing in the Caribbean is that after St Martin, all the islands are within a day’s sail of each other. We left Dominica at 7.30 am on 18^th December and by 3.30 pm we were in our next country, Martinique! Continue reading “Christmas Capers – Martinique”

If there were a candidate for the Garden of Eden, Dominica (pronounced Dom-i-Knee-ka) would top the list I reckon. Wild, stunning and bursting with life, it’s breathtakingly beautiful. Continue reading “Where The Wild Things Are – Dominica”

25NM south-east of Guadeloupe lie the Iles De Saintes, another little jewel in the Caribbean. Continue reading “The Saint(s) — Iles Des Saintes”

Green, gorgeous, Guadeloupe. It’s hard to imagine there can be so many different shades of green. It was an instant love affair when we went ashore to the quiet little backwater of Deshaies (pronounced “Day-ay” – gotta love those silent French consonants -and if you imagine putting a G’ in front of it, then you’d sound just like a true blue Queenslander!) Continue reading “How Green Was My Valley (Guadeloupe)”