Voyages & Photo Albums


Welcome to our Voyages & Photo Album Page

(Just a warning.  This page is "a work in progress"
so forgive us if all the bells & whistles don't quite work yet.)

In order to reduce clutter on our hardworking "HOME" page, we've added this new section with links to our various Voyages or Land Legs.  We’ve added a bit of potted history for your edification and/or just in case you find the blog format a bit challenging.  (Sadly we can't change the blog format itself but you do know that you can read by post date from the Blog Archive, right?).  

Any maps included here do not replace our very detailed Map & Tracker, which in part, is our cruising log.  You can easily Google Earth those various and exciting places we’ve visited but you will need to have Google Earth (free download) for the tracker to  work.  Don't forget to zoom right in.  There are a few ways now to find the Map: it's on the right under "Meet the Fleet" ; you can link directly from here Map & Tracker ; or... easiest of all, there is a NEW TAB which takes you directly there.  Isn't technology marvellous! 

Even more exciting, we’ve been busy moving our photos over to SmugMug.  All the better to see fantastically presented photo albums!  Once landed on the site, choose from the Galleries, then just remember to click on "Slideshow"!  After remembering Dad’s slide nights, we’ve tried very hard to keep our slideshows below “snoozeville” limits.   Only a couple of albums are over our imposed (and very restrained!) limit of 150 photos. Now the slideshows can be easily found via this new tab.  (Be warned, they are still in need of a little work and you definitely do NOT need to BUY any - I've disabled the cart but it just won't go away!  😼) 

2008: Caribbean: British Virgins to Trinidad

 
So begins our cruising life with the trusty Windjammer III.  Boy Wonder & the Cap’n put in two months of hard labour to pimp WJ3 before we set ourselves adrift from Nanny Cay (British Virgin Islands) and caught the Trade Winds down to Trinidad.  All to avoid the worst of the hurricane season…

 
2009: Caribbean: Trinidad to Chesapeake Bay, USA


With another two months in Trinidad making “improvements”, we had little time to linger in some of the wonderful places we managed find on our way north through the Caribbean, Turks Caicos & Bahamas.  After reaching West Palm Beach in the US, we made our way to Beaufort, NC where Boy Wonder joined us to discover the magic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  Deltaville on the sleepy Rappahannock River became our home away from home.


2010: Atlantic USA: Chesapeake Bay to Maine, USA (& return)


 
We had heard such wonderful stories of the great cruising grounds of New England & Maine we were keen to see it for ourselves.  So we did, but given the “state of chill” and after dodging Hurricane Earl, we decided to return to Deltaville’s more moderate climate for WJ3’s haul out.


2011: Atlantic Crossing: Chesapeake Bay, USA to Lagos, Portugal


 
Yep, this was the year of the BIG Atlantic Crossing.  With nerves of steel and two aborted departure attempts under our belt, we finally broke free of the storm blessed Gulf Stream and arrived in the Azores.  After 5 weeks exploring these delightful islands, we finished the journey to Portugal and met up with surfer Boy Wonder in Cascais.  WJ3 was then hauled out in Lagos where she shared space with a local fishing fleet, some stray cats and a few ducks.  Life was good. 

  
2012: The Mediterranean: Lagos, Portugal to Gibraltar (& Return)


 After our previous big year, we initiated a season of “slow boating” and lazed our way through Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar & Morocco.  Our friend and budding deckhand, BCK (Kaye), joined us in Gibraltar for the journey back to Lagos.  The weather was kind to us but not quite as “Mediterranean” as we expected.  Our first visitor actually survived – we were thrilled! 

2012 was also the start of our “Land Leg” expeditions.  Sitting in Gibraltar for too long &/or too much internet surfing perhaps?  We had a great introduction to Morocco as a whole and later stopped in to Chefchaouen with BCK on our way back to Lagos.  Morocco really adds colour to your life.

 (This was our first tour with Intrepid, booked on the spur as we sat in Gibraltar.  Wave hello to Youssef!)




2013: The Mediterranean: Lagos, Portugal to Marmaris, Turkey


We started the season with a short break in the UK to visit family and friends. Lynda hosted our stay on the Isle of Wight and we caught up with family in London.  Our visit was much too rushed (meaning we MUST go back some time soon!)  Another year of large distances yet we managed to explore lots of coastal Spain & the Balearics with friends, the Kips (John & Kath), before heading off to Sardinia, Sicily then Greece.  In Greece we met up with Mr Meltemi in full gusto, so there was little time or desire to linger in the Cyclades.  We dashed for calmer waters in Turkey and a safe haven in Marmaris.  You’ll be pleased to know the Kips survived as well!


With time to spare, we took another “Land Leg” expedition, this time to see more of Turkey than just our coastal confines.  We finished up this excellent tour with a whole week to explore Istanbul before heading home.  Talk about spoilt!

(Again another successful & last minute Intrepid tour.  Wave to Yener.)





 *  2013:  Read the story (all the posts)
 *  2013:  Cruzin 2013    (all the sailing photos)
 *  2013:  Trippin 2013    (all the Turkey Tour photos)
 *  2013:  Isle of Wight & London (a little pre-cruise holiday is all..)


2014: The Mediterranean: Marmaris, Turkey to Preveza, Greece

So many ancient sites along our route!

Now we start the slow road home!  We took a couple of months to sail up Turkey’s west coast before diving across the Aegean Sea with a few stops at some of those delightful Greek Islands then parked ourselves in Poros for a rest.  The things you do to avoid the dreaded Meltemi.  Of course we met it again (under a different name) heading for the Corinth Canal, but at least our voyage west through the Gulf of Corinth and out into the Ionian Sea was relaxing.  From Ithica, we bobbed our way north through the Ionian Islands and on into Albania for three interesting weeks before hauling out in Preveza, Greece.  

We finished off the year with another “Land Leg” excursion with a few days in Athens, Vienna (with welcoming friends Annette & George) and then a tour of Hungary, Romania & Bulgaria before flying home from Istanbul. 

(Getting very adventurous, so a much longer trip with Intrepid.  Say hello to George!)



     * 2014:  Read the story (all the posts)
    * 2014:  Cruzin 2014    (all the sailing photos)
    * 2014:  Trippin 2014    (all the Eastern Europe photos)

2015: The Mediterranean: Adriatic Cruise & Baltic Land Tour



We began our season in Greece with a little treat – a stay on romantic Santorini, then found time for a little antiquities hunting in Crete.  We followed up with a couple of "not-quite" circumnavigations this year as we firstly headed out for a slow cruise around the Adriatic rim.  This quickly turned into hasty, given delays due to some niggling repairs and a very hot summer…  The jewel in the crown though, could only be Venice!  Our sights were set and all energies went into getting us there.  We had a great marina with a location to die for – and managed a stay of two weeks.  Croatia made for pleasant island “motoring”, the fiords of Montenegro were just so stunning and friendly Albania seemed like home.

We parked WJ3 in Greece again, for a ride on the yard's new travel lift, before heading off to Oslo to re-discover our land legs.  This year’s tour was to take us around the Baltic from Oslo to Berlin.  The scenery was stunning; the tour action packed and medieval castles aplenty.  We finished off the season with a week in Germany to catch some of the many, many highlights & say a quick hello to friends & wonderful hosts, Karin & Tony.  
(Another great trip with Intrepid; always time for a little yoga with Sanni!)

You would think that our bucket list grows shorter but with each passing year we realise how much more there is to see and learn.  What an incredible world we live in… 
  • 2015:  Read the story (all the posts)
  • 2015:  Cruzin 2015    (all the sailing photos & Greek Island hopping ones too!)
  • 2015:  Trippin 2015    (all the Scandinavian & Baltic photos.  Yes, this is a big one...)


2016: The Mediterranean: Greece to Portugal

 Our shortest cruising season yet was plagued by repairs and not-so-pleasant weather.  Plans changed several times, so finally we decided to stick to essentials and, apart from a side-trip to Malta, cruise as much of Italy’s west coast as we could.  On getting as far north as La Spezia, we opted for a trip down Corsica’s east coast and then made a mad dash for the Balearics.  After wallowing there in the sunshine for a few days, we considered hauling out somewhere along the Spanish Med coast.  After one rolly night on anchor and a couple of monotonous days retracing steps we’d taken in 2013, the trip speeded up and we finally bunked down for a couple of nights in Fuengirola to recover.  It was just as pleasant as our first stay there with John & Kath.  With Gibraltar in sight, our journey had become a make or break - to get back to Lagos.  It made perfect sense - a better position for 2017’s planned Atlantic crossing and also a great boatyard to haul out in!  We made it with a little time to spare on our EU clocks, so even managed a little stop-over in Barcelona to keep GS happy before flying home.

2017-2018: The Mediterranean to the USA

Our longest cruising season yet was plagued by repairs and not-so-pleasant weather (does this sound all too familiar?).  Finally, we got it all together in time for a very late departure from Portugal and a rough ride to Maderia where we were kindly escorted to safe harbour.  From there, it was a short but heroic ride to the biggest marina we've ever seen in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, that was surprisingly busy given that the ARC had left weeks before.  We celebrated Christmas Spanish-style then New Years on the way to the Cape Verdes.  After a week in Mindello, it was time to join the crowds heading west.  Luckily, the Trades had kicked in so we headed "high" for landfall in Antigua in the Caribbean.  Just in time for some more interesting weather.  St Martin became home for a few weeks as we had some necessary refurbishments completed and settled in to the life of an anchored 'liveaboard" (translated as gypsies on water).  We heard the BVI was blown-out (yep, weather) so made for the Thorny Path - just in reverse.  After a quick stop in Puerto Rico for fuel, it was off to the Turks Caicos to stay at our favourite marina before threading the Bahamas island chain of the Exumas then popping out of the Bahamas Banks for West End and, with fingers crossed, a safe passage over the Gulf Stream into West Palm Beach and the "tranquility" of the Intra Coastal Waterway.  The ICW was motoring fun and the Navigator reports his Captainship did not hit the mud (run aground) at all!  A few close encounters mind, but nothing to ruin his reputation.  This was the busy season with returning "snow geese" on the ICW aplenty, so we finally relaxed at Deltaville then got on with the task of putting WJ3 to bed.  In summary, two seasons or 12 months.  Just where did all those months go?   I guess we've now officially circumnavigated the Atlantic... 



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