Phil, Mandy and Sue flew in to Tenerife on the 18th November and we had a couple of days getting the fresh food supplies we needed and having a few last minute beers, in the knowledge that we were leaving on a dry ship.

THE DAY we had all been waiting for then finally arrived, 20th November 2008. We awoke to a near perfect day for setting out into the Atlantic for our voyage to the Caribbean and, feeling excited and apprehensive, we said our goodbyes to Itza Perla and Chrisandaver and departed from the harbour of San Miguel at 0730.

We had to motor for quite a while the first day, trying to pick up some wind, and after a night spent with the sails flogging we finally picked up enough wind to send us on our way, with Tenerife gradually getting smaller and smaller behind us.

We soon settled into a routine of doing nothing very much - eating and sleeping mainly - and one day evolved into the next almost without our noticing.

We took turns to prepare the evening meal and Phil became the official judge of how well each of us had done, summarising our efforts in X-Factor speak, telling us where we'd excelled, where we'd fallen down, and whether or not we were through to the next round.

Quiz nights were very popular, with the winner getting a goodie from the lucky-dip Tupperware box (it's amazing how little things come to mean so much at a time like this!) and we also had dance practice, although more of that later.....

We did have one other member of crew, a stowaway brought onboard by Sue. His name is Lucky O'Day and there's quite a story to his existence and why he was with Sue on this trip. He's a real character, helping out with the chartwork where possible and spending a lot of time in his hammock slung in the main salon, but we did notice he didn't do any cooking..... anyway, photos of him appear in the gallery.

Our half-way party was held on 3 December - we had party food and alcohol (the only time during the entire passage!) and flower garlands, blow-up palm tree and scenery courtesy of Sue. Great fun and it put us in the mood for the next party when we got to the other side. We put a message in Dave's empty bottle in the hope someone, someday, will find it and contact us. We also felt it an appropriate time to cast our poppies into the sea in remembrance.

The MAD (Mid Atlantic Dippers) Club had the traditional swim in 4000m whilst we were becalmed and for Sue this was a real achievement as she started the trip a novice swimmer but still braved the water half way across.

Fishing lines were trailed every day, and soon 2 decent yellow-fin tuna were being enjoyed as well as another fish we couldn't identify and a flying fish which was one of the many that were unfortunate to perish overnight on our foredeck.

Fi called up quite a few yachts and ships when we sighted them, to have a chat and find out any weather forecasts they could offer. This turned out to be entertaining in itself, with one watchkeeper on a ship bound for Holland telling Fi how lonely he was and how much he appreciated someone to talk to. We think he'd probably have carried on chatting for hours if we'd let him! Quite a few of the yachts we talked to were taking part in the ARC and we looked forward to reading how well they'd done when we finally got to civilisation and access to the internet. The ex-smokers amongst us felt sorry for one guy in particular who asked if we had any spare cigarettes onboard - mid Atlantic can't be a good place to run out!

Postscript - we've just learnt today (3rd Jan) that Carly from Hardway Sailingt Club was on this boat but didn't recognise our new boat name or "Fi's posh telephone voice"!)

Keeping amused didn't seem to be too hard - most of us had a book on the go and there was always something to talk about. We were constantly on the look out for whales, dolphins and turtles but without much success. Phil was the first to spot something - a couple of ominous looking black fins - then dolphins were spotted, a possible killer whale, a couple of other whales and more bottlenose dolphins. A petrel landed on deck during Fi's watch one night and seemed reluctant to fly away so we all feared the worst but late the next morning, with a little encouragement from Dave, Peter the Petrel flew off back into his natural environment and was soon swooping over the waves again.

Fi had two haircuts at Mandy's hairdressing salon (held on the foredeck and open all hours) and on 13 December the three girls got dolled up with new hair and makeup and formed the PMT's (Posh Maritime Totty) much to the amusement of the male members of the crew; after all, there couldn't many other boats crossing the Atlantic with as much glamour aboard!

However, the males were not appreciative enough of their luck in having three such delectable delights aboard as fellow crew so, after too much sun one day, the girls reincarnated as the SOS team (Salty Offshore Scrubbers). You will see photographic evidence of this and other parts of our crossing within the gallery, as soon as it can be loaded!

On 15 December, we finally arrived in Prickly Bay, Grenada and after unsuccessfully calling Vicki and Rog (El Vagabond) on the VHF we were called by their friends and warmly welcomed (hooters blaring, flags waving) into the bay. The Vags appeared later on (Vicki was onboard without the VHF on and Rog was busy in town shopping (!)) and it was then that the dance practice paid off as the five of us stood on the side deck and did a True Colours dance routine to "Hey Baby" as Roger and Vicki rowed towards us in their dinghy. Not surprisingly, the afternoon and evening became a little blurred as celebratory drinks were the order of the day and we agreed how great it was that we'd all finally made it, with True Colours and crew all in one piece and all the crew still talking to each other!