Sail round the world in two easy legs... NOT

My journey round the globe in a sailboat or two

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25 August 2019
25 August 2019 | Tangier’s
21 August 2019
21 August 2019
11 July 2019 | Colosseum Rome
05 July 2019 | Mount Ve
03 July 2019 | Trevi fountain Rome
02 July 2019 | Vatican City Rome
28 June 2019 | Ponza
28 June 2019
17 May 2019
17 May 2019
25 April 2019
23 April 2019
28 March 2019
13 March 2019 | Turneffe Atoll
Recent Blog Posts
25 August 2019

Big waves and whales

Through the night and during my watch we had 3 to 4 metre waves rolling in from behind, made worse by a wind of 28 knots gusting to 35, making the boat ⛵️pitch and roll around all over the place, the cockpit was swamped by some of the bigger waves coming in over the rather low transom, it was also [...]

25 August 2019 | Tangier’s

Near misses on the high seas

21 August 2019

We are sailing

One down two to go

13 March 2019 | Turneffe Atoll
Paul Barker
After the engine was shut down, we were sailing again. However the skipper 👩‍✈️now decided to call for assistance (against my opinion but I'm only crew). After about an hour the Honduran navy turned up in a little boat and took us into tow, but not before reversing into Judy's newly painted boat twice. Next they set off like a bat out of hell almost ripping the cleats out of the front of the boat ⛵️, they took us all the way to the pontoon, where we tied up. The navy personnel were very friendly but thorough with all the paperwork. It was past 02:00 before they left saying they would be back at 07:00. When they came back they took our passports and took more photographs of them and us, even more questions were fired at us.
In the morning the navy kindly sent 2 mechanics to help with the engine, they replaced the damaged fuel line which was so brittle it crumbled to the touch. As I was replacing the steps I then noticed some sparks low down, this turned out to be the alternator touching a loosely fitted power lead. They said we were lucky not to set on fire 🔥, all down to poor diligence from the staff at RAM in Guatemala.
At this time Lukas decided that he was going to bail out and leave the boat⛵️, but because of this the whole process with the Honduran officials changed, they gave us a car with a driver and 3 armed guards. We were driven all over the town to immigration, Port control then customs. We were interviewed by the national news paper 📝 and the local tv station, the bad bit about this was they printed our passports and the numbers for all to see. (I worry about identity theft)
The skipper and I set sail at 07:00 the next morning for a small reef near Belize 🇧🇿. On the way I caught, with all my new kit, an 80 cm 7 kilogram mahi-mahi, which I also filleted and cooked off with some olive oil and curry powder, it was a good meal. We dropped the anchor in calming waters. In the morning everything had changed, it was now blowing 27 knots and the waves were up to 2 metres high. I went forward to get the anchor up using our newly fitted windlass, which pulled up 5 metres of chain then violently let it all go again, after 40 minutes of terrifying work I was knackered and no nearer getting the chain and anchor up. ( you don't want to be any where near a chain when it lets go, it's so dam quick and vicious it's frightening). The skipper made the decision and told me to cut the chain and anchor away. Now this is a huge decision and one I would not have liked to make.
The only way to go now was south back to Honduras 🇭🇳 where we knew there was a safe place to tie the boat ⛵️ and get there in the day. (I was so tired I could have slept 💤 all day)we got permission to tie up without going through the long immigration process again.
In the morning we had to leave at 04:45 but the winds were completely out of the wrong direction so we had to use the motor. The decision was to now return back to RAM marina for repairs, it took us 12 uneventful hours to get back,
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Album: Main | Sail round the world in two easy legs... NOT
23 Photos
Created 8 April 2019
74 Photos
Created 24 February 2019
Climbing the Honister slate mines with sister Claire
38 Photos
Created 17 September 2018
58 Photos
Created 3 June 2018
19 Photos
Created 3 June 2018
10 Photos
Created 3 June 2018
14 Photos
Created 3 June 2018
22 Photos
Created 3 June 2018
A happy journey into communism
72 Photos
Created 1 June 2018
27 Photos
Created 1 June 2018
29 Photos
Created 12 March 2018
60 Photos
Created 12 March 2018
To celebrate the start of Lent. 23.30hrs start of parade
25 Photos
Created 15 February 2018
56 Photos
Created 15 February 2018
They are almost the same all over the world. But sooo much fun trying to get them bigger each time. Enjoy !!
47 Photos
Created 9 February 2018
46 Photos
Created 5 February 2018
111 Photos
Created 29 January 2018
112 Photos
Created 10 January 2018
The Atlantic crossing on Wia O Tira
32 Photos
Created 10 January 2018
45 Photos
Created 16 December 2017
53 Photos
Created 6 November 2017
23 Photos
Created 4 November 2017
At the top Worlds highest building (to date)
35 Photos
Created 30 September 2017
42 Photos
Created 16 September 2017
29 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
31 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
30 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
18 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
Cave carvings, Hangi meal
37 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
16 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
Trip to the 55 metre waterfalls with 261 steps
54 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
56 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
15 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
84 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
Hobbiton Movie set and Lord of the Rings Movie set with the WETA cave and Workshop
184 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
58 Photos
Created 15 September 2017
Walk round and jump off the Sky Tower
34 Photos
Created 1 September 2017
25 Photos
Created 28 August 2017
Yasur Volcano and Resolution bay and Village life
85 Photos
Created 25 August 2017
49 Photos | 1 Sub-Album
Created 25 August 2017
Woken up by heavy rain and gale force winds
2 Photos
Created 27 July 2017
Day trip to see whales
16 Photos
Created 20 July 2017
A day out at the zoo
59 Photos
Created 23 June 2017
Koalas, kangaroos and wombats
70 Photos
Created 12 June 2017
A whole street dedicated to the Bee Gees
15 Photos
Created 9 June 2017
From Brisbane to New Caledonia
31 Photos
Created 9 June 2017
Quick stop at Cairns
4 Photos
Created 29 May 2017
Quick stop at Cairns
11 Photos
Created 29 May 2017
My walk up to the summit of the 276m hill
12 Photos
Created 28 May 2017
North East coast of Australia Whitsundays island to Cairns
96 Photos
Created 21 May 2017
Another one of my bucket list to tick off. Zip Park Wales 1560m long dropping over 270m. My top speed was 78.9 MPH
10 Photos
Created 8 May 2017