It was our first summer in Boston, Massachusetts, when my office door was pushed open and Tom said, “You going on holiday?”

“Yes, we fly on Saturday.”

“Where are you going?”

“Caribbean”

Tom looked at me, a confused expression on his face. “Stuart. You go to the Caribbean in winter”.

Now, I know Americans can be quirky but what’s not to like about going on a Moorings yacht charter for your summer holidays? Well, firstly, as the average American gets fewer holidays than sweat shop workers in Bangladesh and secondly, USA weather can be extreme; summer is really quite lovely while conversely winter weather can be arctic. It is therefore normal practice to keep a few of their precious Dickensian workhouse days off for some winter Caribbean sun when it’s minus twenty in Nebraska.

It was also apparently hurricane season in the Caribbean although I didn’t recall seeing that in the brochure when we booked.

Anyway, off we went, maw, paw, the weans, teddy bears and multiple copies of the newest Harry Potter - all of the studious little buggers wanting to read it first, none prepared to wait on a sibling to finish. Or trust them not to tell them the ending.

And that was the first of our four “summer” charters in the Caribbean and we lived to tell the tale. What we didn’t appreciate until now was that while we were cruising to the alleged and oddly quiet hotspots of the Caribbean, enjoying peaceful, uncrowded anchorages, ashore in the many, many boatyards were several thousand boats of all shapes and sizes, laid up waiting for a December launch and for Time Bandit to arrive for our first “normal” cruising season.

It’s mobbed out here and I’m beginning to think the Caribbean is getting like the Lake District or Yellowstone at peak holiday - FULL!

Cunningly, like many anchorages from Scotland to The Med and now here, in many places anchoring is now banned and it is mandatory you pick up one of the dodgy, weed and shellfish encrusted bits of old rope tied to goodness knows what. And no, they’re not insured. If your boat ends up on the rocks, “nothing to do with us mate.”

I’ve already been a hero and anchored one boat that went drifting past in the dark towing its old mooring rope and shells, complete with ball. Another hundred yards and it would have become just another wreck on the beach. (Still waiting for a word of thanks from the owner).

Nonetheless, after a week in the now deserted boatyard the antifouling and saildrive diaphragms have been replaced and we’re finally off “up island”.

With luck and some commitment on my part you might even get a video……. although Suriname to Grenada is still long overdue.

Happy new year to all our readers.