Since arriving in the Caribbean in late November, Saecwen has been cruising through the southern Islands visiting Mustique, Bequia, the Tobago Cays, Carriacou and finally we have arrived in the beautiful island of Grenada.     We enjoyed Christmas with a lobster barbecue on the beach and some fantastic snorkelling in the Tobago Cays.  This tiny set of islands protected by a coral reef is home to turtles, rays, and encouragingly healthy-looking coral which provides a great bre

After 7 months on the move, visiting 17 islands in 7 countries and 7,500 sea miles under her keel, Saecwen has finally arrived in the Caribbean. Crew and ship now ready for a change of pace, starting with ‘Tobago time’.  Tobago is the smaller of the two islands that make up the country of Trinidad and Tobago in the southeastern corner of the eastern Caribbean island chain.   Unlike her larger sister island, Trinidad, which is a busy, hustling place currently under a self-decl

I have never been so hard-hit by the outright absurdity and insanity of human cruelty when visiting the remains of one of France’s most cruel penal colonies on the remote and beautiful Isles Salut.   Up until the 1950s a total of 80,000 of prisoners were shipped across from France to suffer work camps, solitary confinement and other unspeakable acts of torture on these lush tropical islands off the northeast coast of South America. Tufted capuchin monkeys The islands are part

Part 2: Newton Ferrers (Heloise) I couldn´t think of a better place to spend our first week of our new life aboard Saecwen than in the village of  Newton Ferrers, which has been my family home since my parents moved back from Fiji so many years ago.  This was Saecwen’s fourth visit to the Yealm, so it really did feel like coming home, as we tied up on our favourite mooring buoy off ´Misery Point´. However, there is nothing miserable about this mooring at the mouth of the rive

Part 1: Lymington (Charlie) Leaving home to embark on a long journey is never easy at the best of times, but moving one’s entire life to go and live aboard a relatively small boat is another matter. For days we made trips down to Saecwen’s berth in Lymington ferrying yet another load of stuff on board, with the boat developing a seeming unending capacity to absorb more food, drink and personal gear into her depths. Then finally the day came when it was time to depart. At that