Blog Posts

Yawn alert! We have been told (mostly by are loving children) that our blog is, well, tedious and boring (to be quite blunt), containing way too much detail. They don’t read it. (Though they do like our Instagram posts!). We think they are probably right but, as we have said, Read more…

Greetings from the Grenadines. We just cleared in on Union Island after a full month in Grenada and are settled in Chatham Bay, one of our favorite places to anchor. We remained in Grenada a bit longer than we had planned but then we live on a sailboat and have Read more…

It was another, regrettably, short visit to Trinidad! As we mentioned in our last blog entry, we had planned to enjoy Trinidad for 3 – 4 weeks after our return to the twin islands in early November. With our return delayed, we no longer had the luxury of time to Read more…

Greetings from Trinidad! We have finally returned to Che Figata after our hurricane season sabbatical. As I am sure you all recall, last year we sailed Che Figata back up to New England for the summer and then back down to the Caribbean (Antigua) at the end of hurricane season, Read more…

Greetings from Connecticut! When we published our last blog entry we had just arrived in Trinidad. We had not cleared into the country because, well, things shut down early on the islands. After a lovely evening on Che Figata we were able to clear health, customs and immigration the next Read more…

When we posted our last blog entry we had just arrived in Grenada and cleared customs. We hated to leave the Grenadines but after 6 weeks, collectively, sailing around those wonderful islands it was time to visit a new island nation. Besides, we were in the 4 week count-down to Read more…

As you all know, after a brief return visit to Saint Lucia we arrived back in Bequia on May 12. Our visit started off with a bit of a bang when we returned to our dinghy after dinner to find that our dinghy lock and cable had slid down the Read more…

When we published our last blog entry we had just returned to Saint Lucia. Jill had a board meeting to attend in Boston and all the major US airlines have regular flights to and from Saint Lucia’s international airport, making the trip to Boston more direct than if we stayed Read more…

The last 4 weeks have been nothing short of spectacular. Spending time in the Grenadines, a chain of 32 islands in the West Indies that is part of the independent island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), was everything we imagined when we had that first fleeting thought Read more…

When we posted our last blog entry we had just arrived in St. Lucia and cleared health, customs and immigration. Our port of entry was Rodney Bay — a very pretty bay with white sandy beaches and several high-end resorts. Health, customs and immigration were all located within Rodney Bay Read more…

As we explored the Windward Islands, heading South, Martinique — another French island — was the next stop on our hit parade. Though Martinique is another small island (roughly 50 miles long with a maximum width of 22 miles), there are many good anchorages so we visited 6 different locations Read more…

As we published our last blog entry we had just arrived in Guadeloupe and cleared customs. We are still tickled by the entry process here. Of course, we had heard about it but until you actually experience it you don’t really believe it. But it is true! When arriving by Read more…

As we type this we feel like celebrating. The last 2 1/2 weeks were fabulous — no falls off boats, no torn hamstrings and no unexpected mechanical failures. It was quite a run! (Of course, we cringe as we type this because this sort of thing — acknowledging out loud Read more…

We have really been looking forward to January. January was when we planned to get serious about circumnavigating Antigua, enjoying all this little but beautiful volcanic island has to offer including visits to more of those 365 beaches! We did a bit of exploring while Jill’s dad and stepmom where Read more…

Happy New Year. Hard to believe that we have now lived on Che Figata for 16 months and one complete calendar year. 2021 was a wonderful first full year filled with great adventure, interesting people, beautiful scenery, lots of exercise (!!!) and the myriad of joys and frustrations that come Read more…

As always, we packed a lot in the last 3 weeks. As you know, we arrived in Antigua after an largely uneventful but unusually long 10 day passage. That doesn’t mean that things didn’t break. There is a lot of wear and tear on a boat during an ocean passage Read more…

Like we did last year, we adapted this post from the daily passage updates we sent to our families and friends via email. Most of our blog posts are written in the third person because they are a collaborative effort between the two of us. (HINT: If you ever wonder Read more…

For once the weather was pretty much as predicted.  Saturday, May 29 was beyond awful.  Heavy, heavy rain and big NE winds with gusts up to 35!  Glad to be in port.  To top it off, it was cold — high in the 50s though the damp windy conditions made it feel colder.  Despite growing Read more…

We woke up bright and early on May 23 anxious to set sail for the Berries and enjoy our last night (or two) before heading for Grand Bahama where we would re-provision, refuel and wait for our weather window.  On a hunch, Jill suggested to Zack that we reach out to Read more…

Just for the record, we are not marina people!  We much prefer to drop a hook or pick up a mooring.  Besides the stress that often comes with docking, being at a marina vs. on a mooring ball or anchored is like the difference between living in an apartment building vs a Read more…

When we left off in our last blog post we had just cleared Bahamas customs and immigration and were looking forward to exploring the islands.  We didn’t have a care in the world until Zack checked on our engine.  Our friend and skipper who joined us on our passage down to St. Read more…

We really enjoyed our short but memorable visit to Turks and Caicos.  The beaches were pristine and so magnificent (hopefully you had a chance to see the pictures we posted on Instagram or, better yet, you’ve had a chance to visit Turks & Caicos yourself) and it will be hard to Read more…

We left Ocean World Marina in the Dominican Republic, as planned, on April 28.  We got off to a slow start because of a disadvantageous wind direction but within a few hours we had a nice easterly breeze that allowed us to sail on a nice beam or broad beam reach Read more…

We left Puerto Bahia Marina on April 24 as planned.  Fortunately, we had a lovely window of light wind and, though the tight channel hadn’t gotten any wider during our stay, it was much easier to maneuver without wind gusts.  There were high fives all around on Che Figata when we departed Read more…

We arrived — tired but safe — in Samana Bay in the Dominican Republic on April 21 after our first, solo, overnight sail.  When we left off last time we were anchored off Isla Caja de Muertos.  Per our now published itinerary, we left the next morning (Day 5 of the sail Read more…

It’s official.  We left Sapphire Beach Marina as planned on April 15.  We got our second dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine on April 9 and, thereafter, spent the next 6 days finalizing our sail plan, provisioning, pre-paring some meals and generally getting S/V Che Figata ready for the journey to New Read more…

Hard to believe that we have been in the USVI for 5 months.  (One day shy of a full 5 months as of the date of this post.) Though we didn’t get to sail the Caribbean as we hoped  (too many COVID hurdles) we found plenty to do in the USVI and Read more…

It’s been about three weeks since our last post and when we hit the two week mark our oldest son — the one who said no one would read our blog — asked if we were still alive and happy.  Apparently, despite our frequent phone calls, our blog has become his Read more…

Outside of hurricane season, Easterly winds in the 10-15 knot range are a pleasant constant in the USVI.  Of course, there are exceptions and one is the “Christmas winds” that tend to arrive in December and January when a high-pressure area to the northeast of the islands produces winds in the Read more…

The seas have settled from the Northerly swells so it was time to leave the marina for our next adventure.  While Jill really wanted to get back to St. Croix to snorkel the famous pier in Frederiksted (and try that vegan restaurant), the wind direction wasn’t favorable for a sail to Read more…

We finally did it! We left the dock at Sapphire Beach Marina. As you know, we arrived at the marina on November 12. Jill was still working, however, through November 30 so we needed to stay where we were confident we would have good connectivity for her Webex meetings and Read more…

We covered a lot of ground in the six weeks since our last post. We have now sailed around St. John 5 times — three with just the two of us and twice with different visitors. We already have favorite locations to pick up a mooring (Lameshur Bay and Salt Read more…

[This first blog post is adapted from the daily updates Jill sent to our worried families as we made our first blue water passage — qualifying us for the Ocean Cruising Club — from Annapolis to St. Thomas, USVI.] Day #1 update Greetings from S/V Che Figata on Day 1 Read more…