The Final Blog

Dear friends and loyal readers This is the last blog about our over nine years of sailing distant seas.  We have to admit that we are close to tears as we write that sentence.  Nine years and a bit.  Almost 20% of Vinni’s adult life and over 15% of my adult life, over 25% of…

The Last Passage

May 21, 2025, Capri left the Caribbean firmly lashed to the deck of the freighter – Stadiongracht.  We can follow her on Marine Traffic.  Capri has never sailed that fast, averaging 17.5 knots.  While Capri sails one of the seven seas, we spend the time in our house on the Algarve in Portugal. June 2…

Difficult Decisions

Why are you sailing southward back to Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique? Well, most people our age have difficulty admitting (and accepting to say the least) that they are getting older and signs of that aging are beginning to make themselves felt.  “You are only as old as you feel” so the saying goes.  Both Carsten…

Islands that brush the clouds

St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat The islands that brush the clouds lie south of St. Martin and north of Guadeloupe.  They are a small chain of islands, consisting of Saba, Statia, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat.  These islands are the only eastern Caribbean islands we have not visited.  We have finally overcome our anger at…

St. John USVI

Many years ago, I read about St. John, USVI.  That the island was more or less a National Park everywhere.  That it was the most beautiful of all the Virgin Islands and that it was much less developed than St. Croix or St. Thomas. Those descriptions have always made me want to visit.  Ok, here…

The British Virgin Islands

he Virgins Islands were named such by Christopher Columbus (who named virtually all the eastern Caribbean islands).  Since there were many small islands here, he named them Santa Ursula y Once Mil Virgenes (Saint Ursula and Her 11,000 Virgins) or The Virgin Islands for short. There are two sets of Virgin Islands (just to add…

Guadeloupe to Anguilla

We weighed anchor and left Dominica with a course set for Guadeloupe.  It was hard weather sailing (well, what did you expect – this is Vinni and Carsten sailing).  We had waited for over a week for the weather to calm, but every time it looked as if tomorrow would be good, the weather changed…

Dominica

”Hi – Welcome to Paradise!” said the boatboy as we sailed into the bay at Portsmouth on Dominica. Ok, it isn’t everyday you get welcomed to Paradise.  Before I write more, let me assure our readers (that’s you) that we have not become racists, sexists or any other type of ists.  Boatboys are grown men…

Christmas and New Year 2024

We finally got to leave Grenada. We’ve hungered to get north to union Island, one of our favorite Caribbean islands 8 years ago.  The plan is to spend Christmas on Union Island and New Year’s on Tobago Cays.  The weather forecast has promised good sailing weather (strange – it IS Vinni and Carsten sailing) so…

A Christmas Story

Let’s start by saying Merry Christmas to everyone.  Ok, I know it is not Christmas quite yet, but as they say, it is the thought that counts. We flew back to Grenada in one long shot – almost 28 hours.  Aside from a lot of time in airplanes and airports, it went well, but we…