After a pleasant three-day passage from Bequia the Picton Castle made land-fall in the British Virgin Islands early in the morning, sailing between Dead Chest Island off Peter Island and Salt Island. Then we sailed down the smooth Caribbean blue waters of Sir Francis Drake Channel between Tortola, Norman Island, and St. John before ducking …
Bequia is part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and is well known with yachts as they stop here frequently before or after an Atlantic crossing; or even just as a stop. Bequia is beautiful and laid back with distant sounds of calypso drums and reggae music no matter where you are on the island. …
Grenada! Oh, sweet smells of land, and cool, cool drinks, hamburgers, piña coladas, the smiling faces of people on the street (whom you don’t know, and that is actually kind of nice!). It has only been 17 days since Fernando but somehow it feels like longer. It has been small islands and quick island stops …
An hour after dawn. A sea bird has found a perch on the jack-stay of the main royal yard. The 4–8 watch has just reset the stuns’ls on starboard. The topmast stuns’l yard broke a day ago, now it’s fixed and back aloft spreading canvas. Lead Seaman Pania is snapping off instructions and orders with …
From all the crew of the Barque Picton Castle to all our very much cherished Mothers—HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! We appreciate everything you do for us even though we are far away. We are all thinking of you and wishing you a very happy day. [cpg_album:52]
Guess what? It is still raining. Day 11 out of Fernando: It doesn’t rain continuously but in pockets. It could be really nice all morning and then, BAM! there’s a squall. Then an hour later, again, usually it is just when we are either about to do something like eat dinner, or when Rebecca and …
On board the Barque Picton Castle, we have no Pollywogs. The crew of this ship is made up of excellent Shellbacks only. King Neptune and court visited the Picton Castle and ministered his gentle indulgences as per longstanding tradition. BUT it is still raining! Eight days and almost 1,000 miles out of Fernando, and not …
If we were Noah and our Barque was the Ark we’d be out collecting animals by the pair right now. As David Matthews just said lovely weather—if you are a duck! It is raining and has been for four days—big, fat, heavy drops—and when it stops and looks a little clear then it laughs in …
It seemed that from St. Helena to Fernando de Noronha that it took the Picton Castle at least three years to get there, it was in fact only 16 days. Why certain passages seem longer than others is always a mystery to me. But the crew of the Picton Castle were going slightly stir crazy …
The Picton Castle‘s crew makes observations about the weather, wind, and swell, and records this information in an hourly weather log; this job is assigned to each off-going helmsman. In addition to the ship’s weather log, there is a special weather log that requires a bit more detail. The latter weather observations are voluntarily collected …
