22.3° South / 53.4° East February third 2006 finds the Picton Castle sailing along in pleasant modest breezes with sunny skies, benign puffy clouds and not an apparent care in the world. All is lovely at sea today. Sails are being made up on the quarterdeck; a new jib is almost finished and a new […]
The time finally came yesterday for the Picton Castle to leave Reunion Island. The cyclone that had pestered us had blown itself out and gone safely over land, and the day was bright and gorgeous, a good day to leave. We fueled in the morning and finished our last-minute chores and it was time to
Reunion Island, Southwest Indian Ocean The Picton Castle is alongside a wharf in the artificial harbour of Port Ouest on the northwest end of this roundish French island of Reunion deep in the southwest Indian Ocean. It is now coming up thick in the cyclone season in the Indian Ocean. Being at Reunion we are
A Severe tropical storm, called TS Boloetse, has formed between us and Madagascar. This storm is hanging just outside Reunion and off the Malagasy coast with high winds and high seas; the Captain has decided that we will wait for it to carry on by. The storm is dodging and weaving right in our way.
When the Picton Castle put into Reunion, I don’t think we realized where we were going. A small island in the Indian Ocean with more things to do than you can possibly imagine. The ship is alongside in Le Port, which is on the northwest corner of Reunion just west of Saint Denis, the island’s
Yesterday in the Picton Castle was one of those perfect days, on sea or on land. Except, of course, we weren’t on land. Nothing much going on except what you wanted to have going on. Joe opened Chibbley’s Café—very exciting. We had a enormous breakfast and then a late lunch and then our Sunday at
What a beautiful passage the Picton Castle is having! I have been saying that a lot lately. We aren’t going lickety-split, more like a gentle saunter. The seas are small, the wind also pretty small, but we have yet to even consider motoring. We, the crew, are more than happy with this. All sails set
After 21 days at sea the Picton Castle has made landfall and put into Rodriguez Island, which is to the east of Mauritius. The second new place to us in a row, new to all of us! A small island with only 5500 people who live here, the capital town of Port Mathurin is tiny
The Picton Castle is having an excellent passage in fact this whole voyage has been full of excellent passages; good winds and fair weather. But this passage across the Indian Ocean, with the exception of a few rough days before Christmas, really couldn’t be nicer. The sailing is the kind where it feels good to
The crew of the Picton Castle is enjoying a passage across the Indian Ocean that is just about as sweet as can be. Since the dual low pressure systems we threaded between just after we sailed from Christmas Island scurried off and away we have had nothing less than perfect trade-wind sailing. Day after day
