escapade sailing

Friday 13th May: Across the border.. The sail from Ile a Vache to the Dominican Republic was rough and tough.  25kts on the nose and a short sharp sea.  A punishing 36 hrs for boat and crew, and a great relief to get the hook down in Bahia de Aguilas, a spectacular deserted bay just […]

Our last port of call in the Bahamas was the remote southern outpost of Matthew Town on Great Inagua.  In the harbour there, we tied our dinghy to an extraordinary sailing ship.  About 70 feet long, built of rough-hewn hardwood with a gaff rig, the spars basically trees with the branches removed.  The sails were […]

Beyond Provo 23rd April 2016 The boat has been in Providenciales for a month now while we did some maintenance, sailed with Tony and Wendy, then went to Canada and back.  We feel quite at home here now, but we think that there must be more to the Turks and Caicos Islands.  Provo is fun […]

9th April 2016 So Escapade is tied up safe in Turtle Cove Marina, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands. Now for the first time in months we have to deal with the traumas of: Long trousers Socks and shoes Airport security lines Large scale human transportation in Easter holiday season. But it’s worth it! Our first […]

When you casually glance at a chart, the TCI archipelago appears to be hundreds of square miles of interesting islands to explore. We’ve heard there is great diving and windsurfing, I reckoned we would need at least a month to see it all. Then when you then sit down and study the charts and pilot […]

10.03.16 Long Island Clarence Town was to be as far North as we went on this trip.  Another front came through and the windsurfing was great.  We explored ashore a bit, found that there is a famous ‘blue hole’ where free divers compete every year, so we had a dip in that.  200m deep but […]

Another Voyage So we sailed away from the Dominican Republic, past the Caicos Bank to arrive on the southern shore of Mayaguana, the easternmost outpost of the Bahamas.  The trip was about 200 miles and Escapade just ate them up.  The winds were light, so we hoisted the full mainsail and unfurled the big red […]

We made a quick detour to the Dutch island of Curacao, crashed into the biggest Mardi Gras carnival in the region, failed to find a blue cocktail , stocked up on fruit and veg, then sailed 400 miles North.   Dominican Republic I was last here on a windsurf trip 25 years ago. I have […]

A short movie from our time in Bonaire.

Our first impressions of Bonaire were not great. We arrived on a rare grey day and were reluctant to re-enter the developed world after all our off-grid island hopping. The south of Bonaire is low-lying so the trades blow out across the smooth water in the lee of the island.  It was breezy as we […]