Mirage Beach Hotel St. Lucia

There was great excitement leavingh Rodney Bay yesterday. The 27 yachts leaving the marina were blowing their hooters, a steel band was playing, everyone waving and 'Good Luck' wishes being shouted in every direction.

A flotilla of motor boats, yachts and ribs filled the bay and then at 12:00 the starting gun. World ARC 2010-11 had start...

Threre was a seminar on the complete complete World Arc Rally yesterday and another one on emergencies at sea this morning, there will be no Ballycotton Lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!!

We will head first to the Dutch West Indies and visit Curaceo (spelling) and Aruba, then on to the San Blas Islands which are about 80 miles ...

During Skipper Stephen Hyde's racing years the yacht name 'Lady A' was created with his wife Aileen in mind. The variation on this for his cruising Oyster 56 became 'A Lady'.

Moored at Rodney Bay marina, with the high peaks of St Lucia around her, on this sunny Monday morning in the tropics, 'A Lady' looks magnificent.

Lots to do, ...

We docked in Castries, the capitol of St. Lucia, this morning. It is a lovely Caribbean city of 60,000 people. Its pastel-colored colonial buildings help create a serene and lovely setting for our stop in St. Lucia. Although today the island is a peaceful tropical rainforest in the Caribbean, it has a more colorful past. In the 9th Century the f...

Since my arrival last week to St Lucia there have been many parties and dinners to celebrate everyones arrival across the Alantic. It has been so nice to catch up with people that we had met over in Las Palmas and to hear about their trips.

Compared to some, we had it very easy with no major damage, illnesses or storms. The worst story th...

Up and about quite early. St Lucia is a lush and verdant island. Planned to go to a beach but changed our minds and decided to go on a catamaran in the afternoon. Set off walking to town in the morning but it was very hot so we turned around. Saw iridescent black humming birds, a couple of herons and a calabash tree. Looked around the duty free ...

When Alex and I got married and then decided to have children, my greatest fear was that the things I most loved to do in the world would no longer be possible. Sailing, time in the mountains, traveling, exploring cultures other than my own, all seemed to be threatened by this change. As we began to talk about my fear, I realized that we both sh...

Hangin out at George F.L. Charles airport on our way from St. Lucia to St. Vincent. It's HUGE. One whopping gate, and we think the pilot might also be the flight attendant and work at the airport coffee shop. Just found out that we have at least a one hour delay. Go LIAT air..woohoo.

Bequia is just a short flight and quick ferry away. We...

The Cruise of Spirit of Ecstasy Chapter 12 Margarita to Bequia Nov - Dec 2005 Sailing has been defined as an expensive and uncomfortable way of going somewhere very slowly. Nowhere was that more true of our departure from the island of Margarita, Venezuela and the crossing to the Caribbean island of Grenada. This is done normally in two stages; ...

In 1996 I was made redundant from a job I disliked (a feeling that would repeat itself throughout my working life) but we'd already made plans to have our first longhaul holiday so, as we'd already booked and paid for it, it was something to really look forward to. Saint Lucia in the Caribbean Sea was going to be the start of my love affair with...