Swam with dolphins, went freediving on a shipwreck.. drank coconuts on the beach by sunset. It’s mighty good to be back onboard.

Said good bye to Colombia and headed towards Panama. The first night was tough and conditions were not as predicted. 35 knots of wind, our jib was tiny but maintaining 7.5 knots of speed, lightening all around, waves crashing into the cockpit and heavy rain. 2nd day, still sailing maintaining good speed. But after this first night, everything calmed down, maybe a bit too much 😅 the wind dropped but honestly provided for a glorious night shift with bioluminescent phytoplankton, the starriest of nights and a decent night of sleep. The next day we motored through which meant a lot of dips in the open ocean. And after an amazing sunset we pulled into San Blas. We are in disbelief with this place. Just doesn’t seem real. We’ve seen dolphins, met locals, walked the through this paradise.. how can you have just arrived somewhere and already be sad that you’ll eventually have to leave?!

Crew of 5! Left Aruba and headed to Santa Marta! Started off with champagne sailing but quickly the waves grew. First night was intense, with waves crashing on the cockpit and lightning storms. Second night was even more intense 😅 harnesses and lifejackets, 36 knots of wind - this crossing was living up to its gnarly reputation. We kept sails up the entire way. Spotted rough tooth dolphins. And our entrance into Santa Marta was very on brand, gnarly weather but we finally made it only to realise our anchor wasn’t working so tied up to the fuel dock. Next day we cleaned the boat and proceeded to explore Colombia - Minca, Tayrona national park etc. for a glorious week.

The first trip that I’ve done with crew that I met as I sailed along! Drew and Lydia joined after I met them for the first time in Curaçao and my friend Cat flew in to visit us. 5 people on board! A lovely downwind sail, the we lost two rapallas to VERY LARGE fish that we probably wouldn’t On approach to Aruba at 5pm I debated wether to go to customs and sort that out, or to anchor as the sun would set soon and deal with customs the following day. Before I know it I hear the VHF, I see the coast guard on my tail and they asked for all my crew to come on deck & informed me that they would board my vessel while I was under sail. They directed us to customs and we had our entire boat searched, by dogs, machines etc. it was a random stop and search exercise 😅 but very time consuming and did mean that we left the customs dock at dark to anchor which isn’t ideal. The charts aren’t very accurate here, and I also felt Arabesque graze a sandy bottom for the first time, but broke free quite easily 😳 A slightly surreal entry to this island. But we are here and Aruba is treating us well 😊