Perigee Sailboat

It's 5pm somewhere, but it's 11am here in Deshaies, Guadaloupe as we open our first beer. After spending 4 relaxing weeks in Antigua, we raised anchor at 12-noon yesterday, sailed south and arrived here just on sunset. Can you find Perigee parked out there in the bay?

Nancy’s Rum Punch Even though this is a fairly well known recipe, I attribute it to Nancy as she is the one that shared it with me. Nancy sails on SV Larus with her partner Tim. They are both very experienced sailors with years of experience in the charter industry where Nancy worked as cook and hostess. We met Larus on the Southern New England rally in July 2017. Like us they head up to Maine but we never saw them as they where always a week or two ahead of us. Our tracks crossed just outside the entrance channel to St Georges, Bermuda in November 2017. They were heading in after 3 days of heavy weather sailing and we were headed out, bound for Antigua. We spoke briefly on the VHF radio. Finally in December we caught up in Antigua. It was in Antigua where Nancy shared this recipe and the little rhyme to help remember the ingredients. 1 of sour 2 of sweet 3 of strong & 4 of weak a dash of bitters and a grate of nutmeg. Sour = lime juice Sweet = suga

Strangely in this cruising community we don't actually know many peoples last names. People become associated with there boat and are generally referred to by there boat name. For example, Bill from "Kalunamoo" is known as "Kalunamoo Bill". With that in mind we were not surprised to be invited to a "Suzie Too" BBQ. "Suzie Too" is a Beneteau 57 and her owners David and Suzie who have been cruising for 10 plus years have made a tradition of taking their BBQ ashore to a nearby beach every Sunday. They knock on every hull in the anchorage and invite people to join them on the beach, BYO everything. This was our second such event at Pigeon beach, Falmouth Harbour, Antigua. Perigee is in background. Thank you "Suzie Too" for such a special day. It's always good to take the day off on a Sunday and just chill and relax with friends and family. Thanks to Ronna and Mike from "Exodus" for the floating bar for our drinks. See

We left HAMPTON, in Virginia near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, on Monday November 6th.  We were in the last wave of a roughly 50-boat fleet making it’s seasonal exodus from the USA East Coast to the Caribbean. The key thing for the start of this trip is to judge the departure for a smooth (and safe) crossing of the Gulf Stream, which can get pretty ugly if things aren’t ‘just so’ - think along the lines of the PERFECT STORM.  The Gulf-stream crossing can take place in an area where the warm currents coming up the US East coast from the equatorial region mix with the cold waters coming down from the Artic areas. Tremendous flows of energy, which are visible in the interactions in, and between, the air and water.  Quite incredible to see – this is my third time across, and Leanne’s second.  It is said that the Gulf Stream makes its own weather, and we have seen this with various phenomena. Anyway, despite the slightly adverse conditions, as expected, of about 5-8 knots of ‘wind-a

Warm & Cheesy Dip This recipe came from Debby. We met Debby and her partner Scott in Bermuda. These Aussies sail a 34 foot Austrian made boat called Expedition. After Bermuda we headed for the US east coast and they hopped across to Portugal and Spain for the northern hemisphere summer. I made this quite frequently as it was warming on those crisp Maine & New England nights. Ingredients ·       Cream Cheese ·       Can of black frijole beans ·       Jar of chunky salsa (juice drained off) ·       Grated cheddar cheese Method Layer the ingredients in an oven proof dish in the order listed, i.e. cheddar cheese on top. Bake until warmed through. Serve with corn chips. Yum. Special Note: Drain the salsa well as all the juice will collect on the bottom of the dish and make it sloppy. Another Special Note. This dish does not look appetizing one people start to dig their corn chips in. So keep the lights low. Note from Debby. This is not Debby’s recipe