1. What a strange word to describe taking pleasure in someone else’s  misfortune…

Not the most admirable trait but we’ve all done it: – secretly smiled at seeing someone taken down a peg, or feeling relieved and a bit pleased it wasn’t you who spilled red wine all down her white dress at the party/ fell on their face/got dumped by text (fill in your own favourites here)…

So here I am on this sailing adventure, swanning around the Caribbean, and I imagine most people wish they could be doing this. So, just to set the record straight, yes there are turquoise seas, beautiful beaches, exotic food and drinks, cute local flora and fauna, but…

The sea between the islands is mostly rough and sailing has often meant hours of nasty swell and choppy waves; anchoring can be lovely but recently we’ve been tossed about all night like a toy- up, down, side to side in churning seas; it has rained almost every other day- 2 days ago it rained non-stop all day; there are a lot of biting things! Mosquitos, tiny no-see-ums, sand flies – they all love me and leave Martin alone.

So – do we want to come home now then? We-ell… not quite yet! 😎