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On this page, you can find a list of all the blogs we've written. Scroll through the pages to see the older ones. To view them in their various categories, use the main menu bar above where you can find them grouped by the places we've visited and by year. On the Blog Posts menu you can select blogs by the following groups:

  • Life Aboard – our experiences of living on a boat,
  • Boat & Technical Projects – the upgrades and repairs we've made to Emerald,
  • Land Travel – experiences away from the boat,
  • Green Emerald Series – Colin's posts about making Emerald into an off-grid sailing boat,
  • Passage Reports – our experiences during the longer sailing passages.

Latest Blog Post

What Next for Emerald, Having Escaped Porto Santo?

After 20 months in Porto Santo, Emerald’s crew sailed south, docking at Las Palmas for essential repairs, and upgrades. The uncertainty about availability and the return of Med-mooring challenges had a happy ending. We settled into the convenience of marina life, pleasantly surprised by the peacefulness, despite the city setting.

All Posts

Take a browse through the many posts we've written over the last few years as we travel and live on the watery world.

Flash, Bang: Welcome to the Ionian

It was an uneventful journey from Montenegro to Corfu. We managed about 30nm of sailing, the rest of the journey the winds were far too light to push Emerald along. We spent one night at sea where green was the theme – the sun gave us it’s green flash and the almost […]

Montenegro

10th August: The early bird only just caught the worm when we went to check out from Cavtat at 6:30 this morning. We were surprised to see just a small gap remaining on the end of the customs quay as a huge powerboat got in just before us to the […]

The Spiders of Lastovo and the Walls of Ston

4th August: Our walk from the anchorage at Pasadur to Lastovo town turned out to be more of an adventure than expected. We set off along the road alongside the anchorage, soon turning off onto a forest track. Being a forest track we expected some shade from the trees, but the […]

Vis

31st July: It was a light winds day for our journey out to Vis so unfortunately it was all motor and no sail. We arrived early afternoon to find most of the mooring buoys free. The buoys are a bit pricey at 294kn for 13 to 14m but they gave […]

The Great Wall of Ostrica and Back to the Busy Southlands

26th July: Leaving Lamljana we hoped for a sail but the wind was very fickle and light to start with. We decided to wait an hour or so in the bay of Zincena on Pasman where we scooted around in gusts from the east. We headed off again at 1ish […]

Ugljan and Dugi Otok – Our Furthest North

After an overnight stay in the huge and empty bay in Pasman next to Muntan island we headed on up to Ugljan island for a MdR reunion. We were able to sail most of the way, starting off gently downwind at 3kts playing around with the genny and staysail winged out […]

Croatia Boatyard: Leak Busting and a Bora Wind

20th July: A very relieved Emerald crew are now floating again and so far so good: the bilge is dry! We’ve bravely left the safety cocoon of Murter to venture a few miles north for a few easy days. Life in a boatyard can be hard work physically. There’s all […]

Emerald has a Set Back – Taking on Water in Croatia

There are many bad things that can happen to a boat. Earth (running aground), water (sinking) and air (wind and lightning) are all enemies to our floating home. Right now it was water that was threatening us. As we motored away from the Krka river, a hideous, high pitched squeal had emanated […]

Skradin and the Krka Waterfalls

As I’m writing this having finished the Croatia leg of our summer sailing, I can confidently say that the Krka waterfalls was my highlight. It was also great to be back in a river again. Emerald likes her rivers what with the many weeks we have spent up the Fal, 18 months […]

Sveti Klement, Split and Trogir

18th June: (A blog from back in time – trying to clear a backlog!) After filling up with diesel, it was mid morning before we were away from Vela Luka and a westerly wind had set in. It was a F4 as we motored away from the town and if […]

Vela Luka and Korcula

Vela Luka on the north end of Korcula island was our chosen bolthole for some strong southerly winds that were forecast to blow for Thursday into Friday. We knew we’d be on buoys for a few nights at 150kn a night but at least we’d be safe from the risk […]

Polače, Mljet

11th June 2016: On our way from Cavtat to Mljet with a southerly F4 we had our first sail in Croatia, woo hoo! It was a bit rolly though and after 20 miles as the wind eased we had to give up, the wind angle and wind strength were not enough […]

Arrival in Cavtat, Croatia and Wall Walking in Dubrovnik

7th June: We arrived at the Croatian customs check in port of Cavtat with some trepidation bubbling within. We were running on empty after not a lot of sleep due to rolly seas overnight and we’d read some not very enticing reports about the officials there. First item to check off […]

Otranto and Brindisi

Otranto An overnight passage messes with our body clocks, especially when it’s just one night and we can’t get into a watch system rhythm, so we usually need a day of rest to recover. The harbour of Otranto was perfect for an afternoon nap – the sea was calm and a beautiful […]

Ionian Sea Passage Making

27th May to 1st June We are beginning to strongly dislike the Ionian Sea. Of the three crossings we have made, none can be described as having been enjoyable. The first was a dull slog where we only sailed a quarter of it, the second was beset with no wind […]