Many people just use Bermuda as a quick staging post on a West East Atlantic crossing. We think that is a massive mistake as Bermuda is one of our favourite places. It really does have everything. Gre

The first leg of an Atlantic crossing is often the most tricky. Coming West the trade winds from the Canaries to the Caribbean are pretty reliable but getting down the the Canaries from Portugal can b

Having sailing Fair Isle full time for 8 years and 25,000 miles we know we can cope without electric winches so we had the eWincher down as a 'nice to have' item rather than a 'must have' But there we

We are now in the really nice bits of the Bahamas, we did have to spend a day fixing a potentially boat destroying fault, but we are enjoying the prettiest spot so far this side of the Atlantic. Ele

We keep hearing good things about the Mantus anchors and we told you in last week's episode we've had major problems with the Ultra swivel so it was definitely time to test out a Mantus anchor while w

With packages delivered and the major boat jobs done, we are finally getting to see the best parts of the Bahamas. We are not just sitting around drinking cocktails though! We have some serious anchor testing to do, and what better place with the crystal clear waters and variable sea beds here. The anchor we are testing this time is the Mantus M2 (105Ib model) if you want more info on their gear this is their website... https://www.mantusmarine.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Andros is not a well travelled cruising ground, but it has a lot to offer. It's the largest island in the Bahamas, in fact it could fit every other island in it's space with room to spare. It's known as the 'family island' and is very friendly it also has an abundance of natural water and an amazing geology that supports it. More cruisers should visit Andros even if it's just a stop to check in and out if you're coming from the States, definitely a better option than Nassau. Do check out CMP they do all sorts of good stuff and are very helpful: https://cmpcordage.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Regular viewers will be familiar with Heidi and Franny as we interviewed them 3 years ago at the Annapolis boat show when they were first looking for a catamaran and we have stayed with them on board in Annapolis for the last two boat shows. Since then they purchased a Fountaine Pajot, Saona 47 and have been living aboard. We caught up with them cruising the Bahamas so wanted to interview them again to find out if boat ownership and cruising was panning out they way they expected. Heidi and Franny have their own You Tube sailing channel which you can check out here... https://www.youtube.com/@HeidiandFranny ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Everyone tells us we can't afford not to come to the Bahamas. It has the clearest waters at the perfect temperature. Strings of fabulous islands and perfect trade wind sailing in protected waters. However, there's a way to come to the Bahamas and that's well provisioned with a fully functional boat. Having just spent the last 6 weeks in Cuba with very little opportunity to resupply and with more things breaking on the boat than in the previous 8 years put together, it wasn't the best preparation! So we're feeling the full force of the Bahamas hugely inflated prices and battling to find a way to get the spares we need to get Fair Isle back in tip-top condition. It's all part of cruising life! You can check out Heidi and Franny's site here ... https://www.youtube.com/@HeidiandFranny ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

A big part of cruising is fixing things as you go along and you can bet things will go wrong at the most inopportune moments. We've had more things break in the last month than ever before and we are in the one place in the Caribbean that you can get no help and no parts, Cuba. So we are on our own, we are also very nearly out of food, so the struggle begins to get things fixed and get to the Bahamas. I promised the recipe for the thai soup so here it is: Thai Soup Ingredients Serves: 8  * 1 tablespoon vegetable oil * 2 tablespoons grated fresh root ginger * 1 stick lemongrass, minced * 2 teaspoons red curry paste * 1L chicken stock * 2 tablespoons fish sauce * 1 tablespoon light brown soft sugar (if using a can of lychee then add the syrup instead of sugar) * 3 (400ml) tins coconut milk * 225g fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced * 450g prawns, peeled and deveined or pieces of chicken, seasoned * To serve * 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice * salt to taste * 4 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander MethodPrep:35min  ?  Cook:30min  ?  Ready in:1hr5min  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir the ginger, lemongrass and curry paste in the oil for 1 minute. Slowly pour the chicken stock over the mixture, stirring continually. Stir in the fish sauce and brown sugar; simmer for 15 minutes. 2. Stir in the coconut milk and mushrooms; cook and stir until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the prawns; cook for 5 minutes or until pink and opaque. If using chicken fry this first after seasoning. 3. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice and salt; garnish with fresh coriander. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

After running aground in the last episode sailing through Southern Cuba, our luck doesn't really get any better this week. Cuba is not the place to have things fail as there is no way of getting anything here directly and importing spares is very difficult. We are lucky that we carry a good selection of spare parts with us, but we have a hydraulic failure, a water maker failure and a gas leak that we cant deal with without specific help and we also have our mainsail cars falling apart and needing some creative jury rigging. Added to this we are running very short of food and water. Cuba is a large country with a long coastline and we know that we cannot get provisions in most places here, in fact the last time we found anywhere at all to buy food was 3 weeks ago. We are catching fish though and the few locals we see barter for lobster so despite everything we are really enjoying our time here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

The Cuban coastguard doesn't have a boat. One sailor we spoke to here was told that if he wanted his boat pulled off the rocks they would have to hire a boat from Jamaica. So, this is not the place to find yourself hard aground! Added to that, we can 't get spares here. When we ran aground the hydraulics took that moment to blow a pipe so we have no bow thruster nor windlass to help. Two things that would have been handy to extract us from the bar we are firmly beached on. We try various ways of extracting ourselves, including kedging off, using our new electric eWincher. We really are on our own as we haven't seen another boat in a week. Cuba is an amazing place! Come here but come prepared. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Cuba is without doubt the friendliest and most fascinating place we've been in the Caribbean - but somewhat surprisingly, there are hardly any tourists here (and they could really use more!). Cruising here on a boat is not like other countries. Officially you can only stop and go ashore at the 6 government run 'Marin' marinas so visiting the cities is often best done by road. We've all seen the tourists pictures of old American classic cars from the 50s and 60's and you might think it's just a few cars being set up for pictures, but it's not. There are literally thousands of them. Yes the lines of pink Cadillacs in Old town Havana are there to try and attract the few passing tourists ($15 for an hour tour around Havana) but these cars appear in varying states of decay all over Cuba, most with random Russian parts to keep them going. There is limited information available about Cuba online and I have to say most of what we had read turned out not to be accurate. Food is a real problem here, there are no shops really. There are some markets in towns and in the cities where tourists might be there are restaurants with limited, not very good food. Everything is super cheap by our standards, but you will struggle to spend money because there's really not much to spend it on. Cuba will really surprise you in so many ways, we love it here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

We have been in the Cayman Islands longer than expected. It's a hard place to leave! But we were equally excited to be sailing to Cuba. Somewhere we have never been before. We couldn't leave without diving on the Kittiwake, an ex navy submarine rescue vessel which was scuttled by our patron, John, as an artificial reef. It's now a fabulous dive site and easily accessible. We took the kayak there and had the Blu3 with us so we could really get a good look. We had been waiting for good wind to get up to Cuba and we got it. Unfortunately the sea state was not nice which was a shame because we were looking forward to a relaxing sail. We really haven't had good sailing since the ABCs in October! Cuba is a pleasure to sail into though, everyone is helpful and friendly even the officials, who were a joy. It makes a real change not to have to deal with grumpy/obnoxious check in staff! We are currently in Cienfuegos, one of the 6 places you can check in here. So far we can thoroughly recommend it and we are looking forward to exploring this fabulous country. The Monster Moves film is called "Ship Sink" by Windfall films 2011. If you want to try the OutIn coffee maker we have a code https://outin.com/FAIRISLE. The code is FAIRISLE for 10% discount. Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FqdCSM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

On the list of jobs for this week was to properly test for stray currents. This can be a very serious problem which if you follow the Wynns you will be very much aware of. We have no corrosion that we can see, but we did have some haloing ( loss of paint around the through hulls) which can be a sign of this. So now we are back in the water Yacht Surveyor Dave comes over with his silver chloride half cell to test the whole boat. There was a long list of other jobs to do like change the membrane in the water-maker, but we also had some good days out exploring what Grand Cayman has to offer. It's an island unlike any other in the Caribbean! Check out Nigel Calders 'Boat how to' site here: https://boathowto.com/ Our mattress with the hinged middle comes from Boatique USA, they can make anything you want and we thoroughly recommend them: https://www.boatiqueusa.com/shop/mattress/custom-boat-mattress/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Last week we showed renovating the teak and holly sole of Fair Isle and there's been loads of questions about the process so we are releasing the complete video of the renovation that we made for Patrons as a technical video. This job is one of the most satisfying things you can do on an old boat. Teak and holly soles start to look shabby quite quickly when you live aboard, but most older boats have solid floors not the thin laminates you get these days, so a bit of work will have them looking as good as new. Now when I say 'a bit of work' you might want to take that with a pinch of salt! It's a messy and time consuming job there's no question, but the rewards are definitely worth it. I made things hard for myself here in that I was doing the job at anchor while living aboard. Obviously this would be an easier job to do staying off the boat. The fact we are at anchor in the Cayman Islands was a problem too as they operate on 110v here and out boat is 220v. This means I couldn't buy or rent equipment like a strong heat gun or a powerful vacuum cleaner to help with the job. The thing that did help a lot with this job though was the varnish which was a joy to put on. I've had many occasions before with varnish that takes an age to dry and be able to recoat or do the opposite and harded too quickly so you are left with brush or roller marks no matter what you do. I was using 'Gleam' varnish from Total Boat which is a tung oil varnish. In the conditions we had, about 85 degrees with fairly high humidity it just went on perfectly straight from the tin, no thinning. In cooler conditions thinning might be required, but I've never had a varnish that has gone on so easily and set so well with a perfect finish. So I have no hesitation in recommending it. In fact I've just found out it's compatible with Epifanes which I've been using on a lot of my outside teak, so I'm going to use Gleam instead when I recoat. I have a link which will give you a small discount so if you need some good varnish then go to the Total Boat site here: https://www.totalboat.com/?sca_ref=8021159.3ZVw2zUGnE

TINGGLY: To get 20% OFF all experience and hotel collections with Tinggly visit https://tinggly.com/sailing and use discount code: SAILING. The week started really badly with us running aground on the way to the yard and having to be pulled off with the tug. It then went from bad to worst being in a vastly overpriced yard without the materials we needed and not being allowed to work on the boat myself. Fortunately I took the decision to get the hell out of there and had a rethink about what jobs to do while Judy was away. As well as the antifoul we had ordered varnish from Total Boat so I got down to completely varnishing the sole while at anchor, not easy but very rewarding. It was nice to get off the boat when Judy got back though and the Stingrays here are amazing! We certainly would not recommend Harbour House yard, but there are quite a few things we do recommend from our experience this week... MATTRESS: We would thoroughly recommend getting a mattress from Boatique USA mattresses. They are a great US based family company and make excellent mattresses! email Fred at mailto:Boatiqueusa@aol.com They make all sorts of other furnishings too, have a look at their website: https://www.boatiqueusa.com/shop/mattress/custom-boat-mattress/ TOTAL BOAT: TB put all the supplies we needed on a pallet and shipped it to Nancy who got it on a boat to Grand Cayman, the system worked perfectly. I would very much recommend Gleam varnish as I found it really easy to use and it's provided an excellent finish. The link below will automatically give you a discount so make sure you use it... https://www.totalboat.com/?sca_ref=8021159.3ZVw2zUGnE FREIGHT FORWARDER: If you are cruising in the Caribbean or South America and you need something delivered from the US then you will need a freight forwarder and Nancy is the BEST! contact her here... Nancy Salazar ALPHA CARGO LOGISTICS, CORP. PH: 786-617-0589 E-Mail: nancy@alphacargo.net eWincher: There will be a full test video of the eWincher coming up when we've had enough experience using it. If you want to look it up you can find it here... https://theyachtrigger.com/pages/ewincher-1 TINGGLY: To get 20% OFF all experience and hotel collections with Tinggly visit tinggly.com/sailing and use discount code: SAILING. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Go to https://surfshark.com/fairisle for an extra 4 months of Surfshark at an unbeatable price! Panama is an amazing place to sail. The San Blas and the area around Bocas del Toro are excellent cruising areas and have a good live-aboard community. It's one of those places that people come for a week and stay for years. And that's probably the thing to do in this area as the cost of coming in and out is the highest of any country we've been to. This means that if you are cruisers like us, just passing through, it will hit your wallet hard! if you do stay long term, though, be prepared for relentless heat, a lot of rain and some wicked thunderstorms. It's not an easy place to live weather wise. But the wildlife is awesome. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Go to https://surfshark.com/fairisle for an extra 4 months Surfshark.. Sailing North in the Western Caribbean is a struggle, so will the Cayman Islands be worth the effort? GETTING THE THINGS YOU NEED WHEN YOU ARE AWAY FROM MAJOR CENTRES IN EUROPE OR THE US IS A MAJOR ISSUE FOR US CRUISERS, SO IF YOU ARE HEADING A BIT OFF GRID THE INFO BELOW IS IMPORTANT! Most of our materials for work we needed to do in the Cayman Island came from Total Boat. We met Megan who works for them at the Annapolis boat show. Similar to Precision Sails they don't try to sell things on a stand they just hang out, give information and are helpful! I like that!! Megan gave Judy a long sleeve Total boat top one morning when we were on the YT stand and it was unusually cold. It wasn't enough so she gave her another and she wore two! Coming from Europe I didn't know much about Total Boat, but I had heard of Jamestown distributors and Total Boat are an offshoot from them. Talking to other Sailing channel geeks at the show I learned Total Boat have some great products, Varnishes, bottom paints, all that sort of thing so thats where we sourced everything for our work here and we are very glad we did. At the moment Total Boat service the US but they are expanding into the Caribbean and over to Europe, I hope they do it quickly as we are heading that way! So check out Total Boat here: https://www.totalboat.com/?sca_ref=8021159.3ZVw2zUGnE If you are cruising in the Caribbean or South America and you need something delivered from the US then you will need a freight forwarder and Nancy is the BEST! contact her here... Nancy Salazar ALPHA CARGO LOGISTICS, CORP. PH: 786-617-0589 E-Mail: nancy@alphacargo.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Go to https://surfshark.com/fairisle for an extra 4 months Surfshark.. We always knew the 600nm passage from Panama to the Cayman Islands would be challenging but we didn't expect to get quite so beaten up! It's been a particularly bad year we are told. Endless rain squalls, bad weather over the States putting a lot of North in the wind making our trip a fearsome beat. And high seas from the continued bad weather across the Caribbean region. So in this episode we enjoy our last few days in Panama and then knuckle down for the trip North. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle