Furthest north - 59° 21' .9 N - Papa Westray, Orkney Islands, Scotland

Furthest south - 12° 36' .3 N - Chatham Bay, Union Island, St Vincent & the Grenadines

Furthest east - 001° 02' .1 W - Southsea Marina, Hampshire, England - HOME!

Furthest west - 064° 43' .8 W - Little Harbour, Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands

How we spent our nights...

In marinas: 73 nights Shock horror! We tell ourselves that we hardly ever use marinas, but the numbers tell a different story! 54 of these days in marinas were in the UK & Ireland, reflecting the fact that few sheltered free anchoring sites remain in England. It was also nice to be in marinas with hot showers during the early part of the year. Since crossing the Atlantic, we have spent only 2 nights in marinas - a trend we expect to continue.

On mooring buoys: 18 nights The majority of these nights were spent on moorings in marine parks in the Caribbean. Several areas are complete "no anchoring" zones, with moorings provided (sometimes free of charge) to allow ready access to coral reefs without the danger of damage by anchor chains.

At anchor: 218 nights Having purchased a 25kg (55lb) Delta in Scotland, we had the opportunity to witness it's holding capacity in 45 knot winds in Orkney. It was as solid as a rock. Given the damage Do It has received during storms in marinas, our absolute preference is to anchor whenever possible. The money saved also comes in very handy!

Sailing: 56 nights Again a slightly surprising number! Did we really spend 15% of this year night sailing? A little under half of the nights were spent crossing the Atlantic, the remainder being spread throughout the year.

Cruising budget breakdown

We started the year "cash rich" having just sold both out cars, however did not keep a record of what the money was spent on until one day when suddenly it was all gone. Following this wake up call, we bought a little notebook, and from 1July on, all cash purchases have been recorded in addition to the various Switch and credit card transactions.

Cruising costs

• Boat expenses - see breakdown below
• Communications - covers phone cards, mobile phone top-ups, postcards, stamps, internet access and SKYPE charges. We love keeping in touch, and the internet makes it all so much faster and cheaper.
• Food - the lockers are all well stocked, and we eat well on board. Our weekly food costs average out at significantly less than they did in the UK (helped by the good, cheap wine & beer!)
• Medical - quite a big chunk, and accounted for almost entirely by my annual medical insurance policy (sadly Angus is uninsurable). We have since been recommended a much cheaper policy for next year.
• Excursions etc - this is the "fun fund". Whilst counting the pennies, it is important to remember to have FUN. This covers our monthly meal ashore, ice creams, a few beers, visits to museums, excursions inland….
• National Insurance - yep, a whopping 10% goes towards ensuring some sort of UK pension when we return home. One of the unavoidable expenses.

Boat expenses

• Clearance charges - nothing in Europe, but an increasing cost in the Caribbean as you pay customs fees, harbour dues, marine park fees, cruising permit charges and paperwork fees when cruising between the 14 individual nations.
• Domestic - the principal expense in here is laundry! Yes we could hand wash everything on board, but we'd use a load of precious water, and I'm not a masochist!
• Maintenance - this is the cost of ongoing preventative maintenance. Do It is in a good condition, and we intend to keep her that way.
• Marina charges - hopefully now a thing of the past?
• New equipment - our Delta anchor and 100m of 10mm chain accounts for a large proportion of this. We are also still making a number of improvements as we go along.
• Repairs - Ouch! This is exclusively the cost of running over a lobster pot. Be warned - and fit a rope cutter to your prop today.
• Running costs - this covers the relatively small charges for water, petrol and diesel, and the substantially larger costs of yacht insurance. Sadly this is one cost which will only increase as we move further away from the UK.

Bouquets & Brickbats

Marinas

:-) Oban Yachts - friendly, efficient, clean, well organised, good services - the support they provided following our incident with the lobster pot was second to none.

:-( Poolbeg - the most expensive marina encountered though very friendly. Advertised as being in the heart of Dublin - but actually a very long walk out of town. Best not to describe the detritus the River Liffe deposited along our hull overnight.

Showers

:-) A bucket on the foredeck of Do It in bright sunshinein the middle of the Atlantic.

:-( Marina Quinta do Lorde in Madeira will be lovely when it is completed, but currently the showers are in dismally lit porta-cabins, streaked with rust and populated with many unique forms of mould.

Scenery

:-) Scotland - and no I'm not being biased! From our first day sailing up between Jura and Kintyre, we were captivated.

:-( Las Palmas, Gran Canaria - a dismal city in dismal surroundings. Or maybe we just caught it on a bad day?

Bar/restaurant

:-) Jambe de Bois, Pigeon Island, St Lucia - The bar which has everything - waterfront location, friendly staff, huge book swap library, wireless internet, friendly cats and a tasty, reasonably priced menu. Their banana crumble with chocolate ice cream is my nomination for "Taste of the Caribbean"!

:-( Bang, Soufriere, St Lucia - Great looking menu but over half of it was unavailable, barely warmed meals, plates launched at you by unsmiling waitresses - and then an undeclared 25% added to the menu prices to cover taxes and service!!

Anchorages

:-) Best snorkelling: Saba - crystal clear water, huge variety of fish, corals and sponges, topped off by a relaxed turtle.

:-) Best beach: 11 Mile Beach, Barbuda - true to its name, 11 miles of deserted, immaculate beach.

:-) Best hiking: Saba - good maps detailing numerous trails - all well maintained and clearly marked. Fabulous hiking through rainforest vegetation.

:-) Best social atmosphere: Cascais, Portugal - you needed to allow at least half an hour to make it from Do It to shore via numerous friends at anchor.

:-( Worst everything: Marigot Bay, St Lucia - windless, mosquito infested, surrounded by a construction site, crowded with charter yachts running their generators all evening… and shortly to be filled with moorings. If you want to see Marigot Bay, watch the original "Dr Dolittle" film.

Equipment

Breakages:

• Cruising chute halyard - chafed through 3 times, partly due to an old, stiff block.
• Gas solenoid - after only 18 months, the unit failed. Worryingly this failed in the open (unsafe) position. A letter to the manufacturer is on the "to do" list.
• Apellco GPS - this was "fried" by the nearby SSB antenna whilst the SSB was being fixed.
• Dripless shaft seal - this expensive carbon faced seal never lived up to it's claim of being "dripless". After three months of waiting for it to bed in, it was damaged by the lobster pot incident in May, giving us a good opportunity to replace it with a Volvo shaft seal (which is completely dripless).
• Solar panel - the flexible solar panel on the aft deck failed within a few months of setting off. It started to develop bubbles within the matrix - probably just due to old age.
• Sewing machine - my wonderful Sailrite sewing machine developed an inability to adjust the thread tension. The extremely helpful chap at Solent Sewing Machines provided much phone support before deciding to ship a replacement machine to us in Orkney.
• Battery monitor - after several weeks being worried that the batteries were performing below par, we established that they were fine, but the Adverc panel was showing incorrect voltages.

Gold star equipment:

• Aries wind vane self steering - 'Arry the Aries has made this trip possible. In anything above 5 knots of wind, he will hold a steady course and allow the on watch crew member attend to all the other watch activities - reading, plotting, cooking, washing, repairs…
• Delta anchor - at 25kg, we have bought an anchor two sizes larger than recommended. There is nothing like knowing there is a big anchor holding you secure.
• Henri Lloyd boots - cold weather sailing is becoming a bit of a distant memory, however the first four months of this cruise were hugely improved by my warm feet.
• Rutland/solar panel charging combo - the Rutland 913 starts producing electricity with only 8 knots of wind, and keeps going 24 hours a day. The 190 watts of solar panels boost our electricity generation during the day - with a maximum charge of 14 amps seen one windy bright day recently.
• Holding tank - given how much we swim at anchor, it is nice to know our sewage is contained in a holding tank. (Would be nice to think all boats used one…). The tank, custom made by Tektanks, fits and functions perfectly. It is such a work of art, we haven't even needed to box it in.