About us

Giving the “Tour Guide” speech

I don’t just cook!!

Having retired early, I wanted to have some kind of adventure while Amanda and I were still young enough to enjoy it. In the early stages of planning, things didn’t go too well as Amanda was reluctant to leave the job she loved and had enjoyed for over 30 years. One day I asked her to use my car for work and when she came home I had sold her BMW. It didn’t go down too well, but I think she realised I was serious and she has (I think!) forgiven me now.

When we set off on this adventure in 2013, we had no intention of heading for the Caribbean. In fact, we had intended to sail around the UK and visit some of the places we had not yet been to. The day we left Fleetwood in Lancashire, it was windy, cold and dark and by the time we got to the end of the Lune Deep, the rain was coming sideways through the boat as is quite normal for April in the Irish Sea, so we decided to head for Wales instead of Ireland. We sailed through the night and I had frost on my sailing jacket as we rounded Holyhead!

We decided to head for somewhere familiar and set a course for Pwllheli in North Wales. The tide was out by the time we approached Pwllheli, so we had to wait for several hours, anchored in the spring sunshine off St Tudwals Islands Watching the seals playing in the surf. I think this was the point when we realised the adventure had truly begun.

From that point on, all plans were out of the window and we just made it up as we went along. So far, 16,500 nautical miles on, I think the meticulous planning of “What shall we do tomorrow” has worked out quite well!

A brief history of our life aboard “Carried Away”

We have lived on ‘Carried Away’ since we set sail on an Adventure in 2013. We sailed her from Fleetwood in Lancashire UK, all the way to the Caribbean. She has looked after us for over 16,500 nautical miles so far, and we have visited many lovely places on our adventure.

We have sailed:-

The Irish sea
Rounded ‘Lands End’ (in the dark)
Crossed the English Channel
Sailed the fabulous West Coast of France
Crossed the notorious ‘Bay of Biscay’
Sailed the Rias of Northern Spain
Stopped off along the Atlantic coast of Portugal
Visited the Atlantic Islands of Madeira and Porto Santo
Sailed to the Canary Islands, staying for over a year
Visited the Atlantic Islands of the Cape Verde chain
Crossed the Atlantic Ocean 2700 nautical miles to the Caribbean
Regular trips to the island of Guadeloupe
Sailed through The Bahamas during “Lockdown 2020”
Sailed 2100 nautical miles from Antigua to Chesapeake USA
Sailed from Chesapeake along the Intra Coastal Waterway to Florida
Cruised between Coconut Grove, Miami and Key Biscayne waiting for good weather to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bimini islands.
Cruised the many beautiful islands of the Bahamas, this time not on “Lockdown”
Sailed 4 days from Great Inagua, Bahamas to Puerto Real in PuertoRico
Anchored in the beautiful Spanish Virgin Islands of Vieques and Culebra
Cruised the fabulous USVI’s
St Martin
Return to Antigua

The countries we have visited on our adventure so far include:-

England
Wales
Scotland
Ireland
Isle of Man
France
Portugal
Spain
Canaries
Cabo Verde
Antigua
Guadeloupe
St Martin
St Thomas
St John
The Bahamas
USA (lived in Solomons Island, Maryland for 18 months)
Puerto Rico
Spanish Virgin Islands
USVI’s on our return trip

Amanda and I are both qualified Royal Yachting Association sailors and are members of ‘The Cruising Association’ in London. I also have a Boatmaster commercial accreditation.

We feel safe in each others hands and I am confident you will be safe with us.

Play Video about Antigua yacht charter

Sailing Across The Atlantic Ocean Had Its Moments! Luckily We Had Enough Oranges To Keep Us Going.

(click the play arrow to see the video)

Now though we prefer the calm warm waters of the Caribbean Sea

Even though we had a tough crossing, we all did our share of driving, however we told Amanda to keep looking forward, “Don’t Look Back”!!!!

You can follow our progress or see where in the World we are by clicking on this link to Garmin tracker

or Marine Traffic

http://www.antiguaislandparadise.com is the official web address of CA Atlantic Co.Ltd. (regd. no. C0539/2018 Antigua, West Indies)

Simon

Amanda

A brief history of our life aboard “Carried Away”