Blimey!

And an apology.

It’s been a whole month since I officially boarded a plane and officially noted the end of the World ARC. I’m not entirely sure how this time has passed so quickly. Both the month that’s passed and the fact that we did it. We crossed our own starting wakes and in doing so completed the circumnavigation of the world in a sailboat.

I think I have to write that again.

Circumnavigated the world in a sailboat.

12 millionth of 1% of the world’s population do what we have just done.

And I think that may be in part why it is so hard for all of this to sink in and process.

Over the next weeks and months I am going to continue using this substack as a place to reflect, reminisce, document and in doing so hopefully digest all the insane and magical experiences and places we visited as we went around this world. One of the hardest things as we went along was getting the opportunity to let things sink in. We went from one crazy experience to another without being able to take the time to breathe or absorb the catalogue of encounters that unfolded.

I have tens of thousands of photographs to sort through and I am excited about being able to let them prompt and relive the memories as they flood back to me. Something that being at sea surprisingly doesn’t allow you - there is always a boat job or a problem to solve, a watch shift to do or sleep to try and catch up on.

The people, the places, the weird and wonderful food, the dramas and the connections, the locations I didn’t even dream of visiting before this ridiculous opportunity arose.

I hope you stay with me and enjoy the continued unfolding of the most remarkable 16 month stretch of my life to date.

I will also use this Substack to notate all my continued learning as I prepare to sail again, and the plans as they hatch to continue exploring this world, because one thing is for sure…home may be soul soothing and England is truly beautiful - especially when you have been away for so long, but the world is too magnificent not to keep seeking out its nooks and crannies and there are far too many lessons to still learn - which I’m pretty certain is what being alive is all about.

I do however, have to earn some money for a while before the creditors swoop in! There are friends to hug and family to revel in.

But more than anything else, I really do want to capture and notate all the experiences I was unable to jot down as we went, because I still feel like I have only scratched the surface of recounting this entire experience. Please leave a comment to let me know what you are most interested in hearing about too, I love to take instruction!

Please stay tuned for (in no particular order)….

• The extraordinary final sail back in to St Lucia and our World ARC farewells

• More boat related facts and nerdy insights

• The cast of characters from the World ARC

Stories from ….

• The Galapagos

• The Kingdom of Tonga

• Bora Bora and the Society Islands

• St Helena

• Namibia

• South Africa’s Wild Coast

• Safari (and how we were stampeded by a frisky bull elephant and nearly became empaled on a tree!)

• Brazil

• The Tuamotus…

Holy heck the list goes on.

• Oh, and how I ended up falling in love…..which really wasn’t part of the plan, but has proved to be one of the most astounding gifts taking on this adventure gave me :-)

I’m such a tease.

Please stay tuned :-)