Sailing Yacht Florence Archive – Page 2

Sailing 480 miles offshore double handed from Fiji to Vanuatu. After enjoying a couple of months exploring Fiji it is time to find our sea legs again and head out for the ocean passage to Vanuatu. Continuing our voyage ever westward around the world. Join ...

Anchored beneath the eerie glow of a volcano, we make friends with the locals and Matt is taken by dugout canoe for a Kava drinking session. This is the record of one of the most amazing experiences we have had on our circumnavigation so far, the warmth an...

We say yes to being led into the jungle by some kids with machetes, and yes to attending a traditional dance performance, despite it being on a remote island a 24 hour sail away. We have learned to say yes to pretty much anything in the Pacific islands, it...

The sight of a Superyacht wrecked on a reef draws us in, as we climbed on board one of the crew told us the story of how it came to be there. Before that we are escorted by dolphins as we sail through the beautiful islands of Vanuatu, and invited to 5 wedd...

After being held up in Vanuatu by the earliest cyclone ever, we head off in less than optimum conditions to sail the ocean passage to New Caledonia. Along the way we swim with sharks and re-find our love of sailing on the open ocean. We are a British coup...

We escape from the city and explore the southern lagoon of New Caledonia's main island, enjoy some great sailing, stunning anchorages and find a master of disguise hiding in the reef. It is going to be sad to leave all these beautiful islands behind as we ...

This 6 day offshore passage from New Caledonia to Australia completed our 12000 mile journey across the south pacific, the worlds largest ocean. Despite ripping our mainsail and having to come up with an alternative sail plan, we finally reach Australia, t...

Experiencing engine failure twice and coming face to face with a wild Dingo on Fraser Island. The life of a cruising sailor can be very varied, having to fix an engine issue in the middle of a massive thunder and lightning storm is not our favourite occupa...

Florence plowed through a smack of jellyfish we entered Moreton bay but with poor weather forecast we went and hid in a marina. This allowed us to meet up with a couple who follow our channel and they very kindly lent us their car so we could make the most...

What does a live-aboard blue water cruiser look like? We have had lots of requests to see more of our yacht 'Florence', so come aboard and have a look around. We have lived aboard her for 3 years now, sailing double handed across 2 Oceans on our around the...

The weather gave us some challenges making our way down the coast of Australia towards Sydney. After spending a lot of time creeping through the inshore channels, heading out to sea was a bit of a shock to our systems, especially when we were caught in an ...

Sailing our own boat under the Sydney Harbour Bridge has been a bucket list item for us since we set off from England 2.5 years ago at the start of our circumnavigation. Having sailed across two oceans to get here it was a real highlight for us to finally ...

Sailing out to Lady Musgrave Island on the Great Barrier Reef was an exciting prospect, our first reef atoll visit since New Caledonia and our first glimpse of the famous Great Barrier Reef. A 55 mile overnight sail to the island brought us to a paradise f...

Chased by the threat of a possible cyclone we discover the beauty of Australia's east coast islands from Great Keppel to Middle Percy with some fantastic spinnaker sailing in between. The distances involved meant we had to be up early but got to see some b...

Can you sail around the world for less than $9000 per person per year? We get asked over and over about how much it costs us to live this life sailing full time around the world. Now, after sailing half way around the world from England to Australia over 3...

Forced to take shelter from storms in Mackay we take the opportunity to explore inland to Finch Hatton Gorge and hunt for duck billed platypus at Broken River. When paying for a marina berth we try to make the most of the facilities by doing all the jobs t...

What is it like to sail the Whitsundays? Before leaving to sail around the world we used to have a book on the best places to sail in the world. The Whitsundays were on the front cover, so we were pretty excited to be sailing our own boat through these bea...

We call out the Australian Coast Guard for the first time and get lifted out of the water to check Florence's bottom ready for sailing to Indonesia. The clock ticks away as we try to get all of our work done on Florence in under 72 hours to save an extra d...

Sailing up to Cape York, the remote northern tip of Australia, dodging reefs and shipping in the trade winds. We follow in Captain Cook's footsteps, stopping at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef. The hiking and reef snorkeling we found there was so g...

Hazardous nets and blindingly bright fishing fleets are just part of the challenge of sailing to Indonesia. Sailing at night is not recommended here but sometimes the distances involved leave us no choice. Following four days sailing offshore, the cultural...

We sail to a group of islands that have a history of turning sailors into millionaires. Overlooked by a steaming volcano, this is an island where money grew on trees. A successful return voyage to here from Europe would once have set someone up with enough...

We sail to Wakatobi to explore its world class reefs and meet with the Bajo people. These people are known as the nomads of the sea and now live in a stilt village over the reef near Hoga island. We also welcome on board some new crew for Florence. We are...

Sailing through reef strewn and poorly charted waters, we make our way to the Komodo National Park to get up close and personal with some Dragons, the largest lizards in the world. We got to see this amazing spectacle before they put the entry fee up from ...

We find the BEST TROPICAL REEF we have ever seen. Squid hunting around us, Manta Rays up close and personal, and a huge variety of vibrant coral. After seeing the Komodo Dragons in the last episode we dive over the side to see what the Komodo National Park...

We experience the extremes in Sumbawa, Indonesia. From swimming with the WORLDS LARGEST SHARK to competing in the BUFFALO RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Extreme sports are alive and well in Sumbawa, water buffalo racing is all the rage and we turned up to the...

We search for the quieter side of Bali. Escaping from the pushy hawkers out to scam the hordes of tourists, to find the quiet peace of the waterfalls and rice paddies in the north, or that was what we hoped anyway. With over 17000 islands in Indonesia it i...

Borneo shows us an whole new kind of boat life. Sailing into Borneo in search of orangutans, we spend the night dodging fishing boats and other hazards before taking an Indonesian live-aboard boat deeper into the jungle. Seeing orangutans in the wild was a...

Is Belitung the Seychelles of Indonesia? We sail from Borneo to Belitung and take some time to explore this Indonesian holiday destination. Dinghy sailing between beautiful beaches and boulders, climbing a 137 year old light house and witnessing Indonesian...

Torn sails and squalls are just some of the challenges we face as we sail back into the northern hemisphere for the first time in two and a half years. Boat life is not an easy life if you want to sail across the equator. Dealing with life at sea is far fr...

Dodging ships and fishing boats sailing through a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. Pirates on one side, fishing boats on the other and in the middle a ship superhighway that we need to cross without getting run down and sunk. Why do we do this? Wel...

We get hit by a HUGE thunder storm in the middle of the night and catch it on camera. In pitch black darkness and torrential rain we have to dodge through a fleet of fishing boats and avoid collisions with cargo ships. In this episode we show you what it i...

A rare marina stop for Florence means boat life in the city. Exploring the 2nd Largest City and the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. The diverse culture of Penang was an intriguing stop for us and we enjoyed exploring the city whilst also preparing Flo...

Sailing in search of a dream anchorage, back to nature in Langkawi, Malaysia. Narrowly avoiding colliding with a cruise ship in the Malacca Strait we make our way north through fish traps to the national parks of Langkawi. Exploring inland we discover a na...

This is a quick update on how the current situation is affecting us and our plans as we have had a lot of questions about it. We are a British couple who set off from England in 2016 to fulfil our dream of sailing around the world on our 37ft sail boat, F...

Filmed in early February before the global situation, see our FB and Instagram for our current status. Our mainsail is dead, it will not survive an other offshore ocean passage, we need a new one. We will take you to visit one of the largest sail lofts in...

Filmed in early February before the global situation, see our FB and Instagram for our current status. Sailing through Thailand's beautiful Islands, we explore caves, tunnels and manage to find some quiet anchorages in this notoriously busy holiday area. ...