“It feels like I belong here, like this is home” one of our gang aboard said the other day. Over the past three months, the crew have come to know the ship and each other well, increasingly becoming more than friends or coworkers as we all depend on each other and on the ship to […]
Category: Indian Ocean
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Preparing For Capetown
Cape Town is a massive stop for the Picton Castle. It is the longest port stay and this is for a number of reasons: First, South Africa is a really beautiful country with a lot to do and it’s huge; for the crew to be able to zip off and go on safari and travel […]
Location: 31° 58.5’S / 29° 19.7’E Ordered Course: Hove-to Day’s Run: 117 nautical miles Distance to Cape Town, South Africa: 677 nm Okay, so the charts indicate that it is South Africa, but I am not convinced. The shoreline matches the chart’s outline and we’ve definitely been riding into and out of the Agulhas Current. […]
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On the Way to Cape Town
Its muggy today on the Picton Castle, no burning sun scorching down but just a hot, sweaty stickiness that makes us feel like we are totally melting! We have nearly rounded the tip of Madagascar and the seas are lumpy and swelly. But conditions are good and we are making fine progress. The sky is […]
22.3° South / 53.4° East February third 2006 finds the Picton Castle sailing along in pleasant modest breezes with sunny skies, benign puffy clouds and not an apparent care in the world. All is lovely at sea today. Sails are being made up on the quarterdeck; a new jib is almost finished and a new […]
The time finally came yesterday for the Picton Castle to leave Reunion Island. The cyclone that had pestered us had blown itself out and gone safely over land, and the day was bright and gorgeous, a good day to leave. We fueled in the morning and finished our last-minute chores and it was time to […]
Reunion Island, Southwest Indian Ocean The Picton Castle is alongside a wharf in the artificial harbour of Port Ouest on the northwest end of this roundish French island of Reunion deep in the southwest Indian Ocean. It is now coming up thick in the cyclone season in the Indian Ocean. Being at Reunion we are […]
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Still in Reunion
A Severe tropical storm, called TS Boloetse, has formed between us and Madagascar. This storm is hanging just outside Reunion and off the Malagasy coast with high winds and high seas; the Captain has decided that we will wait for it to carry on by. The storm is dodging and weaving right in our way. […]
When the Picton Castle put into Reunion, I don’t think we realized where we were going. A small island in the Indian Ocean with more things to do than you can possibly imagine. The ship is alongside in Le Port, which is on the northwest corner of Reunion just west of Saint Denis, the island’s […]
Yesterday in the Picton Castle was one of those perfect days, on sea or on land. Except, of course, we weren’t on land. Nothing much going on except what you wanted to have going on. Joe opened Chibbley’s Café—very exciting. We had a enormous breakfast and then a late lunch and then our Sunday at […]