Neil Thackray 1980 – 2017 R.I.P. It is with the most enormous sadness that I have to report the death of my very dear friend and shipmate Neil Thackray at 0800 on Christmas Day. A little more than a…

Jolly Harbour Boatyard, Antigua – 17°04.0442N 61°53.0244W The Plan At the end of our short cruise in 2016 we put Mina2 to bed in Antigua to over-summer there during the hurricane season. Tim comes out in mid-February 2017 to re-commission…

Hi Everybody Pet Officer Snoopy here, and I’m delighted to be the first to break the news that Skip and the DS’s one-time wayward daughter Selina gave birth to a baby boy named Sam at 0950 today, Sunday 26 July,…

When Pet Officer Snoopy isn’t out adventuring, he busies himself at home in his self-appointed capacity is Vice President of Global Communications for Mina2 Expeditions Inc. Just before I left to rejoin Mina2, he came into my office, gave me…

Date: 5 March 2015 Position: Long Bay, Virgin Gorda, BVI 18:29.906N 64:24.795W Having cleared into St Barts, and after a quick provisioning shop in the French supermarket for foie gras, confit of duck, numerous pates, salamis and cheeses, we immediately…

The DS had told me that when she arrived in Antigua she wanted to spend at least a couple of days winding down before the stress-inducing trauma of sailing with the reckless Upstairs Skipper in the mountainous seas and storm…

In my last blog I was showing off about all the fancy yachts in Antigua, but the one vessel that completely blew my mind was much, much smaller. I was down below, slaving away as usual, when I heard a…

Whilst I was working hard getting Mina2 ready for her Downstairs Skipper, I wasn’t short of distractions. When Mina2 was just a twinkle in my eye, I had always fondly imagined that my magnificent yacht would be at least one…

Most long-term cruisers are married couples. They arrive together to re-commission their boat, sharing the numerous tasks to get their craft ship-shape and Bristol fashion before setting off on their cruise together. Not so on Mina2. “I will join you…

We had just two more shortish passages before our final leg into Antigua. First stop was in the delightful little archipelago of islands at the bottom of Guadeloupe called Les Saintes. Once again we were in France. We went ashore…