Day 4,647 - Antigua, Caribbean 19:01 hrs - February 19, 2020 What Are The Odds?

Separated by years, or even an entire hemisphere of ocean, chance reunions amongst cruisers are one of the pleasures of world sailing. Unexpectedly sharing a new waypoint with old friends or a brief and unlikely crossing of rhumblines with a familiar boat can occur in the most unlikely of locations, and often when you least expect it. Indeed, these shared experiences can seem so outrageously unlikely they can blur the line between reality and fiction - "No, it's not possible! that can't be..." They give us a glimpse, perhaps, of what our planet must look like from space, not a complex world separated by vast regions, religion, culture, belief or boundaries, but one home, shared by all, and connected by the sea.

We've had a few chance encounters on Dream Time over the years. Just last year, in fact, we met an old friend motoring into Croatia on the day he completed a world circumnavigation. Our last encounter with him was a year earlier and over six thousand nautical miles away in Kupang, Indonesia! Of all the countries in the Mediterranean, on all the days, not to mention the hundreds of anchorages, bays and islands that run Croatia's coastline from Dubrovnik to Zadar, we happened, by chance, to enter the very same anchorage at the exact time, where we were both stopping just for lunch.

We arrived in Falmouth Harbour last week, salty and shaken, after a lively sail from Guadeloupe in thirty-five knot rain squalls. After dropping the hook off Pigeon Beach and taking the dinghy ashore to clear customs in Nelson's Dockyard, we ran into some old friends - Eos, a 305 foot mega yacht that we last shared an anchorage in Sydney back in 2018. A Tusker Whisky support yacht for the Atlantic Rowing Challenge that berthed alongside Dream Time in Cape Verde, and Elena, a 180 foot beauty we met in the Canary Islands last year.

But the winner of the most unlikely What Are The Odds reunion must go to Jake and Marnie, a local couple we first met in Block Island over 46,000 nautical miles and twelve years ago. We were only three months into our world voyage, had sailed just 200 miles, and were still struggling to make sense of our new lifestyle when Jake and Marnie anchored their yacht, Avalanche, off our bow, a quick friendship was made and for a week they shared their sailing experience and a wealth of cruising knowledge: like how to get the best weather forecasts, monitor house batteries ("volts are king"), filet a fish, catch lobster ("do it like you mean it!"), boost a WiFi signal, monitor our fridge temperature cycle... it was the support we needed and we still use their advice today.

So what are the odds that after twelve years of world cruising, and just three months away from closing our world circuit in America, that our paths should cross in Antigua, particularly since Jake and Marnie are only here for one week (for a friend's wedding) and the very day we arrived Jake had spotted us strolling through the crowd, "But no, that can't be..."

That's why don't say, 'Goodbye', on Dream Time, it's always, 'We'll see you later!', as that seems far more likely. And as Jake and Marnie now live in Florida, just 109 nautical miles away from where we'll be berthed in three months, the odds are again happily in our favor.

Day 4,641 - Iles des Saintes, Caribbean 18:04 hrs - February 13, 2020 Well done France

So here we are now at Caribbean island number four, otherwise known as Iles des Saintes which is French.

Our first island - Saint Lucia, was granted independence from UK in 1979. Number two island - Martinique, is French and number three island - Dominica, gained independence from the UK in 1978, and tomorrow we'll be at island number five - Guadeloupe, again, French. Then after Guadeloupe we'll be going to island number six - Antigua, which gained it's independence from the UK in 1981.

So our island hopping from Saint Lucia to Antigua will have been skipping between former UK and French territories. And the thing that's just struck me is that while the UK has gradually relinquished control and given independence to their islands, France hasn't.

And It started me thinking about the other French territories we have been to over the years and how well they all seem to be doing. It makes sense to me that France wouldn't want to give up the five strategically important archipelagos of (our personal favorite) French Polynesia with its thousands of islands in the South Pacific, and the amazing New Caledonia 800 miles east of Australia is an obvious keeper, but why maintain financial responsibility for islands in the Caribbean? A Google question perhaps...

The one thing I do know that all the French territories that we have spent time in seem genuinely cared for by France both financially and culturally, including these Caribbean islands. France appears to have provided education, healthcare, roads, airports etc. and assorted government jobs to all their islands and It looks like it's been a real success. France has territories all over the world and has apparently not given up on any of it. I agree that independence is a good and important thing, but in this case, if France can keep everyone educated healthy and focused on the communities they continue to build to everyone's benefit, it has to be a good thing. So, well done France.

And as a side note, croissants and baguettes make everyone happy :)