On to Barbados

The reason the Royal Clipper was crossing the mighty Atlantic this trip was to get the ship to the Caribbean in time for the winter cruising season. Next year in late Spring she'll head the other way back to Europe for their tourist season. From the Portuguese island of Madeira, where we had visited the beautiful port town of Funchal, it was a ten day crossing to reach the island of Barbados. That's a long time at sea without a stop but the time passed quickly and one morning we woke to see land off to our right, or starboard, side. Life aboard ship for those ten days was a wonderful experience and I can honestly say we never once got bored or tired of looking out on the endless ocean. The whole way across we didn't see

Vessel Finder shows the trans-Atlantic
traffic flowing across the sea

another ship and perhaps more telling, I never once saw a jet or contrail overhead. I did see a lot of flying fish gliding over the waves but very few birds. There is a free site called Vessel Finder that allows you to track vessels around the globe so I know a couple of other vessels were ahead of, as well as behind, the Royal Clipper as we made our way across the wide Atlantic but all we saw were rolling waves. Other cruise lines routinely send their ships back and forth across the oceans based on the cruising season in different locales

but sailing across on a five-masted sailing ship under full sail was an amazing experience and to anyone who has the slightest interest in sailing or sailing ships I'd highly recommend this trip. 

The Barbados sunset rivaled
those we had seen at sea

Once reaching Barbados we opted to spend a couple of extra days sampling what Barbados has to offer. We had been to Barbados once before on a cruise but spent our excursion time in a submarine rather than on land so most of what we saw this trip was new for us. We stayed at Club Barbados which is a lovely resort that had apparently recently reopened after some much needed maintenance and modernization. While the facilities were very nice the staff, especially in the restaurant and front desk, seemed quite put out to actually serve their customers and based on that I would unfortunately not recommend it if you head to Barbados. The good news is that there are plenty of other resort options available on this beautiful West Indies island. By contrast, the attention and care of the officers and crew aboard the Royal Clipper gives luxury a whole new meaning so perhaps they had spoiled us.

Here's the video capturing our trip aboard the lovely lady. I'll forever fondly remember her dancing over the waves awash in canvas on a sun-dappled sea. And to Captain Sergey Utitsyn and all the crew, thank you, and may the winds always be from astern. 

The Officers and crew of the
Royal Clipper