The weather has been doing a grand job trying to make the Brits on Wind Star feel at home. It was raining when I landed in Barbados on Sunday and was pouring down on and off while we were moored off Bequia. But two days on, the Caribbean is back to its hot and sunny best.
I expected mine to be the only English accent on the ship. In fact, there are loads of us. Well relatively speaking. There are actually only 69 passengers anyway, on a ship that holds 315 (15 are British passport holders and there are other Brits from other places around the world), so it feels a lot like the Marie Celeste, especially in the evenings.
On the first evening, the ship was deserted by the time I left the dining room just before 10pm. Things have picked up though. Last night, in the Compass Rose, my favourite bar (pictured), there were eight of us. A busy night for the barman!
Craig and Nicola, who together make up the band Rain and have been singing their socks off to an empty room, looked thrilled.
The upside of having so few passengers is that we are all loving having our own private yacht and the top service that comes with it. There are 188 crew. That's more than two for each passenger - a ratio the luxury lines can only dream of!
I'm even greeted by name as I get in and out of the tender and the barman remembered my cabin number before me.
For those not in the know, Wind Surf is a sailing ship, with five masts and seven big sails. They switch off the engines if there is enough wind - apparently they saved 30 tonnes of fuel on the transatlantic crossing a couple of weeks back by using wind power - but today, the third evening of my cruise, is the first time I have seen them billowing in the wind, and then only four sails are up.
Sadly there weren't any muscle men heaving and straining to hoist the canvas either, as everything is done at the push of a button.
Ah. The romance of technology.
Jane Archer
