I had an overnight stopover in New York on my way to Antigua so went to visit some friends in Conneticut. We went to a great resturant and they bought me a 2lb lobster which was very tasty. As you can see I was quite happy with the spread.

My sister in law and I went diving today which was great fun. Our first dive was on a wreck of the Pelinaion. See the video below for what the wreck looks like.

The Greek steamer, Pelinaion, was built in 1907 by Russell & Company, Port Glasgow, for Hill SS. Company, Ltd. and originally named Hill Glen. She was 385 feet in length, had a 49.9 foot beam, was powered by 384 n.p.h triple expansion engines and displaced 4,291 gross tons. In 1914, she was sold and re-named Doonholm. After serving with a number of British tramp owners, she was sold in 1927 to G.K. Ktistakis, Chios, Greece, and renamed K. Ktistakis. In 1939, she was re-named once again the Pelinaion.

On December 22, 1939, the ship sailed from Takiradi, West Africa, for Baltimore, Maryland, with a cargo of iron ore. On January 16,1939, under the command of Captain Janis Valikos, while heading for Bermuda to take on fuel, she was wrecked off David’s Head, Bermuda. Captain Valikos was apparently unaware that St. Davids Light was out due to the war, and he inaccurately calculated the position of his ship.

Today, the Pelinaion lies scattered in 65 feet of water. Her engine stands upright coming to within 10 feet of the surface, and her bow sits in only 20 feet of water. Mike Burke tells us of a tunnel like cave that starts on the reef, which allows divers to swim under the ship’s hull and end up in her stern. Divers can see her deck winches, propeller and anchor while exploring this magnificent shipwreck.

The second dive was a reef dive and we saw tarpen that were about 4-5 feet long, went through arches in the reef and saw a school of groupers.

Finally arrived in Bermuda and the dog and my nephew remember me despite it being 20 months 🙂 Happy Aunt Ash

I got to Lima late last night and have spent the day so far just replying to emails and organising the boat for Rolex and BVI regatta. In 12 days I will be arriving in Antigua and re learning how to race yachts ;-). First thing is to get a CSA rating for the boat then deliver it with Sean and Hannah to St Thomas via BVI to meet Barry and the rest of the team.

In the meantime I was able to catch up with Will and his family in Buenos Aires. Last time I sailed with him was 2007 in Newport RI on Yeoman XXXII it was great fun to see him and meet his wife and boy even if it was only briefly at the airport. Tomorrow in New York I have the day in the city before flying to Bermuda so will be catching up with another old friend there. I love having people all over the world to stop in an see – makes the layovers a lot less boring.

Have a good week.

I will write more about Peru at some point but for now I am leaving and headed south to Ushuia to get aboard the cruise ship headed for the Antarctic Peninsula. Will update when I can. Great holiday with my parents but I have also never been so wet! It sure does rain in Peru.

My computer spit the dummy and can no longer find the hard drive. Fingers crossed that someone in the UK can get the files off otherwise I have lost all my emails from 7 years, my accounting for my business, all documents and my pictures from south america. So time to buy a new computer. As a result my blog will be very infrequent between now and April.

Currently I am in Lake Tittaccacca Peru which is the highest lake in the world. Two days here then onto Colca Canyon and Arequipa. From the 14th I will be working aboard Corinthian II as an expedition leader for two round trips to the Antarctic Peninsula from Argentina.