A glimpse into that final voyage - a free chapter

Care for a glimpse into Sailing to Purgatory, the story of the final voyage of this DoT professional yachtsman, and singlehanded Cape Horner?

The story tells what it is like to be out there in pleasant weather and in very grim storms. But the

story is not just about the elements. It is also tells the interesting characters met along the way.

My work area covered most of the oceans, and of course all of the really sizable seas, like the mighty globe-circling Southern Ocean which of course I knew well when I sailed round the world alone.

In this chapter - Chapter 9 - I have sailed into port on the gorgeous island of Margarita, in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Venezuela.

More naughty than nautical

If you visited the island without knowing its reputation, you could take it for perhaps the most gorgeous island in that large and often very difficult sea.

It's reputation certainly is much more to do with flesh, much more naughty than nautical. I expected that women from socialist Venezuela boosting the reputation would seem like country girls on a rare trip into the city, behaving, or misbehaving, as they imagine city girls might.

Surprisingly - surprisingly to me - there is little sign of young women acting out of character.

These women, who almost all seem to have the most perfect skin, seem naturally playful, in spite of the austere politics of their homeland.

Here we talk of electricians and plumbers and the like moonlighting for tax-free cash.

Amateur enthusiasm

The term seems to fit these Caribbean beauties better. They perform for tax free money, yet with the amateur enthusiasm of their gender around the world.

The chapter isn't just about that side of shore - or sure - life. In chapter 9, I visit a notoriously naughty nightclub. Brits familiar with our rip-offs will be amazed at the economy from the ticket office to the drinks, to the, well, the end of the evening.

It's not what you might expect. The young women do what they do because they like what they do - or certainly act most convincingly ….

Continues on the blogs for my ocean travel book, Sailing to Purgatory, at SailingToPurgatory.com