Our Benetueau 42CC which has served us so well for over 10 years is now for sale.

Cala di Conca, Corsica This is an account of life aboard our yacht Blank Canvas as we cruise the Mediterranean. It covers who we are, how and why we do it (as if we knew!), choosing and buying a boat, the practicalities and lifestyle, details of our voyages as well as details from the ships log and an annual summary.

We have been live-aboards since 2003, the boat is our floating home and despite being older, we both feel fitter and healthier than when we left primevally due to the lifestyle. We winter in the marina of our choice (and affordability) then spend the summer cruising and anchoring in beautiful bays and off beaches. Our year is governed more by the seasons than the calendar year so this site is organised by winter and summer seasons.

We have made many friends and acquaintances of different nationalities on our travels. Some we keep in touch with on a regular basis, others less frequently, and some like ships passing in the night, but all are important and all have enriched us. There are significant communities of live-aboards and many semi-live-aboards that we have encountered on our travels.

Our website is organised by seasons as follows:

The site uses "popup" windows (windows in windows). If your browser has popups blocked you will not be able to see some of the information. Click on this link History of changes to check. You should see a new window, if not go to your browser options and uncheck "block popups". I use the following symbols to indicate the different types of information:



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Update History

History of design changes and enhancements:-
  • 2015 - Redesign for mobile. A complete new look with slide-right menu an slide left links. Quick links menu slides from right and click on photo for an enlargement.
  • 2014 - Eating out. Information about cafes and restaurants we like.
  • 2013 - Places visited by date (menu-log-places by date). You can use this to know wick journal page to look at for more information.
  • 2013 - List of places visited (menu-log-places visited). You can link directly to Google maps to view either a map or satellite picture.
  • 2013 - Jounal page Links to Google maps. Opens Google Maps at the location in the text.
  • 2010 - Lifestyle has become Living afloat to include reference information such as weather forecasting, sailing tips and a repository for other useless information.
  • 2010 - This pop-up!
  • 2010 - Printer friendly view Opens a new window with a printer friendly view.
  • 2010 - Galleries. Collections of pictures that can be viewed individually or run as a slide show using the control panel at the bottom of the screen.
  • New pictures added to the photo galleries, especially winters 2004/5, 2006/7 and 2007/8.
  • 2009 - Guides and charts.Guides provide additional information and pictures about places we have visited -- they are usually culled from tourist information and are highlighted in the text by Charts give a pictorial view of the routes we have taken and are identified by
  • 2009 - PDF Printable versions of some journals, guides and routes can be downloaded in PDF format for printing, they are identified by  . The number of pages and file size is also stated - NOTE: some of the files are large.