Mermaids, Pirates and Poets (Caribbean Sail)

Seven nights on the Royal Clipper, a five-masted tall ship with 42 sails and the largest full-rigged sailing ship in the world. We sail round trip from Bridgetown, Barbados, and stop at a different island every day. On the way to Dominica she sails alongside her sister ship, Star Flyer.

Before we go, the group reads and watches together online from August 2027: one book a month, each tied to an island we visit, with film nights, a playlist and two video calls a month, just for the group. Caribbean novels, a pirate classic, a mermaid love story, and the films shot on these islands. The books we're planning around: The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey, Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid and Windward Heights by Maryse Condé.

The ship sails at night and anchors by morning. Each day has one story stop on shore, and the rest of the day is yours: a beach, a swim off the ship's marina platform, or a deck chair under the sails. Pigeon Island on St Lucia, next to the fishing village in Derek Walcott's Omeros. A rowing boat up Dominica's Indian River, where Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest filmed. Nelson's Dockyard on Antigua. Brimstone Hill Fortress on St Kitts. Fort Napoléon on the Îles des Saintes, above the waters of the 1782 battle.

I'm on board with you all week. The final days and the solo cabin prices go to the waiting list first.