Crew Christmas Party

22 Dec, St Maarten - As we will be on charter for Christmas we decided to have our crew Christmas party early. We started with cocktails and "secret" Santa presents aboard, before heading out for a great dinner at a local restaurant. Those with endless energy then proceeded to dance the night away at a local club. A fantastic time was had by all.

Atlantis

13 Dec, Atlantis Marina, Bahamas - Finally after weeks of hard work in the yard we are cruising again. Next stop, St Maarten in the Caribbean.

Big captain & Mini captain

Hockey

Nov 08, Florida Panthers - The boys had an awesome night out watching the Florida Panthers take on the New York rangers. A really cool game ended in overtime and then a penalty shoot-out which the Panthers won. Thanks to Hank for the fantastic tickets - cheers mate.

LtoR: Mike, Rob & Brad

Rodeo

3 Nov Davie, FL - Tired of the usual evenings entertainment in Fort Lauderdale, some of the crew from Lady Michelle and Namoh decided to do something different on Saturday night and headed to the Rodeo - yeehaw! Watching the bulls getting the better of the cowboys and forcing them to eat dirt really puts life into perspective:-) Anyway, it was a great fun evening, followed by a quick stop at the Round Up western night club to experience the true nature of the country lifestyle - two stepping and line dancing. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the night and all are keen to do it again.

L-R: Gavin & Casy (M/Y Namoh), Kimberley, Rob & Brad (M/Y Lady Michelle)

Tune Up

26 Oct 07 Bradford Marine - We are now moored at Bradford Marine, Fort Lauderdale where we will spend a month carrying out general maintenance and a few upgrades. We then plan to head south to St Maarten around early December in preparation for our Christmas charter.

January and early February will be spent in the St Maarten area before heading for the Panama Canal and Costa Rica (West coast). And then for the second half of March Lady Michelle will be visiting the Galapagos Islands!

Cover Girl Again

Thank You

25 Oct 07 - Fort Lauderdale
Well “Lady Michelle” has arrived back safely in Fort Lauderdale after a fantastic Atlantic crossing from Sanremo (Italy) via Cape Verde and St Maarten. The 5500 mile delivery took 20 days door to door, with no problems to speak of. And the weather was fantastic (thanks to Commanders Weather).

Considering that “Lady Michelle” hasn’t stopped since being offloaded from the dockship in Toulon on 1 July, the summer season has been a huge success. The calendar was packed with an owner’s cruise followed by back to back
charters, and culminating in the Monaco boat show. And 5 days after the show, we left for Florida. The yacht received high praises from all our charter clients and was a great hit at the Monaco Show.

During our entire summer and subsequent Atlantic crossing “Lady Michelle” never missed a beat and we had virtually no technical problems to speak of. This is a fantastic testament to her builders, owners, crew and support vendors – well done to all. A special thanks must go to all you fine folks who helped us make our first charter season so successful, and the crew for doing such a fantastic job and putting up with me during this hectic time. Everyone involved should be very proud of what has been accomplished, I know I am.

Atlantic Crossing

18 Oct 07 Fort Lauderdale
Our Atlantic crossing has been great with fair weather and comfortable seas. After taking fuel in Gibraltar we boogied on down to the Cape Verde Islands where we berthed in Mindelo on St Vincent. This was really just another fuel stop and an opportunity to pick up fresh food. The local supermarkets were a little disappointing though, or perhaps our expectations were too high after spending months provisioning in fantastic French and Italian markets.

Anyway we left Cape Verde and headed due west for St Maarten. This was our longest leg of the trip and we were blessed with awesome weather (no hurricanes either). However, no matter how great the weather you always look forward to arriving at your next port, and St Maarten was no exception. As always we were warmly welcomed by the locals quickly filled up with fuel once again. Unfortunately we had to depart the next day and headed north west on the final leg our voyage – to Florida. This was by far the best Caribbean-Florida passage that I have had in years with stunning weather and flat calm seas – awesome!

"Happy Hour"The "Super Veltskoen"

Gibraltar and Onwards

1 Oct 07 - Gibraltar
Well after a very successfull summer charter season we are finally on our way back to Florida. Lady Michelle is currently in Gibraltar taking on fuel and will be leaving in the next couple of hours for the Cape Verde Islands, followed by a quick fuel stop in St Maarten and then back to Fort Lauderdale.

Cruising Aeoli

We are currently cruising the Aeolian Islands (just nort of Sicily) with our final charter of the summer. This area is truely a fantastic place to cruise and is such a contrast to the South of Frace and Italian Rivera. The landscape is incredibly rugged as these islands were all once a series of volcanos. In fact, Stromboli is still an active volcano. And best of all, we have only seen 3 other megayachts since we have been here - a far cry from St Tropez.

Anchored off Filicudi. In some places we anchor in 30m of water but only about 15m from the rocks - very deep around here. Stromboli (below) is still an active volcano.

Boat International Article

Cover page and article in the latest Boat International USA edition.

Dockwalk Article

Article from the latest Dockwalk. "Lady Michelle's" bow on the cover (above). Click on the pic below to read the article.

Marine News Article

Extract from Marine News (July 2007)

Monaco Yacht Show

Lady Michelle will make her first public appearance at the Monaco Yacht Show from 19-22 September. We will be berthed at T09 (on the T-Jetty). Please feel free to stop by and say howdie if you are in the area - we always enjoy catching up with old mates.

More info on the show can be seen at:

www.monacoyachtshow.com

6 August - Portofino

What a beautiful morning! Last day of a fantastic charter, and where better to spend it than Portofino. Wish you were all here:-)

29 July - St Tropez

What a treat while anchored outside of St Tropez - fantastic!!!

25 July - Monaco

A sad day. Our trip has come to an end and everyone is heading home. It has been a fantastic three week whirlwind maiden cruise around the Med for "Lady Michelle", her owners, guests and crew, and we all look forward to the next exciting adventure.

24 July - Monaco

Today Michael (above) and Mike visited the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. Truly amazing. Who new that there was a full blown aquarium in the heart of this tiny city. Another "must see" to add to this list of places to visit in this area.

22 July - Portofino, Italy

Our favorite spot - Portofino. What's not to love? And actually, during our visit Michael, Gustavo and Mike go to do some diving around Portofino and we were all most impressed - we can definitely recommend giving it a try. And a big congratulations goes out to Michael for passing his exam and becoming a fully certified diver - WELL DONE OLD BOY.

20 July - Elba

Elba, another one of Napoleon's hangouts, is always a favorite stop while cruising up the coast of Corsica.

19 July - Bonnifacio, Corsica

Bonnifacio, on the SE tip of Corsica, is one of the most remarkable ports in the Mediterranean. So when we woke up to find us fogged in, it was almost like waking up in the age of Napoleon. Even young Cristofer seemed impressed.

15 July - Capri

Our guests and crew gave up the luxury of our fancy tender to brave a trip into the "Blue Grotto" aboard a fleet of rather small row boats today. In spite of having to sit on the floor of a tiny tippy boatd, everyone was amazed by the beauty of this famous landmark and most grateful for the opportunity to visit.

11 July - Palma de Mallorca

The whole crew were honoured to be invited to dinner with "Lady Michelle's" owners and guests tonight. We had a fantastic time in the old town of Palma, and enjoyed getting to know everyone better. Thank you for a wonderful evening.

7 July - Golfe de Leone

While cruising from St Tropez to Mallorca, we were privaledged to observe a family of whales for about a half hour - what an awsome experience.

5 July - Antibes

A fantastic day of watersports was enjoyed by all while anchored off Antibes. Michael gets 9 out of 10 for style for his high dive, while Mr C gets 10 out of 10 for his spectacular wipeout from the tube - sorry Michael.

Cruising the Med

"Lady Michelle" was successfully offloaded from the dockship on 1 July in Toulon, and welcomed her owners aboard in Cannes the following day. After visiting Monaco we are now docked in St Tropez and will be heading to Spain tomorrow.

On Her Way

Well "Lady Michelle" is finally on her way to Europe aboard the Dockwise transport ship "Super Servant 3", and will be arriving in Toulon on 30 June.