They’re here!!!

We couldn't have been more excited than we were on May 28th when the kids arrived... We were thrilled to be sharing our adventure with them and for them to see what their crazy parents were up to. As Doug and I traveled through the Abacos Islands the weeks leading up to their visit, it had been stormy, rainy and hot. And when we departed the Palm Cay Marina on New Providence bright and early the next morning, it was much of the same.

You may recall in a previous post, I had referred to the feeling of the perfect sail - a smooth up and down rocking motion, wind in your hair, sun on your face, yada yada. Those days are awesome! However, sailing is not always perfect. There are also what I call sporty days. The days where the ride is rough. Where there are abrupt ups and downs with an uncomfortable slamming as you crash down the backside of the wave. Well, we had one of those sporty days that quickly turned into an **oh, farthead!!** day. And... it just so happened to our first day with the kids.

So here we were in the lovely Palm Cay Marina. The kids had arrived the night before, Dustin from London; Kristina and Jordan from California. After coffee, breakfast and our last “real shower” for ten days, we walked the pups, stowed any loose items, topped of our water, fuel tanks, checked out of the marina and said our goodbyes. It was time to set sail. Doug gently pulled off the dock, Kristina and Jordan collected and stowed the lines while Dustin and I closed the hatches. (We left them up while fueling because it was so stifling hot.) I closed and locked the hatches in port hull. Dustin took care of the two in the salon and in the aft starboard stateroom. We met on the steps and proceeded through the starboard bathroom to the forward stateroom aka the garage aka Dustin’s stateroom. We both felt the boat jerk back and forth and then climb up. As the boat started to climb a wave, we held on the the sink and hand rail. Two seconds after the boat came slamming down the backside of the wave, an enormous wave of water came up over the bow crashing through the hatch above Dustin’s bed and flooded everything inside. It all happened so fast - from the time we left the dock to when we hit the open water. We both started to scramble fishing his backpack, sneakers, clothes, laptop, phone out of the ankle deep water and pitching his belongings onto the dry salon floor. Agh, farthead!! Not how I wanted to start our ten day Bahamas vacation with our kids.

All said and done, we can laugh about it now... and we learned a couple of things.

1). Always finish your departure checklist before pulling up the lines.

2). Before pushing off the dock, ensure all the hatches are closed no matter how hot it is.

I have to say Dustin took it in stride. We hung up his clothes and bedding to dry. His phone spent the week in rice. And the laptop... well, as he put it, “I needed a new one anyway”.

Not the the best way to start, but really, it could only get better right!?!

Cheers!!