We Made it to the Abacos!!!

Here are some ways I considered beginning this entry ...

Well, we had quite the day ...

I love the colour of the water here, but would prefer not to see it running down the gunnels after a wave crashes over us ...

There is a saying that we use when trying to convince the girls to try something new: "Do one thing a day that scares you." Madeline brought smiles to our faces when she said "I don't think it says 'Do one thing all day that scares you.' "...

I am so proud of my family...

We had a tough day getting from Spanish Wells to the Abacos, but in the end arrived safe and sound, all smiling. We left the anchorage at Royal Island, near Spanish Wells, early. We knew we were in for a long day, we had 60 miles to cover. At 5 - 6 knots, you can do the math.
Just after 7am we were rounding the corner at the northwest end of Eleuthera, headed northbound across the part of our charts that says 'North Atlantic Ocean'. We knew the wind would be steady. What we didn't consider was that around 9:30 when we were no longer protected by Eleuthera from the south east wind, the waves kicked up a bit. We were in the company of 5 other boats, our friends on Hi-5 among them, so we knew we were not alone. This is reassuring not only so if you need help, it is close at hand, but also to know that we were not the only ones to decide to make this passage at this time. By 10, the waves had kicked up quite a bit, and Greg and I were glancing warily at each other wondering if this was really such a good idea.
At this point we decided to make a precautionary move and had everyone harness in. This means that the girls put a vest on under their lifejackets that we tie a rope to and attach them to the boat; our lifejackets have the harness built in. Now we were all physically attached to the boat, so no matter wht happened, nobody was going anywhere.
I heard the wave before I saw it, and when I spun my head around, all I could see was the last bit of spray followed by the surprised looks on everyone's faces as the salt water dripped off them. Inevitably, in these seas, there will be the odd wave that hits you the wrong way and those in the cockpit get a little wet. Now Greg posed the question 'Well, do we want to keep going?' We were 3 hours into our 9 hour day. Turning back would still mean 3 more hours of sailing, and all of it back into the wind which usually is more punishing than sailing with the wind as we had been. Jessica was the brave one who shakily said 'I want to keep going'. We all agreed and soldiered on.
For the next 2 hours the fierce ocean continued to batter the weary sailors .... Ok, ok, the Lake Ontario sailors that we are thought it a bit rough for our taste, but no one was ever in any danger. We all sat in the cockpit for the day, enjoying the colour of the 4000 meters of sea below us, looking at the lines of seaweed that told us there were likely Mahi below us, and keeping clear of the few freighters that were in the shipping channel that we crossed.
On the radio, we got a call from Hi-5 inviting us to join them for a fresh fish dinner that night. They had managed to reel in a beautiful Mahi and wanted to share with us. Fishing!! Seriously, in this weather you're fishing! Then we remembered that sailing on a catamaran offers the definite advantage of comfortable sailing under many sea conditions.
Admittedly, the second wave that hit us was a big one. At the helm Greg looked up to see a wall of water heading for him, saw the girls red life jackets briefly disappear behind the gray spray of water and then had to move his feet off the cockpit drains to let the water out.
By 1pm, things had begun to calm down. The waves weren't much smaller, they were just going in all the same direction. Any sailors out there can appreciate the delight of sailing out of 'confused seas' into waters that have one direction of wave train. If you're not a sailor, it's like driving off a gravel pot-holed country road onto a nicely paved section. In both cases, you often exhale with an audible sigh of relief.
Close to two o'clock, we spotted the edge of Great Abaco Island on the horizon "Land Ho!" For the next hour and a half, we motor sailed along the coast. The wind continued to subside, at times not even blowing enough to fill our sails.
The entry through the cut from the ocean to the bank of the Sea of Abacos was a bit nerve-wracking too. The deep water part of the cut is framed by reefs just under the surface. With our east wind, the water was crashing over these reefs in huge rolling waves either side of our safe path. With a bit of sail out to help steady us along, we easily navigated through and once inside truly enjoyed the nice flat water of the protected bank. It only took us about 15 minutes to get to the anchorage where all the other boats who had made the passage had put down the hook. We took some time to put our boat back together. The cabin below had taken quite a beating too ... contents of closets had slid onto the floor, some cabinets had opened strewing their contents everywhere, and stuff that had been stashed in any available safe spot had to be put back. Once tidied, we happily dinghied to Hi-5 to share in their Mahi dinner, and recount the days' events. We all turned in early that night and slept soundly!

As I said at the beginning, I am so proud of all of us. We knew we were safe, that was never in question, and we tried something out of our comfort zone. The girls sat patiently in the cockpit with us for what must have seemed like an eternity to them. We all arrived smiling and laughing about the days events. We now have the beautiful Abacos before us to explore and enjoy.