Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

6-12
Wow! What a day? We felt good about leaving for the Berry islands. We got ready to leave. The S Africans came by to pick up a bracelet they left on our boat. Lia came by to say goodbye as well. Kira made Owen a nice card for his birthday. We said our sad goodbyes and then went and got fuel and were off. The first couple hours were calm and nice. *I’ve have a headache all day.. really bad. I even took a nap but it didn’t help.
We realized we would get hit with a big storm about 2 hours from our destination. There was really nothing we could do but move forward. Cale even routed us out to sea since we got close to the cut we were going into and the weather was still so bad. We were going over 10 knots riding waves downwind. The lightening was all around us. It was pretty wild. We all gathered in our room and just waited. After awhile Cale went up and had the impression to see if anyone was in the anchorage that could help. Someone responded. It’s very unusual, but a small troller boat was at the entrance of the cut, had his radio on, and responded to let us know the cut was okay to get into. Without that knowledge we probably would have stayed out. We decided to cut in between a gap in the storm and anchor. We got in and there was another boat moving anchor. We felt like we got pretty good holding but it was such high winds I wasn’t sure. Cale took the dinghy and looked at it and felt okay but not great about it. He set an anchor alarm. Everything on the boat was in disarray and soaking wet. We straightened up and then had left over spaghetti from our get together last night. It was still rainy and we were watching the storms. Cale had been making water. Around 9:30, he went up to turn it off. I was watching the anchor alarm. It would go off and then bounce back. Cale sat down and within 5 minutes he jumped up and said “we are dragging.” We grabbed flashlights and ran out. He started the engines right away. We were dragging back at .5 knot. It was so scary. Cale just started driving forward. I started trying to pull up the anchor. There was a big grass chunk that I think just pulled up and that’s why we drug. The wind was blowing so hard the locker kept falling shut. Thankfully ,no fingers got smashed. The foil and paddle boards were blowing all over. We were watching out for the sunken boat behind us, it seemed so close as we went by. In a tender mercy, the boat next to us had a head sail unfurl and turned on their deck lights to fix it. It gave Cale a reference point that was desperately needed. We found a spot and dropped anchor, but the drama wasn’t over yet. There was so much tension on the chain we couldn’t get the bridle to stay on. Tough in 30 plus knot winds and the dark. We were finally able to do it. Cale kept the motors on for a long time. We have another anchor alarm set and are both watching navionics. Not sure how much sleep we will get tonight. The wind was the beginning of a huge storm that was on its way but seems to be moving more north and fizzling out. So thankful for the prayers that gave us all comfort during the scary experience and for the protection we received.

6-13 It was a long night. I stayed awake until around 12 just checking the anchor to make sure we didn’t drag. It made for a restless nights sleep. We all slept in. Cale had checked at 6, but there were storms so he decided not to get up early and try and go to Freeport. The kids slept in and we recovered, physically and emotionally, from our intense night. I’m so amazed by how all the kids stepped up and helped and we were able to get out of a very scary experience. I felt Heavenly Father just helping us along the way and I’m so grateful it worked out.
I was curious about the wreck. I found some info that it just sunk in January of this year. They hit and no one could come help until it was too late. It’s terrifying how close CAVU came to that. I kind of wanted to snorkel the wreck, but we also just wanted to get out of here. Cale dove the anchor just to make sure it wouldn’t be a problem getting up. We left around 12. Cole has been doing a bunch of stop motion. There was a ton of thunder we could hear but it stayed north of us quite a ways.
The ride up was uneventful. We motored because there was very little wind. We caught a fish and Kelsey got to reel it in. It was a cute little Bonita. Everyone is feeling the end in sight. We got anchored. There was good holding right on the anchor symbol out from the Beach Club. We took the dinghy to the mangroves. We first started up one that didn’t go all the way through. We eventually back tracked and went up the part of the river called Shark Creek. We didn’t see shark, but we saw so many turtles. We also saw sting rays and manta rays. It might have been the most beautiful mangrove river we have done. The mangroves formed a canopy and it got very narrow. We decided to not go all the way through and turned around. We ended up at a sandy beach. Sadly, we realized today a surf board, the skim board, and boogie board all either fell off or were stolen off the boat. We are all sad, but especially the boys. The beach today would have been a great skim boarding spot.
We swam and even swam out to a point in honor of Jared’s birthday. Hard to believe another year has passed.
We got back and had dinner and Cale and I both had the thought maybe we should head out overnight. We checked the weather. There was a small storm off Florida but looked like it was fizzling and no lightening so we decided to go for it. We left about 10:30. We will either go to Freeport or West End. Cale is taking the first shift. I will take one at 2 or 3.

There was a radio call saying a man was on the rocks on an entry laying at the bottom. He kept trying to get help. Finally someone went and checked on the guy. Thankfully he was just disheveled and was okay.

6-14 We left on the 13th at 10:30. Kira and Cade did the 11-1:30 shift. Then Cale did until 3:30. I did until 6:30, then Cole did about an hour. It was a smooth night. I was grateful. We ended up anchoring out at West End, Grand Bahamas. We are out from the beach. There isn’t anyone else anchored. We had lunch. Cale wasn’t feeling great. I took the boys on the dinghy to foil. It was so rough it made it tough. They would jump back on the board as soon as they fell. We were all on the lookout for sharks. We saw quite a few rays. The girls swam.
Around 4, Cale decided to go to shore and make sure we did immigration correctly. We all dinghied over. It’s a small, very nice anchorage. Cale found out we were cleared out. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for a guy to go pick up 2 stroke oil for the dinghy. We got an ice cream while we waited. We continuously checked the weather over and over. We had dinner and kept stewing over what to do. We could go into the abandoned marina, go into the actual marina or leave. A weather system was building off Florida. It just kept getting bigger but off the coast seemed to lessen, but if we went in we couldn’t get out to leave in the night or early morning. We decided to wait it out on anchor and try to leave. It’s very hard to know what to do. There is also a big system in the states working its ways south.

Kira and Cade took a shift at 10:30 and woke me up at 12. We cruised along for about 2 hours with the heads sail out. I was watching the storm from the se us closely and it just kept seeming to grow and grow. I finally went down to talk to Cale and he was up looking and said have you see this. We both came up and deliberated for 30 minutes. We finally turned around heading back to west end.
I went down and slept for about an hour. Around 4, I came up and there was tons of lightening. The bigger storm had passed but some other stuff had built up and was just north of us. Cale had decided to head south, south east hoping to avoid it. The lightening has been insane. It’s the most scared I’ve ever been. We’ve said a lot of prayers. We prayed together and next time we looked at the radar there was no more red in out path just blue- meaning the worst of it had moved north. The storm isn’t clear of us yet but I felt so overwhelmingly heard in that moment.
We turned slightly more west around 5:00. More build-up is coming. I’m praying it was dissipate or go north of us. We should be in wpb in about 8 hours. The sun comes up in an hour. Hopefully we can get a good gap and get there and re-set. This has been terrifying and exhausting. I’m taking an hour shift and then Cale will come out. We will be paying for this restless night for a while.

6-15
We made it. I stayed out until around 6 and Cole took over for awhile. The build up fizzled out around the same time we said the prayer and if you look at the radar it’s crazy because the big storm went up and then back down. There was lightening all over. We got to wpb at around 12:45pm, so it was a 15 hour sail with all the changing directions. It’s a relief and also sad to see American soil. I’m proud we have almost accomplished our goal but I’m sad it will be over. We will never be able to recreate what we did. It was so new, so pure, so perfect for our family. We came in through the busy channel. There was some but not tons of current. We got anchored and just took some deep breathes and rehashed what happened. In hindsight, other options would have been to not go at all or to stay on course and go through the storm. It would have probably been okay, but what we did was probably the safest thing we could have done.
I sent a text to Nomoya and Hold Fast 2 to let them know we made it. Hold Fast 2 were too far away, but we were so excited that coincidentally Nomoya was going to be in the very same anchorage about an hour after us. I can’t believe it. The kids were excited. They came over and we caught up. They have had several crazy adventures in the past couple weeks, so we swapped stories. A crazy bad sail with 50 knot winds. We will be able to stay together and work our way up although they have a short enough mast they can stay inside the intercoastal waterway.
The kids went over for a movie on their boat. Cale and I are both exhausted. Hopefully, we can sleep good. We will make 4 more 50 or so mile jumps to get to St. Augustine.

6-16
We got up and left around 6am. I came up from starting breakfast as we were coming out of the channel and there was a huge cruise ship rounding the corner. Cale was on the radio with the captain of the ship and a tender was out yelling at us to get out of the way. Cale had heard him on the radio, but didn’t realize how close he was. We backed up and tucked near a dock. He passed plenty close but not that much wake. It was a nice morning. There were lots of fishing boats out. We caught a lot of bonita but didn’t end up keeping them. I even got to reel one in. They fight super hard. I worked a lot on my videos and blog. We were able to sail for several hours. The gulf stream gave us a boost and we did about 7-8 knots most of the way. That’s a fast day for CAVU. It started to look a bit stormy and get gusts up to 24 knots, so we reefed and then eventually brought the sails down and motored in. Fort Pierce feels more small town, quaint. The area is beautiful. There was a nice beach as we came in. We got anchored and relaxed. Once Nomoya got here we went to shore and walked around. We set foot on American soil for the 1st time since our journey began. It felt pretty cool. I feel sad it’s coming to an end, but mostly just grateful that we did it. It’s been such a learning experience for all of us. I really want to use what I’ve learned from the experience and grow from it.
We got some oil and found a grocery store. It surprisingly felt a lot like grocery stores in the Carribean which was funny. The kids were excited to get ice cream. We found a Gelato place that was so-so and ended up being one of the more expensive treats we have gotten of the trip. We brought Anika and Clara back with us while they grabbed fuel. A storm was approaching. As we got to the boat it started picking up. The weirdest thing happened. The wind and current were fighting and all the sudden Nomoya spun and got so close to us. We were running around trying to decide what to do. Cale was getting in the dinghy. I got a fender. Then it bounced back and it was our turn to spin. It was wild. It felt like were spinning in a tilt o whirl…well maybe not quite that fast. The storm hit shortly after and we spun a few more times. Lots of rain and 30+ gusts. The thunder was loud and lightening got as close as .1 miles away. Too close for me. Grateful we were safely anchored.
Cole made chicken and we had salad. I’m trying to eat up as much food as possible. We are doing a good job.
The girls came over and played games. They are taking the ICW so we may end up on slightly different paths.
6-17 Cale got up and checked the weather several times. We finally decided to go for it around 6:30, which was much later then we hoped. We were on our way by 7. It was so peaceful leaving. Our schedule showed us getting there at 3. We were pretty worried because there were several storms building up. The first ones passed above us but the second wave came right over. We really readied the boat. We deflated the boards and stowed them away. It was not nearly as scary with it being day and being so close to shore. We did go below. At one point, we thought it had passed and all the sudden there was a huge lightening and thunder. It was so loud. It came out of nowhere. We were relieved when it passed and had 2 more hours until we arrived.
We arrived at the marina and Papa and Grandma were waiting for us. It was a bit surreal. We had to switch our fenders and lines last minute. We all pitched in and did a good job. We got secured and got off the boat. We saw Barry and Gail’s RV and they drove us to dinner. We came back and got a wild hair to dinghy out of the inlet to the beach to surf. We anchored the dinghy and had a good hour or so of surfing. The water was pretty murky, but it was fun. We saw dolphins in the inlet. We also saw manatee that were rolling all over each other. We think they were mating.
I’m feeling overwhelmed and and with our trip being over. Trying to process.