Hi, it’s me. It’s been a while, I know. I’m not going to apologize. We’ve had a lot going on. Almost all incredibly amazing. I hope you’re doing well. Let’s get in to it.

So we made it to the Bahamas. It’s so interesting to think back over the last few months and consider how I would write this blog post if it were 3, 4 or 5 weeks ago. So many things that, at the time, we’re a Big Deal, but now just seem like another brick in the road. So let me pave that road for you rather quickly.

We departed at 11:45 p.m. from West Palm Beach for our crossing over the Gulf Stream to West End, Grand Bahama. We weren’t excited for a departure at that time of day but the weather window we had been watching all week kept getting smaller and smaller. So off we went. We’re glad we did. We had a very smooth, uneventful motor across the stream. We arrived around 9 a.m. and we were the third boat inside the harbor. Over the next 4 hours another 25+ boats arrived. It seems we weren’t the only ones waiting a week for that weather window to open up. The check in/immigration experience was fine. I won’t mention that it took 4 hours and the dog import documentation that cost us hundreds and hundreds of dollars and much time wasn’t even looked at. We were happy to be in the Bahamas. FINALLY!

We wasted no time (after wasting 4 hours checking in) in hitting the beach. The boys promptly put on their wetsuits and went snorkeling. They were in heaven. This is where it’s going to start getting a bit hard describing the things we’ve seen and done. Honestly, it’s one of the primary reasons I’ve yet to write a blog. I am not a good enough writer to describe the experiences we’ve had and the beauty we’ve seen. So I’ll focus on what I am good at, profanity, and just bash away on the keyboard.

We spent 2 nights at West End before undertaking another big passage in an attempt to go meet up with our dear friends aboard Noonsun. We departed around 10 a.m. for a 29 hour passage to Shroud Cay in the Exumas, with a brief stop in Nassau for refueling. While we were absolutely wrecked after this passage, having not fully recovered from our crossing to the Bahamas, we knew we had done the hard work and finally made it to some really lovely parts of the Bahamas. We could finally relax and try to recover. Except we didn’t do that. We kept pushing south with Noonsun, on a whirlwind tour of the Exumas.

I am NOT complaining. It was awesome. But think of this…we arrived to Shroud Cay at 4 p.m., got anchored, let poor Bo get to shore, went over to Noonsun to enjoy a delicious dinner of Stone Crab (which Melissa had spent a few hours preparing down below as I motored at 7.5 knots in 8’ deep water) before collapsing in to bed. The next morning we woke up and immediately went on an amazing drift snorkel with the Lawson family…only we hadn’t bothered to prep either of our boys. They hadn’t even really snorkeled before in anything other than knee deep water. This time? Yeah, nah, it wasn’t exactly easy for a 5 y/o who can’t yet swim and an 8 y/o who doesn’t fully understand the cautions one must take.

It had to be hilarious watching us, especially if you were a member of the Lawson family (Noonsun). There are the Hills in their tiny ass dinghy, with their small ass engine, struggling to get in to their new wetsuits, put on snorkeling gear that hadn’t been worn in 15+ years, while the boys had goggles already on, so fogged up that they couldn’t really see, speaking to us through the snorkels IN THEIR FUCKING MOUTHS (we’re still in the dinghy), while Mom and Dad engaged in some sort of wet, slippery, salty, neopreney jujitsu. Once we finally got it all sorted out, we were at the bottom of the drift snorkel and hadn’t yet made it in the water. FML. So we started the engine and motored our way back up to the cut to start again.

This time we just chucked the kids in to the water and, well, my god. It was spectacular. Yes the current was ripping at 3+ knots. Yes it was 25’ deep and we hadn’t bothered to brief the boys on what to expect or how it was going to go down. Yes that was a mistake. But, wow, the reef was ALIVE! The snorkeling was spectacular. The boys, especially Oliver, were just stunned. It was a good experience.

From there the pace quickened(!) before we were finally forced to stop at Lee Stocking Island for 4 days dues to a front with big winds. What was fantastic though was we were able to link up with my old college sailing teammate Karen (Renzulli) Fallon, her hubby Tim, and their 2 great boys. Not only that but we also had the pleasure of reconnecting with our friends aboard Passat as well. Much fun was had. Much body surfing was done. It was an incredibly memorable time.

After the blow we continued our push south, finally reaching the famous George Town and it’s dynamic and strong cruisers community. We were in AWE by the sheer amount of boats. One of the old biddies took the time to count the boats the week we were there (they do it weekly it seems…my god, can’t you find something more interesting to do?) and there were 287. Seems that’s about the average according to them as they have a 3 year rolling average. 🤷‍♂️ The first night we were there the anchor lights came on and it was like we were back in Toronto. Just stunning. What a great memory.

There is far too much to cover regarding George Town in this blog post. Most good, some not great. We’re glad we were there, we’ll probably be back, but it’s definitely not the place for us. Overall it was a positive experience with the highlight for the boys the continued sea life. At the Chat & Chill beach (a local bar that caters to the cruiser and is the nexus of the cruiser gatherings) there are a school(?) of sting rays that are regulars because of the prevalence of food scraps. The boys were in heaven and “played” with the rays for hours. Truly. They loved it.

Our arrival in George Town also marked the end of our journey with Noonsun. They were departing for Panama and had been our guide so far in the Exumas. We were incredibly sad to see them go but excited for their journey ahead. Plus we had some friends arriving just a few days later to help us with our upcoming passage to the BVI.

Before I go any further I must discuss one of the most difficult moments of our trip so far. Strike that. It was, hands down, the worst moment of the trip so far. Easily. Elliott (our 5 y/o) woke up screaming at 4 a.m. one morning and Melissa went to comfort him. I, too, woke up and came out to give him some snuggles. I then noticed Bo (our dog) wasn’t in his bed. Strange. I knew he wasn’t in our room, and he wasn’t in Elliott’s room, so I checked Oliver’s room. No Bo. Hmmm. He certainly couldn’t be in the cockpit, but we had failed to put our hatch board in, so it was possible. So I checked the cockpit. No Bo. Now I was getting worried. I checked the entire deck. No Bo. I went back below and checked places that a dog couldn’t fit in, at this point in a panic. No Bo. BO WAS NOT ON THE BOAT. There was no doubt. He wasn’t on the boat. Gone. He was gone.

The wind had been blowing a steady 25 with higher gusts all day and night. The tide had been outgoing. He could have fallen off the boat. The boat was jumping and swinging madly at anchor that night. He could have come up on deck to go pee (an extremely rare event) and fallen off. He could have jumped off. All we knew was he was gone. Pure panic…and dread. We hopped in the dinghy, now around 4:15 a.m. and grabbed our strong search light and started driving around the anchorage. Keep in mind I noted the 287 boats. This anchorage is MASSIVE. It goes on for multiple miles. It was windy AF. And dark. Our search light was worthless. We went toward shore and drove along the shore searching with the light, calling for Bo. No Bo. We went back to the boat in silence. Melissa insisted on driving around the anchorage some more, I elected not to because it was fruitless. Bo was gone. Sometime between when we went to bed at 9 and when we woke at 4, he left the boat. Melissa sobbed and sobbed.

I climbed back in to bed, numb, while Melissa put together a post on the George Town cruisers facebook page. Crazier things have happened right? Perhaps he climbed on to someone else’s boat? Perhaps he made it to shore (assuming the windward shore, over a mile away, as there was no way he swam upwind in 25 knots and on outgoing tide, right?)? We just wanted to get the word out as quickly as possible. And then we just sat there…devastated. Absolutely devastated. To say that the last 8 months aboard the boat with Bo was awesome would be a lie. Bo has struggled. We have struggled as well. We adore this dog. He is, hands down, the best dog we’ve ever had. The boys, most especially Oliver, love this dog too. He is, unequivocally, a member of the family. And now he was gone.

At first light we started the search again. Melissa, ever the optimistic one, had been scanning the dark shore with binoculars without any luck. No matter. We headed to shore, now with the light of dawn aiding our search. And sure enough, there he was. On the beach 0.25 miles upwind of our boat. He was just sitting there, still as a statue until he was sure it was us. And then he came running. Soaking wet, heart racing, a slight shiver. We couldn’t fucking believe it. He was alive! We found our dog.

This was the reckoning that we needed. Clearly Bo was not living his best life on this trip. His walks have been limited. Swimming is a challenge due to the salt water ingestion and his unwillingness to go pee on the boat. He is most definitely not a fan of the passages, especially while we’re heeled over or in any sort of rough seas. Our insistence on keeping him has been selfish. He loves us, clearly, and we love him. But we now had the clarity that we needed. Bo’s time with us will be coming to the end. I know many of you will judge this decision harshly. Those that know us well though know just how much of “dog people” we are. I do not wish to dwell on this any longer in this blog post. We love Bo, dearly. We will miss him enormously. We have arranged for Bo to join some of our closest friends back home in Toronto. They are dog people too. They have 4 wonderful children who will love Bo fiercely. We understand that bringing a dog in to your life is a lifetime commitment and under normal circumstances would never consider parting. But blowing one’s life up and moving aboard a boat is not normal circumstances.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

So about that trip to the BVI…it’s not happening. Our year of upheaval continues. When we set out to make this adventure happen we had some conversations about our beloved Atlas and if she was the right boat for us. The simple answer was “absolutely!” The more nuanced answer was “probably not, but we might not even like this new lifestyle. The boat is paid for, we know the boat. The family’s capabilities do not yet exceed our boat’s. Let’s just get off the fucking dock and see how the first year goes.” And that’s exactly what we’ve done. And it was absolutely the right decision. We have learned so much since we’ve left. Had we selected a boat prior to departure it would have been very different from the boat we would select today. The past few months have taught us though that we are not happy aboard a monohull. We crave comfort, stability and the storage space of a catamaran. The passages “offshore” that we have made with other cats since Annapolis has clearly demonstrated to us that there is a better way.

We’ve spent the past 5 months asking questions, reading articles, climbing aboard many types of catamarans, trying to figure out what the right boat for us would be. We kept coming back to the same boat, over and over again, a St. Francis 50. It helped that we spent 3 months cruising with one. The downside to selecting such a specialized boat though was that they are rare (only 27 built since 2005), owners tend to hang on to them for a long time and they rarely came on to the market, instead changing hands privately through word of mouth. We knew it would take some time and we’ve been prepared to wait. But we found one…and we’ve bought it. Except it’s in New Zealand. Seriously. Le sigh.

So Atlas is now for sale! http://www.svatlas.ca/atlas-is-for-sale/ We’ve decided continuing south with her, deeper in to the Hurricane Zone and trying to sell her during hurricane season was not a smart strategy for enhancing her value! So we will remain in the Bahamas for another month or 2. Our cruising permit here expires in early May and we’ll likely use all that time exploring this amazing place. The Bahamas have blown us away. We had no idea it would be this beautiful and we consider ourselves lucky that we’re getting this bonus time here. We expect that Atlas will sell quickly and we hope to be able to hand her over to her new owners soon.

So what’s next for us? Well, we’re going to head to New Zealand or Fiji to meet our new boat. And we’re going to continue our adventure from there. The last few months have been difficult. Sure we knew we wanted a different boat, but so many other things needed to be decided before we felt comfortable buying this boat. One of the hardest was “who are we? what are we?” Are we a family that wants to move fast or slow? Do we want to see the world or just be together on a boat, exploring slowly but cherishing that time together, no matter where we were? Do we want to do this for 1 more year? 3? 5? These are not easy questions to answer if you consider the implications. And we’re only 8 months in to our adventure. Our plan all along had been to make it to Grenada 1 year after we departed Toronto, spend hurricane season there, head back up north hitting the islands in the Caribbean we missed on the way down and then figure out our next moves. Instead we’ve moved our decision making process up by a year. It hasn’t been easy, but I think we’re not comfortable when our life is easy. Plus you only YOLO once, right?

I’ve left out huge chunks of our experiences over the last few weeks. I’ve glossed over some of the other stuff I’ve mentioned. It’s been an incredibly fun and challenging few months. The one thing I must highlight is the time with the family. The catalyst for doing this trip was, without a doubt, the desire to spend more time with my 2 boys (and my wife obviously!). It has EXCEEDED my expectations. It’s fucking awesome. And, truthfully, the expectations were pretty high. I don’t think one grenades their career and wonderful life ashore to set forth on an adventure that they expect to be mediocre. But if I had any doubts about doing this trip, they’ve been vanquished by the time with the boys. We have fallen in to a rhythm together and there’s now a trust that’s been established. Whereas in the first few months we kept having to tell the boys “when we get to X, it’s going to be awesome, just wait” they now know that adventure awaits just around the corner. Hearing Oliver say “I can’t believe this is my life, I want to live for a million years” makes my heart soar. I will write more about this later. I will also try to fill in the gaps that I’ve left out in this rather emotional and momentous post. Right now I’ve got more important things to do and it will start with snuggling the boys as they go to sleep and answering their questions about what life in New Zealand and the South Pacific will be like. And also, probably, why farts stink.