Marcus has wanted to sail to the Bahamas since we met. He would tell me stories about his friend Steffi and how they met in the 90’s in a sailing chat channel in irc and met a lot of great people and learned a ton about sailing. Marcus has spent years thinking about, dreaming about,and eventually starting to make pieces of this pie come together with the purchase of the sailboat. This year, 2025, the plan was to get “there”. The Bahamas. This is it! We are doing it! I can’t believe we are finally on the path to go. What a beautiful dream. So idyllic. So pure. So innocent.

For me, I enjoy being on the water. I enjoy the peace. The quiet. The wind. The smell of the ocean breeze. The taste of salt from a splash. I love the beauty of powering a boat with the wind, and the beauty of God’s creation in places that I don’t normally see. I love the sea life, the animals, plants, birds. I enjoy the people that we meet along the way, and I enjoy just being on the water. I enjoy taking photos and try to capture what we see along the way. No words, just pictures. Beauty, Awe, Wonder.

We’ve had a number of sailboats over the years since we met, and I think any boat owner could agree that you spend as much time, or more fixing things, as you do getting out and enjoying them. The bigger the boat, the more time and money get thrown into a massive hole that you can’t recover. It’s a good thing Marcus is a fiddler and enjoys working on boats. He likes problems. He likes fixing problems. He likes thinking about problems. He likes arguing with people about problems. If there isn’t a problem, he likes to create problems, so he has something to do. And thank God he is this way. If he wasn’t, we would not be able to have these kind of adventures at all.

Now I’m all for having adventures. I generally support Marcus in his various hobbies, but going to the Bahamas is not a small adventure. It’s an Adventure, with a capital A. There are risks. And we need to be fully prepared. I am a safety girl. I like to follow the rules. I like to make sure we do everything within our power to ensure safe passage and an enjoyable time. The rest is up to God. The wind, waves, tides, weather, and good fortune. Over the years, Marcus has been studying, researching, talking, watching videos, sailing other small boats, and learning everything about our Island Packet.

Vesper is our wonderful 26′ sailboat in Colorado, that was completely gutted and fully restored. That was a 2 year restoration project, that taught him so much about the inside of the boat and if anything is to go wrong, he generally knows how to fix it. On a boat, you need to be a woodworker, a plumber, an electrician, a fiberglass guy, a tailor, a refrigerator guy, an engine guy, and you need to know how to get shit done when the chips are down. Marcus is all of these things. Very knowledgeable and very competent.

For me, I support his crazy adventures. And I pray about them. I ask God for protection, and peace to know if we are on the right path, and to give us discernment to know whether what we are doing is something that God is with us, or maybe we should be doing something else.

And this is how our trip went:

• When we left, there was a small craft advisory, but we felt ok about the trip. We started noticing NO other boats were out. NONE. Except Sea Tow, waiting at the corner, who followed us as we past them, for a loooong time.
• Left West Palm, Main Halyard not attached. And it was too rough to attach it while we were out, so we had to go back in, attach it, and then leave. woopsie, minor oversight.
• Generator stopped working – but we fixed it last year!?!
• The dinghy is leaking, like 4″ of water in the bottom every time we put it in the water – but we just had it professionally repaired a week before we left. ugh. It will get re-fixed when we get back, but that doesn’t solve the problem right now.
• Fix the generator – Over the last 3 weeks, we have fixed: Oil pressure sender, water temp sender, 1 relay, 2nd relay, bleed the fuel line. It’s still shutting off. (still working on this problem) Marcus works full-time from the boat and this allows us to have StarLink. Not having the generator is a problem for us to be off dock without power for work, for making water, and for the other nice to haves.
• A part from the windlass flew into the water. Welp, hope that wasn’t too important?!?
• We both got the flu, low grade fevers, and just really miserable while in Key Biscayne.
• While fiddling with the dinghy, Marcus noticed that his watch was missing. His new, just paid off, Apple Dive Watch. Apparently got caught and flew in the water. I tried to dive in and maybe see if I could see it, but that tide was significant, and that was that.
• The dinghy motor fuel is leaking. wtf. I guess a gasket needs to be replaced. Well we can’t really use that if it’s pissing out fuel until we get it fixed.
• Today, 03/09, as we were rowing the flooded dinghy to the dock, the pintle on the oar broke to row out. I mean wow. I guess we can canoe paddle?!?

Today, I would like to take a moment and Thank God for the discernment and wisdom to see and understand the red lights on this journey and start heading back home. As much as we want to go out and have adventures, I want to have the peace of God with us wherever we go. And if that peace is not there, then for whatever reason, this is not the right path, right now.

And the truth is the journey is right here. Wherever we are is the journey. And we can enjoy each moment, every day, and be thankful for each beautiful moment and let go of “there”. We are “here”. Cue SpaceBalls, we’re at now, now.