We Made It!

For so long - more than the past six months we spent working full-time on Ginger, and maybe more than the two years we've owned her; how do you age a dream? - we have not dared to imagine in any detail what our new cruising life would be like, or what joys we might discover. We committed ourselves wholly to our dream, but it wasn't a particularly specific one. Friends and acquaintances asked, Where exactly are you going? How long will you be out? We shrugged and smiled or offered vague answers. Almost superstitiously - what if we never made it? - we avoided specific fantasies. I did not even buy a field guide to the birds of the West Indies, and Chris acquired snorkeling gear solely because our dear friend Scott gave it to us before his move to North Carolina. For several months before our departure, we didn't even want to talk about our trip, and friends and strangers' claims of jealously baffled us.

Now, at last, we are living our dream in vivid detail. We sail on clear, gorgeous, impossibly turquoise water, and we are full of ideas for where to go and what to do next. Already, in six happy Bahamian weeks, we have seen the tiny Bahama Woodstar, the frenetic Bananaquit, the Yellowtail Damselfish (the fish with stars on its sides), the Trumpetfish, the Donkey-dung Sea Cucumber, shallows full of pumping Upside-down Jellyfish, the green flash... we have sailed all night aimed at the Southern Cross, and sailed beside and through a Bahamian c-class regatta... we have enjoyed, many times, the simple pleasure of discovering what we have in common and what we can learn from other cruisers... At last, we are living our dream in the Bahamas.

Many of you are already familiar with the basic details: We left Marathon the evening of December 28; enjoyed an easy Gulf Stream crossing; arrived on the Great Bahama Bank at Orange Cay on December 30; dropped the hook and slept for five hours; spent the day sailing in circles in light NE wind (the direction we needed to travel); reached the Northwest Channel light the night of December 31; sailed the last 75 nautical miles to Nassau in one great fast romp thanks to a storm; marked the new year with a perfunctory kiss at the change of watch; and cleared customs and immigration at Nassau on the morning of January 1, 2002.

We then sailed 5 miles to Rose Island, where we dropped the hook and cowered below for three days waiting out a nasty cold front. We at last emerged and spent a few more days at Rose Island, reprovisioned and checked email in Nassau and sailed to Allen's Cay, one of the northernmost island groups in the Exumas. After that, we spent time at Compass Cay, Staniel Cay, and Little Farmers Cay. Now we're at Rose Island and will head back to the Exumas shortly.