Quite an adventure to Santa Rosa Island

Wow... is all I can say. Chris and I are glad to be anchored here in Santa Rosa Island. The kids are fantastic and Family Circus is having a great time. Chris is baking a cake! It is Mykaela's 21st Birthday tomorrow. I can't believe it has been 21 years. There were a few times over the last two days that I had time to reflect...(between sleeping, being sick and taking watch...ugh) Mykaela is so amazing... I am so proud of the young women that she has become. She is thoughtful, strong, passionate, brave, responsible, funny, empathetic, and beautiful inside and out... There was a time when she was taking her watch at 2am and I looked up, from sleeping in the salon, to see her jamming with her headphones on, while the swells were higher than the bimini and the winds were 25 kts... but she was taking it like a champ and watching over all the instruments and sails that chris had gone over with her. BRAVE! Talk about learning on the job.

We began our trip on Thursday afternoon, leaving under the gate.. such a fun emotional time for us. Oma (Chris' mom and brother Mike and family were all waving us on from the left side of the bridge. It was so fun looking up on the cliffs and seeing them up there, Oma with her stand out white hair, blue jacket and red Swiss flag waving passionately in the air wishing us well. Then just down the way Mike and family jumping up and down waving... Also all the facebook well wishes were so fun to see as we were leaving. I truly felt that everyone was there with us. Thank you! Our trip started out under the gate with 25kts of wind and then as soon as we turned left the winds and swells were perfect. Not much later, as the evening progressed the winds picked up along with the sea state. It was still as predicted until Friday afternoon and evening. I am really glad that the kids were able to sleep through the night. Don't get me wrong we were never in danger and the boat did exactly as she was built to do but for me it was very nerve racking. I had been sick for most of the time.. not sure if it was anxiety/nerves or sea sickness. Either way I don't advise it for a weight loss plan. I think I was either sleeping or on watch for most of the trip down. The winds had picked up at night of course and at times reached 32 kts.. the swells were close to 7 - 10 feet which doesn't sound that big but they were close together and confused which is what made for the adventure ride. At times when I would look back the wave was higher than our bimini and was cresting... then we would be on top of the wave riding it down at a whopping 17kts. To add to the speed and the swells, there is a crashing sound that comes with a catamaran. It is the sound that sometimes comes up from the wave hitting the bottom of the boat and sounds like thunder under your boat and it makes the boat shake like Poseiden himself is under our boat hitting it with a fist. It really feels like the boat is going to crack in half.. I was having flash backs to the earthquake in Napa... same sound and feeling. Needless to say everything worked out. The kids were so amazing... Mykaela what a trooper, would go and sit up in captains chair to keep watch and never even flinch... the other kids just sat around the table and held on. They kept their spirits up, slept and ate when they needed to and just waited for a time when they could walk around without being thrown around. The winds and swells kept up for about 24 hours until we could duck behind the channel islands for a little rest. It was wonderful... the sun came out, the swells subsided, the wind went back down to 10 kts and we were sailing peacefully again. It literally felt like a dream. We played at Santa Rosa island in the Channel Islands for awhile. Everyone got to go snorkeling and too get off the boat for a little while. Kaela and I decided to sit and warm up in the sun. We decided to move the boat to the other side of the island for a little more protection from the winds again tonight... although when we got here it is blowing... AGAIN! We have an anchor out with twice the amount of chain and are holding nicely. The winds are suppose to reach 25 to 30kts and then die all the way to 5kts for tomorrow. It should be a much smoother sail tomorrow. We are now a little closer to the main land so that we can sail over to the Channel Islands Marina tomorrow and take Kaela to dinner for her birthday. It is beautiful and Chris and I are so glad that we got to experience all of the last 2 days. We have officially gone through more than we anticipate in our entire trip and all is fantastic and functional... boat, kids, Chris and myself :@) Looking forward to a good night sleep and a little reading finally. XOXO Heather

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