This week we’re leaving Newport, destination Maine coast. Our autopilot isn’t working so we’re sailing our catamaran old school the entire way. First stop Hadley Harbor at the beginning of Cape Cod. Then on to Provincetown via the Cape Cod canal, where we explore this gem of a town and have our first encounter with gray seals, a favorite snack for the famed great white shark.

This week we continue exploring Nantucket Island, off the coast of Massachusetts, then sail our Seawind 1600 catamaran 60 nautical miles back to Rhode Island for some boat work in not the greatest of conditions. We visit Bartlett’s Farm, which has been on the island for over two hundred years, and grows boat loads of fruits and vegetables for the island’s residents. We loved chatting with Keegan about his family’s business.

We left the mooring in Jamestown planning to sail our Seawind 1600 catamaran 60 nautical miles to Nantucket. Little did we know Newport wasn’t quite ready to see us go. The fog blanketed the bay so densely we could barely see in front of the boat. So we turned around and gave it a go the next day.

After a few weeks of boat maintenance in Ft. Lauderdale we are embarking on a 1200 nautical mile passage from South Florida to Newport, Rhode Island on our Seawind 1600 catamaran. With the official start to hurricane season just one week away we are keeping a close eye on the weather.

Our time sailing in the Bahamas is coming to an end. We will have sailed just under 500 nautical miles in 19 days. The main purpose of the trip was a cruising test, not only for the vessel but for us. To discover if we are capable of harnessing the wind to travel to uninhabited islands, navigating to unknown destinations, understanding the weather and how to handle storms, making our own water, generating power mainly from the sun and living self-sufficiently.

We’re making our way north up the Bahamas island chain on our way back to Ft. Lauderdale. We stop in beautiful Shroud Cay, one of our favorite destinations yet, to paddle the crystal clear lazy river in search of Driftwood Beach, and visit Highbourne Cay on a quest for our final snorkeling spot in the Bahamas.

This week we’re taking the dinghy 12 nautical miles from Staniel Cay to Compass Cay to look for Rachel’s Bubble Bath and the Rocky Dundas caves. We plan to take the inside route in the calm protected waters but it’s going to be tricky navigating the shallow waters and sand bars.

This week we’re exploring the absolutely stunning Exumas Land + Sea Park sailing our Seawind 1600 Catamaran. We’re starting off at Cambridge Cay, also known as Little Bells Cay, a private island that welcomes visitors ashore.

Our sailing grounds this week on our Seawind 1600 catamaran are the beautiful waters between Bimini and the Exumas. From Gun Cay just south of Bimini to Chub Cay, then Chub to West Bay on New Providence Island, West Bay to Shroud Cay and Shroud to Cambridge Cay. It’s a great passage route for daysails to get down to a beautiful part of the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park.

After years of research, planning and hard work, the adventure is beginning! We’re leaving Ft. Lauderdale for the Bahamas. First stop, Bimini.

We were casting off the lines to head out for a day sail along the Fort Lauderdale coast on our Seawind 1600 catamaran. We also wanted to test the Gori folding propeller and understand the difference in performance between regular mode and overdrive mode.