Ep. 3: Miami or Bust
We pick up in Episode 3 as we’re leaving our home marina in Kemah, Texas, for our jump off point-Galveston, Texas. It’s a 3ish hour sail/motor through the Galveston Bay. We’ve got a few extra crew members for that short jaunt, as a few of my friends from Dallas came in and surprised me with a short trip to say goodbye! I met Amanda (sunburnt and singing) through Chelsey and I met Chelsey through The Disney College Program back in 2011. Though i twas brief, it was great to see both of them and have them celebrate our leaving with us!
We had a final dinner with friends and then set off for Miami…or so we thought. The sailing world is almost as superstitious as the baseball world, and we did just about everything wrong. We left in between squalls, on a Friday, after offering Poison cheap rum, and with bananas on board. Had we not gone on to have the worst night in sailing history, I might not believe the superstitions, but IT. WAS. HORRIBLE. About an hour and a half in, I got sea sick and spent a few hours hanging off the back of the boat. (Super cute look for me-but it was documented so-here you go.) Eventually I started to get panicky as the it got dark, the wave height picked up, and you could see lightning all around us and was begrudgingly sent down below. I plopped on the first bed i saw (our dining room table made down into a bed for the passage), got back up to puke in the sink (the closest thing i could find that was the bed I was living in) and then laid back down to sit awake and wondering for the next 8ish hours while the boat was tossed around and the actual sailors on board tried to figure out what we were doing. I spent that entire time wedged into the corner but also braced for each time the boat pitched and everything went banging around in the cabin. I never felt like the boat was going to sink or that I wouldn’t survive the night, but I did feel the most uncomfortable and scared I’d ever been on a boat. I think my mom, dad and Joe would mimic those sentiments. There was also stuff EVERYWHERE. Nothing stayed put and it was a massive clean up effort after getting some sleep. **The red kind of circle/oval is me wedged in trying not to roll out of bed
We gave it one night in the slip and then tried again-with much better conditions. I still spent a majority of the time nauseous even with Dramamine and my seasickness bracelet. Thats fairly on par and what I expected for the passage. The big sailors do say that after 72 hours it will pass but I found that to be untrue for myself, sadly. While I did get through most of my night watches, I still spent a majority of the time laying down to avoid being sick.
UNTIL THERE WERE DOLPHINS. This was by far the most magical part of the trip and I still rewatch the videos of it. They are magnificent creatures and just loved playing in our wake.
Otherwise the days were relatively monotonous. Someone would be on officially on watch. The rest of us were either napping/ cooking/ reading a book or watching a movie (definitely not me)/ fishing. etc.
We hit a rough patch as we meandered into the Gulf Stream and were being tossed about again but were able to eventually make it to the Florida Keys where we could only stop for gas. We then managed a few hours of peaceful boating while through the keys and were able to see land. Then it became yet another night of awful wind, waves and bracing so you didn’t fly around the cabin.
We made it into Miami, Florida after 8 days at sea at 6:30am. It was rough ride. We all toasted that we were still alive and then went to sleep in our new marina that we would call home for the next 5 days!
If you haven’t yet seen this episode, watch it below and let me know what you think!
Cheers, Y’all!
Ashton