Here's Dakota Kate! She is 9 months old in this picture! She is in for a big surprise as are we! After a peaceful night we are up and off the anchor at 0430. We don't like to sail at night (especially when we are sailing over the only living reef in North America!) but we knew we had a long day ahead of us and wanted to be across the Gulf Stream and nestled into our first stop in the Bahamas by dark. We kept a close watch for freighters until sunrise as we were in the shipping lanes.

It never occurred to us that Dakota would get sea sick but sick she got! She was so violently ill we almost turned back but then I discovered if I held her in my lap and steadied her, especially her head, she was better. (Her surprise!) She did eventually get her sea legs and was never sick again.

We had trained her to go potty on the boat so I took her for her first walk around the gunnel and when she felt the boat pitching and rolling she refused to continue and she never went on the boat again! (Silly us - we trained her sailing the calm waters of Florida Bay!). It made for a couple of long days for her both going and coming but in between she had us trained well. Up each morning at 0600 for a dinghy ride into shore! (Our surprise!)

13 hours later after a beautiful beam reach in 15 knots of wind we anchored off Cat Cay (by the way cay is pronounced key in the Bahamas).