I live on the ocean! Okay that felt good, let’s do that again…. I live on the ocean! At about noon on Friday, November 24th, Starship’s bow pushed into salt water for the very first time. As if planned, the clouds decided to stay back on the rivers as the sun shown bright and warm. About fifteen minutes later, with Dylan and I on the bow, we spotted an incredible site! A dolphin! As soon as it saw us, it and its pod turned towards us and began riding our bow waves! Five dolphins were almost within hands reach as I screamed with excitement (my typical and predictable dolphin reaction!) and loved the fact that it was Dylan’s first time seeing them in the wild! It was a brief visit but a wonderful experience as we made our way to Turners Marina.

After eight weeks on the rivers, it is incredible to be here. Since leaving Chicago, we have gone through twenty-seven locks and our forty-year-old Yanmar engine has pushed us about 1,100 nautical miles. From Chicago to Mobile we ended up travelling through five states. It’s funny how so many times during those eight weeks I had wished we were done with the rivers but now, somehow, I miss them. I was tired of racing daylight to find safe anchorages for the night. I was done with the anxiety I felt when we passed or overcame numerous barges, some way too close for comfort. I could not wait to sail open waters again without the roar of the engine running. At the same time, it was an experience I will never forget. I think back to all the fun times and the not so fun times as we navigated those waters. I will always hold those eight weeks on the rivers as a very unique and special time in our life.

One of the days I had anticipated to be the hardest, ended up being no where near as challenging as I expected. It was the day that we needed to go against the current where the Mississippi River and the Ohio River meet.  I knew this part was where we would be fighting the biggest currents on the river system. What if our engine won’t be powerful enough? Our transmission system may need some work.  What if it decides this is the day to give us grief? To my relief and delight, the current was not as bad as we had expected. The lowest speed over ground was 3.5 knots which meant we were able to maintain headway the entire time. That Yanmar has proven itself time and time again to me, why do I not give it the credit it has earned? We had done multiple, consecutive 10-hour days on these rivers and our engine just continues to happily chug away. I am so thankful for that and it ended up being a pretty neat day in the end. Just as the sun started to set, us and our friend Brian on Wandering Winnie followed our friends, Maureen and Ryan on Surprise into a scenic anchorage for the night. Maureen and Ryan invited us to raft up to them. I took the helm to slowly navigate Starship nicely along their port side for tie up. It always feels so good when I trust myself enough to do things like that. I need to do that more often.

A few days later, our little flotilla of three pulled into what I felt was the most luxurious marina on the rivers. We made Green Turtle Bay Marina our home for three days and we actually had hot weather there! This place was so fantastic for so many reasons…first one being our slip assignment. About ten steps off the boat was the building with the laundry and showers! Just behind it and up the hill was the yacht club. When we checked in, we were all give a little welcome package that included a cute little green toy turtle that now lives on Starship. The package also included decent coupons for the yacht club restaurant. I was still fighting my cold but I felt well enough for us to enjoy a nice dinner out with Maureen, Ryan and their boys. There was also a terrific indoor swimming pool and sauna that we got to enjoy. It was around then that Maureen and I started alternating making dinner each night which worked so well for us all!

One of the nights we were there, us and Surprise went for a walk into the little town for ice cream. That was pretty wild as we stumbled upon the most incredible Christmas light display, both in town and at Patti’s Inn, I have ever seen! It felt like it was Christmas Eve as we enjoyed meandering through all the fun and beautiful lights.

Reluctantly leaving Turtle Bay Marina, we set off fully provisioned and nicely rested. What we didn’t have with us, unfortunately, was Surprise. We had parted ways with them while they awaited a delivery at Turtle Bay Marina. Us and Wandering Winnie continued on and our first anchorage was the very scenic Cane Landing. Boy we had to work for that anchorage though. Challenged with low depths, we had to test three anchorages before finding one that had enough water and was a safe distance out of the channel. It was stressful and I just loved the feeling of relief that set in once we were hooked as the sun was dropping fast at that point. A moment later I realized how pretty of a spot we had. It was a really nice evening after such a long day.

The next day we set out expecting the same anchoring challenges but fortunately that didn’t happen. We ended up anchored by Denson’s Island in 30 feet of water – almost too much depth this time! Anchored with us and Wandering Winnie was another Canadian sailboat called Outer Limits. They invited us aboard for drinks and we enjoyed getting to know Jeff and Barb. Our third anchorage, before finally reconnecting with Surprise, came after a rainy and cold travel day. Rako, Brian’s dog had a blast running around on the secluded island and returned to his boat covered in mud but happy! Securely anchored, that night we rode out a bit of a thunderstorm. The winds came up for awhile but knowing our anchor was well set, we had no reason to worry.

At this point in the trip I was so excited to see us getting closer and closer to our last state to travel through – Alabama! At Grand Harbour Marina we reconnected with Surprise and, totally by coincidence, were in the perfect spot for Remembrance Day (Veterans Day – US). Using the marina’s curtesy car, we all went to the National Military Park in Shiloh. We found ourselves standing on the grounds of one of the momentous battles of the Civil War. We began by taking a somber but peaceful walk through the massive graveyard. Too many of the headstones read ‘Unknown Soldier’. Continuing on our self guided tour, we saw that the park did an incredible job with the documentation of some of the battles that took place there. Many times there were plaques that gave specific details down to the time of day that soldiers had fought there. With numerous cannons still in position, you could feel the haunting effect of all that took place on that soil. It truly was a sombering experience on an important day of reflection.  It hopefully helped the younger generation we were with understand the sacrifices others have made for the life we now live for both Americans and Canadians.  Our remaining time at Grand Harbour Marina was spent doing other more ‘lighthearted’ things with the kids. One night the three boys caught and released a whopping total of 42 fish! Another night we all enjoyed watching the kids have a blast by simply rolling down a big, grassy hill over and over and over again!

Leaving Grand Harbour Marina, we got another several days of travel and locks under our belts. We loved the river stretch that took us to Columbus as we were treated to a bit of an airshow as a ton of military planes flew over that afternoon. Arriving at Columbus, Surprise and Wandering Winnie went to the marina and we decided to anchore close by instead. We were close enough to dingy into the marina so that arrangement worked out nicely. With Surprise, we treated ourselves to a unique (but messy) dining experience! We went to Breaux Bridge Restaurant where they bring your dinner to you in a bag as you put on a bib and plastic gloves. Doesn’t sound very desirable, does it? It was fantastic though! We ate our Louisiana style, savoury mess of shrimp, crayfish, crab legs, corn on the cob and potatoes right out of the bags with our hands!  The kids delighted themselves by putting crayfish heads on their fingers. Oh, boys will be boys!

Our travel day after Columbus took us to Fenche Creek. Again, following Surprise (their Grand Banks troller is much speedier than us sailboats!), us and Wandering Winnie began our anchoring process. Deciding to explore a little bit, Jas tried taking us a but further into a little channel. Our depth went from 25 feet to 13 feet to 3.5 feet in a heartbeat! With our draft of only 5 feet, we immediately felt our keel do a soft but firm push into the bottom stopping us dead. Yup, we quickly concluded that it was time to turn around and raft up to Surprise! This was the first time we were anchored in water that was warm enough for the kids to jump in together. They had a blast splashing around with the paddleboard as Maureen discovered that we were in an area that has fresh water alligators. We did not see any but decided there will be no more swimming for the boys for awhile!

The next morning had its challenges to say the least. All started out alright as we were the first ones to get underway just after sunrise. About ten minutes later Ryan radioed saying he couldn’t get his anchor up. We had been warned that this part of the river was bad for hooking underwater trees. We turned around to see what we could do to help. Unfortunately, in their initial attempt to raise the anchor Marueen injured her hand. She squished two fingers including her ring finger. Immediately swelling up, her ring would not come off. Quickly wrapping her hand in a bandage with lots of ice we split our focus between the anchor situation and making sure her finger situation didn’t escalate.

Us and Brian did everything to help Ryan raise that anchor. After many attempts to use our boats to pull the anchor line in various ways we concluded there was something huge holding it down. Jason, being a certified scuba diver, is always open to participate in one of his favourite hobbies so before we knew it he was pulling out all his gear. Once in the water (and me watching closely for alligators!) he discovered the anchor chain was in fact securely wrapped around a large log. He got it unwrapped and soon we were all cheering as Surprise’s anchor finally gave in and allowed itself to be brought back up on to the bow. Maureen’s fingers were still quite swollen but were not changing colour so continuing with ice therapy we started our travel day. You’d think that would’ve been enough excitement for one day but, nope! That day we had one lock to go through. All started as per normal with each of us on our own bollards. Wandering Winnie and Surprise on the port side with us on the starboard side. Dylan and I were up on the bow as the lock started draining water when we looked back and saw quite a sight! Wandering Winnie was listing really far over away from the wall! My brain immediately thought he was sinking before all of us (including the Lock Master) realized what was actually happening. The bollard malfunctioned and stopped dropping! That meant as the water continued to drop (at a decent speed) Brian’s boat did not drop. As the Lock Master yelled at him to quickly cut the line, the line broke and his boat came crashing down into the water. As it did, Dylan caught a glimpse of his keel which is never a good thing. Fortunately, there was no damage to the boat. Brian and his dog Rako were rattle but just fine. At that point we had all done so many locks that we were starting to get complacent. We’d secure our bollard and chill, chat, take pictures or drink our coffee as we dropped. This experience was a reminder to continue to be very vigilant as anything can happen in those locks. The idea of one malfunctioning never occurred to me. Yikes!

That day we arrived into Kingfisher Marina after nightfall. That is often a tricky thing to do and for some reason marina entrances are often not straightforward to identify. Jason, however, did a great job of helming us in. We were all quite relieved to get there after all the challenges of the day. It was Maureen’s night for dinner so they treated us all to a pizza and chicken wing party at the marina’s fantastic rooftop balcony. As always, we enjoyed relaxing together and this particular day gave us lots to reflect on. The next day Maureen’s wedding rings sadly had to be cut off. We are all happy that her fingers will be fine. As a result of what happened that day, I am writing this blog with bare fingers.

When it came time to leave Kingfisher, we had to leave Surprise behind as they had unfortunate mechanical issues. Brian continued with us but not for long. His engine died after the lock and he got towed back. This last stretch of the rivers is known for being tricky with long distances between anchorages and not many good anchoring options. We did well though and enjoyed meeting some new people. That first night, we invited Brigid and Wayne on their boat Penguin to raft up to us. We enjoyed sipping wine and beer on their boat as we got to know one another. Dylan baked us all delicious peanut butter cookies.

On November 20^th we delightfully went through our very last lock! This one was a bit tricky to wrap the bollard but once we did, all went smoothly. The next one down the road for us is a biggie, the Panama Canal. We don’t plan on doing that until about the spring of 2025. In total, from Chicago, we dropped about 630 feet towards sea level! Dylan expertly took the helm leaving this last lock.

We had planned on pushing off the rivers on November 23^rd but an unexpected train bridge changed that plan for us. It was a low bridge, very low, so we had to wait for a train to pass so that it can be opened to allow us, a barge and four other boats to pass through.  By the time we got through the bridge we saw that we would not be able to get to our marina in Mobile until after dark. That’s fine and that night we dropped our anchor at Big Briar anchorage before completing our journey on the rivers the following day.

We’ve done a lot since arriving at Turners here in Mobile on November 24^th. The most exciting part was getting our mast up. We then put on the jib sail and boom before Jas hoisted me up the mast to tune the rigging. Finally, we are a sailboat again! We are now awaiting the delivery of our mainsail which should be here by December 7^th. There are also two shrimp boats that come and go out of here regularly and they sell shrimp! We bought some the other day and it was delicious! 3.5 lbs of massive sized shrimp for $10! We are going to do it again before we leave. Dylan has also had some great success fishing with a new, fast friend, Adam. Using some of the live shrimp they caught sheepshead, red drum and black drum. Adam joined us on Starship that night as we cooked up a seafood feast using their catch and fresh shrimp. It was also the same day the mast went up so we popped open some champagne to celebrate!

We are keeping busy with boat projects, school, exercising and provisioning. To provision, we decided to rent a car. We booked the cheapest option and they ended up giving us a Dodge Challenger R/T for no extra cost! My guys were quite thrilled about that! We decided to treat ourselves to a day away from the boat and went to the Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. We are so glad we did as it was amazing! We spent more than two hours touring the battleship and we all loved it. We highly recommend that stop to anyone coming to Mobile! After that we went to Felix’s Fish Camp for dinner. It looked like a super casual spot from the outside but inside it was quite elegant! It was a wonderful pick! We had a table overlooking the water and had three fantastic servers waiting on us. The crab soup was to die for and we all loved everything we ordered. Dylan enjoyed the calamari so much he sent his compliments to the chef! Ha, ha, ha… That evening got better and better for Dylan as our next stop was Buc-ee’s as he was excited to check it out. That place is bonkers! It has 120 gas pumps and a convenience store the size of a Walmart! We ended that night with a drive over to Pensacola, Florida before returning to the boat.

It’s been a busy week here trying to get as much done as we can before we set off to cross the Gulf of Mexico. Our plan at the moment is to do our shakedown sail over to Pensacola before doing a three-day passage into Key West. Our friends on the sailboat Fika are here so it’s been great connecting with them again. We talked loosely last night about maybe buddy boating with them for a bit over to Florida so we will see if that shapes up. Brian, our friend travelling solo on his boat Wandering Winnie, successfully completed the rivers today. He arrived looking very tired but very happy with his accomplishment! Maureen, Ryan and the kids on Surprise are still working on resolving their mechanical issues but have managed to work in some overseas travel so they are having fun! We are all optimistic there is going to be a joyful reunion one day when we all get to the Bahamas!

During our time here we also solidified some other Bahamas plans. We are so excited to have our cousins, Kevin and Tessa and their adorable daughter, Lily come see us in the beginning of February for ten days. It will be so wonderful to spend time with family. When they leave, they are taking Dylan with them to Winnipeg so he can have a visit back home. He’s really looking forward to that. While Dylan is away, we are hosting our friends Dale and Jennifer on the boat. They are flying in from Montreal for some fun in the sun with us for two weeks. When they leave, Jason is heading back to Winnipeg for a couple days to scoop up Dylan and bring him back to the boat. February is going to be a very busy but very exciting month, that’s for sure!

Today is December 4th and I hope that this gets posted right away but it may take a few days. Our only internet is through our cell phone and we have run down the data to almost nothing at the moment. Our new plan doesn’t renew until December 9th. The marina here is supposed to have wifi but it is so weak that we can’t pick it up at all. Not sure I will have enough data to post this but I will give it a try.

So that pretty much brings us up to date on life on Starship! We are enjoying our time here but are very anxious to get out on to the water again, especially with Christmas sneaking up quickly. Our aim is to get nicely settled in at our anchorage in Key West before our oldest son, Alex arrives on December 23^rd. Boy, this already feels like such a different Christmas. It’s just so hard to get in the Christmas spirit with this warm weather. Not complaining though. We are so happy with how things are going and are thankful every day that we had the courage to do this trip!

Can the child in my heart rise above

Can I sail through the changing ocean tide

Can I handle the seasons of my life

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing

Cause I built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I’m getting older too

– the song Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

I remember the day this song brought me to tears at a time when I struggled to find the courage to move forward with the Big Trip. It was so hard to imagine quitting our jobs, selling our house, leaving all our loved ones…to face the challenges of doing this trip. “Can I sail through the changing ocean tide?”, “Can I handle the seasons of my life?”

I now know I can.