Happy Destiny: Back in the USA by Pete and Cindy

Arrived Charleston after a three day, two night 380 nm sail from Sale Cay in the Abacos. The weather window that was foreseen to be more favorable than any in recent memory never materialized so we waited out the north winds in remote Sale Cay for three days before getting our favorable winds. We buddied up with three other sail boats, left at 5:00AM and all made the very blustery trip in good time.

Wing on Wing Twin Foresails, riding the Gulfstream...full speed ahead!

All strapped in to pull up some sea water from overboard for cleaning off the dishes before they're washed. We actually used our harnesses this crossing. No one was allowed on deck without being hooked onto the jack line which runs the length of the boat.

First mate multi-tasking...pedicure at helm on my shift...Why not?

And the sunset again...and one more night before we saw land!

So...finally we entered the harbor and there we saw these REALLY STRANGE boats sailing around at about 35 mph. We'd never seen anything like them before! One almost hit our boat and scared the "caca" out of the Captain. Check it out!

That's the bridge in the background going across the top, but the rest is a sailboat!

Not having seen a Starbucks in several MONTHS, guess where we headed first?? Followed by a lovely lunch at Butcher & Bee where they served us these SINFULLY good "Donuts", smothered in blueberries and whipped creme...yum!

The next night, after a full recovery with real sleep, we all went to dinner at Charleston's #1 Rated Restaraunt (at least by TripAdvisor), 5 Loaves, to celebrate our successful (although quite "rocky") crossing.

Our new friends we crossed from the Bahamas with. "Water Music V" (Rob & Carol); "Spunky" (Alyse and John); "Angel of London" (Barbara & Tom)...
all lovely people

But the best was yet to come...

Next, we got ready to fly to Chicago to nanny beautiful Sophia while Chrissy attended Kathrin's wedding in downtown.

Arrived on time and Chrissy had us put up with connecting rooms at the Drake on Michigan Ave and the Lake. We really enjoyed our little treasure and marveled at how big and aware she is getting. Loved the loud humming noises she makes because she figured out she can and the thumping of her body with both arms...again, just because she can AND she gets so excited about it! (See my Facebook video)

Just hang in' out with Gigi and Opa

It didn't matter where we were...She stole the hearts of everyone around.

She LOVES her books, even after her long flight with jet lag,
she was reading in the breakfast room.

Chrissy is such an AMAZING Mom, not to mention a beautiful bridesmaid, who barely made it through the wedding without some cuddles with Sophia! So, we brought her by the church before the reception for some kisses to hold Mummy over! (And she was thinking of leaving her in London????)

And Opa does the most perfect duck noises that he kept her constantly entertained when they weren't both half-dazed! By this time she's just pretty comfy sitting on his lap. Best friends in 3 days! What fun we all had!

Back in Charleston. What a great city. Fabulous food, bread, coffee, NY pizza, history, marine activities, bike friendly and the climate seems ideal this time of year. So we stayed another week and can't wait to come back to see if it is really this nice. We haven't found one thing we DON'T like about it. So charming...