Crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a sailboat (part 2)

We had so much footage of our crossing and so many great moments, that we wanted to spread them out over two posts.  Our daily routines were often interrupted by dolphin sightings, swimming in the deep blue  water and catching fish.  

This was one of our more successful catches - an Atlantic Bonito.  Other boats in the ARC were much more skilled than us at fishing and some caught Mahi Mahi, Tuna.  Someone even caught a Blue Marlin!

After a few days at sea, the kids really began to embrace the experience and enjoyed the daily activities a lot.  Fishing, baking, doing watch, etc.  Watching the sunset was a favourite pastime and we were always pointed west, so the sunsets were right in front of us!

 

Being on a small sailboat in the middle of the ocean is a crazy experience.  Your world shrinks down to this small space where you can only take a few steps at a time.  Anytime we were on deck, outside the cockpit, we were strapped into the boat on "jacklines".

 

We had some very settled weather for a couple of days, and decided to go for a swim in the 5 kilometre

 deep water!  Stu had to go under the boat and scrape off some barnacles from the propeller anyways, so we thought it was the perfect time for everyone to join the Mid-Atlantic Swim Club!

The incredibly deep water was such a magical shade of blue!  James swam under the boat for some great video footage.  We didn't see any big fish during our swim, but it was definitely on our minds.

Our last few days were calm and peaceful with light winds and beautiful weather.  We were either hard-on-the-wind sailing or motor sailing for the last 48-72 hours.  

Dolphins came to visit us on multiple occasions, and we caught some great video of them riding our bow wake.

Our arrival in Saint Lucia was surreal.  There were so many other boats around and the smell of land was delightfully overwhelming.  Once we got into the marina, many of the other ARC sailors, who had arrived before us, honked their horns and cheered loudly for us.  It brought tears to our eyes.  What a welcome!

Now that our Atlantic crossing is behind us, we plan to take some time to rest, clean the boat and just generally enjoy exploring on land for a few days.  Our wonderful crew mates Amelia and James will say goodbye and fly home to Canada.  Thanks so much for all the help and warm company!  It was an amazing experience.