by Laura Koerner
The Short Version
We are back “home” in Elizabeth City after taking the boat south for the winter
A quick overview of our travels: Aaron and Captain Dan left Elizabeth City and took two weeks via the Intracoastal Waterway to get to Charleston, SC where they waited out a snow storm. From there they did 36 hours in the open ocean, leaving out the Charleston inlet and arriving in Jacksonville, FL. In Jacksonville the kids and I took the place of Captain Dan. The family then took the boat all the way to Fort Lauderdale, FL via the ICW before crossing the Gulf Stream and landing in West End, Bahamas. We traveled through the Abaco chain of islands in the Bahamas, island hoping till we landed in Green Turtle Cay where we spent several weeks before making the long trek back to Florida and back north to Elizabeth City. We stopped at countless towns and anchorages along the way. Only spending a handful of nights at marinas, we lived most of our time “on the hook,” anchored right outside a town or island, using our dinghy boat to get from our anchored spots to land.
After spending almost 5 months on the water we have arrived back feeling very full and a great sense of accomplishment at a successful season out on the boat. We left feeling like we were still in a season of training and upon arriving back, that definitely feels like the main reason for going out. We continue to trust God for the point of all this training.
When asked, “how was the trip” I like to say “It was good, but that doesn’t mean it was fun or easy” usually followed by a statements like, “it was lots of personal refinement and stretching” It was good for us, but not always in an enjoyable way. It felt like a true “adventure” lots of highs and lows, with a great sense of accomplishment in the end.
Aaron and I both agree that the journey had a strong theme of learning to trust God for our personal safety and his ability to fill the gaps between our incompetencies and the challenges we faced.
Selah sailing through the Bahama Banks.
The Long version
“So how was the trip?” A woman from our church in Elizabeth City asked me in the church’s fellowship hall as we cleaned up from a potluck lunch. “Umm…” I hesitated. My mind a jumble of words and thoughts, unsure which ones should come out first.
My mind like a rolodex, spinning through memories and feelings. Many of them in contradiction to each other. There is a great sense of accomplishment and a personal pride I’ve never felt before. And yet I can still feel the fear that seemed to constantly threaten us, like a little devil sitting on my shoulder, especially at night in the dark as the boat swayed and you were tempted to peek out the window and make sure you were just feeling the effects of the wind and not feeling the boat being swept away by the current. The resounding theme of the trip was trusting God. Trusting him with our personal safety and even harder trusting him with our kids’ safety. Floating on an old boat in the Atlantic 700+ feet above the sea floor without a soul in sight, you find yourself realizing the modern American life is very sheltered from the reality of our human fragility. I picture our daughter snorkeling next to a wild sea turtle, her head pops out of the water “Oh my gosh Mom! He was so cute and so close I could have touched him!” The beauty of clear blue water paired with canned meat for dinner. Making so many new friends and connections and yet struggling with feelings of loneliness and isolation.
The woman stares back at me from the fellowship hall sink, a spoon coated in crusty macaroni and cheese in her hand. My mind still a jumble, self conscious of my long pause. “Yeah, I mean it was good,” I say, “but not like in a fun easy way…it was good for us, but didn’t always feel good…It was more like off grid camping than a tropical vacation… lot of personally stretching and refining moments…but so beautiful too…”
What words do I say to sum up what feels like a life changing experience. The pictures don’t tell the whole story but words feel inadequate too. I don’t like to share the pictures because I’m afraid people will get the wrong impression. They make it all look too nice, too “instagram worthy.” They only tell half of the story.
Trouble with our steering cables early on revealed more rotten wood aboard. It was behind the shower wall of the only room we didn’t gut during renovations, the rear bathroom. We found ourselves anchored out front of beautiful downtown St. Augustine, FL ripping out the shower wall to fix the steering cable wheel block mount, rendering the shower unusable for the rest of the trip.
Four weeks into our trip, we realized that our inflatable dinghy boat we had brought with us was failing. Six patch jobs later she was still leaking out air and water in. I found myself crying on the downtown docks of West Palm Beach Florida, I was without Aaron and now I couldn’t get the motor to start either.
Upon crossing the Gulf Stream, we lost the nut at the end of our drive shaft that holds the propeller on. It wasn’t until we landed in the Bahamas in the dark and put the boat in reverse to anchor that we discovered this (fun fact, propellers only come off in reverse.) The sound of our propeller spinning itself off the shaft and grinding against the rudder greeted us our first night aboard Selah in a foreign country. A definite low point in the journey.
But God!
He seemed to be running along side us. Like we were a kid learning to ride a bike, and he was the dad, uprighting the handles bars as we swerved toward the ground.
After the propeller fell off. We awoke the next morning to find it had caught and perfectly balanced its 70 pound self on a 4 inch piece of fiberglass than runs under the shaft. No major damage had been done and Aaron was able to reinstall the propeller underwater with 2 new nuts (another fun fact. There really should be two nuts at the end of your drive shaft, not 1).
The same week I was in tears over our leaky old dinghy, some old friends we hadn’t talked to in years donated money to the ministry on our behalf. It was enough to cover the cost of a new dinghy and a new motor. They were unaware of our failing dinghy problems.
And while we weren’t able to fix the shower wall, the discovery of the rot didn’t throw me into a tail spin as other past rotten wood discoveries had. We had brought our power tools with us and even a few 2x4s left over from boat construction and after months of boat repairs, we were confident we could shore up the loose block with the supplies on board. God had been training us for such moments.
We have arrived back in Elizabeth City, feeling so much more confident and accomplished as boaters and yet, it is obvious to any onlooker that had our dad not kept “uprighting the handle bars” we would still be back in the middle of the road with a bloody knee.
I’m still struggling with how to answer the “how was your trip” question. It really was a great trip and I cherish all its highs and lows. I am so so grateful for regular access to land and my own car again. I have many more stories I would love to share, but don’t have space for here. It was neat to watch our kids walk the journey with us and see God take care of their hearts and their needs and grow and stretch them too. The greatest blessing of it all, has been to know in very real ways, that God is with us, that he loves us and that he intervenes for us in the physical realm. Above all, Aaron and I hope you too know the Lord’s love and that feeling the realities of his love for you transforms your life and gives you peace in the adventure.
Ok fine, a few photos…
The kids enjoying the Bahamas. Rielle loves to eat fresh coconuts and Aaron loves to crack them. Everett is our tree climber. Abel’s favorite seat on the boat. The kids petting wild sting rays that are used to regular tourist feedings. They come up to you like dogs and rub your leg, hoping for a treat.
While Aaron found the open ocean intimidating, the most anxiety I felt during the trip was in certain sections of the ICW in Florida where we had to share the “road” with big boats. My favorite FL experiences also include the current pushing us towards draw bridges that were having trouble opening on time. (There ain’t no throwing a quick U-ie in single prop sailboats)
The prop on deck and Aaron reinstalling the prop. Note the snorkel mouth piece connected to a garden hose to allow him to breathe while working underwater. A screen shot of us crossing the Gulf Stream. We left Fort Lauderdale and headed straight east, but the current of the Gulf Stream slowly slid our boat to our landing point of West end Bahamas. The whole journey took about 12 hours.
Adventures in Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas. This island is still recovering from hurricane dorian which hit in 2019. We got there just a couple weeks into this church relaunching its worship “band” Aaron was able to play live guitar for their Easter Sunday service, which was an upgrade from the background tracks they had been using. Aaron also got in on a local jam session. Music and art gave us a way to make deeper connections with the community there. I was able to donate a painting I did to the local school fund raised. There is just one school on the island, an elementary school with about 30 kids. We also ended up being there the week a friend of our ministry was putting on a sailing camp for the local kids. Our kids got to participate too and we were able to use our new dinghy as a coaching boat during the camp.
Loading up the old dinghy for the last time with friends and gear. Your dinghy is like your car when you’re on the water. Dinner in Selah with boat friends. Hiking over a bridge in FL with groceries and the new dinghy living its best life.