There are so many reasons NOT to follow your dreams . . . and that can easily be said for our dream to cruise the Exumas on the “Lady J”.

Will you take the time to truly experience this 100-mile chain of authentically natural Bahamian Islands?

Will you make the investment – both time and money – to have the “Lady J” in “live aboard” condition?

Do you sail the boat across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas or do you “invest” in having a captain and crew deliver her to Nassau?

Can you rely on the spring weather conditions to cooperate, both for the crossing and for the 6 weeks in the Exumas?

Even this morning’s departure posed hurdles – departing from the bulkhead dock with the northeast wind on our broadside; weather forecasting 15-20 knot winds with 5 foot waves but a seemingly calm morning in the Palm Cay Marina (turned out the PredictWind forecast was accurate – as usual).

So this morning’s 30 mile crossing was more of a symbol of our life transition than I expected: Optimistically expected weather to be better than forecast – reality: 17-23 knot winds with the forecasted 5-6 foot waves at the outset. But we persevered (not that hard on the “Lady J”) and halfway across, the winds fell to 10-15 knots and the seas began to settle.

Several hours later, we arrived at our calm anchorage at Highborne Cay in the Exuma paradise to begin THE DREAM – with days to contemplate how we want our Exuma adventure to unfold – and lots of “sabbatical time” to contemplate how we want our life’s adventure to unfold.

Fortunately, we ignored all those seemingly very real reasons NOT to follow our dream!

Fair winds to all . . . and be sure to “follow your dreams”