Early one morning, Aventis (with only Ashley and Shannon on board) joined six other catamarans for a trip to the Abacos.

First, we motor sailed about 60 miles across the gulf stream to West End, Grand Bahama Island. It was a great day of fast motor sailing. Running between 8-9 kph. Engines at 2800rpms.

After a day of motor sailing, we docked at Old Bahama Bay resort and marina. About half the boats were sailing through the night but not us. We enjoyed a beautiful evening in West End having dinner with El Jeff (Steve and Thea). It included a $35 bottle of Woodbridge Cabernet. (About $10 in FL).

The next day, we woke with the sunrise in order to get to our next stopover.

We were leaving West End and heading to Great Sale Cay for our next anchorage.

Today, we are heading from Great Sale Cay to Manjack Cay.

So, we got up with the sun in order to get to Manjack Cay before dark.

On our sail to Manjack, we passed the famous “Center of the World” rock. Someone had a sense of humor!

We arrived at Manjack Cay and found some of the other participants who are going to be at the Catamaran Rendezvous next month! The Catamaran Rendezvous is a 3-day “party” of catamaran owners in the Abacos.

Manjack is a very unique place.  The island is almost completely split in two by seawater. This split creates the perfect environment for sea turtles in this shallow protects waterway. The only way to see it is by dinghy or paddleboard. So, the next day, we went for a dinghy ride up the creek with Kent and Kathy from Wind Ensemble!

After our dinghy ride, we found a cool little beach at Manjack that had swings and tons of sea biscuits.

After the beach, we joined our Catamaran Rendezvous friends on the back of Catamaran Guru’s boat Zuri.

We weren’t able to stay as long as we would have liked to at Manjack because Ashley had a flight to catch back to North Carolina from Marsh Harbour in a couple of days, so we sailed from Manjack Cay to Marsh Harbour the next day. And yes, we bypassed some great islands on the way, but, hey, we will be back!

We made our way to Marsh Harbour and got a great spot at anchor. Our anchorage for the next couple of weeks in Marsh Harbour:

We had dinner with friends at Snappas in Marsh Harbour to help us celebrate our 24th Anniversary! Poor Snappas is no longer there because of Dorian’s destruction.

Ashley took a flight back to North Carolina in order to help bring Makenzie, Ella, Addie, and Makenzie’s friend, Hope, back to the boat. She flew right over Aventis!

While waiting for the girls to return, Shannon went sailing one day on Wind Ensemble to test out their spinnaker. The next day we took Aventis out to test out a new spinnaker that Catamaran Guru kindly gifted us!

Later that week, the girls flew down and joined Shannon back on Aventis!

It is also Makenzie’s birthday!

That night, there was also a Catamaran Rendezvous kick-off party at Wally’s!

The next day, all of the Catamaran Rendezvous participants took a ferry over to Great Guana Cay to party at Grabbers!

We had a great time playing games, drinking, eating, and socializing with everyone at the Rendezvous.

The next day we all “raced” to Tahiti Beach. Winds were about 5 knots and we couldn’t use our motors. It was a slow race!

After starting out near the back of the pack, we wound up fighting for a top 5 finish! We had a couple of close calls to get 4th though…

After the race, we anchored at Tahiti Beach for some swim time and boat decorating.

That night, the Rendezvous had a Junkanoo Party!

The next day, we hung out, partied and played games on the sandbar at Tahiti Beach.

All the partying and games made us hungry! Luckily, the Rendezvous provided awesome food from the Thirsty Cuda!

After the party (and the end of the Cataraman Rendezvous) we set sail for Nassau. We had only a couple of days to get to Nassau in order to catch a flight back to NC.

Our first night heading toward Nassau, we stopped over at Little Harbour.

We had a great time exploring Little Harbour and hanging out at Pete’s Pub:

The next day, we left the Abacos sailed from Little Harbour to Egg Island. Egg Island is on the very north-west tip of the Eleuthera Islands.

The next day, we sailed to a marina at Nassau, docked, cleaned the boat, and flew back to NC.

Why did we leave so quick? Because Ella is getting ready to graduate!

And Makenzie is getting ready to move into her studio apartment.

Coming up next month: Sailing “Wind Ensemble” to the Chesapeake, Ella’s Graduation, and hanging out in NC