Long, over-night passages like crossing the Gulf Stream are, for me, cause for celebration. With the other kids conveniently sea-sick and incapacitated, I can do whatever I feel like. I have (fortunately) never (so far) been afflicted with sea sickness, air sickness, space sickness, or motion sickness of any kind. Even so, three-to-five-foot seas severely limit what I feel like doing. During long passages, I mainly spend my time in my cabin reading science-fiction (currently 2010 Odyssey 2), sitting in the captain’s chair doing nothing, or playing video games. What better way to appreciate Mom’s decree that there will be no school on passages, than to spend uninterrupted hours in front of a screen flying F-15s and driving T-90s? With no competition for the computer, and Mom safely napping off-watch, I get to play as long as I want.

This time was no exception, even though the seas were more like two-to-four-feet. As usual, we attempted to catch some kind of fish, and, as usual, we failed miserably. After the sun went down, Aaron and I kept Mom company while she was on watch. Being on watch is easy. All you have to do is make sure the autopilot doesn’t hit anything. Also, don’t fall asleep. The penalty for sleeping on watch is public flogging, or hanging, depending on whether the autopilot hits anything. Nah, not really.

The next day was more of the same, although Sam overcame his seasickness enough to provide competition for the computer. That evening we watched a movie. We watched Captain Ron instead of carrying on the tradition of watching The Swiss Family Robinson on night passages (although why we would want to watch a movie about a shipwreck is anyone’s guess).  Except for a light rain, the night was uneventful.

The next morning, I woke up and we weren’t underway. We had anchored at Chub Cay to check in to the Bahamas. I was also late to breakfast. Again. While we ate, Dad dinghied ashore to check us in. A few minutes later, he returned. It turned out that we needed to take the boat to the dock for some reason. It also turned out that we had to pay $100 check-in fee, or buy $100 worth of fuel. It seems like a ridiculous trade, but we didn’t mind. We got the fuel. We then proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the day, while we waited for good weather. The next morning, we weighed anchor for Highborne Cay, or the Island of the Over-Priced Landing Fee (coming soon to a blog near you).