06/26/2026
Day 4. Our first offshore passage is behind us.
At midnight, we finally received the greenlight: clear for departure to Bequia. 115 nautical miles, 24 hours offshore as a group. We ran the helm in three-hour teams, using the moon, stars, and compass to hold our heading west.
The conditions did not make it easy. We sailed in six to seven foot seas, the boat rocking from port to starboard for hours, and anything we hadn't stowed slid across the cabins. So did we. Most of the girls felt sick, and most were too tired to say much about it. They showed up anyway: middle of the night, life jackets on, waiting in the dark for their shift.
When our turn came, we made our way forward along the deck with the moonlight on the boards. For nearly all of them, it was the first time behind the wheel of a boat. They crowded around the helm and took in the compass, the screens, the numbers scrolling past. The job was simple to say and hard to do: hold West. One by one, each girl took the wheel while the compass swung with every wave, and held the course to Bequia.
This is the part that's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't done it. Out there, between two islands, with no signal and no outside world, all you have is each other. We talked, we laughed, we watched for shooting stars and passed the hours together in the dark. That's where the bonds actually form. In rough water, in the middle of the night, when the only thing to lean on is the person sitting next to you.
None of these girls had ever steered a boat. The fear was real, and they pushed through it and learned to do it anyway. That's what these expeditions are for.
At sunrise the misty outline of mountains broke the horizon, and the girls called it out: "Land Ho!" Bequia, dead ahead. The island rose green and steep out of the water, its hills running straight down to the shore, and we slipped into Admiralty Bay alongside a handful of other boats at anchor. Sandy beaches lined the edge of the harbor, palm trees leaning out over the water.
After 24 hours offshore, we eased into our arrival routine: checklists run, jobs assigned and done, then dinner together as a crew. The sun dropped behind the hills, the anchored boats lit up one by one across the bay, and the girls were already fading, worn out from a night at the helm and ready for an early bunk. Tomorrow, we find out what Bequia has to offer.
Follow along in real time here: https://expeditions.sailfuture.org.
