How one family's dream of sailing away to the Bahamas became a reality

Sailing the open seas with their children for a months-long adventure had been a dream for Amherstburg, Ont., teachers Rob and Katie Lynn Ferguson. 

Earlier this year, that dream became a reality when they bought a sailing catamaran sight-unseen, fixed it up and set sail from Florida to the Bahamas. 

"It was nice to kind of live out our passion for so many months," Rob Ferguson said.

For years, he had obsessively been looking at online boat sales for the right fit, while also regularly following sailing vloggers online for inspiration.

"We always loved sailing. We grew up sailing," he said.

Ferguson and his wife had planned on taking sabbaticals from their jobs as high school teachers for some time, and thought a sailing trip would be a great adventure for them to go on with their nine-year-old son Finn, 12-year-old daughter Kora and their pup, Burleigh. 

"I was nervous, obviously, but I was very excited," Katie Lynn Ferguson said. 

"All four of us, I think, are always up for adventure."

They drove their minivan down to Florida, fixed up their newly purchased sailboat and set sail first to the Florida Keys before making their way across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. 

'Surpassed all of our expectations'

They would anchor from place to place, always on the move, and they became more and more amazed with how blue and beautiful the water was as they continued to move east. 

"It would just get more amazing. Like, it surpassed all of our expectations," Rob said. 

The children were home schooled on the boat by their mom for about two hours each day, and then they would move on to "adventure time," as Katie would put it. 

"So that usually entailed swimming of some kind, whether it was snorkeling and exploring reefs or hiking on land, finding caves," she said. 

While the kids were a little bit nervous about the adventure, they say they had a great time and found life on a boat much more comfortable than they had initially imagined. 

"I thought when we were sleeping it would be really rocky and I would be a lot more seasick," Kora Ferguson said. "But it was definitely a lot better than I thought."

Kora's favourite memory was feeding sea turtles on a beach. 

"It was so cool," she said with a grin. 

Finn's favourite memory was interacting with some octopuses in Spanish Wells. 

"I got to let them suction my hand," he remembered.

'Living our dream'

There were some scary moments as well, like when the family hit a storm one evening.

"It was super rough," Rob said, the kids nodding in agreement. 

They were however able to find a safe harbour where they recovered. 

Aside from the beauty of the Bahamas, the connections made with other people were the highlight for the family. 

"We've never met such nice, amazing people, and never had so many connections that we'll have for a lifetime down there," he said.

A full circle moment for Rob was running into and spending time with the famous sailing vloggers whose adventures he'd been following from home. He said they would anchor right next to their boat. 

"This is crazy that we're here living our dream with the people we've been watching, trying to live vicariously through them," Rob said. "And here we are now, hanging out with them. And that was a really cool experience."

They spent a total of five months sailing around the Bahamas from February until June, when they made their way home before the start of hurricane season. 

There was, however, one big relief for the kids about finally returning home: it was nice for things to not always be so wet all the time.