This is so hard to write; tears are streaming down my cheeks as I tell you our sailing journey has ended and we are blessed and happy to be alive.

We left Turks and Caicos on Tuesday Afternoon (April 19th) afternoon for a 375 nautical mile, 3 full day journey to Puerto Rico. It was tough going, beating into six to nine foot waves, with winds much higher than expected.

A day later we hit a massive underwater obstruction (rock, volcano, lost container?) in what was supposed to be thousand foot depths! The boat stopped dead, we, and everything on the boat, went flying. And then the most horrible sounds of crunching exploded in ours ears as the boat bobbed on the huge seas and crashed back down on what we hit.

After a minute or two of shock and panic, our survival instincts were turbo-charged. Thomas was at the helm, trying to get the boat off the obstruction. I kicked into packing survival essentials in case we needed to abandon the boat. Filling water into anything with a lid, grabbing peanut butter, canned chicken, beans, and a can opener. I grabbed headlamps, portable VHF and batteries, scissors, knife, and life-vests. The last thing I grabbed were the medications, passports, and phones into the dry-bag.

Thomas managed to get the boat off of the obstruction but it was too damaged and within 10 minutes of the original strike, the hull was filling with water fast. Within 20 minutes of the accident the boat was a third of the way sunk and we had deployed the dinghy and life raft.

We then, very sadly, watched as our home, Sweet Caroline, continued to sink, and watched our belongings start floating into the ocean. Next, we took inventory of our supplies, talked about plans for nightfall, and wondered if and when we would possibly be rescued. It was going to be dark in a couple of hours. Mind you, we had not seen another boat or plane the entire time we had been on our journey and we were 100 miles off the coast of the Dominican Republic in the middle of the Atlantic.

But thank God for modern technology!

We had two ACR Personal Locator Beacons on our life vests that we had immediately activated. They ping a satellite and then the US Coast Guard gets notified. It just so happened a C27 USCG plane was en-route from Clearwater to Puerto Rico on a training mission and they were sent to search for us.

When we heard that plane and saw it fly overhead, I lost it; sobbing with tears of joy and the trauma we had just experienced. That blessed plane circled us for three hours, radio checking in until the rescue helicopter arrived.

By the time it got dark, we were rescued by a handsome, strapping, young, USCG man. He took us one at a time, from the dinghy, through the cold 9 foot seas, put us in the rescue cage and were hoisted into the helicopter.

The United States Coast Guard released this statement the following day, ““This case really highlights the importance of having emergency equipment on board,” said Lt. Caleigh Cobb, 7th District command duty officer. “The activation of the personal locator beacon was critical to Air Station Borinquen’s ability to quickly locate and recover all individuals from the life raft.””

Can you possibly imagine it? This is what movies are made of! You know the people you see on TV who have their homes leveled by tornadoes or fires? Now we know exactly how that feels. We have lost everything: our very special home, lost all of our belongings, and have been forced to go back to land and give up our dreams. Needless to say, we are still in shock and dealing with the PTSD from this tragedy. The only thing we have left is the clothing on our backs, our phones, and passports.

But the most important thing is, thanks to our PLB’s, we have our lives and each other. Now it’s just one step at a time to recover and find our next life chapter.

*And six months later, we are about to close on our next live-aboard boat!*