@pprocacci
I would suggest you don't dismiss the conversations of those with the experience of making the crossing several times..
Which it would seem you and the Mrs are doing with your "we'll be fine" comments. Many have thought the same and turned out they were not fine.
How many people Tim have said this where it didn't turn out ok? Do you even know the number or frequency? Surely not.
Has it happened? I don't dispute it, but to then suggest we're naive because we don't think it _could_ happen is simply wrong.
I would suggest you don't dismiss the conversations of those with the experience of making the crossing several times..
Perhaps this is where the confusion lies, because we are crossing with those that have.
I didn't come here asking for advice, that's already taken care of elsewhere; though I certainly appreciate some of what's been provided here.
The sole purpose of my post is to organize those that want to cross together; nothing more.
WE ALL want you and your family to have a great time on your Bimini trip. Getting there AND BACK SAFELY is a big part of that.
Good luck and enjoy your vacation.
Thanks. We'll share our experience, good or bad once we return.
I'm certain he's not suggesting you are idiots, all he is saying is that many people in one boat, your size, making the crossing is not advised by anyone I know who's done it before. Especially as its your first attempt. I went with 2 people my first time - two seasoned ocean boaters. I wouldn't take my teens the first time as I needed to see how my boat (and me) handled the crossing. "We'll be fine and safe" won't make it true. From my perspective you are putting your kids in harms way - if I were you, I'd be balancing the load and putting some of them on another boat.
Serious question, for all the bad times someone has had, how many good times have there been?
I could easily tell you about my friends who travel to bimini with 8 full grown adults year after year and there's no problem at all.
Really, what I'm getting from this is there are a bunch of nay-sayers that have had or seen some bad experiences; yet are neglecting to mention the overwhelming good experiences. Not just overwhelming good experience, but OVERWHELMING (capitalize) good experiences.
The short of it is, you could have bad experiences doing anything in life; we're not immune to that. I could point out that you're more likely to be killed in a car accident than pretty much anything else, yet we still drive. To put it perhaps another way, life is full of dangers and so long as mitigating precautions are in place it's certainly more likely it'll be fine. This isn't an absolute, I understand, but still holds true.
Anyways, I certainly appreciate talking with yall. If any of yall would like to join us, you're more than welcomed. Nothing like meeting new people.