Thursday, 5/1/08 Day 89
My day started with school at 9:00am. We did school from almost exactly 9:00am - 12:00pm, while Dad ran some errands onshore. Mr. Peter from s/v Tauá came over to help Dad with the watermaker. He is a good electrician and he and Dad got the watermaker up and running in good time.
For the rest of the day, Josh and I played and I helped Mom make website pages. Mr. Peter, Ms. Monika and Claudia from s/v Tauá came over for dinner. Josh and I played with Claudia, trying to understand each other. She speaks French and German fluently, but only a little English. We finally came up with a good game - pillow fighting!
Dad made bacon-wrapped venison backstrap for dinner and the 3 of us watched the movie Ratatouille. It's past 10:00pm, and I am tired. Today was simple, but great.
Friday, 5/2/08 Day 90
Today was exciting!! It started early in the morning with a sea turtle sighting. A baby sea turtle was swimming around the anchorage. It would pop up for a quick breath here and there and dive down again. The water in the harbor is not clear, so we had to watch closely to see it. We did some math early in the morning, but that was all the real school we did for the day because we had places to go, people to see and things to do. We ran some last errands and left Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island, Abaco, Bahamas at 12:10pm. At 2:15pm, we arrived at the anchorage at Hope Town on Elbow Cay, Abaco, Bahamas. We saw that our friends on s/v Tauá were already here and anchored nearby. They noticed that where we had anchored was a calmer spot, and they moved their boat closer in.
I got to dive on the anchor with Dad again today. Josh was going to come, but said that his snorkel wasn't working properly. I saw 4 Cushion Sea Stars, 2 juvenile Blackear Wrasses, a bunch of Fairy Basslets, and a couple of Yellowtail Damselfish. I found two pieces of wreckage on the bottom where I saw a variety of fish, a Cushion Sea Star, Green Grape Algae, White Scroll Algae, Leafy Rolled-Glade Algae, and Fuzzy Finger Algae! It was so fun!
We got together with Mr. Peter, Ms. Monika and Claudia from s/v Tauá to go tour the famous Hope Town/Elbow Reef Lighthouse. The Hope Town Lighthouse is one of the only lighthouses in the world that is totally mechanical and still runs on kerosene. Most other lighthouses are now electric and hydraulic.
We decided to dock at the dinghy dock and walk around the harbor, but after walking halfway or so, we were told that we couldn't get around to the lighthouse. Instead, we tied up at the Lighthouse Marina, very close to the lighthouse itself. We played at the base and trekked up the 101 steps to the top of the 128 ft. lighthouse. We were able to climb through a hatch to an outside deck where the wind blew in our faces and we could clearly see Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island, 7 nautical miles away. I got to take a movie with the camera that panned around the lighthouse. It was cool, but what was to come was super cool.
Dad had heard from s/v Jubilee (a boat with 3 kids our age, but heading north) that if you go up to the lighthouse keeper's house at dusk and ask nicely, the lighthouse keeper would let you watch him light the kerosene lamp. We had seen a school of big Gray Snappers and Blue-Striped Grunts at the dock, and we decided to go back to the boat, eat a quick dinner, come back to the docks to fish, wait for dusk, and go back to the lighthouse.
We ate a quick dinner of Spaghetti Aglio Olio and salad and gathered our fishing gear. Before we started to fish, Josh and I went with Mom to the lighthouse, knocked on the lighthouse keeper's door and asked if we could watch him light the lamp tonight. Mr. Franklin told us to go up right then. We ran back to the dock and got Dad, Mr. Peter, Ms. Monika and Claudia. We quickly climbed the 101 steps once more. Mr. Franklin came and brought us to a special upper-deck where, first, he removed the curtains on the lighthouse windows. We looked through the huge Fresnel lenses at the torch. Then Mr. Franklin lit some kerosene in a chamber underneath the torch. He told us that he was heating up the torch this way. After about 10 minutes, the torch was smoking, and Mr. Franklin lit it. It glowed brighter than the sun! To end it all, Joshua got to start the lenses spinning! Mr. Peter, who was fascinated by it all, explained to us that there is a main weight on a pulley that turns the gears that keeps the lenses spinning and there are other weights that keep the lenses spinning at a steady speed. Mr. Franklin, or another keeper, has to come up every 2 hours to maintain the light during the night. He has to rewind the pulley; he has to pump the kerosene pump that feeds vapor to the flame; and sometimes he even has to relight it. He said he has been doing this for almost 40 years! Like I said before, it was super cool!
When we got down from the lighthouse, it was too late to fish. We decided we will come back tomorrow evening. Today was amazing!
Saturday, 5/3/08 Day 91
Today was good. We did school in the morning and planned to go to the pink sand beach in the afternoon. Like usual, things didn't go as planned!
After lunch, Mr. Peter (s/v Tauá) dinghied over with Claudia and said that Claudia was going to water-ski behind the dinghy and asked if we wanted to try. After I watched Claudia water-ski for awhile, I took a turn. I spend about half of the time trying to get out of the water. While I was trying to water-ski, Dad blew up our inflatable tube and pulled Josh and Claudia around behind our dinghy. They had fun in it and I did too when I took a break from water-skiing.
Towards the end of the afternoon of fun, I tried to water-ski again. I was having trouble until the very end. On my third to last try, I finally got out of the water and skied about 10ft. before falling. The next turn, I did the same. On my last try, I skied for about 30 seconds max before finally falling. It was awesome!
Some people came to visit s/v Tauá and Mr. Peter went back to his boat to visit with them, while we went to shore with Claudia. We went to the Methodist Church to find out when service is tomorrow and then we stopped at the beach. Though the beach was supposed to be pink according to the guide book, it was just normal sand with pink particles in it that you have to look hard to see. There was a huge sand dune that we all rolled down. We did not see the signs that said not to walk on the dunes, and rolled right in front of them! When Mom and Dad saw what we were doing, they made us stop immediately.
To end the day, we went over to s/v Tauá for dinner. We played on the deck before dinner and climbed all over. To finish the delicious meal of pork and potatoes, we ate homemade cheesecake and the adults drank Amaretto (a type of liquor). Mommy said something about the adults having too much Amaretto.
We are all going to go down to Sandy Cay soon. We may even have a weenie/marshmallow roast there! We started to watch Garfield: The Movie, but we had to leave before it was over.
It is only 9:30, but I am as tired as if it were 11:30. It must be all of today's hard play kicking in. We have been gone 3 months today. Today was great! Life, all in all, seems greater!!
Sunday, 5/4/08 Day 92
We did a ton today. Everything (or almost everything) we did was exciting as well! The great day started with a much needed haircut. Daddy was, once again, cool with the clippers, only almost taking my ears off twice. ( I was safe, thanks to the guard). I am glad I finally have short hair again.
At 9:30 am, we went to the Methodist Church in Hope Town. The service was very contemporary and geared towards kids and families. There was a christening (baptism) that was almost exactly like a baptism back home. The service was a lot like the contemporary service at Faith Lutheran Church back home, just on a smaller scale. Ms. Sonja and Mr. Charlie from s/v Un Sea Sing were there as well, and we sat with them and talked with them after service. Church was nice this morning.
When we were back at the dinghy dock, Josh and I saw this weird creature. I took a picture and looked it up back at the boat. I think it was a Ciliated False Squilla, a type of Mantis Shrimp. It was awesome.
According to plan, we had a quick lunch and went snorkeling. By the time we got started, s/v Tauá was coming back from their trip with s/v Ubatuba. They said that it was nice, but not like Belize. As we were going to the reef on the north side of Elbow Cay (the Atlantic Ocean side), we saw a really big nurse shark. It must have been 7 ft. long.
When we reached the reef, Mom thought the water was too cold and she didn't get in. I started with a scuba back flip out of the dinghy. There were not many fish, especially not big, good eating fish for Dad to spear. The water was 10 -15 ft. deep and I dove almost to the bottom. There were lots of mini-canyons in the rock that formed the reef's base and I saw many fish swimming in and out of those canyons and other holes. There were logs of parrotfish and Blue Tang. I saw one school of over 25 Blue Tang feeding and swimming around the reef. I was a log of coral and algae, and I think I will start to keep a dive log of our snorkeling expeditions.
Dad spearfished and got one 23 in. Tiger Grouper. I stopped him from shooting an evil-tasting Chub. Josh told him to shoot because he thought it was a Pompano! I am glad he could shoot something with his pole spear because the better spear guns are not allowed in the Bahamas. This, our first real snorkeling expedition, was really great!
We hung out for the rest of the evening. Dad grilled the Tiger Grouper with on e of Josh's special seasoning mixes and the soft white meat was delicious! We are going to leave Hope Town on Tuesday for Sandy Cay with s/v Tauá. Today was cool.
Monday, 5/5/08 Day 93
This afternoon was awesome. All we did until lunch was school and projects. After lunch we did lots of things with s/v Tauá.
To start the afternoon, we went on shore to see the Wyannie Malone Museum. It was closed because the town's power was out for the second day in a row. Apparently, someone's anchor cut an underwater electrical cable. We stopped into a little shop and purchased Sea Paths, by William R. Johnson, Jr. The author does the trivia question for the cruiser's net and we have talked with him many times. He recommended it to us because he thought we would enjoy it. There are only 1000 copies printed. The one we bought is #461. It is numbered and signed. I have started reading it and it is interesting.
We walked around town a little, got ice cream, and went into Vernon's Grocery Store. While we were there, the power came back on and we went back to the museum. We met up with s/v Tauá at the museum and learned all about Abaco's history. A 7yr. old girl named Mattie, whose mother ran the museum, gave Josh, Claudia and Mr. Peter a full blown tour of the whole museum (the size of a small 2 story house). We learned about the Lucayan Arawaks, the Abaco's native Indians; the first settlers, Loyalists who left the USA after the American Revolution; the way people made a living - fishing, sponging, salvaging shipwrecks, and shipbuilding; and we saw shells, spacecraft parts and more that has been found on the beach and the island.
Mom wanted to go back to the lighthouse one more time and Dad needed to fill up the dinghy's gas tank at the fuel dock, so we headed across the harbor to the Lighthouse Marina. The school of fish was there at the dock and we got to name all of the fish we could see and point them out to more than one group of people. There was a Green Moray Eel swimming around, in and out of holes in a rock. It looked hungry, looking back and forth at the fish and even lunging once or twice. I identified all of the following fish to people: Schoolmaster, Gray Snapper, Fairy Basslet, Rainbow Parrotfish, Beaugregory, Bluehead Wrasse, Surgeonfish, Doctorfish, Smallmouth Grunt, Bluestriped Grunt, and Black Grouper. There was also a White Spotted Soapfish. It matched our book's picture perfectly, yet the book states that it is "not reported Bahamas." We may e-mail the authors, who are always looking for more information for new, updated editions, to tell them or our sighting. To top it off, I saw another Ciliated False Squilla and some Star Horseshoe Worms!
Mom, Josh and I did finally go up to the Hope Town Lighthouse for the last time. We saw Mr. Franklin, gave him some money as a "Thank-you tip" for the other night, and asked him some questions. He explained to us how he maintains the pulley with the weights and that there are 5 mechanical, kerosene lighthouses left in the world. Three are in the Bahamas and two are somewhere else, but he did not know where. (We had thought that the Hope Town Lighthouse was the last one around, and we have since read that there are only the three left, all in the Bahamas. I'm not sure which is correct.) Mommy also showed us that the lighthouse has a pattern - 5 flashes in 15 sec, and a dark section - made by the 5 lenses and one open section. It was interestingly cool.
When we got back to the boat, we organized some more water sports with s/v Tauá. Mr. Peter took me waterskiing, while Dad took Josh and Claudia in the tube. I was out of the water and actually waterskiing for the first 4 out of 5 times! By the end of water sports, I was able to stay skiing for a long time, and do some little tricks! When I was finished waterskiing and Claudia had a turn, the 3 of us snorkeled around s/v Tauá. We found numerous Cushion Sea Stars, including one that had 6 arms. We also found 4 live Variegated Urchins and 3 Donkey Dung Sea Cucumbers! We watched one of the urchins walk across Tauá's swim platform and I tried to examine the sea cucumber more closely, but the adults thought it was gross and mushy. It was fun, until Mom made me stop because she thought I was obsessed with bringing these live creatures onto s/v Tauá's swim platform and examining them like a scientist.
While we were snorkeling, Dad was out dinghy trolling. He came back unsuccessful, and we had pasta for dinner. We watched the lighthouse light come on and start spinning from our cockpit. Today was really great!
Tuesday, 5/6/08 Day 94
Today was awesome! It showed what I thought the Bahamas were all about: nice beaches, wonderful snorkeling, and cruisers with kids! Today was close to perfect!!
We left around 9:00am for Sandy Cay in the Pelican Cays Land & Sea Park, Abaco, Bahamas. On the way to the cay, I caught a fish all by myself (a rare thing - someone else usually helps). It was a 4lb. 17 ½ in. Nassau Grouper. It isn't big enough to make a full meal, but it will be good anyway. The grouper did some gross things, which I won't write for my mother's sake because she will have to type this into the computer.
S/V Tauá and we got the anchor down and set at around the same time. We ate a quick lunch and went diving (I only say that - not "snorkeling" - because I am a scuba diver wannabe) at the reef on Sandy Cay's west side. The reef was comparable to Belize, with one of the few differences being the water temperature (colder here). Thought the water was cold, Mom had promised that she would snorkel with me and thought it was definitely worth the cold. I saw a monster Yellowtail Snapper, 2 brightly colored Trumpetfish (different colors - same fish), and even a bunch of Wide-Mesh Sea Fans (Mom agrees) which our book says are "not known Florida or Bahamas." I swam with schools of Blue Chromises and Brown Chromises, and schools of over 100 Blue Tang. I saw parrotfish, wrasses, coral, gorgonians, and more that I have never seen before!! I have a close to complete list in my Dive Log. This snorkel trip was amazing!!
The weather didn't look the best and Sandy Cay doesn't have a really good anchorage, nor does it have good holding, so we all decided to move south to Lynyard Cay. Guess who we met.... 2 more boats with kids (s/v Eira and s/v Sand Dollar). To make it better, there were Cody, age 7 (yeah for Bro!); Noah, age 9 (yeah for Bro!); John, age 9 (yeah for Bro again!); and Daniel, age 11 (super yeah for me!!). Daniel and I became friends pretty quickly and we talked and played.
We were going to have a hot dog and marshmallow roast with s/v Tauá, so we invited all our new friends. The kids all collected piles of fuel, dug a fire pit, and covered everything in case of upcoming rain. Daniel and I, who were noticeably in charge (no adult supervision at all happened) tried, unsuccessfully to create a lean-to. When we were finished, Dad pointed out that our fire pit was too close to the waterline and the tide was coming in, so he got the other parents to approve the idea of letting us make a small fire and roasting just one package of marshmallows, ruining our appetites for dinner, and then maker a bigger bonfire tomorrow with a full-blown weenie roast. We had the fastest campfire/marshmallow roast ever. The marshmallows were devoured very quickly by us 7 kids. I alone had eight, and some people had more. I asked Daniel once, "How many marshmallows have you had? I've had 6 or 7." His reply was simply, "You count???"
When we were done, I was sick to my stomach. The tide was in enough to flood our fire pit, but we have a better spot for tomorrow. We are all going to do school until 12:30 or 1:-00pm tomorrow and then meet on the beach.
We got back to the boat around 7:30pm and had rinse-off showers. Mom told me, and I thought she was joking, that we had invited s/v Tauá for a supper of venison sausage. I didn't eat much. I am now plum-tuckered-out. Today was great!
Wednesday, 5/7/08 Day 95
This evening was awesome! This afternoon was okay. This morning wasn't too exciting. Today had 3 parts: morning - school, afternoon - beaches, evening - weenie roast/bonfire. Today was great!
Up until lunch, all we did was school. By 1:00pm, we were ready to go exploring. We dinghied south down Lynyard Cay's western side and found a nice beach. We found lots of shells, including Flamingo Tongues, Sunrise Tellins, and a King Helmet. We walked across to an ocean beach that was full of trash. There were a lot of logs that we collected for tonight's fire.
We went to a beach further north that I didn't like that much. There were no shells and we didn't even bring beach toys. S/V Tauá joined us and Claudia and Josh buried me in the sand. Because I got sand all down my bathing suit, Mom made me wade chest high and get naked to wash myself off!! Mr. Peter and Dad went dinghy trolling, but didn't catch anything.
We returned to the anchorage and Mom and Dad dropped us on the beach with the e-tool (excavation tool - a mini, foldable shovel used in the military to dig trenches and foxholes) to start getting the fire ready. We started digging a really big fire pit right at the high tide line and collecting all the stored fuel we found last night. I thought that we wouldn't have enough fuel for a bonfire, so I started pulling the palm leaves off the big, dead palm fronds, so that the fronds would provide more wood.
I got a huge splinter stuck deep in my right ring finger while doing that. We yelled and waved at s/v Liberty and Dad came speeding to get us. I showed him the splinter and he said that he may have to use a pair of pliers to yank it out. It hurt and I was crying. Mr. Menno and the boys from s/v Eira stopped by to see what was up, and Mr. Menno convinced me that it wasn't going to be that bad, and to look away and talk with him and Dad "was just going to look at it." I knew that Dad was going to pull it, so I said, "Go!! Just go!!" He pulled it swiftly and, though I thought it would hurt a lot, it didn't hurt that much. My finger hurt a lot more when the splinter was in and when it was out than actually going in or getting pulled out.
As Mom was cleaning the wound, I started to feel very dizzy, my stomach started doing flip-flops, and my vision got hazy for a quick moment. Mom said that I was feeling faint because I was so nervous and scared and had so much anxiety. I sat for a while and Mom made me put my head between my legs for a little while. Finally, I felt better.
We all went to the beach, collected more logs, and got set up. The family from s/v Sand Dollar couldn't make it, but it was still super fun. Mr. Menno and Dad set all the kindling out and poured oil/gas on the big pile. When Daddy lit it, the oil/gas blew up with a "kaboom!!" As the fire was growing bigger, we made our roasting sticks. We used pocket knives to sharpen the sticks and then fire-hardened them.
When it was time to eat, we all had 2 hot dogs. If you stick them on the long way, like an extension of your stick, you roast them more evenly. We all had to make our parents hot dogs as well, giving us more roasting time and fun with the fire! Marshmallows came next. We ate over one package of marshmallows, but this time the parents ate some too. I only had 5 this time, and I didn't get sick or feel bad at all.
After supper, we spent the rest of the evening keeping the fire up and running. Though Mr. Menno had said before we started that it looked like we had enough fuel to last forever, the logs and palm fronds ran low around sunset. We used pine leaves and reeds/grass to keep the fire up as much as possible. Unfortunately, by the time the sun was down, the tied was getting high and threatening to put out our fire again. We used the e-tool to dig trenches and ditches to keep the water back. I had another useful idea. I used the e-tool to enlarge the pit up the beach towards the forest. Then, we tried to "move" the fire. I shoveled red hot coals and burning branches until I thought I may have singed my shirt (but I hadn't). Then, we thought of the last thing that could save the fire - a palm frond. I set out to the grove of palm trees, but I was seen by the adults and they told me that it was almost time to leave and that we should let nature put out the fire. I returned unsuccessful and we did everything we could until the parents actually walked over to put out the fire. Afterwards, I remembered the tongs Dad had brought. They could have been useful for moving burning branches. We had a ton of fun. Wait, maybe we each had a ton of fun. That would be 5 tons of fun, instead of one. Today was super awesome!!!!!
My day started with school at 9:00am. We did school from almost exactly 9:00am - 12:00pm, while Dad ran some errands onshore. Mr. Peter from s/v Tauá came over to help Dad with the watermaker. He is a good electrician and he and Dad got the watermaker up and running in good time.
For the rest of the day, Josh and I played and I helped Mom make website pages. Mr. Peter, Ms. Monika and Claudia from s/v Tauá came over for dinner. Josh and I played with Claudia, trying to understand each other. She speaks French and German fluently, but only a little English. We finally came up with a good game - pillow fighting!
Dad made bacon-wrapped venison backstrap for dinner and the 3 of us watched the movie Ratatouille. It's past 10:00pm, and I am tired. Today was simple, but great.
Friday, 5/2/08 Day 90
Today was exciting!! It started early in the morning with a sea turtle sighting. A baby sea turtle was swimming around the anchorage. It would pop up for a quick breath here and there and dive down again. The water in the harbor is not clear, so we had to watch closely to see it. We did some math early in the morning, but that was all the real school we did for the day because we had places to go, people to see and things to do. We ran some last errands and left Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island, Abaco, Bahamas at 12:10pm. At 2:15pm, we arrived at the anchorage at Hope Town on Elbow Cay, Abaco, Bahamas. We saw that our friends on s/v Tauá were already here and anchored nearby. They noticed that where we had anchored was a calmer spot, and they moved their boat closer in.
I got to dive on the anchor with Dad again today. Josh was going to come, but said that his snorkel wasn't working properly. I saw 4 Cushion Sea Stars, 2 juvenile Blackear Wrasses, a bunch of Fairy Basslets, and a couple of Yellowtail Damselfish. I found two pieces of wreckage on the bottom where I saw a variety of fish, a Cushion Sea Star, Green Grape Algae, White Scroll Algae, Leafy Rolled-Glade Algae, and Fuzzy Finger Algae! It was so fun!
We got together with Mr. Peter, Ms. Monika and Claudia from s/v Tauá to go tour the famous Hope Town/Elbow Reef Lighthouse. The Hope Town Lighthouse is one of the only lighthouses in the world that is totally mechanical and still runs on kerosene. Most other lighthouses are now electric and hydraulic.
We decided to dock at the dinghy dock and walk around the harbor, but after walking halfway or so, we were told that we couldn't get around to the lighthouse. Instead, we tied up at the Lighthouse Marina, very close to the lighthouse itself. We played at the base and trekked up the 101 steps to the top of the 128 ft. lighthouse. We were able to climb through a hatch to an outside deck where the wind blew in our faces and we could clearly see Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island, 7 nautical miles away. I got to take a movie with the camera that panned around the lighthouse. It was cool, but what was to come was super cool.
Dad had heard from s/v Jubilee (a boat with 3 kids our age, but heading north) that if you go up to the lighthouse keeper's house at dusk and ask nicely, the lighthouse keeper would let you watch him light the kerosene lamp. We had seen a school of big Gray Snappers and Blue-Striped Grunts at the dock, and we decided to go back to the boat, eat a quick dinner, come back to the docks to fish, wait for dusk, and go back to the lighthouse.
We ate a quick dinner of Spaghetti Aglio Olio and salad and gathered our fishing gear. Before we started to fish, Josh and I went with Mom to the lighthouse, knocked on the lighthouse keeper's door and asked if we could watch him light the lamp tonight. Mr. Franklin told us to go up right then. We ran back to the dock and got Dad, Mr. Peter, Ms. Monika and Claudia. We quickly climbed the 101 steps once more. Mr. Franklin came and brought us to a special upper-deck where, first, he removed the curtains on the lighthouse windows. We looked through the huge Fresnel lenses at the torch. Then Mr. Franklin lit some kerosene in a chamber underneath the torch. He told us that he was heating up the torch this way. After about 10 minutes, the torch was smoking, and Mr. Franklin lit it. It glowed brighter than the sun! To end it all, Joshua got to start the lenses spinning! Mr. Peter, who was fascinated by it all, explained to us that there is a main weight on a pulley that turns the gears that keeps the lenses spinning and there are other weights that keep the lenses spinning at a steady speed. Mr. Franklin, or another keeper, has to come up every 2 hours to maintain the light during the night. He has to rewind the pulley; he has to pump the kerosene pump that feeds vapor to the flame; and sometimes he even has to relight it. He said he has been doing this for almost 40 years! Like I said before, it was super cool!
When we got down from the lighthouse, it was too late to fish. We decided we will come back tomorrow evening. Today was amazing!
Saturday, 5/3/08 Day 91
Today was good. We did school in the morning and planned to go to the pink sand beach in the afternoon. Like usual, things didn't go as planned!
After lunch, Mr. Peter (s/v Tauá) dinghied over with Claudia and said that Claudia was going to water-ski behind the dinghy and asked if we wanted to try. After I watched Claudia water-ski for awhile, I took a turn. I spend about half of the time trying to get out of the water. While I was trying to water-ski, Dad blew up our inflatable tube and pulled Josh and Claudia around behind our dinghy. They had fun in it and I did too when I took a break from water-skiing.
Towards the end of the afternoon of fun, I tried to water-ski again. I was having trouble until the very end. On my third to last try, I finally got out of the water and skied about 10ft. before falling. The next turn, I did the same. On my last try, I skied for about 30 seconds max before finally falling. It was awesome!
Some people came to visit s/v Tauá and Mr. Peter went back to his boat to visit with them, while we went to shore with Claudia. We went to the Methodist Church to find out when service is tomorrow and then we stopped at the beach. Though the beach was supposed to be pink according to the guide book, it was just normal sand with pink particles in it that you have to look hard to see. There was a huge sand dune that we all rolled down. We did not see the signs that said not to walk on the dunes, and rolled right in front of them! When Mom and Dad saw what we were doing, they made us stop immediately.
To end the day, we went over to s/v Tauá for dinner. We played on the deck before dinner and climbed all over. To finish the delicious meal of pork and potatoes, we ate homemade cheesecake and the adults drank Amaretto (a type of liquor). Mommy said something about the adults having too much Amaretto.
We are all going to go down to Sandy Cay soon. We may even have a weenie/marshmallow roast there! We started to watch Garfield: The Movie, but we had to leave before it was over.
It is only 9:30, but I am as tired as if it were 11:30. It must be all of today's hard play kicking in. We have been gone 3 months today. Today was great! Life, all in all, seems greater!!
Sunday, 5/4/08 Day 92
We did a ton today. Everything (or almost everything) we did was exciting as well! The great day started with a much needed haircut. Daddy was, once again, cool with the clippers, only almost taking my ears off twice. ( I was safe, thanks to the guard). I am glad I finally have short hair again.
At 9:30 am, we went to the Methodist Church in Hope Town. The service was very contemporary and geared towards kids and families. There was a christening (baptism) that was almost exactly like a baptism back home. The service was a lot like the contemporary service at Faith Lutheran Church back home, just on a smaller scale. Ms. Sonja and Mr. Charlie from s/v Un Sea Sing were there as well, and we sat with them and talked with them after service. Church was nice this morning.
When we were back at the dinghy dock, Josh and I saw this weird creature. I took a picture and looked it up back at the boat. I think it was a Ciliated False Squilla, a type of Mantis Shrimp. It was awesome.
According to plan, we had a quick lunch and went snorkeling. By the time we got started, s/v Tauá was coming back from their trip with s/v Ubatuba. They said that it was nice, but not like Belize. As we were going to the reef on the north side of Elbow Cay (the Atlantic Ocean side), we saw a really big nurse shark. It must have been 7 ft. long.
When we reached the reef, Mom thought the water was too cold and she didn't get in. I started with a scuba back flip out of the dinghy. There were not many fish, especially not big, good eating fish for Dad to spear. The water was 10 -15 ft. deep and I dove almost to the bottom. There were lots of mini-canyons in the rock that formed the reef's base and I saw many fish swimming in and out of those canyons and other holes. There were logs of parrotfish and Blue Tang. I saw one school of over 25 Blue Tang feeding and swimming around the reef. I was a log of coral and algae, and I think I will start to keep a dive log of our snorkeling expeditions.
Dad spearfished and got one 23 in. Tiger Grouper. I stopped him from shooting an evil-tasting Chub. Josh told him to shoot because he thought it was a Pompano! I am glad he could shoot something with his pole spear because the better spear guns are not allowed in the Bahamas. This, our first real snorkeling expedition, was really great!
We hung out for the rest of the evening. Dad grilled the Tiger Grouper with on e of Josh's special seasoning mixes and the soft white meat was delicious! We are going to leave Hope Town on Tuesday for Sandy Cay with s/v Tauá. Today was cool.
Monday, 5/5/08 Day 93
This afternoon was awesome. All we did until lunch was school and projects. After lunch we did lots of things with s/v Tauá.
To start the afternoon, we went on shore to see the Wyannie Malone Museum. It was closed because the town's power was out for the second day in a row. Apparently, someone's anchor cut an underwater electrical cable. We stopped into a little shop and purchased Sea Paths, by William R. Johnson, Jr. The author does the trivia question for the cruiser's net and we have talked with him many times. He recommended it to us because he thought we would enjoy it. There are only 1000 copies printed. The one we bought is #461. It is numbered and signed. I have started reading it and it is interesting.
We walked around town a little, got ice cream, and went into Vernon's Grocery Store. While we were there, the power came back on and we went back to the museum. We met up with s/v Tauá at the museum and learned all about Abaco's history. A 7yr. old girl named Mattie, whose mother ran the museum, gave Josh, Claudia and Mr. Peter a full blown tour of the whole museum (the size of a small 2 story house). We learned about the Lucayan Arawaks, the Abaco's native Indians; the first settlers, Loyalists who left the USA after the American Revolution; the way people made a living - fishing, sponging, salvaging shipwrecks, and shipbuilding; and we saw shells, spacecraft parts and more that has been found on the beach and the island.
Mom wanted to go back to the lighthouse one more time and Dad needed to fill up the dinghy's gas tank at the fuel dock, so we headed across the harbor to the Lighthouse Marina. The school of fish was there at the dock and we got to name all of the fish we could see and point them out to more than one group of people. There was a Green Moray Eel swimming around, in and out of holes in a rock. It looked hungry, looking back and forth at the fish and even lunging once or twice. I identified all of the following fish to people: Schoolmaster, Gray Snapper, Fairy Basslet, Rainbow Parrotfish, Beaugregory, Bluehead Wrasse, Surgeonfish, Doctorfish, Smallmouth Grunt, Bluestriped Grunt, and Black Grouper. There was also a White Spotted Soapfish. It matched our book's picture perfectly, yet the book states that it is "not reported Bahamas." We may e-mail the authors, who are always looking for more information for new, updated editions, to tell them or our sighting. To top it off, I saw another Ciliated False Squilla and some Star Horseshoe Worms!
Mom, Josh and I did finally go up to the Hope Town Lighthouse for the last time. We saw Mr. Franklin, gave him some money as a "Thank-you tip" for the other night, and asked him some questions. He explained to us how he maintains the pulley with the weights and that there are 5 mechanical, kerosene lighthouses left in the world. Three are in the Bahamas and two are somewhere else, but he did not know where. (We had thought that the Hope Town Lighthouse was the last one around, and we have since read that there are only the three left, all in the Bahamas. I'm not sure which is correct.) Mommy also showed us that the lighthouse has a pattern - 5 flashes in 15 sec, and a dark section - made by the 5 lenses and one open section. It was interestingly cool.
When we got back to the boat, we organized some more water sports with s/v Tauá. Mr. Peter took me waterskiing, while Dad took Josh and Claudia in the tube. I was out of the water and actually waterskiing for the first 4 out of 5 times! By the end of water sports, I was able to stay skiing for a long time, and do some little tricks! When I was finished waterskiing and Claudia had a turn, the 3 of us snorkeled around s/v Tauá. We found numerous Cushion Sea Stars, including one that had 6 arms. We also found 4 live Variegated Urchins and 3 Donkey Dung Sea Cucumbers! We watched one of the urchins walk across Tauá's swim platform and I tried to examine the sea cucumber more closely, but the adults thought it was gross and mushy. It was fun, until Mom made me stop because she thought I was obsessed with bringing these live creatures onto s/v Tauá's swim platform and examining them like a scientist.
While we were snorkeling, Dad was out dinghy trolling. He came back unsuccessful, and we had pasta for dinner. We watched the lighthouse light come on and start spinning from our cockpit. Today was really great!
Tuesday, 5/6/08 Day 94
Today was awesome! It showed what I thought the Bahamas were all about: nice beaches, wonderful snorkeling, and cruisers with kids! Today was close to perfect!!
We left around 9:00am for Sandy Cay in the Pelican Cays Land & Sea Park, Abaco, Bahamas. On the way to the cay, I caught a fish all by myself (a rare thing - someone else usually helps). It was a 4lb. 17 ½ in. Nassau Grouper. It isn't big enough to make a full meal, but it will be good anyway. The grouper did some gross things, which I won't write for my mother's sake because she will have to type this into the computer.
S/V Tauá and we got the anchor down and set at around the same time. We ate a quick lunch and went diving (I only say that - not "snorkeling" - because I am a scuba diver wannabe) at the reef on Sandy Cay's west side. The reef was comparable to Belize, with one of the few differences being the water temperature (colder here). Thought the water was cold, Mom had promised that she would snorkel with me and thought it was definitely worth the cold. I saw a monster Yellowtail Snapper, 2 brightly colored Trumpetfish (different colors - same fish), and even a bunch of Wide-Mesh Sea Fans (Mom agrees) which our book says are "not known Florida or Bahamas." I swam with schools of Blue Chromises and Brown Chromises, and schools of over 100 Blue Tang. I saw parrotfish, wrasses, coral, gorgonians, and more that I have never seen before!! I have a close to complete list in my Dive Log. This snorkel trip was amazing!!
The weather didn't look the best and Sandy Cay doesn't have a really good anchorage, nor does it have good holding, so we all decided to move south to Lynyard Cay. Guess who we met.... 2 more boats with kids (s/v Eira and s/v Sand Dollar). To make it better, there were Cody, age 7 (yeah for Bro!); Noah, age 9 (yeah for Bro!); John, age 9 (yeah for Bro again!); and Daniel, age 11 (super yeah for me!!). Daniel and I became friends pretty quickly and we talked and played.
We were going to have a hot dog and marshmallow roast with s/v Tauá, so we invited all our new friends. The kids all collected piles of fuel, dug a fire pit, and covered everything in case of upcoming rain. Daniel and I, who were noticeably in charge (no adult supervision at all happened) tried, unsuccessfully to create a lean-to. When we were finished, Dad pointed out that our fire pit was too close to the waterline and the tide was coming in, so he got the other parents to approve the idea of letting us make a small fire and roasting just one package of marshmallows, ruining our appetites for dinner, and then maker a bigger bonfire tomorrow with a full-blown weenie roast. We had the fastest campfire/marshmallow roast ever. The marshmallows were devoured very quickly by us 7 kids. I alone had eight, and some people had more. I asked Daniel once, "How many marshmallows have you had? I've had 6 or 7." His reply was simply, "You count???"
When we were done, I was sick to my stomach. The tide was in enough to flood our fire pit, but we have a better spot for tomorrow. We are all going to do school until 12:30 or 1:-00pm tomorrow and then meet on the beach.
We got back to the boat around 7:30pm and had rinse-off showers. Mom told me, and I thought she was joking, that we had invited s/v Tauá for a supper of venison sausage. I didn't eat much. I am now plum-tuckered-out. Today was great!
Wednesday, 5/7/08 Day 95
This evening was awesome! This afternoon was okay. This morning wasn't too exciting. Today had 3 parts: morning - school, afternoon - beaches, evening - weenie roast/bonfire. Today was great!
Up until lunch, all we did was school. By 1:00pm, we were ready to go exploring. We dinghied south down Lynyard Cay's western side and found a nice beach. We found lots of shells, including Flamingo Tongues, Sunrise Tellins, and a King Helmet. We walked across to an ocean beach that was full of trash. There were a lot of logs that we collected for tonight's fire.
We went to a beach further north that I didn't like that much. There were no shells and we didn't even bring beach toys. S/V Tauá joined us and Claudia and Josh buried me in the sand. Because I got sand all down my bathing suit, Mom made me wade chest high and get naked to wash myself off!! Mr. Peter and Dad went dinghy trolling, but didn't catch anything.
We returned to the anchorage and Mom and Dad dropped us on the beach with the e-tool (excavation tool - a mini, foldable shovel used in the military to dig trenches and foxholes) to start getting the fire ready. We started digging a really big fire pit right at the high tide line and collecting all the stored fuel we found last night. I thought that we wouldn't have enough fuel for a bonfire, so I started pulling the palm leaves off the big, dead palm fronds, so that the fronds would provide more wood.
I got a huge splinter stuck deep in my right ring finger while doing that. We yelled and waved at s/v Liberty and Dad came speeding to get us. I showed him the splinter and he said that he may have to use a pair of pliers to yank it out. It hurt and I was crying. Mr. Menno and the boys from s/v Eira stopped by to see what was up, and Mr. Menno convinced me that it wasn't going to be that bad, and to look away and talk with him and Dad "was just going to look at it." I knew that Dad was going to pull it, so I said, "Go!! Just go!!" He pulled it swiftly and, though I thought it would hurt a lot, it didn't hurt that much. My finger hurt a lot more when the splinter was in and when it was out than actually going in or getting pulled out.
As Mom was cleaning the wound, I started to feel very dizzy, my stomach started doing flip-flops, and my vision got hazy for a quick moment. Mom said that I was feeling faint because I was so nervous and scared and had so much anxiety. I sat for a while and Mom made me put my head between my legs for a little while. Finally, I felt better.
We all went to the beach, collected more logs, and got set up. The family from s/v Sand Dollar couldn't make it, but it was still super fun. Mr. Menno and Dad set all the kindling out and poured oil/gas on the big pile. When Daddy lit it, the oil/gas blew up with a "kaboom!!" As the fire was growing bigger, we made our roasting sticks. We used pocket knives to sharpen the sticks and then fire-hardened them.
When it was time to eat, we all had 2 hot dogs. If you stick them on the long way, like an extension of your stick, you roast them more evenly. We all had to make our parents hot dogs as well, giving us more roasting time and fun with the fire! Marshmallows came next. We ate over one package of marshmallows, but this time the parents ate some too. I only had 5 this time, and I didn't get sick or feel bad at all.
After supper, we spent the rest of the evening keeping the fire up and running. Though Mr. Menno had said before we started that it looked like we had enough fuel to last forever, the logs and palm fronds ran low around sunset. We used pine leaves and reeds/grass to keep the fire up as much as possible. Unfortunately, by the time the sun was down, the tied was getting high and threatening to put out our fire again. We used the e-tool to dig trenches and ditches to keep the water back. I had another useful idea. I used the e-tool to enlarge the pit up the beach towards the forest. Then, we tried to "move" the fire. I shoveled red hot coals and burning branches until I thought I may have singed my shirt (but I hadn't). Then, we thought of the last thing that could save the fire - a palm frond. I set out to the grove of palm trees, but I was seen by the adults and they told me that it was almost time to leave and that we should let nature put out the fire. I returned unsuccessful and we did everything we could until the parents actually walked over to put out the fire. Afterwards, I remembered the tongs Dad had brought. They could have been useful for moving burning branches. We had a ton of fun. Wait, maybe we each had a ton of fun. That would be 5 tons of fun, instead of one. Today was super awesome!!!!!
