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We’re finally north of Cape Hatteras for Hurricane Season.  However, much of the shoreline and many of the museums describe how hurricanes have effected the people and places along this coast over the years.  I’m not going to think about that right now, maybe later.  We selected this anchorage because Active Captain, our online cruising guide said, first of all, anchoring was possible here, and also that there is a West Marine available.  We were also interested in the Assateague National Park/National Seashore which is a 37 mile long barrier island along this part of the Eastern Shore.

Eastern Shore actually refers to the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake, which is basically the Delmarva penninsula, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia.

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We are anchored just inside the Ocean City inlet between West Ocean City and Assateague Island. To the north is Ocean City it’s boardwalk, amusements, and miles of beach resorts, and to the south is Assateague Island’s undeveloped natural beauty.

My mom drove over 500 miles from Buffalo, NY to meet us here.  The wind was biting cold, we had several days of dark and raining skies, but there were still a few sunny days. The beach season officially opens Memorial Day weekend on the boardwalk, but we went a few days early to avoid the crowds.

A few years ago we visited the Harrison family in New Jersey and had an afternoon at The Shore, which was very similar to Ocean City’s boardwalk.  I’m assuming this is a common East Coast beach attraction.  The boardwalk had a long beautiful white beach on the eastern side and shops and restaurants along the western side.  At the end of the boardwalk by the inlet is an amusement park and this little Life-Saving Station museum.  At first I was just looking for a place to wash our hands after ice cream, but in the end touring this museum really explained the history of Ocean City.

The downstairs has an aquarium room with marine life unique to this area like the Lined Seahorse, Horseshoe Maryland Blue Crabs, Maryland Sheepshead, and shark exhibits.  The Ocean City circa 1940 exhibit pictured people in bathing costumes and showed that this has always been a fishing community.

The Life-Saving exhibit explained how the surfmen who manned this station would rescue people from shipwrecks off the coast.  The girls also answered questions from the museum’s clipboard along the way, earning a shark tooth prize.

Upstairs there are exhibits about the boardwalk, surfing and local veterans.

The rain continued and Eric stayed home with Topaz so he could get some work done in peace.  My mom took us to the Assateague Visitors Center in Maryland.  The National Parks visitors centers do a great job educating us about the park.  On this cold rainy day no one wanted to get out of the car, but a quick picture with the ponies was in order.

Assateague is one of the few places where horses are completely wild.  On the northern Maryland end, only a small part of the island has roads and the rest is untouched for the horses to live by their natural instincts.   They live in bands with a stallion, a few mares and their young.  The horses are wild, like the bears in Yellowstone, and the rangers educate visitors to reduce habituation by not feeding or approaching the animals. The herd size is  controlled with a contraceptive vaccine administered with a dart gun.  This protects the land from over grazing and the mares live a longer life by only having one foal in their prime.

In Virginia, on the southern end of the island the horses are taken care of by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department.  Here the horses are rounded up at the end of July, the swim to Chincoteague Island 1/4 mile away and collect foals to auction off.  This not only keeps the herd under 150 animals, but also helps pay for any care provided to the ponies.

Now how can we do all this touring without a good lunch.  Hmm, when in a Maryland fishing town what should we eat.  How about crab?  This was our first experience with such a meal.  The dinner for two came with hush puppies, corn, shrimp, and a couple dozen crabs.  The waitress gave us a bit of instruction on eating these steamed crustaceans covered in Old Bay seasoning.  Then we got to work with the hammer.

It didn’t take long to realize we needed a doggie bag to save the rest for tomorrows lunch.

Back at the boat we finished them up.

The cold wind and rain kept us inside when we were at the boat.  Anywhere we went outside made us shiver to the bone.  Another new experience for us here is the tidal currents.  Makai changes the direction we rest at anchor with the tides and not the wind.  So when the tide is coming in, we face 180 degrees to the wind and now it blows straight into the cockpit and if the door is open we freeze inside the boat.  Cuddling with a blanket and movie, a little popcorn and hot chocolate helps.
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All day long the fishermen would zip back and forth in their foul weather gear.  Some would drift with the wind or current past us.  I saw plenty of fishing but not so much catching although I’m sure they must have been catching something to attract so many people out on this cold day.  We gave it a try without much luck.

Saturday Eric put his work aside, the sun came out, mom stayed home with Topaz and we went touring.

Our first stop was Furnace Town near Snow Hill about 40 minutes down the Delmarva peninsula. The furnace operated for about 20 years in the first half of the 1800s.  To make iron for Philadelphia and Baltimore, they collected ore out of a nearby bog, and dumped it in the furnace along with oyster shells (which forced the impurities to coagulate) and charcoal.

The melted iron was poured off into pigs made in sand molds.  The museum also had several historical buildings that were moved here to represent buildings that originally supported the company town.

The first is the church, and then the broom maker.

The weaver’s building was actually a polling house from a neighboring community.

The grounds were the edge of a beautiful wooded park, Roy’s keen critter eye spotted this huge fuzzy caterpillar.

The flowers were starting to bloom everywhere as well.

another half hour down the road was the NASA Wallops flight facility visitor’s center.  The displays and movies were very informative.  We also learned that as a young Naval Officer George HW Bush was stationed here.

A few miles more and we came to Chincoteague Island and the Virginia side of Assateague.

The girls did two Jr. Ranger programs, we did an easy walk out to a pony viewing area.

We learned about habitats and the animals found in the Chincoteague wildlife refuge.

And then got home very late.  What a great day, we never could have seen all of this without my mom’s car.  Between the rental car in Fort Lauderdale, and my mom’s car here in Maryland, we’ve really come to appreciate how nice it is to have a car.  So many things would be out of our reach without it.

The inlet to the Cape Canaveral is just south of the cape.  We pulled in there in the evening with those dreadful love bugs swarming around us like Pig Pen from the Peanuts cartoons.  Our first order of business was to throw a birthday party for Roy.  Sniff sniff, my baby is 12, his last year before I have a teenager.

Every day was a celebration in Fort Lauderdale, so his birthday was just a day of appreciation and cupcakes.

Roy filled our days with fishing.  He’s getting really good at catch and release.  The thrill of the pole bending and pulling in a big one are satisfying enough.

For his birthday Roy got two new poles, one for offshore trolling and one for casting.  Genny and Marie also got pink girl poles.  Roy did a good job helping the girls with fishing.

Catfish was the name of the game this week.  Occasionally he would bring in a fish that would squirt out globs of clumped white stuff along with 3 or 4 yellow marble sized balls.  I’ve been googling this trying to figure out what part is eggs.  Not having much luck, if anyone has experience with catfish eggs, let me know.

A highlight of our stay was Mark and Sandy Aanonson’s visit.  They are the grandparents of our pals from home Scott and Krista, Tyler and Cody.  Mark and Sandy were so kind to bring Roy a birthday present, iTunes the perfect kid gift, along with all kinds of goodies.

We were in shock about the disgusting look of the water.  It was like floating in coffee, no swimming here. I’m sure it was plenty clean, just muddy.  We anchored off this tiny little island called Ski Island, people came on their little power boats all day, Topaz had fun there but the kids preferred Makai.  Past this island in the distance is the Space Center museum and rocket launch sites.

On May 15 a rocket was launched with a GPS satellite.  We used our computer to follow the countdown, it was very exciting.

Off it went, smoke billowing and the glowing rocket heading for orbit.

After the launch we headed back out through the lock, through the bascule bridge, down the channel and back out to sea.  Mr. Bowditch said passing or rounding a cape is called doubling the cape.  That night we doubled Cape Canaveral and set a course for Cape Hatteras.

The Gulf Stream was warm, 81 degrees, and the winds were light.  For about 4 days we glided north with 2-4 knots of current helping us along.  It was really pleasant.  The spinnaker was priceless.  Occasionally we would use the jib and the main sail, but the slapping of the sails back and forth because the winds were too light to keep the full was miserable, but the spinnaker was quiet and efficient.  The movie Wind is a cult classic favorite on Makai.  Paying respect to the film, we call our spinnaker the Whomper.

One day out there a little bird joined us.  We were about 100 miles off the coast of South Carolina and figured he must have been lost and tired.

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Along the way Roy had his fishing pole at work.  One day we got a Mahi Mahi right up to the side of the boat and I didn’t know how to gaff it so it got away, a little while later he got another one on the line and Roy messed with the drag and it got away. Finally, we thought we had learned a few lessons, so the peanut gallery got in position for the show.

Roy fought this fish for about 1/2 hour and finally got it up to the side.  Apparently Mahi Mahi travel with their pal and even when one gets hooked, the others stay close by.  The water was clear and the fish were bright green with blue fins, it was really cool seeing them all swim around.

Then Roy got it up close and it was my job to gaff it again.  I was nervous that I would mess this one up and my anxiety skyrocketed.  I didn’t want to let Roy down, so with a quick whack the gaff scooped the Mahi up and it flopped on the back deck.  I was sure it would slide off and be in the water again, so I flopped down and sat on it.

The whole ordeal was too much for my nerves, Roy was very professional about the whole thing, he kept his cool, maybe I’ll be fired.

There he is with his prize.

We filleted the fish on the back porch and froze up 3 of 4 portions. The fourth went on the BBQ and within 30 minutes from when it was swimming we were tasting it.  Delicious.

All day Sunday we spent doubling the cape.  The wind was light off of Cape Hatteras, but the water was confused and miserable.  By late afternoon we were out of the washing machine and heading toward the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.  Here the thunder storms were chasing us and we left the Gulf Stream.  The water temperature dropped from 81 degrees to 51 degrees.

We could dodge thunder storms here and one there, but the last one was 10 miles across and it got us.  Between us we only had one set of foul weather gear to share.

When the rain was gone and the sun came out Marie put on her yoga clothes, laid out her towel for exercise time.

Roy decided that while yoga was fine, he would tie the towel around his neck and be Yoda.

Now we’re at our anchorage in Maryland.  My mom drove over from Buffalo to spend a few days with us.  The weather is certainly different from the Caribbean, even Topaz sleeps inside at night.  This situation gave the sisters easy access to Topaz and decided she needed to dress up a bit.

I hope everyone had a great day.  Eric keeps reminding me this post should be named “The WORST Mother’s Day EVER”  but I’m trying to look for what could be considered a bright side of the last 24 hours.  First good thing, No one got hurt or sick.

Yesterday we were very happy to leave Fort Lauderdale, the No See Ums we’re so thick that we locked our selves inside and cranked up the air conditioning.  But on the positive side, we did have a hose full of city water to scrub off the construction dirt.  The kids had a blast soaping up the boat and sliding around on the bubbles.  By the time we left everyone and everything was squeaky clean head to toe.  This is a good thing.

Then we untied, not an easy task from this strange slip, stopped to fill up with fuel, and headed down the Intercoastal Waterway to channel and the open ocean.  Adios No See Ums, go feed on someone else for awhile.  This is a good thing! Wow, the ICW was really busy, and the channel was even worse.  Oh, but first Genny lost her hat and we had to do circles in the channel trying to retrieve it.  The main channel out to sea was the sloppiest water we’ve seen in a long time.  Huge power boats were speeding in and out, their wakes created huge waves that threw the contents of our boat around.  Then of course there were the tankers coming and going and their pilot boats zipping around clearing the way.  Right about this time I passed out the Dramamine figuring it was going to be a long sick night.

Eventually the traffic settled down, we got on course and the wind and the waves were at a perfect angle for a smooth sail.  The Gulf Stream gave us 2 extra knots, we were flying.  This is a good thing!  I went for my nap and got up to take watch at 10 pm.  Eric showed me this huge blob on the Radar that represented the massive lightning storm we saw off on our port side.  He said to keep changing course so it can go by.  Well, just as Eric fell asleep, that storm decided to close in on us no matter where I steered.  ”Wake up, wake up, come see this” is what got him out of bed.  For the next two hours we battled high winds, torrential downpour, and electricity coming out of the sky. Eric is the only one with Foul Weather gear, mine is in the van in NJ waiting for me, so he had to stand out there and get poured on. We had no choice but by using the radar and visuals on the lightning to pick the shortest path through the storm.  Finally, at about midnight we were smooth sailing again.  The water was calm, winds light and the current added to knots to our speed for a total of 7 easy knots.

In the morning, Eric gave me 2 extra hours to sleep.  This is a good thing! Then while he was napping, I waxed parts of the boat’s cabin top, helped Roy get his fishing lines out, and whipped up a great breakfast.  This was going to be a great day.  But something weird was happening with the wind, current and autopilot.  On two occasions, I was up front waxing and all of a sudden the sails started flapping.  We were totally off course, each time I got it fixed.  The last time, Roy started yelling “Fish ON”.  So I was trying to straighten out the boat and Roy discovered it wasn’t a fish but he (actually I) had gotten the line wrapped on the boat.  Once again, “Eric, wake up, wake up, I need help.”  I had to get my mask and go down to unwrap the fishing line from the propeller.  The water off of the Florida coast is nothing like that beautiful blue glass color of the Caribbean.

Next, we were back to sailing along at 7.5 knots.  This is a good thing!  Roy pointed out the numerous jelly fish we were sailing past.  That was scary since I was just in there.  Unlike the clear tentacle free jellys in the Caribbean, these had red tops with tentacles.  I’m not sure, but I think they are cannonball jellyfish.  I didn’t get stung, That’s a good thing!

If all this wasn’t bad enough, we got attacked by several swarms of bugs.  At first there were just a few, then they were all over the place.  HEY we’re at least 10 miles off shore, where did they come from.

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I just learned that these bugs are actually flies the locals call Florida Lovebugs.  Yes, how do you know you are in Florida?  Everyone hides from the humidity and bugs inside with the air conditioner running.

We finally made it to Port Canaveral.  Eric was apprehensive about coming here because we have to dodge cruise ships, go through a bascule bridge and a lock.  Everything went smoothly, That’s a good thing!

Finally, we had a great dinner of bbq hot dogs, yellow rice and vegetables.  The kids tried out their new poles and Roy caught two catfish.  That’s a good thing!  The flying bugs are disappearing, I can’t believe how long they’ve been with us, and so far we haven’t noticed any more pests, That’s another good thing!  We plan to stay here through Wednesday’s rocket launch.  Hopefully the wind that’s predicted come out of the North, will turn around and come from the south.

Now the day is over and I’m in my bed.  Thats a very good thing.

I feel like we’ve been here for weeks, but it’s only been 4 days. Chris Spencer, the guy who made and is installing our hard top, took care of us all the way.  We pulled into the channel after 8 days at sea and were lost, but within minutes, Chris made the calls and told us exactly which slip to tie up to.  As soon as we were settled in, we needed to report to Customs and Immigration.  On the islands this was a short bus or dinghy ride for Captain Eric, but in Fort Lauderdale the whole family needed to make their way to the office which was about 8 miles away in an industrial office complex.  Since most of our errands were going to require a car, our first order of business was to call Hertz to come get us.  The kids think this mini van is the same one we drove from Kissimmee to the Miami airport in November, we got a free upgrade and a free GPS in the car, I felt like it was my birthday.

The real reason why we’re here in Fort Lauderdale is the appointment we made with Chris Spencer months ago to set Makai up with a hard top over the cockpit.  It’s a real upgrade for the boat to move from the canvas bimini to this fiberglass top.

The kids and I helped remove the old canvas.  Bonjour, Makai is feeling naked with her top off.

Thursday morning the top arrived. They fastened it to a crane that was able to swing it’s arm from the parking lot over to the boat.

Then gently lower it into place.  Chris set up temporary supports and clamped the back to the Targa wing.

Then he and Eric went to work.  Chris filled the old holes, mounted forward supports filled, ground and blended the fiberglass from the top to the wing, and hooked up the wires to power up the built in lighting.

This top won’t leak in a rain storm, we can walk on it for better access to the boom and main sail, or sit on top to enjoy a new view.  We haven’t had time to appreciate it yet, but everyone tells us its a huge upgrade.

Now for shopping.  According to my American Express, we shopped at:  West Marine, Costco, Supercuts, Old Navy, Ross, McDonalds, KMart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Golden Corral, a Pet Store, Michaels, Home Depot, a Soda Fountain Store, Subway, Bass Pro Shop, and Napa Auto Parts.  That’s only my list, Eric has his own list as well.

The girls had been using napkins to make doll clothes.  Ten dollars of multi colored felt squares kept everyone busy for hours.

Roy spent hours at the fishing counter in West Marine having his old poles and reels checked out and selecting new one for his birthday.

Roy also mounted the poles in his room to protect them from the elements on the back rail.  Roy got a heavy trolling rig and a lighter weight casting rig.

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At Ross I bought a set of flameless candles.  They provide ambiance and a little light without the frustration of blowing out, melted wax all over the place, and remembering to light and blow them out.  At Costco we were happy to stock up on all the regular items, paper and soap products as well as all our favorite fruits.  From Bed Bath and Beyond we got a Sodastream machine.  Do you remember the pictures of the Cokes Eric had stored all over the place.  Well, after lugging 2L bottles by the dozens through the streets of the islands, and finding places for the trash, I decided to try the Sodastream machine.  I also found a fountain drink distributor for Coca Cola syrup because Eric only likes the real thing.  Success, everyone is happy, and I love the plain carbonated water.  The only problem is that the syrup only lasts about 2 months and has an expiration date.  We’ll have to see how that goes.

There is a baby Golden Retriever, his name is Rio, at the marina office.  I took dozens of pictures but most all of them were blurred because the little guy never stopped moving.  Topaz wasn’t impressed, but the kids couldn’t stop squishing, squeezing, and touching the little fuzz ball.

Friday the kids and I decided to check out the Bass Pro Shop.  This place was amazing.  The merchandise was only a small part of the attraction. It was the displays, decorations, aquariums, restaurant and museum that kept us there for 4 hours.  This place was like Disneyland, there was a parking structure, bus drop off locations, a lake with  a beach and watersports lessons.

Roy bought himself a bigger tackle box.

The Fishing Hall of Fame Museum was top notch.

There were rooms that described tackle, game fish habitats, hall of fame records, conservation.

The kids played these virtual reality fishing games.  They caught about 6 different types of fish from the bite to landing it.

Out back is a wetlands nature walk with these tiny frogs, birds, fish, grasses and of course, it wouldn’t be Florida without an……..

Alligator.

Today we have just a few little chores to finish up on before we leave.

How do you know you are in Florida?Everyone stays inside with the air conditioner running to hide from the bugs and humidity.  The first few mornings and evenings we got massacred by no see ums.  They swarmed all over us.  We had to stay inside with the doors and windows closed and a sheet over our heads.  Finally we got it worked out, hooked up to shore power and turned on the air conditioner.

The plan is to leave this afternoon and head for New Smyrna Beach and Ponce De Leon inlet, about 200nm and a day and a half north of here. This is a place we visited by land last November with my mom, and she’s planning to rent there next winter so we’ll visit by boat in the fall.  I’m guessing we’ll stay for just a few days before heading for Maryland or Virginia on one more long passage.  After that we’ll spend most of June and July in Lower New England, NY, CT, MA, RI.

I won’t bore you all with the details of the trip, I think I posted plenty of boring rambling text from the boredom of days at sea.  Here are some pictures we took along the way.

Small diversions created much excitement.  Here we are watching the dolphins that entertained us for about 30 minutes.

Surprisingly all these months we’ve had very few dolphin encounters.  We were impressed with their speed.  Makai was zipping along at 7 kts here and those dolphins were zig zagging in front of us.

The sunsets were beautiful.  When we’re at anchor we often miss the sunset because we’re too busy with dinner or movies.  This passage was heading west and every evening the person on watch just had to do their job and look out ahead.  This is enough to see the sunset every evening.

Poor Marie has several queezy nights.  When she wasn’t feeling well her favourite place to sleep was in the cockpit with her Little Mermaid pillow and fuzzy pink princess blanket.

On one of our calm sailing days, we had a chance to take a dip.  We took turns dragging off the back of the boat.

Roy liked dragging from the end of the rope.  That was to scary for me, it’s hard to hang on to a rope being towed at 3 kts.

Genny is the one who organized this activity, she’s like our cruise director or something.

After their first swim, someone had the bright idea to use soap and scrub some stink off.

Our nights are rigid two hour watches.  Daytime is a loose schedule.  Here Eric is trying out the Little Mermaid pillow and pink fuzzy princess blanket.  He said it was very comfortable.

For most of the trip we rarely saw any other boats.  Throughout the entire trip we only saw 1 or 2 boats smaller than a tanker or cruise ship.

We have an AIS system on board that transmits vessel data to and receives from other ships with this system.  It’s mandatory for the large commercial vessels to have AIS, and many private boats also have it.  This is really handy on night watch, often we see the AIS contact before seeing the ships lights.

Eric decided it was time to rinse off the watermaker’s prefilters.  He does this by tying a line to the filter and dragging it off the back.  Then the kids played with it a bit and figured out how to make it do tricks by turning and twisting the line.

It’s nice to see the ocean litter free, but occasionally something does pop up.  Here’s the fender Roy dragged in.  After cleaning, filling it with air, and trying to fix the leak, it was tossed in the dumpster here in Ft. Lauderdale.

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We had Eric’s birthday brownies before night watches began.  Since I tossed the used candles out at the last birthday party, we had to use the sparkler again.  Fireworks are always a big hit.

Here is a Disney cruise ship.  I pictured all these people staying in Disney themed rooms and having dinner with the characters.  I’m not sure what they do on a Disney cruise ship, but Eric said that’s probably as close as we’ll ever get to one.

Topaz is the biggest trooper here.  She had to do her business on the back step which wasn’t always level, or dry.  After days and days, her boredom really started to show.

One of the pieces of data the AIS transmits is the ships speed.  We noticed that the tankers cruised at 12 kts and the cruise ships usually went around 20 kts.

Here’s a shot of the water on a wind free motoring day.  This picture made the surface look way more bumpy that it seemed to be that day.

The Captains quarters are the starboard aft cabin.  The two aft cabins are the most stable places on the boat.  When we have a bumpy night, everyone piles into my bed.  This cabin is also right next to the steering station.  All you have to do is look down the hatch to see what mischief those kids are getting into.

Just as we were approaching the western edge of the Bahamas, our trip log reached 1000nm

Then just as quickly as 1000nm was displayed, the trip meter automatically reset itself back to zero.

Eric thought the port engines vibration was unusual. He looked here and there and then decided to jump in and look below.  Since there was no wind, he could do this easily.

Finally, after over a week and 1000 nm, we found this tiny piece of island with a lighthouse.  This island is Great Isaac and out in the middle of nowhere. We pulled over to a shallow place near here and rested for four hours waiting until 11pm to make our Gulf Stream crossing.  This set us up for a daylight arrival.

Early the next morning, the Fort Lauderdale skyline greeted us.

From the harbor entrance we traveled south along the ICW for a few miles to the marina.  This area is also shipping port.

Now we’re safely tucked into a marina waiting for a hard fiberglass top for our cockpit to be installed.

It took one week and almost 1 day to complete 1075nm. It was a wild 24 hours. We motored through flat calm water, anchored for 4 hours at the edge of the Bahama Bank. Everyone was excited to see a speck of land with a Lighthouse on it. Kamagra can be found also in ordering levitra online the jelly form. generic tadalafil online So, only go for reputed stores to buy Kamagra. What you will find here is a list of what’s excellent for you: Black Chocolates: Black sweets purchase cialis online Facts about purchase cialis online are known to boost the system movement and movement to the genital bloodstream and veins and this reverses ED. That is why any company can produce it without any prescription as it is common and general to order online lowest price viagra and this wonder pill will get delivered to their doorstep in no time, keeping in mind the end goal to examine the issue and the approaches to manage it. At 11pm, we headed out into the Gulf Stream. The wind was on the nose, and the water had the motion of a washing machine. In the end, Eric cranked up both engines full blast and we plowed across in 8 hours.

Sorry for the abbreviated email, I’ll put together proper post with photos soon.

Everything is in order.

We’ll try to post from our HAM radio email.

You can check the FindMeSpot for our current location and  Passage Weather for the current wind conditions in our area. On Passage Weather, click in the colored squares to zoom into the chart for our area.  The feathers on the wind arrow represent wind speed, a long bar is 10 kts, and a short one is 5kts.  Also, the feathers are on the back of the arrow, so the wind direction is from the feather to the front of the line. It looks like we’ll have 10-15 knots of wind behind us until the end of the week when the wind is forecasted to turn around in front of us for a few days.
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Hopefully, we’ll make it to Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas by the weekend and stop for a day or two to wait for the wind to turn back. Then we’ll nose our way up through the Providence channels just under Grand Bahama Island and plan for a daytime arrival in Ft. Lauderdale early next week.

Yesterday morning I sat on the back seat, ate my cereal and looked out into the crystal clear water.  I watched a school of one inch fish swim by and could see the sandy bottom and little coral head full of marine life.  I’m getting a little weepy thinking that after five months, this is the end.  Here are a few screen shots off of our chart plotter from the seven weeks we spent in the Virgin Islands.

The black lines are our tracks.  The wind comes from East or North East most of the time, so the zig zag lines are when we tack up wind, and the smooth lines are a beautiful sail down wind.

Another cool link to follow on us is Argus.  Here is our Argus page.  Eric found some guys who are trying to fine tune charts.  I guess that some of the depths were last checked over 100 years ago.  They noted that hundreds of boats a year sail around with a gps and depth sounder, and so made a device to collect these positions and depths.  Whenever we have wifi, the data is automatically uploaded to their system and displayed on a chart.  We just started this a few weeks ago, and it’s only updated when we have wifi.  To keep track of our most current position, check the FindMeSpot. Every ten minutes or so our position is updated via satellite.

After the Aanonson’s left we went to the U.S. Virgin Islands to take care of business.  First off, lets get checked into the United States.  Eric’s research showed that if we wait until we get to Ft. Lauderdale, we’ll have to take a cab to customs and immigration.  Apparently, you can’t take a dinghy, bus, or walk, you must enter by a car or cab.  Next, lets get that dinghy registered.  After sailing in Mexico several years ago, our first stop was San Diego.  We immediately got a ticket for not having all the right gear and paperwork in the dinghy.  When I was in the USVI a few weeks ago, I found that the registration is done at the airport and we need a notarized bill of sale from Rodney.  With all the appropriate paperwork in hand Eric went over to the airport only to find the offices closed for Carnival.

Ok, what’s next on the list, Fuel.  This is a rare sight, Makai at the fuel dock.  We topped off in Grenada at the end of December, Antigua the first of March, and now in the USVI.  102 gallons at $4.58/gallon for diesel.  We took on more fuel this time, but the bill was less than Antigua.  We also loaded up on groceries and did some precooking.  I made taco meat, refried beans from dried pintos, ground beef to go with pasta, hamburger patties, a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and a batch of oatmeal raisin.  We also got fresh milk for the first half of the trip and box milk for the second half, fresh produce, but we’ll run out before we reach Florida, plenty of crackers, lunch meat and cheese and chips.

The kids wanted to get in a few of their favorite activities.  Since Scott taught me how to tow a skier, or knee boarder in our case, the sisters have been enjoying this activity.

We’re anchored on the west side of the airport.  The planes don’t make much noise, and best of all, there aren’t any jet skis.

Roy of course, is fishing.  The clear water is cool because you can see the fish bite the hook.

A few days ago he bought a crappie rig that has two hooks.  With two hooks, he was able to catch two fish at once.

Then of course there’s Topaz.  She loves to swim and chase the fish.  Soon she’s going to be tied up in the cockpit with nowhere to go and nothing to do for a week.  When we reach the U.S. there will be ‘No Dogs Allowed’ signs all over the beaches.

We set up the boat for traveling.  Eric went around and made sure all the lazarette latches worked, we hoisted him up the mast to check the rigging and lines 70+ feet up.  We also put thicker traveling lines on the jib and set them up with blocks at the toe rail for a downwind point of sail.  Rodney reminded us to move the lines a little in or out every day to reduce chafe and wear on the same spot day after day.

The ends of the jib sheets were fraying, so Roy went to work with his Boy Scout line whipping skills.

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The girls and I decided to check out the Carnival Parade, since that’s what is holding us up with the dinghy registration.  While we were at the grocery store someone said it started at 10am, but they thought it would be late, maybe noon.  That’s good since it was already 11am.  So we rushed back to put away our groceries so we wouldn’t miss the parade.  Back at the dinghy dock, I noticed a police officer carefully checking the dinghy and tender registrations.  Oh, bummer, I don’t want a ticket and I don’t want to miss the parade, so I sent Genny back with the dinghy to ask Eric for a drop off.  Then we wandered around looking for the parade route and finally got dropped off near the staging area and found out that the parade would be 6 hours long, so we didn’t miss anything.  There was plenty of activity, but no one was moving forward. The narrow sidewalks were lined with ‘çamps’ of families.  Each group had a huge spread of food, a full bar, and comfortable chairs. After walking and wondering for over an hour, I asked a few questions here and there and pieced together that a troop only comes by every 20 minutes or so, and sometimes there are long gaps.  The Rose Parade or Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, this isn’t!

Even though we were hot and our feet hurt, we did see some neat groups.  This one is three trailers of steel drummers two levels high. When they played the whole rig bounced up and down to the rhythm.   They were a highlight.

I’m not sure if the Fire Service is here for safety or just because the view is better from the top of the truck.  We also saw plenty of happy police officers.  The crowd was all very quiet and civil, in fact I’m pretty sure some of the people were napping.

This troop was hilarious. They had people dressed like nurses or doctors and the patients had fake butts sticking out of their gowns.

The showgirl Mardi Gras style costumes were beautiful.  And no one was shy about the amount of ‘girl’ that had to fit into that tiny costume.

The people were all ready and willing to pose for pictures.  Whenever they saw a camera pointing in their direction, they would stop and pose.

As we came up through the Caribbean Island chain, we missed Carnival several times.  They all have their own schedule, some in February, April, and August.

I didn’t realize this but there are not only British Virgin Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands, but also Spanish Virgin Islands.  These are the hand full of islands between St. Thomas and Puerto Rico 60 west of here.

We rushed off to the US Virgin Islands so we could get the dinghy registered before the weekend, only to find out that it is Carnival week here.  In the Caribbean, Carnival occurs at different times for different islands, but the results are the same.  The entire island has the week off, don’t try to get any business done.  So, we’re waiting around until Monday.  This dinghy registration is pretty important, when we arrive in Florida the dinghy will still be the transportation that will take us to shore and in the U.S. it must be registered or the harbor patrol will surely give us a ticket.

While we’re waiting we have plenty of chores.  Eric cleaned out the shower sump strainers, we may not be able to take showers off the back of the boat in the States. He also messed around with the holding tanks and went up the mast to check out a frayed line. I defrosted three holding plates for the refrigeration. Eric moved one of the plates higher in the box.  Only the food below the plate will freeze, so this will give us more depth for our frozen goods. Eric is also replacing a thermostat that doesn’t work very well.  Luckily, there is a Radio Shack down the road that has electrical connectors.  I’m still working on rebuilding my computer hard disk.  Tomorrow we’re going to fill up with diesel and groceries.

We’re also getting back on track with school.  We’ve had guests since the 3rd week of March and school was lost and forgotten.  It looks like Marie completed math, has another week in a reading workbook, but too many pages in spelling to complete this year.  This is understandable because we didn’t start the spelling book until January.  Thanks to our friend Kiah for some of her hand me down workbooks.  The workbooks are an attempt to get more words to pass before Marie’s eyes since she’s still crabby about reading books.  Not for long though, she’s doing pretty well with reading a sentence or two off each page I read to her.

Now that the computer is up and running, Roy and Genny are back on track with their dvd math course.  We’ve really enjoyed Teaching Textbooks for math, they are working a year ahead, but next year Roy will switch to Saxon math.  Saxon is approved for High School by our favorite California Homeschool Charter School.  Roy and Genny also completed IEW writing, I’m looking for something good for next year, let me know if you have any suggestions.  The big restriction is that we can’t commit to online programs.  We use Sequential Spelling which has so many lessons it has taken us 3 years to finish the first book, not to fear, the second book is waiting in the wings.  They are also writing in journals using the writing techniques they’ve learned so far. A few more CBS lessons from the book of Mark and then we’ll be in the market for new bible study lessons as well. We live science, history, PE, and all the other subjects, so they’ve fallen off of our list of things to do.  We have language dvds, latin books, and piano lessons, but the interest isn’t there. Maybe later.
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Roy, Genny and I have been working hard on our library.  Eric always reads and has his own library, but the rest of us are reading from the same shelf.  Over the last few years I’ve been browsing the used book stores, thrift stores and rummage sales and snatching up books with a historical theme as well as medal winners.  The Newbery medal is usually a good choice. Then I start reading those first, passing them along to the kids with my recommendation, occasionally Roy or Genny will read something and recommend it to me. Besides these historical fiction books, Genny started going crazy on the Little House on the Prairie books and Emily Windsnap series, Roy also enjoyed the Emily Windsnap books plus Ella enchanted which we’ve listened to several times.  Roy does like the ‘boy adventure’ books like My Side of the Mountain, or Broken Blade, but some of them like Hatchet involve a disaster and he gets turned off with the sadness. They’ve also read Star in the Storm, Animal Ark books, Roald Dahl books, Ramona books, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Boxcar Children, Poppy, Holes, Ella Enchanted, A Long Way from Chicago, Hoot, Pippi Long Stocking, a big stack of Archie comics, a half a year’s worth of ten different magazines, Whimpy kid books, Dork Diaries, and  I’m sure there are some hiding around here I missed.  We currently only have half of our library on board, the other half is waiting in the van in New Jersey.

Right now  I’m reading out loud Carry on Mr. Bowditch which I just noticed was a gift from Eric’s cousin Christie to Eric and Roy. Roy only got through half of this book, but now we all get to enjoy it. Thanks Christie, this is a good one.  It’s set in post revolutionary war time, in Salem Massachusetts about a boy with a family history at sea.  They use sailing terms and often describe how that word got it’s meaning at sea.   I’m also reading Island of Blue Dolphins about American Indians living on the Islands off the coast of California.  Genny read half of this one before putting it aside.  I like reading out loud the books the kids lost interest in because Marie and I also get to hear the story, and it helps Roy and Genny finish a story they lost interest in.  I’m also using Island of Blue Dolphins to sample the ebooks on my iPhone that Orange County public library offers.  We don’t have digital books onboard, maybe when we get through all paperbacks we already own, we’ll think about three digital readers for the kids.

A few more days of waiting, waiting, and then we’ll be off for Florida.  A rough estimate says it will take us a week.  Be sure to check our FindMeSpot on the menu above to track our progress.  I’ve also been pounding away on wordpress trying to figure out why our post via email function hasn’t been working.  Today’s efforts seem to have fixed it.  So, while we’re underway we can send an email from the ham radio to our blog and post text updates.

After months of hearing “when are Tyler and Cody coming”, today is the day.  We spent the day anchored at Marina Cay which is a half mile away and much more pleasant than Trellis Bay where we meet our guests at the airport.  To relieve stress, Roy fishes.  Here he is with his prized Hound fish.

Finally evening came, the flight was due to arrive at 7:47, the kids and I pressed ourselves against the windows in the upstairs waiting area.  Tiny planes began to arrive, the first with five passengers, but no Aanonsons.  On the second, about 1/2 hour late, parked in the distance, we could see a few people shorter than the rest.  Oh, yea, here they are.  As they walked by on the side walk, we jumped up and down, waved our arms and danced.

The waiting is over.  The Aanonsons live down the alley from us in California.  They are the homeschool family we played with every afternoon, took bike rides for donuts in the morning when no one wanted to start school, bike rides with the dogs in the afternoons, and shared kid duty for appointments, quick drop offs and pick ups and shopping trips.  Krista and the kids took me and the kids to a movie the morning we left, and then helped cram the last of our stuff in the van.  There were tear inside and outside of the van as we rolled down the alley and off on our adventure.  But how could we share this next week in the Caribbean if we never left? How could they come visit if we never left? Leaving is what makes for a new adventure and opportunity for fun in a new place.

So, lets get this party started!  Our first stop is the Baths on Virgin Gorda.  Along the western end of the island is an area with huge boulders which make for interesting caves and pools to swim in.

Scott and Krista purchased a new Olympus camera for the trip, so we’re going to put it to the test. This camera has a setting for everything including detected when your dog or cat’s eyes are turned toward the camera so you don’t have this directory full of photos of the back of your pet’s head.

After climbing in and out of the rocks and snorkelling around the point, the adults sat on the beach and watched Topaz splash around while the kids went off to find more boulders to climb.

Eric and I are loving this camera, check out the great shots Scott took.  We see this stuff all the time, the colors are brilliant, and our camera gives us disappointing pictures so we never post them.

Common Sea Fan

Cody and Krista signalling that everything is great.

Next stop is Sandy Spit.  We’ve been here twice before and were shocked that the shape of the island had changed.  Eric thinks that around Easter we had some stormy weather and maybe it blew the sand from one side of the island to the other.  Fun was had by all either way.

Shrimp

Common underwater view of fish going about their day.  There is a little brain coral, butterfly fish, tangs, plants, and sea fans.

A new place for us is the Bubbly Pool on Jost Van Dyke. We took an easy half mile hike from the anchorage to the windward side of the island to a spot where the waves rush in through a crack in the rocks.  The kids had fun tossing about and trying to test their strength against that of the water.

Off to Sandy Cay, just across the bay.  The kids have a new game for upwind bashing.  When the bow rises on a wave, they jump up and so when the bow drops into the trough they fall twice as far.  Sounds crazy to me but they like it.  If we’re getting water over the bow then they have the added thrill of getting soaked.

We’ve also been to Sandy Cay a few times, but there seems to have been a hatch of blood sucking mosquitoes since then.  It was hard to enjoy ourselves as we were slapping our arms and waving our hands racing down the path.

Back at the beach it’s business as usual.  Jumping in the waves, hooting and hollaring, throwing sand and goofing off.

The mooring we took at the Caves on Norman Island was over a huge school of Tarpon. It was hard to get a good shot of these guys because they were deeper than a snorkeller could easily dive. Tarpon are huge! Usually 3-4 feet long with big fat bodies with brilliant shining scales scattered over their backs.

The caves are a popular attraction.  There are three caves with large openings that rise several feet above the water.  The openings provide great light for swimmers to have a look around.

Scott and Krista enjoying the clear warm water.

Yellow Tail Damselfish this fish stands out because the light scales on top sparkle in the sunlight.

Blue Tang fish

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Angelfish

Peter Island was our first stop when we arrived in the BVI.  We experienced great weather at that time, but have since learned that the winds can be fierce.  We tried Whites Bay for the first time, it was nuts with winds gusting up to 40 knots and the boat swinging 180 degrees all night long.  The kids made up a blanket surfing game for the wind, but no adult slept that night.

Lets get out of here! A half mile to the south is the anchorage we usually stay at.

We took our usual walk up to the wind generators.  At the top of the hill the wind was so strong it felt like sky diving, I think, because I’ve never been sky diving.

South Bay on Peter Island not only offers this interesting little hike but some great snorkelling as well.

I can’t believe with all the pictures we have, none of the kneeboarding pictures got posted.  Genny and Cody started the craze with Scott towing them all over the bay.  Marie, Tyler and Roy also skimmed by several times.  Scott is a water skier from way back and gave us tips on how to tow.  I think we’ll have to look for a wake board in our travels so they can stand up.

We settled in a Brandywine bay after a long day of shopping in Road Town.  The bay was so quiet and calm we spent the day playing and relaxing.  Even the goats on the beach were peaceful.

But we had to get Topaz out of there before she spotted them.

Hanging around on the boat also means jumping off the boat.

Everyone got into it with their high flying poses.

This is a great day to celebrate Krista’s birthday.  She was supposed to be with us on the day she actually turned the big Four Zero, but due to our sailing schedule, they had to come the week before.

One last stop at the Rhone, Scott hadn’t been diving in ages.  Unfortunately his new camera is only rated for 55 feet and we didn’t want to risk it on our 70 foot dive.

We spent our last night at our favorite spot on Marina Cay where we could enjoy the full flavors offered by the restaurant on the beach.

Now that our last guest has left us we have to get ready to head to Florida.  Today was filled with laundry, cleaning and moving Marie back to her room.  Wow, that little girl took up a lot of space in my bedroom.  Eric used his day to clean out strainers, lubricate latches, fix thises and thats.  I got my computer back up and running with Roy and Genny’s math program installed and activated.  Now we’re ready for one last dive on the Rhone, check out of BVI, check into USVI, get a U.S. registration sticker for our dinghy, fill up on groceries and hopefully leave on the weekend for Florida.  I will try to make one more post before we leave.  You can check our FindMeSpot for our current position.  Every 10 minutes or so this little device sends a gps position to a satellite and then posts it on their website.  You can follow this link or use the menu option at the top of our blog.  We plan to be underway from April 27 to May 4th.  If we’re making good time, we may pause in the Bahamas for a few days as we don’t want to arrive in Ft. Lauderdale too much before May 8th.  We have an appointment for a hard bimini to be installed over our cockpit on the 9th.