Monday after Easter we moved the boat a very short distance to Cape Canaveral.  The girls and I were desperate for a pool for a couple of days and it was perfect timing with my mom visiting.  Cape Canaveral is a lovely area.  Small, but lots going on.  We pulled out of Cocoa Village in water that looked like glass.  I can’t even remember the last time we had no wind.  It’s been a long time and was a sight for sore eyes.  It was a beautiful day.  We left my mom’s rental car at the marina and she rode with us.  Ben took an Uber back later to grab the car.

We did school underway.  My mom loves to help with school which is a gift for me!  She did school with me every single day.  Maddy really takes to her and she worked pretty exclusively with her this time which freed me up to work with Molly.

We came through the Cape Canaveral lock…our first since Coffeeville way back in Alabama!  I had to brush up my lock skills and then we found out that we would drop less than a foot.  Basically they could have left the doors wide open.  We pulled into the lock and Ben immediately noticed that there were two dolphins and a manatee in the lock with us along with many pelicans, as there were fish everywhere.  My mom and the girls sat on the bow of the boat watching the dolphins.   I was line handling so didn’t have much of a chance for good pictures but it was fun to watch the dolphins trying to get out.  The girls were worried that they felt trapped as they were nose to the gate waiting for it to open.  We wondered how often the dolphins ride through the lock.

Back in the locks!

The marina was great, the pool lovely and we had lots of fun.  The girls took their new boogie boards to the pool to play with.  And Madelyn got to try out her mermaid tail!  She loves it, although she got a taste of how it’s a bit scary if she has it on where she can’t touch.  Thankfully she does a very good and strong dolphin kick (learned back home in swim lessons!) and had Molly in the pool and her boogie board.  The pool was nice and shallow so she and Molly were both able to take turns with the tail in the shallow end where they could just put their feet down.  They loved it.

Madelyn the mermaid

Molly’s turn

The girls both got Skip Its for Easter as well.  Some of you may remember these from when we were kids.  I certainly did and Molly spotted one in Annie’s Toy Chest in Cocoa Village and mentioned that Pulaski had them at recess last year.  Molly has quickly mastered the Skip It.  I can’t seem to upload videos in the blog but got a couple of good ones of her!  Madelyn is doing pretty well but tends to fling hers across the ground after a couple rounds.  It is a very compact fun way to get energy out while living on a boat!  It takes up no space and is easy to carry to shore!

Tuesday morning we were treated to a rocket launch!  We made the decision not to go to Kennedy Space Center.  As our friends with kids on the loop mentioned after they also decided to skip it, it’s terribly expensive.  We had the advantage of already taking the girls to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL last October.  So, we really have seen a lot of it already.  So, we decided to skip the very long, very expensive day and watch the launch from the marina.  Ben took pictures with his good camera and with the long zoom was able to get the fire ball shooting out of the rocket.  Maybe he’ll type up a blog and post!  But I just got the giant smoke tail.  It was really cool. We could see the rocket.  Then the smoke.  And then we could hear and feel it. It shook the dock we were standing on.  We could feel it vibrating inside of us.  It’s truly amazing how far that sound stretches and how loud it is!  After the rocket launch Ben and I drove to Ft. Lauderdale for the day to look at the boat we are still quite interested in.  My mom stayed with the girls and enjoyed another pool day and a nice evening with them.  We are still on the fence on the boat!

Wednesday we moved to Titusville, FL.  We mainly moved so that we’d be a quick drive for my mom this morning.  She had to leave about 5:15 AM for the airport and would have had to leave earlier if we had stayed in Cape Canaveral.   My mom’s good friend’s brother and sister in law live in Titusville.  They wanted to see the boat so we arranged with them that we’d see the boat, have lunch and then they would drive us back to get her rental car.  I was thrilled she wanted to ride on the boat again!  We didn’t have much wind and the ICW through here is pretty.  We had a nice ride and pulled into Titusville by lunchtime.  We spotted a HUGE manatee in our marina.  We had a great lunch with Gene and Carol and then they so generously drove Ben and I back to get the car.  Grandma again had the girls (theme of the week!) while we got the car, stopped to buy some fresh shrimp for dinner and did a quick grocery run before she (and the car) left!  The shrimp were fantastic!  YUM!  Shrimp and a bottle of wine and we had a lovely last evening before my mom had to pack up.  As I mentioned she had to leave very early this morning. The girls were crushed and talked all day about how much they missed her.  The week flew by!

Large Manatee

We changed up our schedule a bit this morning.  We are anchored tonight which means no getting off the boat.  So, we got the kids out and active this morning. We took a walk to Space View Park.  This was close to the marina and is a memorial to many NASA astronauts, employees, etc.  The girls ran ahead because Carol had told us about astronaut handprints they would find.  Ben and I stopped and remembered the Challenger.  We, and likely every person our age or close, remembers that fateful day.  I got choked up describing it to the girls.  The giant TV wheeled into my 4th grade classroom.  What an incredible event to watch the first teacher go into space.  So many young eyes watching…only to see complete tragedy.  I remember it clearly.  And I can’t imagine what every teacher in America watching that happen had going through his or her mind.  I don’t remember anything about how my teacher handled the situation.  But I wanted to explain it to our girls and what an effect it clearly had on us since we both remember it so vividly.

We went on to pay respects to the memorial for fallen employees and firefighters who have died working for NASA in various accidents.  And then onto the handprints.  Molly remembered Neil Armstrong from the US Space and Rocket Center but couldn’t remember what he did.  So many things that are ingrained in Ben and my memories that they don’t yet know.  We reminded her and the girls put their hands in his handprints and many others to try them out.  They loved the men’s handprints that were wearing rings and had ring prints in their hand print.  Makes me a little sad that I didn’t see any woman hand prints.  Hopefully that will be added soon!

After Space View Park we walked into the historic downtown part of Titusville and went to Sunrise Bread Bakery.  I’d read about it and heard it was good.  And boy was it!  Muffins were incredible.  Cookies were amazing.  Ben liked the iced coffee because they make their ice cubes for the coffee out of frozen coffee so it doesn’t get watered down.  What a great treat!

We stopped at the playground on the way back to the marina.  While we were sitting on a bench in the shade staring at our phones while the girls played, another mom approached me and asked if we were homeschooling or on vacation.  Both!  I explained what we were doing.  She was there with their homeschool group.  She commented that she wanted to come ask because our girls were playing so well with their kids.  We went and talked with them for a bit and explained our trip and what we are doing.  Their homeschool group has 13 families and this was their park playdate.  Only a handful were there today but it was great to meet them and talk and share ideas for a bit.  They seemed intrigued by what we are doing and I was thrilled to talk to them.  I told her that it was so wonderful that she came over.  We move around a lot.  When we’re in a marina for awhile we absolutely talk and befriend others but not usually when we are stopped somewhere for one day and make a trip to the park. So for her to reach out and introduce herself and chat with us for a few minutes was wonderful.

After the playground we headed back to the boat and on north.  We traveled up to New Smyrna and anchored for the night.  It was a lovely stretch of the ICW with cute little canals and pretty houses.  We spotted our first alligator!  We looked for DAYS on the rivers for an alligator and never saw one.  Ben spotted this one!

We also got our first look at the damage from Hurricane Matthew last fall.  Private docks that are just not yet rebuilt.  Boats that have been blown into land and left there.  As we continue north we will see more and more of this.

We plan to spend a couple of days here in New Smyrna.  Then maybe check out Daytona Beach and then we will be in St. Augustine on Tuesday awaiting Ben’s parents’ visit on Thursday!

We’ve spent the past week in Cocoa, FL in Cocoa Village.  Cocoa Beach is across the bridge and is the touristy spring break filled area.  Cocoa Village is a quaint adorable little town full of great shops, restaurants and ice cream.  Madelyn loved the dollhouse store.

Both girls loved Annie’s Toy Chest….I believe in one week we’ve been there three times and purchased Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty all three times as well as a new 1000 piece puzzle that we’ve started.  The village also has a great playground and a huge park area with a splash pad right along the water front.  I was able to take a couple of long walks along the water and enjoy the views.

Meanwhile on the boat Ben has been getting lots of packages.  When we are actually stationary for one week we can get Amazon deliveries of lots and lots of boat parts.  I love how creative the girls are.  It’s a skill I lack completely.  Madelyn built a very detailed car out of a cardboard box.  She fits in it but it holds their dolls better.

Thursday my mom arrived!  She is here with us for a week.  The girls are loving every minute of it.  After school Friday we celebrated Ben’s and Madelyn’s birthday with her.  Maddy knew she’d be getting her gifts early (her birthday isn’t for two weeks) and didn’t want to wait any longer.  She is the proud owner of a new mermaid tail.  She’s been waiting since Christmas for it!

She also got a little money.  Molly saves.  Madelyn likes to spend it as soon as it hits her wallet.  So, we took my mom into the Village for lunch and then to Annie’s.  Madelyn knew exactly what that money burning a hole in her purse was going to buy.  A new large tin of Thinking Putty.  Molly bought one too.

Saturday we headed to Cocoa Beach to play tourist for the day.  We had lunch at a restaurant on the beach.  I wanted to see the Cocoa Beach Pier so we headed that way to go to the beach.  There was just a slight hint that this may be the height of spring break.  Yikes.  And it has been insanely windy every day….still.  We met a friend of my mom’s at the beach.  She hung out with her and I took the girls to a few of the shops on the pier.  By the time we got settled on the beach the wind and people were driving me nuts!  The sand was also full of shells and not great to play in.  I have maybe mentioned a few hundred times that I’m desperate to go back to the beautiful and not crowded beaches of the Bahamas.  The wind was so strong the girls couldn’t get in the water.  But we did find a group of people that dug a HUGE hole.  So deep that an adult man was standing down in it and it was over his head.  Maddy was desperate to get in.  No!  But then before the adults left they filled it in halfway so it wasn’t dangerous and so that kids could jump right in.

Ben had been running errands and rescued us from the crowds and wind shortly after.  We got back to the boat and headed back to Annie’s Toy Chest…Madelyn bought another large tin of Thinking Putty because she decided she HAD to have the one Molly had bought the previous day.  She had scored some more cash in her Easter basket from Grandma Cathy.  They got to open those a day early so it would be less chaos today!

Ben and I headed out for a rare date night Saturday night!  We drove over to Cape Canaveral and had a wonderful dinner overlooking the water.

We’ve had a great Easter!  Another holiday on the boat in the books.  The girls woke up to an Easter egg hunt and boogie boards from the Easter Bunny as well as some other goodies.  There are still three eggs missing.  Madelyn didn’t want to go to bed without finding them.  No idea where they are.  My mom says we’ll find them in July.  After the morning chaos and candy breakfast my mom, the girls and I headed to a lovely Easter Mass.  We picked Ben up after and went out for lunch.

We came back to the boat and my mom and Molly made rice krispie treats for dessert tonight.  They aren’t as cute as my sister’s.  She makes bird’s nests in mini muffin tins.  Not something I have on board.  So we just made them in squares with the jelly beans and they turned out cute.

The girls were desperate to try their boogie boards out so we headed back across the bridge to Cocoa Village…but not to the pier.  We wanted to stop in the HUGE Ron Jon store so we went there and then across the street to the beach.  In Florida apparently you go to the beach to celebrate Easter.  Wow the people.  So crowded again but we were there for a purpose.  We walked down to the water and it took a minute for the girls to get in but once they got splashed enough they had a ball.  They didn’t stop for one minute until Ben told them it was time to get going.  Molly has been asking for a boogie board for awhile and today said she kept looking down at it and couldn’t believe it was hers.  Such a minor thing but it made her happy which makes me happy!

Love!

We came back to the boat and had a great Easter dinner.  I joked with my youngest sister that we are a one trick pony and this is our holiday boat meal…we had the same meal for Christmas Eve dinner when she was visiting.  Although instead of rice krispie treats we had Christmas cookies.  The girls seem to enjoy the holidays no matter where we are and we’re glad they had a great day.

Tomorrow we are moving a whopping 4 or 5 miles across the water to Cape Canaveral.  The girls and I have been missing having a swimming pool.  We found a nice looking marina that is supposed to have a decent pool.  We’ll probably watch some more of the big cruise ships….we saw two of them pull out today.  And there is a space shuttle launch Tuesday morning we’re hoping to see.

Saturday we celebrated Ben’s birthday in Melbourne, FL.  I was surprised Ben didn’t want to spend the day on the water….he commented that he was fine to be stationary for the day and that the water hasn’t been overly kind lately.  The wind and currents have just become annoying.  So, we started the day with donuts and gifts and a lazy morning.

Molly put together a photo grid for Ben and I was able to walk to a CVS that morning and get it printed for her.  She then taught me how to use the photo grid app later in the day and I put one together too.  Love learning about new apps from my 9 year old!

There were manatees and dolphins all over the marina basin.  We watched them for quite awhile from the back of the boat.  We have missed the dolphins and are glad we seem to have found them again.

Ben’s request for the day was to rent a car and run errands.  He said he knows I’d never want to spend my birthday that way but that’s what he wanted to do!  So, off we went to Home Depot, Sam’s Club and Best Buy.  We now have a new rug in our salon, a new shower handle in the girls’ bathroom, and an Amazon echo dot.  I’m not a fan of Alexa but the girls like to talk to “her” all day long.

We closed out the day with a family dinner at The Mansion in Melbourne.  Cute place with interesting drinks, pretty good food and an amazing slice of Oreo ice cream cake for dessert.  We sang at the table and avoided any fanfare from the restaurant.

Sunday morning Madelyn commented, as we were walking down the dock, “this is a nice little place”.  It was indeed.  Before we pulled out Sunday I walked back into town to do a little birthday shopping for the next April birthday in our family.  On my way back to the boat I stopped at the new Seafood Station right by the marina and got a pound of red shrimp for dinner.  We were new to red shrimp.  They are already pink so it was a bit tricky to tell when they were fully cooked but they do curl like Gulf shrimp. We sautéed them up for dinner and they were quite tasty.

We pulled out of Melbourne harbor and traveled about 4 miles to Paradise Blvd. anchorage.  There was only one other sailboat anchored.  We pulled in among the crab pots and enjoyed a beautiful and peaceful late afternoon, sunset and evening.  Madelyn managed to knock out one of her loose front teeth just before bed.  Crazy kid!  She was so excited and it’s now so strange to see the huge gap in her smile!

It’s hard to think about looking at land out the window after seeing such beautiful views each night.  Of course, once I went to go to bed, I reverted back to my frequent anchoring issue of not sleeping!  Anywhere with a current means water hitting the hull.  Many find this soothing. It keeps me up much of the night.  But again I got up this morning to the beautiful and tranquil views and I suppose the trade off is ok.  Closing thoughts on Ben’s birthday weekend…the year is off to a pretty good start.

Ben’s happy place…

We were indeed in Ft. Pierce until Thursday due to high winds.  Both Tuesday and Wednesday started out as lovely calm mornings but by about 2 pm each afternoon the winds were strong again.  The temperatures hung in the low 90s with extreme humidity.  Ft. Pierce was a great stop but with no pool and no beach close by it was getting hard to occupy the girls in the extreme heat.  It was either stay inside the boat or boil in the heat.  So Tuesday we headed to the Manatee Education and Observation Center.  It was a pretty tiny place and had minimal information about manatees.  Most of the manatees are outside usually but due to construction and barges with materials coming and going there have not been too many manatees hanging around.  But the girls did a little research about them before we went and learned a little bit more there.  Madelyn still needs to post her video where she will tell you about manatee’s teeth.

The rest of the education center was small but great.  There were sea horses, a ton of hermit crabs of all sizes, conch, starfish, sea urchins, a sea cucumber, a spiny lobster, many colorful fish, turtles and a snake.  Many of these animals were in a touch tank and the volunteers took turns taking them out for the girls to touch.

We also got to watch many of the animals be fed.  Most of them were having shrimp pieces for lunch. I especially enjoyed watching the smaller hermit crab devour it’s shrimp.

That little white blob in his claws is shrimp

The girls each got to feed one of the turtles.  All in all it was a good afternoon with a stop for some candy and ice cream and another visit to the nicely air conditioned library to wrap up the field trip.

Wednesday night before we left Nina babysat for the girls again while Bobby, Wendy, Ben and I snuck out for a quick dinner!  We forgot to get a picture but I did snap a quick one of Ben and Bobby standing on top of the dune in the crazy windstorm looking down at the ocean.  It was another insanely windy night.

Thursday morning we had to say goodbye to the Wilsons.  Ella was up early and met my girls for one more hug. Wendy went back to the boat to wake AnnaMay to come say goodbye again.  We had to get fuel so they followed us to the fuel dock so the kids could soak up every minute together.  I’ve gotten used to the tears and the hard goodbyes.  Wendy and I were surprised at the lack of tears (I’m usually contributing to the tears).  Wendy thinks, and I think she’s right, that our kids must be pretty confident we’ll end up in the same place again or they would have been a lot more upset.  So until we meet again…

Ironically we both ended up in Vero Beach…a mere 14 miles from Ft. Pierce.  We pulled out around 8:30 AM knowing that there was rain coming at noon.  We were only heading 14 miles to Vero.  Easy peasy.  That is until a random Tornado warning pops up for the Indian River and Vero Beach basically on top of us.  Every weather alarm on the boat and both of our phones started going off.  We went from cruising along watching the gray clouds to picking up a lot of speed and zooming into the marina.  Strangely the wind never got bad.  It was pouring however so Ben and I got drenched docking.  But we got safely and quickly tied up and ducked inside.  We got about 3 inches of rain in 2 hours and then it went right back to sunny, humid and 90 degrees!  The Wilsons continued onto another marina 5 miles further north so we didn’t meet up after all.

Once the sunshine returned we hopped on the free air conditioned bus into town.  We walked through some shops and walked out to look at the beach.  It was a great beach but we didn’t bring suits so we just watched for a few and walked some more.

Vero Beach

We happened upon a huge playground that was practically empty.  Despite grumbling from Ben about a playground in the heat we found a spot in the shade to sit and let the girls play for a bit.  Then we stopped for super refreshing OJ slushies made from fresh squeezed juice.  Toss a little vanilla soft serve in and it was quite a treat.  We had dinner back on the boat and an early night.

Friday morning we said goodbye to Vero Beach and moved on to Melbourne, FL.  Another pretty quick jaunt of 35 miles north.  Easy day.  Except we got out of the harbor and all of a sudden the WIND was back. AGAIN.  We were heading north.  Winds were out of the north.  We were on the ICW so other than some huge gusts pushing us it wasn’t uncomfortable at all.  Just annoying.  I was downstairs with the girls doing school the whole time.  I’d pop up and check in on Ben and he confirmed it was mostly just annoying to again be dealing with WIND!  We pulled into the very shallow channel into Melbourne harbor and despite the crazy wind got tied up in the protected harbor easily.

We took a long walk around town.  Lots of little shops and tons of restaurants.  Quite a few shops with lots of little “stuff” that Madelyn loves.  Little trinkets and figurines.  She was fascinated.

Maddy could have played with these all day!

My mom gave me Lululemon gift cards for my birthday and Christmas.  I’d been waiting to find a store to shop in rather than try to manage mail order while traveling.  It took me until Ft. Lauderdale two weeks ago to find one.  So of course in tiny little Melbourne, FL we would come across another one right?  It’s this little house with a giant sign out front with the Lulu logo.  Random.  We went inside and sure enough it’s a fully outfitted store.

Madelyn seems confused too…

We stopped at a kind of unusual Italian place for dinner.  We had smelled the wood burning pizza oven when we walked past.  It reminded me of both Revolution and Letizia’s from home.  We sat out on the patio listening to a strange man with a full grown mullet play soprano sax with some sort of background synthesizer.  But the pizza was AMAZING.  Haven’t had pizza that good in a long time.

We’ve begun our tour of the east coast.  I’m having trouble remembering that we are now traveling north.  We’ve been traveling south for a lot of months.  I’m so excited about all we get to see on this coast but a little sad that we’ve made that turn north which means we’re over half done with this trip.  We spent just shy of a week in Ft. Lauderdale when we got back.  Madelyn lost a tooth.  She’s had four loose ones since we left Chicago 7 months ago and one of them finally fell out!

We spent a day at the West Palm Beach boat show.  We’ve been boat shopping after the Bahamas feeling like we need a different style of boat to comfortably do more island cruising.  So since we came back from the Bahamas early we figured what better place to do that than Ft. Lauderdale and the West Palm boat show.  We met up with Marilyn and Scott from Lady Catherine for lunch and to catch up.  We met them in the Bahamas and it was fun to catch up.  The girls loved the mega yachts at the show (no we aren’t in the market but it was super fun to take a tour of one with a hot tub, elevator and a zillion bedrooms).  We looked at two other boats in Ft. Lauderdale and found one we really like.

It’s a hot tub…on a boat! 

We also had time to visit with Chris and Ozzie from E dock in Chicago!  We had a great day grilling and swimming and hanging out at their place.  It was great to catch up with them as well!

Oh the wind…

The Wilson family made their way north from the Keys as we left the Bahamas.  We were so excited to meet up with them again.  They are one of the two other families doing the Loop right now.  They traveled up to Pompano Beach.  We had a rental car so we drove up there a few times.  Their marina had a great pool and it was a close walk to a fantastic ice cream place and the Pompano Beach.

Gorgeous beach and wonderful playground.  The kids had so much fun.  The waves were WILD that day.  We brought the wind back with us from the Bahamas.  The girls played in the sand and with the boogie boards.

Molly, Wendy and Mia in the sand

Molly and AnnaMay lost in the surf

Maddy and Ella playing in the sand

We left Ft. Lauderdale last Tuesday and headed north to Lake Worth, North Palm Beach marina.  We found a Thai place by the marina for dinner. We haven’t had Thai in months so all of us, except Madelyn, were excited!  But she does love edamame and had fun with the chop sticks.

The next morning we pulled out and met the Wilsons in the ICW – they were also there but in a different marina.  We traveled north together.  It was a pretty trip with lots of bridges and it was fun to watch everyone enjoying the water.  We passed the Jupiter lighthouse – we may trek back south a bit and check Jupiter out some more.

We pulled into the St. Lucie River and anchored together at Hoggs Cove.  We rafted up and the kids immediately jumped in. We got the lily pads down and the noodles out and everyone got in.  All 10 of us!  It was fun to be together and let the kids hop back and forth between boats playing.  They went to sleep and the adults got to visit.  And then the next morning they were playing again first thing.

The girls took out the Wilson’s paddle board and kayak and all took turns with the paddling of each.  The current got the better of AnnaMay and Molly on the paddleboard and Ella took Maddy and paddled out to get them in the kayak.

We pulled out around noon and headed back to the ICW to head north to Ft. Pierce.  Quite the current in the intersection of the St. Lucie River, St. Lucie Inlet and the ICW.  That mixed with wind that also seemed to appear out of nowhere made for some quick maneuvers.  We got turned into the ICW heading north and it all seemed fine again.  We had AnnaMay and Ella on our boat with us.  We got to Ft. Pierce and had planned to anchor that night.  We went to drop AnnaMay and Ella off at the fuel dock in the harbor first.  But Mother Nature intervened again.  The winds picked up considerably and the current was crazy strong.  We could barely get into the harbor.  We were being blown sideways in the channel and it got really shallow.  We got into the harbor with the Wilsons behind us.  Needless to say we decided to stay.  There was no chance that we could make it back out through that channel in the wind and current.

I got up early and walked the next morning and caught a beautiful sunrise.

Saturday Ft. Pierce has a pretty famous farmer’s market.  It lived up to it’s reputation.  We stocked up on a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, really good cheese, fresh squeezed juice and more.  Ft. Pierce has a smaller version on Wednesdays so we may get to check it out again.  The library is also right next to the marina so we’ve been there a couple of times as well.  The girls and grownups have enjoyed the time together.  The winds have once again altered plans and instead of a sad goodbye this morning both families are both now staying until Thursday.  Nina (the Wilson’s 20 year old daughter) babysat for all 5 little girls on Friday night and we got to go out for an adult dinner!  It’s been a LONG time since we’ve had a dinner out so it was a treat to eat kid free.  Thanks Nina!

Sunday Mike and Leann from Rowe Boat made their way to North Palm Beach in preparation to cross to the Bahamas.  We were able to go see them for lunch and spend the afternoon visiting and catching up with them.  It was great to see them and we hope they had as fabulous a time as we did in the Bahamas!

We had hoped to visit the Manatee Observation and Education center here today but it was closed on Mondays.  So after school the girls all got together to try to paddleboard and kayak in the wild winds.  They have had great time playing on the docks, going back and forth from boat to boat, meals together, etc.  Thursday is going to be a hard goodbye.  The Wilsons have to head north and we are staying in FL a bit longer taking our time with all the grandparents coming to visit this month.  We’ve already made potential plans to see them in the fall as we make our way south out of Canada.

Checking out the marine life

We will try the Manatee center again tomorrow and potentially head somewhere on Thursday.  Stay tuned!

My last blog about the Bahamas…until next time that is.  We all loved it so much that I’m fairly confident there will be a next time.  After our horrendous night in the wind, the water calmed with sunrise.  As often happens, at least for me, everything is better in the morning.  We set out for West End and had a beautiful ride.  It was about 50ish miles I believe.  Trawler Life and Last Call headed out ahead of us knowing we would catch up.  It took some serious work to get our anchor up.  It was good and buried – we weren’t dragging!  But more than that, the snubber chain that yanked all night long was not coming off.  Ben had to hammer and wail on the shackle to break it loose because it was so bent from all the wind yanking us around.  Happy to be on our way and put that night behind us.

We caught up to our friends and all traveled safely through Indian Rock Channel together.  That is just a narrow passage that we had to time with high tide.  It can have currents that could pull you into the shallow water, however we had no issues.  We pulled into West End and tied up at our dock next to our friends on Corkscrew.  It was so good to see them.  Sonny and Phyllis are the sweetest people and the girls adore their dog Marena.  They were so happy to have more time with her before crossing back to FL and parting ways, at least for now.

Back to West End – going to miss this water!

West End was badly damaged in the hurricane and the resort at Old Bahama Bay is still rebuilding.  When we first crossed to the Bahamas we stayed there for 4 nights.  They let guests use the kayaks and paddleboards for free which is awesome. The girls got to kayak for the first time.  This time around they were so excited to paddleboard (and we are of course now in the  market for an inflatable one!).  They took turns staying in the shallow water and chasing each other up and down the beach.

They had a lot fun in the water, the beach, shuffleboard and the pool.  They also flew kites again on the beach.  We had a fun last two Bahamas days with Sonny and Phyllis (Corkscrew), Michael and Cathy (Trawler Life) and Karen and Scott (Last Call).  The day before we left a slew of other boats pulled in to get ready to cross including Rod and Susie on Beehaven.

We left just before sunrise Wednesday morning to head back to FL.  Hearts a little heavy to leave.  The Bahamas were a very special part of this trip.  I think at this point in time we all agree that it has been our favorite part.  And there is SO much more to explore there.   Six weeks felt like a luxury and yet we could have spent months exploring further south.  There is never enough time!  And, as is always the case on the loop, we traveled with some amazing people in the Bahamas. Some we are still in touch with back in FL and others have moved further north and we’re not sure if or when we’ll catch them again.  So, the goodbyes are hard.

Goodbye Bahamas – we’ll miss you!

Our crossing was so-so.  We set out in what we knew to be about 2 ft. waves. They were quickly 3-4 ft. with many 5 ft. mixed in.  Madelyn got to see her first sunrise.  She was in awe of how beautiful it was.  I actually thought to give Molly Bonine before we left.  She usually just wears wristbands and keeps ginger handy for the ocean rolling. But this was a long day AND I actually remembered….so why not.  And her stomach didn’t hurt at all!  Now….on further review I should have given her 1/2 a Bonine…she conked out cold up on the flybridge bench for like 3 hours we think.  Oops.  The waves were off our bow and not violent, but still not fun.  The Seakeeper was worth EVERY penny that day.  It worked overtime all day long.  No school work was possible at all.  Maddy sat in my lap for hours b/c she was a little uneasy (and Molly was asleep!).  We were in the Gulf Stream for like 6 hours.  It was never ending and pulling us all the wrong ways.  When we got into FL waters we told the girls that Netflix and YouTube coverage had returned and all of a sudden they scrambled down to the salon and were silent the rest of the trip.  Out of the Gulf Stream the water also calmed a ton.  It was like a giant bathtub on the FL side.  All in all, nothing bad to report about the crossing, but about 6 hours of it were no fun at all.  Not scary.  Not violent.  Not even rocking.  Just too many big waves and we were so sick of it.  The flat FL water was beautiful.

We knew there was weather moving in Wednesday night so we made a long day even longer and came all the way back down to the New River in Ft. Lauderdale. We wanted to be here for a few days to visit friends and look at boats so we figured better to just push through and get the boat in the right place.  Just before 5 PM we finally tied up lines and called customs to check in.  We then scrapped our dinner plan of grilling the fresh lobster tails we bought in West End and got off the boat to take a walk and grab some dinner out.  We all needed the breather!  We walked across the huge draw bridge during rush hour traffic and all looked around and commented on the noise and the busy schedule of everything here in a big city.  Molly has commented over and over how much she doesn’t like the noise and will miss the quiet.  I thought it was interesting since she’s a city girl.  She’s never had it any other way until this trip.  I’m somewhere in the middle.  I love big cities and the hustle and bustle.  I didn’t have any re-entry problems because I fall back into city life very easily.  But like I said above, the Bahamas were special.  It was an amazing experience for our family.  One that we will never forget.  So, until next time Bahamas….

Manjack Cay was such a special find!  We missed stopping here on our way south due to wind.  When we were in Hopetown our friends on Igloo told us about Manjack and how wonderful it was. We at that point decided to turn north and figured we’d stop there and anchor for a night or two.  What an incredible little island.  There is nothing there.  A couple of houses.  No water, electric, stores, etc.  A few anchorages and some nice beaches, reefs and a hike through the woods to the other side of the island.

We got anchored Saturday afternoon and quickly took the dinghy to shore.  We spotted a sign about pet chickens asking boaters to please leash their dogs.

We had been told there was an incredible farm on the island with even more incredible owners.  I had also read about a couple of mile long walks through the woods to the Atlantic side of the island.  We set off on one of those.  It instantly looked like we were off the beach and in Michigan hiking through the woods.  Madelyn was tripping over tree roots and sticks and there were trees overhead blanketing the sunlight and blocking the heat.  There was even a cactus.

It was a beautiful walk and then out of nowhere the beach.  Gorgeous, undeveloped, Atlantic ocean beach.  I’m running out of adjectives.  We just walked around the beach a bit and talked to a couple from a sailboat for a little bit about what they had seen on the island.  Then we were anxious to find the farm so we walked back with plans to spend Sunday at the beach.

Turns out the farm was at the base of the beach where we left the dinghy.  And indeed the couple who owns it were the nicest, most welcoming people you can imagine.  As most people in the Bahamas are.  But they were really great.  Anchorage full of boats and they welcome all of them to come walk around and share their beach and land.  They have lived in their house on Manjack for 25 years.  All rain water and solar power.  The husband told me that when the house is collecting rain water it’s not producing power and when it’s making power, it’s not collecting water.  Simple!  They have rain water collection all over the property and it provides enough for the house and for all of the watering in the garden.

The highlight of the visit for the girls, and the reason we were searching for the farm in the first place, was the baby goats!  Our friends were there when the goats were 1 week old.  They turned 4 weeks on Monday and were as cute as can be.  I know the girls want to blog about this as well so I will just post a picture or two and let them post the rest.  What an incredible experience for my city girls.  Leslie, the owner, invited the girls right inside their pen and quickly set up chairs for the girls.  There are two baby goats, Sadie and Abner.  They were asleep inside their little house in a little bowl curled up together.

Their mom is Daisy.  Also in the pen is Aunt Mae – she is the milking goat.

Aunt Mae – she was feisty!

Leslie mentioned how much milk and cheese they have.  I stopped short of mouth watering and begging her to sell me some of the cheese.  Anyway, we watched the goats play and took lots of picture and the girls played with them.  Maddy was sitting in her chair waiting to hold Sadie and Abner jumped up on the back of her chair to say hello.  It was just adorable to watch them all!

Abner!

Sadie is shy, Abner is saying hello

Abner playing with Madelyn

After the goats we moved onto the farm and met the pet chickens.  I have never seen such fluffy feathery chickens.  Leslie picked the rooster right up.  His name is Fred Astaire and she held him while we all got to pet him and feel his comb and skin.  We were a bit worried about being pecked but she knows him pretty well and knew he wouldn’t do a thing.

Onto the garden.  I can’t keep a cactus alive so I was blown away by this garden.

They grow all of their food.  They make a once a year trip to FL to go to Costco for coffee and peanut butter.  They mentioned they haven’t learned how to grow those yet.  But huge papayas all over the place, a key lime tree that produces 2000 key limes each year, a sour orange tree good for making lemonade and marinades, and none of that was even in the garden.  In the garden Leslie hydroponically grows strawberries. She showed us the water pump system they built that waters them 3x daily for 15 minutes and then recirculates any water that runs off to be used again.

Strawberries – impossible to find on these islands!

Papaya

Then we moved onto the beds.  Lettuce, red cabbage, rows and rows of kale, arugula, tomatoes, stevia, and the list goes on.  We tasted some arugula leaves.  No question the best arugula I’ve ever tasted.  And we all enjoyed the stevia leaves.  Yum, sweet!  Madelyn has turned into a germophobe so I was impressed that she agreed to try leaves right off the plant and liked it!  Leslie also has a mulberry tree and told us how she makes wine from the mulberries.

Leslie and her husband were beyond welcoming.  Truly wonderful people.  After spending so much time with us on their farm they invited us back to the beach later for a bonfire.  The whole anchorage was invited.  They were out collecting wood for it.  We played on the beach for a little bit.  Someone (assume the farm owners) built this cute tiki hut with two hammocks and two swings under it. The girls loved it.  Can’t find much of anything closer to paradise than this quaint little island.

We didn’t make it to the bonfire because it was too late for the girls but enjoyed smelling the campfire and looking at the amazing stars in the sky that night.  The water here was so clear that we could see everything as the sun was setting and after dark.  We had our under water lights on and the lights attracted all sorts of fish.  Ben spotted a huge squid just playing in the lights.  The girls found many sea biscuits as well.

Beautiful night

Squid!

We got up Sunday morning with hopes of spending the whole day at the beach and exploring all of the reef areas in the dinghy.  Mother Nature had other plans.  The beautiful Sunday we thought we’d have turned into high winds and waves moving in by late afternoon and much worse by Monday.  So, no more exploring. I suppose that  made Saturday’s few hours on Manjack that much more special.  Ben put the dinghy back up on the boat and we pulled anchor and off we went for the kind of long haul to Great Sale Cay.  It was easily our worst day on the water in the Bahamas and our worst night in the Bahamas.  The waves were big chop the whole way.  Just kind of miserable to be in.  Spray and salt water everywhere.  Not rocking and rolling which is what Madelyn hates, but just annoying chop and really strong wind.  We had a long trip and got into Great Sale fighting the wind to anchor.  It took Ben a few tries because the wind was pulling us so strongly.  When we anchor we tend to swing all over the place.  Ben and I basically didn’t sleep Sunday night.  After Ben was confident we weren’t actually dragging he was more relaxed but it was so loud there wasn’t much chance of sleep.  There were 25 mph sustained winds with a high gust Ben saw of 37 mph.  CRAZY.  All.  Night.  Long.  We would spin at high speeds.  Then the snubber on the anchor would grab and yank us back the other way.  And then repeat.  Over and over.  Finally very early in the morning the winds calmed.  We don’t need another night like that anytime soon.

That crazy night trying to sleep I was thinking of a Best and Worst list from the Bahamas.  Honestly other than that day and night I don’t have any worsts (just a lot of wind!). But I decided that for school the girls are going to do a Bahamas timeline project and then pick their favorites from the list.  We have experienced so many amazing new things and I want to make sure they are still present in their memories.  We will get to work on that soon so stay tuned.  And those super soft, adorable baby goats will be at the top of the list!

I was a little sad last week to be heading back north.  We made the decision that worked for our schedule this time around and really both felt strongly that our current boat is not the right boat to head further south in.  However, heading north meant repeating places we’d already been and I just wasn’t super excited about it.  But our first repeat was heading back to Treasure Cay for a few nights.  And who can be sad there.  The beach is amazing.  The entire area is beautiful.

And our friends on Trawler Life pulled into the slip right next to us.  And Monday night the marina had Bingo night! We had tried to go to Bingo night in Hopetown the previous Monday and it was so packed we couldn’t get in.  The kids begged to go.  They each won a round.  Another kid won two rounds.  This was somewhat comical since the prize for each round was a bottle of wine.  So, 4 out of 5 rounds involved kids winning wine.  We walked away with a white and a red that we have ready for visitors.  Warning – it’s probably not very good wine.

Hello crazy eyes

Oh the beach.  It’s just so beautiful.  The wind returned so the kids didn’t swim much but they had fun in the sand.  They took turns burying each other – Maddy was a mermaid and Molly was a dolphin.  Molly blogged about this as well and I need to get that posted for her (our lack of internet this past week has really gotten us behind in blog posts).

Mermaid

Dolphin

You may remember that months ago way back in Green Turtle Bay, Grand Rivers, KY, Michael from Trawler Life taught the girls how to fish.  Well they got to fish with him again in Treasure.  The girls and Ben and Michael fished at sunset off our dock.  It was another amazing sunset and the kids had so much fun.  Michael was using fresh mahi scraps (that he and Cathy caught) as bait.  They had a big fish waiting and then Ben dropped his fishing pole in the water!  Oops!  Ben then had to fish out his fishing pole and after all that activity the fish were kind of scared away.  But that doesn’t matter.  They had a lot of fun.

Ben fishing for his fishing pole

Back in business

The next day we headed down to the Treasure Sands Club.    It was this random discovery by Michael and Cathy.  A stand alone pool on the beach with a nice restaurant and bar.  But no resort.  Nothing else around.  It was a beautiful day.  We hung at the pool for  a bit and then had a delicious lunch and walked back to the marina a couple of miles down the beach.

After three nights at Treasure and two more trips into the bakery for cinnamon rolls, we headed out to continue back tracking north.  We pulled into Great Guana for two nights.  We found out there was a Junkanoo parade that night.  Unfortunately on Bahamas time everything starts late.  9 PM for this one.  Junkanoo is a street parade with music, dance and costumes in many towns across the Bahamas.  We had missed a couple of larger ones because it was just too late at night.  Madelyn wasn’t interested so we decided one of us would take Molly.  Then of course Madelyn wanted in as well!  Molly loved it.  It was like a big marching band wearing crazy colorful awesome costumes.  She thanked us so many times for taking her.  It was a unique cultural experience for her and one we are happy we attended.  She was even handed a cowbell by one of the people marching and got to join in for a bit.  The people in the parade were moving so fast that it was hard to get a good picture!

After Junkanoo and the late night Madelyn especially was a bit of a bear on Friday.  But Friday afternoon Barefoot Man was having a concert.  Barefoot Man is fairly famous over here.  Fun music, hilarious lyrics.  So we headed over to the concert to listen for a bit.  The girls decided to get some hair braids while we listened.

These were our first two repeat stops and we were able to do new things and have fun during both.  Saturday we pulled out and headed to Manjack Cay where we had an incredible afternoon. Stay tuned….

After leaving Hopetown we pulled into Marsh Harbor and anchored for a night so we could run into town and stock up at the good grocery store again.  We took the dinghy into the marina to say hi to friends that were still there.  We got our groceries, went to bed and pulled out the next morning to head down to Little Harbor.  Little Harbor is as far south as most people travel in the Abacos.  It’s on Great Abaco island like Marsh Harbor and Treasure Cay.  It’s a pretty narrow and shallow entrance so we anchored outside. Our friends from Trawler Life got a good picture of us pulling up right outside the harbor trailing our dinghy.

That turned out to be shallow as well so we anchored across the water at Lynyard Cay with a number of other boats.  It was a bit of a sporty trip as we had to cross the North Channel which had big swells coming in.  We confirmed again these are NOT comfortable in our boat and Madelyn had a minor freak out.  Nothing out of the ordinary and we talked to friends on Trawler Life (a trawler) and Igloo (a sailboat), both of whom also said they were uncomfortable and rolling all over the place. So, it’s not just our boat.

We took the dinghy into Little Harbor to meet Michael and Cathy at Pete’s Pub for lunch.  Little Harbor is a tiny little community.  There are about 50 houses on the island.  No electricity – all solar!  All the water they have is rain water.  The girls were kind of in awe of all that….they can’t make it a day without YouTube and their iTouches you know.  The thought of only solar power and rain water blew their minds.  Pete’s Pub is this awesome little outdoor pub and bar in the sand.  T-shirts that people have signed and left hanging from the ceiling.  Stickers and names on all the pillars.  Amazing fish.  Amazing burgers.  Pretty darn good drinks.  Right on the beach so the kids could play.  And it randomly had a pole in the middle of the sand for who knows what – but the girls loved it and we got multiple comments from the wait staff and other patrons.  Yes we know our kids are playing on the pole.  Thankfully their young minds don’t know more than how fun it is to swing around a pole.  Despite how it looks to the rest of us!  We’ll show them again when they are older.

After lunch we took the dinghy back to the boat and then to the beach right by where we were anchored.  The kids played for a bit before we headed back to the boat to watch another beautiful sunset.

Our boat is at the edge of the picture

Friday we headed back into Little Harbor for lunch again.  Our friends on Igloo were still there and we were hoping to see them a bit before they left Saturday for Spanish Wells.  The world is really so small.  As we pulled into the harbor on our dinghy we spotted a sailboat from Manistique, MI.  Many of you know that we go there every summer as Kathy’s parents live there.  I quickly snapped a picture and texted it off to Kathy.  Turns out her parents are with them visiting right now in Italy and of course know the boat and owners.  Small world!  Anyway, Kerry from Igloo took the girls for a ride on her paddle board around the harbor and then we went into Pete’s for lunch.  After the BEST tuna I’ve ever had we took a walk out to the remains of the old lighthouse.  It was pretty cool to stand inside the old lighthouse and look out through the crumbling windows.

Cactus in the Bahamas!

We walked back to Pete’s and Dan and Helayna from Igloo had come over from the mooring field.  Helayna is 15 and so sweet.  She took the girls down to the beach and played catch with them.  Which turned into an entire afternoon and evening of playing with them. She’s a saint!  The girls came running up asking if they could go see the sailboat.  Helayna is old enough to drive their dinghy!!!!  Yes of course, put on your life vest and GO!  The girls were in heaven getting to do something so cool.   They rode on the dinghy with no parents out to the sailboat.  There’s not much they love more than seeing other people’s boats.  She took them all over their boat.  It’s also the first sailboat they’d ever been on.  She showed them how the swing keel works and where they store water and all sorts of things.  Anyway, they returned to the harbor with pretzels and art supplies!  Did I mention she’s a SAINT!?!?  She brought a huge collection of pastels and paper for the girls and a local adorable little boy joined in as well.  So the parents stood around talking and having a few cocktails all day while she entertained our kids.  They created some beautiful pictures and Kerry insisted that we take home a box of pastels.  The girls are very excited to get them out again and to hang their pictures around the boat.

After pastels Helayna took them out on the stand up paddle board.  What a day for them.  Both of them loved the paddle board and as the sun was setting Helayna was out in the water with them.  Then it was dark and after 7 PM and we were still at Pete’s Pub!  What a perfect island day.  We had to say our goodbyes to Igloo. They pulled out Saturday morning and headed for Spanish Wells.

We got up Saturday to a beautiful morning.  We’ve talked a lot about how much we are loving this lifestyle and loving all the travel and new places.  Many of you have patiently listened to us go back and forth about our plans and our future.  It changes constantly.  Saturday was a turning point for us.  We had already made the call that we were not heading south to the Exumas.  On south from there would lead to another year at least of travel.  And we made the decision that our current boat just isn’t the boat to do that much ocean travel in.  To get to the Exumas we would have left Little Harbor and traveled down to Spanish Wells which is on the north end of the Eleuthera.  From there we would jump down to the Exumas.  We decided it was too much this time.  But then we woke up Saturday and it was gorgeous and I really thought for a minute about wanting to make the run down to Spanish Wells at least.  Our friends were on their way, we could just hang there for a few days and then come back up to Little Harbor.  It was a tempting thought but we decided to just stick with our plan and not go.  Turns out it was probably good since a beautiful morning turned into a quick storm that blew threw.  We happened to be in Little Harbor exploring a cave when it hit.  It was a wet and rough dinghy ride back to the boat!

After the storm passed we headed north to Sandy Cay to snorkel.  Sandy Cay is a protected reef.  We got up there and Trawler Life was there already snorkeling…or trying to. The current and wind were so strong they recommended not putting the girls in the water.  Molly was pretty upset but there was no chance we would be able to snorkel with the water moving like it was.  So we headed a little further north and anchored at Tilloo Cay.  Tilloo is a 4 nm long cay that stretches almost to the south end of Elbow Cay.  From where we anchored we were able to see Tahiti Beach, which the girls loved.  We took the dinghy up there to play for an hour or so before sunset.  Cathy from Trawler Life snapped a picture of our boat in the sunset. 

Sunday we got up and spent a few hours playing at Tahiti Beach.  We were there when the tide went full out and it was gorgeous.  The girls spent a good half hour or more exploring hermit crab shells all over the rocks with the tide out.  They found some more conch and Ben spotted a good sized starfish. 

We went back towards the boat and Michael and Cathy were waiting for us right on the coast of Tilloo where they had been snorkeling and cruising around.  They had us follow them in close to shore where they had found some HUGE starfish.  The girls (and Ben and I!) were amazed.  Cathy and Michael just picked the starfish right up.  Molly held one.  Madelyn was a little cautious but she did touch it.  And yes we were careful and returned them gently to the water!  Turtles were everywhere zipping all over the place.  Molly was bent on snorkeling so she swam all over.   We even got to see a nurse shark swim past. 

Sunday late afternoon we were going to head north a bit and anchor in Marsh Harbor again.  We could see some rain in the distance and decided to wait it out since it was perfect where we were.  Well, we eventually decided to head that way.  Bad timing.  It got crazy gusty and Ben quickly turned around and back into our anchorage.  He got the anchor down right as huge wind gusts and some violent rain hit.  It didn’t last long but was something else.  When Ben pulled up the anchor to move us further in to a better spot the anchor picked up some sort of a cable.  Ben was able to unhook the cable thankfully and we moved into a better spot for the night.  The calm after a storm is incredible.  Water was glassy, there was a double rainbow.  Just a beautiful evening. 

It’s been a wonderful few days exploring new places and anchoring out – something we haven’t done much of.  We’re thankful as always for this experience of a lifetime.  We are watching the news right now about all of the snow at home and on the east coast and have the safety of everyone there in our thoughts.  We continue to discuss daily what our future will look like.  If we want to continue being able to live this adventure we will have to make some changes at home and with our boat.  I suppose if anything the conversation keeps us busy and is fun to think about.  Our travel wish list continues to grow.  It’s a big wonderful world out there! 

I’m behind on blogging due to lack of WiFi signal.  So I have some catching up to do!  We pulled into Hopetown a week ago Thursday, right after our visit to the school in Man-O-War.  We knew winds were moving into the area and we wanted to be in Hopetown before they started. We had friends there and knew it was a bigger town to spend a few days in.  As we pulled in Thursday Michael and Cathy from Trawler Life came over on their dinghy and told us everyone was heading down to Tahiti Beach.  It was a beautiful sunny day. The winds had already started but sunshine all day so we blew off school and hopped in the dinghy and joined them. I’m so glad we did as the next many days were impossible to even think about a beach.  The girls snorkeled with Michael and Cathy, we ate lunch on the beach, a fellow boater brought a huge watermelon and sliced it on the beach to share.  We walked way out on the gorgeously long sand bar at low tide.

So happy to see Michael and Cathy from Trawler Life again!

Michael and Cathy found so many neat things for the girls – a sea biscuit for them to keep, a live sea biscuit for them to see and hold and put back in the water, a sea cucumber and many conch shells with conch still in them.  I know they already blogged about this but it was just such a neat experience for them.

Live sea biscuit

Sea cucumber

We headed back from the beach and right to the pool at our marina.  A HEATED pool!  The first since Florida. The girls were so happy.

As predicted the winds started and some rain moved in.  The wind started in earnest Thursday and blew through Tuesday.  We were able to see all of Hopetown and had a good time, but didn’t get to spend time at the beautiful beaches here.  The girls would run down to the Atlantic side beaches, get blown around, do a cartwheel and run back up.  Friday Molly and I walked over to the famous Hopetown lighthouse.  It is the last manned kerosene lighthouse in the world.  It’s undergoing a huge restoration project and there are lighthouse keepers that keep it going every night.  The top part around the light has diamond paned windows that are in the process of being replaced. They have raised money for about half of the windows so far.  If you know me at all you know I’m TERRIFIED of heights. It gets worse and worse as I get older.  But I climbed to the top with Molly.  I had to stop and breathe after each level.

We got to the second to last flight of the windy spiral staircase where I could see all the way down. I had to stop. She went on above and was able to look out the window onto the ledge.  She told me she knew I wouldn’t want her to go out there alone so she just looked out.  So, up I went to the top level.  I couldn’t bring myself to go out on the ledge.  But there’s a walkway the whole way around.  I let Molly climb out as I held tightly to her clothes. Yes there were railings.  Yes I’m irrational. TERRIFIED of heights.  Anyway, my pictures aren’t great but they are of Molly standing in the open windows, and the view from the top on a cloudy day.  And one other that I took from a friend.

Maddy wasn’t allowed to go because of another HUGE school fit.  She’s had a very difficult past couple of weeks with everything from school to bedtime to fighting with us every time we are going to leave and go do anything (usually something she ends up enjoying).  Anyway, Ben took both girls to the top (I waited at the bottom) twice and walked all around the outside with them.  Here’s some more information if you’re curious or want to see a better picture!  http://visithopetown.com/lighthouse.html

Friday afternoon we went across the bay into town.  We walked around the damp quaint adorable streets of Hopetown and looked at the houses and shops.

We stopped at Vernon’s for a loaf of fresh bread and a key lime pie that Vernon makes daily.  We found the Hopetown Harbor Lodge and stopped for a drink. This is where Gary the Explorer works.  The girls have been watching his YouTube ecology videos about the ecosystems here in the Abacos.  I’ve been watching with them and we’ve all learned quite a bit!  Michael had also told us about Gary’s pina coladas.  So, pina coladas for us and huge strawberry daiquiris for the girls.

Saturday we went into town again and the girls played at an actual park!  A small playground with a cool tree house play area.  Madelyn was thrilled.

We met our friends at Hopetown Harbor Lodge for a great lunch.  Then we all rented golf carts to explore the island since dinghies and beaches weren’t an option in the insane wind!  We followed Michael and Cathy to the south end of the island.  We stopped to see a few different places and marinas.  The ocean was angry that day.  Here is one of the places the girls ran down to the beach and very quickly back up as the sand was pelting them from the wind.

We went to see Firefly marina, SeaSpray marina and the Abaco Inn.  Three really nice areas at that end of the island.  We ended up going back to Abaco Inn for dinner.

Sunday the girls and I went to the local Methodist church right near the water’s edge.  We attended a family service that the girls loved.  I have never seen them so excited about church.  It was led by the youth ministers.  It was very informal, involved great music, kids doing readings, etc.  They really enjoyed it, as did I.  Then back to the golf carts for lunch and more exploring.  The neighborhoods on the south end of the island are incredible.  These beachfront houses are beautiful and it was fun to explore.  And the girls always love a good golf cart ride!

Monday after school we went to see Trawler Life.  The girls LOVE to visit other boats and check them out so we took the dinghy across the bay to their mooring and visited for a bit.  And then they came to our boat to do the same.  It’s always fun to compare storage space and see what we like about other boats.

Tuesday after school (and a big meltdown from Molly this time…she has her moments too), we went back into town to check out the Hopetown school.  It’s a lot bigger than the Man-O-War school.  We didn’t go inside as it was the end of the school day but we walked around the school. The kids appear to stay for lunch here whereas in Man-O-War they went home for lunch we think.  Their lunchboxes were set up all around outside organized by grade level. We read some school announcements and found that they are in school until June 16th much like Chicago.  We also found that the classes here appear much more diverse and more what our kids are used to.

At the base of the school is a Recycling center! The only recycling we’ve seen in the Bahamas.  They collect some plastics and uncrushed aluminum cans. It all goes to help fund a children’s cause in Nassau (I can’t remember exactly what!) Better than nothing.  We loaded all of ours up before we left!

Wednesday we headed into town for Heritage Festival.  It was held in the little park the kids had been playing in.  Conch salad for lunch.  Local artists.

Local kids’ art contest

Spent some time visiting with our friends Kerry, Dan and Helayna from Igloo and then toured the Hopetown museum.  It displayed the history of Hopetown and was a walk through an old house.  This is already long so I won’t go into a lot of the history but it was fascinating to read about how Hopetown flourished when boats started wrecking right outside of the harbor.  Goods would be salvaged from the boats and sold.  This provided quite the economy until the lighthouse was installed.  It actually had a negative effect on the economy as there weren’t as many wrecked ships.  That’s just a small part of the history.

Why a Ship is called a She is pretty funny

We enjoyed looking in the rooms at the old furniture and clothes and such.

As we were pulling out of Hopetown it turns out that our friends Sonny and Phyllis from Corkscrew were at the top of the lighthouse. They saw us down below and took a great picture of the boat from above!

Have Another Day pulling out of the channel

We headed to Marsh Harbor that afternoon to anchor and take the dinghy in.  We went to visit Kellirae and Bill on Ocean Dancer. We left the dinghy, walked to the good grocery store to stock up again and then back to say hi to Sonny and Phyllis.  We’ve been anchored in various places since!  Anyone who knows us knows that’s a record.  I’ll post soon about the past few days.  This is long enough.  Hopetown was a great stop!