Not all islands are created the same We spent the last week sailing around St Martin, St Barts and Saba. St Martin (French)/Sint Maarten (Dutch). This is a great island with lots of culture and great food. I had some of the best pizza I have ever had a quaint little French bistro, Quai Oeust, in Oyster Pond. The French love food, laughter and fun. They are very relaxed and embrace the C’est La Vie (that’s life) attitude. Most shops are closed in the afternoon and reopen later in the day. Sint Maarten (Dutch) is very clean and fun and vibrant. The Dutch people are very friendly and helpful. We started in St Martin last Sunday and are now back on Sint Maarten this Sunday. We visited St Barthelemy (St Barts) after leaving St Martin last Monday. This was a great sail about 12 miles taking about two hours. We arrived on St Barts in Anse De Colombier. This is a beautiful little protected bay that is pristine. Access is primarily by boat and not easy to get to by land. It has a great beach and snorkeling. This bay is part of a marine park and was owned by the Rockefeller family before it was donated as a marine park. The remnants of a summer house, stone dock and main house can be seen from the beach. Next stop was Gustavia on St Barts. Clearing in at customs is completely automated and very nice. This is one of the bigger mega yacht harbors and a very beautiful place. We toured the town and hiked to all three forts that surround the bay. The forts were built by the French and the Swedes as the island has changed ownership between France and Sweden over the last 200 years. We enjoyed Great food and people watching. Shell Beach is a fabulous small beach surrounded by steep rocky cliffs and as the name indicates there are a ton of shells on the beach.. St Barts is known to some for glitz and glamour and is the home of the restaurant, Le Select, that inspired Jimmy Buffet’s Cheeseburger in Paradise. We celebrated Kell’s 43rd birthday with a beautiful dinner at LaRepaire. The kids tried foie gras and of course enjoyed it. Their taste buds are way to sophisticated and expensive. They each had a sirloin steak. We also enjoyed risotto with smoked lobster cream and a seared tuna. On to Saba we went from a sea of humanity to being only one of two boats in Ladder Bay. This is a 28 mile trip and about 4 hours. When we get there the waves are very rough and the mooring balls we are supposed to use when we clear in are taken or broken. Somewhat frustrating but we found a mooring balling on the other side of the island. What a difference. We went from seeing tons of boats and $100 million dollar yachts to being one of two boats off of Saba. Saba is a little round island with NO BEACHES. It is a rock that rises straight of the ocean with shear rock walls all around that go from sea level up several hundred feet. Until the 1940’s the island was only accessible via a set of 800 steps carved into the rocky cliffs. All materials, foods, etc were delivered by hand using these steps. In the 1940’s a small port was constructed that will accept small commercial boats. So we cleared customs in and out in one shot. That’s great!!. Then spend the day on the island. We all went for hike to tallest point on the island. The hike was up to Mt Scenery. 1064 steps and 3084 feet high. This is a world class hike on stone steps that have been cut into the hillside by hand. Took about one hour up and was quite difficult but lot’s of fun at the top where we were in the clouds and a rain forest environment. I read a description of Saba that described it as a fairy tale picture of a forbidden land. I would agree. It’s one of those places you see in movies and go wow. God created something very special here. After two nights at Saba on we sailed back to Sint Maarten and to Simpson Bay. This is a 24 mile sail pointed into the wind. A little rough but not terrible. We had great wind for most of the trip and were sailing around 9 knots. It’s very cool to turn the engines off and the boat is quiet just cruising through the water with wind pushing us along. Now back to Sint Maarten and cleared in on the Dutch side. This was the most paperwork and strict clearing of customs yet. We are anchored in Simpson Bay and have discovered that one of the largest Regatta’s in this area is this coming week. The 33rd annual St Martin Regatta. We are watching the race boats and teams show up as we speak. We have chores to do the next couple of days and will stay here to do laundry, get some boat parts, rest, catch up on work and school. Also need to provision food and water. Everything needed for cruisers is available here and accessible with only a 10 min dingy ride. Cody & William have learned to drive and maintenance our dinghy. William has announced he is the dinghy captain and is taken good care of her (Bessie). Cody has become very good at putting up the main sail and the jib. It’s no easy task to put the main sail on a mast that is over 40 feet tall. It pulls up by hand most of the way and then finished using a hand crank wench. Kaylee is in charge of ropes when letting out the jib and she has helped to batten down the hatches (ARRRRRR). Kelli and Cody are both learning to drive the boat and understand the engines. Kelli is getting quite good at managing the anchor and I am becoming much more confident in all aspects. We have learned that life is different everywhere you go. Different cultures view life from different perspectives. Latitude plays a large role in culture and behavior. Not all islands and people are created the same. -Brian

LOL :D

Funniest moments so far: -We were driving out dinghy back to the boat when the engine stopped. Our dinghy was quickly floating toward a large yacht. the yacht workers were just standing there watching not knowing what to do while we all just laughed ourselves silly!! -When getting off of the dinghy at our boat William was trying to help our friend Jama off. It was very wavy that day so it was a big struggle. William was standing on our boat while holding on to our dinghy. The dinghy and the boat slowly started separating so William was left planking over the water from our boat, Hakuna Matata, to the dinghy. The two boats didn't stop separating from each other there though. Pretty soon William ended up not having enough boat to hold and to anymore and fell right into the water. We all thought it was hilarious other than maybe William. -Everyone was above deck while sailing other, than William. William was down in his head brushing his teeth. It was very rough out with waves up to 10 feet. A big wave hit our boat and William's top hatch to his bathroom happened to be open. While William was brushing his teeth the water from the big wave crashed into the port. William was soaked from head to toe. Oh his luck! Funniest cultural moments: -Brian interpreting the wifi as virgin when it was 2013 -Waitress interpreting boef, which if beef in French, as woof like a dog! -Because of our location the smart phone translated deleted items to rubbish bin. -We went to a restaurant on St. Martin called Le Repaire that Brian had read about on a travel site. The place was a total dive and not very good,  and very shady. When we came to St. Barths there was also a restaurant called Le Repaire. It looked a lot nicer and wasn't just a bar but an actual restaurant. We went there for Kelli's birthday and it was wonderful! We had the right restaurant name but the wrong island!

Rainy but still beautiful

Kaylee here! We had a fantastic day today with lots of exercise!! We started the morning with coming over to land in our dinghy so that we could go on a hike. We went to two forts that were very historic. The first was called fort Gustaf and the second was called fort Carl. After the hike we were all very hot, sweaty, and hungry. We went to a little beach restraunt that was very good!! I had lobster fritters. We then went back to the beach to take a quick swim in the ocean. After we all were dressed and Cody and William had there school work we headed back to land. Cody and William went up to a little area with wifi to do homework and mom, dad, and I went to a little bar. I am at the bar currently and Mom and Dad are talking to some people next to us from Carmel, Indiana. Our friends Jama and Mike who are at the beach should be here any minute. We mentioned them and the guy from Carmal knows Mike! What a small world!! It is rainy here but still beautiful! I'm loving this life!

A Bit of the Larger Story

Blog 02.19.13
The larger story from Kelli's point of view...
As we adapt to "i'lon" time we can feel the ease and slowness setting in. An evening dinner with any discussion of what tomorrow holds usually ends in a variety of choices and the conclusion that we can wait until tomorrow to decide. C'est la vie or such is life. 
Today we find ourselves anchored in Gustavia, St Bart's where the history is rich in French and Swedish ownership and the clientele of tourists here is wealthy.  From where I write at the stern of our little 47 foot catamaran I see seven mega yachts. 
This puts me in such an interesting mind set as this very week 365 days ago I was in the slums of Mathare Valley, Nairobe, Africa. To have travelled so far and explore this huge ball we exist on is life changing and breath taking.
The larger story I have composed in my mind a dozen times is to aid anyone reading this with an insight as to how our family dreamed big enough and came about planning a few months at sea.  Fortunately, for me there are many of you that know the intimate details of our Seabattical as well as the details of the life we have lived in community with you. So please rejoice with us and cheer us on as you always have. You know who you are. 
The larger story that continues to overwhelm me and often lays me out, flat on my face in thanksgiving, comes from the difficult places Brian and I have traversed together alongside the journey of joy  that we have experienced in numerous environments. I easily recall Brian's decision to move on from a mortgage/ real estate business and begin Shepco Commercial Finishes. The days were long and difficult financially and emotionally. (a momentary aside here as We thank mom and dad Bennett for being our first official paying project. Love you so much) Not only were those straining years financially but we were experiencing the "in your face, nobody tells you about" years of parenting three young kids. I am eternally grateful for every summer when contractors are at their wits end to finish projects on time and under budget that Nancy Kent and Kathie Kunish would welcome us for however long we needed at Powers Lake. Those weeks were a lifeline for me. I cannot count the number of times the electricity or gas were turned off at home while the kids and I were in PowersLake. Brian always made sure his paycheck was cashed last in the companies busiest months to ensure Shepco employees were paid. While this was extremely difficult to walk through, our family never went without exactly what we needed. Those months and years gave us such a broad understanding of wants and needs. 
We had unexpected house guests during those years (most of them migrating from Wyoming) that would fill our refrigerator and freezer as a token of thanks for lodging.  Their  provisions at the time allowed me to play in my kitchen more and fulfilled a strong desire to provide a family meal every evening. We still practice the lost art of a family meal every evening. I love that each of our kids will want to wait for all five us to eat and share the evening meal together. 
During all the growth and struggle and victories of owning and operating a small business, raising kids, participating in far too much ministry at church, providing a private Christian education for three children, Brian and I came to an agonizing realization. Our ability to dream was gone. I can recall the night in our bonus room, farthest away from sleeping children, the intensity of the conversation as Brian and myself poured out all the fear, anxiety, concern and  questioning. The outcome was this, "we as a couple will fight for each other, our family and we will begin to desire and dream again regardless of the penny's in our pocket." I love this attribute Brian has always had of "dollar dreams and a penny in his pocket".  
In 2008 our friends Dave and Rhonda Hetrick invited us to her family condo on the island of St Thomas. What a hilarious week of laying on the beach, kids sprawled out everywhere sleeping on pool floats, good eats, funeral party at Coky Beach and of course the day sail on Scuba Doo catamaran. As the day sail companies went out with 50 or more people we felt like movies stars on our private little cat with a captain and first mate. And so it was from that simple day sail we were smitten with the sea.
In 2010 we sensed we were living the dream as we hired Captain George on Dream Cat and coerced (just kidding) five friends,  J&M, D&R and Smidro, to come with us to the British Virgin Islands to crew the Dream Cat for a week.  That trip was the beginning of one of our most far reaching, some day dreams. 
Once we began researching living at sea for an extended period of time our someday plan changed to a three year plan.  Cody would be a junior, William a freshman and Kaylee in 7th grade. Timing for school would work, Shepco would be about thirteen years old and three years to plan would be plenty of time.   We happily dug in and began reading everything we could get our hands on.
In 2012 we leased a boat called Golden Dawn for two weeks in the British Virgin Islands and hired Captain Aaron for the first week. Aaron understood our goal to learn all we could about ropes, knots, anchoring, navigating, etc. During our second week aboard Kaylee, William, Cody joined us aboard and took to it like professional sailors.  Clearly it was important to ensure the kids even liked being on a boat and at sea for more than a day. The planning continued and so many doors opened for us as we chatted, blogged, researched and dreamed together as we had purposed to do many years ago. 
There are too many details and conversations to recount here but please continue to follow our blog for details as we unfold other details.  
As I celebrate another birthday eve in one of the most beautiful parts of God's great creation I continue to be amazed and overwhelmed.  The sea is not my home but for the next six weeks I am embracing this adventure. I marvel at how big God has let me dream and how deeply He has recognized my desire. 
The sun is setting and I must not miss it. 

Out of Oyster Pond

Soooo this is William here. So It's been a whole two weeks and it feels like I've been here for just a few days! We were in oyster pond for a whopping four days. But sadly that felt like four weeks :( but while at oyster pond we met some lovely people and some not so lovely people. It was a good sized dock but there were constantly people walking up and down staring into our boat. I felt like I was in a fishbowl. As they would walk by they would slow down their pace, and point and stare as they walked. It was almost embarrassing, but being the family that we are, Kaylee, Cody, and I would just stare back or make extremely funny faces. We certainly hadn't planned to stay that long but it was peachy keen. On the last day we decided to make it special and go out to eat at this little pizzeria. We started out with some amazing appetizers and I could already tell that it would be great. We decided to get three pizzas and they were the bestest most fabulous pizza I have ever had. After leaving we went to Grand Kays and we are now anchored here. On our way across we saw some amazing kite sailors. There was one guy who was literally three feet from us. I was so inspired, I want to do it so bad right now :D  This morning we went snorkeling and now were on land at a quaint little restaurant on the beach. Its been a wonderful time so far and I'm loving every minute of it.

Practically French

Bonjour, Bonswah, Merci, these are but a few of the many French words that can be heard floating through the warm air every Tuesday night in the small town of Grand Case on the island of St. Martin. But they are hard to pick out because of all of the other sounds, smells and sights vying for your attention in the midst of a weekly version of the oh so famous Carnival.

            After our washing-machine-strapped-into-a-wooden-rollercoaster ride over from the British Virgin Islands on Sunday night and a day of R&R on Monday we decided it was time to party. And me being my I-like-to-party self, thought it was a great idea. So Tuesday night we called a cab and made a friend with “Big Willy” who drove us to Grand Case for a weekly street fair that the town has during tourist season. It also happened to be Fat Tuesday which was a plus (depending on how much you like to party). So on the way there Big Willy tells us that his wife works at a lolo called Scoobys and we should go check it out and tell her he sent us. Now I’m assuming that most of you don’t know what a lolo is (I didn’t before today) and even though it looks like someone mistyped lol it has nothing to do with “laughing out loud” although you will hear quite a lot of lolzing if you ever visit one. A lolo is a small, roadside restaurant that specializes in grilling and frying meats and seafood’s. They are usually just tables and chairs set up around a main building with some big open tents surrounding them all crammed into one little area beside the main street. But the cooks at these places know what they’re doing and they do it VERY well. We took the advice of our new found friend, Big Willy, and stopped by Scooby’s to begin, what my family likes to call a night like that, eating our way through the night. We began with ribs, curried shrimp, grilled snapper and ox tail stew. All of this was served on plastic plates with plastic utensils wrapped in your typical paper napkin. On a side note the napkins there and everywhere else are better than the ones we have on the boat. We bought a pack of like 500 napkins for about 5 bucks and they are the worst napkins in the entire world.  I like to describe them as “the epitome of suck”. But back to what really important in life, food.

The food there was absolutely amazing, it was fantastic, marvelous, stupendous out of this world good, and it was from a street vendor. Now I’m assuming that most of you have had great ribs and shrimp. Some of you have had grilled snapper (maybe not served to you whole with eye balls and all but grilled snapper at least). But I would be willing to bet that the majority of you have never had ox tail stew. I must say that it was absolutely delicious but if you’re trying to watch your weight stay away from it. It’s one of the fattiest meats I have ever had in my life.

After our first dinner we wandered down the main drag and tried to admire all of the street vendors but there are so many crammed into one little space that you would have to walk up and down the street about four times before getting the full experience. There were people selling painting, sculptures, trinkets, jewelry, clothing, food and I even saw a guy selling plastic light up swords. All the while there is constant noise coming from the hundreds of people and the live bands scattered up and down the street. There are so many different things to see that it makes you want to stay for hours and just talk to everyone and find out what they’re selling. Although to speak with everyone you would probably have to speak three or four different languages and I don’t even know how many dialects. The majority of the people were French or American but there were many people from all over Europe, Asia and I even heard a distinct Canadian accent complete with the “eh” at the end of each sentence. We eventually ended up in a great little pizzeria called Castillo de Diablo that looked like it was straight out of France. So of course the food was, again, absolutely wonderful. Even better was the parade that the locals put on for everyone. About 30 people all dress up in typical festive Mardi Gras costumes of bright colors, feathers, beads and lots of sparkly objects. They would tap out a beat on homemade drums and play a simple tune on homemade whistles but because there were so many of them in such a tight space the noise for deafening. But in a good way if that is at all possible. They rambled on down the street and after a while people began milling about like they had for hours. We sat at our little back table in that wonderful pizzeria for nearly 2 hours just eating and chatting and having loads of fun, especially when one American couple made their way in and sat down. Now I am a people watcher so I find it entertaining to look for people who are totally out of their comfort zone and see how they react to certain situations, this was one of those times. The husband was about 6’3, 250 pounds and rockin the cut off, ball cap and bright red lobster look. He also must have completely missed the fact that this was a pizzeria because when the waitress came to take their order he loudly asked for a burger about 10 times before he finally realized they didn’t have any, so he got a pizza.

After a great dinner we headed back to where we were meeting our taxi driver when we came across a booth selling crepes. I had heard of a crepe before but never actually had one. That ones in the Top 10 biggest mistakes of my life. I would describe a crepe as the French version of a pancake but 100 times better. It is thin, light, and rich like a lot of French foods but at this stand you could pick different ingredients that could be spread over it such as lemon and strawberry jelly, caramel or, my sibling’s personal favorite and my least, Nutella. The Nutella was gross, at least to me but many people would disagree, but the lemon was sooooooooo good. I could have eaten that stuff all day long until I exploded. Our cab driver arrived and we finished our crepes in the car and talked about how much fun we had. I had an amazing time and would love to do it again. If your ever in St. Martin I would highly encourage you to drop by this Tuesday night party and enjoy the many sights, sounds and tastes that the locals jam into half a mile of road.If your experience is anything like ours even after a couple of hours of being immersed in the culture you will feel like you are practically French.

Inside a Washing Machine

It took a few days to recover and grab perspective to write this post.

Our journey started Sunday afternoon at Jost Van Dyke.  We had planned to spend the day on Jost and head to Virgin Gorda on Monday morning.  That changed with the big snow storm that hit New York.  That storm was tracking to head toward the Atlantic and make waves and winds quite large on Monday night.  So, we left Jost on Sunday about 3pm and arrived in Virgin Gorda about 7pm to grab a ball in the dark.  First time to do this, but it went relatively well.   We met our captain, Pedro, for the journey to St Martin and had dinner.  A nice break before the 16 hour haul to St Martin.  We departed Virgin Godon about 10pm on Sunday and plowed through wind and waves coming directly at us for 16 hours.  Very little sleep and banging the waves most of the night.  Pedro our captain was awesome and had a great attitude letting me know the 8 foot waves and 20 knot winds would double the next night when we had planned to cross. 

The thing I know and expect about boats is that things break.  This was quite challenging when we had three things break at once about 3am.   But all was good and all was made to work well enough to arrive at St Martin about 2 pm on Monday.   I was at the helm while the sun was coming up and I could see the faint distant shadow of St Martin.  We were still a good 6 hours away but it was cool to see land from the middle of the ocean and darkness and know what sailors felt like long before GPS and modern ocean charts.  During the passage between about 1am and 3am Kelli and I had a chance to sit on the back of the boat and count shooting stars.  Kelli saw 11.  I counted 4 and Cody was up for a while and saw 5.   It was pitch black and the Milky Way was glowing.  God was smiling.  It was comforting.  Shortly after sunrise a small rainbow appeared and again the thought of God's promise was comforting.  As a father I was extremely proud of my family for dealing with very uncomfortabe conditions for 16 hours straight.  Not one complaint just a few questions of "how much longer".  

Monday afternoon was minor clean up on the boat.  Relax, eat, drink and sleep.  Our bodies were in need of rest.  Tuesday morning we all got up late, school work, boat repairs and cleaning in the morning.  I had work to catch up on.    We spent most of the day Tuesday getting back into a normal groove.  Late afternoon we found a small rocky beach and then a nice pool where the boys swam laps and cooled off. 

Then off to Grand Case on St Martin via taxi where there is a carnival parade every Tuesday during the spring.  We spent the evening strolling along the main street where all the shops and restaurants are located.  Lots of street vendors, artists, t-shirts, bracelets, etc.   Quite a few great places to eat with great French restaurants, boutiques and LOLO's.  We ate at a great little LOLO.  This stands for locally owned locally operated (I think ).  Great foods cooked on open fires for about $10 each.  The parade was full of men and women dressed in typical carnival apparel along with drums, whistles and many other noise making instruments.  Quite fun and relaitively family friendly.  The kids discovered crepes from several of the street vendors and all had several crepes filled with ingredients such as Nutella, Lemon & Sugar, etc.    Very French and very fun.

It's been great to see our family adapt to environments we are not accustomed to.  To be in areas where there is no cell phone, texting or internet service and figure out how to communicate with the locals who primarily speak French.  It's great to get outside your comfort zone and to truely understand that God has not brought us this far only to leave us.

Ocean Crossing

Flexibility is key when watching the wind and waves and waiting for the perfect window for our crossing to St Marteen. We have been preparing for the overnight sail to St Marteen and the timline has been moved to tonight! So our quiet day in Great Harbour and White Bay at The Soggy Dollar Bar will have to wait...
We hired Captain Pedro a local from Tortola to help us in the overnight crossing.  We are anxious to learn the nuances of sailing at night.  I  am really looking forward to putting our new star map to use. Right now Brian is attempting to complete all paper work for clearing out of the BVI as well as clearing out Captain Pedro with no paperwork. Everything is a learning experience!!
We continue to learn how to communicate effectively in sailing, anchoring, and completing school work.
Each day we learn more about Hakuna Matata. Such as how long we can run electricity before draining the battery, resetting fuses, remembering to run the right engine and turn the timer for the freezer and fridge so they don't defrost (again), and a myriad of other useful and necessary tasks.
Just before we left the states we heard a great teaching about being a "city on hill" and a  "beacon of light". Hours later a friend of ours, Krista Shields, prayed this very idea over us. Putting this concept into practice begins within the five of us as we are experiencing the essence of the definition 'city' (humanity intensified). Five people in tight quarters learning a completely different schedule or pace to life. The rhythm of island and boat life is unhurried and there is no problem to any task. As layed back as we thought we were as a family is nothing compared to participating in this culture every day and night. We are all in and ready for each experience. But the learning curve is steep. We would prefer the ease of learning through correct training as opposed to constant mistakes. This is a life lesson for anyone.
So Sunday night as you all sleep soundly in your beds think of us as we cross the beautiful ocean to St Marteen. Keep cheering us on as your encouragement and well wishes keep each of us grounded and connected.

Another day in paradise...

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A Day In The Life

            Hello there world. Its Cody today writing to you from the beautiful Cooper Island. This is the same island that we were "stranded" at last January and in the 4 days we were here I fell head over heels in love with this island. It is a small island with a population of maybe 75, barely. It has one main bay with a great little beach restaurant and a small boutique. The restaurant is framed by a vibrant green hill rising up sharply behind it. The southern side is a large hill with rock cliffs facing the sea. Me and William are hoping to go climbing there later today if we can finish all of our school work in time. The north side looks the same as the south side just a bit smaller. This little slice of heaven was worth the trip over from Peter Island earlier this morning but it was no slice of pie getting here.
            We had quite the day yesterday when we made our first attempt at anchoring and found that the anchor had not been used in quite some time. At first glance the chain just looks very rusty, but then as we began to let it out we discovered that after about 100 feet parts of the chain had become so rusted that they began to stick together. So we had approximately 100 feet of chain and multiple lengths of chain that had rusted into huge knots. What better way is there to fix something than to pound the living day lights out of it with a hammer? There isn't one. After an hour of pounding and oiling my parents finally got another 50 feet out of the thing. We then proceed to actually drop the anchor and get it to catch. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I cleaned the algae off our left hull and will being cleaning the right one at some point this weekend, got a hair cut from my mom which looks pretty good and we all had some great chicken caccitore (catch-a-tori). It will forever amaze me how my parents can create such great food anywhere in the world and with any size kitchen. That was our night.
           We planned to leave Peter around 8 this morning but due to our battery's running low and an alarm going off in the middle of the night that didn't happen. But the battery's running low also meant that we had to run the generator that is right behind my bed. Now this generator is not a gently humming type deal. This thing is LOUD. So when it promptly kicked on at 5 in the morning, I promptly sat bolt upright in bed and thought we were going to crash. After I realized what was actually happening I rolled over and tried to catch a few more z's before wake up call. We ended up leaving at around 9:30 and headed out to open sea. Today was our fist chance to actually get our sails up and it was quite the adventure. When we got out into some good wind me and my dad headed up front to put up the main. Well after some serious pulling and cranking we got it up. Only to realize that our very bottom cleat was not attached to the sail which made the bottom part of the sail flail around instead of being tight on the mast. So we reefed it, which is just putting the sail up 2/3 of the way. Then we put the jib out, which is the sail at the very front of the boat that is a bit smaller than the main. Well our jib seems to have a personal vendetta against me. We got it up no problem but then when we were tacking it got caught on some loose rope on the main. I jumped up to free it and when i did the rope snapped back and whipped me right along the back leaving a huge welt and a little bit of blood. It hurt. A lot. But its one of those things that hurts for a bit and then goes away so I'm fine now but it will be leaving a rather large mark. We made it to Cooper without any other problems which was great.
           Now I don't want this to sound like a list of all the bad things that have happened to us so I will say that all of these things have taught us how to be better sailors. We are learning from our mistakes and enjoying our victories. If there's one thing I have learned so far it is that when bad things happen you must learn from those things and move on. Otherwise you will get caught up in all your failures and never accomplish anything. So there's your dose of daily wisdom. Don't focus on the rope that seems to want to end you, focus on grabbing that sucker by the throat and tightening that sail.

Arrival

Planes, taxi's, ferry's, customs, provisioning, unpacking, organizing Hakuna Matata, reorganizing and finally bedtime....
Travel days are always exhausting but ours was exceptionally easy. We seem to adapt to island time easily and the further south we travelled yesterday the more relaxed and layed back we became.

Upon our arrival in Sea Cow Bay Manuel Reef, Tortola, BVI we set to unpacking and loading our thirteen various sized bags. (The customs agent in Road Town began a thorough search until he realized how many bags he was committing to. With that he gave us a nod and a wave goodbye).
Brian and William called our favorite taxi driven by Lisman who took them to finish provision at the local wholesale and retail grocers.  William made quite the impression as he quizzed Lisman about his 20 years in the taxi business and all the changes in population, crime, traffic, etc. that have come to Tortola. History lessons from the locals are always best.
Kaylee, Cody and myself worked like a fine tuned machine unpacking all our gear and setting the kitchen and living room areas in order. If any of you know me well you understand the importance of a well equipped and organized galley! Of course, all the cups and plates were placed just out of my reach in the cabinets above the freezer. The galley and eating area are now well stocked, cleared of clutter and in working order for captain and crew.
Our overnight at the dock was quiet, restfilled and peaceful.

I will take just a few lines here to boast about Cody 16, William 15 and Kaylee 13. We have seen them adapt to a variety of environments.  Brian and I are overwhelmed at the "all in" spirit in which they have approached this particular adventure. As we began dreaming and planning this Seabattical in 2010 each of them voiced their opinions and concerns but have always embraced this dream. We are grateful to them for not just tolerating us and our dream but choosing to participate in every detail.

This morning is rainy on Tortola but perfect weather for hanging at the dock waiting on a cushion repair, generator maintenance, boat orientation and anticipating the always important Beverage delivery from Tico.

Keep praying for our family and cheering us on as we continue to learn and grow in our knowledge of this great big world.

SHINE,
Kelli and Crew

The Smaller Story

As we have promised the Gone Sailing Blog has begun. We are calling this "The Smaller Story" as we desire to let the "Larger Story" of our dream Seabattical unfold as we go. 

Currently the Gatewood Family is ten hours away from the first leg of our trip. Here is a flexible itinerary:

February 5th Indianapolis to North Carolina to St Thomas by plane, St Thomas USVI to Tortola by ferry. Road Town Tortola to Manuel Reef, Sea Cow Bay by Taxi. 

It is a Big day of travel but we will be happily settled onto Hakuna Matata at Manuel Reef by evening tomorrow night! 

Over the next week we will sail, get acquainted with our new home Hakuna Matata, and practice anchoring throughout a few of the British Virgin Islands. From the BVI we embark on our longest overnight sail to St Marteen. Following a couple weeks around St Marteen and neighboring islands we will head further south through as many Leeward Islands as we are able. The goal is to be back to the BVI by March 22. We have friends joining us along the way in St Marteen and upon our return to the BVI. 

Our family is so grateful for all the encouragement and excitement surrounding this dream of ours. We are continually overwhelmed by all of you that have cheered us on. Please continue to spread the word to those that may find interest in our little dream of sailing for nine weeks with our kids. Our someday is here and now.  We are grateful for every door that has opened and allowed us this opportunity. 

More to come.