A view from the captain and crew

10 days in 2 minutes (Cody) So our first crossing, as most of you know, was like being tossed into a washing machine that was strapped into a wooden roller coaster. But the crossing back to the BVI was much, much easier. Instead of 16 hours it was 10.5 hours on March 16th. On the first crossing we had about four major things break, on the way back we had zero things break. On the first crossing we got the living day lights pounded out of us, I actually slept most of the time on the way back. After that we cruised around the Northern Sound for a few days before heading done to St. John in the USVI. By this time it was the 22nd which happened to be the first day of Spring Break  and my birthday at the same time. So for my birthday my dad gave me the trail map of St. John and said "pick some trails and we'll hike them on your birthday" so I did. Four and a half hours, 7 miles and across the width of St. John and back. That was my birthday present and I loved it. On the either hand, the rest of my family thought they were going to die and I'm not sure if Kaylee has forgiven me yet. That night my mom made baked potatoes and pork chops, it was fantastic. The next day our friends Dave, Rhonda, Zach and Olivia Hetrick arrived and we've been cruising around the BVI since. So far we've been to St. John, Norman and are currently on Cooper. This week we're hoping to get to The Baths, Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda. Well there's your semi-daily dose of adventure. Ciao!. The coolest thing I've seen(Brian) We are so blessed.  Not only did we see dolphins once but twice.    First time we were cruising off of Statia at about 7 knots on the way to Saba.  I look up and see something splash in the middle of the ocean.  Look again and I think I see a fin.  Holy cow!  It's a dolphin.  Wait, not just one there are a few.  I yell at everyone on board to come look and then the pod of dolphins surround our boat.  Wow!!!   We now have 15 to 20 dolphins swimming with our boat for the next 4 to 5 minutes.  The kids are laying on the tramps out front and the dolphins are directly in front/ underneath the front of the boat.  Swimming with us at about 7 knots.  All sizes and ages of dolphins.  Big, small, old and babies.  Some are along side and jumping out of the water.  We also got to experience and smaller and shorter version of this on our crossing from Saba to Virgin Gorda ( 90 miles).   Wow I am so thankful for such a cool experience. Boat life (Kelli) Well, I believe I have mastered boiling water, prepping veggies with a butcher knife, readying breakfast, lunch, or dinner all while being underway whether under sail or motor. Brian remains in charge of morning coffee preparation as I don't tend to be brilliant until after my first cup. Cooking on the boat continues to be an adventure. I am so grateful for friends and family that are willing to wait for a meal as I juggle the pressure cooker and one burner that refuses to light after it gets too hot.  I am grateful for Lisbon as he drove Kaylee, William and myself to provision at various locations around Road Town.  What a grand adventure to grocery shop in a totally different culture again. In many ways provisioning in all these islands reminded me of shopping in Honduras.  One never knows what you might find at the local grocer. Flexibility continues to be key in planning.  My favorite time of day continues to be the mornings (which will shock many of you). Just as our day begins, giving thanks for another day. I am learning to be grateful for each day whether I am in Indy or on Saba Island. Both are extremes of "different" and yet each holds its own adventures. C'est la vie.  Adventure (Rhonda) I am not sure I can describe how completely fabulous it is here with the Gatewoods.  We find ourselves trying to find reasons why we NEED to actually ever go back to Chicago.  This is paradise times a thousand! As we venture from island to island, we can't help but marvel at the beauty, the salty air, the friendships we continue to grow and see grow thru our children.  We are a little worried about setting their expectations a little too high.  But I guess if that's the most damage we do as parents we'll be forgiven.  We'll continue to savor every moment until we have to leave next week, which right now, is about a million years away.  Happy hour at Cooper Island . . . incredible!!! Well I keep being required to write write my thoughts but I don't think you want to hear all my thoughts... Soooooo I'll write what I think about these past weeks. After the crossing, which was like heaven compared to the first crossing, we had to go back to where we started to get my baby Bessie repaired. And the guy who was repairing her gave us a replacement. Now Bessie will never be replaced but this one would have to do. So I named her Bessie's twin, Betsie. Betsie was a newer motor but she was a foot less wide then Bessie. She ran like a charm but being without Bessie for a few days was not too good. But we finally got Bessie back after she had a good patch over her tear. She's running beautifully know and shes hauling all nine of us, the Hetricks are here, all around the islands. At the moment were at Cooper Island at a nice restaurant just liming. Liming is an island term for just chillin. Weeeeel that's all I got for now. Soooo byeeee ;) Oh and that pie statement was very valid so im going to need a good pie when we get back ;D      -William Kaylee here and I'm not quite sure what to write about so I guess I will just talk about what Olivia and I have been doing. Well me and Olivia got burnt. Her more then me but still it hurts. We have been laying in bed every night dumping aloe vera all over our sun burns. It's intense. The other night we couldn't help it but we were so slap happy! We were saying the weirdest things and then just started cracking up. It was great. I'm having a great time here. I also have realized that I'm in love with ice cream. It is possibly the best thing on this earth. When I get home I'm going to eat tons of it! YUMMMMMM!!! HELLOOOOOOO THIS IS OLIVIAAA well basically I've been adjusting to living on the boat. The first day I experienced sea sickness, that wasn't too fun. And as Kaylee said; I have a really bad sunburn. So while everyone else took a hike today Kaylee and I stayed on the boat jamming to One Direction <3 we also enjoyed dinner last night and then decided to show everyone our amazing dancing skills, which included; the Bernie, tango, salsa, and a bunch of other random dance moves that probably scared everyone. Needless to say, we are all having an amazing time and we're all blessed very much.  This is Zach, And this trip doesn't suck!

What day is it?

One of the most common questions while spending weeks on a boat is "what day is this?" Kenny Chesney was lyrically correct as he sang about sailing and having no idea what the day was nor did he seem to care. It has been that sort of day or days since our arrival back to the BVI. We completely understand another lyric that says "went through customs and immigration, still this feels like home." Gorda Sound has that effect on us. But enough about song lyrics and sentiments. Upon our arrival to Manuel Reef Sea Cow Bay the Cap'n and crew quickly busied themselves for a full day of chores. (This crew member, Kelli, needed a few minutes to reflect how far we have gone and give lots of praise for our arrival back to our starting point). There is a phrase used in St Kitts, "I got to go so I can come back". Our family has lived this little motto. Hakuna matata was in dire need of cleaning, towels and sheets were stinky and we had eaten every bit of protein on the boat. At this point in this post we must have a moment of silence..... Bessie had to be hauled up on the dock and a dingy doctor will be assessing her to determine if she will ever be sea worthy again. Brian had done excellent work at patching her but with the upcoming arrival of Crew Hetrick we must not take chances with an unseaworthy vessel. Dingy cap'n William needed a moment to himself but nicely recovered. William introduced himself to our new dingy and affectionately named her Betsy. As of this post he has cleaned her up and filled the gas tank. Last night we dined like royalty on chicken cacciatore over potatoes accompanied by baguette dipped in a balsamic garlic sauce. We really splurged yesterday while provisioning and purchased a rug and a few real wine glasses. It set us back 15 dollars but was worth every penny. Of course the selection of rugs at Cash & Carry was limited to Tinkerbell, spider man and a lone santa. I am pleased to no longer be using a beach towel as a rug. Plus, I thought it fitting that we have a proper rug upon the soon arriving interior designer, Rhonda Hetrick. This morning we had a family meeting to have a plan for coming off the dock minus any tension. LeaVing the dock is fairly simple but getting to the dock is a slow and steady process. Brian has mastered backing stern to on a dock. It is sort of like parallel parking except your vehicle is 47ft long with two engines and the wind and water are pushing against your vehicle. As crew members we try to ensure our bow and stern lines are ready to throw to someone on the dock or in the absence of help we jump from boat to dock and work our lines until we are positioned correctly. We only have four fenders on Hakuna Matata that we tie to the side the dock will be on. But we have found that it is important to have a crew member with a fender in hand to move quickly should we get her too close to colliding with the dock. Five fenders would be ideal for a boat this size but we have learned to problem solve and work together. This morning was flawless as we came off the dock at Sea Cow Bay and minutes later backed into Nanny Cay for refueling. All this to say, Family meetings are important. Currently, we are under sail to St John, USVI. Two-thirds of the island is a national park. We look forward to hours of hiking, school work, and finishing our remaining days of Seabattical well. We are trying to get some pictures uploaded for your enjoyment. Sending warmth and sunshine!

A day with Jumie & Della

St Kitts and Nevis are two of the few islands in the Leeward islands that are nicknamed "islands that touch the clouds". These sister islands gained independence only a short 30 years ago. The government put an end to sugar cane production only 5 years ago. Both islands are now heavily dependent on tourism. When the cruise ships are in St Kitts Port Zante is bustling. Fortunately, for us we were able to check in as the cruise ship passengers were receiving their cattle call to head back to their respective floating resorts. We were also glad to hit the Ballahoo for happy hour, wifi, and a chicken roti that is popular everywhere down here. Day 2 on St Kitts was to be a hiking and tour day. Taxi driver, Jumie, happily obliged after a minor negotiation. Jumie gave us a wonderful tour all the way around the island. As a born and bred Kittian he seems to know countless numbers of people through each little town. The highlights were abandoned sugar plantations, batik wax silk screening and the Brimstone Hill fortress. The fortress remains mostly intact and was a bustling city of soldiers, families and slaves in its time. Sadly, the French and British took St Kitts just after slaughtering all the Carib Indians that lived there. The island was then divided into thirds with the French occupying each end of the island and the British in the central part. Of course the division and unity amongst the settlers did not last and the British took control following years of battles. The inhabitants today are said to be generations of the slaves brought from African countries. The only remaining Caribs are living today in islands further south like Guadalupe and Dominique. While we completely enjoyed the history lesson from Jumie we were ready to move on out of the busy Port Zante to Nevis. Upon arrival to Nevis main port and only true "town" Charlestown, one would think you may have travelled to Jamaica or a Hatiaan port. We walked around a bit as the heat of the day set in, consulted our trusty Leeward Island cruiser guide and decided on the "short" walk to a nearby restaurant with wifi. Fortunately, a gentleman that had seen us in town stopped and offered a ride the remainder of the 20 minute short walk. As I said in a previous post, the Double Deuce easily became a favorite spot. The owner, waitress and bartender had a good word for Brian and I in parenting and sailing with our kids. They also arranged a hike, taxi and just about anything else we needed. The tour the next day with Della was beautiful and restful. She took us to some beautiful former sugar plantations and gave us the best history lesson. Again, the island was built on the backs of slaves. And now the Nevis economy is driven by tourism. Following our tour we waited out a short rain shower and headed back to the beach where we had beached Bessie. Sailing lesson #500 would be, when a local offers to help you get your dingy off the beach at high tide with a northern swell coming in, take the help. We got Bessie in the water but immediately knew the next wave was coming to quickly and Bessie's nose turned sideways back toward the beach. Kaylee ended up off the boat in the sand, Brian and Cody steadied Bessie, William worked to get the engine down, I prayed and quickly bailed to ensure Kaylee didn't get hit by another wave. In a matter of moments it felt that 10 locals had gathered behind us to help and give sound instruction on getting out to sea. Cody and I paddled hard while William and Brian wrestled the motor down and fired her up. The bag of ice we had just purchased was now a huge puddle in Bessie and we bailed water as we hurried back to Hakuna Matata. I am sure it took a solid 30 minutes for my blood pressure to level off. Nobody was hurt and we learned some valuable skills. The next day we chatted with two couples that were unable to even get their dinghy to the dinghy dock in Charlestown due to the swell. Again, we were grateful for the two days there. Be sure to read Brian's last post about our round trip sail to Monserrat after we left Nevis. If you want to learn lessons in flexibility this type of life will offer numerous opportunities. As we have said in almost every post we will always be grateful for this time. I have seen myself push through physical and mental situations that life back home will not compare. Our time spent learning the history of the Islands that touch the clouds has been an unexpected education in our intentional travels. Sail on.

Monserrat and back

Brian here - Yesterday was a fabulous day of sailing. We headed off to Monserrat about 8:30am from Nevis. 15 to 20 knot winds and about 3.2 meter waves. Great sailing!!!!! We were averaging 9 knots which is fabulous for a 47 foot catamaran that weighs 24 tons. The boys and Kelli are becoming very good at raising the main sail and letting the jib out. We arrived at Monserrat about 5 hours later. Great views of the active volcano. The port was very small and the direction of the waves (swell) was causing the 3 meter waves to crash into a very small dinghy dock. So we had lunch on the boat and set sail to come back. We arrived in Nevis just before sundown and had sailed almost 10 hours in one day. A long day but better than any day at the office!

Our day on Nevis

Kaylee - Today was not such a good day for me. Before bed last night I wasn't feeling so good so I just decided I would try to sleep it off. I didn't end up getting much sleep though. I woke up with a soar throat, a stuffed nose, a major headache, and I over all felt achy all over. Mom gave me all kinds of good medicines and I took a nap. After my nap I felt a tad bit better and so we came back to the restaurant we were at yesterday. I had one of the best burgers I have ever had for lunch and that's saying something because I am a burger expert. We then proceeded by getting an island tour in a cab. Although I wasn't feeling well it was better than having to hike. I would rather be sick here than back at home. :) Kelli - the Double Duece staff took great care of us again today in Nevis. Even a couple locals helped us beach our dinghy, Bessie. Our tour around Nevis was rich in history as well as beautiful. When we arrived yesterday I was questioning our decision to come here as the Friday crowd and cruise boat crowd were overwhelming. But because we took a long walk, grabbed a ride with a local and followed our instincts to the beach area not to far from Hakuna Matata I have loved our time here. The ruins of sugar plantations are a work of genius as they have stood the test of weather and time. The Montpilier (now a gorgeous inn) was my favorite and I did my best to remind Brian that before the trip he assured me if we needed a night off the boat we could get a room. The pool and grounds plus a full bar with real glass ware were very appealing. But my tactics failed. C'est la vie. I am loving boat life enough to skip the fancy inns and hotel. Cody-Today we took a great tour of the island. Saw some awesome stuff. Jackie would have been proud, my inner photographer came out like a hunting tigress. I was at one with the camera and in harmony with my surroundings. William- well hi. My names William. I am fourteen years old and I like to eat chocolate pie. Daddy just said that I should write something short and sweet and it reminded me of chocolate pie. If someone wants to be a peach and make me pie when I get back I would love that. This post is very unrelative to everything but it's what's on my mind. We have to go back to the dinghy now. Without pie :( byeeeee ! Brian - today was an adventure. Our boat needed fuel and further south we get the more primitive it gets. So Cody and I set out in our dinghy. About a 10 min ride to the dock. Then meet our cab driver who has arranged to find 3 15 gal fuel containers. Off to the gas station we go via taxi. Fill the containers and back to the dinghy dock. The swell is running high today so putting a 100 lb jug in a dinghy that is moving a lot is a challenge. But we did it. Back to the boat and then teach Cody to siphon diesel from the containers to the tank. Lots of fun realizing that sometimes you just can't pull up to the dock and get fuel.

A family perspective

Changes in latitude, changes in attitude. Kelli-from the 3000 foot climb in Saba to the clouds, 1900 foot climb in Statia, hike around one of the oldest forts in the Leeward Islands, St Kitts and the possibility of a 3000 ft hike tomorrow today seems a respite. We have kept a good pace and are sleeping soundly from full days and nights. Plus, there has been little wind which results in minimal rocking on the boat. Nevis hospitality has been unexpected and gracious. The weather remains mild and really hot inland. The winds are changing so Monserrat will have to wait for us until Tues. check out The Double Duece, Our favorite hangout so far on Nevis. We are grateful every day for the opportunity to explore and grow. Brian- I have been amazed the last few days with a flat ocean that I could see the bottom of the ocean in 35 feet of water. I could see lines in the sand and sting rays on the bottom. The wind has been almost nothing and the same with the waves. We have motored from St Bart's to Statia then to St Kitts and now Nevis. The further South we go the less inhabited and more primitive the islands are. Very peaceful. There was a Criket game last night on St Kitts. The colors of the sands have changed on the volcanic islands to more of a light brown instead of the white sands on the more Northern islands. We saw a very old sugar cane mill and lush rain forest environment yesteray on Statia. It's easy to see why the French and English fought over these islands for 100's of years. Kaylee - It is amazing the opportunity that our family has received. Although we may have had some troubles along the way it is an amazing experience. Going to all of the different islands and experiencing the different cultures has showed me how many things some people miss out on. Going to all of these French islands has given me a want to learn French. It is actually a fairly simple language to learn and I would say I am making fairly decent progress. I have learned that my favorite island food are conch fritters. They are so delicious I could eat them every minute of the day. My favorite island so far that we hadn't visited before this trip would have to be St. Barths. Although it may be VERY expensive I love all of the little boutiques and shops. Besides St. Barths though Cooper island still holds a special place in my heart. This is a lovely life. William - Weeeeel the islands have been good to me so far, and I'm ready to see what comes next on our list of adventures... It's been very interesting so far. But I would say the thing that I miss the most is a real shower. With warm water. When there's a free shower or somewhere you can shower at for a low price you want to take it. On the boat you've got 200 gallons of fresh water. And at someplaces you might not be able to fill up at the moment. So instead of using fresh water Cody and I have just decided to shower in the ocean. You dive in, lube up on body wash and them jump in again to wash it all off. But the ocean isn't 90 degrees and where you can stand for thirty minutes. Instead you have to tread water. But other than that this trip has been amazing. I still miss everyone at home but it's been a blast so far. Bye ! Cody-oh my goodness I feel like a new person!! Just took my first shower in over a week and I feel grrrrreat!!! So our trip and all. Well it's been quite hot with almost no wind so the ocean has been super calm. I slept outside on the tramp last night and will probably continue to do so as long as I can because it just fantastic. I found out today that water has been collecting in my nasal cavity for the last month and all day whenever I would incline my head to much water would drain out my nose. It was super annoying trying to do homework because I would lean forward to read something more closely and water would get all over my homework! So distracting. I've discovered that Tom's are the greatest shoe ever created by mankind and everyone should have them because they make your life better and give kids without shoes a a pair of the worlds greatest shoes. I've found that I actually miss vegetables due to the fact that we don't have a lot of fresh veggies on the boat and for the first time in my life last week I ordered a salad as my main course for dinner! Crazy right? Well that's what my life has been like for the last month, along with a lot of sailing, sunning, swimming sleeping, and being salty. Eating, talking, reading and lots of learning. Thanks Kelli(again)-this entry of our blog has been uncensored and unedited by me. The goal was to get the entire family to write at once. Hopefully you all get a sense of the humor our kiddo's have. Pray for health as Kaylee and I are fighting colds. Love to you all.

Boat life 101

Well here I am again... Tonight I will be writing about what we've learned thus far in the trip. I think what I'll do is make a list and then write about the details of a few. Well here it goes. I've learned to tie numerous types of ropes, ALWAYS wear sunscreen, do your school work when told to do so, make sure all your hatches are closed or else all of your belongings will be soaked, use wifi when available, use the smallest amount of water possible, the sea is a great and friendly bathtub, the responsibility of being dinghy captain, when something goes wrong (like a rip in the dinghy) Don't worry maan ! Without working out every day you will become very out of shape very quickly, friends are such a crucial thing in life, eat well when good food is available, be ready to wake up in the middle of the night with rain pouring through the window above your bed, ALWAYS have a light at the front of the dinghy or else the coast guard will pull you over, don't smoke cigarettes because they smell like poop, use proper English when speaking with someone you don't know, DON'T EXPECT PEOPLE WHO ARE MOT FROM AMERICA TO ACT LIKE AN AMERICAN, sometimes things won't always go as planned.. Well I could go on for hours about other things that I've learned but I don't want to bore you anymore than I already have (; So let's start with the tying of ropes. Ropes, ropes, and more ropes. Ropes are probably the most essential thing right under God and water. You use them to lift the main sail, the jib, tie the tramp to the boat, tie the escape hatch closed so that water doesn't come spraying into the kitchen and many more uses. We have learned many types of knots on this trip. We can tie knots to the fenders, tie a knot so that the dinghy doesn't go flying into the ocean... Knots and ropes are used everyday and they also take a toll on your hands. By the time I get back my hands are going to feel like rocks. Another learning experience is showering. Back in the states we shower everyday and don't think about how much water we use. But when your on a boat and all you have is 200 gallons of fresh water it goes fast if you take a thirty minute shower. But sadly your shower usually consists of about two whole minutes of fresh water. But luckily Cody and I have figured out that salt water is just as good as fresh water. It may not be as nice but you'll take what you got when there's the biggest bathtub in the world right outside your window. So ya throw on some compression shorts, jump in the ocean to get nice and wet, soap up and then jump off the top of the boat just to make sure you got all the soap off. It's probably the most adrenaline I've ever had when showering. So not to brag or anything, but I'm kinda the captain of the dinghy. No big deal (; but for those of you that don't know what a dinghy is. Well its like a small boat with a motor strapped to the back. And ours is about 13x5 feet. It's certainly not the biggest one out there but she gets the five of us where we need to go. Me being the dinghy captain I got the honor of naming her. So I named her Bessie. And she is the perfect woman for me. She starts when we need her to start, she runs like a machine (see what I did there?) and she doesn't complain when she hauls our 700 pound family from our boat to the docks. But enough about Bessie, let's get to the good stuff. An interesting story to come later involving the coast guard but now I'll talk about the Regatta. The Regatta is a huge sail boat race around the island of St. Maarten. This race involves a few hundred boats of all shapes and sizes. Catamarans, monohulls, trimarans all in various lengths from 20 to 100 feet long. This year it was sponsored by Heineken and I don't think I've ever seen so many people drink so much beer ! But since we were in the harbor of where the race was ending we decided to stay here for the week race and watch the end of the race. On Sunday night when it was all over we went into shore and witnessed the medals and award ceremony. After it was over there were a few DJ's who played some music to which everyone was dancing to. I personally did not enjoy having my space bubble intruded upon so many times by complete strangers. But if you block that out and have a good time then it was a fabulous party. After the DJ's time was over the Grammy winning (in the 70's) Commodores came onto stage. Before they started their first song I could sense that my ears were about to witness badness. They didn't sound too completely terrible, but when we saw the five pounds of makeup combined with dance moves that look like what Pop (my grandpa) does we knew we had to leave. Not trying to insult your dance moves Pop but even you would have laughed at these guys. Their intentions were good but I don't think it came out the way that they wished that it would. But here comes the interesting story that I promised you earlier. As we're we're leaving the Commodores were still playing and there was still lots of light from shore and also from the moon we didn't need a light up front of Bessie. So we were cruising as fast as Bessie could take us (which isn't too fast) when the coast guard proceeded to shine there VERY bright spotlights at us. I was already temporarily deaf from the volume of the speakers from the concert I was clueless that they were actually trying to talk to me about something. Dad finally looked at me, told me to turn Bessie off, which I refused because she would more than likely to start again. So I risked being boarded by the coast guard and I just put her in neutral. I'm a rebel, Inknow. And I can assure you that I was a little intimadated by the fact that there were about nine of them, all carrying light machine guns and a few extremely bright spotlights. But when my dad heard what they said he just looked At me and told me that I needed a light. They continued to stare at me as I struggled to pull Cody's tiny LED flashlight out of my pocket and hand it to cody at the front of the dinghy. We watched each other for a few more seconds until Cody started telling me in his raised volume voice that we can go now. This whole time I was still temporary deaf to the fact that they were still trying to talk to me. So I put her in gear and we slowly made our way back to the boat. We are currently back in Gustavia, St Barth's for one night. We will pull up anchor early Tuesday so we can get to Statia (St Eustatia) early enough to hike a volcano. Well on dads iPad this looks like an extremely long post so I'll end it here. I'm learning things every day about who I am and what the world is like outside of the USA. It's an amazing trip and I'm having oh so much fun. So I'll leave you with this, quoted from a man we were talking to last night at dinner, "You cannot expect people who are not from America to act like an American." They won't talk the same as you, they won't walk or dress the same as you, and most of the time they will be much much nicer than you. There's no competing with the French, Dutch, carribean manners. -William.

Blown Away

Our Adventures on St Maarten continue. It is hard to believe we set our anchor on the Dutch side of St Maarten seven days ago! Our friends Mike and Jama headed home last Sunday after a busy week of sailing, climbing Saba, and numerous card games and shared meals. What a blessing to have visitors from home. We have frequented The Taste Factory so many times for breakfast, lunch and dinner we are officially "regulars". How much can you possibly love a pastry shop that has a "happy hour" after six? We cannot resist the beautiful French desserts at the buy 2 get 1 free Happy Hour. Lagoonies has become a favorite spot for lunch and happy hour. Satara offered us a beautiful setting for a multicultural dinner of Japanese, Indian, and Thai. We had to retreat to the bar for the remainder of our meal as the rain came in. We keep thinking of Satara because it offered not only a beautiful garden setting but an oversized couch with oversized comfy pillows...we miss a big comfy couch. We have been blown away by the beauty of the sunrises, sunsets and the full moon that peeks inside the hatch over our bed each night. Our days are a mix of boat chores, provisioning, exercise on land and in the water, laundry (the laundry lady took a liking to Cody this morning as he spoke to her in Spanish) and we also have spent tons of time reading and relaxing. Hopefully everyone enjoyed reading the blog on our reading list. Amazon is making a fortune from all the Kindle's aboard Hakuna Matata. The crowd in Simpson Bay grows as we are in the second full day of the Heineken Regatta. This morning's races began just outside the bay we are anchored in. We sat mesmerized by all the ships that sailed today. The racing party is in Philipsburg tonight. We will head there via taxi later this evening. On Wednesday night we ventured out via taxi to Maho Bay which is famous for its Sunset bar and grill at the edge of the water and the end of the airport runway. The small bay becomes a huge wave pool as the planes get set to take off. No sooner had we retrieved a table, Cody and William took off to experience the next plane taking off. The pics will hopefully speak for themselves! Yes! That was William who found himself a spot in the road to land in order to avoid being blown across the road into the bay. Cody was sad he didn't have his Nacho Libre mask and bible man cape as the guy next to him had a cool flag for a cape. When the boys came back to Sunset bar and grill Cody's description was "That was completely terrifying". It only took about five minutes for them to ask if they could stand behind the next plane. As far as daily boat life...William has officially taken charge of "Bessie" our dinghy. He is working on his driving skills, assuring us he is ready for Drivers Education when we return home. Kaylee is officially in charge of all the hatches when we leave the boat or set sail. Her other responsibility includes sleeping as much as possible and working on her tan. Cody and I have learned to tag team well at anchoring and taking charge of the jib. Cody and William have mastered the mainsail which I have affectionately named 'the monster'. Brian is in charge of it all. Kaylee took a permanent marker to Brian's Crew shirt from DreamCat in 2010 and changed Crew to Captain. I am blown away all the time with his ability to juggle all the boat issues, ShepCo and he is still able to find room for a nap or a card game on board. The bridge to Simpson Bay Lagoon has just gone up to allow boats and ships into the Lagoon. It is an event that everyone gathers for a few times a day. Multiple racing teams are coming back and the boats range from little Hobie Cats to mega yachts. So I will sign off here. Thanks for cheering us on and praying for our family. Miss you all.