This week’s entry finds Thalia on the move from the Bahama’s “Outer Islands” to the central Bahamas, specifically Cat Island and then Eleuthera Island. We were feeling quite isolated and were eager to get closer to Great Abaco Island in the northern Bahamas so we can ensure our rendezvous with friends on June 1. We still have about 220 miles to go and plan to make it in a few hops in order to explore some of the islands along the way. Continue reading “Central Bahamas Ep. 54”
The Wild Life and the Wildlife Ep. 52
Having said good-bye to Tom’s father and step-mom yesterday evening, we got right to work this Saturday morning on moving Thalia along on her journey. May 5th was a busy day for us. Tom dropped me off on the dinghy dock early in the morning so I could drive the rental car back to the local airport and get a taxi back to the harbor. When I arrived back on the boat, Tom and the kids were nearly ready to get underway. We would move Thalia 50 miles west along the southern coast of Puerto Rico today. Both the wind and currents were in our favor and we had a great sail. The kids did school work after somewhat of a vacation while their grandparents were on board. It is always so difficult to get them back into the routine when it has been interrupted for a few days. How I sympathize with educators!
Six Hops and Seven Islands in Nine days! Ep. 49
Our last web entry left off with us just having explored the very interesting town of St. Pierre on the island of Martinique. We need to make a wake and keep moving northwest as we have to be in St. Croix (300 miles from Martinique) by the 24th of April. We figure that we must make a hop to the next island up in this chain of islands almost every day. We have built in a two day stay in Les Saintes (group of islands off south west point of Guadaloupe) to say a final “good bye” to our friends on “Heaven Won’t Wait”.
Here’s how we made the 309 mile northwest move on Thalia:
Sat. Apr 14 – left Martinique for Portsmouth, Dominica (54 miles)
Sun. Apr 15 – Hopped to Les Saintes for a two night stay (21 miles)
Tues. Apr 17 – Hopped to Deshaies, Guadaloupe for a night (32 miles)
Wed. Apr 18 – Hopped past active volcanic island of Montserrat to Nevis (70 miles). Spent three nights anchored off Charlestown, Nevis.
Sat Apr 21 – Hopped to the island of Saba (47 miles) and discovered it was too rough to remain there as they have no protected anchorages and the seas were running quite big. At 3:30 in the afternoon, we made the decision to sail overnight to St. Croix (another 86 miles) — one of the US Virgin Islands.
Sun Apr 22 – Arrived at 7 am in the morning, ready to stay put for a few days!
Continue reading “Six Hops and Seven Islands in Nine days! Ep. 49”
We are leaning to the left! Ep. 48
It’s true. After a lot of consideration and discussion our family has made a firm commitment to stand strong “on the left”.
… you’re thinking, “great … here she goes with her political left vs. right, liberal argument against conservative views! Ha! Gotcha. No such luck.
You see, since our last web log, we have turned a corner, in the literal sense. Actually, a 180-degree corner — which is to say we have turned around and are now headed north/northwest where we have spent the previous five and a half months traveling in the south/southeastern direction! What does this have to do with the title, you ask? Everything!
Speechless! Ep. 45
We have put some mileage under the keel this week! Tom finished last week’s web entry with our visit to the southern portion of Dominica. We left Dominica on Sunday morning, March 18th, and currently find ourselves anchored in the Tobago Cays — 170 miles to the south, at least as the ever busy “crow” might fly!
The first day’s sail took us 45 miles to the southwest coast of Martinique. Although tempted by the thoughts of French baguettes and croissants, we did not go ashore. This allowed us to forego the often lengthy process of checking in with customs and immigration; and, since we were moving on the following morning we decided to just borrow the anchorage! So, the boys burned off some energy by using one of our spare halyards (the lines which reach to the top of the mast) for swinging off of the boat. This is very fun and mom and dad often partake in the excitement. With a good shove from a parent, the boys can fly through the air in a nice wide semi-circle along the boat before letting go and plopping into the water. It is our solution to a tree swing!
Same Neighbors, Different Neighborhood! Ep. 43
Early Monday morning, March 5th, we left the mid-western coast of Guadeloupe for a group of islands off the southwestern tip of Guadeloupe called The Saints or “Les Saintes” in French. We were traveling with our friends on “Heaven Won’t Wait” and the other three boats we were with in Deshaies will come to Les Saintes within a few days. We will repeat this pattern after about four days when we leave Les Saints first with “Heaven Won’t Wait” to be followed a few days later by “Asseance”, “Arctic Tern” and “Villomee”. Our “neighborhood” after Les Saintes will be Prince Rupert Bay off the town of Portsmouth, Dominica. Thus the title of this week’s web entry, “same neighbors, different neighborhood!” We will surely miss our “neighbors” when we say what will likely be a final good-bye in the next few weeks.
Continue reading “Same Neighbors, Different Neighborhood! Ep. 43”
A Visit to Sugar City Ep. 40
Yes, we have truly, honest to goodness, left St. Martin! I was beginning to think of it as home… saying hello to all the marina staff, being recognized in the grocery store across the street, hopping on the local buses to go anywhere on the island. After so much time in one place, most of us developed an affection for St. Martin. Zachary, however, was very happy to see it become increasingly smaller behind us as we sailed away this past Tuesday (February 13th). Our second attempt at a manufactured rudder was completed over the weekend and installed on Monday. We were launched in the afternoon and were thrilled with our test-drive! It was perfect and we also have a greatly increased steering radius (an adjustment we had done while the rudder was being made). Once we cleared out of customs and immigration and grabbed a few groceries, we tossed off the dock lines and pulled away from Bobby’s Marina. Our plan was to go to St. Kitts, which would be about 60 miles. We all agreed that we didn’t want to approach a new island in the dark so we decided to anchor in the Philipsburg Harbor and leave early in the morning. This allowed us a very relaxing night on anchor with a great breeze helping to clear our memories of the three-and-a-half weeks we had spent “on the hard”.
Half Way Mark, A Look Back Ep. 38
As we peek at the calendar this week, we notice that we have moved beyond the halfway mark on our journey! In some ways, it doesn’t seem possible that we have been living aboard Thalia for seven months. In the same breath, though, it seems a very long time since we lived in our Bedford, NH home; the boys running around the yard with neighborhood friends. We talk of home a lot — missed friends and activities mostly — yet now this also feels like home and we acknowledge that we will miss this life when we must resume our land-based lives. In a way, knowing that we have passed the halfway point nudges us to now hurry to see all that we can in the time remaining. However, this life is supposed to be one of slowly taking in other cultures and enjoying the day to day.
While some ideals remain ambiguous in my mind, one thing I’m certain of is that I feel compelled at this juncture to do a highlights tour of our journey so far and, hopefully, bringing in some pictures we haven’t yet displayed of our past wanderings.
Come back with me to Portland, Maine … late June, 2006.
Thalia Travels South East to Saba Island and Beyond … or not?! Ep. 36
As I have explained a few times to my older son, it is often best to assume the mind-set of expecting change as the inevitable. When we get too set in our comfortable day-to-day lives, even the smallest change like a new teacher assignment for a child can send us into a tail-spin. Something much larger, like the lose of a loved one, is much more disrupting emotionally and psychologically but we might be better able to deal with the big changes in life if we don’t head into that tail-spin for the smaller ones!
Of course, we recognized that this year would be one of constant changes for us — new “home” in ever changing ports, constantly changing means of provisioning, unexpected weather and boat maintenance and, potentially, a different language or currency to accommodate. So, sometimes we get a bit stuck to the things within our control, like our upcoming travel plans or the islands we want to keep on our “hope to visit” list. When something happens to alter this, we all need to remind ourselves that change is inevitable and then adjust to the new situation.
Continue reading “Thalia Travels South East to Saba Island and Beyond … or not?! Ep. 36”
The Dessert Fork Ep. 34
Since Tom wrote his piece of this week’s log before I had a chance to write about the week from my perspective, I knew I had to play off of his chosen title of, “A Fork in the Road”. I thought maybe I would write, “the other fork” or some such jumble of words. Then, as I thought of the experiences that the boys and I had during our 4-night, 5-day stay at Long Bay Beach Resort I knew the title had to encompass our reliance on restaurant food while we were off the boat.
Tom’s friends very generously put our kidsOur and I up at the resort while they enjoyed touring around on our boat. As the trip came into view, the boys and I all eagerly anticipated sleeping in a real bed–one that didn’t move, taking a real shower and letting the water run while we soaped up! It is the little things you miss! And, I would be misleading if I didn’t mention my excitement at the prospect of not washing a dish for 5 days! Nor cooking a meal, nor lugging the food for the meals from grocery store to dinghy to boat. There were several restaurants on the resort grounds, which was a good thing since the resort was quite secluded from surrounding villages or eating establishments. The interesting fact was that only one restaurant was open at a time for the evening meal! Our first night at the resort, the open restaurant was on the more dressy side… heavy on the etiquette!
Here is a picture of the boys after our first hot hotel shower as we make our way down to the restaurant.
