Tuamotus Here We Come!

So right now we are under way to the Tuamotus. The Tuamotus are islands near
the Marquises and all of them are atolls. We just passed the first atolls
and will be arriving to Makemo tomorrow if we keep up speed (we are going
7-8 knots regularly, but in the beginning of the trip we were going 12-15).
This is our second day sailing and it's pretty calm.
Anyways, since the weather wasn't so great when we planned to leave, we
ended up staying in Fatu Hiva for an extra week, making our stay in the
Marquises exactly one month. While in Fatu Hiva, we did another waterfall
hike with Hipnautical and Mommy and I did a hike up to 'the cross' with a
bunch of other boats in the bay. The waterfall hike was much steeper than
the first one we did, but shorter and most of the path was paved. After
about 20 minutes on a trail where we did lots of climbing and crawling under
things we arrived at the waterfall. Since it had rained the past 3 days the
waterfall was rushing and would send a cool spray all the way to where we
were sitting. We soon jumped in the water and enjoyed the freezing cold but
refreshing water. It was so beautiful and the boys had fun jumping off a
little cliff like thing that you could climb to. After a lunch of Mommy's
homemade mini-pretzels and mustard we headed back to the boats. It was a lot
of fun. The hike to 'the cross' was a much longer hike that Mommy and I did
the day before we left. The hike went up a paved road on a really steep
angle for about 2 hours. Then it flattened out and we could see amazing
views of the bay and village from a little shack type thing with lots of
construction tools around it. We hiked with 3 other boats in the harbor. The
boys (Cole, Robin and Daddy) stayed on the boats to finish school and work
on the boat. Since we had to leave at 5 AM the next day Mommy and I arrived
back on the boat at around 2-ish to have lunch and swim. Finally around 5 PM
we shut down the boat and tried to sleep.
Well, the wind is picking up again, so we just pulled out the jib to get
more speed. We have a bailout island to go to if we go too slow, but want to
get to Makemo since Tigre will be there and we are all excited to see each
other again. Cole and I are doing day watches all by ourselves now and it's
my watch so I gotta go, bye!

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Excitment

Hi everybody. So yesterday was very interesting. Our day started like any
regular day, have breakfast, start school etc. Anyways, Mommy and Daddy had
to go ashore to do something and so they left Cole and I on the boat to do
school, something we do often. While they were ashore some new boats came
into the harbor. We heard them chatting over the radio, and figured that
they would just come in, anchor, and be fine...it was about the opposite.
When the new boat came in, they anchored right in front of the catamaran
next to us. Soon they realized that they had picked up someone else's anchor
and announced it on the radio. A split second later I looked out the window
to see the cat next to us coming straight at us, with no people on board. I
quickly called Daddy (who had a handheld VHF radio) and told Cole to go get
the fenders, which he was already doing. I told Daddy what was going on and
then ran outside to help Cole. Next, our neighbors came over and helped us
out by jumping on the other boat and helping us tie the two boats together
so that they didn't smash into each other. It became obvious that the new
boat had picked up the other cat's anchor. Once we were tied together and
not bouncing together like bumper boats, Daddy, Mommy and Roger on
Hipnautical came over in the dinghy. After our neighbors (the boat's name is
Obsession) told Daddy what happened, what we were doing and what we should
do, everyone started shouting from boat to boat planning what to do. It was
decided that Daddy would, using Hipnauticals' diving gear, dive on the cat's
anchor and try to unhook them from the new boat. Once underwater, Daddy
found the anchor quickly and was above water soon. He then said that the
boats were clear to go and that the new boat should take up their anchor and
wait until we were settled before they anchor again. By now the owners to
the other cat were here and we de-rafted while they brought up their anchor.
Everyone is now in 3 different corners of the anchorage..we are in the back
right, the new boat is in the back left, and the cat we were rafted to is in
the front and center. It was quite exciting! Well, we might go on waterfall
hike tomorrow if the rain stops. It's been raining on and off for a few days
now, and we are anxious for sun. Oh well, the islands are so beautiful and I
think we'll get over it (hahahah). Mommy is making something in the kitchen
and it smells so good! Gotta go, bye!

Happy Easter!

Hi everyone! Sorry that I haven't written in a while, but we have been doing
lots of sailing, school and lots of other things! First, we are now
surrounded by lots of boats. The "Puddle Jumpers" group has arrived and
brought lots of boats with it! Luckily, with the big group came lots of kid
boats (Bravado..11 year old girl and 2 young boys, Hipnautical..10 year old
boy, Whisper..10 year old boy and 7 year old boy)! Cole actually has Robin
on Hipnautical on Zen now for a sleepover. Nice kids. Well, we are now on
the island Fatu Hiva and it is raaaainy! Mommy, Daddy, me, and Robins'
parents just went to a really cool, local dance rehearsal. The dancing was
really unique and a little bit like what we saw in the first island we went
to with all the other people. Okay, I'm getting a bit off track...anyways,
we met up with our friends on Brickhouse for a while and hung out with them
in Ua Huka. After leaving them we went to the island Tahuata. We only went
to one small bay where we met all the kid boats and did a really fun
bonfire. The beach was so beautiful and we didn't get attacked by the
annoying, tiny mosquitoes called "no no's". For Easter Mommy made a really
good alfredo pasta dinner accompanied by some chocolate, nut bars and thin
ginger cookies. After a quick dinner we invited everyone (all the boats in
the harbor) to come over to Zen for coffee and dessert. Everyone agreed and
brought some type of dessert (mostly brownies). After a really fun party
that lasted until 11:00, everyone went back to their own boat to sleep. The
next day was the bonfire. It was set up by the kid boat Bravado, who had
arrived that morning. It was planned to start after dinner at around 6:00
PM. It was so much fun and Mommy brought the bread to roast on a stick like
we did in the San Blas. After playing in the water for a long time with
Robin and Yet (the girl on Bravado) we got back in the dinghy and went to
sleep. Today we sailed to the island Fatu Hiva, it was a 6 hour long sail
right upwind and was pretty bouncy. I read most of the time, but once I
finished my book I went up to the cockpit. Once we arrived we had lunch and
invited some people on the boat next to us to come over (I don't know why,
but Mommy and Daddy just shouted to them across the decks to dinghy on over
if they felt like it). Once Hipnautical arrived (we had sailed here
together) us kids played for a while on their boat. Then, we went to the
dance. It was really fun and I met some local girls. Once it started to rain
(again) we went back to the boat. As we were dinghying back, we picked up
the boys who had been on Hipnautical while we were ashore since Robin is
sleeping over. Well, Mommy's making dinner so I've gotta go, 'night!

Let It Rain, Let It Rain, Let It Rain

"Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain! Oh the weather outside is
rainy.........lalalalala.............."

It rained for almost two days straight! I know that in Newport that can be
very common sometimes, but this is the longest period of rain we have had on
the boat for basically 8 months! We filled our water tanks all the way just
from the rain! It was awesome! Also the past two nights we played Monopoli
(one game yesterday, one game tonight). Our Monopoli board is a New England
Patriots board so it's really cool.
Well, other than all this rain, we swam under the 3rd largest waterfall in
the world and met another kid boat! First I'll tell you about the kids.
There is a family of four onboard the sailboat named Chtimagine. There is a
13 year old girl, Naeva (yippee!) and an 11 year old boy, Nicola. They are
from France, have lived on their boat for 7 years and have never been to a
real school. The family is so nice and will be traveling with us on more or
less the same schedule all the way to New Zealand! They have friends on
board right now who are also really nice (another family of four with a 4
year old girl and 7 year old boy).
So about the waterfall. We were going to hike there with Chtimagine, but
since Cole and I had to do school, they left a few hours before us. After
beaching the dinghy we hiked along a small river for about two hours. Soon
we came out of the woods and arrived in a large, open meadow filled with
small, yellow flowers. The grass came up to our knees and it was surrounded
by tall, flat, rocky mountains. It was beautiful. Daddy said "when I look up
I feel like I'm in New York City made of rock and flowers." Finally we
rounded a coner and saw everyone on Chtimagine swimming in a small pool next
to the waterfall. The waterfall had just a small streem of water flowing
down from the top of the mountain due to no rain, but we still couldn't see
the top. As soon as we arrived at the waterfall I pulled off my sweaty
clothes (we had to wear long sleeves and pants because of the bugs), grabbed
my sandwich and waded knee-deep into the cold, but refreshing water. It was
wonderful. After finishing my sandwich I followed Mommy, Cole, and Daddy
through the pool and over a boulder type thing. Next we were in another pool
covered by the mountain. This was where the waterfall deposited. We all went
and swam under the waterfall, feeling the water pound on our shoulders.
After some pictures we decided to go back. This time we all went back
together. The 4 of us older kids ran ahead and did the two hour walk in just
over an hour. When we got back to the dinghies, we decided to swim in the
ocean while we waited for the parents. It was so much fun!
We are now in a bay called Controller Bay and just finished a game of
Monopoli. We moved here yesterday and since we didn't move again today due
to the bad weather I finally finished my group of tests that I have been
studying and taking for the past couple of weeks (YES!). Well, Daddy is
reading Star Wars to Cole and Mommy is reading a sailing magazine. Good
Night!