Swimming In the Pacific

Hi everyone! So today is our fourth day on our trip and is really calm and
peaceful (other than our really loud engines). There is absolutely no wind
and hasn't been for a couple days. No wind though means calm seas and being
able to read and play games without getting seasick. It also means being
able to stop the boat and go for a swim. We got the idea of swimming in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean from our friends on Lightfoot, a boat we met
before we left in Panama. I don't remember if I told you about them, but
they have two kids on board, Jes a ten year old boy and Haley a thirteen
year old girl. They are really cool and are doing about the same trip that
we are just a little faster. Anyways, since they have a tighter time
schedule than we do they had to leave Panama as early as possible and have
been giving us info about the passage while they went. One thing they told
us was that it would get really calm and you'd be able to stop the boat.
They also said that the water was very nice and if we got a chance we should
jump in for a swim. Well yesterday we did just that. The water was an
amazing blue that seemed to go on forever and sparkled with the sun. There
was a little bit of a current, but the boat went along with it too so we had
no problem. Mommy was the first to jump in and said that it was really
refreshing and not too cold. Hearing this I jumped in and then Don and Cole.
Oh by the way, Don has decided to stay with us until Tahiti! We're all
really happy that he could stay and Cole and I decided that now that Don has
stayed with us, Carla should too (watch out Carga, we have plans set up on
when you and Mike are going to come and how much fun we are going to have!).
We swam around for a while and Daddy took some pictures. Since he had taken
a shower the day before he decided not to swim and to save us some water.
Since the engines were off it was silent and you couldn't see anything or
anyone. I decided to jump off the bow while Don was using the underwater
camera to take some pictures of the boat from the water. He was near the bow
and I was still too freaked to be swimming in the middle of nowhere and
couldn't see anyone. It was really fun for a while but there were these
little things in the water that sting so soon we got out and all took
showers on the back transom. It was about mid-afternoon and so soon we all
air-dried and had a snack of chips and salsa (something I had been craving
for the whole trip). The rest of the day I spent reading and playing DS. The
basic day on a passage that's not rough. Today I finished the series of
books called the Young Wizard Series. It was a great series and I'm going to
try to find the 8th book on the internet if we get any. I also finished the
game Mario Party on DS with the help of Cole (I wouldn't get anywhere
without the help of Cole on my DS. I've even made a few strategies on how to
get him to do really good and help me beat the game!). I also did a bunch of
school and should be done with 6th grade and onto 7th grade math in April!
Well, we just finished a really good dinner of hamburgers and French fries
on the grill pan and I'm being called to wash the dishes (Cole and I wash
the dishes every night for dinner). Gotta go, bye!

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To the Galapagos!

So right now we are underway at the end of our second day sailing to the
Galapagos. It has been beautiful sailing weather so far but a few hours ago
the wind died and we had to turn on the motors. This wasn't a surprise
though since this is what the weather is said to always be like in the
Pacific: no wind. There still is a little bit of left over swells so the
blog might be quick so that my stomach doesn't flip but I think we'll be
good. Anyways, the day before we left Daddy was looking at the weather and
noticed that there was a great window to go and that we should skip the Las
Perlas. Since we had already been to those islands and knew that there
wouldn't be another window like this for weeks we had our last meal ashore
and left the next morning. The first couple hours of the trip we had no
wind but soon it picked up to about 25 to 30 knots. The seas weren't too
comfortable but we were going fast and covering lots of ground. When we woke
up this morning (believe me when I tell you that you get so messed up on
time while underway you can't tell if its' midnight or 4 AM) we found that
the wind had died a little bit and according to the weather charts, would
keep going down until the wind just disappeared. At the moment all I could
think about was 'yay! No more big waves!' but I guess other people thought
differently. Daddy said that it wasn't good that the wind would go away
because we'd have to motor the whole rest of the way and now that I think
about it, no wind means really hot. Well the day went by slowly and the wind
did eventually die. I think that everything that we've done so far. Coming
up though we are going to cross the Equator! I'm really excited but we don't
know how we're going to celebrate yet. Well I've gotta go, bye!

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Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! So yesterday was pretty calm. Except for Cole doing his tests we didn't do much school. Since we had a problem with our dinghy engine we had a bunch of people working on it for a while. They came on Friday, but since it was Friday the 13th they weren't very productive and had to come back yesterday. Luckily they did finish and everything is fine. I'm trying really hard to finish this huge composition project for school since it needs internet I have been spending whole days on the computer. It's not so bad though since composition is my favorite subject and the internet connection here is really fast. Anyways, the restaurants always have really loud music and it drives you nuts but it's in English which makes it okay. I know, this blog is really random. Anyways, I don't really know what else to write about. bye!

--
Camo

Isla Del Rey

Hi! Right now we are bouncing up and down on the waves going about 7 knots
with 16 knots of wind. We are headed back to Panama to re-provision and fuel
up for the trip to the Galapagos. We just left Isla Del Rey in the Las
Perlas this morning. A few days ago we decided to hop in the dinghy and
explore the 'amazing river with waterfalls'. Since it sounded so much fun
from what our friends told us we decided to explore before we left for
Panama. So we all jumped in the dinghy and started to motor over to the
entrance. After maneuvering through shallow water and floating logs we found
the river. It was a beautiful, wide river with mangroves on either side and
all sorts of birds above you. Soon the bees started to attack and we had to
keep going since Don is allergic to them. After motoring a little farther
the river started to get more shallow and skinny but the bugs went away
(that could be because Mommy killed us and the dinghy with bug spray but who
knows). Anyways the surroundings soon became trees with amazing roots that
spread from the tree ten feet off the ground. We kept looking for monkeys
and sloths but only saw a few birds. Soon we came to a curve in the river
where we had a choice. One part of the river had a log lying across it but
just enough space to pass it, and the other was a bit tight but wider that
the first path. Since the river had now become really shallow and tight it
wasn't really living up to its name. Since we all wanted to see the
waterfalls we took the more open path. Soon we came to the end of the water
and ran into multiple logs. It was time to try the other path. After passing
the log we found another dead end. Oh well we thought. After motoring back
to the boat Cole and I pulled out all of our water toys (surf board, water
skies, stuff like that) and attached the wind surfer to the back of the
dinghy hoping that it would pull both Cole and I sitting down on it. After
multiple tries we had to paddle back to the boat and grab the water skies.
Since the boots on the skies are a little too big for me I had no trouble
putting them on and was soon flying across the water. I had so much fun
going outside the wake until my foot came out of the boot and we had to go
back to the boat to readjust it. Since it didn't go any tighter I did a
couple more circles of the anchorage and then went back to the boat to get
the surf board. Lucky for me, Cole wasn't in the mood for water sports and
so I basically had the rest of the afternoon. Since scurfing isn't my
specialty I decided to knee board. On my first lap around I performed a
beautiful 360 sideways spin off the board and splashed into the water
laughing my butt off. Daddy and Cole soon circled back so that I could grab
the tow rope and they were laughing pretty hard too. Soon my knees got tired
and Daddy wanted to water ski. In the hopes that the dinghy had enough power
to pull him out of the water he pulled on the skies and put Cole at the
wheel. Sadly, our dinghy isn't strong enough and so we had to put everything
away for the day. It was time for dinner. Well our speed has increased since
I started writing this but so have the waves. If I keep going I'm gonna make
my stomach flip, bye!

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Panama Canal

Oh my goodness! I haven't written a blog on the Panama Canal! Well, we are
now in the Las Perlas islands and just anchored after and beautiful sail and
catching a fish. It's really nice here and tomorrow we are going to explore
a river that's supposed to be really cool in the dinghy.

So after sitting in the marina for a few more days after Costa Rica,
we quickly motored through all the huge ships to a little anchorage right
outside the canal called the flats. We waited here for a couple hours for
our adviser who would stay on the boat during the transit and help us get
through the locks and lake. Before leaving the marina that morning two of
our friends, Frank on Anemos and Andre on Tigre, as line handlers. They
would tie, loosen, and tighten the lines as we went up and down in the
locks. They would also stay onboard for the whole transit (two days) and
then take a taxi back to the marina where they would return to their boats.
Once the adviser arrived we served everyone dinner and then made our way to
the first pair of locks called the Gatun Locks. After finishing dinner our
adviser told us that we would be rafted to another catamaran and there would
be a ship in-front of us in the lock at once. Soon we came close enough to
the other cat to raft up and we were soon waiting for the ship to tie up so
that the two of us could also enter the locks. The other cat had three guys
onboard who were doing a delivery to Tahiti from South Africa. Why they came
two thirds around the world instead of just one we have no idea, but they
were really nice and the skipper and Daddy communicated well and neither
boat had the slightest ding. When we entered the lock the people on the
edges of the locks through down monkey fists (a type of knot with a really
heavy ball in the center of it) to the boat. Everyone tied the bigger blue
lines that were provided by the canal to the monkey fist and then the people
on the edge of the locks pulled in the lines. They were then tied onto
really huge cleats and the lock doors started to close. It must have taken
at least ten minutes to close the huge doors. They must have been uhh, at
the very least, 20 feet thick. They were huge! Once the doors were closed
water started to push us upwards. The water enters the lock entirely on
gravity. Of course you might think "Sure, how else?" until you see it. It
got really loud and the water made tiny whirlpools while it shot upwards.
The entire lock was soon filled to the top and we were getting ready to
motor out to the nest lock. This process repeated twice. Once we left the
last lock we had raised over 80 feet and we now floating on the top of the
Continental Divide. Since it was already 10 PM and we weren't allowed to go
any farther, the two boats de-rafted and started for the huge moorings that
we would tie up to for the night. A boat for our adviser soon came and he
jumped on, advisers don't stay on the boat for the night. Everyone was soon
in bed. The next morning everyone woke up to the sound of screeching howler
monkeys. After a large breakfast we were greeted by our next adviser who
would lead us through the last part of the canal. Today's agenda included
crossing the Gatun Lake, and going through the last three locks. After that
we would enter the Pacific. Cole and I both prepared for a long motor across
the lake and stuck ourselves to the roof of the house. Soon we started to
see some trees sticking up through the water where they had been drowned
when the lake was made. After a few hours. We entered the Gaillard Cut. This
cut was known to be quite dangerous for large ships because of its' sharp
turns, but being a little boat it was no problem. After hours of motoring
Mommy soon brought up lunch and we rafted back up with our friends on the
Moorings Cat. So far we had been really lucky with our advisers because most
people say that they can be greedy and not very helpful and both our
advisers had been really nice and very knowledgeable on the canal.
Unfortunately though, the other cat did not have a great adviser for this
section for the canal. We did find it pretty strange though when he all of a
sudden smelled food on Zen and so he invited himself over. Mommy being the
all generous cook offered him some lunch. Since this was exactly what he
wanted he quickly agreed. Since Mommy had no more left when he asked for
more he got Cole's leftovers. Anyways, we were soon in the last three locks
with a small powerboat in-front of us and a ship in back. Going down,
everyone said, was much easier than going up and the doors were soon
entering to the Pacific. Once outside the locks we de-rafted with the other
cat and both set off for either the anchorage or mooring field. We had to go
to the mooring field since it had a dock and availability to taxis. Although
all of our friends were at the anchorage and said that there weren't any
moorings left, we decided to go and check it out anyways. There ended up to
be plenty of free moorings and so after dropping off Frank and Andre we
picked up a mooring. We didn't go to the anchorage because there was a pool,
restaurants and hotel with a TGI Fridays inside it at the mooring field.
While we were there we ended up meeting some people on a the exact same
boat as us, just a few feet smaller. They ended up to be a really nice
couple who built the boat themselves. It was definitely the most beautiful
homemade boat I have ever seen with an unbelievable finish. We did end up
being able to visit our friends in the anchorage before we left for a little
island only an hour or two away. A day later we left for the Las Perlas and
anchored in a beautiful little cove with a really nice beach in dinghy and
kayak distance. Oh! I forgot to tell you that we bought a three person pink
kayak from our friends on Galivanter a couple days before we left. Cole,
Mommy and I love it but Daddy says that it's way too heavy. He also said
that we're going to get rid of it if we don't use it for a long time, but I
think he likes it too. On our sail to a different anchorage today we caught
a really big tuna and will be having fish tonight. Don is a really big help
on the boat and is really great to have around. We all hope that he'll come
to the Galapagos with us. Mmmm, Mommy must be cooking down in the galley
because it smells so good up here which might mean that we eat soon. Gotta
go, bye!

WE'RE IN THE PACIFIC!!!!!!

Okay, so maybe the title was a bit extreme but it is very true! Sorry I
didn't write a blog on Costa Rica sooner, but we have been busy transiting
the canal, doing tests in school and hanging out with friends as much as
possible. Anyways, prepare yourselves because this might be a really long
blog.

So two days after we got back from Puerto Rico we hopped back on a plane and
took a 1 hour flight to Costa Rica. When we first arrived......oops, I need
to back up. When we arrived at the Panama Airport Daddy realized that he
had only 3 passports and that his passport was at the boat. We had to call a
friend to get Daddy's passport. While we waited for 3 and 1/2 hours we had
lunch, and randomly walked around the airport. Doesn't that sound like fun?
Once we arrived in Costa Rica we got into a taxi van and started for our
hotel in the mountains. We finally got to the hotel at around 10 at night
and quickly fell asleep. Once we got out of our van though, we felt like we
were in Antarctica. It was so cold and our hotel room wasn't much better.
For the first time in a long time, I slept with three blankets on top of me.
The next morning was scheduled for zip-lining. Although the weather was
rainy and cold we got in the tour van and headed off to the reserve. When we
arrived we all strapped on harnesses and met the rest of our group that we
would be with. After a quick hike to the first cable we were off. The
highlight of this day though was absolutely the Tarzan swing. You walked up
a big ladder and onto a platform. Then you get hooked into a cable that was
attatched to a really tall tree. Next the people tell you to bend your knees
and pushed you off the platform. From there you drop about 40 ft. and then
swing out really far. Since you're hooked onto the cable with your harness
you can spin around the not hold on while you swing. Once you start to slow
down some people at the bottom basically stop you like you are the jet and
the ground is an aircraft carrier. By this I mean that they put a bunch of
huge elastics infront of you and then you stop and they unhook you from the
cable. It was so much fun, and we didn't see any animals after that because
I screamed so loud. After 11 cables over 600 meters long and a really fun
Tarzan swing, we headed to lunch and then back to the hotel. Being able to
explore the hotel in somewhat light we found an outdoor pool, tennis courts,
a baseball field, two restaurants, and some rooms to rent. The next day was
a trip to another resort by boat and car. Since we arrived around noon we
walked quickly around the small but nice resort. There was a heated pool and
Jacuzzi, a restaurant, and many little houses that we would stay in. Inside
our mini house was a master bed room and bathroom, a small kitchen with a
stove, sink, and refrigerator, and finally Cole and my room had two twin
beds and a bathroom. Outside the front door was our own tiny pool with jets.
For lunch we went to the restaurant and had some okay food, but not great
service. This really surprised me since the people at the front desk were
extremely friendly and smiley. At this resort you could look out our little
house and see the active volcano, Arenal. Only once did we see the whole
volcano, but it was really amazing. Some really fun activities that we did
was more zip-lining, a tour to the base of the volcano, a wildlife tour
through the Rio Frio (Cold River) on a little power boat, repelling, and the
hot springs. We did a different zip-lining in this resort and I liked that
one better. For one, the weather was much warmer and drier, the cables were
longer, and you didn't have to hike from cable to cable. The tour to the
base of the volcano was a hiking tour. We walked from the parking lot to a
really huge pile of rocks at the very base of the volcano. It was about an
hour t walk there but it was on a really pretty rainforest trail and we saw
lots of cool plants. The rocks that we climbed on were blown from the
volcano a couple years ago and you can climb around on them and get a really
cool view of the volcano and some toucans. The wildlife tour wasn't great,
but we did see some cool animals including a caiman, or small crocodile. We
rode a bus for about an hour and a half and then stopped to get on a little
boat that would bring us down the Rio Frio. After the 3 hour or so ride up
and down the river we got back on the bus and went to a little restaurant
where everyone had lunch. It was some really good typical food: rice, fried
plantains, fruit juice, chips and a bean dip. After lunch was the bus ride
back to our hotel. If you have never heard of repelling, it means to go down
a mountain or waterfall while clicked into a harness. We drove a little
while in a van to the waterfalls and then clicked into a harness and put on
a helmet, gloves and a rain coat with Velcro on the neck and wrists. Then we
quickly hiked to the longest wall. The first one we would be going down. Our
guide taught us how to go down and then off we went. If you have ever been
on a rock climbing wall at those amusement parks or something like that you
know how you come down. Well we did that exact thing except that we let
ourselves down, got wet, didn't climb up, and did it on a real wall. It was
really fun and even though I was drenched in cold, river water I wasn't a
happy as I could be, which meant I wasn't cold until we took off our
raincoats. Oh yeah, on the way up the mountain we rode in the bed of a
pickup truck. After that we went back to the hotel. So you want to know
about the hot springs. The hot springs are basically natural hot tubs
powered by the volcano. One place that we went to had a heated regular pool
and a fun but short water slide, a not heated pool and a bunch of different
hot springs. There was paths set up around the baths with little bridges to
cross the river and then steps into the pool. It was really beautiful and we
were even allowed to get pina coladas! Since the water was so hot though, I
could only put my whole body in the water for about two minutes before
passing out from the heat. It was really weird, but with all the ins and
outs Cole and I just decided to stay in the pool for the whole time and go
down the slide. Also at this place there was a really good restaurant/buffet
that served a different type of food from around the world every night and a
spa that Mommy enjoyed a mud bath in one afternoon.

Okay, I think that that's everything about Costa Rica. Now I've got to write
a blog on crossing the Panama Canal, bye! BTW...there are a ton of pictures
in the photo gallery of our family blog www.sailingzen.com.

Buenas Puerto Rico!

Sorry I haven't written a blog in so long! We have been doing lots of traveling in January and it's still not over! Well, right now we are in the Orlando airport waiting to check our bags so that we can get on our flight back to Panama. Anyways, we left Panama on January 2nd, and took a flight to Orlando. We had to fly to Florida because it was cheaper than a one way flight, and it worked out really well since we got to meet up with our aunt, uncle, cousins, Nonna, Nanna, Grandma, and Harley! When we landed at 5 past midnight we went down the escalator to find Nonna waiting for us. We were so happy and there was lots of hugs. She informed us that Unkie, Auntie Dana, Sophia, and Giordan had just left a couple minutes ago since the kids were sick and tired. "Hmmm, this could be a problem" we thought. Because we would be seeing Lauren really soon we were being extra careful not to get any type of cold. Anyways, since we were also tired and wanted to go to bed, so we hopped in Nonna´s car and started the drive to her house. On our way there we passed a Mc´Donalds. Before I knew it we were all munching on french fries. Once we got to the house we all ran around hugging everybody. I was so happy to see everyone, especially Harley. Since Grandma had the pink room and Mommy and Daddy were in the elephant one Cole and I slept with Nonna. After two days of family, presents and tons of fun, we were off to Puerto Rico to meet the Barkmans. As soon as we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by Kakky and Darlene. Since we had just been through the airport we took quick showers, and changed clothes before seeing Lolly and Pete so that we were sure that we couldn´t get Lolly sick. Everyone was so happy and we went right to the restaurant and then to the pool. The pool was really huge and had raft things that you could float on. We played for the rest of the day and after a restaurant for dinner, we all jumped in bed (since we can´t be apart for more than three seconds, Kak and I slept in one room and Cole and Lolly got the other.). If I went through our days one by one, the blog would last for ever so I´ll explain the highlights. One really fun thing we did was go to the water park down the mountain. There was three slides and a lazy river one was a curvy slide that you lied down on, the other was a swirvy tube slide and the third was a slide that basically went straight down. They were all so much fun and we spent one whole day at the water park one time. One funny thing that happened was we were all going through the lazy river when we spotted an iguana jump in the river and then back out. We all freaked out and Lolly automatically stuck her self on to me while I tried to get passed it as quick as possible. We also went to a little island called Palomino Island for a little while. I didn´t really like it there since there was so many wasps and all the activities cost so much. We did do the banana tube ride though, and it was really fun. Kak and I sat in the two back seats while Lolly and Cole sat in the front ones. One time when he whipped us, since I was in the very back, I fell off the tube and went flying into the water! Also, Kak was hanging off the side and screaming ¨We lost a chicken, we lost a chicken!¨ It was hysterical and we all laughed about once we got off the tube. Since this trip was all work for Pete, he didn´t do much with us until the last day but he was the MC for the awards ceremony for Certa Pro, and we all got to go. Some of it was really boring but Pete was really funny and everybody laughed. We had planned to do flashlight tag after the ceremony, but we were all too tired so we just watched the movie Meet Dave (which is really funny) and went to bed. Another Certa activity was the Certalympics. It was when a team of Certa guys had to build a raft out of the given materials and go around the mark and back twice without sinking. Since Pete was working, Daddy took his place in the race. It was so funny to watch them all fall apart and sink while they all looked so serious, but the got fourth place out of ten teams. Oh yeah, there´s more about the big slide. As soon as we got to the park Daddy just jumped in the slide and went with Cole, and later Kak then me and finally Lolly. Not so great right? The funny part is that the only reason Lolly didn´t go down first was because she wasn´t allowed to. As soon as the people finally let her go down she didn´t even think twice (unlike me who thought about five times) and just went straight down and then up and down about five more times. I loved Puerto Rico! Now we are in Costa Rica which is just so amazing. I will wright a blog about it later, but now we are going into the little town to walk and have dinner, bye!

--
Camo

Pippin

Okay, so this is just a quick blog, but I just met a sloth named Pippin. He is 8 months old and the girls that I met yesterday (Kendel and Quin) adopted him after he fell out of a tree and would not go back up. After we download the pictures I'll post one, but I just wanted to let you know. We have to go over to our new friends on the boat Wasabi for dinner. Bye!

Arriving in Panama

So yesterday we arrived in Panama! As we approached the break wall (entrance) we noticed all of the huge ships surrounding us, so many that we stopped counting. Since the trip here was really rocky and rolly with 15 foot seas and 25 knots of wind, we were ready for some calm water. First we decided to go through the little entrance and sail across the inside, but that was soon changed. As we looked at the entrance we noticed a 500 to 600 foot ship barreling at full speed out the entrance. This, we thought, is not the place for tiny boats like us to go through. So we took a hard right and headed for the main entrance. Using AIS, Daddy looked at all the ships around us to make sure that they were not heading towards the entrance also. Since everything looked okay, he pulled out the video camera. As soon as he walked out the door, he spotted another ship and went in to check it out. Apparently it was 500 feet long, heading towards the entrance and, if it kept it's course, it would enter three minutes after us. Since that wasn't a problem, we just put up the jib and took out the video camera. After making a big seen about how scary it is to be chased by a ship, Mommy made a joke and said that there was a ship coming out of the entrance. Daddy freaked out and turned off the camera. Then we all laughed and put the camera back on. Soon we were thought the break wall and on our way to Shelter Bay Marina (the place that the boat will be staying at for the next month while we are away). I must say that it was pretty scary passing through all those ships so close to their bows. After talking to an American man (this was a big deal since anyone we talked to on the radio for the past couple months was all Spanish except for our cruising friends) on the radio who told us where to go on the dock, it was a frantic rush to get out all the fenders and lines. Once everything was out and ready we all stood on the bow and looked at all the ships, still amazed. Soon we were at the dock and exploring the marina. It's really nice and there is a pool and a good restaurant. Oh yeah, and the people who helped us dock live on a boat here and have two daughters ages 13 and 15! They are really nice and I played with them and a couple other kids until around 6:00 last night. Anyways, after an American lunch at the restaurant, Cole and I hung out with all the kids for a while. So today we basically swam at the pool with all the kids for the whole day. It was really fun, and even though four of them speak Spanish we still kind of understand what they are talking about. Tonight is pot luck at the restaurant, yum! bye!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas everybody! This year's Christmas was really fun! On
Christmas Eve Mommy made a really good dinner and we watched the movie The
Grinch Stole Christmas. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow
since I was really excited for Santa to come. In the morning we (Cole and I)
woke up at 6:00 and ran to the other hull to wake up Mommy and Daddy. Since
Santa had come Cole and I pulled them out of bed so that we could open our
presents. When they finally got out of bed Cole and I immediately started
ripping open presents. My favorite gift was a bead kit. There was all
different colored beads with string and elastic. I have already made Harley
her Christmas gift out of that (I am going to attach a couple of beads to
her collar). After we had opened everything Mommy made a big breakfast and
we ate our new coconut that we got from Fai Da Te (Fai Da Te means do it
yourself in Italian. I have a feeling that it will be a phrase that I will
use). It was really yummy and once we were done Cole and I said "Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!" on the radio. It was really fun. For
the rest of the day Mommy cooked and all the kids and Dads collected wood
and made a fire. That afternoon all of the boats in the anchorage (33) came
to the beach to do a pot luck. There was all sorts of amazing food and
really, really good deserts. The kids on All The Colors brought their kites
and so did Cole, so for a little while everyone was flying kites on the
beach. Cole got a really cool kite from Santa. It has two handles and you
can steer it. Also it's really huge. Soon our fire was ready and so we
roasted bread on sticks over the fire. The bread was amazing, but it was
really hot and Giulia and I swam afterwards. Once we were dry, we noticed
that all the other kids were playing a type of American football. So we ran
over and asked if we could play. We soon chose teams and they explained how
to play. Here are the rules:
1.the point of the game is to get the ball.
2.If you have the ball, run and pass it to your teammates so that the other
team doesn't get it.
3.If you want the ball then do whatever it takes to get it.
4.Try to have a basic plan for your team.
It was a super fun game and since Giulia and I were really fast, and on the
same team, once we had the ball it stayed with us. Soon everyone had to
leave and so the game ended. As I was getting in the dinghy I had a
wonderful idea. My idea was that since this was my last night with Giulia,
she should sleep over. To make things shorter I will just tell you that we
watched a movie and stayed up until 1:15 in the morning. We had the best
time! The only reason that we went to sleep is that when Daddy came down to
shut hatches when it rained he said "go to sleep or your mother will kill
me". Giulia and I thought that was pretty funny but five minutes later we
were fast asleep. We are now in different anchorages, and tomorrow we will
be moving on to another anchorages (We are going to the states and Puerto
Rico in SIX DAYS!!!). I have Giulia's email and we plan to visit them in
Holand when we get to Australia and New Zealand. After that all of us our
going to stay in our house back in R.I. It should be fun! The weather is
kind of yucky today, cloudy, rainy, and windy. Anyways, Merry Christmas and
Happy Holidays! Bye!

Our Christmas Tree Improvements

Hello everybody! Today was so much fun! Since Cole had a test today we
couldn't invite anyone over until he was done so that he could concentrate.
After he was done though, I invited Gulia over to play on my piano (she has
been playing for 5 years). After she taught me a couple things we decided to
play around and listen to the songs that were on the piano's memory. In the
end the piano's volume was at full blast and we were dancing, and singing to
the songs. It was really fun (All my best buddies- you would love Gulia. She
has lots of energy just like us! If she didn't' live in Holand, all of us
would be best buds!). After piano was over the Dads came back from spear
fishing and everyone (the whole anchorage except for a few boats) went
ashore for the 5:00 pot luck happy hour. Mommy brought her amazing dip with
some chips. Everyone else brought some amazing stuff too, and we ate so much
that we got back to the boat and didn't eat dinner! Anyways, we met this
other kid boat from Australia that is also going through the canal. We are
going to sail with them through the Pacific, and luckily there is an 11 year
old girl on board named Monica who is really nice. They invited me over to
their boat and tomorrow after school I'm going to go and play Monopoly.
Anyways, after the barbeque we came back to the boat and set up the
Christmas lights. It was really cool, and we set it up like a tree, and hung
it up on the mast. Once we had it up and the lights on, the boat in front of
us cheered. Since they are the "Christmas light boat" we were happy that
they liked our little tree. Time for desert, so I've got to go, bye!

Yoga

Hi everybody! This is a photo of me doing yoga on the island in front of the
boat. Cole is doing a test today, and we are going to the happy hour
barbeque tonight with all of our friends. Bye!

p.s. Two days 'till Santa comes! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!

The Daily Cammi News

Hello! The past couple days have been so much fun! We did lots of sailing
and are now in an anchorage called the swimming pool (there's another one
called the hot tub, and the island is called barbeque island!). We met a
really nice family on the boat called Fai Da Te. There is an 11 year old
girl, Julia, and two boys, Luca and Sergio. The kids and their parents are
only visiting their grandparents for a month, but they are really nice and
lived on a boat for two years when they were little like Cole and I. They
are also a really cool family because they speak so many different
languages. Also, we met a boat called All the Colors. They have three kids
on board, a girl and two boys. They are from Australia and are completing
their circumnavigation of the world. Anyways, last night we did a barbeque
on the beach with All the Colors, Fai Da Te and Albatres. It was so much
fun, and I learned a new way of making hot dogs. You take a stick and rap
bread dough around the top. Then you roast it on the fire for about 20
minutes or until you can easily pull it off the stick. Then you stick the
hot dog inside. It was really good, and I had one and a half! We also had
fish, and meat grilled on the fire. We had so much fun! Yesterday, after I
finished school I decided to do a composition. This is what I came up with:

How I Would Change My Room
If I could change my room I would make it magical, and huge. The way
I would make it magical is that it would stay the same size, but if I pushed
a button a porthole would open up and I would step in. Inside the porthole
there would be my much bigger and fancier room. First, I would paint my
walls purple, and have point shoes painted on too. Next, I would design all
my furniture. My bed would be a white bunk bed with a purple, green, blue,
and pink bed spread and pillows. I would sleep on the top bunk and so all of
my stuffed animals would be set up on the bottom. After my bed I would
design my desk. It would be white and have little, purple flowers painted
on. Underneath the desk there would be pink, green, blue, and purple canvas
bins for me to put all of my writing and drawing stuff. Next, I would make
an area for my dolls. It would have all different designs of the doll closet
and bed that I had back at home, and there would be three of them. Then, I
would get one bitty baby bed, and two sets of twin bitty beds too. Next to
all the beds there would be an area for my bitty babies to play with their
toys and books. Also, there would be identical areas for practicing ballet,
one for me and one for my dolls. There would be a black floor just like at
Festival, and a full wall mirror. Then, next to that I would have two
walk-in closets, one to put clothes in and another for all of my dance
things. Also next to the dance space I would have a black grand piano.
Also, there would be big windows that showed what it really looked like
outside. The windows would have purple, blue, pink, and green shades that
would tie back to open them. Also the windows would open, but no one outside
would see them. If it were raining or dark, I would use the air conditioning
and overhead lights. On one of the walls would be a corkboard, but wouldn't
look like one. Here I could hang anything I wanted no matter how heavy.
Next, there would be a door that leads into my own bathroom. It would have a
shower that doesn't use the boats' water and a toilet you don't have to
pump. The walls would be the same as the ones in my room. Finally, the floor
would have a white carpet and everything would be impossible to stain. I
know that my room would be impossible, and would cost tons of money, but
don't you love to dream?

Do you like it? Mommy and I are going to do a yoga class on the beach with
some other cruising friends. There is even a woman who lives on a boat here
that is going to teach the class! I am really excited. Mommy needs help on
making homemade bread, bye!

Moons, Stars, Planets and the Weather

As lots of people may already know, Daddy is the San Blas weather man and I
am the astronomer. Every morning Daddy announces the weather on the SSB at
8:30. Then I announce what I found about astronomy later on the net. It's
really fun, and one person complimented me this morning. It was also really
funny because when people were talking about leaving the island they are at
and going to another one they would always say "....if Tom thinks that the
weather will be okay, and we'll have a fast trip."It was hysterical! Zen is
now the boat to know if you need info (hahaha it rimes!). Anyways, now there
is four kid boats here! Monkey Feet, Anemos, Migo, and Someday Came! There
is only two girls my age, but the boys are nice too. Yesterday really
reminded me of a day in Prickly Bay, Grenada. The first thing I did when I
woke up was run upstairs and grab a piece of Kuna bread with cinnamon for
breakfast (the Kuna bread is amazing!). Then the net came on and I announced
that there would be two upcoming meteor showers (December 14 and January 3).
At around 8:45 I started school. Right before lunch (11:00) I jumped in the
water and swam to Migo with my string so that we could make bracelets
together. Joanna said that she would love to make bracelets, and since I
have lots of string we just used mine. Soon Sophia (her mom) said that she
would be making pasta for lunch and asked if I wanted to stay and eat with
them. I really wanted too, so I called Mommy on the radio. She said that I
could, so soon I was eating this amazing pasta with some type of fish. It
was so good! After lunch Joanna and I finished our bracelets and Blake from
Monkey Feet came by to escape from the littler kids for a while. So
Jonathans' (her brother) decided that we should all play cards. We all
decided that that was a good idea since Jonathan has trouble walking (he has
a disability). After playing lots of different card games we all got bored.
Jonathan watched a movie and Blake, Joanna and I played tag in the water. It
was really, really fun since Joanna kept on tricking Blake to the point
where he had no clue who was it. Just as we were about to get out of the
water Cole and Mommy came by in the dinghy. Cole asked us if he could join
us since he was all alone on Zen (he was on Monkey Feet, but the younger two
boys wanted to go back to their boat so Cole came to Migo). We were happy
that he came because now we had enough people to play a really fun card game
called squares. At around 4:30 Joanna said that she wondered when her
parents were coming back since a boat they knew was coming over to their
boat at 5:00 for dinner. Just as she spoke her parents came back in the
dinghy. I decided that since they had guests coming over in half and hour
that we should probably leave. So Blake took Cole and I back in his dinghy.
Dinner was bananas foster, French toast sticks, pineapple, raspberry juice,
scrambled eggs and bagels. It was really yummy! After Cole and I finished
washing the dishes we all sat down at the table with pop-corn to watch the
movie Master and Commander. It was a really cool movie, but some parts were
really gross. I'm going to go pick up Joanna and see if she wants to come
over. Bye!

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Welcome to the San Blas!

We are finally near the Panama Canal, which is only two hundred miles away
from where we are now, the San Blas. The San Blas are a bunch of little
islands only and hour or two away from each other and are part of Panama.
The only people living here are the Kuna Indians who only live on certain
islands. The Kuna Indians are shorter people who speak either Spanish or
their local Kuna language. I'm not exactly sure which, but I know they don't
speak English. As I type, a Kuna is coming up to the boat and trying to sell
us something. Mommy is speaking in Spanish and he's speaking so fast I
wouldn't understand him if he was talking in English. I guess Mommy gets it
though. Anyways, we arrived here from The Rosarios on the morning of the
eighth. It was a very quick trip, and we cut of four and a half hours of how
long we thought the trip would take. We left at 4:00 in the afternoon of the
7th in the perfect wind, and five to eight foot seas (eight feet was more
than I liked, but it was okay). Mommy had already made pizza since we were
supposed to have dinner with Tara Vana that night on our boat. We left
without much warning since the wind magically picked up and turned to the
correct direction. We all ran around the boat doing this and doing that, so
that we would be ready to leave. But after pizza dinner under way, Cole and
I went into Mommy and Daddy's cabin to watch a movie (Cheaper by the Dozen).
It was a good movie and by the time we were done, desert was out and ready.
Soon we were all outside on the deck slowly falling asleep, and wondering if
I should do a watch tonight. I ended up being awake for an hour or two, so I
guess that counts. Cole and I slept in the main saloon, because it was
quieter, less bouncy, and much more interesting (you get to listen to people
talking on the radio, and watching the radar and the chart on the computer).
When I woke up the next morning Cole and I started planning what we would
have for dinner (not breakfast, it's not a typo). Here was our plan: the way
Nonna makes scrambled eggs, crunchy French toast, pancakes with raspberries
and chocolate chips, bacon, sausage, English muffins, and bagels. It had
sounded really good when we thought of it, but here is how it turned out to
be (which was much better than just thinking of it): Nonna's scrambled eggs,
pancakes with raspberries, bagels and really good mandarin juice. It was
really good, and our whole day was basically surrounded around thinking
about what we would have for dinner. We arrived in an anchorage in the San
Blas at about 11:30am, and saw at least one boat with kids aboard. We didn't
do much all day, so we met them yesterday. It turned out that there are two
kid boats. The first boat Monkey Feet is a Australian and Canadian mono hull
and has three boys, Talon, Radick, and Blake. They are three, seven and
thirteen years old. It's really funny because they know a bunch of boats we
know such as Tara Vana, Migo, Salt and Light, and one other boat that I
don't know the name to, but I met the girl that is onboard. The second kid
boat was a yellow mono hull named Anemos who are German. They have two boys
aboard who are much younger. We didn't really talk or see them much, but
Monkey Feet knows them. For the rest of the day Cole, Blake, Mommy, Daddy,
and I went ashore to the little islands to check them out and play on the
beach. Monkey Feet had made a lean-to on one of the islands, and since it
fell over we worked on that for a while to repair it. After exploring for a
while we headed back to the boat for dinner. Cole is just rapping up school
now, and I finished a little while ago. Mommy is going to make lunch
sometime soon, and Daddy is on the lookout for logs (these huge trees seem
to be stuck in the current or something, and they keep floating by. Daddy
occasionally runs to the side of the boat with the boat-hook to make sure
the log doesn't hit. It's actually really funny, but sometimes it taps the
boat as it goes by). I'm tired of writing and Mommy is taking lunch orders,
so I gotta go, bye!

Nonna- Cole and I have been saying that your scrambled eggs are the best in
the whole world, and we were thinking that it would be cool if you could
make them for us in 23 days when we see you. See you soon, and love ya, Cam

Dolphins, scurfing and going to a different anchorage (all in one day)

So we are now in a place called The Rosarios. The Rosarios is a bunch of
little islands really close together, with a couple people living on them.
All the islands are really beautiful, and there are no mosquitoes (this is
key to liking a place). Anyways, today we did lots of different things.
First........after I woke up we went into the kitchen to get myself a pastry
thing for breakfast since Mommy was still sleeping. Then I dragged my school
books up the steps into the saloon (this whole time Cole has been up and
doing school so that he could finish early and go play with Oscar). Then
Mommy woke up and started helping Cole with math. About half-way through
math I found a problem that seemed completely impossible (to me, lots of
word problems with exponents in them are impossible). So I got Daddy (who
had been up before Cole to check the weather for today), and he started to
look at the problem to see if he could help me. Daddy couldn't figure it out
either, so he said that now was the perfect time to move to the other
anchorage he had scoped out this morning. So Mommy told me to do all the
problems that I could, and then I would be done with school. The other
anchorage was only on the other side of the island, so it only took about 30
minutes to get there. After we got into the anchorage we saw that Tara Vana
was already there and anchored (Tara Vana came with us to The Rosarios so
that they could teach us how to water ski since they are professionals. Oh
right, I didn't tell you.....back in Cartagena one boat announced that they
had water skis for sale, so we bought them). Tara Vana taught us how to
water ski yesterday, so we thought that we might be able to do a little
skiing today along with scurfing on our new board (we got that in Cartagena
too as an early Christmas gift). After we dropped the anchor, Cole and I
jumped in the water and swam around with Oscar for a while. Soon we had to
go to lunch. At lunch Mommy and Daddy told us that we would be going to the
aquarium to see a dolphin show that was on another island in dinghy
distance. So at 1:30 we all jumped in our dinghies and went over to the
aquarium. As soon as we arrived we could tell that they were closed. We
still all wanted to see when they opened, so we went to find the people who
ran the shows. They told us that the shows were tomorrow, but we could swim
with the dolphins instead. Of course we all really wanted to do this, and
since I have never done it before, I was very enthusiastic. The people told
us that we should come back at 3:30 in our bathing suits. We all decided
that only Cole and I would go. Since Albatres was going to be leaving before
5:00, they thought that it might be too close if they did the dolphin thing.
When we got back to the boat Cole, Oscar and I wanted to go scurfing, so we
pulled out the board and jumped back in the dinghy. Cole got right up on his
first try, and I was up for a little while before I fell. Then I decided to
go on my knees and see if I could stand up. I didn't work, but we were
running out of time, so Oscar went. He went around on his stomach for a
while before we brought him back to his boat. Then we picked up Tara Vana
and went over to the aquarium. Let me tell you that swimming with dolphins
was SO MUCH FUN!!! Cole and I got to go together with two different dolphins
and their trainer (who spoke to us in Spanish, but she was really nice). The
male dolphin was 21 years old and we played with him the most. The female
was 40 years old, but she kind of just swam around. Here are the things I
got to do with the dolphins: pet him, talk to him (and he talked back), he
pushed me around the pool area by pushing his nose against the bottom of my
feet, and feed him fish. It was really fun, and the dolphins were really
cute and loved to play. One of the dolphins loved to come up behind me and
freak me out by knocking me over. Today was so much fun! I have to go to
Tara Vana for dinner now, bye!

Pinch and a Punch!

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month! Today it is 90 degrees on the first of December (that's the first time that's ever happened, shmeesh). Anyways, I just finished school, and I am looking at a huge cruise ship docked next to the anchorage. I'll give you a basic idea on what I did today already: 1. I woke up and pulled out my reading test. 2.Cole decided that he wanted to detach a line from the dagger boards and swing on it. 3.Daddy detached the line and Cole and I swung on it for a while from the trampoline to the deck. 4. The huge cruise ship came in and docked next to the anchorage. 5.Daddy told Cole and I that we had to start school and eat breakfast.  6.Cole and I put our breakfast (pastries) on the back deck to warm up, and I finished my reading test while cole started math. 7.We got our breakfast off the back deck and Cole ate it with a knife. 8.I finished school, and read Cole two stories for his school day (history and reading).  9.I came to the computer and started righting this. Okay, that is about all I've done today. Oh wait...............we just got a call on the radio from Tara Vana saying that they would like to play Taboo with us this afternoon. Taboo is a game that they have and say it is really fun. I am really excited, and we are going to go over in an hour and a half! I've got to got to get my test pages for Mommy, bye!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So yesterday we had a Australian Thanksgiving party with all of our sailing friends. We called Australian because yesterday was Thanksgiving in Australia, not here. We did it yesterday because today there is a party at the marina for all of the American boats. Everyone (Tara Vana, Albatres and one other person that we just met and I don't know his boat's name)came except Someday Came (they thought that it would probably be too late for Violet, their 3 year old). Anyways, since it was on our boat, after school Cole and I cleaned our whole hull from top to bottom. It was really boring, but it looked much better. Oscar from Albatres and his parents came over at around 4:00, and asked if it was okay if Oscar could play here until his parents finished running errands. Of course, we said that he can absolutely play and that his parents should come back at around 6:00 for the party. At 5:30 Tara Vana came with their food. Soon after Albatres came and then this other person we met on a catamaran. Then from 6:00 to about 11:00 we talked, ran around the boat, laughed and ate. Soon everyone was falling asleep so they all went back to their boat. The meal was so good, and I had such a fun time!

Happy Thanksgiving! (numero dos)

Okay, now for the second party! So yesterday Mommy woke up sick. She slept basically all day. Cole, Daddy and I kept ourselves busy by watching music videos on YouTube, looking at a really cool website (newmoongirls.com........it's really cool for 8-16 year old girls), and reading books. Soon we decided to go to the big playground with the 'strap-into-a-harness-and-jump trampoline'. We invited Someday Came, Albatres and Tara Vana to come, but for one reason or another only Albatres could come. After lots of jumping, running and climbing, we dropped off Oscar from Albatres on his boat and Cole and I took showers ashore where you can use as much water as you want. When we got back to the boat Mommy decided that she would like to go to the party ashore and that she would love to hear the live music that would be playing ashore. So at 6:00 we all got into the dinghy and met Tara Vana at the marina. The whole restaraunt was decorated with all sorts of lights and red and white tables and chairs. The food was then served. We had turkey, rice, potatoes, bread, green beans, and some local looking food. It was all really good, and cake was for desert. Then, as I was eating my cake the dancers came in. They were really good, and had really nice costumes. They danced to the drums and maraca things that the band was playing. They did four different dances, each with the same six people. I really loved to watch them, and at the end they pulled some people from the audience to dance too. It just so happened that they took Ami from Tara Vana! It was really funny to watch her dance with the team, but she picked up a bunch of the steps and was looking pretty good with all the other dancers. After that they left, and we only stayed for a little while longer. As I was  After the party we all went back to the boat and went to sleep.

An Eventful Day

Okay so here is a list of things that happened yesterday:

1.woke up

2.found Daddy working in the engine rooms
3.ate breakfast

4.sat around and did nothing for a while

5.Albatres came over

6.Cole crashed down 8 feet into the engine room

7.Mommy freaked out and I cried

8.everyone got in the dinghy

9.Cole looked at us like we were crazy

10.Momy and I stopped crying

11.we got out of the dinghy

12.Cole started dancing around on the back deck (he was abviously fine)

13.Mommy put ice on Cole's foot

14.Daddy got back in the engine room to finish working

15.Albatres went back to their boat

16.I sat around and did nothing

17.Tara Vana took us out to dinner

18.we went back to the boat

19.I got in bed

20.I went to sleep

 

Okay, so that basically covered everything. Cole is perfectly fine (and is back to being an occasionally anoyning brother). I don't really feel like writing any more, so that is my blog for today. Bye!