goodbye........bahamas!

We had planned an leisurely route through the Bahamas, taking our time up along the main town of Nassau and heading up through the Great Island, and through Freeport, but after pulling up anchor at Little Halls Pond Cay, we had great wind and a good line to just make our way on to Florida. So we thought......hey..... why not?!

In fact, once we were clear of the shallows of Bahamas by 50-60 miles, we found ourselves in the Gulf Stream and made great time north. The gulf stream can add as as much as 3 knots to your speed, and we found Mehari cruising along at 8-9 knots all night! It certainly wasn't boring night watches! 

So, here are a few photos from our last weeks in the Bahamas, next post will be about the good 'ol USA!

Zoe, playing with a giant sting ray!

On the Horizon.......

Something we've been talking about as a family for over a year now, is…….what next?
Many of the cruising families we've met along the way have since sold their boats and/or returned to land life, and we've been thinking, praying, wondering and listening to which direction we are to take from this point forward ourselves.

A lot of families come to this point where as their kids get older, they are eager to start their own life. They want to make plans for college, relationships, careers, and the future. And while cruising is an absolute incomparable way to see the world and experience cultures and places most people only get to dream about, at what point is it unfair to the late teens that want and need to move on in their own life? We feel like the time has come for us to try and give them opportunities to make steps in those directions.

This is the part where I would love to have a pause button for life, and keep things just as they are and have been for these past 3 years on the boat, even though it's an extremely challenging lifestyle in a lot of ways, cramped quarters, totally dependent on the weather, missing family, seasickness, etc., there is no question for us that it had been an incredible experience for our family and we have all grown together because of it. There is also no way I as a father would have been able to spend this much quantity, and I like to think sometimes……quality :) time with my family without having made this decision.

Something that's also been incredible is the addition to our family during this adventure: Miles John. For our whole family to be able to spend two whole years non-stop with him has made him feel secure and bonded together in a way we haven't seen in any of our other children, and we feel extremely blessed. We can't deny this whole experience has been a gift and please don't think for a minute we take it for granted.

Another huge drawback we feel like we've missed from 'normal' life is family time from our extended family. We haven't set foot in the US in over 3 years, and that has been very difficult to miss out on that time from other family. It just was too difficult on our budget to be able to fly 8 people back and forth for visits, the cost of airfare alone being what we usually live on for up to 6 months!

So it's with a lot of mixed emotions: some apprehension, but at the same time, excitement, that we are moving back to the US, at least for now ;) We seem to have been steered by a lot of different things and through a LOT of prayer that we are supposed to be in North Carolina. We think we'll still be living aboard Mehari while we get settled and that's another great thing about boat living......we can move along with our home as we scout out different towns.

But first: We have a 'small' but very exciting detour over the coming summer months:

Levi and I have been invited by family friends to come up to Alaska for this summer to work as commercial salmon fishermen! As we near the end of our funds, the work cannot have come at a better time, and we thought Levi and I were going to go alone, while Rachel and the kids stayed with the boat in North Carolina. But they, not wanting our family to be separated all summer, invited all 8 of us up to stay in their house while Levi and I fish. So.......we're all very thrilled to have an opportunity to spend several weeks driving and camping across the US and Canada, and spending the summer in Alaska.

We also can't begin to thank all the people who we've met and others who have been praying for us, following us, and sending us notes of encouragement along the way. It's pitifully inadequate to try and put our gratitude into words on a silly blog what it's meant to us and I wish we could all sit down together, and have a lot of laughs catching up and sharing some of the stories we've collected along the way. Thank you sincerely for your support. It makes us sure we're on the right 'trail'

We plan to keep sending updates, from the road, campgrounds, and from Alaska and back so if you'd like to keep following us, we'd love to have you along!

~Hems

Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas

We're in a 'civilization' called Georgetown, the main town of 900 people on a chain of islands called the Exumas. There are dozens and dozens of islands almost touching each other over a 120 mile stretch. Most of the islands are uninhabitaed, and several are owned by celebrities like David Copperfield, Shakira, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. In fact, you can rent David Copperfield's island and five bungalows for only $325,000 per week. Keep that option in mind for your next family vacation!
We've been doing a couple of civilization things in Georgetown like loads of laundry and picking up a few groceries. We often do laundry on the decks with buckets of fresh water if it's readily available, but every couple months, it's nice to take everything into a real laundry-mat and get the clothes "clean-clean". The lifestyle is just way too hard on clothes, drying in the salt air, sitting in bilges, stains, etc All of our clothes are pretty thrashed and all most cruisers who have been at this for a while, have a scraggly look somewhere between island castaways and homeless, which I guess is true! We are!
We also met another cruising family here in Georgetown. They had heard about our family and were waiting to meet us knowing we were coming this way. They are the first cruising family we've met with 6 kids! They are on a catamaran as well, and spend part of the year in the East Coast, make a trip back to their home in Canada, and spend most of their cruising in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, where they are able to do mission work as a family. It was really great to meet them and we had a couple of fun nights hanging out playing games, playing and singing some worship songs, and analyzing this boating life! They winter their boat in North Carolina, which is where we are heading in a little over a month, so we'll make sure our paths cross again. Thanks S/V"Ruakh"!!
Our plan now is to keep heading north, through the Exumas, and on to a group of islands called the Berry Islands, before we make the overnight jump to Florida's East coast. We are also trying to meet up with another family on S/V'Imagine' who we sailed off and on with through the Med, and haven't seen since the Canary Islands!
We are all very excited for a mini family reunion in Florida at the end of the month, with Erik's parents coming from Costa Rica, and his brother Aaron, his wife Darla, and their new addition, little Addy, coming to visit. Addy is only 5 months old, we've never met her……...and are all dying to give her a little squeeze!
See you soon!

On the move

We're back on the move, after sitting for almost two weeks, we hope we remember how to make the boat move! In some ways, when we don't move for a while, we all get the jitters and it feels like we're starting over!

Random graffiti in San Juan

We got Maggie's passport this morning and we're continuing on around the bottom of Puerto Rico, making a pit stop today at an island called "Caja de Meurtos" or Coffin Island. It is supposed to be really beautiful, despite the name and we're hoping for some clean water for swimming. It is also reported to have the best snorkeling in Puerto Rico, so we hope to be able to give a report.

The bay we've been staying in at Salinas seems to be a dead-end, the water is cloudy with no water flowing through it and the bottom of Mehari is covered in barnacles in only two weeks!! So Levi and I will be busy this afternoon scrubbing the hulls once we parked in clean water. It will make a huge difference on our upcoming crossing to the Bahamas, and because our boat is so loaded down with food and people and books, we need all the help we can get. 

We are hoping to leave the corner of Puerto Rico on Sunday, which looks like a good weather window to make the 'Mona Passage' The Mona Passage is rumored to be one of the hardest passages in the Caribbean if not the Western Hemisphere. This is because it is where the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea meet in a very narrow passage. Also, the second deepest section of ocean in the world (second to Mariana Trench in the mid-Atlantic) rises from the ocean floor to only 20 meters in the space of less than a mile! So, if there is strong breezes from the Atlantic, it 'pushes' huge amounts of water up this ramp and creates a swirling mess of waves and currents. We have chose to wait for a very calm day, which we hear will only create 5-6 foot waves instead of 15-20. Fine by us. The passage is only about 80 miles across, but for our boat having to motor in calm weather, means it should be a passage of 18-20 hours. Then we will be through the worst of it and it is still another 2 days up into the first island of the Bahamas. It will hopefully be a smooth 3 days total and from other cruisers we've talked to, and the pictures we've seen, it looks absolutely amazing! We can't wait.

Also, it's been too long in shallow waters for us, and we have caught NO fish in the past month. So we are all rigged up and very hopeful to snag a Mahi or two on the passage. We bought a new bottle of spicy Teriyaki hoping it would change our luck. We are ashamed to report it is as yet, unopened :( 

Thanks for your prayers and support and we'll try and drop another note from the town of Boqueron, Puerto Rico before we leave.

See you!

Old San Juan

So the Hemingway's are on the road......quite a difference going 60 miles an hour instead of 5 knots, you have to keep your hands on the wheel the WHOLE time ;)

We drove up from Salinas, the little town where we're anchored, to the north side of the island, only 50 miles or so, and into the historic sites of San Juan. The island of Puerto Rico has been strategic throughout it's history and the King of Spain once called Puerto Rico the most valuable piece of land in his whole empire. 

There are HUGE fort walls and towers all along the coast that have been well used over the centuries and added to and updated as recently as WW2. Now, the whole place is a US National Park, and it's really well maintained. 

Fascinating history as it was, all the little ones wanted to do was run in the grass. This is not unusual, they have a pretty low tolerance for museums. That turned into a PB & J lunch in a park and we had a great day, exploring the narrow streets around Old San Juan. It reminded us all of our months in the different Greek islands, and we were really tempted to pull up anchor and head back across the Atlantic..............OK, not that tempted, but it did bring back a lot of great memories of exploring Europe.

Puerto Rico

Columbus landed here in 1493, on his second trip across the Atlantic, and most of the first settlements in the new world were all here in the middle of the Caribbean.  In San Juan, the capital, lives 2 million people, and is one of the top 15 metropolitan cities in the Western Hemisphere. Also in San Juan, you are able to walk through 600 years of history in 7 blocks all in a walled fort in Old San Juan. Definitely on the to-do-list!

We first made landfall at a town called Palmas del Mar, Palms of the Sea. It is a resort town, full of condominiums and golf courses. Rachel and I took a hike around the town and we saw tons of empty condos and after looking at some real estate magazines, the prices seemed really low for such an amazing area. If anyone reading this has a spare few hundred thousand dollars lying around, this looks like a great place to invest. All the ingredients are there: lush green hills, sea, beautiful climate, and super clean neighborhoods.  

OK, so we spent one night in the marina, our chart showed an anchorage(free) in the bay, but has been replaced with a marina($$) But, no one was complaining with the first hot showers in I don’t want to say how long, and the kids also spent the day at the pool there and were shocked to discover that not all swimming is in salt water! So they were not so happy when we left the next day.

We scooted around the south side of the 100 mile long island, and after another 30+ miles of sailing, we tucked into some mangroves, finding a pretty calm corner. Our first try was up a narrow river between some mangroves, and coming in after dark, we managed to get stuck on the mud bottom. Engines revving, and going nowhere! So, we dropped the dinghy in the water and with Levi pulling from the front with the 15 horsepower motor, and me revving the main engines on full blast, we slowly unglued ourselves from the muck. Next time, we didn’t try to get too far off into the bushes. ;) 

So, we pulled into Salinas, a very calm and crowded bay about 1/3 of the way around the south side, and looks like we’ll use this as a base for exploring inland. We plan to rent a car while we’re here, and do a major provisioning for the Bahamas, also a trip to the capital of Old San Juan, and a huge mall Maggie is really excited about. If we plan it right, we won’t have to shop again until we reach Florida in late April. We’ve heard from our friends on S/V Imagine, who are already in the Bahamas, we do NOT want to be stuck shopping for groceries up there, very expensive and hard to find anything.

See you soon!

The ‘bio-luminescence’ that wasn't :(

We had a bit of not-so-fun sailing/motoring straight into the wind to wrap around the southern-most island of Vieques. It is the largest island in the SVI’s and has roughly 9000 inhabitants.  The first stop was an enormous bay with lots and lots of ‘hurricane’ holes. Hurricane holes are places where people can bring their boats during hurricane season, starting officially in July. Boat owners not wanting to risk the path of a hurricane, need to be either pretty far north (South Carolina) or West to Honduras or Guatemala, or south past Grenada or to South America by then.

At a hurricane holes, you tuck your boat in as far as you can in a mangrove slot, and tie lines from all corners to the trees themselves, often putting out an additional anchor (or 2!) then hope for the best. So people that are sailing through the islands during hurricane season, typically don’t want to be too far from one of these spots, really cutting down their mobility.

Anyway, since we’re no-where near hurricane season, it just wound up as a super calm anchorage and with steady breezes, and made for a few nights of VERY quiet sleep!

The next place was a bay where there is supposed to be a large concentration of ‘bio-luminescence’ a strange phenomenon in the water from little one cell organisms that glow when disturbed. When the conditions are right, the water glows and there are various kayak tours, swimming tours, etc. etc. to come and see the magical waters they create. I don’t know if we ‘zigged’ when we should have ‘zagged’, or the stars didn’t align, or somebody spilled “anti-bio-luminescence” in the water, but we didn’t see anything.  Nothing.  Bupkus.

I mean, we’ve certainly seen ‘em……all over the Mediterranean and all the way across the Atlantic, but for some reason, didn’t see ‘em in the place they were supposed to be thick as ants at a picnic.  Oh well, I guess we left ‘em there for whoever is reading this to see them when you go. When you go, please tell us how great it was!

So, after another couple days, we’ll be on toward Puerto Rico, another 25 miles away. 

Hems 

Real Root Beer and Ranch Dressing :)

St. Martin is half and half. The northern half is French and the southern half is Dutch. But there is a large lagoon called Simpson's Bay which is also split down the middle. We came around to the northern side and entered the bay through the French side (because it's free) at the 5:30pm opening and then came to anchor in the big bay.

Since then we've had a busy few days. We had some boat projects we'd been putting off just because we couldn't find the parts or didn't have time. St. Martin's has several cheap marine shops and you can find anything you need here.

We also had a huge shopping day and stocked up on food. We found some American brands which we were excited about and haven't seen in years!! Real Jolly Ranchers, A&W Root Beer, Cheeze Its, and Ranch dressing! :)

We also got a new dingy! For people not living on boats, the dinghy is basically our car. Once you anchor the boat, (and we usually anchor, hardly ever go to marinas....too expensive) you use your dinghy for everything.....hauling water, groceries, fuel, people, run to the store, everything. The one we've been using is the one that came with the boat when we bought it 3 years ago. It's perfect for 3-4 people and has a soft bottom. In the Mediteranean, it worked fine becasue it seemed like we were usually anchored right next to towns and it was a short ride back and forth, even if we needed to make 2 trips. But we seen in the Caribbean, everything is really spread out and we usually have a LONG way to go to town. With all of us in the dinghy, half of us usually arrive have wet pants, the stuff we bring in the dinghy is wet (not good for laptops....see early post in Turkey!), and we all arrive frustrated and grumpy. Well, we were in the marina store and someone had just brought in a flyer for a dinghy he was selling. It was just the size we need and came with a much bigger motor than the one we have. So, to put it in land terms, we went from a VW bug to a Suburban, and with 8 of us you can imagine, it was a happy day on Mehari! Even though it's a bigger motor, it's a 2-stroke which means even Emma can start it and drive it. so now it's not a problem to find someone to run errands ;) It was a great deal and we will probably end up selling it when we're done with the boat.


We checked weather and it looks like we have to wait here for a few more days then planned. So for now I guess we get to enjoy more of St. Martin :) We'll update again in a few days when we head to the British Virgin Islands...

~ Maggie

St Barts

Hello Everyone! Sorry it's been a while since the last update...Internet has been hard to find. But I'll pick up from Antigua....

We sailed over night to the Island of St. Barts. It was our first over-night sail since the Atlantic crossing and it brought back a lot of memories. However after sailing for just 14 hours....we were still glad to see land again :)

The main harbour at St. Barts was FULL with boats of every kind. There was even a huge cruise ship anchored out with all the boats. We finally found a free mooring ball to tie up to but the bay was a bit rolly and we felt to crowded being shoved in there with about 100 other boats. So we decided to head to the north part of the island (only 3 miles north) and hope to find a bay with a little less boats. We anchored Mehari then took the dingy to shore and parked it on the beach. That's the picture above :) And we had a fun day at the beach as a family :)  Someone else had found a big starfish while snorkeling, and had it up on the rock....very cool!

Miles enjoyed rubbing sand INTO his hair and laughing as he did it (although he wasn't laughing when it took ages to wash out later) Lily and Zoe had fun making drawings and castles in the sand. They also spent time swimming with Dad, Emma and Levi. The weather was perfect and we practically had the beach to ourselves! Mom and I (Maggie) had fun talking together and watching Miles with the sand :)

Then we headed back to Mehari and Mom made a yummy dinner of Mexican Burritos with REAL homemade salsa while we watched the sunset! Not a bad day eh? :)

On Friday morning we moved to a different spot that was supposed to be good for snorkeling. Levi and Dad went first while the rest of us waited on the beach. Then Mom and Emma took a turn. They all came back very excited and had lots of fun. Levi even got to see a few Barracuda fish up close!! As well as tons of other fish and cool coral. Lily and Zoe went shell hunting on the beach and found a big jar's worth of cool shells....Miles, proudly, came back to the blanket with random rocks and wanted me to put them in the jar as well. He was just glad to be helping out...and with his little smile...how could I refuse? :) So now we have two full jars: one of rocks and one of shells :)

At around noon we got back on Mehari and set sail for St. Martin.....and so the journey continues...

Antigua - English Harbor

Heading north, slowly :)

We're in Antigua, another, absolutely beautiful island, and FULL of huge expensive boats. I guess this is THE place to be seen. It's especially busy as it's peak season, being winter in the US and England, where it looks like most of the boats are from. We look more than a little out of place where we are anchored for free and have two loads of laundry hanging on the decks, in our little catamaran or as we call her the 'station wagon of the seas.' But, no one has asked us to leave yet so I guess we're OK! 

We had a pretty decent sail up from Guadeloupe yesterday, although so far all the sailing we've done as we've headed north from Dominica, has been "uphill" or really close to the wind and it hasn't been all that great for us. We don't sail well directly into the wind and waves, and yesterday was rolly and we took tons of water over the decks. After big waves come over, they find little ways to get inside, and today is a lot of laundry and drying things out :(  or as well call it....we're having a "house-day" wishing for a washing machine, and no salt water. See? even here in 'paradise' it's not utopia....in fact in some ways it's really hard. 

We are told that from this island, it's "downhill" as we should be sailing more with the wind and waves. The plan now is to head over to St Barts (Barthalemy) and then on to St. Marten, both French islands. We're also hoping the provisioning starts getting less expensive! We've used almost all our food we had stored up for the crossing, and so far, the places we've been have been VERY pricey! Bread for $5-6 US a loaf and eggs for $6 a dozen! Not good for a big family! Even local fruit isn't as cheap as we would have thought and we're just getting the bare minimums until we get to cheaper shopping, hopefully St. Marten.

Our plan for now is to head up through the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, and then through the Bahamas over the next 3-4 months. It is still a lot of water to cover, some 1,800 miles, but if we break it down to bite sized chunks, I think we'll make it!

We'll try to sneak some photos of Eric Clapton's house, just over the hill, and get some pics posted. :) 

Guadaloupe - Les Saintes

We launched off from Dominica, from a little picturesque town of Portsmouth, really quaint and clean. We've been in Dominica for a week and a day from the crossing, and I guess it's time to start moving again!

We still have a a long way to go, some 1900 miles as we head north back to the US, over the next few months. We've had mixed feelings about heading back, but a little detail called money and our troublesome, daily habit of eating, we decided it's time for us to head "home".  We sold our home and almost all our possesions when we left for Costa Rica 4 years ago and we think it's going to be a bit of culture shock going back again.

For us, the decision was partially made with Maggie and Levi getting to the age where they are wanting to start planning their own lives. They want to get jobs, earn money, start saving for college, cars, etc. and much more time on the boat would be unfair to them, we thought. As with the rest of life, you make decisions, live with them, make more, and on it goes. I still love John Lennon's song: "life is what happens while you're busy making other plans" So......for now, we are living, planning, praying, and scheming another family adventure in another 5 years or so......lots of new dreams which we'll save for now :)

It was only 17 miles up to a cluster of islands called : Les Saintes, part of Gudeloupe, known for great snorkeling. We have met up with a boat we met back in Rabat, Morocco. They are an American/British couple and have just completed a 7 year circumnavigation! Congratulations Jimmy and Caroline! Anyway, we're traveling together for a while and Levi, Emma and I went on a hike up a mountain with them last Sunday. Beautiful views over the bays and a lot of the pictures look like postcards. It was a steep hike and Emma 'earned' some ice cream (at least that's what she kept telling me on the hike) and we wandered into the main town of ?????? while Rachel and Maggie and the little ones spent a day relaxing on the beach. All in all, a good day and a really pretty island. We ended up a total of 2 nights here and are making our way up to pigeon island, halfway up the coast and another good spot for snorkeling we were told. I'm starting to think all the spots in the Caribbean are relative, because they are all supposed to be "beautiful" and "great snorkeling" and there's no way we're going to even see a fraction, so we'll see what we can.

Dominica, Caribbean

Hello all from Dominica!

Dominica is the island where Christopher Columbus first made landfall. (on a Sunday, thus the name) The guidebooks say that if Columbus came back today, Dominica is the only island he would recognize. We don't know since this is our first stop, but I will say it is absolutely gorgeous! Thick jungle, vines and trees carpeting the hillsides. Since we're on the 'leeward' (downwind) side, thick clouds come spilling over the peaks all day and it makes for incredible scenery, always changing.

View from the boat, sunrise :)

The morning after we arrived in Dominica from the crossing, Pancho, the guy who owns the moorings we were tied up to brought over a bag of fresh bread and a bunch of grapefruits. Since we ran out of bread and fruit a while back, it really hit the spot until we could get into town. 

It's been great being near land again, a really calm anchorage, and we took a tour inland to stretch our legs after sitting on the crossing. We hooked up with a few other boaters anchored out in the bay and we all went in on a van to do some sightseeing. 

We were able to hike to some waterfalls, and saw some bubbling sulpher hot springs. The highlight was definately swimming up a dark canyon in a chilly fresh water river and climbing up waterfalls. Actually, the best part was jumping back down the waterfalls, and getting swept down river! Levi, Emma and I really enjoyed going up there and the water was so clean we just sat there drinking it!

The little ones didn't go up the river, they were happy to play in a shallow pool at the mouth, and enjoy the hillsides. Dominica is a thick jungle and it reminded us all of Costa Rica,  

We also stopped by a roadside restaurant for lunch and had a great meal of chicken, plantains (hard bananas cooked like potatoes) and rice. There was a few mysterious fruits on the plate as well, which were all great.

So, we're hanging out here for a few days, and starting to make our way north. We have been trying to plan our route and future, a daunting task for sure, but we'll let you know as we know :)