Post by Annika

This is Annika, it's been rainy and hot down here a lot. In fact as I write this, I'm in my bikini, sweating. Anyways, it's been fun hanging out in Rodney Bay Marina. This is where we were introduced to The Three Little Birds (Griffin, Luke and Jake). They became good friends to us. I've been having some fun times here, like playing and swimming. But there have also been bad times. Like when I was washing windows, and I closed it on my toe ( it was badly cut). But luckily, now it much better. Hope this trip passes by quick, because I'm starting to miss school with my friends.

LATE UPDATE 2/25

Hey Everyone, we have not been with any WI-Fi networks for over a week until now!! We are using a painfully slow but steady Wi-Fi to post this and some pictures of the last 3/4 days. See the "Photos" section above for more of the the latest photos!!


Shawna writing:

Seemed like a long, long time.  Up, down, side to side, ugh! @(#(@*#)(Q!(@!!   Did they just throw up!  Oh yuk!  5 hours to Martinique.  I didn’t realize it would be so “rough”.  Best thing is to doze away the time......but all I have to say is thank GOD for Dan!  I don’t know what genes he got but his stomach or ears or brain or everything is different because he’s never been sick!

After arriving on the last day of Mardi Gras, we had time to shop for beach dresses and paint faces before joining the organized chaos in the crookedy streets of Saint Anne.  On Wednesday we motored around the corner to Marin for “too much French” for our taste.  Thursday we took the dinghy a mile to Club Med for a titch of ease and play.  Coming home it was good to see my girls toughen up against the setting sun as we cut into the current and splashes of chilling waves. Adventure.

Now we’ve arrived back “home” in Rodney Bay for a week of rest before pushing northward.  Until now it’s just been a warm-up!

First days 2/15

Sorry it’s taken so long to update! We have been having SOOOO much fun, while enjoying no intentional organization what-so-ever, that we haven’t realized the days passing so quickly! Well the girls have been just a little tired too actually.

The latest news is that while the boys traveled the rough 18 foot tall waves with up to 30 knot winds with only a double reefed sail from the Grenadines to Saint Lucia, the girls dozed through their flight. After we were all reunited we motored to Soufrière where we are sitting out a very big rain storm (for this time of year) until tomorrow when we’ll make our attempt to trek a bit in the rainforest before setting off to Castries (the capitol) and Rodney Bay.

Sure are lots of banana trees and schools of fish here.  And as for temps: it’s a pleasant 75 or so.....not too hot at all.

Today Mom took a swim shower with the dog before everyone woke, Annika and Nikolas played on the beach in the down pouring rain and Shawna, Mikai and Karina went to town and bought groceries and ice.  Right now Mikai is insisting that we update our blog but I think the carrots may be getting mushy.

Tonight for dinner we’re having fresh Tuna, carrots and egg drop soup....In case anyone was wondering.  And no, we haven’t met any pirates, gotten heat rash, seen a shark or been sun burned yet!  Oh.... but the lucky few who were awake saw a very big turtle.  It’s been wonderful as we expected so far.  The hardest part has been organizing our insanely extensive quantities of stuff.  Each of us brought 1.5 medium suitcases for the year and it’s still way to much!!!

Arrived! 2/9

Well here we are!! Finally after 24 hours of traveling we are here:

After 24 hours of this:

...we have arrived! We landed in St Lucia, where we took a put-put plane to St. Vincent. We are now on Double Down in St Vincent. Steve is here, showing us how to handle his boat for a year. Maintenance, cleaning, and all that good stuff. It is something like 80ºF here with roughly 150% humidity. There is not one minute of the day that I am not sweating. Yesterday I drank 1.5 liters of water during lunch because it was just THAT HOT. Other than that, all is well. We are all happy now that we have had a a chance to sleep. The only thing that's missing is the other half of the family (Karina, Annika, and Shawna). We will see you all back in St Lucia on Monday!

The Beginning of the Beginning

Well, here we are! Dan, Nikolas, and I are sitting in a small Cafe in St. Lucia, BVI. Shawna, Karina, and Annika are still in California until this Monday. Two days awake with two flights, and one more yet to come. All is well and we will be writing more as soon as more interesting things happen!