S.O.S

For all the fisherman out there we need some help. Doesn’t this look like a tasty fish snack. We can’t catch anything. 

Since the fish on the reef potentially have a disease called cigaterra you can only eat the fish off shore like tuna, mahi, and some snapper. So we are trying to troll between the islands. We have now travelled from St. Maarten to St. Bart’s, stopping at lIe Fourche on the way. We are closer to catching a fish by hand while snorkeling then we are with our pole. St Bart’s is very French...we are underdressed and stand out like tourist with our Jimmy Buffet T-shirts and flip fops. Funny, but I find 4 inch heels to be impractical on a sailboat.

We hope to do a short hike today and scuba dive in a small cove. Then tomorrow we will hike to a fort and enjoy the afternoon at shell beach scavenging. The pursuit of shells and sea glass have become an addiction. On Thursday we will have a 30 mile sail to St. Kitts’ which will provide another opportunity to drag our lure through the water.

FYI, S.O.S. Is not really an acronym although some say it stands for Save our Souls or Save our Ship...we have changed it to Save our Sushi. The letters were originally used only as morse code. JK

Birthday at Sea

Sunrise over St. Maarten the Dutch side

Happy Birthday Grandpa and Adam

The things that wake you up at night are different on a boat. Once we have chosen a place to stay we put out an anchor. Seems like a pretty easy scenario. . . . However, when the wind starts blowing we become concerned that the anchor will not hold well and the boat will go floating  a) into other boats  b) onto the rocks or reef or c) we float out to sea. So every little noise seems to wake us up. It could be a rope hitting the mast or deck. It could be a wave slapping against the hull. Might even be a “coke” can rolling side to side in the cupboard. Either way, sleeping takes a little getting used to. 

Adam turned 9 years old in the middle (well not quite) of the ocean. Last night we crossed from the BVI to St. Maarten. This means a sail of 90 miles through the night across the Agenda passage. The wind, waves and current are typically against you when going the direction we needed to go. This caused a little apprehension in the captain and crew. (The noises out there at night could mean several other things). Many of our fears were alleviated as we took on captain Kim. CK is a very experienced off shore sailor and was willing to go with us. We all wore off-shore life vests and harnesses. It would be difficult to find someone at night in the ocean if they fell off the boat. We made it. The sail was beautiful under a sky filled with stars and a full moon. The lights from the cruise ship were very bright and looked like a small island. Do not want to land on that island. From here we will continue south visiting several small island countries along the way.   BK

Drift wood

We went to a really cool spot where we got to ride scooters. Mom was very scared! Then we went to a really cool bar and they had magnifying glasses. We burnt letters into drift wood. This one is mine.           AK      

Yum Dinner

Yum Dinner

We have decided that if we eat the conch or at least use it for bait, we do not have to feel guilty for keeping the conch shell. Everything is good fried in butter right? We found a particularly big and beautiful one while snorkeling by Agenda Island. Boyd intends to make it into a faucet in our bathroom at home. 

Our adventures in fishing have just begun as well. We bought a used pole and hook while on Agenda but forgot the sinker, so our conch has been skipping along the waves behind us. We pilfered through our tool box, but didn’t dare part with any nuts or bolts so we will need to find a real sinker soon. Adam almost caught a fish at anchor with the lure that came with the pole, so it has become a nice diversion for the boys as they attempt to hook another one.

While snorkeling today we saw a large Eagle Ray, many small sting rays, and a turtle. I also enjoyed watching the schools of juvenile fish near a shallow reef. Just like children, they are much cuter than their parents.

We are attempting to settle into a routine on the boat. Homework is difficult as the kids still seem to think they do not need to do any. They do enjoy having us read out loud while we sail, it is like listening to a book on tape while traveling. We just finished Number the Stars by Lois Lowry about a family protecting their Jewish friends during WWII. I find the evenings when I am tired to be somewhat difficult as that is when I miss home the most.  Although at this juncture, we have almost lived on this boat longer then our house. We continue to covet your prayers and interaction by email and blog, as it is a nice link to home.                                                    JK

The Baths

Thursday morning they finally fixed our anchor light  so we could leave the marina and began sailing. Our first destination was to Marina Cay. It is an island that is sheltered from the waves.  After stopping at Salt and Cooper island and a few hours of sailing we finally got there. We picked up a mooring ball and spent the night.

Friday morning we headed across to Virgin Gorda and The Baths. The Baths are a bunch of rocks that you can swim under and through along a shoreline trail. It was really fun because some of the time we would be rock scrambling and then there would be a dip from the trail into the water. At the end of the trail there are rocks that you can swim out to and jump off. We went to the same spot that we were in three years ago(trip along memory lane as I called it). From there we swam back to our tender and went back to the boat.

After lunch we went snorkeling around all the rocks and saw a few big fish and a lot of sea urchins.  EK

I'm certified!

For the past two days i have been finishing my open water diving tests while my parents and Adam sit on our boat and wait for me... great life. My instructors name is Kenny. He is really cool and has a one month old daughter.
The dives were all really easy. We did four dives total. The first day we went to Angelfish Reef and Pelican Island. They both got their names because you never see any angelfish on Angelfish Reef or any pelicans on Pelican Island. On those dives we didn't see much, but one of the lobsters we saw was about the size of my brother.
The second day we went back to Angelfish Reef and to some other place I don't know the name of. On these dives we saw lobster, two turtles, some spotted drum, and a lion-fish. One of the turtles was really cool. I was close enough to touch it. The other one only had three legs. You could barely tell because he swam so fast. We killed the lion fish with a harpoon gun. It took two shots to take it down. (Lion fish are an invasive species in the Caribbean). Now that I am a fully certified diver I am thinking about taking a semester off in college to work as an instructor down here.                        EK

Lion fish

Miss Lyla

After a record long travel day, according to Adam's watch, we finally made it to Miss Lyla. She is what we had expected and is comfortable and clean compared to our experience in Honduras.

We are staying in Nanny Cay Marina for several nights to provision and to allow Evan to finish his scuba certification. He is already asking if he can work here in college as a dive instructor. As always he is the glass half full guy and we love him for it. His dive master only dunked his head in a bucket of water twice on the ride back in today for his constant commentary. It is their custom to provide beer for the divers on the way back to shore, but Evan noted he preferred Honduran beer (SalvaVida).

Although we have many kinks to work out with equipment/etc., we did take our maiden voyage today to Peter Island. We tried a few sails, ran the engine, anchored using the windlass, and went for a short snorkel. Adam saw a turtle bigger then him.

The winds are heavier than normal for the BVI right now due to the storms up north, so we are not sure when we will leave for Saint Martin. Boyd's friend Matt is also here working on a boat and was hoping to meet us Friday night for dinner so we dont want to miss out on some adult conversation....22 counts for an adult right?

Highlight of today: Boyd backing the boat into our slip without hitting our friendly neighbors. (difficult in high winds)                      JK

Work Work Work

Clinic in the Village of Miami

Accommodations for the group

In the past few days we have been working on a mission trip in Honduras. We stayed in a town called Tornabe. The place we stayed was right on the ocean and had a lot of other kids to play with. While we were there we played a lot of soccer and went swimming a bunch.

A normal day at the clinic would be like this. First we would set everything up. My job was to give people PIP(parasite medicine). Setting this up was very hard because all the medicine was very heavy and sticky if you spilled it. 

Once everything is set up we start letting people in. The people get registered and then come to me for PIP. I have to ask them (in spanish), if they are pregnant (which is really embarrassing to ask), if they have epilepsy, and if they have had PIP in the last three months. If any of these are a yes I can not give them PIP. After getting PIP the patients go to triage.

Triage is the third station. I help out with triage as well. Triage is a station where we prepare the patients to see the doctors (my dad and Dr. Gary). First we take their blood pressure, temperature, and ask them what problems they have and write them down. My favorite part is if they have diabetes. If they do we have to give them a shot to take their blood sugar. Many of you know that I don’t like getting shots… well I love giving them.

The last station is the doctors. I don’t really get to help much with this but that is what my dad does.

Usually it would be really busy in the morning. After the morning we would eat box lunches from Kandita (more on her later) and go back to work. Actually our longest day was seven hours, sixteen minutes, and twelve seconds ( Adam times everything now that he has a watch), (this time did not include lunch break.)

Adam and I also made some great friends. Tommy-candy (his real name is Gabriel) was one of the translators. He bought us all kinds of candy and we like to call him Tommy so the name stuck. He is a big fan of my brothers Scobblegobble thing. Paulo is another one of the translators. He hung out with us a lot and was really nice. Jonathan was the last translator. His nickname is french-fry/boy. I’m not going to say how he got it. Matter of fact today is his birthday. Feliz cupleanos Jonathon. He did a lot of translating for me and was the main translator for triage. 

Our awesome cook’s name was Kandita. Her cooking was like eating heaven. Her husband (Carlos) is so funny that many of the team members want to take him home. Marcella was the leader of the trip. She has three boys all in high school or college but they didn’t come with. Lee-Ann is on her first mission trip. She talked to me a lot, ran triage, and is on our plane back to Miami right now. Carol is from England but lives in Canada. She wants to be our nanny on “Miss Lyla”. Most of the group was from Canada.

This last week has been all work but it has been my favorite week of the whole trip so far.                                                                 EK

It was a pleasure to work with the people of Honduras. This was true of the patients and even more so the wonderful staff and volunteers of MMI. I certainly do not want to leave out the volunteers from Canada, eh. Not really sure how to spell eh, eh.? . . . . In addition to the  staff from the US and Canada there was an optometrist and two dentists form Honduras. The people in the villages have a difficult time accessing health care and were truly appreciative of the care we were able to provide. The residents of the villages are primarily Garifuna, descendants of Carib and West African peoples.
As several of you know it is sometimes a little slow when I work...so it was not a surprise that between cups of coffee I was looking for something to do. There were two dentists available... right there.. I might be a little cheap....I decided to have my teeth cleaned even with the stray dog and the chicken looking on.        BK