Nov 02

Birds in Nova Scotia – by Franci

dsc_0611The bird life of the American continents is very different from those found in Africa. The differences between the two American continents themselves are quite marked, if perhaps less varied in the tropical areas. Not only is North America a new continent for me, but neither have I been as far north as Canada before (the short time in Holland when I was six months old doesn’t count). So although to any American or Canadian a chickadee or a Bluejay might be a common thing, to me they are wonderfully new and different. Not even the gulls are the same! My favourite gull is the Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis). For my SA readers: you know those big gulls with the black backs you always see at the beach? Well, Ring-billed Gulls are that size, but with whitish-grey backs instead of pitch black. Around their sun-yellow beaks they have a black ring, as if someone put a small black elastic just at the tip of their beaks.

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dsc_0616There were plenty of Canadian Geese (Branta canadensis) to be seen here and there on lawns during the day and flying overhead in their big ‘V’ formations in the morning and evenings. They were always in rather big flocks. The Canada goose is a big bird, with brown/grey bodies and long, coal black necks. Someone – who was either whitewashing a house or baking a cake – must at some point have grabbed the goose by the head, with their hand just under its beak and their fingers going to just behind the eyes, because that part of the goose is as white as snow. Clean snow. These birds are also

dsc_0069apparently clueless as to where the Canadian border actually lies, for they spend most of their time in the United States : P. They only venture into Canada in the summer. It probably has to do with the fact that Canadians don’t need a passport to cross the border, just an advanced drivers’ license would do and if you can fly without an airplane your license is probably advanced enough : ).

There was a canyon effect in Big Harbour at the wharf house, and when the geese flew by their honks would echo off the cliffs.

 

I had the most birdwatching opportunity while we were staying at the wharf, for there we were already on land and I didn’t bother anyone by just going for a walk. A birdwatcher’s walk is very different from that of a normal person, it is slower for starters and involves quite a few random stops.

dsc_0534The road from the wharf house runs at a curved incline at first and then it turns into the straight main road that leads to the big house. I loved that first windy bit, because there was always life there. Lower down the trees grew tall next to the road, and higher up the grass and purple flowers stood tall – in these latter plants the Song Sparrows (Melcspiza melodia) live and play.

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These perpetually cheerful little birds could always be heard. Brown with white breast bedecked with short vertical stripes, in the middle of which nestles a brown dot. They were hard to get photos of because of their distractible nature and love of tall grass.

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Another bird frequently both seen and heard in Cape Breton is the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). All of you who know of the Bald Eagle’s decline and near extinction in the last century (all of which I knew nothing till Florida), will be happy to know that their numbers are starting to recover, especially in Canada. So even though it is America’s national bird, it is more plentiful in another country : p. The problem had been a certain fertilizer used by farmers which got leeched into the rivers and streams and absorbed by the fish. The chemical the eagles absorbed from the fish they ate caused their eggs to have very thin shells, thus giving a very low nesting success rate as the eggs broke or cracked easily. Everywhere in Cape Breton if you keep your eyes open you can often see one sitting in a tree over a body of water, or flying about. There was a pair living at Big Harbor where the wharf house is; in the mornings or on rainy days i often heard them calling to each other and occasionally if I was looking I saw them fly by.

 

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And now, about the Puffins. Yep, we got to see Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula artica) : D. There are two islands next to Cape Breton on which the puffins breed, and we went on a tour boat to go gaze at them from afar. Lily came with us, along with one of her Nova Scotian friends.

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dsc_0786There had still been a mishap because Lily had accidentally taken Lucy’s jacket and not her own. In the end she and I swapped jackets because I fit into Lucy’s jacket better than she did : P. It was a cold, drizzly day, so we both wanted jackets.

 

 

Now, imagine a puffin, with its colourful red-and-yellow beak, white face and breast, but pitch black wings and back. Now immediately make it a lot smaller, a little shorter than a A4 paper. These birds have to be small for the perfect ‘body weight:wing length’ ratio. Their wings are short and stubby, perfect for propelling them around in the water. If their wings were longer they wouldn’t be able to swim well; if their bodies were larger they wouldn’t be able to fly. As it is the puffins only have one flight speed – they fly with fast, constant flaps, quite fast. If they slow down at all during flight they would actually just fall. So if they fail to completely align themselves with their nesting holes in the cliff face, they have to fly a wide circle to try again and again until they are aligned perfectly so as to just slip into their holes.

dsc_0894Puffins are pelagic, which means they only ever come to land in order to breed. They’re sort of forced into it, actually. The colourful bits on their beaks start to overgrow just before breeding season and it hampers their ability to hold fish. Thus they have to come to their breeding islands in order to scrape their beaks back into shape against the rock. Over decades these scrapings have carved out lots of nesting tunnels in the cliff fact of the island they breed on. If no rock tunnels are available they borrow their own tunnels into the turf on top of the islands, but these are more accessible for opportunistic gulls.

dsc_0986If possible, puffins will stay with the same mate throughout their lives. The pairs do not leave the islands together, so they need to find each other again after reaching the island. If the other mate doesn’t arrive soon enough, a new mate will be chosen.

 

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dsc_0937Of course the puffins do not have the island all to themselves. Comorants, kittiwakes (a kind of gull) and Hering gulls nest at the top; razorbills and Black Gullimots (pitch black birds with a broad white stripe on each wing and cherry red legs; also pelagic) share the cliffs. There were other gulls and a few herons on the island as well. Around the island and our tour boat there was also Grey Seals, heads poking out of the water in curiosity, and a few lying lazily on some rocks.

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This is an immature bald Eagle. They remain mottled with brown until their fourth year.

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There was also a very large presence of Bald Eagles. These move in when the breeding gulls move out, making all the other breeding birds nervous. As soon as the Bald Eagles started coming most of the breeding birds cut the season short and left early, which is why we saw no razorbills or kittiwakes. Luckily only most of the puffins had left before our tour and not all the puffins. We still got to see quite a few groups sitting on the water, and a handful trying to fly into their burrows. A group of puffins would be spotted by someone, and then the tour guide would kind of try to sneak closer with the boat. A few of the puffins flew up if we got too close, but most dug into the water with their wings and disappeared from view.

dsc_0931These little birds are Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres), in their summer feathers.

Insert from Marike: I do the photos, and I thought this particular one deserved a spot in this post because of the way Franci adored them while we were on the tour  😉

 

 

 

dsc_0793Even though most of the puffins were gone, the puffin chicks were still safely in their cliff nests, though we couldn’t see them. It is the practice of the parent to feed their chicks so “trommel dik” (Afrikaans saying) that the chicks are not physically able to fit through the entryway to the nest! By the time the chicks have slimmed down enough to fit through the entryway their parents are long gone and the chicks have matured to adulthood, fully able to take care of themselves.

 

Nov 02

The Knechtles – by Marike

This post is about our dear friends the Knechtles without whom we never would have visited Nova Scotia. (Which is, by the way, my favourite place on our trip so far!)

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Here is the background on how the Knechtles influenced us to make Nova Scotia part of our traveling plans. I’ll also outline what we did during our week with them.

We met the Knechtles at the church we attended in Trinidad. They are an American family who have moved to Trinidad for Uncle John’s work. Lily, their oldest daughter is right between Karin and Sophia in age, so we spent a lot of time with them. Before we left, they said: “Wouldn’t it be great if you could visit our summer home in Nova Scotia?” At first we laughed at the idea, since our original plans included the west coast of America, not the east coast! But, when my Dad thought it over, he realised that it would also mean that we could see New York and maybe Washington . . . and we seriously started considering the possibility and decided to go for it.

Of course we had major delays – an unplanned month’s stay in Puerto Rico, for example. In the end the time we could spend with the Knechtles was shortened to a week.

The day we arrived in St. Peters, Nova Scotia, we found out that our cell service, wouldn’t allow us to make cell phone calls in Canada. This is really strange, as many other people there didn’t have that problem!

Because of our return to the dark ages, we realised that we had no idea how to contact the Knechtles. In the end we managed to reach them via a skype call and arranged that they meet us at the St. Peter’s marina the next day.

St. Peter’s Marina and environs are really nice, but I’ll leave the telling thereof to someone else.

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The next day we decided to wait for them ashore. (We had good quality free internet there, so it was no hardship.) We started getting worried when they were late, as we had no idea what happened. (What did we DO before cell phones?!). Just when we were almost at the point of getting really, REALLY worried, they arrived! I was out on the veranda, still engrossed in my cell phone when Lily came rushing up the hallway with Karin and Sophia in tow. Everybody wore huge smiles, almost jumping up and down in their excitement.

dsc_0130Eventually we made arrangements to get everybody onto Shang Du. I manned our little dingy-turned-ferry, while our Dad borrowed aunt Heather’s car to go and find some internet of our own.

It was lovely to see people we knew! Usually you have to make new friends from scratch every time you arrive anywhere. Uncle John was away at a meeting in some part of the USA (I can’t remember where . . . ) and he had really wanted to sail up with us from St. Peters to Baddeck. (You need to cross two lakes to get from St. Peters to Baddeck.) His plane back to Sydney, Nova Scotia, was due the next day, so we decided to invite the Knechtle children to sleep over on Shang Du. Then when his plane did come, we could all sail up to Baddeck together! (Mothers not included – we needed someone to take the car that would bring Uncle John and Aunt Heather from Baddeck back there again.)

Unfortunately, however, his plane was delayed and his flight postponed to the next day. Deciding not to wait any more, we just set off for Baddeck.

dsc_0295It was a glorious day, with just enough wind so that the boat could sail at a moderate speed. Only, because there were no waves, it felt like we were not sailing at all! It was really strange to sail on the lakes. I was lying in my bed for a little while, and I could hear the water swishing by on the other side of the hull, but I wasn’t moving! No motion whatsoever! It felt strange.

(From left to right) Karin, Lily and Sophia all sitting in the bow sprit chair.

(From left to right) Karin, Lily and Sophia all sitting in the bow sprit chair.

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Blake wearing one of our really big, orange lifejackets.

Blake wearing one of our really big, orange lifejackets.

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It took us around six hours to reach Baddeck. By that time the sun was starting to set, and Lily pointed out some landmarks she recognised as we passed by. Those landmarks didn’t make so much of and impression then, but by the time we left Cape Breton Island they had become very familiar to us.

dscn4572As soon as we were safely anchored, Captain and kids launched JJ and swarmed ashore to find a payphone so we could summon the Knechtle mom.

I had stayed on Shang Du with my Mom and Lucy (the youngest Knechtle) and was quite surprised at the little dingy returning with a boatful of triumphant faces piled high around my Dad and Aunt Heather. For some reason I had not expected her to come to the boat. When aboard, they all insisted cheerfully that we pack some overnight things so that they could transport us away to some proper beds. It was quite amusing how they all took it for granted that we would rather sleep on land than on the boat. I have nothing against spur-of-the-moment sleep-overs, but I suppose it was strange to think of sleeping on shore again. (Which I hadn’t done since Trinidad – sleeping in the car doesn’t count!)

 

 

 

Now I have to explain the Knechtle’s situation before I can continue, otherwise everything will be very hard to understand later.

First, a quick description of the family: Uncle John and Aunt Heather have four children, two girls and two boys. They are Lily (13), Matthew (11), Blake (8) and Lucy (5). They all have brown hair, except little Lucy (very, very light blond hair) and Blake (dark blond.) Okay, so half of the children have brown hair. 😉 As far as I can tell, all four children have their mother’s wide smile and are much more adventurous in their eating habits than the Yoshima kids! (The children from the Brazilian family we sailed with through the Caribbean.)

The Knechtles have a family farm just a few minute’s drive out of Baddeck. This farm used to belong to Uncle John’s parents, but now the children share it during the summer. Each one gets something about two weeks to spend at the farm and the Knechtles had really wanted us to be there while they had the farmhouse. Unfortunately, we were still in Florida at the time, so by the time we arrived in Nova Scotia they had already moved out.

Happily for the Knechtles, they have some friends in Nova Scotia who don’t stay on their property all the time. These friend had allowed the Knechtles to stay at their place for the remainder of their holiday.

Next to the wharf house in the early morning.

Next to the wharf house in the early morning.

The property itself has some other buildings on it besides the main house, which includes the warf house. This is the little cottage next to the water where my parents, Franci and I stayed for the rest of our time there. Karin and Sophia slept in the main house in the same room as Lily.

 

The main house is built on a hill overlooking a thin little finger of the lake and the breath-taking view of the almost-cliff on the far side. The whole countryside is covered in pine trees, and you can’t even see another house from the kitchen windows.

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The view standing on the patio just outside the kitchen – amazing!

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A lot of the country there has gypsum in the ground. Any borehole you drill supplies water that is so full of gypsum that it leaves a filmy residue on everything you wash. The Knechtles had struggled with this problem on their own farm – they had bored at least two wells before giving up on their own hill and started piping in water from the hill across the valley. They had to purchase a little plot of land for the new borehole. 😉

The friends’ property still has the gypsum problem though. All the water on the property still contains gypsum. You couldn’t put dishes in the dishwasher, because they would come out with a white filmy finish on them.

During that week we were graciously allowed to stay there with the Knechtles – even to dock Shang Du just outside the wharf house! (That was SO amazing! But more on that later . . .)

We had planned to do a lot of things together, and we did get quite a big lump done, but what mostly counted was that we got to spend time there with them. There were two or three major activities that we did with them that we couldn’t have done if we hadn’t known them. One of those things was to experience their farm. (Even though other family members were staying there, we could go and do things on the farm. )

dsc_0365Later on the same night that we arrived at Baddeck, uncle John came in on his plane. The next morning Aunt Heather went to drop our Dads off in Baddeck so they could sail Shang Du round to the wharf house. Everybody else drove out to the Knechtles’ farm to ride on the horse and the pony.

The Knechtles usually have a horse and a pony for the summer. This year the horse was a white (I think horsy people would term him grey . . .), 14 year old called Victor. The pony was a real grumpy, stubborn, brown, 17 year old called Salem. He never wanted to do anything you asked him, and the only time he would move while not actively being led around, was when he could stay right on Victor’s heels.

This was not on the same day but we are also riding. Here a friend of the Knechtles' is trying to convince Salem to go into an independent direction, but he wouldn't have it.

This was not on the same day but we are also riding. Here a friend of the Knechtles’ is trying to convince Salem to go into an independent direction, but he wouldn’t have it.

After they had caught the horses and had saddled them, we took them up to the little paddock so we could take turns riding them.

It was the very first time I got to ride on a horse all on my own – I think all my previous experiences from age 2 and up probably amounted to something like an hour and a half total that I spent on horseback, with maybe 10 minutes of that with the actual reigns in my hands. 😉

 

 

I’m very glad that Victor was such a sweet tempered and obedient horse, otherwise I might have been put off of horse-riding. It was quite scary to go into a jolty trot, and very reassuring that the horse would actually stop when asked. I never understood before this why it was that in the books, cowboys wouldn’t be able to walk after a few days in the saddle. I mean, they’ve been sitting on a horse all day – it’s the HORSE that did the work! But now I very much understand that you don’t actually stay on the horse if you’re not able to grip properly. Quite an eye-opener to all those stunts in the movies. I’ve gained a lot of respect for all you people who are able to ride horses so well. 😉

dsc_0486The paddock where we rode is located near a small log cabin at the very end of the long drive. This drive snakes up the hill past the main house, the barn, then up, out of sight of both these and past the main paddock. Here it veers sharply to the left and onto the final stretch. The view from the top is AMAZING! There aren’t any trees right on top of the hill, and you can see the whole valley and a small stretch of lake. A lot of the country used to be farmed, but is now allowed to run wild. Since there are no fences, all the animals that live there have more than enough space to live.

 

My mom and Matthew are in the blueberry patch, and little Lucy is running to us from the left. The backdrop consists of amazing view!

My mom and Matthew are in the blueberry patch, and little Lucy is running to us from the left. The backdrop consists of amazing view!

Right next to the paddock and around the log cabin all the grass is cut short, because if you don’t actively keep everything short, little trees can come up all on their own. Just beyond the cut grass there is wild meadow. When you aren’t looking closely, it just looks like a random collection of different shades of green. But the Knechtles showed us – crouching down low among the grass and assorted vegetation, there are blueberries! I always thought blueberries grew on big bushes, but these were just tiny little plants! (All through our stay in Canada I have not seen anything to alter that conviction, so I assume that is what all the blueberry plants look like.)

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So came about my first tasting of wild blueberries. ^_^ (I’ve had some frozen ones before, in SA, but never fresh.) They are not blue all the way through – in the middle where the seeds are, the blueberry is a sort of mix between transparent and white opaque. I ate blueberries between rides on Victor, and I enjoyed them. =)

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dsc_0620We also went walking on one of the trails on the Knechtle farm. Apparently it is a sort of hobby for uncle John and his brothers to put on their work clothes and start hacking the trails open as soon as they arrive for their holiday. (Uncle John even has a set of jeans that stay at the farm permanently, as he only uses them for trail hacking!) There was one morning that we specifically drove to the farm so that we could walk a trail. We chose the longest from the selection.

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One of the things we needed to do, was put on hats with netting built in to keep the bugs off. There are more bugs here than anywhere else I have ever been! It is impossible to sit outside during sunset, because if you try it, you’ll be eaten alive!

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Moose track!

As I said before, there are no fences in Nova Scotia, so this makes for a number of complications as well as having good points. Good point: animals have a lot of space – we even saw moose tracks in some mud! Complication: While the Knechtles encourage their neighbours to make use of their walking trails, they do not like the little four-wheelers on their trails. These quadbikes (I think that’s what they are – but I know Blake had another name for them . . . ), mess up the trails and make a lot of noise. This is why all the parts of the trail that is close to the road is very hard to find, since they ‘hide’ the trail. 😉

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Once or twice we even had trouble ourselves with finding the trails, but Uncle John found them every time . . . eventually . . . and we made it back all right. 😉

dscn4702Our last stretch of trail coming up behind the cabin, included an old beaver dam. The beavers themselves have moved downstream somewhat and it was really cool to hear how the landscape has changed under the influence of the dam. We could see the dead stumps of trees that the dam had killed. The very last bit of trail coming out from between the trees had a lot of raspberry bushes! Raspberries are nice, although I think I like blueberries better.

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dscn4592The other major thing we did was “go sailing”

Yes, we DO live on a sailing boat and yes, we do sail from place to place – but it is quite different doing a crossing on a 26 tonne steel boat to going for a sail around the island in a wonderfully light, little skiff! This one can fit only about 5 people and consists mainly of deck space. 😉

Obviously our whole group couldn’t fit onto it in one go. So Uncle John and my dad took Franci and Matthew the first trip around and then Lily, Blake and I on the second – Karin and Sophia didn’t feel like sailing on such a little boat.

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Matthew; Uncle John; Franci

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While waiting on the dock, Lily unpacked her box of assorted shapes made from melted beads onto a card table. Her mission: sell them off to passers-by, use the money to buy books in America and take them back to Trinidad with her as part of her luggage. Then, after she had finished reading them, she would donate the books to the local library.

All this was quite a novel idea to us – and she actually managed to sell quite a few!

Most of our days weren’t really structured, but we enjoyed them. We had the opportunity to meet some of their “summer friends”. These included both people who stay in Cape Breton year round and those who only spend the summer months in Baddeck. We also made and excursion to Margaree, although Karin will tell you about that.

Our piñata

Our piñata

O yes, Lily also had a sleepover one night, the day before we went on the puffin tour. She invited four friends over besides us. That night we whacked a piñata until it caved – even Lucy had a go and she’s only a quarter of the pole’s length! We hung the piñata up in the basement, (did I mention everybody there has a basement?), which in this case, meant a room large enough to accommodate more than 10 children and a swinging piñata, along with grownups and other assorted furniture.

That’s about it for our stay with the Knechtles – we appreciated their hospitality sooooooo much! Most meals would be up at the main house, Aunty Heather cooks AmAzInG food!

We were graciously allowed to stay on at the wharf house for another three days after the Knechtles left, giving us enough time to catch up on washing and baking, which we really appreciated.

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Franci and Sophia scrubbing hard at our saloon cushions outside the wharf house

Franci and Sophia scrubbing hard at our saloon cushions outside the wharf house

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The baking we did in the wharf house wasn’t so much due to the fact that we can’t bake on the boat, (because we can), but it was about drying rusks. We can’t dry our baked rusks on the boat because it would use too much gas to keep the oven on for as long as needed and waaaaay too much power to run the dehydrator for that long. (It works on 220volts, so to run it we either need to run the invertor or the generator, since our system works on 12V.)

The whole week was fun and we loved being able to see the Knechtles again. =)

Oct 28

Canada – First Impressions – by the Mom

The temperature of the air started dropping about halfway through our trip from Florida to Nova Scotia. How did we know? We got through a whole day without perspiring. Next thing, we needed jackets (or something) when sitting in the cockpit. Things were looking on the up and up.

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Soon after this, the nights cooled right down and we needed blankets and beanies to survive our watches. Don’t worry, Marike and Karin J are not on watch. We kept  reading out the temperature to each other – it was such a novelty to see it dip below 20 degrees Celcius.

One would expect the cooler weather to dampen our spirits, but no, things were turning decidedly festive on Shang Du. It was with excitement that we brought our “cold clothes” from out of the deep, deep recesses where we hid them for the last year and a half. Nearly like Christmas – discovering stuff that we forgot we owned. We were more than ready for Canada.

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We approached the St. Peter’s Lock – Gateway to the Bras D’or Lakes – in a stiff breeze, but with glorious sunshine all round. There were lighthouses and Church Steeples and everything was incredibly green and beautiful.

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The Lock was our first experience of the wonderful, warm welcome that we would receive everywhere in Cape Breton.

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The personnel were so friendly and helpful. While we were tied to the side waiting for the lock to open, the young lady on duty answered all our questions with great humour. Yes, they did sometimes get bears. Yes, in Winter everything is covered in snow. No, those are not just Pine trees, but Spruce trees and many other different kinds of trees. (To our South African minds they all just looked like Pine trees). And, Yes, they cut their own Christmas tree for Christmas every year

We slipped into the lakes during the late afternoon. We picked up a mooring buoy at the Lion’s Club Marina to spend the night. We left Shang Du after 11 days at sea, eager to see everything that the town of St. Peter could offer.dscn4488Sophia was thrilled to be on land again.

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The streets are really beautiful. Every few paces we met up with a hanging ball of flowers. At first we thought these were attached to private houses, but no. It turned out that all the streetlamps in town were adorned in this way.We stopped to ‘smell the roses’.

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The fresh, cool air was invigorating and we walked past one beautiful wooden house after another. We bought a lovely fresh bread from a German bakery. The shop was attached to a dwelling house. In the garden, they have their own little green house, planted with all kind of greens.

The grocery store is on the main road in town and we made it just in time before they closed. We have become much too accustomed to the shopping hours in the States (Wallmart is open 24/7).

There were real flowers in the bed in front of the store window:dsc_0080

The girls were thrilled to find a basket with a variety of fruit labled :”Fruit 4 Kids”. Of course, even though some of them often feel very grown up – they definitely saw themselves as children right then.

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The day ended on a glorious high of a hot, running shower at the Marina and a lovely cuddle up to sleep soundly without worries or watches.

Oct 27

Trip to Canada

I had big plans for sailing up to Canada. All that time! I could finally catch up some neglected school!

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Yeah, that didn’t really happen.

What did happen was that we had a week of good sailing, then about three days headwinds. They weren’t all that comfortable. We weren’t seasick, but it’s amazing how your body just shuts down in a rolling sea . . .

Some time in the 11 days while we were travelling up the coast, we felt cold again! For the first time in one and a half years we could break out the beanies!!! ^_^ We had immense fun comparing thermometer readings from hour to hour, watching to see what time of night had the lowest reading. If the lowest reading had been on your watch, you made sure everybody knew the next day. 😉 Our lowest reading was 16.2 degrees Celsius. Not really cold, but for us coming from the Florida summer it was cold.

We fought the 20kt headwind for about three and a half days, constantly watching the GRIB files and counting off the time to when the wind would turn. In the end it did. Again blowing at 20kt, at least this time it came from an angle where we could use it!

There was only one major reason for us to use the engine: we were on a Schedule. (Capital letter fully justified.) Waiting for the wind to turn* would have cost us at least three days, but probably more. We had been delayed in Puerto Rico far longer than we had planned. As a result we only had a week in Nova Scotia that overlapped with the time the Knechtles were staying there. Three days would be half of our time together, so an ‘engine-usage’ exception was acceptable. If we hadn’t had a schedule, we would probably have pulled into a close harbour to wait until the wind changed, especially since we knew it would. As it was, we kept on moving in the direction of St. Peters, however much the wind and waves slowed us down. (Which they did. Tremendously.)

 

We spotted land the day before we actually arrived in Nova Scotia. That had us all a little bit exited. ^_^ The final stretch to St Peters lock where we entered the lakes was mainly covered during the night, so when I got up for the last half of my watch, we were already almost there!

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We had to sail into a huge bay, and right at the very far side of the bay we entered the little lock. As we got nearer and nearer to land, we could just see pine trees covering the shore. There were a few houses dotted on little open plots between the trees, but looking over the land, there were mostly trees! All the houses that we could see from the water had sloped roofs. They reminded my parents quite a lot of some European countries they’ve visited. (Specifically Austria, I think.)

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We radioed the lock to get permission to pass through. After they gave the go-ahead, we started entering the channel. All along the bank there were these tiny colourful little flowers set in wonderfully soft grass.

We had arrived in Canada!

 

*Which we knew it would – long live GRIB files! (Our weather forecast system)

Oct 17

Kennedy Space Centre – by Franci and Karin Jr.

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F. Okay, this blog about Kennedy Space Centre is going to be an interesting one, because to get it going Marike got Karin and I to write on this blog together. I’ll write a paragraph, then Karin will write a paragraph. That’s the plan, anyway. We’ll just have to see how this goes. . .

 

K. Soo, Kennedy space centre. First of all I would like to add to the intro. The other person is Franci. You probably got it, with the big F in front of the paragraph. But yeah.

 

dsc_0278F. So Karin especially stopped her paragraph so that I would have to begin : P.

Kennedy Space centre is huge, with two big complexes with all sorts of cool space stuff, but most of the buildings and areas are still in use for rocket building & launching. The first complex was right by the parking lot; it included a ‘rocket garden’ with a bunch of real, but unused rockets all standing upright. These rockets were pretty big, but compared to the Apollo rocket we saw later they were really small.

 

K. We also visited the I-Max theatre where they showed, I think, two videos about space. Like, life on the Space Station. The reason they are all floating around is because they are constantly falling. On the video footage we saw, it was funny to see the female astronauts’ hair standing up as if they were in a cartoon and having just touched an electric eel. But I must say, it looks really fun to go to space. On the space station, there are always at least three astronauts. The astronauts usually stay in space for about six months. Living on the space station, studying stuff, doing ordinary stuff, but in space! Just imagine it, you’re not on any specific planet. You’re orbiting the earth in this big metal thing, and you’re just living. That’s an awesome thought. Endless space, endless nothingness.

 

F. Yes, we watched two movies, and they were both in 3D. The first was a documentation about life on the international space station which orbits the earth. Just a little about life there and what it looks like in the cramped space station. They’re literally floating around all the time. They have to specially strap themselves into a specific position in order to do their daily required exercises. There was footage of them celebrating Christmas. In it, the one guy was sitting on the roof, or he was on the floor and everyone else, including the camera person, on the roof. One of just many quirky things is that their salt has to be liquid for them to actually be able to get it onto their food in the first place. It isn’t very neat inside the space station. There are all sorts of pipes and wires everywhere on the roof and narrow walls. One of the astronauts remarked that when they get a shipping of supplies, they have to put everything exactly in its place, otherwise it could just float off and be lost for weeks.

 

K. Yeah, they lost a monkey wrench wasn’t it? They only found it five weeks later. It just vanished. One of the things I found to be really neat was the lights on earth. They have this little place that is just window all around and they can go sit in there and look at earth passing by. At night, you can see all the lights everywhere. America is really very bright. It’s just like when you watch a universal movie, and their logo comes up, with all the shiny lights on earth. Now that is an exaggeration, but it sort of looks like that. The light just doesn’t penetrate space quite as far though.

At a later venue, they had some see-through tubes that one could crawl through to imagine yourselves in the confines of a Space-station. A section is also suspended very high above the floor, to give the illusion of being in space.

At a later venue, they had some see-through tubes that one could crawl through to imagine yourselves in the confines of a Space-station. A section is also suspended very high above the floor, to give the illusion of being in space.

 

F. The second I-max movie was a documentation about all their plans for future space endeavours, especially about how to get people on Mars. They showed us some of the ideas and designs for possible rockets to carry the people to Mars and possible space cars with which to carry people around on the strange planet. And of course, they’re trying out all sorts of ways of keeping Mars dust out of their spacecraft. The current idea is that the space suit actually hooks onto your space buggy from the outside. This enables the astronaut to climb directly from his/her suit into the buggy and visa versa. Also, since they’re expecting the trip to Mars to take about 6 months, they’re working with maths and physics to see if it’s actually possible to create a kind of inflatable living area that the astronauts could use during that traveling time.

 

dsc_0299K. So from there, they provided a bus to the next place. We drove past The big place where they build the rockets and the platform on which they transport it. The rocket is so heavy that they had to make a whole separate road, with gravel stones. The thing with the rocket would come on this road, and every time they used the road for the rocket, they have to replace all the stones. So yeah, I don’t remember anything else worth mentioning on that specific bus ride, but my Dad and I did briefly see an armadillo on the trip back.

 

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Apollo missions

Captioned by Marike – Franci made a mistake. The Apollo rocket was not actually suspended from the ceiling, although several other items were.

F. The next complex was big, with two huge rooms, the one with an Apollo rocket suspended from the roof (along with a few other cool moon landing things), and the other with Atlantis, the last space shuttle to return from space. The Apollo rockets were the rockets specifically designed to take men to the moon. A few of the first Apollos only went into space, others just orbited the moon. Apollo 11 was the first rocket to actually land on the moon, followed by Apollo 12,14,15, 16 and 17. After that the government ended the program. No, I didn’t accidentally skip the number 13, that rocket didn’t actually make it onto the moon. The people got home safely, but that’s a whole story on its own! Just go and watch the movie Apollo 13 – even if you don’t like space, it’s a cool movie.

Caption by Marike - Apollo 11 was the only Apollo rocket that had a design made for it excluding the astronaut's names.

Caption by Marike – Apollo 11 was the only Apollo rocket that had a design made for it excluding the astronaut’s names.

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K. Apollo 13 is a cool movie, yet I am very glad I wasn’t any of the people involved with the whole thing.

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There is a piece of moon rock, which we all touched. It was blacker than I thought it’d be, and of course very smooth because it’s not just us who wants to be able to tell their friends that they actually touched a rock that came from outer space. So… There was a lunar module hanging from the roof, very cool.

Apollo missions

Apollo missions

–Marike actually made a mini model of one which we put on my birthday cake. However, unlike the real one, mine landed on planet Chocolate Cake, because we didn’t have an actual moon or anything else of the right colour.

dsc_0492Anyway, I don’t remember what the other rocket in the room was there for, but it had huge (holes where the fire comes out, but I can’t remember what it’s called, and neither can Franci so we’re a little stuck), at least big enough for our whole forepeak to get in there with room to spare! That rocket was 36 stories high, if you put it upright, but it was lying flat.

 

The things where the fire comes out.

The things where the fire comes out.

dsc_0358When the Apollo astronauts entered the rocket, they had to be suited up already. They had a special astronaut van that transported the astronauts from wherever they got suited up to the rockets. They had to use the astronaut van because a suited up astronaut does not fit into a normal car. Not even a Hilux.

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It’s quite cool and all. Imagine it, standing on the Moon. Ultimate space, out in space. Where there is no limits to space! God really designed the whole universe so amazingly awesome, but we only get to see a little bit of it. It’s funny to think that man hasn’t been every where yet. The only other natural thing that we didn’t have to build ourselves, that we have been on, is the moon. That’s it. Every other planet we know about is out of reach. For now.

 

 

 

 

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F. The, I quote ‘other rocket’, was the Apollo 18, fully ready to leave for the moon, but unable to do so because of the program ending. So, having nothing else to do with this very expensive piece of space equipment, they set it out on display for us to admire. It was, as I said before, suspended from the roof. (Insert from Marike – NOT!) The different stages of the rocket were slightly separated, so that you could see how they fitted into each other and could know exactly which part of the rocket got discarded at each stage of the journey. Off to one side they had a smaller model of the rocket with a cross section showing wat was inside. The computer in this rocket was very big, but the average smartphone of today is much smarter than any of the Apollo computers.

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K. Atlantis. You’re probably sitting there wondering exactly if I’m going to get to the point where I tell you what Atlantis is and what it did. The fact is that I’m not and you’re going to have to live in ignorance for the rest of you lives! WhaHahahAhahahaHa.

Actually I’m forced to tell you anyway. And I’ll just tell you about it, before Franci reads this and makes me tell you about it. Not that I have anything against telling it to you. I probably would have told you about it anyway. But hey, doing an evil laugh is fun. Anyway, telling you now, I have to do (speaking Yoda). So I will proceed.

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Our Dad and Sophia

Atlantis is one of the only four space shuttles in the world, on display for the public. It can’t fly on it’s own. It gets launched into space then it glides around, steering itself with rocket boosters or whatever you call those things. It helped build the space station. Atlantis was the last one to come back and she had thirty five successful missions into space. That shuttle had been into space thirty five times! And then back to earth! And then back to space! I find that incredibly awesome. Now she has retired and is lying peacefully on display, having fun being admired by people like my Dad and I. People who wish they could go to space, but know, honestly, that their chances are really, really slim. But looking on the brighter side: we’ll never be able to land on the the sun. So there!

Just hang on as I call Franci to come and write her part. “FRANCI! FRANCI! Dis jou beurt”.

 

dscn4313F. The space shuttle was also actually suspended from the ceiling. But before going into the big room containing the shuttle, they show you a short film on this big screen about the ideas behind the whole shuttle program and the struggles in designing it. It was like a little movie. The movie clip ends with a shuttle being launched and then a voice welcoming you to go visit the Atlantis. The entire screen lifts up like a garage door and you walk out into the vast room containing the Atlantis.

dscn4343Shuttles look a lot like planes, except for the entire middle part of the plane. That part where the passengers would normally sit, can open up. Shuttles are always white on top and black underneath. We could actually see the scorch marks on Atlantis from when she re-entered earth’s atmosphere. The shuttle was suspended in a sideways position, with the two ‘doors’ at the top opened to show its vast storage area. On the top floor you’re level with the shuttle, and on the bottom floor you can walk underneath it. At earth’s gravity the doors are actually too heavy for the hinges to hold them, so there are extra supports surreptitiously positioned to help keep the doors in place. We were all excited about all the cool space stuff, Karin and my Dad were just the most excited : ). All the nooks and crannies in the room were filled with more facts and stuff that you could learn about space, including information on the Hubble Telescope.

(Captioned by Marike) One of the things they had around the Atlantis, was a clear pipe suspended over emptiness. You could crawl through, and look down onto the flood under you.

 

Moondust on the boots, that's why they appear greyish.

Moondust on the boots, that’s why they appear greyish.

K. They had a few space suits on display and one of them still had moon dust on it. I don’t remember where we read or heard this, but somewhere in the centre we saw it. An astronaut said how irritating the moon dust was. ‘It clung to everything,’ He said. That was very interesting. I’m really not good at telling you guys about the actual stuff we do, more random stuff that pop into my brain, so, “FRANCI!”

 

F. And that pretty much brings our joint-blog to an end. I hope it wasn’t too confusing : P. After getting ourselves some postcards, of which we always get an ample supply everywhere we go, we took the bus back to the main complex and went back to the car. It was a lovely, full day.

 

K. Franci forgot to mention two things. She forgot to mention that about a week later, we went with our friends the Yoshimas, to get a good vantage point of a rocket launch. It was just supplies going up to the space station. But still cool. It happened at 1 am in the morning. It was amazing to see the first stage re-enter the atmosphere and land again at the Space Centre.

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Marike caption - All I can say is that it was a SpaceEx Falcon 9 launch, and sorry these aren't better pictures. :)

Marike caption – All I can say is that it was a SpaceEx Falcon 9 launch, and sorry these aren’t better pictures. 🙂

 

The other thing was in the gift shop where we bought our post cards. We didn’t buy any but we saw it. Astronaut Ice cream. Freeze dried ice cream. I assume they add water to it, then they eat it. But yeah, that was strange. I found it extremely interesting, but I would never eat any of it. It doesn’t sound nice. I mean, what’s left of the ice cream when you take away the ice? Just cream? Yeah I know ice cream isn’t just ice and cream. But you get the idea.

Now I think this blog is finished. I hope you enjoyed it, and made some sense of it. Maybe learnt a few facts. So over and out. –Karin & Franci’s attempted joint blog.

 

 

 

Oct 11

All the Parks we visited – as captioned by Marike ;)

When telling someone about Disney World, I always tell them there are two extremes. Either I can rave about how fantastic it was, (detail, acting, colours . . . ) or I can tell you exactly why you should never visit Disney World ever.

I really enjoyed the experience of all the parks we visited, but I have to admit that in the end I was really tired. Not just of walking all day long, but also of being brainwashed. Disney has this thing that everybody has to be happy all the time. That it doesn’t matter what you believe in, you must just believe, as if that is the objective in itself. While you are in the middle of the fireworks and lights it all seems as if it could be almost true, and there is where I find the problem.

However, apart from the brainwashing aspect of the Disney parks, it was a lot of fun, even though we were exhausted at the end of each day! We were there when the parks opened, backpacks stuffed with all manner of snacks, water bottles full and lots of energy.

We were quite limited as to what we could take into the park, since my Mom can’t eat any sugar or starch products. One of the tastes I most vividly link with the Disney parks, is nuts. We would each have a bag of nuts and raisins packed, and that would be one of our snacks.

Here are all five parks summed up in some photos. (There are quite a few of them. Fair warning.)

 

                                                                                      Epcot

01Our first Disney park we visited was Epcot. In this photo we are hurrying over to the very first ride (which turned out a little disappointing, as it didn’t complete it’s run) and as you can see, none of us are paying any attention to cameras at this critical stage of “hurry, hurry, hurry!”.

 

 

 

 

 

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When we planned our Disney park days (we had a big fat book that told us where to be at what time) we did NOT include “character greetings.” It seems like a really silly thing to do – have a picture taken of you greeting an unknown person in a suit! But once you’ve been in the park for a while, I guess you catch the disease – even if only a little – and you feel more inclined to imagine along with everybody else that this is actually Pluto, and not some poor employee (or ‘cast member’) sweating away inside the highly colourful suit to get his/her pay check.

 

Donald Duck by Disney World EPCOT

We were overcome by Donald Duck. 😉 At that point between country pavilions (we had just come from “Mexico” where there had been a ‘The Three Cabelairos’ ride in which Donald had starred), the line was short – and Donald looked so cute in the Mexican outfit!

So out came our little books, which we had brought for the purpose of stamping at the Kidcot stations around the lands, and we all had him sign our books. XD

Four in a row – that’s not a thing to be undertaken lightly, especially with gloves on!

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These photos represent the ‘Frozen’ attraction. When the movie “Frozen” came out and was such a big success, Disney made the most out of it by changing the Norway pavilion into a Frozen country. Easy enough to do, since Frozen is based on Norway anyway!

In the photo below you can see us standing in line and as you may notice, the line does not seem so very long. It is my personal opinion that Disney has perfected the art of stretching out your patience. They do not show you how long the line actually is, therefore you are able to be more patient than is your habit. Also, if by chance you actually do happen to catch a glimpse of the line, you would typically already have been standing for 20 minutes. So you just give in.  

You wait in a state of constant hopefulness, that maybe around this bend, maybe, just maybe, you will actually be there. Or at least close to there. Surely within 15 people of there . . .

(That was the longest line we had in the whole collection of Disney parks!)0809One of the decorations while you wait in line – open the picture to full size so you can fully appreciate the notice board. 😉

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Here Karin is posing next to a ‘stone’ lion in the China pavilion. If you look to where I drew an arrow pointing to under the lion’s front right paw, you will see a grey ball under it. This was part of the “missions” you could do with Perry the Platypus from the Disney show “Phineas and Ferb”. This is an area where Disney world really excels – animatronics, sound and visual effect perfectly coordinated.

In this specific mission, we, as Agent Z, were pretending to be Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s contact. To activate the effects, you follow the program on your phone (helpfully installed by an employee of Disney), which tells you where to be when you press your button.

The results were very varied and amazing. Among others we recovered a monkey statue from a pond with much bubbling of the waters and sound effects, rang a gong to warn the ‘pandas’ to flee china, and opened a window using a laser-beam. In this case our button made Dr. Doofenshmirtz aware of our presence, so that he ‘took away’ some stone and peeked from the ensuing hole. (This was all done by projecting an image on the inside of the screen which makes up the grey ball.)

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From here you can see the lake, with Epcot’s landmark white ball in the background. It’s around this lake that all the ‘land pavilions’ are arranged.

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Just had to take a photo here – this is in the England pavilion, and since at that stage both my dad and I drank tea from the Twinings brand, we thought it appropriate to take a photo.

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It is very very difficult to take a photo of any type of fireworks show. Epcot has a really big display (I cannot imagine what Disney parks spend on fireworks every day!), which includes sound effects – music, not just the bang of the fireworks – lasers and a big “earth” float that sails out onto the lake. Compared with the other Disney parks’ fireworks, I’d give it a 4 out of 5.

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             Animal Kingdom

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Disney Animal Kingdom - D'Vine

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Look closely at the photo on the right> > > > >

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Still don’t know what you’re looking at?

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Look closer . . .

Disney Animal Kingdom - D'Vine

‘De-vine’ was one of the artists you could see around the park. She walks around on stilts and has poles for her hands, so that when she is walking around she looks like a giraffe. When she isn’t, (which is most of the time), she drapes herself over trees and lampposts, looking like a . . . well, vine!

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24These are all “ruins from India” built for decoration, and I think they did their job really well!

Disney Animal Kingdom - a Hidden Mickey

 

 

Here Sophia is pointing out a ‘hidden micky’. Built into quite a lot of the decorations, you can find the trademark mouse ears almost anywhere if you look hard enough.

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Here we are listening attentively as this lady tells us about the ferret she is holding. This was at a more isolated part of the park, as you had to get on a little train to reach it. There were no “rides” and was the most like a zoo of the whole place. Our guide book had reported that people didn’t really enjoy this part of the park so much, as there isn’t much action, but we could have spent our entire day there! I mean, people were rotating with different animals on display, (after the ferret came an owl), just waiting around to tell someone about it.

 

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29Here are two photos to show you how many animals were “carved” into the trunk of that big tree! I have no idea how long it took the artists to make that tree, but I do know they add some roots to it from time to time.

 

30Appropriate to do a ‘meet and greet’ with the mice, since they are just SO Disney, and it was fun to do it at their ‘traveling station’.

31This one is just a really nice family photo to end the day with. The mountain in the background is in the “Asia” section of Animal kingdom, and the whole thing is basically hollow, with the ride ‘Mount Everest” housed inside. (That was SUCH an awesome ride! In terms of detail  (Disney’s main feature) and thrill. It was great for the whole family, and us girls even did it twice. We did it as soon as we entered the park, which was good, since by the end of the day we were way too tired to appreciate it enough.

 

 

          SeaWorld

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Before going in.

 

33There were only a few rides in Sea world compared to a Disney park, but these had a much bigger ‘thrill’ factor! (I.e., they were real roller coasters!)

Manta you climbed into a hanging seat (a lot like the ‘Anaconda’ ride in Gold Reef City, SA) but then before the ride begins, you are tilted completely so that you are lying horizontally, tummy down. It was a really smooth ride, and we all enjoyed it a lot! ^_^ If it hadn’t been high season I know I would have done that one over a few times in a row!

 

34“Mako” was the newest roller coaster at Sea World, and absolutely THE one to go on! Mako is a type of really fast swimming shark, and this ride was modelled after it, going at 117kmp, it has some really high (up to 60m tall) lift hills. It is credited with being the fastest, tallest coaster in Orlando.

Sophia said she would go on it.

Sophia DID go in it.

From the first drop, Sophia never stopped screaming.

She went on it a second time!

It was a really awesome roller coaster (I love thrill rides 😉 ) but after the first drop, when all the rest of us had basically stopped screaming, Sophia was still at it! She was terrified! It was as though her screaming was completely out of her control – she only inhaled long enough to scream out all the air again. Franci and I were sitting next to her and tried to soothe her but didn’t do much good.Afterwards she said she hadn’t been at all aware of us.  I was really rattled – her staccato screams will be something hard to forget.

However, once we exited the ride and had all apologised sincerely to Sophia for having convinced her to come onto the ride, Dad, Franci and I saw that the line had not yet, increased very noticeably in length. We decided to ride again quickly before lines became unmanageable later ……. and Sophia came with us! We were very surprised, but she wanted to come. This time she kept her eyes open, so she wasn’t quite as frightened and her screaming had toned down somewhat, although that involuntary quality was still present.

My very, very brave Sophia had a sore throat after all of that and abstained from joining us on the Kraken. However, she did come with us on Manta, and enjoyed it tremendously. ^_^ (She informs me that she did enjoy Mako better the second time round, and Karin told me I could put in that she was too cowardly to ride on ANY of the roller coasters there.)

 

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The “Antarctica” section of SeaWorld.

No, we are NOT actually cold – it was Florida and summer, that equals HOT

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37The Kraken. I want you to particularly make note of these photos, because Karin was the one who took them. On the left there is Sophia with “The Kraken”- the name of the ride – and below is Franci, my Dad and I riding it. This photo is worth notice because of the amount of photos Karin had to take to get this specific one. When they first noticed it was possible to see the riders at some point in the track, she started taking photos – needless to say, she had to discard a lot of them before we appeared. 😉

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SeaWorld had various shows that you can watch during the day. There is of course, the Sea Lion show – except that this one unexpectedly included a Walrus! (We had NOT been expecting that one).

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The major show SeaWorld had to offer was their Orca show. Of course it’s very impressive. I’ve never seen Killer Whales in captivity before – to say nothing of them doing tricks – but it still wasn’t my favourite show.

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Just a really cute photo 😉

42Manatees!

We had seen manatees before in Puerto Rico, but only from a distance – this was so cool! We were there right at feeding time and it was so cute to see the small manatees use their . . . I’m not sure if you call them flippers? . . . like hands to bring the salad leaves up to their mouths. It was adorable!

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43We could even see them from below!

They are really fascinating creatures. Those huge bodies all built up from leaves, and the way they look bloated all the time. Completely different to anything I’ve ever seen before. I supposed the captive ones would be better fed than the wild ones though.

I really like them.

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Here you can see them between meals . ^_^ Not satisfied with the huge quantity of leaves provided for them, they insist on devouring the scenery as well!

The little one on the right was pushing himself up into the crevice to try and reach the ferns. ^_^

 

 

 

 

Dolphins =)

 

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Sophia watching the dolphins

Here are three photos from the underwater viewing chamber where we went to hide from the sun before the Dolphin show.

Air conditioned, relatively quiet, it was somewhere to reload our depleted resources.

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Our two Karins trying to stretch out the reprieve as long as possible

 

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Me, (Marike), standing in just the right place at the right time.

50Included in SeaWold’s selection of shows there is, of course, also the Dolphin show.

We consulted our book as to what shows and rides to attend on our SeaWorld day, and the commentary they had for the dolphin show was that it is “people and animals doing tricks we’ve seen before.”

For us, it was the best show of the day! Trapeze artists and birds hadn’t featured in the dolphin shows I’ve had the privilege of seeing.

There are many photos of these, but I only included the photo below . . .

49THIS trick I have never ever seen before!

It was really an impressive show, and we loved it! ^_^

 

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This is a touch tank where you can touch some little sharks.  (We all touched the sharks! ^_^)

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Magic Kingdom

54The “Seven Dwarves mine train” was our first ride for the day. It was set up really elaborately, with perhaps the most decorative line that I’ve seen in Disney world. They even had the key outside the mine!

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I do not count this as a roller coaster. (As I’ve said before, my idea of a roller coaster is more like Mako or Kraken), but it was very beautiful. 😉 Excellent detail everywhere!

 

Cinderella's Sisters

These are Cinderella’s stepsisters. What I love about the two actresses who were impersonating them is how well the acting compensates for anything you may find lacking in their get-up. They simply ARE the step-sisters, with all the mannerisms, remarks and voices (as good as can be expected) fully embodied.

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When my parents had visited Disney world before we were born, they had taken a photo here. (Only my Dad had been in that one though.)

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I REALLY liked all the references to the movie ‘Tangled’ they had! It was the most realistic and beautiful.

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Rapunzel’s tower! It’s only a little one, but on the photo it looks like a big one in the distance. 😉

Disney - Hollywood Studios - Buzz Lightyear character meet

Buzz Light-year also seemed to be a meet-and-greet worth doing. The time we spent in line for that also gave us time to chomp on a snack and rest a bit before moving on to the next item.

 

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The iconic Disney World castle! I remember seeing adverts for Disney world when I was little, and I seriously never thought I’d actually ever go there! ;P

 

65To attend a parade had not been on our list of things to do, since it just eats away time you could have spent somewhere else. (Preferably somewhere air-conditioned.)

I’m very glad we did get caught up in a parade though – it has the same elements as a carnival parade, (floats and in-between character dancers), but done with A LOT more excellence!

<<<<<< The ‘Tangled’ float was my favourite!

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“Flinn Rider” just looked SO exactly right! You can see him on one of the swinging “axes” here, with Maximus (the horse), on the opposite side.

 

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The “Frozen” float

 

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Peter pan

 

69<<<<The Peter Pan float. (You can just make out Captain Hook on the swinging pendulum anchor under the rainbow.)

 

This is the “Brave” float. I admire the way they made her hair very realistically. >>>>>>>

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Some of the dancers that came before the “Brave” float.

 

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Here we are following a treasure map. It’s a lot like the missions you do in Epcot with Perry the Platypus, but here you get a card. You press this card onto the swallow sign at the locations the map leads you to. Again, different things can happen.

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Sophia pressing the card to the powder horn. Result: a spark travels down the trail of powder to reach a chest which is then blown to pieces. I can’t remember if it revealed a treasure or not. Probably not. 😉

 

74Tom Sawyer’s Island was awesome! Here you can see a sign that was supposedly put up by Tom that reads:

WELCUM

iFN YOU LIKE DARK CAVES MYSTERY MINES, BOTTOMLEZZ PITZ SHAKY BRIDGES N BIG ROCKS YOU HAVE COME TO THE BEST PLACE i KNOW iFN YOU DONT LIKE CREEPY OLD ZCARY PLACEZ DONT WURRY . . . HUCK FINN AN MYSELF WUS PLENTY ZCARED TOO. HUCK WUS MORE ZCARED THAN ME . . . TOM

WUZ NOT       HUCK

 

 

 

 

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The fireworks over the castle are the prettiest Disney world has to offer, in my opinion. It is still VEERY hard to photograph fireworks, but I think in this case Franci captured it very nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hollywood Studios

78I think Hollywood studios is a little empty of attractions compared with the other parks, but it was almost more fun because we didn’t have to rush about quite as much.

The whole place was definitely Star Wars mad!

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A walker!

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We firmly decided before coming to Disney world that we would never buy anything inside the parks. It just isn’t worth it.

I think if I hadn’t been convinced of this I might have bought this Sven teddy. ^_^

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We went to go see the “Indiana Jones Stunt show spectacular” and I was one of the extras! ^_^ We had read in our trusty book that the best way to get picked for an extra is to “jump up and down, showing unbridled enthusiasm.” They had failed to mention that the candidate should be at least 18, so none of my sisters could try to get in, but I was old enough with a week to spare. 😉

When they called us onto the stage, the first stunt had been completed, and while they were introducing us to the audience they were changing the scenery behind me. Of course they only introduced us to buy time with the scene shifting, but it was completely disorientating to find that the wall had suddenly vanished into sunshine and buildings.

 

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The Tower of Terror is behind us, which was my favourite ride in Hollywood Studios. It was like a giant lift going up, and then falling down, just to stick and then fall again! It was a lot of fun. My favourite part was that my bag, which had been on my lap, started rising up into the air on a fall! That was so cool.

 

As I said, Hollywood Studios is Star Wars crazy, and here are a few of the sights we saw while at the park:

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A tiny little BB8! Soooooo adorable! When we came out from meeting Chewbucca, this little robot was running around on the floor – the operator wasn’t immediately apparent so it almost looked alive! Sooooooooo cute!

 

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Sophia meeting ‘Princess Sofia the First.’ (So cute! ^_^)

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Right at the end we got Karin’s favourite character’s signature – Pluto! She likes him the best because he is a dog. 😉

 

Oct 03

Florida – by Karin Joan

Many of you may already know that Florida is where Disney world is.

Well, technically Orlando is where Disney world is. Anyway, we are anchored in Florida, at a place called Cocoa beach. We rented a car, and yeah we went to Disney world.

There are four parks in Disney world: Epcot; Animal Kingdom; Magic Kingdom; and Hollywood Studious.

We went to Epcot first. It was really awesome. But it’s not a thrill ride park, it’s entertainment. So combined with our unofficial guide to Disney world, and Marike and my Dad’s great planning, we went on all the rides, and attended all the shows we really wanted to see with the minimum of waiting time in the lines.

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So we went to Epcot on the third of July. On that morning we got up really early. I don’t know how early, but it was something like five. But it was still dark. We ate breakfast in the car, on the way to Epcot. When we got there, we climbed out of the car and headed in. I can’t remember the order of how we did things but I will tell you all I can about my favourite rides and shows.

Soarin’ was by far the best ride at Epcot, as I think my whole family will agree. What we did was (of course stand in line) and then when we got to the front the cast members (employees) would tell us where to stand to go in. There was a video intro to tell us what to do. We were going to ‘tour’ the world – we went to the great wall of China, we visited some elephants in the wild and went to some artic place, we were at Sidney, and the famous castle somewhere in India, and yeah you get the point. So what we did, was go sit on a row of seats, that was attached to this machine thing. Now the idea of this ride was that we were soarin’ through the world on a paraglider, so that is what happened.

The chairs went up, toward the big screen in front of us. We went to Paris as well.

When we were at that famous palace somewhere in India, we could smell some sort of perfume, and when we were soarin over the elephants there was a smell of freshly cut grass. (Just to let everybody know, I think it was supposed to smell like elephants but believe me, elephants stink a lot.)

Every time we were done at one place they would cleverly let something cover the whole screen and when it was gone, you were somewhere else. Like the killer whale that jumped out of the icy water, and dropped back in, just before you reach it, causing a huge splash covering the screen and next thing you know you’re in Sydney watching the boats sail out of the harbour. It was really well done – it was surprizing how real it all felt.

That was Epcot’s specialty, using technology to make you feel as if that thing was happening but actually you were just looking at a screen.

‘Sum of all thrills’ was also good. It was basically a metallic robot arm, with a thing on the end, in which two people could sit. The people inside aren’t able to see out. Before you get into that, you get to design your own ride. So you can do a twist downward, go up down and even upside down. If you look at the metallic arms moving while waiting in line, it may look as if they are moving slow and as if it can’t be a fun ride, But when you’re in there, it feels a lot different. Inside the little box on the arm, the ride you designed shows on a computer screen.

Epcot also has a world showcase. In the middle of Epcot there is this sort of lake, and all around it, there are pieces of different countries. I don’t remember what way around we went, but we did them in order. First was Mexico then Norway, Then it was China, Germany was next, then Italy. Japan, USA, Morocco, France, UK, and Canada. In each country there was a Kid-cot centre. A table where someone would sit, and sign ‘Passports’. This is the way that Disney worked out to keep the little kids busy while the adults look around the place. So you can buy a Disney passport at the entrance, (or bring your own book, which we did), and have them sign it in every country.

The Kidcot station in "China", the first place we realised that all the staff in the different "countries" actually come from their respective countries!

The Kidcot station in “China”, the first place we realised that all the staff in the different “countries” actually come from their respective countries!

There is a stamp for every country, and what makes those tables Extra cool, (and not just the tables, the whole world showcase), is, that the people working in Norway, for instance actually come from Norway. And it’s the same with all the other countries. At each place, like in Morocco and China they signed our names in their language – I don’t know how they know to spell them like that. Of course where they use the standard alphabet, they didn’t do that, because it would just be the same as always. But in China, Japan and Morocco they use different alphabets. In Morocco they wrote our name in Arabic! And in Japan, when the lady at that table asked me what my name was, and I said Karin, She said it again to make sure she heard right, and said Kalin. I repeated it again, to make sure she heard me right, and she did, she just can’t say the R. I must say, when my dad once told us that the Japanese can’t    pronounce “r”, I didn’t quite believe him, but it turns out he was perfectly correct.

 

In "China" ;)

In “China” 😉

Most of the people working at the showcase, were on a year trip kinda thing. They came to work at Disney World for a year, and then they’d go back home. But from all of them I liked the French guy the most. I think it was because he didn’t go all, ‘Wow you’re living on a boat!’ When Franci told him that, to fill in silent space as he was signing the books. I think that is because it’s more part of the French culture to just go sailing. Plus he said he knew a few people coming from Africa, who work at Animal Kingdom, Because there they have a bunch of animals,(including some exotic animals from Africa!) And that he was trying to learn Afrikaans with them. We never met any of them, but hey! the idea was nice, to think that there were Afrikaans people somewhere there. We did meet a lady from Botswana. So yeah, I liked him the most. (The French guy).

We went to go watch the American show. It was a really patriotic show, My mom fell asleep during the show, and I almost did. But it was interesting and the music was pretty. I wouldn’t recommend it for any non American, maybe a Canadian would like it too.

 

Well There were other rides as well, Oh and Turtle Talk with Crush (From Finding Nemo). There’s an actual live person behind the screen where we can’t see him, doing his voice. Apparently that person went to some college where he studied to mimic voices, so that they don’t need the actual person who did Crush’s voice for the movie. It was cool. He would ask random people in the audience questions. Well to be specific, he would ask random children in the audience questions. It really looked and felt as if the animated Turtle on the wall was interacting with the audience.

 

Donald Duck at Disney World EPCOT

Donald Duck at Disney World EPCOT

We met Donald Duck in Mexico, and got his autograph. He was standing outside, and even though he was standing in the shade, I really pitied him. It’s really hot here in Florida. Of course he would go off shift every now and then, then another person would put on the suit, and pose. No one would ever notice the difference, since they don’t speak, on account of not being able to mimic the voices of the characters. I also saw two Pluto’s around with large lines of people waiting in line to get their pictures taken. Oh and in China, we also saw a Mulan, Who I personally think has it better than Donald and Pluto, because she didn’t have to wear a suit, only the fancy dress Mulan wears in the beginning of the first movie, to “get her match”. And her hair is done up in a bun on her head, which is very practical in this heat.

 

dsc_0041We also did Agent P’s showcase adventure. If you know Phineas and Ferb, then you should know that they have a pet Platipus who is actually a secret agent, who’s nemesis is Doofinsmurchs. Well in this thing, you go to the Agent P stall to sign up – they give you clearance to a page on your phone, where Major Monogram will give you, Agent (Insert initial) a mission. We were agent Z.

(Insert from Marike: The photo is of us all crowding around trying to see the little clips of Major Monogram telling us our next step in a mission.)

There is a new mission in every showcase, except Norway, where they have a big Frozen ride. It’s to get the kids to want to look at the showcase with the adults. Frankly we just did it because it was fun, Our parents would never need to do one of those things to make us want to explore places like that.

To tell the truth, we just stopped briefly in Japan, Morocco, UK, and France. Oh and Canada, because we didn’t have time, and we still wanted to ride ‘Sum of all thrills’ before the firework display in the evening. I didn’t mind skipping Canada and UK, although they looked very interesting. UK even had a mini Big Ben. France had a mini Eifel tower, and we didn’t even notice that until afterward when we saw it on a picture. But Morocco looked very interesting. Japan, well I didn’t mind too much, but I still wanted to see it. I can see why some people buy yearly passes.

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Oh and I forgot to mention, There was a meet and greet for Baymax! The line was too long, but I took a picture or two with my phone. Not very good pictures but pictures.

This photo was taken by Franci.

This photo was taken by Franci.

There were a bunch of other rides as well, mostly shows, and they were all cool.

I’ll do the other parks in a future blog . . .

 

But I’m not going to mention all of them now, because it would take to long, let me move on to animal Kingdom, which we did next.

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We did animal Kingdom next, but we did a break day between the two days. otherwise we never would have made it. Animal Kingdom is my favourite Disney park, due to the animals.

 

dsc_0146They had two hippos, but we saw only one of them in the cage. It was a smartly designed one, Like otter cages. You can see under the water and above. Due to the extra big glass wall. Anyway, that was how it was, and of course the water was super filtered o that you could actually see the hippo in the water. The Hippo was in the water, completely submerged. From above you couldn’t even tell what was supposed to be in the cage. But under the water, the hippo was standing with it’s hind legs on the bottom, but resting his head on a big rock, so that his front legs don’t touch the bottom. It was very interesting. The woman outside the cage, ready to answer any questions any tourist might ask her, told us that they do have three hippos but the other two were out on the safari, and that this was the only hippo that slept like this. Every now and then the hippo would lift his head to breath, then he would rest it back on the rock.

 

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How many animals can you spot?

The big emblem of animal kingdom is a huge tree. Of course it is probably fake. But it’s really pretty. If you look closely at the trunk of the tree, you’ll see a bunch of animals. As if carved into the tree. Fake or no, the tree is a wonderful work of art, that came out amazing. Every time you look at it you find a different animal, you haven’t spotted before. Inside of the tree there is actually a theatre for a show. Called “A bug’s life.” You know the movie ‘A bug’s life’? well the show is basically the main character in the movie putting up a bug awareness show, for the humans, so that we watch out for them more. It was quite entertaining.

 

 

One reason I like Animal kingdom the most of all the parks is because of the moisturizing fans they sell. We didn’t buy any. But all over they would sell them to tourists. And they would keep them cool, in huge containers full of ice. I think the main reason they sell more of these fans here, is because very little of this park is actually inside. Most of it is outside, and there is nearly no air conditioning. Way different from Epcot. Anyway, the ice, which we got from ice containers, kept us cool and hydrated through the whole thing, which was really refreshing.

 

Here we could sign up to be Wilderness Explorers. All over the park, there are random places where you can earn badges\stickers to put in your book, it was quite fun. We only used one book, although we all took one at first. Its just way easier to have only one book for everyone to share than each to do our own. It was very fun.

Oh, there was a Splash Ride. That was very fun. I don’t quite remember what it was called but it was fun anyhow. Basically it’s, everybody gets into this round thing, which twists and turns randomly in this picturesque river. In the Unofficial guide, they said some people got really wet, and some people didn’t get wet at all. Now Franci and I were the two that got really wet. We got absolutely soaked. Franci had wrapped her Camera bag and part of my back pack in her yellow water proof thing. –Each of us got one especially for the Disney parks— So her camera bag didn’t get wet, and my bag didn’t get as wet as it could have gotten.

(Random insert from Marike – the ride was caller “Kali River Rapids”.)

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Before plash

 

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During splash

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Post splash

There was a big Jungle book show that night. The dancing was pretty amazing,

 

Well I have run out of things to say, but I will now proceed to tell you about meet and greets we saw and met there.

I don’t think we met that many, but the most popular were by far, King Loui and Ballo from the animated jungle book. We met Micky and Minnie mouse. Oh Marike and I met Raffikie, The monkey from lion king. We all met the Chipmunks (Chip & Dale)… Yeah animal kingdom wasn’t that big on the meet and greets, but Hollywood studious had a lot!

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“Micky” and “Minnie” signing our books 😉

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This is the end of this post.

 

 

Oct 03

Crossing to Florida – by the Mom

We left Fajardo knowing that we had to meet up with AmarSemFim at the mouth of San Juan harbour. They had patiently waited for us in San Juan all the while that we were at Fajardo, wanting to sail with us to Florida.

However, it was only for the first few days that we managed to maintain radio contact with them. They were just so much faster in the water and soon left us behind. No worries, we knew that we would meet up again in the Sunshine State.

1Soon we were getting into the rhythm of sailing again.

With the wind from behind, we rigged our Staysail and Jib to goosewing and eagerly waited for when we would hit the renowned Gulf stream.

Sunset has always been a lovely time to be in the cockpit, savouring the painted skyline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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After adapting to the movement of the boat, sitting in the cockpit can make for some real fun times. Here Sophia and Karin J are acting up. Sophia realised too late that Franci was taking a photo.

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This photo was taken in the morning. The days are very hot and humid

I am on the last watch of the night with Frans. He always get the 4:00 – 8:00 slot, but the girls and I rotate nightly. (None of us like this morning watch. It means that you cannot go back to bed again.) (Correction – Marike says she likes the morning watch, she just sleeps again during the day sometime).

Frans, on the other hand, prefers this time slot. But then, he really is on call all night. Often, when conditions are dodgy, he just sleeps in the cockpit.

 

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Another day, same place. In fact, there is little place else to be. If you are not sleeping below, the cockpit is pretty much where everything happens.

It is possible to see Sophia lying down in the foreground.

The other thing to notice, is the hole in Frans’ shirt and possibly the tear in his shorts. On crossings it is okay to wear your scruffiest clothes. Even Frans had to admit though, that it was time for these shorts to go.

This was their last sea voyage.

 

 

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Another place you could possibly be is towards the back of the boat where we put out the fishing lines.

Actually it is only Franci and Sophia that really enjoy fishing. They like to catch fish, but neither of them like to eat it. Franci reckons that fish just taste so…..fishy.

 

 

 

 

 

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Due to no-wind conditions, we could do again what we love – swim next to the boat in the middle of nowhere.

It is just such a pity that the temperature of the water at 32 degrees Celsius did nothing to cool us down.

Marike is in the water and Franci is testing the waters.

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This is what it looked like from below. We do not always have company in the form of fishes when we do this kind of swimming. This time, though, we were much closer to actual land.

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Sophia catching up on some schooling. Actually, very little schooling happens while sailing. The movement of the boat is just not conducive to the hard thinking one needs to do.

 

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Our last day on the water:

Marike’s 18th birthday!!!!

Marike and I watch as the day breaks on  her special day. What a beautiful gift straight from God’s bountiful hand.

 

 

 

 

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When we approached the entrance to the Cape Canaveral Port, we noticed that all visible craft were waiting for something to exit the Port. We just assumed that it would be a cruise ship. They are huge and take up a lot of space.

But no!  it turned out to be a real, honest to goodness,

SUBMARINE!!!!!

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We started to pick up the radio-traffic and soon realised that there were a crowd of people on shore waving to the sub. Also, that there were actual people standing on the sub as she sailed out of Port.

It turned out to be a British Ship that most probably visited the Cape Canaveral Naval Base.16

 

 

 

We happily entered the Port canal and also saw quite a few cruising ships docked inside. We even saw one from the Disney line, with the tell tale Mickey Mouse ears. This was a confirmation of what we expected from Florida.

We passed through our VERY FIRST drawbridge !

You have to call ahead on the radio and then the operator stops all traffic on the bridge and proceeds to open. When the light is green, we may enter and everyone in the vehicles watch us motor through.

We were the only boat and to me it felt like ages. I’m sure it felt even longer to those on the bridge.

This was quite the royal experience. Everybody stopping everything just for you to pass : )

 

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The lock was just as interesting. After another radio call, when convenient, the operator opened the gate for us to enter the lock. We then needed to tie Shang Du onto the side. Marike jumped off to do the knots. What she didn’t expect was how hot the black, plastic beams were. She had to do quite an interesting dance just to keep her feet from burning too badly.

Once the water level in lock reached the same level as the outbound side, the exit gate opened and we could enter the real Inter Coastal waterways.

Even though we kept a sharp lookout, we were not as fortunate as the Amarsemfim crew to see the Manitees that use the lock daily for their own migratory purposes. It was the wrong time of day. Apparently, they swim in with the boats and wait patiently for the opposite gate to open up.

 

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The waterways were truly beautiful, but we had to be very careful to remain within a narrow channel that was actually deep enough for us to manage with our 2.1m draft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our romantic notion, that we could sail up the waterways to Chesapeake Bay and thus avoid any rough weather out at sea, was not realistic in the end. Here’s why:

  1. It is not possible to sail, so you have to motor all the way using precious diesoline.
  2. You cannot use the Auto Pilot – there has to be someone on look-out all the time.
  3. No sailing is allowed at night, so precious moving hours are lost.
  4. Along the whole length of waterways there are bridges that we won’t be able to fit under, so careful planning and exiting at strategic points have to be part of the parcel. No romance in that.

In the end, we realised that when did leave Florida to go “Up North”, we will need to go onto “the “Pond” – the name the British call the open sea.

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Well, back to important subjects. Like birthdays.

There is, of course, some other things that do not happen in the cockpit. One of these is baking.

While we were negotiating the waterways to our anchorage, Marike was in the Galley, baking up a storm. The name of the storm was Cinnamon Buns.

As soon as we were anchored safely at Cocoa in Florida – out came the “cake” and the candles had to be lit.

 

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She looks pretty pleased with the results, don’t you think?

 

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No point in lighting them if you are not going to blow them out.

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Marike with all her gifts. Possibly only world cruisers can appreciate peanut butter as a gift.

 

This photo was taken quite late in the evening. Night fall didn’t happen before 9:00 pm in Florida.

 

 

 

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Cocoa

Safely Anchored.

No night watches.

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A good end to a good day.

 

Elré se troue

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes,

Have to add this.

The very next day, we were all glued to the computer and to Skype.

Watching our niece, Elre tie the knot to Hein Oldewagen. What a good memory, but also very sad to not be there in person.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Oldewagen !!

 

Sep 29

Puerto Rico – by The Mom

Puerto Rico has more to it than both Karin J or Franci mentioned. Here are just a few of the other things that we all did while there. Enjoy!

Here we are exploring the city of San Juan. Just like Karin J said - artwork everywhere. We did not walk too far this day and it was ALWAYS better to walk in the late afternoon to avoid the debilitating heat.

Here we are exploring the city of San Juan. Just like Karin J said – artwork everywhere. We did not walk too far this day and it was ALWAYS better to walk in the late afternoon to avoid the debilitating heat..

 

Sophia taking time to smell the flowers. Marike told me later that Sophia was actually imitating a hummingbird :)

Sophia taking time to smell the flowers.

After spending the day in the Mall (the one Karin J loved so much) we returned to fins our dinghies swallowed up by the jetty. This was due to the change in tides that happened while we were away. After much coaching, we managed to liberate them and became much more adept at tide-securing after this.

After spending the day in the Mall (the one Karin J loved so much) we returned to find our dinghies swallowed up by the jetty. This was due to the change in tides that happened while we were away. After much coaching, we managed to liberate them and became much more adept at tide-securing after this.

Here Sophia is showing the hiding place of a very clever Geocache. Took a while to find this one.

Here Sophia is showing the hiding place of a very clever Geocache. Took a while to find this one.

Franci at one of the splendid views from the Fort.

Franci at one of the splendid views from the El Morro Fort in Old San Juan.

Inside the Fort there are many interesting exhibits. Here is one of the mess room of the soldiers. They would typically be assigned three to a bed, but if they were lucky, one would be on guard duty.

Inside the Fort there are many interesting exhibits. Here is one of the mess room of the soldiers. They would typically be assigned three to a bed, but if they were lucky, one would be on guard duty.

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Karin J just HAD to have a photo of this door to the Fort – she loved the small door that fits into the huge outer gate.

I’m including this photo because I found this Geocache all by myself!

One of the Old Churches in Old San Juan has this lifesize "Doll" in a glass case. We were told it was a relic of a real saint, but only on closer inspection could we see the skeleton hidden inside. The part that is visible are the brown teeth as the mouth of the cast is slightly open.

One of the Old Churches in Old San Juan has this lifesize “Doll” in a glass case. We were told it was a relic of a real saint, but only on closer inspection could we see the skeleton hidden inside. The part that is visible are the brown teeth as the mouth of the cast is slightly open.

You've caught Marike in the act of eating a ham and cheese "pie". This was bought from a little stall on a festive pavement on the way back from Old San Juan.

You’ve caught Marike in the act of eating a ham and cheese “pie”. This was bought from a little stall on a festive pavement on the way back from Old San Juan.

Sophia sitting on the knee of a statue in a beautiful square. The Pigeon on the left is part of the statue.

Sophia sitting on the knee of a statue in a beautiful square. The Pigeon on the left is part of the statue.

We visited a whole lot of Museums in Old San Juan. This whole museum was beautifully laid out with lots of interaction stations. The only problem was that everything was in Spanish. We still do not know what the picture wall at the back is for, but Marike and Sophia managed to put add their photographs to the wall.

We visited a whole lot of Museums in Old San Juan. This entire museum was beautifully laid out with lots of interaction stations. The only problem was that everything was in Spanish. We still do not know what the picture wall at the back is for, but Marike and Sophia managed to add their photographs to the wall.

Here we are visiting in the "White House". This is where the Governor of San Juan used to live way back.

Here we are visiting in the “White House”. This is where the Governor of San Juan used to live way back.

The girls are looking down at a trap door in the Kitchen of the house. Every night all the household slaves would be locked into this cellar to keep them from running away at night.

The girls are looking down at a trap door in the Kitchen of the house. Every night all the household slaves would be locked into this cellar to keep them from running away at night.

Karin J really fancied this chest. It has three keyholes and three distinct people would each hold a different key. In order to open it, all three persons needed to use their keys.

Karin J really fancied this chest. It has three keyholes and three distinct people would each hold a different key. In order to open it, all three persons needed to use their keys.

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The museum of Native Americans included this specimen of a shrunken head. This was the way that they would keep count of their slain enemies. These heads would be displayed prominently to show prowess in hunting.

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Marike is really upset that this “Statue of the death” is called by her second name : Katharina something…

This photo was taken in front of Fort El Morro. We try to take pictures of the Night Fury Soft Toys at strategic places to show thatthey really did travel the world. We are trying our best to show that they are actually flying.

This photo was taken in front of Fort El Morro. We try to take pictures of our “Toothless” soft toys (handmade by Carla and Bianca van Harmelen) at strategic places to show that they really did travel the world. We are trying our best to show that they are actually flying.

From the Fort we followed the fortress wall all along the outside of Old San Juan. We loved these little Guardhouse pinnacles. These enabled the soldiers to see past the battlements and yet hide away from snipers.

From the Fort we followed the fortress wall all along the outside of Old San Juan. We loved these little Guardhouse pinnacles. These enabled the soldiers to see past the battlements and yet hide away from snipers.

We found a geocache right on the Wall. Many geocaches are put in very scenic sites and this one was no exception. We would not have climbed up to this specific point if there was no cache hidden there.

 

After visiting the Church one Sunday, one of the members, Orvil Muller cajoled a journalist to do an interview with us for the local paper. Here we are on the boat doing the interview. We had only a 15 minute warning to clear up the space a bit.

Our whole family behind the huge Puerto Rico flag that was used to welcome a Spanish Nobleman after he travelled very far and wide on a Jetski. He is travelling around the World duplicating old trade routes and raising money (I think).

Our whole family behind the huge Puerto Rico flag that was used to welcome a Spanish Nobleman after he travelled very far and wide on a Jetski. He is travelling around the World duplicating old trade routes and raising money (I think).

 

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In order for the work to commence on the Tangs, we had to sail round to Fajardo. This photo was taken after anchoring. We were just sitting down to lunch. At this point we were still really positive that the work would be done quickly and we would leave this place soon. Instead…. we ended up spending a whole month here.

 

Anchored at Fajardo, we really were anchored a little in the middle of nowhere. This photo shows the run-off from the island after heavy rain, causing a distinct difference in the color of the water.

One of the activities that we managed to do from Fajardo, was to kayak to the bio-luminescence bay to see the glowing water. It was quite exciting and we did see amazing light particles around our oars and hands. And of course, kayaking in the dark up a little waterway can be exhilarating in itself.

Marike, Franci and Sophia. We are walking in the nearest neighbourhood to our Fajardo anchorage. There were no shops close by and the houses in the area all came equipped with burglar bars. In this photo they are interestedly decorated.

Marike, Franci and Sophia. We are walking in the nearest neighbourhood to our Fajardo anchorage. There were no shops close by and the houses in the area all came equipped with burglar bars. In this photo they are interestingly decorated.

Just to show the interesting patterns in the burglar bars

These owners are warning you that they cannot control their dog.

The dock where we filled up with water, is just crowded with Iguanas. It made arduous task of fetching the water a bit more interesting.

We met up with two boats at Fajardo. Hans and Hazel on Geode and Jaimy and Nicky on Grace. We had lovely boat visits and Nicky ended up giving the girls a Conch Shell specially adapted for blowing. Now, this is the last thing we blow on leaving a port. Sophia is the best at it and for Franci it is still a work in progress

 

With the sound of the Conch Shell in our ears, we wave good bye to Puerto Rico.

 

 

 

Aug 30

Puerto Rico – by Franci

Well, I’m first going to be a little more diplomatic than Karin and apologise to all you faithful readers for not updating the blog.

Karin forgot to mention a few things. First of all, Marike sailed the four day stretch from Guadeloupe to Puerto Rico with the Yoshimas on Amar sem fim, to help with the watches and things. We sailed together so that we could help the Yoshimas into the Puerto Rican harbour due to the fact of them having no engine.

To keep up with the faster sailing Amar sem fim, we developed the scheme of letting them go ahead till they were just a dot on the horizon, and then catching up by using our engine. In the end this actually worked really well for us, because our autopilot GPS was acting a bit strange, constantly throwing the numbers by which the boat steers out by 20 or so degrees. So to make life easier we just started using Amar sem fim as our point with which to steer. In the day they had this lovely big red spinnaker sail up, and at night we followed their tri lights (light up on the very top of the mast; if seen from the front or back the light is white, on the starboard side it’s green, and on the port side red. “Tri” for ‘three colours’).

Karin wrote quite a good summary of Puerto Rico, but she managed to completely leave out my favourite part! The El Yunque rainforest and the Coqui frogs ☺. We had been in anchored in Old Town for quite a while, and when we finally hired a car to up into the rainforests, it was so nice to see that Puerto Rico really wasn’t all town and city, as I had been starting to think.

First thing we noticed about the rainforest: it was American tourist class. Second: it was crowded. We’d gotten used to the lonely rainforest of Ilha Grande in Brazil, this forest with its beautiful paved road, regular picnic areas, and lots of people was quite new.

Marike couldn't decide whether she should go into the waterfall or not. In the background you can see how crowded it was.

Marike couldn’t decide whether she should go into the waterfall or not. In the background you can see how crowded it was.

My Dad and Sophia swimming in the waterfall. My Dad had to help Sophia fight the force of the waterfall to reach it.

My Dad and Sophia swimming in the waterfall. My Dad had to help Sophia fight the force of the waterfall to reach it.

The Coqui frog is a tree frog that only lives on Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Why only those two islands nobody knows, but they simply just do not survive anywhere else. We had the privilege of seeing one, all thanks to geocaching! Along the path to a waterfall (which happened to be very crowded), there was a great big tree, and amongst its roots, a geocache. If we had not been looking for the geocache, we would never have seen the beautiful little coqui frog sitting on the geocache : D. It was brown with black streaks, extremely hard to pick out amongst the brown bark of the tree. You wouldn’t see it move, but you knew it had jumped, because now it was sitting on the side of a big root instead of the geocache! I just love these little frogs. As soon as it goes dark, or if it is a misty day, you kan hear the little frogs wisseling in the trees: “Ko-kie! Ko-kie!” (That’s how you pronounce ‘coqui’ by the way).

Sophia holding the Geocache we found.

Sophia holding the Geocache we found.

The Coqui Frog

The Coqui Frog

In the forest there were also these big disc shaped snails. They could be tiny, but there were a lot of big ones whose shells were as big as the palm of my hand. This was very cool, as I have only ever seen snails with cone-shaped shells before.

Those round thingies are the snails.

Those round thingies are the snails.

While waiting anchored in Ferjardo there really wasn’t much to do. We did dive twice, and there were two other days of activity – but that wasn’t much to show for an entire month spent there.

My Mom, myself and Karin J after diving. We are eating some sweet oranges. They are really good to eat after diving in all that salt water.

My Mom, myself and Karin J after diving. We are eating some sweet oranges. They are really good to eat after diving in all that salt water.

We attacked some of the rust spots on Shang Du, and basically just waited.   It was a time of learning to depend more on God, and to find our joy and peace in Him and not in the world around us ♥. I praise God for every time He frustrates our plans and makes us wait, for in these things He is drawing us closer to Him, and there is nothing in the world I want more!