The BEST Trip EVER!!!!!

Yo yo yo! Waz happinin? …How should we start? I know! How about if I tell you what we have been doing in the Bahamas. Ya! That sounds like a great idea. So… here we go…

We left Staniel Cay, Exuma and decided to try and hook up with some friends of ours that we met when we first started our trip. We sailed to Hawksbill (also in the Exumas) and then all of our friends arrived…Side By Side, Liberty, Las Sirenas, Morning Glory, Sol Mate, Nathaniel! We all got together on the beach and had a really fun party! It was AWESOME! Everyone brought something to eat and drink and we had a campfire too. Meanwhile, the kids were off having a really good time playing. Don’t stop now! What are you waiting for? Read on! The next day was a water day. We brought out my surfboard and got pulled around by a water ski rope, pulled by our dinghy! How fun is that! We also did this really fun event with our good friends Las Sirenas, who have Haley, Alana, Esme’, Scott, and their dog Reina! They made this really cool Dolphin! It is a rectangular white board with 3 holes at the top. You have a mask on and get pulled with a rope, by a dinghy, at idle speed. You press down with your fingers to go down under the water and pull up on the board to go up! At night we all got together and celebrated a Chihuahua in a cave. A Chihuahua is a celebration where you cut up an orange peel into slices and let it float on top of a big bowl of rum. Then you light it on fire and the whole thing turns blue. You stick your finger in the bowl of flaming rum and orange peels until your finger catches on fire then you put it in your mouth. It does not hurt… but it is a little scary looking at your finger and thinking “ahhhhhhha! My finger is on fire!” You can’t stare at it for too long else it WILL start to hurt. Anyway, we were all together in this cave and it was pretty fun! That was a really fun day! Come on! You have to make it to the next paragraph! I know this is hard work and you are sweating… but this is a really good Blog and you should read it! Pretty Please with a cherry on top! Good, thank you very much!

So, then it was off to Shroud. All of the other boats went also. That was a lot of fun! At Shroud we took the dinghy through a Mangrove Creek, out to the Ocean, to a really fun place….the Washing Machine. (It isn’t really a Washing Machine… They just call it that because the water swirls around in a circle really fast!) There is a deep lagoon and as the water goes out to the Ocean it gets shallow. You can climb up on rocks and jump off and the water will carry you back to the same place you were at! You can also climb up this mountain and it has a great view. Everyone had a really fun, great time and we all brought a lunch so we got to bathe in the water and sit in the sand while eating our lunch! (Sorry am I making you jealous?) On the way back we were in a kayak pulled behind a dinghy, going full speed! We also got pulled around on a boogie board! (Just thought I would let you know that we are still doing school everyday!)

After that fun time, we went over to Norman’s Cay (our good friends Las Sirenas and Morning Glory sailed over to Atlantis that day!) We snorkeled on a BIG plane that was in the ocean. We saw a Puffer Fish and 2 squid! That night we went to a Restaurant called McDuff’s with Side by Side and Liberty. SOOOO good to have a big cheeseburger! That night it got a little stormy and we hung out until the morning and then decided to go to one of my favorite places…that’s right….Atlantis! Yaaaaaaa whoooooooo! Yippy! We arrived in the afternoon and I got together with our good friends Las Sirenas! Morning Glory with Steven, Rivers, Amy, and Arthur were also there. We all had so much fun playing together! We went on ALL the slides! One of them, The Leap of Faith is a giant slide you go straight down and then fly really fast into a tube that goes through a huge fish tank, where sharks and other fish are swimming around, until you splash out into a pool! Sometimes you even drop off the slide. Ya! You can get pretty nervous! Sometimes you get too scared to go. Another one is called The Serpent Slide, you slide down through this dark twirly slide and go through something like a water sprinkle and then slide slowly through the tube under water and observe the sea creatures! Then you can race down these other slides that go up and down and time you! The Lazy River, which is really fun, has rapids and at the end you can ride it up a conveyer belt to another castle where there are MORE fun slides! These steep slides have boosters that take you upward into a dark spiral slide and into these bubbly rapids that spin back into the Lazy River! Finally there is the Abyss, which is similar to the Leap of Faith, except it is in darkness and you end up in a cave! There are lots of things to do while at Atlantis besides the slides, like visiting the aquarium where Rose the 20 ft. Giant Manta lives!, watching movies, hanging out in the Kids Center, and enjoying the wonderful Theme Park!

We all went to the Berrys the next day and had a really bumpy, rough sail over. Morning Glory, Las Sirenas and Southern Star (Jason, Molly and 17 month old Porter!) were with us. We had an outstanding time! Everyday we were swimming in the water, snorkeling, going to the beach, exploring the islands, doing water sports and then at night…..we PARR-TEH!!!!! (Party!!!!!) Yaya! One day we went over to a Bluehole which is really deep water in a lagoon on land or out at sea. There was this platform of rocks where you could jump off into the Bluehole that was 20 feet down! The lagoon was huge and you could swim around and after you jumped you’d swim back to the shore and walk back up the path and do it again! (Alana and I did it about 12 times!) One night, we had a Fiesta after harvesting a lot of fish and Conch from the sea! Everyone helped in the preparations and then brought something special over to Morning Glory for an amazing meal! After having such a fun time, we headed up to Great Harbor at the north end of the Berrys. We took our dingy through this really tight mangrove creek, going full speed and saw a stingray! (Better than any ride at Disney Land!) We bathed in pools, went snorkeling, surfed behind the dinghy, walked the beach, and found amazing shells, like Sea Eggs. (Sea Eggs are dead Sea Urchins without the spikes). We had a farewell party, for we were all going our separate way. The next day it was hard to leave Morning Glory, Southern Star and Las Sirenas, who have become such great friends! But we will see them again!

We sailed overnight and crossed the Gulf Stream. I know what you are thinking. WOW! Doing that overnight! It is not actually that bad, especially when the moon and the stars are out and the water is calm. My parents usually do shifts, which means that they take turns keeping watch. (I helped out a bit this time as well). We are now in Vero Beach, Florida cleaning up the boat and will be returning home to Sun Valley, Idaho on Saturday! Can’t wait to see some of you soon! I really hope you liked my Blog! I know that I am really proud of it! I hope you have enjoyed keeping in touch with me! It will always be here and it is so much fun for me to look back on! Enjoy Life and live it to the fullest! Hope you have had a great time looking at this!

This has been Colby Marsh and the Travels of Asolare!!!!!

Mia

Waz up everyone! How’s a going? Is every-ting good with you?! Well every-ting is good with us! Just recently we had some bad news and our dog Mia passed away. She is an outstanding dog and will always be. She is so beautiful and her coat glistens while she puts on her adorable puppy face that makes you want to say, “who’s the cutest puppy ever!” Her nails sparkle and she is the sweetest and gorgeous most lovable dog in the Universe! She was one of my favorite dogs and we were the best of friends. She followed me everywhere and was always there when I needed her. She was the perfect dog who always protecting us and was always watching over me. We had so much fun with her all of these years and it was so hard to finally let her go. We were extremely lucky and very fortunate to have been able to have her as the World’s BEST and most loving dog EVER and to me the most exceptional sister! She has always been there for me and for all of us ready to lend a helping hand. I don’t know what we could have done with out her. I am sure at least some of you know Mia and how amazing she was and how sad it was to lose such an important and close dog. She loved me and all of us and was so thankful to have all of us as were we. If you ever are out and want a friend to comfort you, call her … she’ll come to you. Say hi to her and if she gives you any signs answer them and keep her warm and close to you. Protect her and love her. Make sure she is safe and in good health and condition. She is at Peace now running among the endless fields with all of the other dogs playing and having a great time!She is out there and you may see her from time to time. She has everything that she has always wanted and she has endless freedom. Thank you for being the greatest friends of all and for helping her all of these years. She will always be in our hearts and remain that way as the GREATEST DOG EVER!

Jumentos and Ragged Islands

We had partied a lot at the Family Island Regatta in Georgetown, then decided to head down to the Jumentos & Ragged Islands for some Tropical Vacationing! Our first stop was Flamingo Cay. That was a quick, overnight stop for us and also where we experienced a huge thunderstorm several years ago where the waves were huge with lots of thunder & lightning and we actually got a couple of things on our boat electrocuted! My Mom imagined it was like the World being created! When we anchored this time it was really hard and took a long time because there wasn’t a lot of sand the anchor could grab on. We walked the beach and found a beautiful Helmet Shell, which is gorgeous and has white stripes and pretty brown splotches and is just amazing! Usually they have residents in them, a crab that uses the shell as it’s home, and in that case you really should not take the shell and kill the animal for no other reason. In this case, we got lucky and found the shell vacant, so we kept it. Raccoon Cay was our next stop. That is a great one and is a lot of fun to swim in the water and walk the beach. We walked ashore on this sand flat and looked for sand dollars. You probably know what they are, but if you don’t they are white circles with star slits in the middle. We found 80 sand dollars! We kept about 30 and then put the rest back like an Easter Egg Hunt. It was really cool! From there we went further south to Double Breasted Cay and hung out there for a little bit. It is beautiful there and we went ashore and played and walked to the other side where it is rocky and there is lots of stuff washed up on the beach. We hung out there for a couple of days and looked for Sea Beans (or Sea Hearts). They are these brown beans that are shaped like a heart. We found like 45 Sea Beans! The island is beautiful and we were pretty much the only boat there! We went around the corner to a place called Johnson Cay, a very pretty tiny island enclosed by rocks with a beautiful long beach in front of you! It is lots of fun and we spent time walking around and looking for Sea Beans … (none of which we found). Here was the spot where we harvested our first conch, learned how to get the conch out of the shell and clean them, then we made very tasty conch fritters … that seemed to take all day long. We took a trip to a place called Duncan Town, population around 60 residents and the only Settlement in the 100-mile long Ragged Island chain. At this point we were 60 miles from Cuba and we could hear people from there on the radio. It is definitely an interesting place and to get to town you have to dinghy through a mangrove swamp and bush channel. We walked all around and went to the grocery store, which consists of a few bags of chips, drinks, canned foods and some cookies. Then we walked up to the school, which is a yellow rectangular building and has playground equipment. I met this boy whose name is Renn and he followed me around while we did Internet on our computers. After exploring the town, we went back to our boat and guess what we saw … people on a Mega Yacht! We were thrilled to finally see people! They were really nice, we invited them to a beach bonfire and roasted marshmallows & hot dogs and had fun talking to the Captain Peter and his Mate Monty. The place where we had the bonfire is really cool and we thought of it like a Cruiser’s hang out. We actually got invited by the owners Vicki & Alan on the Mega Yacht Victory. It is 80 feet long and is an extremely pretty boat! The inside is huge and amazing, very well done and taken care of. It was a lot of fun and we got to have tea and scones with Alan & Vicky. We moved down to Hog Cay, which is beautiful and really pretty! We snorkeled & spear fished and that sort of turned into an all day event and by 7:00 pm, what do you know, a shark showed up looking for dinner in a fast a sharp movement search! We kept telling my Dad it was time to get out of the water and leave and the shark should have his own space … and finally… we persuaded him and left! Woooo hooo! After being able to explore the beautiful island we decided to do a long overnight trip to Staniel Cay and I entertained myself by playing, reading a little, schoolwork, and watching a movie. We had a safe trip to Staniel Cay and I am now here and playing with my friends on Side By Side.

I will be posting another Blog and I hope you enjoyed this one! Take care and have a good life! Keep in touch with me! Who knows what the next decision will be or where the wind will blow?!

National Family Island Regatta 2010

Hello everyone! What’s up? Oh, that’s right the sky! So how about we continue the Travels of Asolare … it turns out the wind blew us from Conception Island straight to Emerald Bay … or maybe that was us deciding. Emerald Bay is a lot of fun and has a MASSIVE! flat screen TV along with an awesome tropical, fun pool with underwater music, a pool table & lots of great games, and a bunch of other fun things including the cool air-conditioning where you simply relax and have your favorite drink of choice! Ya ... I would say it is really nice! From there it was back to G-Town otherwise known as George Town for this major event called the National Family Island Regatta. Every year this major event happens and is always a lot of fun! It is great for me because that’s when all the children show up and I have a blast with them. Every night there is a huge party, beach bonfire or celebration going on and there are lots of things to do. That’s on shore and all the children will run around in Regatta Park. Mean while … all of the other people will be hopping around in the crowd ordering food and dancing to the music. Occasionally, you will see a guy who is dancing right in front of these ENORMOUS speakers that are just BLASTING! Oh ya! I’m surprised the music can go that loud, the ground vibrates when you walk by. We participate in the National Family Island Regatta every year and it is always a great turn out! There are all these boats that are low to the water and the boom sticks out from the back of the boat really far. They are the original Bahamian Work Boats, sometimes called Smacks. There are the A Class Boats, which are the biggest and have a mainsail and a jib, B Class Boats, which are medium sized and also have a mainsail and a jib, then C Class Boats, which are the smallest and they just have a mainsail. In a day, there are 3 races in each class of boats, so a total of 9 races going on. I actually got to experience this in the Junior Races and it was a lot of fun! There was myself and two other friends of mine on a C boat called H2O. There were also three Bahamian men on the boat so a total of 6 crew. I was the Captain of the boat and the Skipper for 2 of the races, which means I got to steer the boat! At the beginning of the race, all the boats of that class line up at the starting line and when they blow the horn all of the people on the boats start pulling up the anchor and raising the mainsail, there is so much going on, everybody is yelling and it is just WILD! These races are tough and everyone on the boats wants to win. So, when you are under way and the sails are up the excitement begins! When you are sailing some of the people have to sit out on these boards called the PRIE, way over the water, to keep the boat level and going fast so it doesn’t tip over too much and get water inside. What fun! Occasionally, they will get too much water inside the boat and will sink immediately. If she sinks, people have to take the lead out of the keel to make it float, and then the boat comes right up to the surface again. There are buoys set up on the water called “marks” and the boats have to round them. Sometimes, there is more than one boat rounding a mark at the same time and the boats will smash into each other! We bumped into some boats one time. That’s very interesting to watch, but even more so when you’re on a boat! Then after about 3 laps the boats head back to the finish and the Race Committee blows the horn for the person who comes in 1st place. Hope I am not making you jealous! We did really well in the races and were sometimes in the lead! We got 1st place in the 1st race, 2nd place in the 2nd race, and 9th in the 3rd race! There were 30 boats racing in our class. It was a team effort and we couldn’t have done as well as we did without everyone on the boat! I had a really great time with my 2 other friends Parker and Connor, who are on cruising sailboats just like me. I was so glad they could be with me in the race, they were amazing and we had a BLAST! doing it together. The Bahamians Chim, DJ, and Kelly were awesome and they all helped us kids out a lot! We were lucky to get on H2O; it is really fast and had such great people on board! H2O is from Blackpoint, Exumas and is a fantastic boat! At the party that night, we went to see the Bahamian National Marching Band, which all of the police play in together and perform this great show with fun music and the leader has a pole he does some amazing tricks with! We got to watch from the roof of the Straw Market right in the center of town and it was an incredible view! There was an awards ceremony and after a great speech I was called up on stage by the Prime Minister, shook his hand and he gave me this beautiful, outstanding trophy for 3rd place overall in our Class! As the Captain of our boat, I was given these very detailed, amazing medals for all the crewmembers on our boat and as it turned out I was the only non-Bahamian kid who got a trophy! It is amazing! Every child who races in the Junior Races during the Regatta also gets a trophy, it is a sailboat on a stand about a foot tall. All the kids who raced in the Junior Races had such a good time, the highlight of the week for them! It was great and I had a lot of fun doing it! This has been a really incredible time and is one of the reasons I like George Town so much. There is so much going on and I meet wonderful people, who I see every year and sometimes they visit us in Ketchum, Idaho! I will be posting another Blog so be sure to check that one out too! Hope you enjoyed this one! This is Colby signing out!

Bahamas Week 4

The other day we were at Conception Island in the Bahamas and I got to see a Dolphin in the water for my first time! It was so cool and amazing being able to see him do spins and flips, and leaping out of the water for a breath of air! The Dolphin was swimming around my Dad and was playing with him, coming up and smiling at him!

Did you know that Dolphins aren’t actually fish and are mammals just like us! They come up every 30 seconds or so to breath but can actually hold their breath for 6-7 minutes. They have 100 teeth that are used to catch fish but not chew. Instead they swallow it… whole. Dolphins will herd fish in close to the beach to be able to form a fence to catch them. They have very very good hearing and can see well. Their ears are the size of pinholes so you can’t really see them. Their skin is really smooth and helps them go fast through the water. Men have studied this and now some boats use a similar material to help them do the same thing. Their blowhole is their nose and it allows them to breath. It opens and closes like a fist to let in air and it closes when they go under so water can’t get in. Dolphins sleep about 2-3 feet below the surface. Every 30 seconds they push their tail to go up to get a breath of air and then drift down. Dolphins have enemies that are the Killer Whale and the Shark. If either of these attack they will form a group so it is more difficult to get to them and defend themselves by hitting the enemies with their tails, butting them with their heads, and biting them with their teeth.

When Dolphins are born, they are born tail first and immediately have to take a breath of air. Sometimes the Mom and another Dolphin will help him do that. They will also keep him safe by forming a fence around him and help him learn the ways of the sea. I believe a baby Dolphin is called a Pup. If a baby pup is lost, the Mom and the Pup will whistle through their blowholes until they find each other. If there is danger or the pup is doing something wrong, the Male Dad will make a series of clicking sounds with his teeth to warn the pup. Also, the Dad will sometimes hold on to the baby’s tail, like a spanking, to punish him.

If a Dolphin needs help or is hurt, the other Dolphins will often help. One time, someone saw Dolphins helping an injured Dolphin who had hit a boat and was sinking. They brought him to the surface 3 times until he could swim on his own and breath.

An Oceanarium is a place to study Dolphins to see what they are like. You can train dolphins to do flips in the air and jump through rings, ring bells, bow, shake hands with their flippers, put out fires with their tails, wave to people, and sing through their blowholes which they do by whistling. Dolphins will also play and tease sea animals like turtles and fish.

I would love the opportunity to swim with Dolphins because they seem so much like us and are really amazing animals, it would be so much fun to play with them! What fascinating Mammals they are! Maybe… I will get a chance to snorkel with them one day in the Bahamas!