My Super Sweet 2012 Bog!!! We're Back!!!

Hauling the Boat out of the Water to put the mast in!

Gramma and Grampa's Pool!

What's up!!  About to set sail!

Our Family :)

Someone's tired

What a beautiful Sunset!

Pulling into Atlantis!  With some crew ships ahead!

My favorite place!!!  Atlantis!!!

Our boat in the marina at Atlantis!!!

The Royal Towers at Atlantis!!!

Look at that sweet flow!!! :)

Hey Yo Yo Yo What’s shakin peoples!!  Glad you decided to pay a little visit to my Blog site! J  So let’s see…  Another year, another blog.  I guess I should start out by telling you what we’ve been up to this past month.  Good Idea right!  It’s actually a really funny story! 

         So we flew in to Vero Beach, Florida on March 27.  We thought we would be there for like 3-4 days… turns out it mast a month!  Hahaha!  We had some problems with our mast.  Well we take our mast out every year when we put the boat in storage.  So when the riggers were putting our mast in our boat they messed up and got one of our shrouds caught around the boom of the crane, so our mast was basically being held up in the air by this one shroud.  Yeah yikes!  It looked like it was about to fall at any second, which luckily it didn’t because otherwise our trip would have been canceled.  So anyway what ended up happening was that they bent one of our spreaders and jarred up the mast pretty good.  So major setback.  So we got the best people in Vero Beach to work on it and they got it fixed up before long.  But after that it was just one thing after the next.  Until finally we got the boat all cleaned up and provisioned.  But then it was just a matter of the weather being good and in the right direction, which it wasn’t for like a week.  But after a lot of waiting we finally set sail on April 24!!  WOW!  We sailed across the Gulf Stream and past the berries until we arrived at Atlantis!!!  One of my favorite places EVER!!!  It’s basically like the coolest them park in the world!!!  It’s on Paradise Island, which is right next to Nassau.  So we pull in to the marina after sailing overnight for 36 hours non-stop!  After washing the boat we leave for the slides, which are super AWESOME and FUN!!!  There’s this one slide called the Leap of Faith and it pretty much is a drop that goes straight down through a shark tank!!  You lift on the slide and free-fall for a couple of seconds!!  There is another one like that called the Abyss and it’s the same thing only in the dark and you end up in a cave!!  Then let’s see there’s the Lazy River which is really relaxing and nice to just float.  It goes through rapids and other fun features and eventually takes you on a conveyor belt up to the top of this tower where you can do a bunch of other exciting rides!!  There’s also this cool ride called the Serpent Slide and you can do a double with someone and it takes you underwater through this big aquarium and you get to see sharks, fish, and really big stingrays!!  So after a very fun-filled afternoon on the slides we head over to this really good restaurant called Carmin’s!  You could order like 2 main dinners and you probably wouldn’t finish them.  They are so massive and filling!  They give you just these really big portions!  But it’s really awesome and the food is delicious!! 

         So there you have it that’s Atlants!!!  The next day we headed out again and made a long run up the Exuma Cays to a place called Staniel Cay.  We are now sitting here in the anchorage and it is pouring rain.  I mean absolutely dumping outside!  And here’s the thing, it’s been non-stop for pretty much 3 days!!  So we haven’t gotten the chance yet to go snorkeling or to the beach, but hopefully this will all clear up and I can start getting my tan on!!!      

         Until next time this has been Colby on Asolare!!  Hope you stay dry and we’ll talk to you soon!  Later Everybody!  Peace!  Yo!  I’m out!

The BEST Weeks Ever!!

Good morning everyone! Unless it’s the afternoon… or evening… anyway be prepared for this totally awesome and exciting Blog you’re about to read! Just a heads up you may want some popcorn! Enjoy!

We were watching the sunset that night when we looked out and saw this really pretty sailboat pull in and we’re thinking to ourselves it looks like Sea Hawk. Sea Hawk has a boy Jarrett who is my age, Jenny the Mom, Jaxson who is only a couple of years old and is Jenny’s baby, and Marcus who is Jarrett’s step Dad. We missed my Buddy Jarrett at the Family Island Regatta in George Town because he was with his Dad in Rum Cay and now we were way out in the Crooked Islands and we see him pulling in! I took the dinghy over there and turns out it was them! They were so surprised to see me! They have a beautiful boat that’s about 80 feet, which is twice the length of our boat! They were also pulling their motorboat and their lobster boat. Pretty impressive for a sailboat to pull that much weight! So I got to play with Jarrett that night which was a lot of fun!

The next day we went over to their boat before breakfast and Jarrett and I went snorkeling and then I got to sail on Sea Hawk because we decided to hang with them and sail back to Long Cay! The sail was really amazing and super fun! We played monopoly for a little while because the boat started to heel over and everything was about to go flying so we paused the game! What a day! We did lots of things on Long Cay and it was so pretty we stayed for over a week! There were some other boats there too like Green Turtle who have Monty and his daughter Montana, and Gryphon who have Dennis and Jody. Monty is also Jarrett’s teacher. We did snorkeling, played on the beach, played on the boats, and went into town, which is a little settlement. Have I mentioned that Jarrett likes chasing goats? And I mean he really likes chasing goats. (They do eat them). The town has lots of goats and he would run down after them and through the trees until he caught one. Then he came back breathing really hard and he had a goat on his shoulders! Those goats are fast too! It was a really cute little brown baby goat. He let it go though. We went to see this older man that Jenny had met when she came here about 5 years ago. He was still there and he had a bunch of pet goats and even a 9-day-old goat! He let us feed them with rice and boy did they like that! Jaxson just enjoyed eating the rice!

That night we had a big bonfire with Gryphon, Sea Hawk, Green Turtle, and us! Everybody brought something to eat and it was all so much fun! We played on the beach and for dessert we had brownies and s’mores! I taught Jarrett how to make taffy and we took a bunch of enjoyment out of that!

So after having a full week of fun we all headed back up to Landrail and I got to sail on Sea Hawk again! We sat up on deck and had a $200 dollar bottle of champagne that the people who chartered the boat left behind! Since it was Jarrett’s B-day the next day we made toast that! The champagne was amazing and Jarrett and I only had a tiny but it was really good! We arrived in Landrail that night and Green Turtle, Gryphon and Sea Hawk and we all went into the popular hotspot Gibson’s Restaurant to have some yummy dinner!

The next day was Jarrett’s B-Day! We took Cazna Vera, which is the lobster boat out a little ways and anchored right off the beach! Jarrett and I had tons of fun swimming and finding sea glass in the sand and exploring these caves and we even found an underwater cave that you could dive down and under and you would come up on the other side! It was really cool! Then we did a little bottom cleaning on Cazna Vera and after had good game of tag! We climbed up on the roof of Cazna Vera and jumped of into the water! AWESOME!

Then after a quick shower it was off to Sea Hawk for a cocktail where Green Turtle, Gryphon, and we had a nice little happy hour before going to dinner. Then after everyone was done we took the Whaler (motor boat) into dinner because we were going to Gibson’s Restaurant….again…. to celebrate Jarrett’s B-Day! When we walked in the room was filled with balloons and happy Birthday signs and a big table for all of all of us! Tonight’s special was Sushi! So delicious! Then we also got Grouper and other yummy foods! After everyone was done the waitresses started singing the Happy Birthday Song and brought out this enormous cake! It was massive! Yummy! Yum! Yum! Then we all gave Jarrett our presents and he opened them! One of his presents was a bag of fireworks! We lit a bunch off in the parking lot, which was Sweet! Then back to the boats and I got to have a sleepover on Sea Hawk with Jarrett! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!! Now that is what you call a Super Fun night!!

After playing with some Glow Sticks he got, we watched a movie! It was Meet The Fockers! If you ever looking for a movie to see this one should be first on your list! Highly Recommended! We also got to play on my iPod Touch and Jenny’s iPad which was super FUN! We stayed up really late and then after an AWESOME night… we went bed. It was very comfortable! In the morning we had Eggs and Bacon and it was delicious! When we were done with breakfast Jarrett and I climbed the Mizzen Mast, which is a second mast in the back of the boat. We sat on the spreaders and the Mizzen Mast is 54 feet tall and we did it freehand! We have also been enjoying fresh Tuna and have basically had our own sushi restaurant thanks to the Fathers! The Dad’s have been taking Cazna Vera out for the day to go fishing. Usually they come back with some delicious sushi! I LOVE sushi! Today they came back with 5 Tuna and 3 huge Mahi!

So now you know exactly what we’ve been up to! Hope you enjoyed it and I hope I didn’t make you too bored! This week we are having some rain showers so maybe we will get to watch lots of movies and eat lots of popcorn! Later everybody! Peace! I’m out!

FUN! FUN FUN! And more FUN!

Yo! Yo! Yo! What up my peoples! Oh that’s right the sky!! HaHaHa! So after finally making it to George Town, and getting some fun days in we wanted to sail down to the Jumentos and Ragged Islands. We made an all day sail to our first stop, which was Flamingo Cay. We just stopped there for a night to rest, then made a dash down through the islands and anchored at a place called Double Breasted. The next day a boat called Va Bene sailed down and anchored next to us, who we met in George Town and they have two children, Ben and Niki, and the parents Lynette and Scott. After they pulled in we had a fantastic say and celebrated Mother’s Day!! We all had a great day at the beach and swimming in the water! There were lots of Sea Beans and Hamburgers that we found on the beach. Your probably thinking what are hamburgers doing on a beach?... but a hamburger is a small and really pretty bean that is a light brown with a black stripe going around it. It’s a little bigger that a quarter. A Sea Bean is bigger than a hamburger and it is dark brown and sort of shaped like a heart. It is a real treasure to find these beans and people are always searching for them. The Jumentoes have LOTS of them (if you find the right beach.) The next night was lots of fun! We moved around the corner to a place called Johnson Cay, which is literally right around the corner. We had a big bonfire on the beach and played a bunch of games in the dark like flashlight tag. Then for dessert we roasted s’mores! Yum! Yum! Yum! Va Bene left the next day because they had to pick up some guests that had flown into George Town. So once again it was us and not that many boats around! After Va Bene left we sailed to an anchorage called Coco Bay, which is just outside of Duncan Town at the southern tip of the Raggeds, about 60 miles from Cuba. It is also very close to where Columbus landed, his 4^th stop on his first voyage. I did a little school in the morning and then it was off to Town to do Internet and walk around. This was our second visit because we had visited Duncan Town last year too. Then to top it off we played a little football on the beach!

We had anchored at the very last anchorage and had covered all of the Jumentos and Ragged Islands so we wanted to sail from there to the Crooked and Acklin Islands and Long Cay. The next morning we set off for Acklins a 13-hour sail, but just as we got there at sunset the wind picked up AND from the wrong direction…. So we kept sailing to Long Cay and arrived at midnight…. A loooong day and I had to keep myself busy by playing with all sorts of things! The next day we got to work all our energy off by playing on the beach with paddle rackets! Pretty fun if I do say so myself! The next day it was off to a place called Landrail, Crooked Island, an easy day sail. It is also believed that Columbus sailed up and down this coast and anchored out from Long Cay and Landrail. We arrived there at about mid afternoon and then in the evening we went to Gibson’s Restaurant to have some dinner! It was steak, fish, and chicken! Yum! The next day was a big event because our water tanks were getting low on water so my Dad and I had to take these two 5 gallon jugs, plus a bunch of 1 gallon water containers and dinghy them into town, then walk ½ mile, fill them up from a town well and that took a while, and finally brought them all the way back to our boat and emptied them into our tanks. WOW! We had to make a couple more trips even after that! Our boat holds about 120 gallons which hopefully lasts 2 weeks. It’s a lot harder than just turning on your faucet at home and letting the water run!

Another thing that’s cool is that there’s a lighthouse out on a little island that was built in 1870 but no longer in service and quite rundown but beautiful. My Mom, Dad, and I took our dinghy out to the island and walked around the lighthouse. It was really interesting because it was like a little village with a boat launch, restrooms, and living quarters for families to live, and the lighthouse itself. After walking around Dad and I decided to walk to the top of the lighthouse. My Mom didn’t want to and I don’t blame her because a lot of the steps were corroded and even some pieces were missing. A little scary but after reaching the top… WOW what a view! We could see everything! A rainbow, and the island Long Cay just a ways down, and all of Landrail! Even though this whole little village is all run down and the lighthouse is not working there was still the big control box up at the top and the light was spinning around because it is run on solar power. But there was no light coming out. So we had a pretty exciting time!

It gets interesting in the next Blog and that’s when the FUN begins! Be sure to definitely read it! Asta lavista baby!