The End

This is really weird writing this, but this is my last blog. I can’t believe it, and as much as I am happy I don’t have to do this everyday, it’s sort of sad. If you think about it, I have written this everyday for more than a year, and even that time when I didn’t write for a month I still continued. Writing has become so easy for me and I am so excited that I have gotten better.

Our trip has been an absolutely incredible experience for all of us, me especially. One of the things it has taught me is we are very lucky to live the life we do. I have loved our trip and it’s going to be strange to go back to our small little town. I’m pretty sure when we get back, I’m going to be different from when we left.

Another thing that is crazy is that I have grown so much! I mean, I knew I had grown a lot but I grew an inch in the last month and a half alone! That’s crazy, I have never ever grown that much, I hope I won’t be short when we get back, maybe kids have grown more than me and I was already small!

I have had so many fun times on this trip, from sailing, swinging, playing with friends, snorkeling, hiking, eating baguettes and eating good food. My favorite Island in the Caribbean was Guadeloupe, we have had so many great memories there, from meeting the Sperrys to playing in the waves.

I’m going to miss everything we have done, everybody we have met and every place we have been. I still can’t believe this is the end of the trip, maybe someone has made a mistake. Even though I miss my home in Idaho, Merlin is now also my home and always will be. Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Sincerely,
Lowie

Hanging Out With Nils

Seattle, Washington, USA

When I got up yesterday, I was excited, we were going to have breakfast with Hege and Nils. We sort of had a lazy morning and then we heard a call from shore. I drove us to the dinghy dock and we tied up and got onto the dock. Once we were all on land we started walking down the street looking at all the houses.

Some of the houses had the coolest cars in front of them. Porsches and Mercedes were the main type but there were also a lot of BMWs and Audis. As you probably have noticed, I absolutely love nice, fancy cars. If I had the money I would by a 190 SL Mercedes-Benz convertible, black or red if I had the choice, definitely not tan.

We made it to a coffee shop in just a few minutes and 4 out of 5 of us ordered a breakfast burrito. The burritos were heavily peppered but very good. I love good coffee places, they are always fun because I get hot chocolate! One of my favorite things was the whip cream but the hot chocolate was very good too!

On the way back we found a geocache which was exciting, it was super tiny! When we got back Nils decided he had nothing he had to do so he could come with us for the day! Right when we got to the boat we decided to go on a big paddle. It was big, we went about a mile but we got to surf behind the dinghy on the way back, which was awesome.

Nils and I decided to snorkel under the dock and look and see if anybody had dropped anything. Unfortunately they hadn’t but it was still super fun, the Milkweed was crazy! The most exciting thing we found was a piece of wood. That wasn’t really that exciting but it was the only thing.

Back on the boat we picked up the anchor and started motoring away so we could get to the Fisherman’s Terminal. When we got to the middle of the lake we dropped all our chain and most of our rope to clean it. It took a lot longer to raise the anchor than to drop it and the winch was having a harder time too.

I got in the hammock for the rest of the time it was awesome out. The breeze was blowing and I was swinging like crazy. When we made it to the Fisherman’s Terminal, I was super excited. We went on a walk in the hot sun to look at some boats and then we went to a little restaurant.

It was funny I was the one who was the most hot, I ordered a nice iced tea and we sat out in the shade. We weren’t too hungry so we ordered some nachos. They were delicious, and they disappeared pretty quickly. When we were done we called Brian and Alice to come pick us up to go to Nana and Papa’s house.

After a while we dropped Nils off and then we all went out to dinner. I ordered chicken Phu, which is a type of soup. It was awesome the noodles mixed so well with the broth. For dessert I had Peach Tea with Boba in it. Bobas look like bubbles, but they’re solid, well squishy things. It is actually tapioca. Even though it was weird, it was so much fun!

Back In Seattle!

La Conner, Washington, USA

We left La Conner pretty early in the morning, I was still downstairs. I came out when we got out of the bay. It was beautiful out and I was super excited for the day. The sun was hot but time flew by and all of the sudden we were almost to the Locks and into fresh water. As we got ready, we stayed in line behind a bunch of boats, it was kind of crazy!

All at once the doors opened and all the boats in line came into the Locks. This was super exciting, we tied up to a big power boat. The doors closed and all of the sudden the green algae wall looked as if it was sliding into the water. Really though water was flooding in and we were rising to the level of the lake.

Finally the door opened and the boats started filing out. We were in Lake Union, this was exciting! Some other boats opened the first bridges by tooting their horn. The bridges opened and we all went through. Soon though the other boats left and it was our turn to open the bridge. I pushed the button and let it make noise for 3 seconds, let go and then push it again for 1 second. The bridge played that same noise back and then after a few minutes the bridge started to open.

The next bridge was exciting but then we realized that it was 3:30 and they were closing the bridge for 3 hours and we didn’t make it. We were going to go back but that bridge was closed too, we were stuck. So we went into the bay and relaxed, went swimming and waited for 3 whole hours so we could go under the bridge.

Dad called Uncle Brian and heard he and Alice had some free time so he invited them over for a few minutes so they came. They hopped onto the boat when we swung by a dock and they had brought Bailey! Their puppy is now 4 months old and is 2 times as big as last time, though he is still small.

Bailey is so adorable and was super happy the whole time we motored around. He sat on our laps and I put on his little life jacket. When I had it on I could lift him up with the little handle on his life jacket. His hair is pretty long and he looks really cool, I wonder if anyone has every given dogs dreadlocks on purpose!

They got off after 15 minutes and then it was time to go under the bridge. I actually got to FaceTime my grandma as we went under the bridge and into the lake. We were only a few minutes away from our friend’s house where we were going to anchor for the night. Along the way we picked up Hege (my aunt) her friend Heidi and my cousin Nils!

I haven’t seen Nils in so long because he has been going to college at California Maritime Academy. He spent 2 months on a big ship going all over and just got back a few weeks ago. We anchored in front of the house and started eating the pizza they brought, which was delicious!

Then we got on our swim suits and spent about an hour jumping into the warm water. It was so fun because everyone loved the water so we all swam. After that we ate some salad and then Nils and I got in the dinghy and played around. We then picked everybody up and we went to the dock and talked with our friends who own the house. Then Hege, Heidi and Nils went home. It was an awesome night and we all had a great old time!

Tacos And Ice Cream

Sucia Island, San Juan’s, USA

When I woke up, it was pretty much time to leave. We figured out what we wanted to do though first. Did we want to stay in the San Juan’s one more day to explore? Or did we want to go straight to La Conner? After a brief discussion we decided to say goodbye to the San Juan’s and go to La Conner.

Now you might be wondering why we would be so excited to go to La Conner. Susan McKee, a friend from Sun Valley, has a house in Shelter Bay, right next to La Conner. She happens to have a dock next to her house and she let us use it, we couldn’t believe our luck! Thank you so much Susan!

So we went straight there, I stayed in the hammock most of the time swinging in the breeze. It was so nice out, that even though I was a bit chilly, I wanted to stay outside and enjoy it while it lasted.

The trip went pretty quickly for me, I know that I sat in the cockpit and had some snacks but other than that, I swung in the hammock, it was a game and I would try and make myself swing really high. Which didn’t work too well since the boat just isn’t quite built for too much swinging, I knew it was strong enough though.

 

I spotted La Conner and I started recognizing things, it was so fun. When we entered the bay we called Susan and she gave us directions to the dock. We saw her wave and we got the bumpers and the ropes all ready. Then we backed up and jumped off to get all the lines in order. After a few minutes, once everything was all tidy, we said hello.

It’s crazy meeting people from back home because it’s like a piece of home. I guess we don’t have to wait too long to be back in Hailey but it is fun. Her dog is so cute, he is 15 years old and is still going strong! We sat on the boat and I gave her a tour and then we went up to her house for a tour.

She has a lot of cool boat art, my favorite were all her model boats. I like them because they show such detail, wouldn’t it be fun to have a model of Merlin? That would be totally awesome, I should look into that. I wonder what that would cost, probably a lot more than I have, since at the moment, the only money I have is in the bank.

Susan let us borrow her car for a few hours and we figured out where we wanted to go. We decided to go to Mt. Vernon, which I had heard of, but never been. On the car drive we passed La Conner and then came across some fields. They were all planted in neat rows that stretched for acres and acres, I wonder how many acres of fields there were! There must have been thousands.

Even though we got a bit mixed up in the process, we ended up getting to Mt. Vernon (which is a town) at the perfect time. That perfect time was me being hungry, I needed something. We found a geocache and then went into a taco place. I wanted just a snack, but since it was Tuesday and they had one dollar tacos, we decided to eat an early dinner.

 

Wow the tacos were so good, I ordered two at first and just kept getting more. It didn’t matter though, they were $1 amazing tacos. We payed for four tacos for me even though I had 5 because she messed up on the order. It was the best taco place we have been to on the whole trip. After dinner we went over to a little Co-op where I got a Strawberry Balsamic with Basil ice cream. Dad and Mom didn’t like it but I absolutely loved it, it had big chunks of Strawberry in it. What a awesome night, tacos and ice cream two of the greatest things.

Sucia Island

Deer Harbor, Orca Island, San Juan’s, USA

When I woke up yesterday I wanted pancakes for breakfast. The only problem was we didn’t have any eggs! I thought about having something else but I knew there was a little store on the dinghy dock. Dad and I went to the dock to get the eggs, I wanted it to be over so we could have yummy pancakes.

The only problem was they had just run out of eggs! I was so bummed out but I saw they served hash browns so I got some. While we waited we walked down the docks and looked at all the cool boats. Some boats I think are cool but I would never want and others I would totally want!

Right as we got back to the store the hash browns came out. Then I realized what they were, when I thought they were cooking them they were deep frying them! They had obviously gotten some frozen hard potato patties, you could tell by the shape. After letting them thaw they had fried them. On some occasions I would have loved to have them, but this was not really the time. We had come into the dinghy dock for real food, but I guess everybody has a different opinion.

Anyway when we got back the boat I had a little snack, since I was still hungry! Then I went outside and we raised the anchor and we motored out of the harbor. We were going to Sucia Island, which was funny because in Spanish that means dirty. So we were going to Dirty Island, doesn’t sound so good, I think I’ll stick to calling it Sucia.

On the way, I did math with Mom, I am starting to really like the book we are doing. It’s so much better than the other one, it actually explains things! Instead of just having me do something I have no idea about. I also am liking the real life story problems because it’s nice to know why you would ever need to use a certain skill.

Finally I went outside and it was wonderful out, the wind was blowing and it was warm out. Since we hadn’t listened to comedy in a while I brought out the speaker and turned on Pandora. My favorite comedian is Jim Gaffigan, he makes all of us laugh and it’s fun to be out on deck looking around and laughing.

Once we got into the harbor I dropped the anchor and started on my blog. I was about 3/5th of the way done when we decided to go on a walk. So I got to stop writing and we all got in the dinghy and went to the beach. We dragged the dinghy up the beach and tied it nice and tight, we last dragged the dinghy up on the beach in the Bahamas! Which seems like years away, even though it’s only been a few months.

As we started on the hike we talked about Chance, Dad’s old dog. I really wish I could have met him because all my cousins on my Dad’s side were able to. Dad told me about training him and the little puppy classes he went to. He sounded like such a sweet and goofy puppy, and dog.

At first the hike seemed long and then we were at Ewing Bay, the beach we were going to! I sat on a piece of driftwood in the shade for a while and then Mom and I followed Dad up to a good overlook. It was an even better view from there and we looked at the colorful pebbles below us, they were everywhere. It’s funny because, besides the Tribune Bay beach, this was the most like a beach!

Dad started skipping rocks and soon we were all doing the same. The most I got was 4 and Dad got 13 or so, the rock just wouldn’t stop, it just kept going. Even though the rocks weren’t perfect they were ok. There was a geocache nearby so we found that and then started heading back on the trail.

About half way back we found another cache, this one was placed by the same person. I guess they really like the area! The walk back was super easy, if felt like just a few moments because I was in dream land. When Mom and Dad talked, I couldn’t even hear them I was a million miles away.

For dinner we had Spaghetti, it had the perfect heat, just enough to make me take a sip of fizzy water, but not enough to make me burn. The night was perfect, so nice we took the blanket outside and sat in the hammock, Dad spotted the first star. It was such a nice night after a day of math, hiking and skipping rocks.

Deer Harbor

Garrison Bay, San Juan Island, USA

I woke up pretty late, and then once I was up, I decided to make French Toast for myself and Mom and Dad. Mom actually helped by cutting the bread while I was mixing the eggs, milk, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla extract together. The pan took a while to heat and then I put on my tester, it was delicious. So I put half of them on the hot pan and then sat down to wait. After a few minutes I checked on them and they were golden brown so I flipped them. These, once they were done, were even better than the test one! On my second batch they cooked fast and were soon done. While we ate, I thought of how good food can taste sometimes!

When we were done with breakfast we sort of just relaxed. We didn’t really do anything until the Hughes came over and asked us if we wanted to go on a walk with them. I wanted to, and so did Mom and Dad, so we put on our socks and sneakers. Then we took the dinghy over to the dinghy dock at the English Camp.

They were already there, but just barely, they were still on the dock. We decided to do a nice little walk that was a little longer than the day before but with basically no altitude gain. So that means that we wouldn’t go up very far if any. The hike was exciting and since I knew it wouldn’t be hard I could just enjoy it.

As we walked on the trail Chloe and I started telling riddles and jokes. Some of them that she told I knew and others I told she knew, but there were at lot that were very fun because I had never heard them. I always like the ones that are so easy but you can never manage to get them.

All of the sudden we were almost done with the walk, so we decided to do a bit more before we were done. We ended up at an oyster farm/restaurant/cute shop, it was a bummer we didn’t need anything because it was a great area! Buckley said hello to some other dogs and we sat in the shade.

Then we got up and went back to the boats, which weren’t very far away. They had to go back to Victoria, where they live and so we had a goodbye lunch. We brought over some things and we ended up with full tummies. I had a piece of corn, lots of salami, cheese, bread, Naan bread, cucumbers and pears.

Back on the boat we lifted our anchor at the same time as they did and with a final wave we went one direction and they went the other. It was beautiful out and I swung on the boom, Mom even took a cool slow-mo of me doing it. My new move is I run from behind the steering wheel, jump using the cushions as a trampoline, and grab on to the boom. Eventually letting go and landing on the cushion. It’s a great thing to do when you are excited.

 

Dad and I then did some real exercise, 50 sit-ups and some leg exercises. It was fun even though it hurt a little bit. 50 sit-ups isn’t that bad but since we haven’t been doing them it was a bit of a challenge. When we were done we were basically in Deer Harbor on Orcas Island and it was time for me to drop the anchor.

Even though he had a feeling the anchor was stuck, Dad wanted to stay for a few minutes. So I did my school work of the day and Mom helped with Math. Finally it was dinner time and we went into town. Before we went to the restaurant we did a nice short walk around the little area. Then we went back to the restaurant to eat dinner. After eating we went back to the boat and pretty much went to bed. It was late and we had had a pretty busy day!

Statues And Handstands

Garrison Bay, San Juan Island, USA

When I woke up yesterday, I got up and toasted a bagel with cream cheese. Well I toasted the bagel and then I put cream cheese on it. The bagel was crisp, well I took it out and I thought I might have over done it, but it was crunchy and good! As I sat there I wondered what we were going to do for the day.

That question was answered an hour or so later when we decided to go to Roche Harbor for lunch. The dinghy ride was quite something but laying on the laundry bag was quite comfy so it was just fine. Even though it was a pretty long ride we planed the whole time so we got there in no time.

After tying the dinghy up next to an interesting dinghy that the owner had made a built-in lawn chair seat, I followed Mom and Dad up the dock. We dropped the laundry off and I thought we would go to the statue park first but Dad wanted to bring me to a secret place. So I agreed and soon we were on our way.

Dad is good at secret keeping and did not say a peep as we walked up the hill and turned onto different roads. What he did talk about was walking around this area when he was a kid. I can imagine him when he was a kid but not right where we were walking! It’s sort of crazy that we are going to the same places he went in the summer time!

We finally made it to an old cemetery and I thought this was the place but he said it wasn’t and that’s when I saw a sign saying The Mausoleum. Dad said that it was the place where he wanted to bring me. On the way to the site, we stopped and found a geocache and then moved on to The Mausoleum.

Finally we got there and it was huge, it is a big round thing with seats sitting around a table. After reading about it I learned that the family who had owned the Island were cremated and under each seat are their ashes. On the sign it also told us about the architecture and how it took $30,000 to make it in those times. The Father wanted to put a dome on it but one of the sons decided that they shouldn’t because it would cost another $20,000.

It seemed the family was a bit weird but I guess if you really wanted an amazing gravestone here one was. Dad remembered hearing when he was a kid that the wife only wanted to wash her hair in rain water so he made a huge rain water collection place just for her to wash her hair! The work you have to do for beauty!

In the area there was a geocache so we started looking. Dad eventually found it, and even though it was a small one, I thought it was a cool cache because of the area. Then we started on our way to the sculpture park. In no time at all we were there standing in front of the beautiful garden.

As we walked into to the park I looked around, the statues were everywhere stretching 20 acres. Some of them were not very close to each other and others were only about 10 feet. One of my favorites was a horse made out of driftwood, it showed so much expression. I liked guessing the prices of each one and then looking at them. Some that I thought didn’t look very good were super expensive and others that I thought were awesome and wanted myself were still pricey but a ton cheaper. One that I didn’t like was a drill that just stuck up in the air 20 feet, they had taken five different drills, painted them red and then welded them together. The drill was $12,000, I couldn’t believe it! Others that I thought showed so much creativity were maybe $5,000.

The last few statues we saw were cool, one of them was an alligator and it looked so fierce! When we made it back to the dinghy we went to see if the Hughes wanted to go on a little walk. We ended up going over to an old English camp, that was at the time when the English and the Americans were going to go to war over a pig! You should research the Pig War!

The Hughes had brought their dog Buckley on the hike and he is so funny, running back and forth! It wasn’t a very long hike, I don’t remember much to tell you the truth. We walked along and talked, Brian talked about hiking up there before. Soon we were at the top looking down at the beautiful view.

On the way down we took the shorter but steeper way. Chloe and I had to run some sections since it was easier and then it was over with. When we got to the old cemetery we did our first hand stand photo. We did a handstand against a tree, it was so much fun that we decided to do more.

There was a sign that told about the Pig War, it was so big and sturdy we decided to do another handstand on it! This was much easier since it was pretty much flat and we had plenty of room to move around. When we got all the way down we did one on an old building, it’s a fun thing to do, I should do it more often!

For dinner Dad and I made flank steak and Mom and Dad made pasta salad. Then we brought it over to the Hughes’ boat so we could have a big dinner! Dinner was great fun and after finishing, we had dessert with extra whipped cream! After dinner we played Apples To Apples and I have never played with so many people. We laughed basically the whole time because some of our answers were ridiculous! It was such a fun night of games!

The Hughes

Samuel Island, Gulf Islands, Canada

We had a late lazy morning, I read my new book Racing Manhattan, thank you Nana! I had started it the night before and it is a great book. My favorite part is the characters because sometimes there’re good and other times they’re bad. Here’s an example, I liked her Uncle Bill in the beginning, then I hated him most of the book and in the end I didn’t like him but he was ok. It makes it more real because bad people do some good things and good people do bad things sometimes. So you can’t just label them good or bad because of one thing they do.

After reading a ton I set it down because it was noon, yes I know I wasted the morning on a good book. Well I did put the book down and do some math at about 12:30. I was almost done when Dad raised the anchor and we were off. Even though I was not quite done with math, I went outside because we were on the move.

I was excited, we were going back to the United States Of America even though I knew it wouldn’t feel any different (most people in Canada don’t have accents). It didn’t seem like that long in the beautiful weather until we were at Roche Harbor and it was time to dock. Docking is always exciting and we docked pretty perfectly and, like always, with a bit of shouting.

Dad went in to the Custom’s Office and I took down the Canada Flag and put up the Quarantine Flag. Then I went downstairs and watched a Ted Ed about Egyptian doctors. Pretty impressive what they did, although there were some things they just couldn’t help you with. I am glad doctors don’t just say a prayer and cut the bite if you get bit by a scorpion.

When Dad came back, I took down the flag and we set off to get some fuel. This time it was easy to dock, all we did was come in and people grabbed the lines and tied the boat for us. After getting our tank completely full we set off towards a harbor nearby to anchor up and see the Hughes!

Brian and Tish, remember them from when we were in St. Barths and St. Martin? This time they brought their daughter Chloe! I remember when she was my age and I was really young. Right as we dropped the anchor they came in on their sailboat, Leapfrog. After a while Mom and I paddled over and Tish and Chloe paddled over to us. We pretty much met in the middle and decided to go on a paddle together.

The paddle was lovely and we got to catch up with each other. Chloe is really into Rugby and just made this new team that is a really hard to get into. We talked about all sorts of things and once we made it back to the boat we had dinner all set up.

Their boat is a C & C 40 and Dad and I decided to go over there to get a tour. They have a golden retriever that goes with them on their boat. Golden Retrievers are my favorite type of dog and Buckley is so cute! While I drank a San Pelegrino Chloe, Tish and I played Chinese Checkers.

Right after the game finished Dad and I went back to the boat and started making dinner. Once everything was ready they came over with some potatoes and chicken. For dinner we had chicken and fish tacos with salad and potatoes on the side. They were delicious and while we were eating, I showed them a picture I found of the last time I saw Chloe. After eating, we went outside and recreated the photo so below you will see the last time we saw each other and then yesterday. What a fun night with friends back in the USA!

 

 

Samuel Island

Wallace Island, Gulf Islands, Canada

Dad made us pancakes for breakfast yesterday, there weren’t many ingredients in them but wow they were good! Especially with syrup although you don’t really need it. With some pancakes the syrups make it taste better, with others it’s great with or without. I also love how they are a burst of flavor!

After an hour of so we decided to leave and go get groceries at Ganges. It has the best grocery store that we have found so we wanted to go there. I got in the dinghy and pulled myself over to the bowline at the shore and untied it. Then using the rope again I pulled myself back without using the motor!

Once we were out of the harbor, I picked a spot to sit and sat there for about 30 minutes. Then Dad had to do some work up on the bow, and even though it was on auto pilot, I had to steer around the rocks that were ahead of us. How you steer on auto is you push either 2 buttons, one that goes port and one that goes starboard.

Some seals

That gave me the opportunity to run around on deck and up to the bow and all around. Every minute or so I would run back and check our course, it was great fun. I had to look ahead a lot too because, even though the Plotter shows the rocks, it doesn’t show logs floating in the water, which there were a ton of!

I was on watch for about 45 minutes and then Dad took back over and I stayed up at the bow. It was cold up there so I had to run around to keep warm. I could curl up in a ball but pacing back and forth was more enjoyable. When we turned into the wind, while going into the harbor, it was so cold I came back into the cockpit.

Anchoring was quite an ordeal, after anchoring Dad decided he wanted to move 20 feet forward. It didn’t make a difference to me but I trusted him so we picked up the anchor and moved forward. Finally we went into town to get some food and soda water because we ran out.

We actually went to the liquor store first and then on the way back we got an ice cream treat. It was mint chocolate chip with such a creamy flavor it was delicious. Of course all ice cream is good, but this was really good. It’s crazy how fast I can finish a cone with Dad helping me and how slow it takes other wise, I wonder why?

When we finally got to the grocery I got prepared, having a big shop takes work sometimes. Once we were inside the store we grabbed a cart and started. We got the dry foods first, snacks, crackers, sauce packets and then we did the produce. Mom and I got all sorts of fruits and veggies including a mango and cucumbers. We then did the meat department where we got flank steak, fish for fish tacos and probably one other thing I am forgetting.

Luckily it was a short walk to the dinghy and soon we were back on the boat. I lifted the anchor and we were off to an island my Dad’s friend (from elementary) used to own. It is called Samuel Island and it sounded pretty cool from the book. Dad told me about going up there when he was my age. I wish I had a friend who owned a beautiful island.

Pretty much the whole way there I swung onto the boom. So I would be standing in the cockpit then I would jump up and grab on to the boom and swing back and forth. The only time I didn’t was when I went down to look up on Dad’s phone who owns the most cars. You should look it up if you want to learn about the guy who owns 7,000 cars.

Samuel Island was really awesome, we saw a deer running right when we got there. Something I didn’t tell you was that we were all preparing dinner on the boat ride so we had food when we got there. I marinaded the chicken in the teriyaki sauce, Dad grilled it and Mom made the rice and salad. It was a team effort and it was delicious, what a good night in a beautiful little cove!

Drift Wood Cabin

Pirate’s Cove, Gulf Islands, Canada

We left Pirate’s Cove early so I wasn’t even awake yet. When I did wake up though I laid in bed for a while, probably an hour. While it seems boring to lay in bed doing nothing, it wasn’t. Since we were going up wind in a narrow channel, we tacked every 5-10 minutes and I rolled back and forth while watching everything in the salon slide back and forth.

When I got bored of doing that, after 45 minutes or so, I sat up and looked out the window. I had a really good view and I saw everything Mom and Dad were doing, while sitting in a warm sunny spot. The wind felt so good on my face I just loved it. Eventually I couldn’t stand it any longer and I got up.

As I was sitting at the chart table seat brushing my teeth, I looked up and saw one of the hatches wasn’t closed all the way and so everything near it was wet! Luckily the things that got wet we were able to dry and Dad’s phone has a semi waterproof case on it so it was fine too. It could have been a big deal but it wasn’t, so we were lucky.

There was nothing I really wanted to make for breakfast since we were so heeled over, so I had a piece of Naan bread. Even though it is better heated up it was great cold and they are big thick pieces so I was no longer that hungry. When I came outside the cold breeze surprised me so much I ran downstairs and got my sweatshirt on immediately. Now I probably could have worn my t-shirt, it wasn’t that cold, but being warmer is usually better.

Outside it was beautiful and we were cruising along just fine. The engine was off and it was so peaceful and then with one word we turned, bounced around a bit and then heeled over the other way. That’s what tacking feels like with your eyes closed, and while I didn’t have them closed then I remember from a few minutes earlier lying in bed.

Mom went downstairs for a while and I didn’t know what she was doing, when she came out she was holding two big bagels with cream cheese. She handed one to me and one to Dad, they were delicious I love cream cheese on bagels. I also like cinnamon raisin bagels because they are so much less boring than plain (even though I have had some amazing plain bagels the first time I went to NYC when I was in second grade).

The rest of the sail was wonderful we were going fast and the weather was beautiful. Even though upwind is great I did realize why people like reaching so much when we turned. We went from going 7 to 8.5 knots. It may be only one knot but one knot faster is better. If you think about it, in 24 hours we’d go 24 more miles.

Wallace Island was our destination for the day, as we came into the bay I dropped the anchor and then Mom and I went on shore to stern tie. Pretty soon we were all done and back in the boat relaxing. Mom and I wanted to go on a little walk about and Dad wanted to stay to make sure the boat was going to be fine. Apparently a few boats had dragged for the first hour or so and he wanted to keep an eye out.

So Mom and I took the dinghy to the dinghy dock and started on our little adventure. We walked out to the point and looked around. There weren’t a ton of boats out and the ones that were weren’t sailing like we were! I saw there was a geocache around so we found it and then moved on.

It was nice for it to be just be Mom and me, even though it’s also nice to walk as a whole family. We walked in silence for most of the time just commenting on things occasionally. We ended up going to another point where the wind blew my hair all around. There was also a cache there so we happily found it.

On the walk about we came across a building with driftwood all over it. On each piece of wood were names of people who had been there. It sort of reminded me of Chat n Chill with their t-shirts all over the walls and ceiling. Down below there are two pictures, one of Chat n Chill and a couple of the building/cabin on Wallace.

Then we started our walk back home and soon we were back on the boat. It was such a great adventure Dad decided to go on a run while Mom and I did school. The rest of the day was like that. We had a lovely evening while eating a delicious dinner of steak, baked potatoes and salad. It was a fun night definitely and a good day!