Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

4-9
Easter Sunday we got up and going early to move from Privateer cove to Road Town, Tortola to go to church. It was kind of weird to be back where we got the boat. I have vague memories, but it was so rushed and I was so busy with the boat the memories all mix together. We couldn’t find anywhere to anchor so we moored on a ball from Conch Charters. I went to shore and paid and took trash while Cale dove the ball and got ready. It was about a 15 minutes walk and we decided to walk it instead of getting a cab for 3 dollars per person.
The walk wasn’t that long, but it was so hot. By the time we got there we were all sweaty. The church was almost all people who we were either getting done with a charter or just starting a charter. We were the only kid boat family that lived aboard. The meeting was nice. Two visitors spoke, then a sister from the branch, and then a visiting area authority. The girl who spoke also did the music. It was a very small branch with not very many members, but they were gracious and lovely people.
After, we walked to the cruise dock pier and got some lunch. Kira, Cale and I got African rice and beans. Everyone but Kira, Cale and I went back to the boat. We stopped to get a keychain, check out of customs, and get some food. Cole came and found us on a different dinghy dock.
We came back and left for our next destination. We thought about going around to the south side of St Johns but opted to go north again. We were able to sail, which was fun with the Boones. The kids and Marcus helped with the sails and driving.
We got a ball in Cinnamon Bay. It’s an awesome spot. We dinghied, paddle boarded and kayaked to the beach where Cole and Kira had made a treasure hunt for the younger kids on their own accord. They did a great job and then the last clue the kids were supposed to dig at the X. 10 minutes later they were still digging and no treasure. Cole started to doubt where he had put it. 30 minutes later, with adult help and still not treasure. we were about to give up when Cale glimpses just a tiny edge of a bag. It was found. The kids were pretty excited for just a little bit of candy. It was a chill evening having dinner and playing charades and then reading to Cade.

4-10 It was a calm night at Cinnamon Bay so we decided to stay the night again and head to Charlotte Amalie in the morning. While we were having breakfast we heard, “hey Star, Idaho.” It was a boat called Banana Pancakes from Meridian, Idaho. They came over to say hi. It was fun to make connections with people from home. We all decided to go to Cinnamon Beach except Cale. He stayed behind to do work. Kelsey was paddle boarding all over. She is getting really good at it. The boys played in the waves and snorkeled around. There were tiny little fish all over. We also found a small plane crash. The wing and prop were there but we never found the fuselage. There was a lot of activity on the beach. A couple got married to the left of where we were set up. There was a few tents, water trampoline, and chairs set up for a yacht. We were kind of making comments since the deck hand was there early getting it set up all nice. We have seen that before and then the people come for maybe 20 minutes, have some lunch, and then leave. It was a good reminder not to judge others when we heard the whole story. Marcus talked to the guy and a man chartered it for 6 weeks with his wife and every week some new family or friends came because he had a brain tumor. Kelsey and I paddled back to the boat at the same time that Everyday Saturday came by and invited Kira and the boys to go on a hike. I went back to the beach for a while. Not long after we saw a commotion on the beach followed by sirens. On the boat, Cale had even heard people screaming and saw someone getting CPR. We found out later it was a 40 year old man. We read in the paper he drowned. It is so sad. He was so young and seemed like a very healthy man.
We all came back to the boat and Kira, Cole, Cade, Broxson and I went to Maho to hike. It turns out the hike started closer to Cinnamon Bay so we mostly just walked back to our beach on the road. It was still fun to meet new people. We explored the beginning of the hike, which was a plantation, then went to the beach. I read there were nearly 24 plantations on the island at one time. I radioed Cale and he came and picked up some of our new friends and took them to their boats then came back and picked us up. We all regrouped on the boat and went back to the beach. The Cinnamon Bay Beach, but the one to the left of where we were in the morning. It’s a beautiful sandy beach. We all walked around the Plantation hiking trail head again. Some of us didn’t have shoes so we didn’t do the hike. We swam and played in the water, then dinghied back to the boat for dinner. We drove by Kenny’s house. Cale made sure to call out “hey Kenny” a few times.

4-11
We got going around 8. It was like a lake when we left. We pulled into Honeymoon Bay to pay. Cale pulled the boat right up to the dock. It was a little sketchy, but so calm it went pretty good. Cole hoped off, dropped it in the box and then hopped back on. It took us about 2 hours to get back to St. Thomas. We pulled into Charlotte Amalie around 10. The Boones finished packing up and then we all went to shore. We walked around the cruise ship terminal and all the shops then had lunch at Tap and Still (we have now eaten at all their locations). We got a cab to the old town downtown area and did some some shopping. Cale, Cole and Marcus went and got their bags and moved the dinghy to the dock we taxied to. We walked up the 99 steps to Black Beards Castle. It was so hot today! Very little breeze or clouds. We then had to say goodbye to the Boones. It was sad! We are so grateful they could come and have this experience with us.
We took the dingy back to Yacht Haven Grand, stopping by Everyday Saturday on our way, and chatted with them for a bit.
We walked around the YHG shopping area and tried to figure out laundry and a rental car. We went by the marina and slip we were in when we first saw the boat. It was kind of moving to see where it all began. I remember thinking how cool it would be when we got back to this spot and that we would have already finished half our journey and here we are. Kira and I did some shopping for clothes for her. We headed back to the boat and had a family planning meeting to figure out the next steps in our journey. We talked through how things have gone the first half of our trip and expectations for what comes next. We also talked through our plans and it looks like we will continue to head North.

4-12 Cale went on a two hour journey to get a rental car. There were so many cruise ship people in all the safari taxis that they weren’t picking up locals. He finally made it there and back to the boat after about 2 hours. The kids and I worked on school and cleaning the boat. We made some good progress. We are all re-setting our goals for the trip, recommitting to school and keeping rooms clean. It was so cute for me to see Cade in his room last night folding up all his clothes. I really appreciate the effort they all make. We finally got going around 12 to do some errands. Cole fell in the water while we were loading up. We first went to some marine storms looking for a cruising guide. No luck! We then tried a foil surf shop but we couldn’t find the store after driving down two dirt roads. We finally called him and it’s by appointment only. We found a place called the Meat Up for lunch, right next to Cost U Less. It was the most Americanized place we’ve eaten since our trip began. The food was actually really good. After that, Kira, Kelsey, Cade and I got groceries at Cost U Less (a store I have very vivid memories of coming to when we came before). Cale and Cole went to Home Depot to look for something to unclog the toilet. It has been so frustrating. The clog is about 9 feet down and on a curve and we just can’t dislodge it. He got a tape to try. He was nervous and anxious to try when we got home. Sadly, it didn’t work. New plan tomorrow is probably going to be messy but block the opening and switch the pipes with the holding tank full. So many things could go wrong!
Another big chunk of our time was putting away groceries. We are once again pretty stocked up. We are on the look out for Bahaman cruiser guides. (Explorer charts Lewis and Dozier chart books).The sunset was crazy going back to the boat.

4-13 Cale went pretty early to return what we didn’t use at Home Depot and look for something to plug the hole on the bottom of the septic tank. He then picked up laundry and took back the car. I worked on the blog and videos all morning and then the kids did school. By the time Cale got back there wasn’t time to do the poop before the parade at 2, so we decided to do it after. We parked the dinghy and the party was on. There is a cruise ship with local Caribbean locals that goes around doing these big carnival parties. Its called Uber Soca. They were here, as well as 3 other cruise ships and lots of local people. They even let kids out of school early. They closed the road for the “parade.” A lot of people were all dressed up. Many with their counties flags. Fishnet stockings and little swim tops seemed to be a theme.
The parade is everyone just gets behind a huge semi-truck with a flat bead behind it. There are about as many speakers as you could fill a flatbed and it is so loud. All the people just slowly, like really slowly party down the street until they got to a stage area. It took them about 3 hours to move about 5 blocks. We walked down a bit from the start area and sure enough we got quite the party in front of us. Just before they got to us they all threw paint. It was in plastic water bottles. A guy walking by us still had some and got me pretty good. The first truck went by and all the people, then a trailer handing out alcohol. Then a second truck. It got a little more vulgar and we needed to get, so we v lined it out. We grabbed a milk shake at Tap and Still. The rest of the night the party kept going. It was so loud even though we were anchored pretty far away from it. It ended around 10. It was just non-stop that whole time.
We finally solved our the poo problem. Yay! We shoved a make-shift plug into the tank opening then detached all the pipes and replaced them. My heart was racing as we detached those pipes. I think I have PTSD from the last time. It went so smoothly and we kept waiting for something to go wrong. So glad to say it worked amazing! I was so glad we didn’t get bathed in poo again.

4-14
We got up and were taking it easy until around 9 then headed to Compass Bay to do our wing foil lessons. It was very rough where we anchored. We met the guy Ollie. He called himself a refugee from Katrina in New Orleans because after the hurricane he lost everything there and moved to St. Thomas and has been here since. We have all been so excited to try this new sport. We started by getting right into the water. Cole and Cade started by trying to control the wing. We all took a turn doing that. Then, we moved to having the wing move us on the board on our knees. Then, moving the board and standing up and turning. It was hard but we all had moments of success. It was a great spot to learn. Wind was good and it was deep enough to go through the water but shallow enough to walk back along the edge. Kelsey did her best to be patient. She wanted to try so bad. Kelsey and I dinghied back after. Just as we were leaving a lady with 2 young kids had something scary happen. One of the kids jumped off the front of the dingy. Instead on putting it into neutral she went forward to grab him. Thankfully, we were right there and I was able to grab the boy before the dinghy went over him. The lady was visibly shook up and said it wasn’t even her child. She was just a nanny or friend. It was a tough paddle back and just as we got there everyone else came in the dinghy and apparently gasoline had spilt out all over. We spent about 30 minutes getting it cleaned up. We went to wing surf store to look at stuff after. It took a while but we were able to purchase some wing surf stuff and I’m excited to try it out. Everyone had fun with it. I got to hold the guys 9 month old while helped us. She was a sweet girl. We left the next morning for Vieques, Puerto Rico. We were able to check out of the US online.