March 20, 2009
We went through the PANAMA CANAL!!! The first locks were at night and the only time we went up. But the water level rose surprisingly fast, from 41 feet to 72 feet in a few minutes. And it bubbled and moved so much like something was going to come out of it like a serpent! When you use lines to hold yourself in place people throw you a line. The lines have a know called a monkey's claw and it's very heavy to make it better to throw.
We went through the Gatun Lake on the second and last, yest it took two days. The forest that surrounded the lake was filled with howler monkeys which make horrid sounds. When they take the water out to lower you down the gate leaked a bit and that creeped me out. I mean a leak??? The best part was the people at home could see us. The Canal men set up video cameras that send what's happening on the internet.
bye bye for now, Matthew
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Kuna village
March 13, 2009
Today we visited the Kuna Indians in their village. We took a lot of pictures of them and video. Giving them candy was the biggest hit. My candy, sniff... but they had practically nothing. They sleep in hammocks and their home is on a tiny island that can only fit enough huts made out of palm trees for maybe 20 families.
bye bye for now,
Matthew
Today we visited the Kuna Indians in their village. We took a lot of pictures of them and video. Giving them candy was the biggest hit. My candy, sniff... but they had practically nothing. They sleep in hammocks and their home is on a tiny island that can only fit enough huts made out of palm trees for maybe 20 families.
bye bye for now,
Matthew
KID Boats
February 14, 2009
Happy Valentine's Day!
Yay, yay, yay! We found friends, hooray! Yes, we met up with some KIDS, Edward, Will and Alice on Vagabond Heart. We played Risk, hide and go seek and we went to a parade on Bonaire for Carnival. They gave out candy and big tube balloons. We also went swimming and to top it off we went to their boat at night to watch movies. The Atlantic crossing was great and so far the Caribbean has been very nice. Warm water to swim in and nice people to meet but finding kid boats is the best.
bye bye for now, Matthew
Happy Valentine's Day!
Yay, yay, yay! We found friends, hooray! Yes, we met up with some KIDS, Edward, Will and Alice on Vagabond Heart. We played Risk, hide and go seek and we went to a parade on Bonaire for Carnival. They gave out candy and big tube balloons. We also went swimming and to top it off we went to their boat at night to watch movies. The Atlantic crossing was great and so far the Caribbean has been very nice. Warm water to swim in and nice people to meet but finding kid boats is the best.
bye bye for now, Matthew
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Almost there
We are crossing the Atlantic and are almost there. A couple days a go my dad needed a rope (or so he thought) so he sent me up the mast, 52 feet up in the air, with a pair of scissors dangling from a string tied to me. Your parents say don't run with scissors. The waves were 2 meters high and rocking the boat a ton. Up at the top of the mast the waves were way bigger since I am dangling by a rope with a rope and clips keeping me close to the forestay holding me close to it. The forestay is the
pole that we role the sail up on in the front. Luckily the sail was down in the boat. When I got up there the scissors had gotten stuck on some rope and had popped open as if they were going to snip something. I finally got them unhooked so with one hand I reached up wrapped a thin rope around my hand since I was not supposed to let go of it. Then I started coming down. When I was up there I had gotten kind of seasick. When I was nearly to the deck the thin rope I was holding got stuck or something
and My mom didn't know so she kept giving me slack. I was holding on to the rope still with it pinching me hard and holding my self up with the rest of my body. Then they got me down and I gave a little seasick burp and passed off the rope to my dad and went to sit down. That was the most excitement for a couple days. The sail on the front known as the jib had tore and we had it down in the boat. We were also having trouble with the spinnaker. It kept chafing a rope. We should get to the Caribbean
tonight. We are very exited to get there. I hope you liked the blog. If you have any questions just ask.
pole that we role the sail up on in the front. Luckily the sail was down in the boat. When I got up there the scissors had gotten stuck on some rope and had popped open as if they were going to snip something. I finally got them unhooked so with one hand I reached up wrapped a thin rope around my hand since I was not supposed to let go of it. Then I started coming down. When I was up there I had gotten kind of seasick. When I was nearly to the deck the thin rope I was holding got stuck or something
and My mom didn't know so she kept giving me slack. I was holding on to the rope still with it pinching me hard and holding my self up with the rest of my body. Then they got me down and I gave a little seasick burp and passed off the rope to my dad and went to sit down. That was the most excitement for a couple days. The sail on the front known as the jib had tore and we had it down in the boat. We were also having trouble with the spinnaker. It kept chafing a rope. We should get to the Caribbean
tonight. We are very exited to get there. I hope you liked the blog. If you have any questions just ask.
Tristan
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Italy and Volcanoes!!!!!
We have been very busy. First of all we made it to Italy. Second of all we have been to the toe of the boot and crossed through the strait of Messina. It is the strait between Sicily and Italy. It is really cool to see the island of Sicily and Italy's main land right next to each other. After we went through the strait of Messina we went to a couple of marinas, but all of them were too expensive. Then we went to a volcano called Stromboli. The volcano is supposed to be the most pretty and
active volcano in the world. It shoots off smoke and lava day and night. But at night it glows red as it flies through the air. When we got to the island we anchored and went to shore. We ate lunch on the island and learned that charge you extra money just to sit at a table. After finding the stores and doing our grocery shopping we went back to the dinghy. Matthew and I were already wearing swim suits so Dad towed us back in the water with a line attached to the dinghy. Once at the boat we
took the dinghy out to look at a big rock or really small island, either way It was really steep. On top of it was a light house. The small island was all there was to see during the day so we went back to the boat. At around sunset we took the boat around the island to watch the lava rocks fly. It was amazing to watch it fly through the air. We would also see hot rocks roll down the hill then hit the water with a splash. Then we went to Positano. Positano is a Italian city like you picture
Italian cities, from afar. Once you get close you discover a lot of tourism. Matthew and I did find a place play in the water on the beach though. It was packed with people. There was a wall of stone that you could climb up easily. We would jump off it and into the water which got deep quick. The next day we explored the city. Once we left there we did some wandering trying to find a place to stay. Every where was to expensive until we were so desperate that we just docked in a marina and
didn't ask about the price. That night we found out that it cost only 130 EURO'S. That is worth
$195. The next day we had until noon to get out. They new that we were going to see Pompeii so they gave us till 3 o'clock to get out. To get to Pompeii we took a special taxi thing there. He said we should call him when we needed him to come and pick us up. On the way there we found out that it would cost 37 and a 1/2 dollars for a 5 minute drive both ways. Then we made it to Pompeii. It was a lot better than we thought it would be. It turns out that they had dug up 4/5 of the city of Pompeii.
We were able to see the whole thing our selves. They were very advanced, they had pots, aqueducts, surgeons, public baths and the rich even had running water in their house. If you look at their buildings you can see that they used pumice bricks with a kind of cement to make walls. When we were walking down the streets we saw cross walks for the people so they didn't step in horse poop or mud. When we were in the city we also saw a couple of bakery's. They used donkeys to pull grain grinders
that had different sizes for different fineness of the ground grain. In the bakery we also saw a oven that was shaped like the ones you see in pizzerias. In Pompeii there also was a coliseum and auditorium. The coliseum was for gladiators and the auditorium for plays. The auditorium was large but not as big as the coliseum. We also learned that the whole auditorium was covered with a stone roof. The last thing we saw was some bodies of dead adults and children. After that we left Pompeii.
Then we got some pizza and fresh made lemon slushy things that are a lot more appetizing than they sound. We didn't call the driver and instead went to a electric train station. We got on the train and went in the direction of the boat. Unfortunately we passed by what my dad thought was 3 miles. So we walked, and walked , then finally we walked some more. Finally we made it to the marina at 3:50. So we hurriedly washed the boat and left with some difficulties. If you have any questions or
want to know more about something email me. Write to you soon.
active volcano in the world. It shoots off smoke and lava day and night. But at night it glows red as it flies through the air. When we got to the island we anchored and went to shore. We ate lunch on the island and learned that charge you extra money just to sit at a table. After finding the stores and doing our grocery shopping we went back to the dinghy. Matthew and I were already wearing swim suits so Dad towed us back in the water with a line attached to the dinghy. Once at the boat we
took the dinghy out to look at a big rock or really small island, either way It was really steep. On top of it was a light house. The small island was all there was to see during the day so we went back to the boat. At around sunset we took the boat around the island to watch the lava rocks fly. It was amazing to watch it fly through the air. We would also see hot rocks roll down the hill then hit the water with a splash. Then we went to Positano. Positano is a Italian city like you picture
Italian cities, from afar. Once you get close you discover a lot of tourism. Matthew and I did find a place play in the water on the beach though. It was packed with people. There was a wall of stone that you could climb up easily. We would jump off it and into the water which got deep quick. The next day we explored the city. Once we left there we did some wandering trying to find a place to stay. Every where was to expensive until we were so desperate that we just docked in a marina and
didn't ask about the price. That night we found out that it cost only 130 EURO'S. That is worth
$195. The next day we had until noon to get out. They new that we were going to see Pompeii so they gave us till 3 o'clock to get out. To get to Pompeii we took a special taxi thing there. He said we should call him when we needed him to come and pick us up. On the way there we found out that it would cost 37 and a 1/2 dollars for a 5 minute drive both ways. Then we made it to Pompeii. It was a lot better than we thought it would be. It turns out that they had dug up 4/5 of the city of Pompeii.
We were able to see the whole thing our selves. They were very advanced, they had pots, aqueducts, surgeons, public baths and the rich even had running water in their house. If you look at their buildings you can see that they used pumice bricks with a kind of cement to make walls. When we were walking down the streets we saw cross walks for the people so they didn't step in horse poop or mud. When we were in the city we also saw a couple of bakery's. They used donkeys to pull grain grinders
that had different sizes for different fineness of the ground grain. In the bakery we also saw a oven that was shaped like the ones you see in pizzerias. In Pompeii there also was a coliseum and auditorium. The coliseum was for gladiators and the auditorium for plays. The auditorium was large but not as big as the coliseum. We also learned that the whole auditorium was covered with a stone roof. The last thing we saw was some bodies of dead adults and children. After that we left Pompeii.
Then we got some pizza and fresh made lemon slushy things that are a lot more appetizing than they sound. We didn't call the driver and instead went to a electric train station. We got on the train and went in the direction of the boat. Unfortunately we passed by what my dad thought was 3 miles. So we walked, and walked , then finally we walked some more. Finally we made it to the marina at 3:50. So we hurriedly washed the boat and left with some difficulties. If you have any questions or
want to know more about something email me. Write to you soon.
Tristan
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