Despite all of the efforts, Fenton has caught the bug. Willie next?
Update!!!
Lucy is out with the sick.
Fenton is doing the best he can to avoid it.
Seasick…?
I’ve thrown up a total of six times on this boat. All of which occurred in three days and we weren’t sailing. In fact, we were tied to a dock.
A lot of things changed when we moved onto a boat but being sick is one of the most uncomfortable. In the past week, Mom, Dad, Sally and I have had a case of the well known, and much hated stomach bug. Dad and Sally got hit at the same time, Dad looked like death for a day trying to sleep in boiling heat. Sally’s tummy wanted no part of any contents inside of it. So we lost them for 2-5 days. And then, when I thought we were in the clear, I woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and a stomach that felt far from normal. So now what. Sally was on the couch just in case, Lucy in her room, Fenton in his, and Mom and Dad sleeping in their room. I ended up outside with Willie. Which was okay, I was so so hot so the wind was nice but then my stomach started giving me these signs.
Something to know about me. I don’t puke. That’s just not my thing. I rarely ever barf and when I do, it’s my least favorite thing in the entire world. So now, I’m freaking out. It was about midnight when I went outside and my stomach was upset until four in the morning when I finally emptied my stomach. The worst part was the fact that it is nearly impossible to sleep while hanging your head over the side of a boat waiting to throw up. Anywho, I fell asleep after four and slept until about seven when my tummy thought that three hours was too long.
The next day was a combination of barfing and sleeping. And of course, when you live thirty-seven feet from everyone, everyone knows exactly what’s going on. I got up to (you guessed it) puke once, and Fenton goes, “Oof, that’s the I’m about to barf walk.”
I feel much better now and thankfully, felt well enough to eat Thanksgiving dinner. As if three out of the six people on board wasn’t enough, Mom woke up yesterday morning with the ick.
I know that I’m a day late but I wanted to take a quick second to express how incredibly thankful I am. But is it ever too late to share what you’re thankful for? First of all, this has been the first big sick we’ve had and I’m so thankful we are all in good health. Obviously, I am one of the very few kids that are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go sailing. I can’t put into words how grateful I am everyday to wake up in paradise with my most favorite people. I’m thankful that we have successfully and safely made it all the way to Colombia on Love & Luck. We have had an amazing trip down and I am so appreciative for all of the places, people, and cultures that have made this more exciting and enjoyable than I could have ever hoped. I hope that you have an amazing day and I wanted to say thank you for following our adventures. We love sharing and hope you continue to stick along.
Cheers,
Heidi
A trip to the Dentist
Hi guys,
I am going to be writing about our adventures with the dentist. It all started off as a normal day in Colombia. Dad went into town to get breakfast and brought it back to the boat—lots of fried yummy food like arepas, dough battered potatoes, dough battered fried eggs… We started school and then decided to go to a museum to learn about the history of Colombia. On our way home from the museum, we bought a local Colombian pork lunch (pork, rice, salad) and brought it back to the boat! Yum! When I finished school, Mom, Dad, and I went to find a dentist and also stop by the grocery store.
We knew where the dentist was supposed to be but couldn’t find its exact location. We had to ask a police man for directions. He helped us find the right spot and we asked “Limpiar los dientes?” to the lady at the desk. She said “ Si uno minutó”. She got the dentist who knew a little English. The dentist asked, “Who’s going?” Dad and I were very surprised, but mom got up to go sit in the dental chair! He said “Ok if everyone’s teeth are like that you’ll need a cleaning and that will be around….” he got up to see what the price would be. I didn’t care about the price, I was just glad I didn’t have to get my teeth cleaned right then and there. But we did schedule an appointment for the next day at 10 am!
So, the next day everyone went to the dentist—we arrived at 9:45-9:50. We waited a while and then dad went in to get his teeth cleaned! He came out about 30 minutes later saying his teeth had never been cleaner! Next, Fenton went in and we all read magazines and waited (everyone except dad who went home to work on the boat). Fenton came out and explained to us that he had six or seven cavities! We thought he was joking. I was super nervous for my turn. Heidi went in next, Fenton’s gums were purpleish so I asked if they hurt and he said not at all! So I wasn’t that worried, but then…. Heidi came out also with six or seven cavities and said it hurt so bad. Uh oh! It was mixed opinions! Or Fenton said that to make me not worry.
Well, it was my turn to go in. As soon as I got in the dentist asked me if I wanted the chair on massage. Of course I said yes! It was so nice! But when he got the drill thing out, an ultrasonic teeth cleaning machine, I was nervous again. It was only a little sensitive sometimes and then it hurt a little bit, but then it was done and I was fine! I told Lucy it didn’t hurt too bad and I think she went in with a positive outlook. Unfortunately I had one cavity. Lucy also came out with one and so did mom—oops. The dentist told us the cavities were all very small so we don’t have to worry about them right now. I’m pretty sure we’re all going to wait to fix them! We walked out of the dentist office around 12 noon and we were all getting hungry. So, we made a quick stop at the grocery store and headed home for lunch! We are happy to have clean teeth and will see what the next dentist says in six months!
That was all the excitement for the day… Hope you enjoyed,
Sally
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hey guys! We just wanted to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving from the crew of SV Love & Luck, and we hope that you all had a fantastic day of family and food and thankfulness. We spent the day preparing a wonderful feast to eat with friends, and finished it off by welcoming in the Christmas season. We’re all incredibly thankful to be with family and friends on this excellent adventure and we can’t wait to see what the future holds. Happy turkey day everybody!
Gobble gobble,
Mark, Julie, Heidi, Lucy, Sally, Fenton, and Willie
Bonaire
Bonaire is a beautiful place. Amazing amazing waters, some of the clearest I’ve ever seen. The entire island is protected so the fish are quite large and colorful. I know that there have been numerous posts about this spot so I’ll try to keep it short.
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It all started with a fish. A very very big fish. A 200 pound 5 foot 1000 dollar yellowfin tuna. We had tuna for lunch and dinner for our entire passage, we caught the fish a few hours in. The remainder of the passage went well, Lucy and I had a nice shift from 7-10 pm every night.
We made it to Bonaire and one of the first places we found was the ice cream shop. Homemade ice cream after five days at sea is one of the best things in the world. Flavors including tamarind, cinnamon, passion fruit, and Bounty were new to us. So yummy.
The atmosphere of Bonaire was cute and touristy. Lots of little shops dotted the streets and cruise ships filled the huge docks. Many many many different cultures came together in this one small island. Bonaire is visited for all sorts of water sports. Windsurfing, scuba diving, snorkeling are among the top. We were fortunate enough to try all of these activities and loved them all.
Bonaire definitely felt like a vacation spot. Bonaire hasn’t seen the last of us…
Pasteles y el museo
Santa Marta is a vibrant city full of delicious food and color. We’ve taken to having fried pastries in the mornings for breakfast. From my understanding, these are terrible for your health. But they’re all different. So far we’ve had some that taste like egg rolls, some that are filled with beef, some filled with cheese, some filled with egg, and some with potatoes. I think they’re really tasty. But then again, fried food tastes better than cereal (for the first week at least)
Yesterday, we went to the Museo del Oro (Museum of the Gold for all our non-Spanish speaking friends) which was a very educational experience. The museum is in a historical building in the old town of Santa Marta, and it’s set up well. Though I’ve never been particularly receptive to museums, I think I learned at least a bit from this one. The exhibits contained a lot of artifacts from the history of Santa Marta and pre-Hispanic culture of Colombia and the history of the museum.
Pretty Pots
This is a caiman (an alligatorid crocodilian)
We also went to the dentist today. I think one of our other crew members is going to write about that one though, so I won’t spoil the surprise. Make sure to keep an eye on the blog to see it as soon as it hits the press! Until next time!
-Fenton
🐢 crossing!
Sandy Island, a very small island off the coast of Carriacou, is a special place. The water is crystal clear and the sand is pure white. The reefs are all protected and the fish are fantastic. But what I will always remember are the baby turtles we “saved”.
We were walking down the beach and came to the tip of the island. There was a small sand dune like lump of small weeds and sand keeping us from the other side of the island. I decided to give it a go and made it to the other side without any difficulties. If you can imagine, the ocean was blocked off. A large wall of coral had been pushed up onto the beach so only a few small trickles of the sea was reaching the sand. And this spot was the home to a nest of turtles.
The baby turtles were high on the list of cutest things I’ve ever seen in my life ever. But but but, the problem here is that there was no possible way for these lil guys to get past the coral and they couldn’t see the ocean in the other side because of the sand pile. We’ve been told by a friend that the babies need to reach the ocean or water on their own before humans touch them or else their sense to go to the sea would be lost forever. Not wanting to ruin some turtles lives, we waited for them to reach one of the few pools of water and then scooped them up. We carried them over to the other side of the island (which was a 30 second walk) and placed them high up on the beach. While in Grenada we were fortunate enough to experience a mama turtle give birth to 50 turtle eggs and see a hatchling crawl out of the ground. We were taught there that the babies build up their lungs and strength on their journey to the ocean from their nest. So we watched them waddle into the water and swim away. We watched about 20 lil ones return to the sea.
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There is something magical about turtles, watching a three inch baby make its way into the sea is truly amazing. To have the perseverance to waddle into crashing waves is something I hope I can bring into my own life. To keep going even when the road is difficult. Push through the waves and swim away.
There is a very small chance for most turtles. Even though there is no certainty that any of those turtles are still around today, it’s a nice thought knowing that we tried. We tried to do the right thing and help these guys have a chance.
-Heidi
(I’m trying to get caught up and up to date so don’t mind the blast of posts that will be coming soon…!)
A little bit about the ABC’s, our passage, and Santa Marta, Columbia
Hi everyone! This is Lucy. Sorry I haven’t posted recently. I will try and post more often!
The ABC’s were nice. In Bonaire I had a lot of fun when we rented a pickup truck with another boat family and went around the national park. We each had turns riding in the back! We stopped at multiple snorkeling sites and there attractions such as flamingos! We also went to a cultural fest and saw people did the local dance. Overall Bonaire was a ton of fun!
Last passage was a nice one. As Fenton said on the other post we caught some fish! I reeled 2 fish in. One Mahi and one blue runner. Sally and Dad also caught 3 more fish but we only kept one which was a mahi-mahi. The shift Heidi and I had went from 7-10 pm. It was nice but still a bit tiring.
We got to Santa Marta three days ago and so far it has been a blast. There is a lot of buzz on the street. The other night we were walking through town and there were multiple groups of people who would do like break dancing and acrobatics mixed together. It was amazing how flexible and strong theses people were. It was so cool! I will post a video of that below.
There also is super good food here. We went out for hamburgers the other night and they were so good! They have awesome lunch with pork, rice, lentils, coleslaw, and yucca. Also this morning we got empanadas from the venders. They were amazing and only cost about $0.50 each. Or, in the Columbian currency, 1,500 pesos each. There are multiple fruit and vegetable venders out on the street as well. The food here is amazing!
Everyone in Santa Marta is super nice and helpful. They help us with Spanish and teach us new words. People who know a little English say, “Hello,” or “how are you?” It is fun as well as challenging to be in a country that speaks a different language. I think that it is great that the locals want tp help you learn there language. It is really inspiring that lot of people are kind and want you to love their country and culture.
The music in Santa Marta is also fun… It is much different from Grenadian soca which we got used to. It is kind of like Mexican music. I will post some music below! I posted the URL to some music that sounded like some I heard!
Soca from Grenada
Columbian instrumental Music
I am super excited to continue to explore Columbia! I will keep you posted on adventures to come!
Sigue sonriendo (keep smiling)💕
The one and only
Lucy
Grenada
G R E N A D A
One thing many people ask us when we are attempting to introduce ourselves is, “What has your favorite island been?” Until a little while ago I would list about five or six islands and then add, “But they have all been incredible.” Now, I can answer with one special spot, “Grenada.”
Grenada will forever be remembered with a very happy face. During the four months I lived there, I taught many small humans how to swim, hiked to five different waterfalls, I was recognized in town, swam on the swim team, befriended almost all of the cruiser kids, hosted a week long day camp, volunteered at the local animal shelter, and made some really, really great friends.
I’ve already covered my swimming experiences in a previous blog but what I did not know at that time was I would continue my role as an instructor. For the past two(ish) months I spent multiple hours with kicking, bubble blowing, smiling kiddos. Again, super awesome time.
All of the waterfalls we have visited this trip have been gorgeous. These were no exception. The first one we visited was with all of my cousins, so always fun times. The rest were a little bit of a hike to the fall and lemme tell you one of the most refreshing things in the world is plunging into a waterfall after a hot and buggy walk.
One of the most magical things I have experienced on this trip is being welcomed and recognized in a foreign country. Miss Jessie, the lady we went to for our fresh veggies and some fruit, the mango man at the corner by the supermarket, fresh juices from the lady next to the fish market, soursop and papaya from the man selling goodies in front of the “No Vending” sign. It is so special to see a familiar face while walking through town. I’d occasionally bump into a friend from swimming or one of my swim students. Knowing close to no one this entire trip, having people know my name and stopping to say hi was truly a remarkable happening.
A good chunk of the friendliest, kindest, most welcoming, smiliest people I’ve ever met in my entire life were swimmers on the Grenadian Sailfish swim team. I know Lucy previously covered our victory and the events we participated in but I don’t think that my words or her words will ever do this team justice. Truly amazing group of kids I hope to keep in touch with for a long time with an incredible coach and a ton of team spirit. I was the only 13-14 female (age was taken from December 31st so I got to be 14 again) swimming for the Sailfish so anytime I was swimming, I was up against three girls on the other team. After being out of the pool for close to two years I knew I was going to have my butt kicked but the team was so enthusiastic and encouraging. Everyone on the other team, Grenfin, would have a big loud cheer when their three close to best swimmers plus me would get up on the blocks. And then the Sailfish would cheer for me. I now have a handful of great friends. One of the highlights of my Grenada stay.
During this adventure I have found myself playing and hanging out with the smaller children. And there’s nothing wrong with that; there aren’t many teenagers out here sailing. But trying to fill that age gap was a challenge so, I became a camp counselor. I organized a week long camp that occupied many of my small friends for two and a half hours each day. Fenton and I have both participated in Venture Scouts and one of our requirements for many of the tasks we are working on is to share the information we have learned to a larger group of kids. So, I planned out a ‘Scout Camp’ covering all of the required subjects. This week was fun-filled with 30 children participating! We built fires, made our own first-aid kits, went over weather and wilderness survival tips, did a big beach clean up, sang songs, played team building games, went letter-boxing, and much more. I had a great time with those guys and it was nice to lead something instead of play along with them. I learned how much work planning and organizing is! It was a last-minute decision but it all worked out very nicely. The kids had fun, their parents could get some work done, and I learned a lot. Fenton was a huge help and executed the games beautifully.
I could go on and on about Grenada forever but overall a very very memorable, special spot. I am so lucky to have spent a part of my cruising life in such a remarkable island. Grenada, you will be remembered forever.
-Heidi
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The Sailfish Swim team in Grenada
Get Grenada swimming