As we near the end of 2018, we have been thinking about all of our old friends whom we miss and love hearing from, the new friends we’ve made, all the new cultures we’ve experienced, and all the great places we’ve explored since the beginning of the year. We feel so lucky to be adventuring and learning all together as a family in our 36 x 22 feet of living space aboard our home S/V Love & Luck. Boat repairs and homeschooling have become normal life, with far fewer daily bumps. Wandering down interesting looking streets, buying bags of juice or ice cream or good smelling street food, finding a good museum or grocery store or market, and watching and talking to people dancing, creating a craft, or just hanging out in the streets in a new place fill our days. We love being on and under the water watching the fish, dolphins, waves, and stars and finding whatever excitement awaits us in the next port. We hope you too take the opportunity to follow your dreams and that, like us, they turn out even better than expected!
Our 2018 Country Highlights…
Bahamas—snorkeling galore, church in Staniel Cay, fun in George Town, Mark learning how to use the pole spear (and scaring, but not catching, a lot of fish)
Dominican Republic—Fresh fruit, veggies, great food (especially the fried chicken), horseback riding, waterfall jumping, boat repairs, Easter at the beach
Puerto Rico—Lucy’s birthday, Boy Scout National Jamboree, learning to windsurf (thanks Gert and Toni)
USVI—Oma and Opa visit during some bumpy seas, swimming with the turtles in St. John
BVI—Soggy Dollar Bar, the Baths, the Caves, hearing Foxy sing his Irma songs
Saba—The road that couldn’t be built, the road that shouldn’t be built, the wet and wild dinghy ride into shore, the Mt. Scenery hike
Statia—the Quill hike, Chinese food, crazy dogs
Guadeloupe—French baguettes and swimming lessons all day every day
Dominica—Heidi’s birthday, Sea Cat and the Boiling Lake Hike, volunteering at school
Martinique—Sally’s birthday, Mt. Pelee hike, volcano museum, more great French food
Grenada—all our family visiting, Fenton joining our crew, volunteering at Learn to Swim week, teaching weekly swim lessons, trivia night, volunteering at the Grenada SPCA, SCUBA certification, scout camp, the girls swimming with the Sailfish swim team for a Championship meet, Carriacou hiking and snorkeling and lion fish hunting and baby turtle saving
Swim Lessons 
Sally, Heidi, Lucy, and Coach Mandy with the trophy 
J’Ouvert 
Beach Silliness
Bonaire—caught huge tuna enroute, SCUBA diving and new dive gear, cultural event in Rincon, flamingos, hiking through the National Park, windsurfing, cute tourist shopping and little cafes
Curacao—a long bus ride to the cute little Holland like village center, Venezuelan floating market, the crazy maze of customs and immigration (hours to get checked in and out)
Aruba—mall city, poolside afternoon with friends
Colombia—our first country to visit in South America, everyone sick with a stomach bug, great visit to Minca (backpacker central), Thanksgiving, Tayrona National Park jungle hiking and hostel camping, tubing, Cartegena Lighting of the Candles festival, Getsemani murals, walled city tour, San Felipe Castle Fortress and amazing street food
Panama—San Blas Islands: beautiful molas, fresh lobster, crabs and octopus; Portobelo for Christmas: attended the Church of the Black Christ, light parade, fireworks and fun
2018 Crew Highlights
Mark—our sailing expert, windsurfing teacher, physics professor, SCUBA enthusiast, fisherman extraordinaire, Mr. Fixit, and strategic analyst (new remote consulting career)
Julie—teacher, researcher, cook, cleaner, SCUBA certified, still learning the best places to stow things and constantly getting rid of our collection of unnecessary items still on the boat…
Fenton (17) —gap year adventurer, our technology expert (including cameras, computers, movie downloads, GoPros, cell phones, blog), fishing good luck charm, SCUBA enthusiast, windsurfer, lion fish hunter, comic relief, and expert sunscreen applier and bug spray applier
Heidi (15) —10th grader, media expert, representative Spanish speaker for all of our boat needs (thank you), only Grenada female 13-14 swimmer for the ‘big’ meet, photographer extraordinaire, stargazer, instagram addict (@heidizvannini), SCUBA girl
Lucy (13) —8th grader, chef of the sea, likes swimming off the boat, cleanest crew member who loves real showers, constantly embarrassed by the rest of us (OMG!), windsurfer, most interested sailor, most time spent on watch for all shifts, and SCUBA certified (who still prefers snorkeling though)
Sally (11) —6th grader, social butterfly who spends the most time of our crew on other kid boats, surfer girl, windsurfer, fish identifier, fish dissector/biologist, SCUBA girl, future vet who is missed by the puppies at the GSPCA, always has her head in a book
Willie (almost 4)—loves jumping in the water from the boat, going kayaking, playing monkey in the middle (in the water of course), hiking in new countries, sniffing lots of new smells, fearlessly guards our boat from anyone who ventures too close, merdog (aka sea turtle) spotter
Future Plans
Our crew is not ready to give up this lifestyle quite yet – so we’ve decided to extend this adventure a little longer. We are going to keep heading west through the Panama Canal, planning on going through late January. Once we reach the Pacific, we are undecided as to which way we’ll go. We may head to New Zealand (an amazing, but long sail), we might head west to Hawaii and then back northeast to the Pacific northwest, or maybe, we’ll head north along the Pacific coast to Mexico and California… In the meantime, mom and dad are working online here and there to assure that the adventure can continue as long as its fun. We will be in Panama for Christmas, New Year, and most of January and February.
Happy Holidays from the Crew! We look forward to hearing from you!
Mark, Julie, Heidi, Lucy, Sally, Fenton and Willie
Our contact info has changed slightly:
svloveandluck@yahoo.com (we receive this through our Iridium GO sat phone wherever we are)
WhatsApp +12032400237 (free on wifi with the App)
If you have free calls to a US number, you can call and text us for free (free for both of us) at 1-786-776-2887
Our blog is lifesgoodonourboat.com
Our instagram is @svloveandluck