one year
It is pretty crazy that it has already been one year since we pulled the girls out of school and moved onto our boat in the Caribbean. In the last 12 months we've been to 9 countries and 15 states. We've lived in a house, a
It is pretty crazy that it has already been one year since we pulled the girls out of school and moved onto our boat in the Caribbean. In the last 12 months we've been to 9 countries and 15 states. We've lived in a house, a
It has been a very busy two weeks for us - long flights, the eclipse, a quick overnight stop at a waterpark, lots of time with friends, date nights, dinners and reading glasses for Emma. Whew! Today we flew back to a very rainy USVI to start planning for the
On Easter we traded in our swim suits for sweatshirts and pants and flew back to Minnesota. Crazy... I know. A bit of backstory - in 2017 we took our bus to Casper, WY. It was the first big trip on our bus and we were going to a rally
We're not done with the USVI just yet- this time it was back to St. John. We had quite the group of friend boats along for this trip around the island. I love when the girls can jump off the back of the boat and swim over to
We have mixed feelings about St. Thomas. The anchorage isn't always the most comfortable, it gets noisy being close to the city and you can't swim in the water... but then there are the almost nightly get togethers at the outdoor bar where the adults have
We went back and forth at least 100 times - should we stay or should we go? St. Croix is the largest of the three main islands in the USVI. Not many people we talked to had been there, but the snorkeling was supposed to be pretty cool. In the
Our island hopping through the USVI continues. It was back to St. Thomas for laundry, beach time, hiking, a birthday celebration, date night and lots and lots of friend time (for both kids and adults).
While we enjoyed being in St. Thomas with easy access to trash, groceries, mail and restaurants it wasn't a place where we could just jump off the boat and swim. We were all looking forward to getting back to somewhere a little more remote where we could spend
We've spent the last week hanging out in St. Thomas. We took advantage of being near the city and got a lot done, including eating at a couple restaurants that have been on our list for a while. Being near the city meant we were able to get
We had our very first (and very special) overnight guest on the boat. Braden's sister (Aunt Jenn) flew from Oregon to the US Virgin Islands (USVI) to spend time with us. I have to say Aunt Jenn is a badass (I will owe Olivia $1 for that). She
Our final stop in the BVIs took us to the island of Jost Van Dyke. Fun fact for Austin - Kenny Chesney's music video for "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" was filmed on and around Jost Van Dyke. Our last sunset in the British Virgin
We're island hopping our way through the BVIs on the way to the USVIs. Our first stop after Virgin Gorda was Norman Island. There isn't anything on Norman Island except for a restaurant and a floating bar. We had dinner, drinks and the girls enjoyed some
We started our morning with a 30 minute snorkel at one of the most popular snorkeling spots in the BVIs - the Indians. No anchoring is allowed here, so you have to pick up a mooring ball that is only available for day use. There are only 10, so if
We had some things on our Virgin Gorda must do list: The Baths, a pirate show and a visit to two cool hang out spots. We figured that would take us a couple days and then we would be on our way. On our first day we met some new
When we knew we were coming to the BVIs, The Baths was at the very top of my list of places to take the girls. Braden and I had been here way back in 2006. Before there were fancy waterproof cameras and smart phones. I couldn't remember too
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Emma and I love going on trail rides. When I saw there is one in Sint Maarten where you take the horses in the ocean we just had to go. The other people scheduled for our ride didn't show up, so Emma and I got our own private
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Our current island is an interesting one - Sint Maarten or Saint Martin depending where you are. Fun fact for Austin - the southern part of the island is part of the Netherlands (Sint Maarten). The northern part of the island is part of France (Saint Martin). Even though they
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This weeks adventures - a hot spring, a beautiful beach, DIY hair cuts, provisioning and delicious food. Fun fact for Austin - There are 40,275 McDonald's located in 120 countries. Less than a year ago I don't think we'd ever heard of Guadeloupe.
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For the first time in a very, very long time we don't have any friends around... or really anyone around. We already miss the company, the impromptu dinners together and the happy hours - but there is something nice about just being us for a little while. We
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After spending a couple days in Les Saints ( Îles des Saintes) we headed a little further north to Bouillante. It was only a 2 hour trip and the weather was calm. Calm enough for 2 loads of laundry, a loaf of banana bread and relaxing on deck. We spent two
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Tuesday morning we were up before the sun (3:36 AM to be exact). We pulled up our anchor and were on our way out of Martinique before 4:00 AM. We had hoped the girls would sleep later, but they were too excited about our middle of the night
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Yesterday we pulled up our anchor and headed to the northern end of Martinique. Fun fact for Austin - In 1804 the British left cannons and 100+ men on Diamond Rock so they could use it as a "warship" to attack the French. There weren't any
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Last week Olivia and I took a very last minute trip back to Minnesota. There were some things that were easier to take care of from Minnesota and since Martinique is fairly easy to fly in and out of it was good timing for a trip. We gave both girls
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Ah Martinique. When we were stuck without engines this was the island we dreamed of getting to... and we're here! Our first morning in Martinique and we got a special delivery from our neighbor friends. We've been spending our days exploring, shopping, catching up with boat
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Olivia had a little bit of a different birthday celebration this year - stayed up until midnight, chocolate chip pancakes, balloons, gifts, McDonald's, time with boat friends and cake from a French boulangerie. She rated this birthday a 9.5 out of 10.
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St. Lucia wasn't on our list of islands to stop at because parts of the island have a bad reputation for crime. But the sail from Bequia to Martinique is over 15 hours, so St. Lucia is a good stopping point to break up the long distance. Some
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Our week started with taking the engines apart to get them ready for the new parts we were waiting on to come from the US. That is not a quick process, but luckily FedEx came through for us and we had the parts in 4 days (even with the Thanksgiving
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History is my absolute least favorite subject, but the heritage museum turned out to be my new favorite field trip. Bequia might be a small island (7 square miles, population 5,000), but there is so much interesting history here. The trip to the museum was a fairly steep 2
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We may not be in the US for Thanksgiving, but we are surrounded by lots of Americans where we are in the Caribbean. One of the local restaurants hosted a traditional Thanksgiving meal. We got it all (except for the family photo) - happy hour, turkey, ham, stuffing, gravy, mashed
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