This is how a six-year old drives his mama around in style—racing cap on.
Live on the Margin authors, side-by-side again.
Trying to decide which one to bring on the boat.
Someone asked us the other day how we liked our stabilizers—well, the fact that we can jump rope while underway pretty much says it all.
On our way to Rachel’s Bubble Bath.
At high tide the waves funnel into a wedge in the rocks and then spill over into this pool, creating a cool wave of bubbles. It’s like swimming into a giant hot tub jet.
At anchor on the other side of the island from the bubbles.
The kids think it’s hilarious when they can almost walk out to the boat. In this spot I left us about one foot under the keel at low tide. Fairly standard for the Bahamas if you are careful. And even if you’re not careful, it’s only soft sand everywhere. Only rule is don’t beach yourself at high tide.
Playing with Crabby before bed.
This was some island in the Warderick Wells Park area. In places like this it really hits home what a plague we humans are on the environment. Plastic, plastic, everywhere. There was a huge pile of it up on the dunes where people had deposited it after picking up the beach a bit. We did our part, but man, does it ever feel like a pointless exercise. We really need to do better with addressing the point of origin of all this mess.
Lowe spent hours throwing a coconut in the water and watching it wash back in to the same spot over and over again, no matter where he originally threw it in. I love watching his mind work through things like that.
The other Bahamas cruisers. We met the crew of this boat the night before, when the kids and I spotted a guy who ran a wave-runner up on a sandbar and couldn’t get off. I figured it was one of their people, so we went over to tell them. Turned out not to be their guest, but one of the crew jumped in the dinghy with us and we went over and got him off the sandbar before it got dark. Anyway, point is, it was funny that the first words out of the two crew we met were, “Oh, man, we’ve been admiring your boat all day.” Always tend to think of these crew as being all hoity-toity, but in reality all most of them want is to be on the water in their own boat. The owner and his family on this boat flew out the next morning, and it wasn’t two minutes before the whole crew was out of their uniforms zipping around on wave-runners and fishing boats.
From Cambridge Cay we popped over to The Aquarium, next to Johnny Depp’s island.
This is about how classy a guy I would have figured Depp to be.
Unfortunately, one day in Staniel Cay, Lowe’s green kayak went AWOL after they had been playing on it. Knot must have came undone.
Cambridge Cay.
Lowe likes to build his own anchoring systems.
Finally! A super calm day. We had so many memories of these calm passages in the Bahamas and had been telling the kids about how you can see the bottom perfectly, like you’re looking through glass. They only nodded. But now they know. Twenty-five feet deep here.
Back to Staniel for a couple days.
64 Comments on “Calm Seas”
Very cool, almost makes me want to visit, but the absence of waves would make it a bit boring for my passion, kitesurfing.
I just watched a guy kitesurf jump over an islet yesterday. The wind has been howling for a month straight, and the Atlantic has been ripping. No issues with kitesurfing around here lately.
Did you use the drone to search for the kayak? Lowe must have been upset to lose it.
No, it was way too windy for the drone. I took the dinghy out a couple miles, but it had likely been out to sea for a couple of hours and probably ten miles away by then. Lowe took it in stride. The kids really don’t get too upset about their “stuff.” We’ve still got one, and they play great together on it—so all good.
That’s good. Another life lesson learned – check your work. What a beautiful area. I’ll see it in July.
The blues all around are mesmerizing! Thanks for sharing!!
Yes the drone can really get all the amazing colors.
Looks so beautiful there. Ali your hair looks great btw.
Thanks, Jill. Short is always easier on a boat. And very beautiful here.
Just WOW! Beautiful…………..
Thanks, Sherry.
Ah, the colors of the water. . . Ahhhh.
Come see us! (Pat is talking about changing out the Battery Charger.) 🙂
Due to my love of RVing, cruising, and Mexico, I follow a lot of blogs. This one by far has the highest “sigh factor.”
Thanks, Suzanne. We love all those same things.
Love that last photo with reflections in the cabin windows.
It was a gorgeous sunset, I don’t think I did it justice in my photo.
We loved our months in the Bahamas. So loved Warderwick Wells. Beautiful pictures. Thanks for the memories. I still find myself surprisingly transported to a time and place out of the blue, where I escape for a bit before getting back on the rat race. Xo
Yes such an amazing place, just made for boats. Glad we are taking you away for awhile.
Beautiful pictures! In. In a couple of years, we plan on spending 2 years on our 42 GB with our kids (currently 3 & 6). We were debating switching to a cat, but this gives me more reason to think we can do it on our GB. Do you have a watermaker on-board?
It’s a perfect home for our family of four. There can be some rolly anchorages and a cat would be great at times, but we are happy on our GB42. We have a Cruise RO water maker, self installed over Thanksgiving weekend, and LOVE it. http://www.cruiserowaterandpower.com
Sigh… Love looking at your pics and reading your narrative (the one about the pig chasing Lowe made me laugh out loud), especially as I sit here in my living room looking out at the brown water of the Potomac river, grey skies, and thermometer saying it is 41 out there. Planning on escaping to part-time cruise down there next winter. Funny to think how long I have been following your blog. Its always been enjoyable.
Thanks, Brett. We would enjoy sharing an anchorage with you and sharing some stories. Maybe we will get delayed…
Just adding my “wow” to the drone shots!
Thanks, Wynne.
Love these – as usual!
Thanks, Trish.
Your pix !!
Thanks, Curt.
Fernweh….is the german word for the feeling I get watching your beautifull pictures.
We´ll buy a bunch of Homeschooling Books and Join you! Greets from Frankfurt 🙂
Thank you, Nina. It’s a good life for kids (and adults).
The kids look like they are having a lot of fun, however they would learn more useful life-skills in a school.
Great point! Let’s list some of those useful life-skills my kids are missing out on:
1. How to bully, and be bullied.
2. How to hide under a desk when they hear gunfire.
3. How to care about celebrity culture, and achieve that as a life goal.
4. How to focus on clothing as a sense of self-worth.
5. How to judge a peer by how much money their family makes.
6. How to interact solely people the same age as themselves.
7. How to learn a subject regardless of their ability in that subject, either higher or lower.
8. How to disregard any and all subjects as unimportant, if not on the school curriculum.
9. How to spend eight hours a day staring at a phone.
10. How to spend evenings glued to a television so they can participate in conversations with their peers the next day.
11. How to be a cog, not an entrepreneur.
12…
Damn Straight!
Hi Guys,
I was just wondering what was his list of life-skills he thought you needed to teach your kids. My husband, kids and I really enjoy your blog. We use your blog as a reading [[Book}} for them. And the kids have done a book report on this blog. Thanks for the life skills you teach us.
Well thank you for that, Timothy (and family). I’m not sure we are book report worthy but hope they have fun hearing stories of how other kids/families live life. Giving them a new perspective that we all don’t live the same way.
And I was just going to say, there is more than one way to “do” school. (Our website must have been shared somewhere, as boy are we getting a whole lot of much needed advice lately.)
We home schooled our daughter until 9th grade. She was interested in an information technology magnet program at a school in our county. She was accepted.
She’s in 11th grade now. She is doing well grade wise. I think the switch has been advantageous to her in some ways. As far as I can tell, the school is pretty good socially in terms of not much bullying, etc.
But there has been a ton that’s negative too. A lot of bureaucratic nonsense, a lot of bad communication, a lot of late nights with unreasonable homework demands.
I’m not sure the perfect way to raise one’s kids, but one that permits greater time for loving parents to be with them must be a big part of the equation. I’m happy for your family that you’ve created that.
Your last PP is the truth. There is no perfect way – but if we can love on our kids for as long as we can, I think they will be okay. Congrats to your daughter!
Perfect response to the haters Pat & Ali. You guys are doing it right. Beautiful pictures as always!
Probably not a hater, more like a believer that there is only one way to do things (probably his way). Thanks for the comment on the photos, something we enjoy doing.
Excellent reply! I would much rather spend the day with your kids than any others I know. They NEVER take their eyes off of their phones ?, TV, video games or even ever go outside to do anything. And most do not know how to carry on a conversation. Keep up what you are doing!
Thanks, Jan. Our kids need more sunblock after the marathon 5 hours on the beach yesterday – no phone, no watch, no telling the time got us home late. 🙂
You guys are doing it right! Our at and Lowe are learning everything they need to learn in a mist beautiful and symbiotic way!
We are doing it right “for us” – every family is different. But we agree with you, Janice! 😉
Pat and Ali….you are doing fine with your kids. They see life with different eyes than other kids. So many experiences and new places for them. I wish we had raised our kids this way. And believe me, your list is right on!! Your kids see the wonder in everything and modern kids only see their cell phones and what is on that screen. Keep it up.
Thanks, Michael. We are happy we are able to do this with them. Not everyone has the choices we do.
If you’re getting a bunch of flack for how you’re schooling the kids, the flackers need to come to Maui. We have so many kids home schooled here that it’s a significant percentage of school aged kids. Why? Let’s start with surfing — quite a few kids are sponsored. Then there’s windsurfing. And kitesurfing. And traveling. And sailing. And too remote for school. And, and, and…..
And what happens with them? Many wind up at first class universities and colleges. Or they make a career out of it. One formerly home schooled kid is making over 600,000 a year and is quite articulate, thank you.
The flakes need to get over it.
Maui sounds awesome for kids for sure. I’m not sure they are “flakes” just such a blanket statement of someone that believes there is only one way to do something. The best part was learning more “useful life-skills” in a school. That just cracks me up!
You and Ali have chosen the wiser path!
…for our family. Thanks, Cookie.
Just gotta say that we had hoped to meet up with you guys one of these days as we traveled around Mexico but our paths never crossed.. we’ve been following you from WAY back and always are amazed by your stunning photos and how happy you all look. Ignore the haters…sounds like a whole lot of jealousy going on. As a side note.. I couldn’t do the sailboat thing.. too seasick 🙁 so we stick to the road, but these are some of your most stunning pictures ever!!!!
Thanks, Rhonda. Yes I always thought our paths would cross as well. Some day…
Loving these photos!! I followed your blog on the first Bumfuzzle. We left to go sailing in 2010 from South Africa with our 3 and 7 year old girls. Ended up in Grenada where we still are. Before kids we spent 1998 in the Bahamas working on a charter boat – your photos bring back those memories, absolutely stunning! Keep doing what you are doing guys and hopefully see you in Grenada sometime 🙂
Yes we are finding that the Bahamas hasn’t changed too much since we were here 14 years ago. If you’ve been here the photos all look the same from your own memory. Would be great to finally meet up in person! Maybe next year…
OMG, I’m so sick of seeing kids glued to their phones and TV, plus most kids don’t get the opportunity to see the world, enjoy nature “in their face” daily, learn to steer a boat, eat food from everywhere, spend more time with their parents than most; live without thousands of toys and I loved what you said about being able to communicate with others not their age. My grandson was born in Kuwait and at 9yrs old he is soooo social with adults, plus he’s learning another language (he can sing Happy Birthday in 4 languages), his friends are from the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Kuwait, Russia, Greece and I’m sure I forgot a few countries. Keep doing what you’re doing, they’ll be more street smart then other kids their age……OK I’m done ranting. Gorgeous pictures.
Hi Carol, wow Conner is having an amazing childhood. Especially as you go visit him as much as you do. What a treat.
Sorry if you’ve mentioned it already but I am just catching up.
Have you made it into Georgetown?
There is a really great couple there, Robert Williams and Catherine Booker, doing so cool stuff with solar and the environment in general.
Love your show and keep doing your thing with your kids….. the hell with what others think and their unsolicited advice.
Peace.
Hi Frank, Yes in George Town now. Are your friends on a boat here or run a business in town? We are hoping to get solar installed this off-season, and yes solar is “so” cool. 🙂
Whoops! I meant to type “some” cool stuff rather than “so” cool stuff!
Damn fingers…..
Your children at their tender ages likely have more meaningful “LIFE” skills nethertheless LIFE experiences than the gross majority of people stuck here in the “Rat Race” Calm waters and Sunny sky’s dear friends…… Keep on Keeping On !
Thanks, Eric. We agree and we will.
The memorys that these kids will grow up having is priceless. God bless you guys. As parents you are spot on.
Thanks, William. Agreed.