The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse

We visited the lighthouse in Florida called the Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse because we were anchored close to it and it looked interesting.It was really fun. There are some pretty cool facts about it.

The ponce inlet lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Florida. There are exactly 200 stairs in the light house.
It was built in 1835 and was finished by 1887 and is built with brick. The stairs are really steep and narrow and they are really hard to climb up without falling.  and weighs about six tons and costs about $12,500. The lighthouse is 175 feet.
There is also a weather poem that helped to know the weather,

The pattern of the beam is different in all the lighthouses. The ponce inlet lighthouse is a group flashing six times every 30 seconds. The range of the light is 17 nautical miles; 32 kilometers. The lens they use is a Fresnel lens. A Fresnel lens looks like this:

Here is a poem about the weather that lighthouse keepers used to use:

Ring around the moon means rain soon
if fleecy white clouds cover the heavenly way, no rain should mar your plans that day
frost or dew in the morning light shows no rain before the night
fish bite least with the wind in the east
expect weather to be fair when crows fly in pairs
when ladybugs swarm expect a day thats warm
clear moon, frost soon

A cool visit to the fort Castillo De San Marcos

Castillo De San Marcos 

In St. Augustine, there is a fort called Castillo De San Marcos. The fort was made by the Spanish.

                                       This is the fort from outside

What its made out of and why

 The fort is made out of Coquina shells. the fort was made out of Coquina shells because it is a material that can absorb cannon balls and bullets and any other missiles shot at it.

                                         This is the gunpowder room

                                       

Cool facts about the fort include

The fort has an old message carved into the wall. It is written in old Spanish, but the message itself makes no sense, to many letters have been worn off to translate the sentence. There are also ships carved in to the wall.

This is one of the ships carved into the wall

This is the other ship carved into the wall

This is the message in old Spanish carved into the wall 

These are the soldiers sleeping quarters 

This is the Spanish soldiers giving a demonstration on how
 to shoot a cannon 

The horses of Cumberland Island

       horses of Cumberland Island

When we went to Cumberland island, we saw horses grazing in the woods. Curious, I looked up how they got there. This is the information I found. This blog entry talks about how they got there and the myth behind the horses.


 how they got there

the horses on Cumberland island were brought by the Spanish in the 16th century. There are about 150- 200 horses on the island. The horses on the island are probably descendants of the Spanish horses.


the story behind them


the horses are not native to Cumberland island. the myth states that the Spanish conquistadors brought them over to the island. Then, finding no use for them, then let them go feral by letting them roam the woods. After awhile people wanted to find a use for them and hired Robert Stafford, a plantation owner, to try and tame them. Robert let people use them for their own personal use. They were then used for cavalry in the american civil war. in 1972 the National Park Service bought the island and declared it the Cumberland island National seashore. Since then, the herd has become one of seven feral horse herds of the USA. This is only a myth because no one knows if this is completely true.






now you know all about the wild horses of Cumberland island.








here are some pictures of the horses

A visit to the Beaufort Maritime Museum

A visit to the Beaufort Maritime Museum

Have you ever wondered what pirates were like in real life? Did you know Blackbeard put matches in his hair to scare people? Do you want to know what Blackbeard's flag looked like and what it meant? Have you ever wondered what lifeboats were in the 1800's? we just went to the Beaufort Maritime Museum and learned all about flags, Blackbeard, and lifeboats.

Blackbeard

I learned that Blackbeard's real name was Edward Teach.

I also learned that in 1717, he captured a French slave ship called La Concorde de Nantes and renamed it the Queen Anne's Revenge he used the ship for almost two years. In that time, he pirated till 1718 where he ran the Queen Anne's Revenge aground. He and his crew abandoned it with any portable treasure they could find. He then got a pardon from the British royal navy. Later, he went back to pirating and was killed by Lieutenant Robert Maynard. Who then hung Blackbeard's severed head from the end of his bowsprit as a warning to all pirates.

In 1996 the Queen Anne's Revenge was found in Beaufort inlet. Archaeologists' found several anchors (the largest was 13 feet) many of cannons, swords, gold dust, pottery, and lots more items of archaeologists' interests. 

flags

Every pirate captain has a different flag, Blackbeard's flag is a skeleton pushing a spear into a heart. I made my own flag on a computer simulation. It was a scull and crossbones flag.

Blackbeard's flag

Wreck rescue

there are a couple of ways to get off sinking ship one way is the Breach's Buoy. a breaches buoy is a life ring with pants on the bottom. you attach it to a rope that goes to the nearest island or beach. then you ride it like a zip line. later, a life car was created. a life car is a metal capsule that is about the size of a rowboat. the capacity is eleven adults but the average is nine half-grown kids or five or six adults. to get the "zip line" the crew would take a box with rope wound around pegs at the edge of the box. the box was called a "faking box". the line would then be fired out of a cannon to a beach.  

 

this is a life car

this is the life car description 

This is a breaches buoy

faking box

Homeschooling 

 How do we go to school in the middle of the ocean? Simple, we homeschool.

What is Homeschooling?

 Homeschooling is not in a public school.  Homeschooling is great because it doesn't take all day. That makes it good for self motivation.
You can even go at your own pace, which gives you more time to have fun!

What I don't like about homeschooling

 Some of my friends are military so I will not get to see them when I get back. I also won't be able to do specials like P.E. , Art, Library and music

What I do like about homeschooling
Some good things about homeschooling are that I can go at my own pace. Instead of specials, I have fun substitutes.  For P.E. I have a scooter, for art I can go to art museums and for music I practice my violin.
picking out our books
We picked our school books out from Barns & Nobles (the book store) I have 6th grade Math, Language arts, and Writing as my subjects. we chose the subjects because they are similar to what we are learning in school.

so now you know how we are still educated even in the middle of the ocean!

It has been 3 years since we last went to the Bahamas. I am now 11, almost 12. My last day of school was today. Most of my friends are military and today was probably the last time I will ever see some of them. This is Lyra sailing in North Carolina. My dad did a lot of work on her since the last time we went. He sailed her to North Carolina and put her into a small harbor. My Mom, my sister,and I have all been living in a three-room apartment. Dad then flew back to Newport on 11/12/16. Then we plan to drive my moms car down and sail the boat down to the Bahama. That's when the real adventure begins...

Bahamas or Newport?

The Bahamas are different in many ways from Newport, Rhode Island. One difference is that fish are more colorful then in Newport. Another is that the water is more clear than in the northeast. Even in the winter it is 80 degrees outside in the Bahamas while Newport can snowy and icy.

Barracuda

Fish in the Bahamas have more bright colors. Others are scary like barracuda. Barracudas are curious and they like to show off their sharp teeth and get close to you. If you want to scare them back, just shout "COOODAH!!!" and they will go away. The reefs look more like paradise with lots of colorful fish and corals. The reefs near Newport are in colder murkier water and tend to have more rocks, barnacles and mussels instead of bright corals.

Me snorkeling in clear blue water

In the murky waters of the northeast you cannot see as deeply because the water has more life in it and is a green color. The water color in the Bahamas is a clear blue and you can see coral reefs above and below. You can see sand bars that go for miles. You can even see sea turtles and Man o` war. Man o` war is a big jellyfish that can sting.

 Man o` war have very long tentacles sail on top of the water

top of the water with their sail 
Bahamas are really different from the northeast, but both are great places to be. Newport is really fun to because you can go sledding in the winter. The Bahamas are fun because I can swim every day. I even had a beach party on my winter birthday. I love both Newport and the Bahamas.