fun for all!

My sister and me in the dingy

We are having a great time! My birthday was February 9th. We had a party on the beach. My dad made a delicious chocolate cake. After that me and some kids made a fire. We threw old school books in and made the fire huge! I got really cool presents from kids I met that day like a huge shark tooth and 5 Bahamian dollars! We even had a egg toss and a egg race.

This birthday was extra special because we were in the Bahamas. It was the first time I had a birthday where I could swim and play on the beach, since it is much warmer here than in Newport. Making new friends from all over the world is fun and interesting. I will always remember my ninth birthday!

Burning used up Calvert School manuals

My birthday cake

Egg toss on the beach

Bahamian School!

We spent a week in Black Point. I went to school for a day.

In Black Point, Exumas, there is a little village road that my sister and I rode our scooters on. In school I studied Bahamian cultures, superstitions (like never point your finger at a grave or it will rot), earth's natural resources and we wrote letters. We also studied regrouping in math. There is one class room with boards separating it into two rooms. There was a preschool and grades 1-3 on one side and older kids on the other. Everyone dressed in green uniforms and there was an old trampoline.

There were lots of tanks of fresh water that is made by reverse osmosis, just like Lyra's water. The villagers are very kind to share their water and other resources with cruising boats. There were some nice men that played ball with the children. All of the adults are nice and someone is always watching out for the kids when we were playing outside.

At last! At last!

In this picture, I am snorkeling on the Banks.
It was very hot so we stopped and swam.

At last we are at the Bahamas! It`s really warm out so we have to go swimming. I got fins and a  snorkel for Christmas. I go swimming almost every day. I also see a lot of coral reef which is so beautiful.
I am writing this from Georgetown Exumas right now. To get here, we had to stop in Nassau to clear in. Customs keeps track of all visiting boats and inspects them.

This is us sailing across the Yellow Banks. You can see our
self steering on the back of the boat. It steers the boat for us.

From Nassau, we crossed the Yellow Banks. We had to do it in daylight so that we could see where we were going. You can through the water to coral heads and other cool sea creatures.

My dad let us relax in the sail on the way to Allen's Cay. My sister stayed up there for hours!