October 1997

Hi! I’m Caitlin Swirski and I live on a sailboat. I am 12 years old. I have three sisters and one brother. My boat is 40 feet long. I share a cabin with my little sister, Tracey. She is eight years old. I would like to tell you how I feel about going cruising.

I’m very excited ! I can’t even describe it. I’ve been wanting to go on this trip ever since I was nine. I can’t wait to go to Mexico where it’s never cold and every day you can have as much fun as you want. There is sooo much to do. Keep listening. I’m going to be writing.

December 1997

My family and I have been on a boat cruising to Cabo San Lucas for about two months now. I want to tell you all about the exciting places we’ve been so far.

First, let me tell you all the place I’ve been so far: Morro Bay, Port San Luis, Cojo Anchorage, San Miguel Island (Cuyler’s Bight), Santa Cruz Island (Coches Prietas anchorage), Oxnard (Anacapa Isle Marina), Catalina Island (Catalina Harbor), famous San Diego, Turtle Bay (Bahia de Tortugas), Bahia Asuncion (Ascension Bay), Bahia Santa Maria and then finally Cabo San Lucas!

Now I’m going to write a paragraph for each of the places I’ve been so far.

Morro Bay is a very cute little town. They have a lot of places to anchor and some places to dock. We decided to dock. We stayed there for five and a half days and we mostly walked around the little town. The third day we were there we took a bus to the Cal Poly college (it’s where my Mom and Dad went to college) to look around and see how it’s changed. A lot had changed since they were last there.

It took us five hours to get to Port San Luis and we really didn’t want to keep going all the way to Cojo Anchorage so we stopped. We slept and played. We left the next day.

The Cojo Anchorage was a really small (but beautiful) anchorage. We watched a movie and played a half game of Monopoly. We left the next morning.

Once we got to San Miguel Island, we got in our dinghy and went to take a walk on the beach. There were sand dunes that we rolled down. And, there was a hidden water fall.

We arrived at Santa Cruz Island and set out on a hike there, also. We had heard that the name of the cove meant “Black Pigs” in Spanish so we were keeping an eye out for any. It was really hot out and we had to come back early. When we got back at the beach we decided to go swimming. It felt so good to get cold. We went back home and jumped into the water there.

Oxnard is a pretty big city. We stayed at the Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club for two nights and then switched to the Anacapa Isle Marina (it’s cheaper). Both of the yacht clubs had pools and hottubs so I was satisfied. It just so happens that my really good friend (April Kunieda) moved to Oxnard from the San Francisco Bay Area. My mom called her up and I went to her house for an overnight. It was really fun to see her again. Then we visited my aunt for awhile.

We’ve been to Santa Catalina before, but we stayed at a different harbor. Catalina has only a few families living on the island. It has a really big beach and a big place full of rocks and caves. Naturally, we explored those. It was much more interesting than the beach.

San Diego was really fun. There were a few other boats that contained our friends staying at the same marina as we were. Their boat names are Cross, Hoptoad, Moonduster, and Baloo. Cross and Hoptoad have kids around our ages. Hoptoad has Jeff (13) and Shawn (10). Cross has Zac (12), Kaitlyn (9) and Sam (8). We all went to the Mall and pool together. It was really fun.

At Turtle Bay, there were two anchorages. It’s a huge bay! The winds were blowing pretty hard. The town of Turtle Bay was pretty small but way bigger than Catalina. Turtle Bay was our first stop in Mexico. Turtle Bay town wasn’t anything like I thought a small Mexican town was. I thought there would be outside markets and dirt roads (there were those) but they were a lot more developed than I expected. They had a doctor building and a hospital and about five mercados (big stores). There were cars, gas stations, ice cream stores, and of course houses. If you looked at the church and then looked at the town you wouldn’t think it should be there. The town was so musty, dirty, with bright colored houses that needed more paint. The church was white with lavender trimming. It’s so pale colored and perfect, well, compared to the town.

Bahia Asuncion was pretty bare. It was just a huge beach. We went to it and it wasn’t that great so we came back. We just hung out the rest of the time.

Bahia Santa Maria!!! It was sooooo beautiful. There was a combination of mountains, beach, swamps, and sand dunes. It was magnificent. It was there that we got to snorkel for the first time! It was awesome! There was a sunken boat right under where we anchored our dinghy so we explored that when we snorkeled. Then we went to the beach and boogie surfed on our boogie board. It really gives you a thrill when the wave pushes you to shore – you feel like you’re flying. It’s so cool!

Now, finally, Cabo San Lucas! It’s really warm here and it has teal seas. There are a lot of parties and fiestas on Christmas Eve. So I found out. Everyone here is at least a little religious. The churches are beautiful on the inside and out as I also found out. The dock isn’t very rocky but the anchorage is so we stayed in the marina. All our friends were here for Christmas, but now they are mostly gone. The city of Cabo is very touristy and a lot of Mexican people come up to you on the streets and ask you if you want to buy what they have. Sometimes it’s annoying. All the restaurants are pretty good and many of them have spicy food, but that’s OK. Overall, it’s a pretty nice city!

Well, I told you all about my trip so far and I hope I didn’t lecture you. I’m thrilled to be a part of a family like mine. They made the right choice by choosing to go through with our plans to go on this cruise.

February 1998

Since Cabo San Lucas, a lot has happened! We’ve been to more places, such as: Los Frailes, Bahia de Los Muertos, Balandra Bay, Caleta Lobos, La Paz, and the islands above La Paz. The islands were pretty, but my favorite place was Los Frailes. We stayed in Los Frailes for a week and it was great. There was a wonderful beach and snorkeling. The only real coral reef in the Sea of Cortez is at Los Frailes and it was really pretty. One day we went hiking, another we went to the beach. Also, we went snorkeling on the coral reef and another day, we swam from boat to boat in the anchorage and the next day, we just stayed put.

The coral reef was really cool. There were tons of different tropical fish with a variety of many colors. The sand at the beach was white and powdery and it sinks when you stepped on it. When I hiked up this one hill, I could see the whole anchorage plus the mountains and valley. It was breath-taking. You could see in the anchorage where the water got shallow because the color turns very light tourquoise. And the valley had different kinds of bushes, which are all different color greens, and there was a little pond in the middle where the wild burros take baths and drink. At sunset, the mountains are silhouetted and it was really pretty.

Well, we experienced all these wonderful things and I wish I could do them all again!

July 1998

Mazatlan has been great! Even though I have been here for five and a half months, I still have things to see and do to fill up my days so they’re not too boring.

In all the time I have been here I caught up with only four boats that are our friends. They’re, Monica and Bryan on Baloo, Alexis(Lexi), Dana, Monte and Maureen on Odysseus, Jeff, Shawn, Margie, and Sonny on Hoptaod, and also Beryl, Vern, and Robyn, on Impossible. (all of these boats are no longer here).

I have also met many people that I didn’t know before Mazatlan. (I’ll say them in the order I met them). First it was Max and Trevor on See World(I am only naming the kids here), then Samantha(Sammy) on Wander’in Star, Kalen on Trek, after that Ryan on Aqui No Mas, Then it was Emily and Gwen on American Flyer, also Roary and Chelsea on Morning Star, and Last But Not Least Lesley and Garrett on Doran. These were all our friends and all of them were about twelve years old to sixteen years old. We also met some kids that were about my little sister’s age and that is about five to ten years old. They’re little Hal on Angela, Emily and John on Transition, and Christina and Chaz on Toucan.

When all those people were here we had so much fun. We would go to the Grand Plaza, to McDonalds, we would go to Blockbuster and rent scary movies, and etc.

I have also been doing stuff with my Family. We have gone to the Aquarium, to this really unusual art store called Nid Art. Also we have done some funnier stuff, like the Water Park( Maz Agua), the Beach, the Gran Plaza, the El Cid Mega Resort pool, Mc Donald’s, Thorny’s Surf Burgers, and a bunch more places.

We took an eight hour bus trip to Guadalajara, about three and a half months ago. We did many things there also. We went to the Cathedrals, the Zoo, all the park squares, art museums, historical museums, the Mercado. And we also took two short bus rides, one to Tonala, and one to Tlaquepaque. We went around those two towns. We did a lot of historical site-seeing on that trip.

We also went, as a family, up to the States to visit our relatives and friends. The relatives part of that trip was fine and fun, but I had changed and so had my friends and It wasn’t like I thought it was going to be.

Lesley and Garrett Ward on Doran and we became really good friends when they were here that our mom let Me, my older sister and my older brother go up to San Diego, where they are living for now, to visit them and a lot of our other friends happened to be living there also. We got to see them and I have to admit that it was one of the best periods of time in my life(so far!).

Well, now the only thing interesting, since nobody is here, are the big storms we will and are having. Anyway, I think that is everything!

November 1998

We have left Mexico to take a trip around the USA.

First, we visited our family and friends in the San Francisco area. That was really fun. Then, we got our R.V. that we had rented for two months so we could travel and see the United States.

We started North. We kept going north until we got to Seattle, Washington. There we visited our friends that we had met while cruising and were now living in Seattle. We only stayed at Monica and Brian’s house for one day and one night. The next morning, we convinced them to drive up with us to see some other cruising friends that lived in Chilliwack, Canada. We finally convinced them to join us.

We got to Chilliwack that same day. Chilliwack was the kind of place where people own farms, and cows are everywhere. We got to our friends’ house and we all had a very long reunion. These friends had three children and their names are Zac(12), Kaitlyn(9), and Sam(7) Waddington. Their parents are Leslie and Josh Waddington. Having kids around was a real change. It was great! We did tons of fun stuff, such as bike riding, watching movies, and just talking. We stayed in Chilliwack for a lot longer than we were supposed to.

Our next interesting place was Banff, Canada. We stayed at an R.V. campground. We visited three glaciers and we also went to the hot springs. We spent four days there. I also got to visit my godfather, who drove all the way from Edmonton just to see me.

We met at the hot springs. We went swimming and then we talked in the R.V. After a while, the kids started getting bored and we went outside and played football. My godfather has two kids. Then we said goodbye. We visited one really cool glacier. We drove about two hours and then we came to the glaciers visitor center. The glacier was the Athabasca Glacier. We got some tour tickets and then we waited for the tour to start. The tour was really cool. First, you get on a regular bus and that takes you to a site with these really high tech buses that take you out onto the glacier! They have huge wheels and eight wheel drive. They take you right in the middle of the glacier and then you get to go out and walk on the glacier.

We next went to Niagara Falls. It was huge! Niagara Falls is actually made up of two falls, the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls. Horseshoe Falls is the bigger one and is in the shape of a horseshoe. The American Falls was the smaller of the two and was just a straight line. They were pretty full and it was only Fall. Think of what it would be like in the Spring! Anyway it was really pretty.

Then we headed up to Montreal. Montreal was a pretty big city. I didn’t like it. We were in the French part of Canada so it was more like something you would see in France. The good part about it was that it had an underground city which really was a huge chain of malls. We went there and that was pretty cool. We stayed in a parking lot for the night.

Montreal was our last stop in Canada. And then, we headed down to Boston, Massachusetts. We saw all the historical sites and walked along the “Freedom Trail.”

We also visited the USS Constitution. She is one of the oldest ships still sail worthy in the world. We went aboard and our tour guide told us about her history and life aboard the ship during a battle. Then we visited the USS Constitution Museum.

Our next stop was Mystic, Connecticut. We went there because we had seen the movie, “Mystic Pizza,” and we wanted to know if the Mystic Pizza, pizza place was real. It turns out that there was a Mystic Pizza place, but it wasn’t the one in the movie. They couldn’t use the real restaurant because then they would have to have everyone on the street close their shops so people wouldn’t keep staring and the shop owners on the street didn’t want to do that.

We next visited Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock was a landmark where some of the first colonists landed in America. The rock was only the size of a chair. That was kind of weird, I thought it was going to be like an island. The story about Plymouth Rock is that, when they were trying to move it out of the road that they had built, it broke in the process.

Then we stopped in New Jersey and then took the subway into New York City. When we got out of the Subway station, the World Trade Centers were right there so we went to see them. Inside, we found a place where we could get a tour around Downtown New York. We bought tickets and then we got on the tour bus. It first stopped at Battery Park and we got off to see the Statue of Liberty. It was a really spectacular sight! We couldn’t see it as well as I hoped we would have been able to, but it was cool anyway. Then we got back on the bus and started toward downtown. We saw the Chrysler Building, Times Square(my favorite place) and the New York Stock Exchange, and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the Plaza Hotel. We also visited Central Park, but we didn’t get to go on a carriage ride because it was too expensive. Then we ended up back at the World Trade Center and got off and went home on the subway. New York City was my second favorite place we visited on the trip and I hope to live there when I grow up.

The next big place we went was Chandler! There we got to visit my best friend, Lexi, for four days. It was soooooooo fun! We did all kinds of things, like dancing, listening to music really loud, watching movies like Armageddon and Godzilla. We also went to the mall and cruised around with her older sister in her car. We ate pizza and played pool and sometimes we just talked. I had the best time. It was really sad when I had to leave, but my parents wouldn’t let me stay with her. Too bad!

Well, now I am in L.A. visiting my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. We have been here for four days and it has been pretty fun also. I will tell you one thing, I am not going to miss the RV! It was even smaller than our boat! I couldn’t stand it! Besides the living space, I thought the trip was really fun!

Now back to Mexico. Huh!!!!!!! It is way too hot down there, but there are lots of things to do there and plus there are going to be some cruising kids so I can hang out with them. I am looking forward to it! See you next time.

March 1999

After our R.V. trip we went back to Mazatlan by bus. We spent about a week cleaning up the boat. During the month that we spent in Mazatlan, we met Cynthia Cone on the boat,” Christina.” We “hung out” with her all the time. We also met Joey Riczu who was on vacation.

We left Mazatlan and headed to Puerto Vallarta(P.V.). On the way to P.V. , we first stopped at Matenchen Bay, just south of San Blas. When we were anchored , there were some dolphins swimming around the anchorage. We wanted some pictures, so we followed them in the dingy with our camera. We got some great shots!

Our next stop was Chacala. There we met up with our friends on Tortuga. Chacala was the first place where you could clearly see the difference in climate. Instead of having desert, it was all tropical. There were tons of free growing palm trees and it was all green. There was a little tourist town and a harbor master.

Our next stop was La Cruz. La Cruz is the anchorage a mile or two outside of Puerto Vallarta. It’s the place to go if Marina Vallarta was too expensive. We stayed in La Cruz for a couple days to get ready for P.V..

Then we were in Puerto Vallarta. We stayed in Marina Vallarta. There we met up with Katherine on “Kabunza”, Michael on “Dunamus”, and Kanoa on “Malahia”, and Shaun on “Cuckoo’s Nest.” Also Cynthia on “Christina” caught up with us, but she only stayed in P.V. for two days. We also met Kelsey on “Ca Du Re.” I mostly “hung out” with Shaun and Kelsey because they were more my age. We went into town to see movies or just walk around. And we also played pool and danced in the local club, which was the Collage. We stayed in P.V. for Christmas and New Year. For Christmas we hosted a party and we also went to about five other ones! Everyone was having a party! We mostly went to the parties on “Deja Vu”, “Fairwind”, and ours. New Years was really fun. We all went to a party on “Ca Du Re.” We had a big pot-luck and listened to music. Then when it was almost the new year, all the adults and my to younger sisters went out to the channel on “Ca Du Re” to watch the fireworks. The older kids went to Tortuga and watched a movie. When it was exactly the New Year all the boats blew their horns and every part of the sky was covered with fireworks! This went on for about five minutes. I think it was really pretty! We stayed up really late that night!

Then we left, heading for Manzanillo. We stopped first at Ipala. Ipala had a little town and a little beach also. After we settled in, some Mexican boys came by our boat in inner tubes. They asked if we had any school supplies they could have. And we got a huge ziploc bag full of pencils, erasers, mini-staplers, pens, colored pencils, etc. They were pretty happy when they left. The next morning we couldn’t get the engine to work. We found out that in Mazatlan we only filled up our jerry cans with diesel and not our main tank. So after about three hours of messing around with the engine, we finally got it working and we headed out of Ipala.

That night we stopped in Chamala. Chamala is a beautiful anchorage. It’s all green and there is a bunch of flower beds. The water is very clear and turquoise. Out at the point there was really good snorkeling. Unfortunately, we didn’t get around to that. That was too bad. I would have loved to go snorkeling!

The next morning we headed for Tenacatita. There we happened upon Katherine on “Kabunza,” and Kanoa on “Malahia.” Unlike all the other anchorages, Tenacatita didn’t have any jelly fish in the water so right when we were done putting stuff away on the boat, we swam over to Kabunza and then we all swam over to Malahia to say hi to Kanoa. Then we all swam over to Marara, because we had heard that they had two kids aboard. We then met Rachael who’s fifteen, and Corey who is eleven. All nine of us “hung out” as much as we could everyday after school. We swam into the beach and walked around the hotel. We also had boogey board rides. That is done by tying a water skiing rope to a fast dingy and a person would hold on to the other end while he or she was on a boogey board. It was really funny to watch! Well, we stayed in Tenacatita for about a week and I think it was the most fun place since Mazatlan.

Now we are in Barra de Navidad. First, we came in the entrance and passed the marina and tried to get into the lagoon. We had to come in at low tide and we ran aground three times! Finally some nice people came to our rescue. They went ahead in their dingys and we followed them through the only path to get into the lagoon. We stayed in the lagoon for a few days, but it was kind of boring because we couldn’t go swimming. The water was too sandy and dirty. We then motored into the marina. The marina was all connected with the Grand Bay Hotel. It is a five star hotel! We got cable TV and endless power. We also were able to use all the hotels facilities. Such as they three-level pool, plus two more pools on different levels of the hotel. The three tennis courts, badminton, volleyball, and soccer. For even more comfort they had two spas, a workout room to use. The miniature malacon that surrounded the marina in a horseshoe shape contained a bunch of little stores that were put to really good use by the Swirski family. Also we got free water taxis to the town of Barra de Navidad. They also had water skiing, diving equipment, and the jet ski rentals available to their guests. We stayed in the marina for four days. It was heaven! Then just today we moved back into the lagoon. We didn’t have any trouble getting into it this time. We anchored in ten feet of water and relaxed.

Well, that concludes my adventures since I last wrote. Until next time!

May 1999

Hey everyone! I am back to tell you about all my latest adventures.

Well, as you know we were supposed to go west to the South Pacific. Huh. That didn’t work out too well. We tried twice, but it just didn’t work. The first time there was bad weather and the whole trip ahead of us was just too overwhelming, so we turned around. The second time we stayed out for almost three days before we turned around again. Well, that time we had really really bad weather and more than half the crew was sea-sick so it wasn’t up to discuss.

I am actually totally relieved! I know everyone says that it would be such a great experience, but I just don’t find the idea of having seven people on a 40 foot boat for 25 days with no land appealing. I wouldn’t mind flying to the Marquesas or Tahiti, but count me out if you’re going to sail.

We are now in Mazatlan and are only staying here about two weeks. Then we are going up into the Sea of Cortez to cruz in the islands above La Paz. Last time we did this we only got as far as San Evaristo, but now we are going to go as far north as we can.

We want to be out of Mexico to go up to the States around the end of July to escape the heat of the summer. My parents are thinking of visiting our relatives for a few weeks (which I am really excited about) and then renting a house somewhere on the west coast for the rest of the summer. I can’t wait to live in a house, even for a short while. I haven’t lived in a house more than three months in row my whole life. And I want to very much!

I miss the States a lot. I mean I like Mexico a lot also, but I want to go back home, for good!  But we will probably come back down to Mexico after the summer for at least another season.

Well, I have enjoyed Mexico a lot especially since January, but I want to live a somewhat normal life and go to High School.

Until Next Time!

October 1999

Yes, I’m back again and ready to tell you what has been happening since I wrote last time.  So get ready, because it’s somewhat long.

In Mazatlan, we rejoined Monica, Brian, and Peter on “Baloo.”  Then we got reacquainted with our friends that had stayed in Mazatlan while we were in Puerto Vallarta.  We stayed for four days.  We headed west across the Sea of Cortez.  It took a day and a half to reach La Paz.  We got into Marina Palmira and stayed there a few days, then moved to Marina de La Paz.  After resting for a week, we sailed out of the marina and toward the islands north of La Paz, for the second time.  Except that this time, we were going to visit the islands where we hadn’t been yet.  The last time we stuck to the more southern islands, closer to La Paz.  So this time, we were going more north.  Our end destination, San Carlos.  We had a few stops on the way.  All of them were anchorages and very beautiful.  Each one was unique in its own way.  Allow me to tell you about them.

Agua Verde was one of these stops.  There, we snorkeled and  walked into the little fishing village, near the beach.  We bought some tortillas from the villagers.  We also gave them a bunch of Ramen packages we had of which one of our back packs was full.  Whenever you go to a little town in Mexico, it’s just courteous to give the people something in return for their hospitality.  Ramen is an ideal selection, because it’s really easy to cook and it didn’t hurt since we had way too much of it anyway.

Puerto Escondido was not a fun experience .  The anchorage was really rocky the whole time we were there.  We had to take the dingy to the little dock, getting really wet in the process, because we were running low on fresh food.  The RV park on shore was the closest place to get groceries and it wasn’t really close at all.  We had to walk there and back.  We had no car.  But it was worth it.  They had the best grape juice that I’ve ever had there.  Yes, it was definitely worth it.  Honeymoon Cove was fun.  We rafted up in the anchorage with our friends on Baloo.  We decided to have a barbecue so we wouldn’t heat up the boat more than it already was by using the oven.  It wasn’t rocky at all and that was heaven after the last two nights.  Puerto Ballandra was really interesting.  We put up our spinnaker pole so it was horizontally sticking out of the mast.  We  attached a rope to the end, which we swung on.  We started on the boat and then swung out over the water and dropped right in.  We also met a guy named Kevin.  He was on the boat, “Well Deserved.”  So we “hung out” with him while we were there.

Then we stopped in Loretto for a day.  We had lunch in the town with Baloo and walked around for a bit.  Isla Coronado is next.  We all went snorkeling with some of the other people anchored near us.  Then went to a little beach party with our friends.  The family, except my two older siblings, got in the dingy and went cruising around the point.  We found some really interesting rock formations.  One was in the shape of a duck, another like a rabbit, and still another shaped like a man’s profile.

San Juanico followed.  There my brother and I went snorkeling.  The anchorage started to get some waves so we moved to the north anchorage.  It was perfectly calm, which means a perfect night’s sleep. Bahia Conception was a mixture of interesting events.  There was an RV park right on the beach and a little restaurant.  We spent a lot of time at the little restaurant, because it was in the shade and not nearly as hot as the boat.  Our friends on Baloo were there also and, on Brian’s birthday, we were going to go into town for a little party, but our ride never came so we had spaghetti on their boat, instead.  We went across the anchorage one day and went claming with Baloo and our other friends on the boat, “Fairwind.”  We had clams for every meal of every day, for about a week.  Another day, we went on a hike ashore to see some petroglyphs.  They were carved into some of the rocks on the side of our trail.  There was also a really interesting rock, called “Bell rock.”  When you strike it with another rock, it makes a sound like a church bell.

Santa Rosalia was next.  Well, while we were sailing there, we ran out of fuel.  So we had to sail into Santa Rosalia with no engine.  We had the help of a few dinghies from the people in the marina.  We rested for awhile and then explored the town.  There were some unusual things there.  One of their churches was metal and their houses were made of wood, which you don’t find very often in Mexico.  We also visited the local copper mine site.  The mine had been shut down a long while ago.  There was a museum that talked all about it.  The museum also had old machines that the early businesses of Santa Rosalia used, such as telephones, sewing machines, typewriters, and old switchboards. We learned a bit about early Mexico.

At Isla San Marcos we had a Fourth of July party.  All the people in the anchorage piled on the boat, “Tortuga.”  We had hors d’oevres and made toasts to our country’s independence, even though we were in Mexico.

Then we were finally in San Carlos.  While we were readying the boat for a five month interval of our not being with it, we met some fellow teenagers.  We “hung out” with them until the time we left.  During this time, my Dad had gone up to the States, alone, to buy us a car.  He came back with a van, a really nice one, too.  We packed up the car and headed north.

We drove past the border and  headed for Chandler, Arizona, where one of our friends lives.  We visited with them for a bit and caught up with the old news.  Then we headed north through Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.  We stayed in hotels the whole way.  We visited the Grand Tetons Park and also Yellowstone National Park.

Then we headed across the next border into Canada.  We visited Banff for the third time.  We went to our favorite restaurant in Banff, the Grizzly House.  They serve unusual food, such as venison(deer), buffalo, ostrich, alligator, and caribou.  My favorite’s the venison and the ostrich.  Banff is also an ideal place to go shopping, if you have a lot of money.  It also has the best coffee bar I have ever been.  It’s called “Evelyn’s Coffee Spot.”  It’s really cozy and has the best mochaccino coffee I have ever had.  It was also great to have there, because it warms you right up when you are window shopping.  It was freezing in Banff and it was still the summer,  the very end of it, but still summer.  Kamloops is next.  Isn’t that a funny name?  Anyway, nothing really happened there.  We saw Star Wars: Episode 1, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and The Haunting.  That is about it.

Then we drove into Washington state and visited Monica, Brian, and Peter on Baloo, who were, then, house-sitting for their parents in Seattle.  We spent a day and night with them.  We headed for Victoria to visit some other friends.  We got a hotel room near the marina, in which they were living.  Some of us stayed in the hotel room and the rest spent the night with our friends.  They showed us around Victoria and introduced us to some of their other friends.  We all had a really fun time hanging out together.  I think that visit was my favorite place during the time we were out of Mexico.

We looked around Port Angeles and decided that, if we wanted to live in just one place again, it would be a nice place to do so.  It is a really nice area.  We then drove through the Washington state rain forest and stayed by the beach for a few days, which was really nice.  I love the ocean.  Then we drove down to San Francisco.

There we visited our relatives, which was really fun.  I hadn’t seen them in a year.  I loved seeing them again.  We stayed with my Dad’s parents for awhile and then we stayed with my Mom’s afterward.  My Dad’s parents went on vacation for three weeks and we house-sat for them.

My aunt’s best friend was also in need of a house-sitter so we headed down to New Mexico to help her out.  On the way we visited some friends we hadn’t seen in a long time in Ventura.  That was fun.  We continued on to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where we are now.  We have been house-sitting for our aunt’s friend for about four weeks.  The area is pretty nice and we’re having an ok time.

In the future we are house-sitting again for some friends in Redwood City, California, for awhile.  It is actually perfect, all the house-sitting, because we really don’t have anywhere else to stay.  Our relatives would help us out but we already stayed with them.  After Redwood City our calendar is somewhat blank.

Well, hope you enjoyed!  Talk again next time.

 

JOURNEYS END…REFLECTIONS

June 2000

Living on a boat my whole life(14 years) isn’t really the big adventure everyone makes it out to be.

For eleven out of fourteen years, on Shadowfox,  I lived almost like everyone else.  I just didn’t live on land. I went to public school with my friends even though I had to drive a half an hour every morning to get there. You could consider that somewhat normal.  Right?  I did all the things other kids did.  I had the problems of every normal teenager and then some. I worried about peer pressure and how school was going and my life threatening problems, like did my hair look OK and did my nail polish match my outfit?  How normal can you get.

There are many things that I remember and miss from my life back in California, so I’ll tell you about a few.  First, when I was little we used to take weekly trips out to the bay.  We would either stay at Treasure Island or Angel Island in the anchorage.  We couldn’t go to shore on Treasure Island so we just enjoyed the view from the boat. But on Angel Island we always went ashore and hiked to the summit of the mountain atop the island.

Then there was Christmas.  We had four annual Christmas celebrations.  One at my Dad’s parents house one at the marina with all our fellow yachters, one at home on boat lastly at my mom’s parent’s house.  Each one was so different in it’s own way.  One would be formal, and one would be casual.  One would be homey and one would elegant.  One with Christmas caroling and one with looking for the first star.  But all were so special in their uniqueness.  Another thing I miss is never having a weekend free (I know that sounds weird) because we would have soccer games or track meets or gymnastics or baseball.  Everyone was doing something different.  Our whole family, sometimes even our grandparents, would be decked out on the grass or in the bleachers, wherever we happened to be.  We would bring the half times snacks and ice water to pour on the players when they got too hot.  I loved it.  It was great having the people you love cheering you on.

This next thing was really horrible.  It may sound stupid but to me it wasn’t.  I had this stuffed animal bear, her name was Beary (of course) and once when we were sailing the wind caught a hold of her and swept her overboard.  I was crushed.  I had had that bear since I was a baby. She couldn’t talk so she always listened.  That is the best kind of friend there is.  I missed her a lot.

What I don’t miss is having all my friends a half an hour away and if you wanted to take a shower you had to walk up the dock and then up the ramp to the public bathrooms.  If you think about it our lives were never really in Alameda they were in Concord, Walnut Creek, Lafayette, and Marin County. Either for school, work, family, or friends.  But we did go to church in Alameda.

I remember when I used to tell people that I lived on a boat. They wouldn’t believe me until I showed them a picture.  Then they would ask a million questions.  Like: How big is it?  How do you fit seven people on that thing?  How many rooms are there?  Where do you sleep?  Do you have to share a room?  Do you have a TV?  Cable?  I would end up repeating myself over and over again.  Everyone wanted to know all about my exciting lifeliving on a boat.  Ha!  But they couldn’t help it.   The idea was so different to them.  But even so, after about an hour or two I’d be kicking myself for pressing the issue, that I did actually live on a boat.  Just thinking about it now makes me laugh.

Sometimes I missed the carefree life I had before we decided to sail down to Mexico.  All you had to think about was school and if you had too much hair-spray on or not enough.  I am not saying that people back there didn’t have problems or important things happening to them it’s just that things I thought were important back then are so different things from the things I think are important now.  I don’t know what did it, but I am so much more mature now and a lot stronger mentally.  The experiences I’ve had are amazing.  I learned to speak Spanish, without the verbs part, and that opened up many things for me.  I learned everything from the ancient Mexican culture to how many McDonald’s restaurants were close by.  I got to watch my sister bungee jump and I tried surfing and wake boarding but those just aren’t the sports for me.  If you had seen me you would understand.  Every town in Mexico was different.  The culture and even sometimes the language was a little different in each new place.

When we were just starting out cruising I was terrified of trying something new.  I complained non-stop for the first couple of months, but then I finally got it through my head that we weren’t going back and I would just have to accept that. After that day I started to enjoy the trip.  Everyday became more and more fun.  I remember the first time we snorkeled in Mexican waters.  The fish we saw were amazing and there were so many different kinds.  We were traveling alone until we met up with another boat in the Catalina Islands off the coast of California.  They had three kids on board and from then on we met more and more people.  We still write and even visit some of our friends from Mexico.  They all live in the U.S. of A.

My all time favorite place was Puerto Vallarta.  The marina was huge and we met tons of people and we had easy access to the club we went to every night.  It was areally good location.  We met most of our really good friends in Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.

My life now, in Sequim, Washington, is really great also.  But very different than both of my other ones.  I am once again stationed in one spot, but this time I don’t have to travel so much to see friends and both my parents work at home so they don’t have to commute either.  All our friends are awesome and really honest not at all like some of my old friends from California.  Yes, Sequim is a very small town, but that’s not so bad if your sick of all the body crushing crowds you find in the big cities.  We have a couple towns that are larger in the area so we aren’t completely isolated.  But the mall is an hours drive away which can be a big bother sometimes, unless you really need to get away from your parents and then its the best excuse.

It is somewhat overwhelming to know that we are actually staying here, in Sequim.  I have been traveling for so long it just feels like I am sitting at a stop sign and there are  too many cars going by and I just sit there and watch them all drive by.  I feel like I am stuck.  But I am finally getting used to it.

Next year I am going to public High School and that kinda scares me.  I have been in home-school for so long that I think I’ll get overwhelmed the first day I go back.

For juniors and juniors in Seqium there is a program called Running start that lets you get credits for both High School and College while going to one school.  I will be doing that when I am old enough.  I still don’t know what college I want to go to, but I think I still have time to think on that more before deciding.  I am only fifteen.

Anyway, for my conclusion to this extremely long update, I wouldn’t trade my experience in Mexico for anything.  But I am also happy to where all my traveling lead me. They lead me home.  To Sequim.  Which is now my home.  I just hope that I start thinking that way.  Whenever I say home I am usually talking about San Francisco.  But that will all change in just a few more months.  We have finally found a place in which we are comfortable and where we fit in.  I am content to live here with my family and friends.  I like Sequim.  But when I hit college I’ll be long gone!  Can’t wait!

Well, bye, for now and thanks for my journal!