Have you ever gotten stung by a bee before? If you have you will understand how it feels. I was visiting my cousin Michelle at her grandmothers house. We were clearing out the back yard to help make room for our TeePee's. Her grandmother decided that pulling the weeds was too slow and that the weed wacker would do a better job.
When she went to cut a large fern suddenly she was attacked by yellow jacket bees. Michelle and I ran into the house to get water to wash the bees off her grandmother. Stung many times she fled into the house taking us with her. I got stung two times one on my hand and one on my leg. Michelle didn't get stung thankfully. We rushed to the emergency room in order to make sure Michelle's grandmother was all right. The Doctor told her everything was going to be fine. It was quite an exciting day!

Alex my nephew had a great time aboard the boat. He and Stevie spent the night camped out in the tent on the bow. It was great to see the boys together doing what my cousins and I would have done at their ages.

When we first talked about kids & sailing we decided that it was paramount they be strong swimmers. After weeks of swim classes in Portland each year the kids would quickly forget the lessons learned in the pool. This was mainly because we were busy and unable to get the kids to the pool daily. In frustration we hired Maggie Cameron a private swim coach to give the kids one on one lessons. They built confidence in their swimming skills. And yet even after Maggie's excellent lessons when Ben and I arrived in the islands he only swam off the end of the boat tentatively. Ben 's first trips to the coral reefs off ST John were punctuated with quick returns to the dingy. He was concerned about the long spined urchins covering the reef.
I had brought my dive fins down from Portland and after one day swimming Ben asked when he could get a pair. I had thought to have him swim for a couple weeks to build up his muscles. Yet the next day we passed a dive shop in Cruz Bay and we picked up a pair of swim fins. He could not wait to try them out in the water so we went snorkeling when we got back t the boat. Immediately he was all over the bay. He could swim faster, farther and longer than ever before and suddenly the ocean was his.
We repeated the same process with Juli and Stevie. Each child swam for a few days without fins to warm up to the water and then we bought them fins. Any timidity about the water disappeared when they put the fins on. Now when friends come to visit with kids we put fins on the kids straight away. It is really amazing the transformation that takes place and how much more fun swimming is with fins.
This photo taken by his Aunt shows Benjamin surfacing after a deep dive. We had purchased a proper mask and snorkel for him as his old mask leaked. Spending as much time as we do in the water it became critical that the kids have good gear.

Just down the dock from where we tied up our dingy was a fisherman cleaning his days catch. As he gutted each fish he tossed the waste to the schooling nurse sharks. Some of which were nearly six feet in length. These sharks moved with grace and caution around each other showing none of the feeding frenzy we so often hear about. Stevie and Ben were very much interested in these animals. We were able to get quite close to the sharks without getting into the water with them. Yes, fortunately the kids did manage to come home with all their limbs still attached. It really was a great experience even if the familiar music from Jaws played in the back of my mind the rest of the afternoon.

One of the wonderful changes I have witnessed in the kids is their expanding sense of wonder at the life in the ocean. Their courage has grown when swimming with marine life. Where once they avoided shallow waters full of sea urchins and fire coral they now swim right up to the reef. If there is a cave or arch under water the swim through it. Both Ben and Juli are capable of free diving to nearly 18 feet. This puts them in the range of seeing most of the wonderful life on the reefs.

Ben is thrilled with the idea of moving aboard. There is alot of time to read which he loves to do. He will be in charge of the inflatable tender we have, a big responcibility for a 10 year old. We will be working closely together on projects to make the dingy easier to bring ondeck and tow behind OmarSea. He is also an avid fisherman and we are looking forward to our fist Mahi Mahi dinner caught by him.

Juli is realy excited to go sailing. She is at home in a bathing suit in the water poking around for sea creatures. She has a very natural way with animals and is curious about the world around her. Keep a lookout for her logbook as it will be full of entertaining pictures and paintings.

Jean ready to cast off those lines and head for adventure on the high seas.

Having lived aboard for nearly 10 years Jean is a seasoned cruiser and a wonderful first mate.

Stevie figures its a pirate life for him. As crew goes he is definately layed back. Just finishing 1st grade this spring he is becoming an avid reader like his brother. He is very gifted with computers and electonics. Has a knack for figuring complicated things out and is intent on becomming the 1st ever seven year old dive master. We are putting Stevie in charge of the snorkle opps which we plan to launch each afternoon.