Channeling energy. We bring in the sun's powerful rays with our solar panels and convert it to battery juice, that flows through so many devices, it's hard to list them all. From recharging the iPods, chilling our food stores, lighting us up at night, and to powering our navigation station, we distribute the juice at regular intervals. After being onboard for a few days, I saw my kids as little battery packs themselves. Mornings brought full power, mid-day heat made them glaze over, and then evenings, post-dinnertime, they were topped-off again. On Zen, we aggressively manage the batteries and the energy they store. It's woven into our daily rhythm. For example, if I want to recharge my Mac laptop, it happens in tandem with the sun's rays, in the daylight hours. It's the same for just about any juice-hogging device....daytime. As you may have read in Tom's entry of "Weight and Sea", the younger crew members are blowing through books like mad...yes, both of them. If anyone from St. Michael's Country Day is reading this, they can see my smile from Newport. But, are piles of literature, I don't know if "Butt Zombies from Uranus" can really be called 'literature', a good way for them to expend all their stored energy? Normally, I'd say "yes" every day of the week. With homeschooling as a new blip on our radar screens, we decided, as a floating democracy, to start our school year and let their morning energy flow into the pile of textbooks we toted along.

Both students had plenty of energy at 9:00 am. One finished schoolwork at 10:30 am and another at 12:30 pm. Can you guess which was which? 4th grade first, and 6th grade second. Did the teacher have enough energy to direct the student-juice? I sure did! It flowed from one student to another. While one was self-directing herself, the other was hearing me read a history lesson, all ending with a culmination of a full-on science lab of sea water, salt, flour and olive oil (yes....extra-virgin). Being a homeschool teacher was something I was dreading and looking forward to at the same time. As long as I am armed with all the right books and page numbers, my little ever-ready-battery-students are off and running.

Today was a day of small adventures and big ones. Thankfully, the small one was homeschooling. The big one was Devil's Bridge. At around 4:00p, we were all finished with our chores and ventured to shore. The objective was to hike around a natural bridge near a reef on the northern side of Antigua. Dirt roads are common and we discovered a beautiful one overlooking Nonsuch Bay. Kids cowered in the backseat as we propelled up, down and around. It ended with volcanic rock and crashing waves. It felt good to reach our objective and enjoy the natural scenic vista. Family batteries were running low and did I mention we were on a small, remote, peninsula? Going on a hiking adventure means tank tops, sandals, and no need to shave. That's how we looked when we drove to the new, exclusive, resort called The Verandah and requested a dinner table. Eyebrows raised, shoulders drooped and heads wagged in disapproval, but in the end, they seated the Burgess Crew, who were way outside dress code. We stuck out so much that we caught the attention of the Property Manager, Cedric. He came by our table, which was discretely placed far from other guests, to introduce himself. He made us feel welcomed with engaging conversation that ended with a tour of the hotel property...anything to get us out of his nice, classy restaurant....just kidding! If you are looking for nice vacation spot, the Verandah should be on your short-list. After a pitch black ride of navigating narrow, winding, unknown roads, all the while chanting "Stay to the left, stay to the left, stay to the left", we parked Row and Don's island buggy in the marina and dropped our adventurous, battery-depleted selves into our dinghy.

Tomorrow is another day of energy.