The plane touched the ground and came to a stop. My dad hopped into the dinghy and motored over to the airport. About 10 minutes later I saw a blue speck in the distance. I looked through my binoculars and saw them. It was my friends, Conner and Teagan!

My name is RJ Pimentel, and I'm 3 months into a 2-year sailing trip. I live on a 47-foot catamaran with my mom, Jane, my dad, Rodney, and my brother, Leo. Connor is my friend from Alameda, where our house is. Teagan is his younger sister, Steve is their dad and Clare is their mom.
My family and I started our trip in St. Lucia, a small island in the Caribbean, then went up to Martinique, then to Dominica, then to the Saintes, then to St. John, then to St. Thomas, then to Virgin Gorda, then to St. Marten, then to St. Barts, and back to Simpson Bay, St. Marten. That's where the plane touched the ground.
I was incredibly happy when Connor finally stepped onto the boat. It was 6:30 at night so we didn't have much time to talk before bed. The next day we left St. Marten and sailed to St. Barts were we spent much time jumping off the boat and playing on the beach. We didn't have all day, though, because we spent 2 or 3 hours getting there. Once it was 5:00, we had screen time, ate dinner, and then went to bed at 9:00. The next day we got up early so we could finish school and have more time to play. After school, we went on a small hike to another beach called Flamands. The waves were huge, sometimes getting as high as 7 feet. We body boarded for about a half hour, and then we hiked back. The next day we went around to a diving spot. I had gotten certified about 3 weeks before, and I was ready to dive again. We went to a rock and hopped in. It was pretty fun, and we saw some cool things like lobster and barracudas. We got out and finished the day with a movie. On the 4th day, we went back to Flamands, except this time we went for 3 hours. It was INSANE. I almost didn't make it back I was so tired. We then had dinner and went to bed. Days passed in similar patterns, until one day we came back to Simpson Bay to drop them off at the airport.
The plane turned around on the runway. It started to pick up speed, until it lifted itself off the ground and started to fly. "There they go", I said, and the plane disappeared into the horizon.

Leo's paragraph:
Connor and Teagan from Alameda CA came to visit us on our boat. We sailed with them to St. Maarten and to St. Barts. In St. Barts we went on a hike and discovered cacti, a tortoise, lizards, hermit crabs and lava rocks. After the hike, we arrived at Flamands beach. The beach had some of the biggest waves I have ever bodysurfed. During the exciting week we jumped off the boat many times. Snorkeling was one of our favorite things to do . When we were snorkeling we saw a black spotted eel and Connor saw a barracuda. I'm glad they came to the Caribbean to visit us.

And - new photos in the gallery....