Our Great Adventure

25 December 2009 | North Sound, Virgin Gorda, BVI
23 December 2009
23 December 2009 | en route
23 December 2009 | All over really
22 December 2009 | BVIs
21 December 2009 | The sunny Caribbean VI's
20 December 2009
20 December 2009 | Soper's Hole & The Indians
18 December 2009 | White Bay, Jost Van Dyke
18 December 2009 | Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI
18 December 2009 | Jost Van Dyke
17 December 2009 | Waterlemon Cay, St. John
15 December 2009 | Leinster Bay, St. John
14 December 2009 | Francis Bay, St. John
13 December 2009 | Redhook, St. Thomas
10 December 2009 | Hansen Bay, St. John
09 December 2009 | Cruz Bay, St. John
08 December 2009 | Coral Bay, St. John
07 December 2009 | Salt Pond Bay
06 December 2009 | Great Lameshur Bay, St. John

Final reflections

11 August 2010 | Yarmouth, Maine
the four of us
Our world is large. We experienced a bit of it.

Favorite Place:
Hannah- Dominica, Marie Galante, Martinique and Saba in the Caribbean
Man-O-War Cay, Big Majors and Black Point in the Bahamas
Hayden- Dominica, Saba and Farmer's Cay
Peter- Dominica for local culture, food and mountains
St. Pierre, Martinique for access to Mt. Pelee and great French
pastries
Exumas for water clarity, snorkeling, etc.
Christine- Dominica or Saba, but the Bahamas for R and R

Favorite Animal:
Hannah- green sea turtles and sargeant major reef fish
Hayden- all lizards
Peter- mahi leaping out of the water with their iradescent colors
Christine- sea turtles

I will never forget...
the time Dad lost the spear and the hogfish (Hayden)
sipping coffee and looking at/for turtles (Christine)
the sargeant majors mibbling on my fingers and touching sea turtle (Hannah)
hiking Mt. Pelee, spearing grouper with interested sharks, Hayden's tumble in the jungle on Nevis, sugar cane and agricole rhum in Marie Galante (Peter)

What is that smell?

30 June 2010 | Camden Harbor
Christine
I can not even count the times that one of us said, "Uggh, what is that smell?" when opening the fridge on the boat! We would then clean it out, look for the offending food/fish/veggie whatever...Towards the end of our adventure, there was a lingering odor that we couldn't locate. Even the cans (beer, soda) had taken on this smell...
Today, Peter emptied out the entire fridge. He found the super, incredibly smelly remains of some small grunt that Hayden had speared in a baggie (just one, not even double bagged!) Gross!

Camden Bound

29 June 2010 | Dix Island to Camden Yacht Club dock
Christine
Foggy motor back to Camden.
Packing up, cleaning up, preparing to move off our HOME.
Many feelings, mixed feelings.
Family and friends to see,
A boat for sale, a home for sale really.
Lots of work to make it all happen...
Land life, transitioning-
How will it go?

Last Day

28 June 2010 | Dix Island
Christine
foggy day
lazy day
last day on the boat
reading day
small project day
buy more lobster day
play cards day
reflect on this adventure day
watch the lobster boats day
listen to the ospreys day
watch the ducks duck day

The journey to Dix Island

27 June 2010 | Dix Island
Christine
What a day! It was a calm, chilly, quiet day as we motored up to Dix Island. The water, grey and flat, held no secrets. Any wake was instantly visible. Seaweed on the surface showed its bits of flotsam effortlessly. You could look out to sea for miles. Being at the helm enabled me to peruse these waters. It was the kind of day I call a "good day for whales."
As it turned out, it was a good day for seals too. I spotted the biggest bull seal I have ever seen. He was just off our port and did not spook as we neared.
Minutes later, I called out, "Whale!" A black fin had broken through the glassy waters to our starboard. We were treated to three more sightings of this long, black back and fin as the whale exhaled and took breaths before diving under again.
Once at Dix Island, we hiked and explored. High Island nearby has a huge granite pier. Fresh, local lobster was on the menu for dinner!

Visiting Altair's Homeport

26 June 2010 | Maple Juice Cove
Christine
Stolen Hour ventured up river today to the beautiful, peaceful waters that Rick and Julie of s/v Altair call home. It was a great day spent with friends- touring their lovely, craftsman style home in this picturesque spot! Sharing lunch and conversation, and last, but certainly not least, the WORLD CUP match...the US lost to Ghana in overtime!
Sunday morning we took a l-o-n-g dinghy tour in search of the house from Wyeth's painting "Christina's World." Once located, we made the short trek up the path/road to check it out.
Vessel Name: Stolen Hour
Vessel Make/Model: J/44
Hailing Port: Yarmouth, Maine
Crew: Peter, Christine, Hannah, & Hayden
About: Peter grew up sailing the waters of Penobscot Bay. Christine grew up day sailing on a lake in Texas. Blue water sailing came later. Hannah & Hayden have been sailing since they born. Cruising is a family passion!
Extra:
This "great adventure" has been in the works for many years. Twenty years ago Peter did the Caribbean 1500 with friends. He then sailed with a family on their cruising adventure. From these experiences came the determination to one day "set sail for a year" with his own family. The question has [...]
Stolen Hour's Photos - Main
Sail from Puerto Rico to Bahamas and time spent in Exumas
69 Photos
Created 28 April 2010
Culebra, Vieques, and Puerto Rico
68 Photos
Created 27 April 2010
Les Saintes & St. Croix
60 Photos
Created 27 April 2010
Martinique & Portsmouth, Dominica
84 Photos
Created 22 March 2010
Martinique
125 Photos
Created 10 March 2010
Dominica (anchored in Roseau)
64 Photos
Created 4 March 2010
Saba, St. Kitts, Nevis, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante
114 Photos
Created 17 January 2010
BVI's (2nd time), St. Martin/Maarten, Saba
124 Photos
Created 15 January 2010
Caribbean 1500 & Virgin Islands
121 Photos
Created 12 November 2009
107 Photos
Created 29 September 2009
Photos from Falmouth, Maine to Oyster Bay, LI
92 Photos
Created 19 August 2009