Union Island by Ella 15/01/09

We were anchored at Frigate Island on Union Island, we were swimming around the boat and I thought Jack was joking that he had seen a stingray, I had seen one two days before that he had missed. All I could see was something moving that looked like pebbles moving with the current. It started to surface and came close to me, that is when I realised it WAS a stingray, my second one in a week! It was a spotted eagle ray. I kept still, he came up past me and then changed direction and swam off. The tail was so long on this one that it kept moving upwards, it was much longer than the one I saw in Tobago Cays. Daddy thinks the size of the sting ray though was smaller than the previous one, but that this tail was much longer. We then saw a second sting ray, this was a smaller one still and was the cousin called the eagle ray, a grey coloured one. It was a really exciting swim.

We also had been sailing with everyone from Starblazer which was great fun. After school each day, Jack and I were allowed to play with Josie and Clemmie and we even had a BBQ and bonfire on the beach and body surfed in the water at night too. It is great sailing with another boat.

Union Island main town called Clifton was great fun too. By the dingy dock they had a shark pool with five sharks in. Jack and I loved to watch them each time we came in. At the bar there the tables had painted games on them and Jack and i often played checkers, it was brilliant.

Mayreau by Ella 07/01/09

I was really excited to get here because Mummy and Daddy had talked about this bay as they had said it was their favourite beach last time they were in the Caribbean. Salt Whistle Bay looked really cool because it was a horse shoe shaped beach and it looked lovely. There was only sand and no rocks or shells to hurt your feet so swimming from the beach was easy and fun. The water was all sorts of blues and we anchored so close to the beach I was able to swim to the shore and back to the boat. Jack and I played in the water so much here, we loved it. We really want to come back here when we turn round and start going back up north. There were palm trees every where by the side of the sand some were hanging over the sea and had their roots in the water. By the roots there were so many little fish that thought it was coral it was really easy for us to spot them. There were pelicans with their big slouchy beaks dive bombing into the water to catch the fish. We have read that after they dive bomb and come back out of the water, the water drains out of their beaks and then they can eat the fish they have caught.

Tobago Cays by Jack 09/01/09

Tobago Cays was fantastic because the snorkelling here was so good. We swam with four turtles for over half an hour, it was fantastic. I held Mummy’s hand for a lot of the time because the current was so strong and it kept trying to push us along futher than we wanted. The turtles had to keep coming up to the surface to breath and then they would swim back down to the sea bed to eat from the sea weed and plants, we followed them and watched all of this, I really loved it. We also took the dingy to a horseshoe reef and swam there over the coral on the sea bed. I love snorkelling but I was a bit nervous, we saw so many different types of fish in many different colours and different shapes as well as different types of coral. Mummy had told me not to touch the coral because it is not good for the environment and it can be very sharp and hurt us, so we kept away. Every time I saw a good fish that Mummy didn’t I would tap her and point to it and when she saw it she put her thumb up. We could not talk under the water and this is how we did it. Tobago Cays was great.
I was sad at Tobago Cays though because Ella saw a stingray right next to her. She screamed out ‘stingray’ and she said later that she was nervous but really excited too. Daddy was there near her and he was able to see it as well, they were both so pleased to have seen it, but it made me sad. I wish I had been in the water at that time too.

New Years Eve by Ella

Jack was not feeling well and I was worried about him: I kept checking his temperature and wetting a flannel to put on his forehead to cool him down. Daddy and I set off to set up the BBQ on the beach whilst Mummy looked after Jack and made the salads. When they arrived we ate some great chicken but Jack was not able to, he just sat there and did not even play any games. We built a beach fire after the BBQ, we put long sticks into the fire and watched our sticks burning, it was such good fun. Mummy had to take Jack back to the boat at 8pm as he really was not well. Daddy and I stayed on the beach and played beach games with everyone on Starblazer. We played Stuck in the Mud, Sharky Sharky and British Bulldog. They were really fun to play and it was harder than playing them on a playground as the beach had a slope into the sea and we also kept running into the water. It was harder too because when we played British Bulldog instead of tagging each other we wrestled the other one down onto the sand, it was so exciting. As we arrived back at Brimble just before midnight, the whole bay in Bequia became lit with beautiful fireworks, I loved the tall shooting ones that burst out in the sky with three different colours. This was the first New Year’s Eve I have celebrated, it was brilliant and I hope all the rest of my New Years Eve will be like it.

Christmas Day by Jack

I was sleeping in the saloon with Ella and woke up first on Christmas morning, I saw my pillowcase was full of presents, Father Christmas had found us, I felt fantastic! My favourite bit was when Ella and I crept into the forepeak to be with Mummy and Daddy to show them our stockings and to play with some of it. We opened the rest of the presents outside in the cockpit after breakfast in the hot sunshine, it was really really hot, but it still felt like Christmas. As a treat we snorkelled wrecks of two different boats in the bay that we were anchored in. We saw loads of fish, they were yellow and black stripped, later I found out they were called Sergeant major. It was so great I want to learn to scuba dive now. I enjoyed Christmas in Barbados but I really missed having to do the decorations on a real tree and all the excitement of a home Christmas.

The Atlantic by Jacobus

I felt really sad to be leaving my friends that I had made in Tenerife, but I also felt very brave because I knew that I was going to be doing a huge trip that I had never done before. On the first day it was a little bouncy on the boat and I felt sick for a little bit but then I had some tablets and after fifteen minutes I was alright again. When you walk on the boat when it is bouncy it moves you from side to side, it is really annoying, so we always have to hold onto something on the boat all the time, sometimes, but not often I would forget then I would fall over. Getting in and out of bed was really annoying too, it was really hard to do and weird. I had to sleep on the chart table for twenty-four days and it is high up so to get in can be bouncy and difficult making sure that I did not fall over or out of the bunk!

On the first day Daddy and Ella saw pilot whales, I was down below because that was when I felt sick, I was really upset and annoyed that I did not seen them. Daddy and Mummy also saw flying fish much before I did and that annoyed me too. Luckily on the second to last day I saw flying fish and I felt fantastic, it was amazing, I could not stop looking at them then, they were magical, like birds out of the water.

During the day we had to have school, which I did not want to do, it was difficult some of the work. We had school with Daddy before lunch and school with Mummy after lunch. When we had free time there was lots to do like playing on the DS, playing with my cars or building lego, drawing and making Christmas presents for everyone in secret. One thing I enjoyed very much every day in December was opening the advent calendars. It was the first thing I did every morning and it made me feel really Christmassy opening them. I could not wait to eat the chocolate and to see what picture I had behind each door. Dylan had sent me out the picture advent calendar, thank you Dylan, you are a good friend, I thought about you every day because of it. Auntie Nina had also sent out a little homemade Christmas tree and some decorations, we all oohed and aahed and were really pleased.

I was really really excited when I saw that we had caught a tuna. Daddy and I sliced it’s head off, there was loads of blood that came out, I liked to see that! Daddy took its guts out and I think I saw it’s pooh. Mummy cooked it straight away, I like fresh tuna better than tinned ( I don’t really liked tinned tuna) but mackerel is still my favourite fish.

An exciting thing happened to me on the boat, my tooth fell out! I was so excited but I was not sure if the tooth fairy would be able to find me or Brimble in the middle of the Atlantic, so I was very worried. In the morning I was so excited because the tooth fairy had come and taken my tooth and left me $5 Barbados. I do not how the fairy found me or how she knew I was going to Barbados but I was very happy.

In the middle of the trip I got bored because I was not doing very much, so I played with my cars lots. I dreamt of playing rugby and running, there was no space to run on Brimble, not really much space to walk even. We had a half way celebration and we were allowed to do whatever we wanted, we watched a DVD and ate popcorn and pancakes, it was great, we did not have school either. Ella and I were really happy.

We had a competition to see how many days it would take us to get to Barbados, I guessed 24.9 and Daddy guessed 25 days. It was really close and I was happy that I won and not Daddy as there was to be a big prize for the winner, if Ella won she was to have a scuba diving course in the Caribbean, Mummy was to take us all on a helicopter ride over the islands, Daddy was going to take us all to a hotel for the night and have a bed and a bath and if I won, which I did, I was to get a new game that I was desperate for my DS. I saw the lights on the island of Barbados in the distance and then went to sleep, in the morning, there was Barbados really close to us, we had sailed the Atlantic in under twenty five days and I had won the competition! But then I became scared because we had to moor Brimble in the commercial dock right next to this huge cruise ship called The World and she felt really really small next to such a big ship. I was scared because Brimble was being pushed against the harbour wall and we couldn’t hold her off very well. Daddy could not leave Brimble to check in and get our passports stamped so Ella and Mummy had to go and clear in and Mummy had to pretend to be the captain while Daddy and I looked after Brimble. I was scared she would break up and all our things would go in the sea, but they didn’t, Daddy got out the Uber fender and it helped save Brimble with us. We anchored in Carlise Bay, it looked fantastic, it was not rocky and Brimble now stopped bouncing, the water looked really clear compared to England, the colours were turquoise and light blue. We saw our other friends Starblazer and we all shouted and said hello. As soon as we anchored I jumped in the water from Brimble. It felt good to be in Barbados.

The Atlantic trip was shorter than I had expected and I could have carried on sailing but not for forty four days, well maybe I could if I was travelling around the whole world. I would like to cross the Atlantic again and maybe even with my own children, I think they would like it too.

My Atlantic Crossing by Ella

I felt really excited to be leaving Tenerife because we were going on a long trip. I also felt really nervous in case a storm came, in case it would lightning bolt the boat, but one never came. When we left Daddy and I saw pilot whales spouting - I felt really really happy it was a good way to start the trip.

The first day came and I felt really seasick. I threw up three times because I was not feeling well at all I stayed up on deck for quite a while in case I threw up again but I didn’t, I felt miserable though. Luckily I soon got better but not for long because I caught my Dad’s tummy bug, I felt awful again and this was my worst time on the boat, I felt even more worse when December 1st came as I was not allowed to eat my chocolate advent calendar as Mummy said my tummy might not be well enough for it. I kept asking to eat it, but the answer was always no.

Each day we had to have school. We began the day by waking up, having breakfast, then I would read for a bit and then Daddy would call us up on deck for school for spellings and math, it was weird having lessons on a rolling boat outside in the sunshine with nothing to see but sea. At lunchtime we had a daily competition to see who had the closest guess to what our average speed had been for the last twenty-four hours, Daddy and I were the ones to get it right most of the time. After we would go down below whilst Mummy and Daddy would swap watch, I would play on my DS and Jack would play with his cars, even though there was not much space for him he managed to play quite well on the small floor space. Soon after Mummy would call us for school again.
We had German with Mummy which I did not like much but sometimes we had German drawing competitions which was good fun. At dusk we would have a Harribou and chocolate feast and we would snuggle down in the saloon and listen to Narnia talking books, I loved snuggling all four of us. At night either both Jack and I or just one of us would go up on deck with Daddy whilst Mummy slept and had a night watch with him, this was my favourite part of the day. Daddy would read us the legends of the stars and then we would have to hunt the sky for them. It was such good fun. Sometimes too we would listen to the I pod and sing along before we had to go to bed - night night!

When we reached half way across the Atlantic we were allowed to have the day off school and to watch a film on the lap top, we watched a film we had wanted to see for ages, Prince Caspian, we had popcorn too, it smelt delicious. Mummy brought out some word searches and we completed those as well, it was fun. Mummy and Daddy put on a puppet show for us at night time called Flash Gordon Saves the Earth and then Jack and I had a puppet show for them called Colours, I enjoyed putting on a show.

After a while on the boat I did get a bit bored with doing the same things all the time, I wanted to be in the Caribbean, in Barbados, I just wanted to be there. I even dreamt about flying there and wishing that I had. I also dreamt about my room back home and my comfortable bed and duvet. When I would go up on deck it was awful because all I could see was the sea, no land, no ships and not many dolphins on this trip either, we only saw them twice. I just wanted to be there, I really did, it felt like we would never arrive. The nights were really difficult and I found it hard because it was so hot and sticky down below, I loved my bunk (bed) but, I could not get to sleep with the heat and always rolling from side to side. I used a water bottle to rub on my forehead to try and cool me down but it never really worked. Then I would get myself comfortable on leaning on one side of the bunk but then a wave would come and push Brimble and me to the other side and I would have to try and get comfortable all over again, this kept happening all through the night. Another thing that kept me awake were all the noises on the boat, the coke cans rolling, the glasses rattling, the tin cans banging, the waves bashing and the sail slamming, it was absolutely awful sleeping on Brimble on the Atlantic crossing.

Something else that annoyed me was that everyone else saw flying fish flying but I missed them every time, even though Mummy and Daddy said they flew out over the waves for ages I could never spy them. Many mornings we would find dead flying fish on the decks, this was because at night they cannot see the boat and when they fly they land on the decks. One morning we found such a tiny one, maybe two centimetres long, Mummy wondered if it was the fish’s first flying trip, we felt a little sorry for it. I did not like it though when I had to pick the fish up and throw them back into the water they were slimy and disgusting. I was amazed at their beautiful soft shimmering wings that were able to open up so gracefully. I am still hoping to see flying fish sometime in the Caribbean and will keep a good look out.

On the 24th morning I woke up and saw land, I was so excited I screamed for joy, I couldn’t believe we were finally here in the Caribbean. It had been a very long twenty-four days, it felt like about a hundred days. I am also off pasta for a while as we ate it so much on the trip! I was proud to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean, especially as all the other children we have met so far on their boats flew out to the Caribbean and missed this long sail. I would not really like to do such a long passage again. A five or ten day sail is OK but not twenty four days although if someone asked me to do it again because they wanted my company I would cross the Atlantic again.

As we came in to Carlise Bay in Barbados we saw our good friends on Starblazer, they cheered to see us and cried for joy, no one was sure if we would make it in for Christmas as we were the smallest boat to do the crossing, but we had! As we anchored two turtles popped up as if to welcome us in to the Caribbean, it was fantastic and we were all so happy, I could not stop smiling. The water was as hot as it could be and the water was also light light blue and the beach was a golden sand colour which when I walked on it later cooled my feet. It was great to be able to swim to the beach from our boat. I was glad to have reached land.