Myrtle Beach, SC

A quick hello from Myrtle Beach. Today got off to a chilly start due to a passing cold front, but thanks to the water temperature being quite a bit warmer than this morning's air temperature, we got to see several alligators swimming along side our boat.

Have a look for yourself.

Memorial Day Weekend & Charleston's Piccolo Spoleto Festival

We had a fun weekend in Charleston over Memorial Day Weekend with Grandma Janet and Grandpa Carl. Let’s just say the kids took full advantage of their situation - hotel sleep-overs, trips to Starbucks every morning, etc...

Here’s a photo album from our time in Charleston, including our participation (sort of) in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Charleston's local version of Spoleto USA. The sailboat that was to be a part of an opening night performance taking place at our marina - by a group called Aqua Mundi - had engine trouble. As a result, Jubilee accompanied the trawler sent in at the last minute as an “under-study” for an evening sail so that the performers could make an appropriate entrance for their opera/poetry reading.

Our role was rather minimal, but the boys got to ride on the trawler with the Italian performers which they thought was quite fun (apparently, there were cookies). Also, it was a lovely evening for a harbor tour.

Georgia Coast & Southern South Carolina

Here are photos taken as we have traveled from North Florida to Cumberland Island, Georgia, and on to Beaufort, South Carolina. We’ve had a great time revisiting some favorite spots as well as exploring new ones.

The kids especially enjoyed their return visit to Cumberland Island to see the wild horses and turkeys. They also loved stopping off for a visit with Uncle Sam and Aunt Joy in Beaufort where they got to swim and test-drive various 4-wheeled forms of transportation.

The Georgia/South Carolina portions of the ICW are incredibly scenic and we’ve had great weather in which to enjoy the views - windy enough most days to deter the pesky no-see-ums and horse flies that are prevalent this time of year; amazing sunrises and sunsets; and a lightening show or two from thunderstorms that have passed just far enough north or south of us not to be an issue.

We had one rather “mucky” day near Fredricka, Georgia... Pat had to rescue Expedition and his crew from the dinghy dock at Fort Fredricka which becomes “dry” (really mushy mud) at low tide. The tidal range in Georgia is 7-9 feet in most areas, so you really have to pay attention to the time. That’s hard when you’re in the midst of earning a junior ranger badge!

We’re especially grateful to the Davis’s who live nearby and allowed us to use their private dock - one that stays mud-free - to reunite so that only Pat had to get knee-deep in the muck.

The same goes for the couple we became acquainted with last Sunday when we were anchored near Doboy Island. What with theirs being the only home in sight, Pat was very hopeful that Ms. Jackie, the shrimp boat tied up at their dock, would have a spare bolt we desperately needed to replace one that sheared off our alternator that morning when Pat was tightening a belt - it did!

These and other great people we’ve met have been a real complement to the scenery.

Up the Florida Coast

Here is a photo album from our travels up the Florida coast, from Vero Beach to Titusville to St. Augustine and stops in between. We’ve seen lots of wildlife - dolphins, manatees, and even a wild boar.

We met up with our friends Don, Heesook and Christopher from Patience V in Titusville and have continued our north-bound travels with them during the past week or so.

Mothers’ Day was quite a blow-out... there were sustained winds of 25 knots with gusts as high as 40 on the ICW! The weather calmed down the following day, but lessons were canceled none-the-less... Jake & Emily celebrated their 9th birthdays and asked for the day off.

We did manage to sneak in a social studies lesson... a field trip to Fort Matanzas where the kids earned yet another set of Junior Ranger badges and had a great time.

Reports from the Field: Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge

The last time we passed through Titusville, Florida, we visited Kennedy Space Center. This time on our way through the area, we decided to check out NASA’s neighbor... the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. The two entities share land in a strange but effective partnership between nature and technology. Our field reporters took the opportunity to research some local wildlife and bring you these reports from the field.

Turtles, by Jake
Hi, I’m Jake. Did you know five of the eight types of sea turtles live in Florida? Turtles can live to the age of parrots - that means old! Turtles lay 40,000 to 70,000 nests in Florida annually. Some travel thousands miles to feed or nest. Once they lay eggs they have to incubating for two months. Then the two inch turtles hatch.

When they hatch its clean up and lights out if you live near a beach so the turtles don’t get mixed up or blocked on there way to the water. Did you know that the heat of the egg tells if there girls or boy? It does - warm = girl and cool = boy. The End.

Manatees, by Emily
Hi. I am Mary the Manatee!!!! Millions of years ago I was a four foot long land animal, and I sher ate a lot, but on land I got to see my closest reletiv... the elephant! Now here is my friend Emily. She will tell you some facts.

Hi. I am Emily. Manatees have a lot of morlers - that’s teeth for manatees. Do you know what the morler march is? Manatee teeth grow back to front and once their at the front they fall out. Manatees eat lots of sea grass. They eat for 8 to 10 hours a day. They have to breath air every 3 to 5 minutes so they swim to the surface for that. The End.

More about Manatees, by Drew
The manatee is a relative of the elephant. It was around 1,000 years ago. The manatee is a herbavore that lives mostly in Florida and Georgia. When they surface they look like logs or rocks. Sometimes people in boats hit manatees when they surface. If the manatee is hurt, it may have to go to a manatee hospital to get nursed back to health. In a year, it takes $27,000 to feed one of them.

People could save a lot of money if we take care of the manatees by going slow in manatee areas and not polluting the water they live in. If we take care of the manatees we take care of ourselves too. Manatees and people need the same things to live - clean air and clean water and healthy food to eat.

Behind the Blog: Homeschooling

It sounds so simple, in theory, just a few hours of lessons each day; the opportunity to really customize your children’s learning experience; explore their special areas of interest; and best of all - lots of field trips!

Theory is easy; application... not so much. Here’s the text book version of homeschooling on Jubilee -

The kids wake up and do their silent reading for 30 minutes, without having to be reminded (or bribed) and without “watching the clock”.

Next comes math, which we have indeed customized to meet the needs of our class of three very different learners.

Jake sometimes sits in with Drew for math. He’s all about speed so he’s hard to keep busy! Plus he’s quite good with numbers... something Drew finds quite useful. Drew is also very good with numbers but none the less enjoys it when Jake shouts out the answer to things like 7x9 before he has to come up with it on his own.

Emily has checked out quite a number of different “strategies” for learning her multiplication tables (e.g. skip counting, fact families, various types of grouping). She’s still searching for right strategy!

Lesson three is either grammar, spelling or writing. Jake & Emily do their grammar together, but it’s easy to tell their workbooks apart... Emily prides herself on her neat penmanship! Jake, no, not really. Drew tends to opt for spelling if given the choice; he finds almost anything more interesting than direct objects and simple predicates.

We finish up with a group lesson in social studies, science or geography using Drew’s textbooks and focusing on the places we’re visiting as much as possible. Dad’s the science guy. I handle most the other subjects, calling him in as needed for small group study. (Pat says he’ll be stepping up more once the kids start studying the death penalty in America; that or sail trimming - whichever comes first.)

That’s it... 4 lessons a day. Our motto: If it takes more than 3 hours, you’re wasting your own time.

Okay, so here’s where the theory breaks down -

Sometimes the kids wake up and reach for their Nintendo DS’s instead of their books.

Sometimes in lieu of compositions, we settle for postcard writing because it’s way faster and less painful for everyone.

Sometimes we take days off for no apparent reason.

Once, Pat taught a math lesson that equated to teaching the kids to play blackjack. Not sure how that’s going to help them on a standardized test, but it does have some value as a life-skill.

Sometimes the kids do not actually apply what they are learning in one area... say spelling and grammar... to what they are doing in another such as their writing. I often wonder how many hundred more times I’m going to have to explain what a Proper Noun is and why it deserves to be CAPITALIZED. I can’t even talk about possessives without feeling the urge to poke my eyes out with the kids’ pencils! (Note my use of a plural possessive here.)

Often, we wonder what other boats might overhear if they are close enough to catch the conversations coming from our cabin some mornings...

“Yes, Jake, today is Saturday, and yes we are still doing lessons.”

“Yes, Drew, we’re going to multiply fractions AGAIN today... maybe even tomorrow.”

“Emily, honey, let’s not worry so much about art to go along with your story title... let’s focus on the story.”

“Finish your math, or I’m not making pancakes!”

“Pat, direct objects... look it up if you don’t remember what they are! It’s not like I’m asking you to diagram the whole sentence!”

Is it time for a field trip yet????????

We're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!

Well we finally made it back to the good old U.S. of A.!! After checking out a great Bahamian festival at Green Turtle Cay, we decided to start making some tracks westward toward the states. Here's a photo album from Green Turtle's 5th Annual Island Roots Heritage Festival, where the kids competed quite successfully in a number of games.

As it turned out, the weather was really favorable the day we left Green Turtle; the winds were in the right direction; and the States kept getting closer. So, we just kept on going. We left the Abacos on Sunday morning at about 6:15 a.m.. When we next stopped, thirty plus hours later, we were 180 miles along and moored in Vero Beach, Florida.

Since Jo and the kids were down below during most of the night, I spent the 30 hours at the helm. It is not like anyone really slept though. The seas in the Gulf Stream were still a bit lumpy and everyone was pretty anxious given that this was our first overnight sail on the boat. Yes, it was as exhausting as it sounds. But we got in to Florida at about noon and after a three hour nap the family had me up and running out to Nino's Pizza in Vero for our first really good meal out in four months.

During our crossing of the Gulf Stream we marked the approximate middle of the stream and launched another message in a bottle. The picture at the top of the post is of Emily working on the note and preparing the bottle. Jake was awake at 3:30 a.m. and so he got to toss the bottle overboard into the stream.

Hopetown to Green Turtle

Hello again!! We're still in the midst of our whirlwind tour through the Abacos. It is definitely a different scene compared to the Exumas. The Jubilee crew is convinced that the Exumas are a lot more our style. Things are more developed up here and opportunities to fish and snorkel just haven't been presenting themselves as easily as they did in the Exumas.

But, we still have been seeking out the beaches and many of them have been gorgeous. Sailing in the Sea of Abaco has been another big plus. The water is relatively calm and we've been able to have some fantastic sails (ie. reading a good book with the autopilot on). Yesterday we passed through the Whale Cay Channel. It is one of the more challenging spots in the Abacos. Luckily the weather and tides were right and we slipped down the channel along with quite a few six foot rollers. Not book reading conditions but a pretty fun sail.

We'll be checking out the heritage festival being held on Green Turtle Cay today and then we'll be deciding on where to head next. With the calm weather predicted ahead it looks like we may be making our jump back to the states pretty soon. As always, we'll keep you posted. And for now enjoy some more photos from our trip.