Hello world this is Tara and Amelia!

The last few days have been a blast. Tara, Kayvon and Martha came down on the 23rd and from then on it has been fun fun fun. So we picked up those peeps and headed down to Greeeeeeeeeeeeen Island. When we got there we had a fan-tab-ulos time. We went over to the beach and had a huge star fish race!

We named the star fish Jimmy, Bobby, Timmy, Sophie and Julia. Jimmy and Julia were an item! Where ever one went the other went! Bobby ended up winning the race though. The next day we went to the cocooooooooooobandaras. We swam and had a big camp fire.

A few days later we went to the Holidays Cays. On our way to the Holidays Cays, we hit a pretty big storm. A lot of us got sea sick and had to lie down.

Amelia and I went down to another boat when we were giving away earrings. Then on the boat we met three really nice ladies. They told us about an amazing snorkeling place, so the next day that's where we headed. We took 2 trips there. The girls went first and the boys went second. I think the girls' trip was better. We saw 3 sting rays and a crab and a lobster. We even saw a neon fish.

When the boys got back, Kayvon had a huge sting on his knee. It was red and swollen, with little white dots. We looked up "coral stings" in a medical manual because that's what Kayvon thought he had. So we soaked his knee in vinegar and put ice on it. Soon enough the swelling went down. So now we sit here writing a blog. (Mom made us.)

Friends

This morning Martha, Kayvon and Tara arrived. The flew into the tiny island of Nargana, on a tiny plane and unfortunately we weren't yet there to meet them. Everyone got off the plane and away they all went on boats there to meet them and away the plane flew and there stood Martha, Kayvon and Tara, alone and in the middle of nowhere with nothing else around them except for a runway and a dock and wondering...."Where are the Perry's?"

We arrived about 15 minutes later and anchored in front of the runway. We saw the 3 of them sitting on the dock waiting for us. We all jumped for joy. We got the motor on the dinghy and Alex and Graham raced over to the dock to grab them. It was so wonderful to see the three of them. I actually even teared up....of course. It is just so overwhelmingly cool to have friends come so far to visit us. I really can't thank them enough.

They arrived and after the grand tour we had our capuccinos and a yummy fruit cocktail cake that Amelia had made. We then picked up anchor and headed out to our first paradise island. It is really cool to share our life on the water with them and see the excitement and wonder in their eyes with each new experience. I think sometimes we forget how lucky we are. This is such a nice reminder.

Before the anchor had hit the sand the kids were in their swimsuits with snorkels in hand and ready to go. I had to hold them back and make them wait til Graham and I had the boat set in position. Once it was, away they went to the island. Once the adults had all caught up to them, we found them holding a very large star fish. Kayvon had it in his hands and the kids were getting the tentacles to stick to them. I obviously had to take a picture.

Then as we are standing in the clear water, we see behind Tara this fish start jumping, jumping, jumping....it was obviously being chased. All of us are pointing and saying OMG....poor Tara we scared the beegeesies out of her. She didn't know what was behind her. Then in the clear water you could see the Barracuda chasing the fish. It was really cool.

Back at the boat we had the Kuna Indians canoe up with some lobster for sale. We decided it sounded like a great dinner option and $8 dollars later we had two nice lobsters and wondering..."What now?". Graham put them in a container we had and away they went in the fridge. They made for an amazing dinner.

We have really squeezed every last drop of pure enjoyment out of this day. It is hard to imagine that we can match this day for the remaining days they are here but we will most definitely try. I think my favorite part was after the sun had set and the sky was filled with stars and the kids were all sitting up front on the boat in the breeze and talking and laughing. Absolutely my perfect moment. Nothing better than happy kids.

Tomorrow we are heading to a group of islands called "Coco Banderas". We have also heard them referred to as "Disneyland". The pictures in our guide book look amazing. I can't wait to see if they live up to all the hype.

ps.....we still talk about the Pacific crossing daily and I wonder how the heck I am going to be able to pick up the anchor and go.....it is lingering in the back of my mind in amongst all this "high-lights"!

SHARK

We left our picture perfect anchorage and headed out for Nargana (the island that our friend Martha and her two kids Tara and Kayvon are flying into). On our journey to Nargana we passed many islands that look just like the screen savers and desktop photos that we have on our computers.....spiffs of white sand with three palm trees or perfect oval islands with stretches of white beach and surrounded by swimming pool clear water. Finally we start to pass another of these islands and I say....that's it, we are stopping for a swim!!

It wasn't difficult to convince everyone and within about 10 minutes we were anchored in front of another paradise. This time we had the camera charged up and I can't wait to share the photos with you.

The end of the island was a sandbar surrounded by clear water that was about 2 feet deep and white sand bottom and no waves. The water was so warm, it was crazy. Beyond the shallow water was the reef and then it got deep beyond that.

As we were all sitting in the hot clear water, Graham went off to start his snorkel. All of a sudden he was waving frantically for us to join him. The kids threw their kayak at me and away they ran to him. Once I had tied up the kayak and got my gear on they were way out at the reef. I swam and swam to catch up and I am so glad I didn't get there sooner because once I had arrived they all were over the top excited that they had just seen the hugest nurse shark ever. I don't care how many times I hear that nurse sharks are harmless....I still don't want to swim with them.

Graham convinced me that nurse sharks were more afraid of me than I am of them (I find this VERY hard to believe). He was convincing though and away we went to another part of the reef. I tried to hold his hand as we snorkeled along but due to fear I must of been holding it too tightly because even under water I heard him yell at me.

Graham and Amelia swam ahead and just as I was getting comfortable again and enjoying the unbelievable underwater world, I hear the dreaded "SHARK"! Right below Amelia was another very large nurse shark. Graham said that they startled it and it bolted once it saw them. I swam as fast as I could back to shore. A tiny part of me is thinking how cool it would be to see a shark. The kids are looking up all the fish and sharks they saw in their new guide book on the underwater world. I think we should start checking off everything they see.

We made it to Nargana which was suppose to be the promise land with internet, laundry and grocery stores....LOL.....NOT. Basically huts and dirt streets and a few dusty tins for sale in the someone's hut. We entered this one hut and the owner spoke a little English and was so happy to see that his hut had made it into our guide book. On one side of his hut was the shelves with a few items and on the other side of the dark hut was a hammock and a small TV with rabbit ears tuned into America's Cops! So weird.

Today we took the dinghy up the Rio Diablo river with a huge duffel bag full of our laundry. It was truly the coolest adventure ever. Felt like we were IN the jungle. We were told that you do see the occasional alligator on the shore but that they were harmless and more afraid of you then you were of them..hmmm...where have I heard that before! Luckily we didn't see any alligators. We did find a beautiful spot on the river with a nice stream coming into it. Perfect to do our washing in and also for a wonderful fresh water bath! We all had a great time and we hardly realized how much work it was.

Our boat now looks truly like a trailer. Laundry is strung from one end to the other. Tomorrow morning Martha, Kayvon and Tara arrive and WE ARE SO EXCITED! We are taking the week off and going to have FUN FUN FUN!!! No school, boat work or laundry for us!

I don't want to forget

We arrived today at a tiny deserted island, surrounded by coral reef and covered in beautiful palm trees. We are all alone at anchor and no civilization in sight.

Once the anchor was down it was a crazy rush to get swim suits on, snorkel gear out, sunscreen on, yada, yada, yada! Amelia, Alex and I sat perched on the side of the dinghy with our flippers and snorkels on waiting for Graham to get down from Artemo and into the water. For some reason we all always wait for him to go in first. Not sure what we are thinking he will find but we wait for the thumbs up and away we go. It was so nice to be able to snorkel off our boat again.

Once the snorkel was done, it was time to explore the island. We found a few huts on the island that the Kuna Indians must use when they are out this way to fish. We hiked all over and we found in the middle of the island this beautiful tree with bright red flowers on it. It looked so out of place. The ground was all cleared out around it and this beautiful tree sat in the middle?

We sat in the hot, crystal clear water and talked. I watched as Graham walked along the beach at the end of the end of the island under a leaning coconut tree and I thought to myself....I don't want to forget this afternoon. The cameras aren't charged, so we don't have any pictures. All we will have is our memory.

We came back to the boat and the kids jumped off the side over and over again. They played on their new kayak and took turns tipping each other over.

We all bathed in 5 liters of water and then we sat in the cockpit eating humus and tortillas as the sun set.

I don't want to forget.

Sometimes you just can't be everything you wish you were

I have been sitting here for a while, with my hands poised on the keyboard wondering how I should tell this latest story. I want to be honest with you all and share the high-lights along with the low-lights but I also don't want to cause you worry. Please remember as you read that my fear factor is multiplied by 15 compared to Graham's fear factor, so it may not be as bad as it seems.

We decided to set off from the Rosario islands for a day sail to San Bernard Island. We had a great sail. The wind was 12 to 18 knots and the seas were fairly calm. We got to get the sails out and even try out the hydro vane. Great wind for experimentation and just plain sailing!

The next day we decided it was time to head off for the 24 hour sail to the San Blas islands. We prepared the boat for the voyage. We made sure we had jack lines run from front to back, so we could be tethered on to the boat if we needed to go forward. We made sure we had all our harnesses and tethers in the cockpit. The kids had their beds in the back set up with books, snacks and movies. We were as ready as we could be. We checked the weather and it looked like 15 to 20 knot winds. We figured it would be about the same as the day before and away we went.

The seas unfortunately built and built over the first few hours out. The wind also was higher than predicted. We saw on average 22 knots but it fluctuated, which made things worst with the big gusts. The waves were coming directly across our beam (middle) and so was the wind. We had to hand steer through these conditions and it was like fighting in a tug o war. We flew through most of the night with only our Genoa out and we still averaged 7.5 knots. On reflection we were probably going to fast for the weather we were seeing.

I have always heard how dangerous the white top waves are when they come across your beam, so it was scary at night when all you could see when you looked up with the white tops of these HUGE waves. The boat was being tossed around so much that for the first time in my sailing career, I woofed my cookies. I felt terribly sea sick, everyone did. Alex and I took gravol at that point and lucky for him it put him to sleep for the night. For me, it just made me drowsy and grumpy, as I moved about my chores.

We took our first rogue wave into the cockpit. I could not believe how much water came into the cockpit. It was shocking. Alex and Graham were on deck and Alex got totally drenched. We hadn't connected the hose to the drain holes in the seats yet, so the water just poured down below. Amelia was in her room and was pretty shaken when she saw all the water. We did the best we could to clean things up.

We had decided to leave our mizzen up, along with the Genoa, for the night sail and we realized a few hours into it that the mizzen was actually making it harder to steer. We just didn't seem that balanced. Unfortunately this meant that we had to steer directly into the waves and wind to bring it down. Easier said then done but we managed to do it. Steering got a lot easier after this.

At the peak of the craziness, Graham looked back to see the mizzen boom being swung violently back and forth. The attachment point for the mizzen sheet had come undone. There were no other options, he had to leave the cockpit and fix the problem. I knew that if he fell in there would be no way we would be able to get him back. He tethered in and I tried my best to steer the boat. The longest 5 minutes of my life.

Graham did the majority of the steering and he stayed calm when I wasn't. He was angry and had every right to be, that I couldn't be more calm or more helpful. He was exhausted and I didn't even want him to go down below to have a pee. I was terrified when I would take the helm and Artemo would get hit with a blast of wind and bend right over. I didn't even try to suppress my fear, I was to exhausted. I would beg him to take the helm again and he would. Tears would run down my face and my legs would shake. Sometimes you just can't be everything you wish you were.

The seas and wind didn't let up until we were behind the island we are now anchored off of. My whole body aches from clenching up and being tossed around all night. The sense of relief I felt though when we turned the bend on the island and were in protected water was beyond words.

I guess I knew it wasn't all about sun downers, white sand beaches and clear water. A good healthy dose of reality is probably exactly what the doctor would of ordered.

on a side note.....Captain Graham says that many circumnavigators say that crossing the Caribbean Sea was the roughest part of their voyage. The water is notoriously rough.