Berry Islands

Long time no blog.  We left Bimini the same day we arrived and headed straight to the Berry Islands.  Our first stop was near Hoffman’s Cay (pronounced Key).  There are plenty of beaches to stop at and all pretty kid friendly.  I tried running on the beach one morning.  Wow, was that a wake up call.  Running in sand is a lot different that running on the solid ground.  It has been pretty warm and humid so the sweat started dripping into my eyes almost immediately.  Good thing there is cool blue water nearby, but not that cool.  Our temperature gauge reported the temperature about 77 degrees.  

There are fish and corral reefs all over.  Even in the shallow surf where the kids like to snorkel we could see a variety of tropical fish.  Paul noticed a turtle, then two swimming around our boat.  We got some good footage that I can hopefully download for everyone to see.  

We love it here!  Despite the sand war I have on the boat and the humidity, we all enjoy visiting the cool beaches, playing in the sand and swimming with the fishes.  

To keep busy on the boat the kids have been battling with school.  Some days go really smooth, others are a constant battle.  After talking with other cruising families I have realized that this is just the case with about everyone. 

We decided that we like home school because you can wake up whenever you want, you never have to rush breakfast, everyday can be a pajama day, and snack time is whenever you want it.  
There are some challenges.   For Samantha she hates being corrected because she likes to do it right the first time or not at all.  This reminds me so much of myself I have to laugh.  My Mom always said I would have a child just like me…or two.

Nicholas is like me in different ways.  He is very stubborn.  He wants to do it his way, no matter what kind of advice or direction given from anyone.  Not one of my better traits but…

It helps having both of us doing school with each of them independently.

After school Samantha’s favorite thing in the world is watching movies or having books read to her.  She loves to be entertained.  

Nicholas enjoys his legos, playing with Samantha and her Barbies with his Avengers, and going on dingy explorations with Daddy.  This helps everyone on the boat get some time to themselves.  Boy, boy time and girl, girl time is precious.    

They both love to sing.  One day Samantha asked what harmony meant.  Well, then Paul and I started to try and sing together, that was a laugh.  We told her our singing was the opposite of harmony. 

Paul loves to fish, so he trolls around in the kayak or in the dinghy looking for dinner or lunch.  Bread baking has been keeping me busy.  Last night my fourth attempt finally turned out good.  Yea!!

We crossed over today to West Bay, New Providence.  Nassau might be our next port before leaving for the Exumas.

The turtle near Hoffman's Cay

My fourth attempt.  French bread!
Still can't beat Uncle Mario's bread.