Now we are in Les Saints, Guadeloupe. The locals make excellent crepes and really good bread that is delivered right to the boat. The only problem is we usually don't know what the people, that are selling us the crepes and the bread, are saying. That is because they speak French! Otherwise everything here is really cool. Since Christmas is just around the corner (just 2 more days to be exact) all the local kids are off of school, even though I'm not. Anyway they are had a Christmas celebration yesterday and the door steps of people's houses are decorated in Joyuex Noël posters. Joyuex Noël if you haven't guessed already, means Merry Christmas in French. Christmas in 90° weather just doesn't feel right and we heard a song about sweaty Santa Claus a couple days ago. Even though Santa and his reindeer might be sweaty, Christmas is definitely in the air (as well as firecrackers) and we are getting used to not knowing what people are saying. For those people who are waiting to read the third chapter of my story here it is:
The Voices
I woke up in the morning to the sound of a voice saying "Come over here, tap me three times". I groggily got out of bed, yawned and walked to my closet. I threw open the door, picked out a shirt and put on some jeans, as the voice kept repeating. I opened my door and yelled
"Lucy, I know you're there and you're not scaring-" I stepped out of my room and realized that no one was in the hall. I marched over to Lucy's room grabbed the handle and pulled with all my might while the voice was still yammering on in my head. I gave the handle another jerk.
Locked!
The voice was seriously annoying me now so I ran to the bathroom, yanked open a drawer, grabbed a bobby pin, and ran back to Lucy's room. I picked the lock and barged into her room.
"Lucy stop it!" I yelled. Lucy turned around, she was on the floor playing with her barbies.
"Stop what?" she demanded.
"Uh, nothing. Did you hear something?" I asked.
"No, did you?" Lucy inquired suspiciously.
"No" I lied. The voice was still repeating in my head.
"Come to me. Tap me three times." It said.
"I was just wondering" I told Lucy.
"Can you go now? Lucy said abruptly
"O.K." I said heading for the door. I walked to my room and sat down. The voice started saying something else.
"Come to me. I'm on your window sill. Tap me three times." my eyes wandered to the window sill. The orange sea glass was moving! I went over and picked it up.
"Ouch!" It burnt me.
"Tap me three times" I tapped it three times, it didn't burn me, instead a tiny brown bird flew out.
"Phew" the bird said "It feels good to be out of the sea glass."
I was so surprised I fell on my bed.
"Eliza I'm going to go to the grocery store, take care of your sister" yelled my mom from downstairs, momentarily taking me out of my surprised state.
"O.K" I yelled back and then turned toward the bird "What's happening?"
"I'm taking you on an adventure. My name's Fiddlesticks. You always have to keep the sea glass with you at all times" the bird chirped a-mile-a-minute.
"What kind of adventures? I'm Eliza, I don't have pockets. How do I keep the sea glass?" I thought out loud.
"Oh yeah, I'll make you a necklace." Fiddlesticks found some wire and string and soon had a necklace. I slipped it over my head and the bird landed on my shoulder. "Close your eyes, you'll be on your adventure soon" he said. With that I left my room for a very long journey.
JOYUEX NOËL!!!!!!
- MIA
Friday, December 23, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Mia Surfing
Hello Everybody,
We went snorkeling near Great Bird Island. There were some really cool coral and sea anemones. I like snorkeling a lot because of all the pretty (and ugly) sea life. We moved to Barbuda. The guide book says it has a wonderful "pink" beach, but no matter how much you squint it just isn't pink. Any beach is a good one though and this one is super awesome! There are big waves that Remi and I 'Mia surf' on. Mia surfing is when I body surf with my head underwater and Remi sits on my back and enjoys the ride. We also like to sit in the breaking zone or where the waves break and let the waves tumble us around. In Barbuda we learned how NOT to beach a dingy. We accidentally almost capsized the dingy. Dad fell out and everything flew everywhere. It wasn't what you would call a successfully dingy landing. Anyway, nobody was hurt and we all had a fun time on the beach. Now we are back in Antigua and yesterday was Hero's Day here, which is just like our Veteran's Day. All the local kids got the day off and a bunch of them hung out on a beach, that we were anchored near. We spent the afternoon playing in the sand and swimming with them. It felt good to have 'kid time' again because the last time we spoke with kids was almost a month ago. It was a fun way to see how locals spend a day at the beach. They caught a bunch of fish including a stingray when they were spearfishing! They grilled and had fun in the water. We made sand balls together, which the local kids called snowballs. When we asked if they had ever made actual snowballs out of snow, they said that they have never even seen snow! Well, for all those people held in suspense from my story here is the second chapter.
I woke up to the sound of muffled cries that I couldn't make out. As I tried to hear what they were saying, I realized that I was still underwater. Thousands of questions buzzed in my head. How did I get underwater? Why was I underwater? How long was I underwater? Unfortunately I didn't know the answers to any of my questions. I kicked hard until my head popped out. I heard that the the muffled cries were talking to me.
"Eliza, where are you, Eliza?" the voices cried. I turned around and there on shore was my family. I swam fast towards them.
"Where were you? We looked for the top of your snorkel but, we couldn't find it. I was so worried." my mother said frantically.
"I was right there." I said pointing to the place I was. "I was just underwater."
"For half an hour?" Lucy my 6 year old sister said.
"Really? It was that short I thought it was longer." my mom said to no one in particular and then turned towards me and said "Eliza, you couldn't have been underwater for half an hour. Where were you?"
"I don't know." I replied. Lucy snickered.
"Well, what do you have in your hand then?" she asked. I slowly uncurled my fingers to reveal a piece of sea glass that looked exactly like the sun. All the memories came rushing back. The dive under, the burning pain, the black out.
What had happened down there? I wondered and so badly wanted to say. Instead I turned towards Lucy and said "It is just some sea glass, I'll probably throw it back." I knew the sea glass had some hidden mystery that my body was just aching to find out. I also knew how valuable orange sea glass is. All the reasons why I shouldn't throw it back swirled around in my water logged head and my gut feeling, throwing it back because it might be dangerous, was over powered by the curious part of me. I held on to it the whole ride home and then put it on my window sill.
We went snorkeling near Great Bird Island. There were some really cool coral and sea anemones. I like snorkeling a lot because of all the pretty (and ugly) sea life. We moved to Barbuda. The guide book says it has a wonderful "pink" beach, but no matter how much you squint it just isn't pink. Any beach is a good one though and this one is super awesome! There are big waves that Remi and I 'Mia surf' on. Mia surfing is when I body surf with my head underwater and Remi sits on my back and enjoys the ride. We also like to sit in the breaking zone or where the waves break and let the waves tumble us around. In Barbuda we learned how NOT to beach a dingy. We accidentally almost capsized the dingy. Dad fell out and everything flew everywhere. It wasn't what you would call a successfully dingy landing. Anyway, nobody was hurt and we all had a fun time on the beach. Now we are back in Antigua and yesterday was Hero's Day here, which is just like our Veteran's Day. All the local kids got the day off and a bunch of them hung out on a beach, that we were anchored near. We spent the afternoon playing in the sand and swimming with them. It felt good to have 'kid time' again because the last time we spoke with kids was almost a month ago. It was a fun way to see how locals spend a day at the beach. They caught a bunch of fish including a stingray when they were spearfishing! They grilled and had fun in the water. We made sand balls together, which the local kids called snowballs. When we asked if they had ever made actual snowballs out of snow, they said that they have never even seen snow! Well, for all those people held in suspense from my story here is the second chapter.
Passed Out
I woke up to the sound of muffled cries that I couldn't make out. As I tried to hear what they were saying, I realized that I was still underwater. Thousands of questions buzzed in my head. How did I get underwater? Why was I underwater? How long was I underwater? Unfortunately I didn't know the answers to any of my questions. I kicked hard until my head popped out. I heard that the the muffled cries were talking to me.
"Eliza, where are you, Eliza?" the voices cried. I turned around and there on shore was my family. I swam fast towards them.
"Where were you? We looked for the top of your snorkel but, we couldn't find it. I was so worried." my mother said frantically.
"I was right there." I said pointing to the place I was. "I was just underwater."
"For half an hour?" Lucy my 6 year old sister said.
"Really? It was that short I thought it was longer." my mom said to no one in particular and then turned towards me and said "Eliza, you couldn't have been underwater for half an hour. Where were you?"
"I don't know." I replied. Lucy snickered.
"Well, what do you have in your hand then?" she asked. I slowly uncurled my fingers to reveal a piece of sea glass that looked exactly like the sun. All the memories came rushing back. The dive under, the burning pain, the black out.
What had happened down there? I wondered and so badly wanted to say. Instead I turned towards Lucy and said "It is just some sea glass, I'll probably throw it back." I knew the sea glass had some hidden mystery that my body was just aching to find out. I also knew how valuable orange sea glass is. All the reasons why I shouldn't throw it back swirled around in my water logged head and my gut feeling, throwing it back because it might be dangerous, was over powered by the curious part of me. I held on to it the whole ride home and then put it on my window sill.
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| I love snorkeling! |
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| The local girls were really cool. |
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| A lizard on Great Bird Island. |
Friday, December 2, 2011
Skip Chaser
Hi Everyone,
Now that were in the Caribbean life isn't that bad. Yesterday Sterling flew back to Panama and we moved to a really cool anchorage. The water is super clear so, we went snorkeling. We saw the anchor in the sand, sea cucumbers, and starfish. Then we went to the beach and played in the sand for a while, when we swam back it felt like swim practice because Mom had me do breaststroke and head high crawl. It's really relaxing here and I started writing a story called "Skip Chaser" the sailing adventure of an 11 year old girl. Here is the first chapter.
White sand, beautiful white sand, rocks, and shells was what I saw. Something caught my eye, a shimmery orange glint. I focused on the bottom of the ocean, a orange piece of sea glass about the size of a quarter, lay beneath me. I gasped and then realized I shouldn't have, as my mask fogged up when I did. I knew that if I went to a place where I could touch the bottom to de-fog my mask, I would lose the sea glass. I started treading water, closed my eyes, and pulled off my mask. I carefully tried to stay in the same spot so I wouldn't loose the sea glass and smeared spit in the inside of my mask. I put it back on and looked for the sea glass once again. There it was, an orange glimmer. I took one last breath and dove down as the top of my snorkel submerged. I kicked hard with my right arm outstretched reaching for the sea glass. Almost there and I grabbed it. A shock of electricity hit me. I lifted my hand away from the glass instinctively, but the glass stuck to me. The pain became unbearable and the world went black.
I'll post the second and third chapter on the next blog.
Now that were in the Caribbean life isn't that bad. Yesterday Sterling flew back to Panama and we moved to a really cool anchorage. The water is super clear so, we went snorkeling. We saw the anchor in the sand, sea cucumbers, and starfish. Then we went to the beach and played in the sand for a while, when we swam back it felt like swim practice because Mom had me do breaststroke and head high crawl. It's really relaxing here and I started writing a story called "Skip Chaser" the sailing adventure of an 11 year old girl. Here is the first chapter.
Orange Sea Glass
White sand, beautiful white sand, rocks, and shells was what I saw. Something caught my eye, a shimmery orange glint. I focused on the bottom of the ocean, a orange piece of sea glass about the size of a quarter, lay beneath me. I gasped and then realized I shouldn't have, as my mask fogged up when I did. I knew that if I went to a place where I could touch the bottom to de-fog my mask, I would lose the sea glass. I started treading water, closed my eyes, and pulled off my mask. I carefully tried to stay in the same spot so I wouldn't loose the sea glass and smeared spit in the inside of my mask. I put it back on and looked for the sea glass once again. There it was, an orange glimmer. I took one last breath and dove down as the top of my snorkel submerged. I kicked hard with my right arm outstretched reaching for the sea glass. Almost there and I grabbed it. A shock of electricity hit me. I lifted my hand away from the glass instinctively, but the glass stuck to me. The pain became unbearable and the world went black.
I'll post the second and third chapter on the next blog.
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