Adventures With Hook: October: Transition Time

October 2010

Heading Home

By land and by sea! We'll get there!

To allow the girls a few more weeks in their island school before leaving St. John, Steve flew to Georgetown, Bahama with Pat, Kirsten's dad to sail Hook back to Florida. As it was still hurricane season we anticipated sailing Hook back was not going to be a quick or easy task. This turned out to be true. The Hook crew had to wait out 2 storm systems at two different times on the trip north. Unfortunately, Steve had to cover alot of ground between storms so Pat did not have the leisurely trip up the Exuma island chain that we hoped he could have. He did however get to experience Georgetown and Bimini, two fun island towns, while waiting out weather. He was a great first mate and we will forever be grateful for his help in getting Hook back safely.

Those same storm systems affected St. John too. One of the systems, Tropical Storm Otto turned into a Cat I hurricane that we felt did more damage to the island than Hurricane Earl secondary to the torrential rains that came with it. The benefit however was that we had no worries about leaving Steve's parents with enough water in their cistern for the winter! It rained enough to fill all of Coral Bay, St. John!

It was a bitter sweet farewell to St. John as we had met so many wonderful people and it truely is a paradise, but we were excited for the opportunities ahead for us in Maine. We know we will return to St. John again, and when we do it will feel like "coming home."

When talking with the kids about their favorite parts of their time in St. John they said their friends and teachers, the island animals grazing on the road sides, the warm ocean water and fresh key lime pie!

ROAD TRIP! Packed up and ready to go in Fort Pierce, Florida. (Hook in the background)

Our new mode of transport! We decided on a 2003 Subaru Forester. The kids gave their "thumbs up" to the car. Emma and Madeline have learned to be great travelors, adapting to whatever comes their way.

Catching Steve outside of Lake Worth heading to Fort Pierce where we plan to haul the boat out of the water for the winter season. Since buying the car we have been playing "sag wagon" with Steve during the day and sleeping on the boat at night.

Back on Hook!

Ava, Anna, Maddie, Jacob, Sam, Owen, & Emma

Rub a Dub Dub, 3 kids in a tub!

The kids pumpkin creations for Halloween...

First morning at Uncle Aarons in Bradenton, Florida.

Beyond general mischief our job while waiting for Hook at Aaron's was to find and buy a used car. This took longer than we liked but we think we found a good one...