Northern Phoenix blog

April 16th

Rapids waterpark was not one of those waterparks with the fountains and the little things that spray water everywhere, no, this was a waterpark with slides that go down 70 feet. It had 30 slides and some of them were really scary at first.

 The one we went to first was a inner tube one that we all went through at once, it was really scary because it was our first slide and it had big and sudden drops. My favourite one was called the pirate plunge, it went down a total of 70 feet and it was completely dark. The path was right, left, right, left, and then plunge 20 feet. It was the biggest slide in the park.

 

My second favourite was the ‘black thunder’, it was completely black and you could barely see at all. First, you go through a straight path and after 10 seconds you plunge down 20 feet and enter this large, dim-lighted dome, since you picked speed from the plunge, you curve high in the dome and do that until you exit the small passage in the end. 

You then go through big curves(I nearly fell off because the tube got so high we were upside down) and then jump out into a shallow pool of water. Those were my favouite slides I have ever been on.  

April 7th to April 18th.

We have been stuck in Pompano Beach Florida waiting work done on our stern rail.  The boat market has been doing well and it is hard to find people to are available NOW to get work done.  Most people we contacted gave us a 3 to 4 week time just to come give us a quote!!!  But we eventually found a great company, more in the next post.

So we kept our selves busy a number of ways.  Along  with all the most rain we have had the entire trip.

We rented a car so we could get around.

1.  We visited with Captain Gerry.  The Whitby 42 Guy.  If you own a  Whitby, you most likely know who this is.  It was great to see him again, we went out for lunch and returned some equipment we borrowed from him.  We went to a Lebanese restaurant and it was really good.   We said good by, but we hope to see him again someday.  Thanks for everything.

2.  We said good by to the Morrisons.  The Canadian family we have met up with numerous times and always have a good time with.  They put their boat up for sale here in Florida and are heading home before may.

3.  We went to the beach a lot.  It is only a short walk.  But we have to admit, after being in the amazing beaches in the Bahamas, with perfect sand, clean water, and NO people, this beach was hard to hang out on.  Just spoiled now.

4.  We got some boat stuff done.  Got the outboard tuned up, made a trip to the worlds Largest West Marine Store, in Fort Lauderdale....so Tara could buy some clothes.  (Sorry Gerry)

5.  We saw Captain America 2.  

6.  We bought enough food to last us the rest of the trip, or close to it.

7.  We bought some more movies for the trip.

8.  Devon swam in the pool.

9.  Started up the home schooling again.  Wow the kids enjoyed that.!!

10.  Went to a crazy water Park.  (see Devons post)

11. Emergency dentist appointment for Sahara for some quick work on a molar that was coming in.

12.  Built and installed a filter for the vent tank (for poopy smells coming out).

13.  Cleaned up the boat

14.  Did ALL the laundry, all sheets, towels, etc...

15.  New bathing suits for everybody.

16.  Got a new iphone for Sahara

17.  Lots of Pina-Coladas and Strawberry daquiries.

18. Watched the Matrix Movies and  are terribly upset by the ending......it just.....well....Look up "How it should have ended Matrix" on you tube and you will see a much better ending.

19. Had ice cream for Brunch one day, as we were going shopping and were not going to have room for the ice cream after we got back.

20. Let the 3 or 4 inches of rain we have had in the last week  wash off all the salt.  amazing how much accumulated when in the Bahamas.

We’ve had some unexpected problems, but nothing too major. Still, we had to head back to the states early to get them fixed. At our last marina docking in Bimini, some motor yacht hit the back of our boat while we were visiting with the Morrison’s.  So the railings are all pulled out, and parts of the deck are coming up, and the dinghy is slightly warped. But don’t worry, thanks to our aluminum dinghy, we scratched up their boat pretty bad. Broken windows, scrapes, and the like.

So we are now back in Fort Lauderdale, and are officially checked into the States again- although the actual customs took about 10 minutes, we were waiting for a taxi for the next hour and a half. Although we did celebrate with ice-cream. Anyway, just a short update this time! We’ve done nothing too exciting lately, and the crossing went fine. Sooo, byee. 

When we arrived at Bimini, we decided to go exploring. Bimini is 8 miles long, and 200 yards wide, so it wasn’t exactly a long exploration. But there were some pretty interesting things to see. Like the all-green house. In case you haven’t noticed, I am easily entertained by house colors. Anyway, there was the beach on the western side, where we took lots of pictures of the blue water. We need to imprint it in our mind and cameras, because we aren’t going to be seeing it for a very long time.
     

And we saw the Dolphin House. No, it’s not an aquarium, as the name might suggest. It’s actually a house. A house that has been completely covered with mosaics. Even the underside of the roof. And supports built out of coral and rocks and conch shells. And pretty much whatever else he found on the beach, or had been given to him by people. But it’s very hard to do justice with just words. And the pictures might not even completely cover it, but they sure do a lot better job at it than the words.
 
 
 

So some background on the house. Its been made over 23 years, and it’s still an ongoing process. Made by Ashlee, who’s done most of it by himself. It’s been through 4 hurricanes, and still standing. Needless to say, it’s a very strong house. And the owner has a lot of dedication. And that’s all I can remember, so I guess this is the end of this very short blog post. 

Dads birthday

 

As some of you may know, Wednesday, April 2 was dads birthday. A big 41. So we celebrated this by making a double layered cake. For those of you who want to know how we went about this, here are the steps:

1.     1.  Find cake mix boxes.

2.      2. Mix them

3.      3. Oh my gosh Word automatically puts in the list numbers

4.     4.  Test batter to ensure safety of crew

5.       5.Overfill cake pans. Put in oven

6.      6. Have cake batter overfill and spill everywhere on oven door

7.      7.Burn yourself taking them out of said oven

8.       8.Frost

9.       9.Take messed up family photo

10.  10.Eat

There you are, a true Haas family procedure. By the way, the picture below is the best out of the ones we have. Dad and Devon just refused to make a good face in the same picture. So we have to make do with what we have (we already ate all the cake so we can’t exactly redo). So if dad looks a little bug eyed and overexcited.. Im sorry. 

So on March 31 we finally left the Abacos, and after a 9 hour voyage which was completely dull but had good sandwiches, reached White Cay of the Berry islands. Of course, since there were some very nice beaches at White Cay, we decided to visit them. They also had very interesting rocks. We weren’t even there for 5 minutes before I became enraptured in a glass bottle (to be fair, it was very interesting, it had been melted together, and so looked very cool) and was holding it a bit too hard, and shattered it.

So, inevitably, I cut my hand and it was very bloody-it all came from a half inch cut- so I looked like some evil sacrifice priest running along the beach. I wanted mom to take a picture of it so I could show everyone- because I know you wanted to see it- but they promptly took me back to the boat. Although they did apologize with a very good taco dinner followed by the movie Skyfall.

Anyway, the next day we visited the blue hole which White Cay is well known for. We were joined by the crew of the mega yacht also sharing the anchorage. One of them didn’t know how to swim, so the rest of them spent at least half the time trying to persuade him to get in the water. It was very interesting. I’m getting off track though.  After a 5 minute walk through the trees, you came to the hole. The blue hole was quite large, about 70 meters in diameter, and somewhere between 70 and 1000ft deep. (We got a lot of different information)
 
 

There was a 20 foot ledge above the pool, where you could jump off of you were brave enough. IF not, then there was a path leading under the cliff where you could watch the idiots risk their lives. It was very salty water, much saltier than the ocean water, and no fish. At least, no interesting fish.
 

 

So the next day we traveled to yet another island on our quest to reach Bimini. And yet another unexciting journey.  Thank god for books. However, this voyage was a little different than any other Bahamas voyage so far. This is because we saw dolphins. A school of them, right by our boat. Now, it doesn’t sound too interesting, but for those who don’t know, dolphins are much rarer here than on the coast, because of the same reason the water is so clear. No plankton, no small fish, and therefore not many dolphins.  And because of the clear water, you could see them. Very, very clearly.  It was very awesome.
 
 

And finally, the next day we reached Bimini. After a painstaking 12 hour sail- for we did sail most of the way (motor-sail, anyway)- and many books later, we pulled into the marina. Actually, we fought the 5 knot current which was heading towards the dock so we were careening towards the helpless dock people and safely tied up boats. But we managed somehow. By the way, I’m eating cake. So haha! To all those… people who at the present time don’t have a piece of delicious cake. I’m sorry if that offended anyone. But it’s really good cake.  So I apologize to any people who ended up in a highly guarded prison because they became so overcome with jealousy of my cake that they had to go out and steal some from the friendly local bakery. Because that would be a terrible turn of events. Then I would feel guilty. And not have as many blog readers. And probably would be denied cake for the rest of my life.

Okay, so now that I am completely off topic, im going to end this now before it gets any worse and go write the next blog post. IM being forced into blog-writing slavery on this vessel. Because no one else in the family is nearly as competent in the English language as me. Okay, that’s probably not true. Argh, I really just need to end this thing. 

On Wednesday, the 19, mom left to Canada. She left to go see her mom who was having cancer treatment in Peterborough for a week. It was ok though, because we other peoples were going to see our cousins!! Yaaaaa!  They were getting to great guana cay later this afternoon so, we were going to prepare the house and stuff. We left as soon as we got to the boat to get to the other island, which was about 1½ hour ride. When we got there we got moored, ate lunch, and rented a golf cart to the house, the house was huge! It had 3 stories, including the balcony at the top with 3 bedrooms including which had 5 beds… and a 30 second walk to the beach, perfect!
 
 After the tour, we went to get groceries, all of which included 3 casually placed ice cream bars.

 When we got back to the house again we started making dinner, which was spaghetti and meat sauce, with brownies. When the cousins came we had some fun by playing games and giving them a tour.  We also played a game of things which was funny too. The next morning me and sawyer played some games and went spearfishing, which he really liked, we caught a lobster and a couple lionfish.
  
 We through back the lionfish but kept the lobster for a snack for later. The next couple days were awesome, every day we went to the beach to play in the waves or go bodysurfing, or we would go spearfishing again. One day we went to a mystery island on the boat and me and sawyer made a tiki hut, it was fun.
 

Another day we rented a golf cart again to play with and me and sawyer really got the hang of it, we went full speed all the time.

 We also rented some bikes to ride on and they were fun too. On some of the days we made pies, 4 pies (plus atleast 4 brownies). They were chocolate, key lime, tart, and coconut( with fresh coconuts ).

 On the 4th day we had a mega bonfire, with a whole bunch of wood and leaves (and marshmallows). The girls even made torches for us yaaaa! On the last day I went with the cousins on the ferry back to marsh harbor because dad and Sahara and Meridian went on the boat 3 days earlier, but the ferry was a high speed one and we got there fast, in a matter of minutes. When we got there they met up with us and we said goodbye, then went to pick up mom.

    

Let’s see… Our last post was the 15. Oh my, I have 10 days to cover. Bear with me if it’s not too detailed (that is honestly one of the weirdest expressions humans have come up with. I really don't want a bear with me). I can’t even remember the days we were there. Actually, I wouldn't even know what today is if it didn't show it on the bottom of the computer screen. And even then it’s complicated, because it doesn't actually say what day of the week it is. It’s a hard life.

So, on some date or other around the 19, we dropped Mom off at a taxi car to be driven off to the airport (basically she preferred visiting her family over Dads side) while we drove the boat over to a smallish island called Great Guana Cay, where our grandparents had rented a house for everyone to stay at for a week (we were still in Marsh Harbor). Luckily, the house came with a slip, so we didn't have to worry too much about that aspect.  So, with the grandparents, our family, and our cousin’s family, it would be a total of 10 people staying in the house. (This is the leading reason why mom deserted us (actually, she left to visit her mom, who was on the last week of cancer radiation treatment)).

Seeing as the house was surrounded by coconut palms, on our first day we attempted to do something with them. With the help of a knife, a bamboo stick, some rocks, the conch shell, and the coffee strainer(s), we managed to get the water and meat out of the coconuts. First you have to peel the husk away until you get to something resembling an oversized onion, you then have the fun job of trying to break open said onion thing. Only, you have to do it in such a way that the items inside are not damaged or lost.. This is much harder than it sounds.

The house was a 2 minute walk to the beach, which is where we spent a lot of our days. The wonderful sand, large waves, and big rocks was the perfect combination for everyone to hurt something. The waves the first couple days were way too big for boarding- 5 feet or so- but still awesome to swim in.
 

Then the next days the waves were too small for boarding- we tried, however, and broke the boards- yet you could body surf them. Body surfing is a strange phenomenon when the wave catches your body, and, without the help of a board, carries it forward into the waves and spray and finally, into the sand. If you are lucky, you don’t hit sand, but instead get spun around and can’t breathe for approximately 10 seconds. Either way it’s quite disorienting.
 

(On one of the days I had invited a friend-Kashara, who is a girl who has been living on a catamaran for 6 years- over who I had met one of the days we were in Marsh Harbor, and who happened to be visiting this island for a couple days. So if in some of the pictures you see more kids than there are supposed to be in the family.. That is why.)
 

One of the days we were there, we took everyone out on the big boat. Some of them speared a couple lion fish, and one of them a lobster. We also went to a small island, where we found hordes of hermit crabs, and the boys built a thing out of wood. We found a small flounder in the water, but it was too fast for the knife.
 
 

Anyway, since the waves weren’t working too well, the parents were thoughtful enough to rent a couple bikes instead. So we biked around the island and tried to stay on the left side of the road and avoid the very intimidating golf carts. Then of course we had to take a break at the 10x4 foot convenience store, complete with a security camera.

Since the bikes were only with us for a day, we had to find something else to occupy ourselves with. So the parents, the foolish, crazy parents, got us a golf cart. And only one of the kids is actually legally allowed to drive. But we didn’t care, because, who would complain if someone gave you a large, motorized vehicle?

                So the girls took turns driving it first- we only had one backfire, and no collisions- and passed many local people driving around on their converti-carts, their beach carts, their high-end carts,and their military carts. Did I mention the cart had at least 6 signs on it stressing that “absolutely no one under 18 can drive”? This is what caused the inevitable problem, when we just happened to drive by the really crabby bug eyed lady who rented us the golf cart… Oh, and we were also breaking another rule that stated only 4 people allowed on the golf cart- we had five kids.. and some of them were breaking the “no people allowed on roof of cart at any time” rule…So, needless to say, we then had to continue our golf cart driving in secret.
 

Now I need to tell everyone a story. One day, 3 lonely girls out in the wilderness of the front yard decided to make torches out of supplies they got off a coconut palm tree. They made 5, although some of them were slightly lacking in fuel, because they got really lazy after making one for themselves. They slaved all day gathering wood, dragging it out onto the beach in a last survival attempt. Finally, they stole some marshmallows from the people in the big blue house, while they were absorbed with their video game-something called “minecraft”- and they didn't notice when 3 girls crept in.

(AN. actually they didn’t. It was quite sad. We even ate the leftover chocolate filling from their pie. We weren't even very quiet about it. But don’t tell them that)

And finally, as night fell, they gathered their family, and created fire. Then they proceeded to run around with flaming torches, eat marshmallows, and roll a flaming coconut down the beach. The end.

For the last two days we were together, the wind started picking up, and there was a front coming down, so we had to take the boat back to marsh harbor. Dad, Meridian, and I carried out this duty, and back safely in Marsh Harbor we proceeded to make pies, eat chocolate, and watch very bad movies. We also invited Kashara back over-as they happened to be back in the harbor and just can’t get rid of us- and had pizza and stressed over this impossible video game.

So the next day they had to leave us, and fly back to the mountain in Colorado they call a mountain. If we summarized the amount of good food we had over this trip- because it really is an impressive number- the result would be:

-5 pies (coconut, chocolate, butter tart filling type creation, and 2 key lime)

-3 brownies (that I know of)

-2 pizzas

 -biscuits- homemade

-meat (pork chops, bacon, ham, lobster, fish, imaginary steak)

-bacon

-grilled cheese…

-sawyer

-and probably more that I can’t think of right now.

 

 

There you go, I did my duty, and provided you all with a relatively detailed report on our life the past couple weeks. And the worst part about it is I couldn't even report about steak. But I do have to admit, 5 pies might be a good substitution.

 These are now the pictures from two cameras. There is one more group, which needs to be emailed to us as they were taken on a phone. So these will hopefully come at a later date.

 

We have spent 2 lazy days in Marsh Harbour at a marina.  We have been getting caught up on preventative maitenance, something that never ends on a boat.  Better to fix something before there is a problem.  The trip across scared us a little and we don't want to have that happen again.  So we cleaned all filters, cleaned the bilges, tightened things, filled tanks, etc... 

now, for something more exciting from Devon:

  National Pi day

 

Yesterday was national pi day, pi is an endless decimal starting with 3.14. pi is used for calculating the circumference and area of a circle, it is special because the circumference divided by the diameter = pi in every circle. To pi day, we had two pies, one was a chicken pot pie for dinner, and I made a key lime pie for dessert, we also watched a movie ( sadly it was not the “life of pi”). The crust of my pie was very special, because we got two things of ginger-nut cookies from our cookie-stash and crumbled them up in a bowl.

We then melted butter and poured it into the crumbs and mixed them together, we then put it into a pie pan and pushed in down with a small 1 cup measuring cup. We poured in the key lime filling and cooked it. When it was time to eat it, we spread on some whipped cream that I made and ate it, it was really good.
 


From Dad:  This was easily the BEST Key lime pie we have ever had.

Just a warning that this post might be slightly lacking. For reasons I am about to explain, I am pretty much dead tired at the time of writing this.

  So, this story starts at 2:00am. Yes, I said ante meridiem. About 4 hours before planned. And while it was a good choice in the long run, it made the day really suck. Now, you are probably wondering what is important enough to leave that early. The answer is, getting to the Abacos islands. Dad and mom apparently couldn't sleep because they were all nerves about the 70 mile crossing. Which, yes, is a large crossing when in the ocean. So they decided to up and leave… at 2:00 in the morning. I, for one, am a very light sleeper. So what with all the rattling and rocking the boat was doing, I couldn't sleep. Hence the problem I reported at the beginning of this post. Devon, who we now know can sleep through explosions, was fine. 

Eventually it was morning, which didn't mean much, besides the fact it was now too light out to stay downstairs. And we were only about halfway there. The waves were still the 3-6 foot swells. The rest of the trip is pretty uneventful; however we did have 2 brief crisis'. The first time was when the steering stopped working. Imagine being out in the ocean- or anywhere, for that matter- and suddenly, the autopilot stops working. You go to manually steer the boat... and you cant. Luckily, all that was wrong was that 1 pin fell out of place (i shall not go into detail because unless you've seen it before, you wont understand, and I'm really bad at describing boat parts..). All that had to be done was hammer it back into place. The second time was when the engine abruptly shut off. We eventually got it working after bleeding it, but it took longer than it ever has before. We aren't entirely sure what was wrong with it.

 Then, of course, was the marina docking, which in itself was pretty impressive, even more so when you remember that we were all half asleep. The wind had picked up, so it was now reaching strong south-westerly gusts at around 20-30 knots, apparently evening reaching 40 at one time (this is why leaving early proved to be a great idea, without all the side effects included. If we hadn't crossed today, we would be stuck in Spanish wells until Tuesday. This would be quite counterproductive.). And, just to add to the difficulties, the marina was open to the wind, so we were being blown in. Then the marina was very skinny, and the slip was very narrow. Then we accidentally went into the wrong slip, and had to pull out again and move. So all in all, it was pretty impressive. I, having the unofficial job of manning the stern line, had to watch as we steadily got closer to the speedboat directly behind us, when we were backing out of the slip. However, it was all worth it, as the marina had a turtle.

We will be staying in this marina a few days, so I doubt we will do anything too exciting that deserves to be written about. Then we are moving up to see those relatives again. However this time, we persuaded them to meet up in someplace warm.