Conrad's boat

In Cuttyhunk we went to an Art Camp. We made wooden boats. I tried to make mine so that it would sail! The sail can actually catch the wind. I sawed the mast and nailed lots of stuff in. I worked on my boat the whole time. It was my birthday! We are going to celebrate on Saturday with my cousin Charlie.

Mark: I made a boat just like my brother.

Visit with friends

We had fun playing with our friends at their river house. We got to play with some new (to us) toys. We hunted for and found lots of fossilized shark teeth. Conrad found the biggest one!

 

 

 

 

Lighthouse visit

Today we climbed the lighthouse at Cape Lookout. It was fun and we could see really far. We also got to touch and hear about a whole cart full of animal parts like turtle skulls, baleen, and different shells.

 

The History Place

 

We went to a place where there are military and army guys. There were little toys and we played war. I saw some military clothes that I tried on. We had fun in the tunnels.



 

 



Hot stuff

"Squeal like a pig" hot sauce from the hot sauce store.

Conrad loves hot sauce and spicy food now. There was a bit of a tense moment during Grandma and Grandpa's visit to Charleston when we were having Korean food in a gas station (yes, really; it was better than you'd think) and he ordered a spicy stew. Something like, "His stomach will melt and he will become literally insane" was said (that's what I heard). When it came, it was very spicy. They were not messing around. Matt kind of shrugged doubtfully when he tasted it. But Conrad loved it and gobbled it up.

We love Grandma and Grandpa

First baby sand shark (of many)

Things that go bump against your boat in the night

One night in Man Jack Cay, we heard a loud thump against our boat. We took out the high-powered flashlight to see what it was and there were thousands of these minnows and crabs teeming in the water. The crabs were trying to eat the fish, despite being smaller in size. We scooped up a bucketful of water so that Mark and Conrad could see them in the morning. We think the thump may have been a larger fish trying to eat the smaller ones and jumping against the boat.

Conch and octopus

This is the conch shell that had the octopus on it. The octopus
was about 4 feet across and the body was 2 feet across.

When we were going conch hunting with friends I (Conrad) saw a conch with a big octopus trying to suck the conch out from its shell. We got the octopus off but we weren't sure it hadn't eaten the conch. The octopus was very angry and turned white. But after we got the shell, I looked deep inside and saw that the conch was still in there.

I also saw a little conch fish come out of a conch shell.

I'm Mark. I held a conch. It's called a queen helmet conch. We threw it back because we don't think you can eat them. Bye bye!

Here is some art that Mark and Conrad made for Mom's birthday.

Elbow Cay and Hope Town

Digging on the sand bar

Hidden tree house just off the beach

Biking to Hope Town.  The ice cream was the best
part. Junkanoo is very colorful ice-cream. It's our
favorite flavor now.

Building with sand

Mark and Conrad have been doing a lot of building and digging with sand. The sand is very hard to get off your skin.

New aquarium

We're back in the Bahamas and the other day we found more creatures for our temporary aquariums.

 We also used the box for the new charger to make a house for our sock monkeys.

 

 

Updates by Conrad

Conrad saw a baby spotted eagle ray in the bay, even though it is hard to see anything in the water here. He also saw a dorsal fin that could have been a large tarpon or dolphin. It's still fun to see the curly tailed lizards and iguanas that are everywhere. We haven't seen the boat lizards for awhile. They seem to come out when it rains.

Conrad finally has a tooth loose (his first). He is very excited because he has waited a long time for it to happen.

Ship shape

Conrad has been keeping his cabin and bunk ship shape because we could be leaving ANY DAY this week or next. He has been helping to lower the dinghy down (we keep it up on davits every night) and undo the plug if it fills with rain so that it can drain (we haven't forgotten to put the plug back in yet).

 

Mark and Conrad both jump off the side of the boat almost every day. They are practicing doing flips and dives. We are all excited to move on to a new location.

Fun at the music festival

We had fun burying Dad at the beach the other day during the music festival. It was our friend Joe's idea (he's on the left).

Yesterday we went kayaking around the anchorage. It was fun but hot.

Up your nose with a rubber hose

Self-portrait by Mark

After school activities

After school if the weather is warm, which it has been lately, we go swimming off the back of the boat. There is a life preserver tied to the back of the boat for safety. It is good exercise and fun but you can't see anything. In the Bahamas you can see everything.

Yesterday, we caught lizards and had pizza and a movie with our friends from Waterbug and our new friend from Spirit. We also got lots of goodies in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa and Nana and Grandpa. Thank you and we miss you!

Beaches and festivals

We have been spending time in Ft. Lauderdale on the boat, the beach, and one day we went to a fun festival where we played with some new friends and won a lot of prizes.

 

 

Fun with dirt

Who needs toys when you have a giant pile of sand? And trees.

 

 

Here an oink, there an oink...

There is a beach near our anchorage where pigs swim out when they see your dinghy pull up because people feed them. They like bread the best but will eat fruits and some vegetables. Mark threw some food to them but Conrad didn't want to get near them after hearing about their razor sharp teeth. If you're not careful they will climb up on your boat.

Sunny days

Most of our days are spent snorkeling and playing at the beach. This is the wall next to the dinghy dock at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. You can see a lot of fish from the wall. We really like the little fish that jump out of the water in front of the dinghy as we speed along.