Healing Perry

By Conrad

So now that we are back from Chicago we have to keep fixing the boat (aka healing Perry), and Dad has to work every day. And it is unfair because I only help sometimes, and when I help it is only for a few hours at most, plus I go to the park a lot.
 

So anyways, I like to help but sometimes I just do other things that are 'more important' than healing Perry. 

This is Dad's work table.

Having a boat is fun but hard work (I should not be saying this because I do about 0% of the work except for getting tools and occasionally turning off machines but otherwise Mom and Dad do all the work. 

This is the machine I turned off: I call it 'the big sucky machine.' 

We are on the hard in a boatyard and I do not like it. I feel like a fish out of water. 

Hard work every day.

It will be a few more weeks until we splash (means going back into the water) and then we will quickly be going to Fiji again.

Chicago is cool (I mean both ways)

By Conrad

Mark and I were going to Chicago! We very quickly packed our bags and then turned on hyper mode. Hyper mode means trouble. Mark and I got into the car (still very hyper) and that did not go well with the four hour drive to Auckland, NZ. Then before the airport, we went to One Tree Hill and fell down the hill. Finally we went to the airport! We went through security and then... we had to wait more.

At least we had the largest type of plane in the world for company at the next gate. I hoped we were flying on it, but we got an itty wee one. Soon enough, it was boarding time and then--goodbye New Zealand. We lifted off. A voice said over the intercom: "You are flying Air New Zealand." I stayed up the whole night because of unlimited movies.

I will skip the connecting flight, because it was utterly boring. So that night we touched down in Chicago (brr) and then said hi to everybody and went to a Chinese restaurant (I love them because they serve all the soup in the world) for dinner. Then we went to bed in the bunk bed that our grandparents got for us and slept in late the next morning due to jet lag.

The day went by quickly and then in the afternoon I got to play with Nolan, an old friend. Then we went to one of my favorite restaurants called Sweet Tomatoes with him. Soon we had our first karate class that Nana signed us up for. It was fun, but hard work. Mark was very nervous. Later we went to the Botanic Gardens with Grandma and Grandpa. After that we got a new cactus. My cactus is named Thornsley and Mark's is Prickly, and Grandma's is Flowersly, which was the only flowering cactus in the store.

Soon after that our Uncle Andrew came to see us with his husband, Art, or for us Uncle Art. Together we saw the dyeing of the river before St. Pats day. In the parade we saw the Vienna Wiener mobile! We also went to the Field Museum to see the Terracotta warriors Exhibit and other cool things.

A bit later, we went downtown to see our old house and go to Dinkel's Bakery and get donuts.
We did some more  karate lessons and near the end of our stay I got to sleep over at Nolan's house. We played on the trampoline, played a gross Jelly Belly game, played a game called Pie Face, and did an Easter egg hunt.

Then too soon we had to go. We were back in the boatyard, very sad and bored. But nothing can stay forever and that means we can't stay in Chicago forever. But one day we will be back.







Thornsley in his first large pot.

I was sent this picture of Thornsley shortly after we left Chicago. This is re-potted Thornsley.

Sue from the Field Museum

*BONK*

Finally I got him off! Wait... where did that block come from? 

Does this go higher?

*Whew* So much hard work.

Our class.

Wee! So high!

Me and Nolan. 

Me in my karate gi.



Me and Mark with Dad, Uncle Art, and Uncle Andrew. 

Oooh... the river is oh so green.

An Easter egg hunt for before we left Chicago.

 

Fiji is fun

We dressed up as demigods for Halloween

By Conrad

Sorry, I was too lazy to write a blog post. I skipped a set of islands called Tonga. We arrived in a town called Savu Savu after a sail. There was a cruisers net, but I liked this net, which is not like me. I liked the net because the net host, Curly, went "GGGOOODDD MMOORRNNIIGG SSAVVUU SAVU!" before the net. He also did world news. Then we left for a set of island called the Exploring isles, which is in Fiji. We got inside the Exploring isles waters and went to an island called Vanua Baluva. There were huge fruit bats that were all over the place. Let's skip ahead a few islands and I'll tell you about the cool ones. We went to a place called Namena island. There was a landing and snorkeling fee, but it was worth it. The first pass we went to had a lot of healthy coral, and very clear water. The second pass had clear water, some coral, but there were hundreds of tiny bright fish, big fish, and sharks too! We had Halloween at Namena with Amelie IV. Mark and I dressed up as demigods from Camp Half-Blood from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson.

I don't know how long until we leave for New Zealand, but it might be a while. Now here's an interesting part. Right now we are in Saweni bay. So, yesterday I went to a town called Lautoka. It took an hour and a half, because we went through another town called Nadi instead of going straight to Lautoka. Mom told us to bring pizza and water, but we only brought water. That was a mistake. We left at 10 a.m. and came back at 1:30 p.m.

Niue

Mark and I had fun watching the dinghy get lifted out of the water

By Conrad

When we got to Niue, Mark and I had a lot of fun watching the dinghy getting lifted out of the water.

Then we went up a hill into town. We had the best rodes in the world and then went to find our friends. Then when it got dark we went to the Crazy Uga café  and I had a hamburger. The next day we saw whales. The we rented a car and the next day we went to an all-you-can-eat café.

Moorea, Tahiti, Huahine, and Bora Bora (The Society islands)

Snorkeling in Bora Bora

Conrad:

We are in the Society archipelago right now.  When we got to the set of islands we first went to an island called Moorea. We anchored in a bay called Cook's bay. Cook's bay is not the nicest anchorage because there is a lot of trash in the water. Mark and I spent about 30 minutes fishing  trash out of the water. Then we went to Papeete, in Tahiti. Papeete is not the nicest town, but the anchorage is okay, and there is a beach. There is a store called the Carrefour, a big store with lots of things in it. Then we went back to Moorea. This time we went to a bay called Baie D'Opunohu. The next morning we went to  a place that I call stingray city. At first I was afraid to go near the stingrays, but when we came next time, I was not as scared, but I would not feed the stingrays. Marks finger was in a stingrays mouth twice, and a stingray bumped into Mark while he was trying to feed it. We went to the coral gardens and feed the fish in Bora Bora. One bit my finger. Then we were going to go snorkeling, but there was not much to see, but we did see a crown-of-thorns starfish.



A stingray bumped into Mark while he was trying to feed it

Then we went to a place called Huahine. We found a tree and climbed into it. We had a nut war with our friend, Finn. Then I went windsurfing and later we played king of the board. We had lots of fun at those 4 islands!

Crown-of-thorns starfish

Marquesas, Tuamotus and Marine Biology

Here are Conrad's latest blog entries (oldest first).

A marine biologist and saving the animals

Waking up in the morning and finding out that you are leaving on a plane to Florida to live on your new boat is unimaginable. Now we are thousands of miles away from Florida, in the Tuamotus and have visited the coolest places. Now it's all this: we live in the ocean, and there are whales, fish, sharks, jellyfish, and other amazing animals. So now I want to be a marine biologist. At the first island in the Tuamotus we saw giant clams. We collected lots of little pearls and a few bead sized ones.

 

In the Bahamas, we went to the Thunderball grotto. Here in the Tuamotus, earlier today, we went snorkeling and saw a shark, and blue, green, purple, black, and white lipped giant clams.

Now we come to "Save the Animals." "Save the Animals" is a club for saving the  animals. Our friends on Mandala started the club, but their mom got sick so they left to Canada which is where they are from. The club is separated but, we're still going.  
 
The worst 3 day passage ever- rock, rock

We were in one of the most annoying passages we have ever experienced besides the one at Nassau in the Bahamas, where 2 twelve- foot waves broke over the boat. From that breaking wave, I got minnows in my pants. The first night's dinner of the three day crossing: crackers, cheese, and cold chicken. Night 2: pasta. Night 3: Indian food. It was a horrible crossing, yes, but we got a fifteen pound tuna, and saw an 18 inch flying fish. On the day of arrival, we had gnocchi for dinner. On day 2 we found out that our sail had ripped. At least we made it without sinking. (Not that we were going to.)          

Nuka Hiva (The Marquesas)

First we went to Daniel's Bay. Then we went to the main anchorage. At Daniel's Bay we played in the waves and went for a cool trip to a waterfall.  Right at this moment (the one where I'm writing the blog post) we are in the main anchorage. The main anchorage isn't really called the main anchorage, I just call it that because I don't know the name. When we were coming into the anchorage Mom saw a little shark. Also, last night we ate out. I played soccer with Finn and played other games with the other kids. On the first day we made a tree house.

Also, we saw the biggest sloop in the world at the main anchorage. The sloop was 87 meters long.

The big sloop even had a sea plane on the back! When we were done with the main bay we went to a place called Controllers Bay. We saw local dancing and heard local music. I even found a drum stick (broken) that I got to keep. We left Controllers Bay and went to a place that is called Anaho. We went to shore and found a beach. It had bad waves so we dug until Seabbatical got there. Then we explored some rocks and then found a new beach with six foot tall waves.                  

Oa Pou (The Marquesas)

We left from Tahuata to Oa Pou (pronounced Wa Poa).  On the crossing from Tahuata to Oa Pou, lots of annoying events happened: 1 it was very rocky and I kept hurting myself. 2 we dropped our fish landing net into the water. 3- well let's not keep going on and on about bad things happening. We saw cool rock spires.

I also had fun playing soccer with Finn from Seabbatical against the locals. The local were good and had the speed that Finn and I didn't.

Catching up (by Conrad)

Conrad has been busy catching up on his blog posts from Isabela to Tahuata in the Marquesas (the most recent posts are first).

Seabbatical and Miss Behaving in Fatu Hiva.

Tahuata (The Marquesas)

We arrived at Tahuata and zoomed off to the beach in the dinghy. Amelie IV, Seabbatical, and Miss Behaving were either there, or almost there. There were teeny tiny waves when we got to the beach the first day, but a few days later there were waves six or seven feet tall. Soon the waves got so big that we had to put our boards up on the beach and diving into the big ones. On one of our last days in Tahuata  we did a potluck. On our last day I got stung by a jellyfish tentacle. I hadn't been stung by a jellyfish for more than a year so my skin blistered almost immediately. It hurt so badly I had to be picked up by the dinghy.    



 There are big, six foot waves at Tahuata.

Hiva Oa (The Marquesas)

After an eight hour sail from Fatu Hiva to Hiva Oa we wanted to get off the boat. After the calm bay at Fatu Hiva it felt like we were at sea the whole time, but I didn't mind. Getting into the dingy included lots of waves rebounding from the breakwater and almost falling into the water. Getting to shore wasn't so good but we got to say hi to some other kid boats named Seabbatical, Miss Behaving, and Amelie IV. We met Miss Behaving and Seabbatical at Fatu Hiva. At Hiva Oa we were introduced to south Pacific baguettes. Note: I did NOT like the mile and 1/2 walk into town.

Fatu Hiva (The Marquesas)

After the long, 20 day passage we got to the island called Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas. It was very rainy there because of some really big mountains. In French, grapefruit is pamplemousse. There were giant and very yummy grapefruits there. We went to have a late lunch once  and then, mysteriously that night I got food poisoning. The next day I did not eat anything until dinner so that made me so weak that I felt dizzy when I sat up.         

20 days at sea = boring

We left from Isabela (The Galapagos) to the Marquesas. It was 20 days at sea non-stop. On day 3 Mark and I were going crazy. Every day we would start wrestling at least once every day. Near the end of the trip, we caught a blue marlin, probably 5 feet long.

I also dissected flying fish that were washed onto the deck over night to see what they were eating because I want to be a marine biologist.

The next thing we knew, we were going for adventures with a rope. Every day I would set up a swing and we would swing all day long. But  finally, after 20 long and hard days, we made it to Fatu Hiva, dying for land.

Mrs. Isabela (The Galapagos)

Isabela was really cool and we sailed 8 hours to get there. We saw lots of rays jumping out of the water  when we came into the anchorage. "It's like they are trying to fly." Mark said. We saw penguins in the anchorage!

A few days into the stay at Isabela we went for a tour. The tour was fun because we saw the craters of volcanoes and got to feel a fumarole. ( You could roast bacon in there.) The hike to the first crater was a few miles so we got to ride on horses. For the second crater we got off the horses and walked a few miles. The second crater was the coolest because we saw giant fumaroles ( not active) and even crystals! The horses were fun  because when you say the word "vamos" ( that means" let's go" in Spanish) and they would walk.

The first part about riding on the horses backs is that they lean like they are going to fall over. This is me: "HELP MY HORSE IS GONNA FALL OVER! HELP! HELP! GET ME OFF!" After that I was fine. The horses would go off the trail sometimes and grab a mouthful of grass and then keep going but sometimes you would have to say vamos. The Galapagos is awesome!

Slimy pollywogs or trusty shellbacks?

On Tuesday, March 10, I became a trusty shellback! I was very excited. We will get a surprise. I don't  know what the surprise is yet, but I will find out soon. (I wrote this minutes after the ceremony.) Ok, let's get to the part with the ceremony:" I, Conrad TenEick, ask permission of King Neptune, ruler of the seas, permission to cross the equator, and sail the southern seas. We offer you food and drink." And then I was a trusty shellback, no longer a slimy pollywog! And then Mark did his ceremony. (Mom And Dad  had already done their ceremonies.)