A day of volunteering in a veterinarians clinic.

Written by: Jessica (14) and Emma (12). Pictures by: Mom

We are currently in Savusavu, Fiji for cyclone season. A few months ago we took off some time from homeschool to play all day with our friends (we hadn't seen them in a long time.) Now, it's time to get back to the books. In addition to studying extra hours for homeschool, we're also learning in other ways. Some different ways we are learning outside the "classroom" is volunteering at the local animal clinic, taking art classes with a local artist and joining the junior sailing class. Friday we spent hours volunteering at the Animals Fiji clinic.

Getting ready to comfort a dog fresh from surgery

I (Jessica) loved my first day at Animal Fiji clinic because Alex (the vet) allowed us to interact and help. My favorite part of the day was when I learned how to take a pulse and when I learned how to test urine for blood. I look forward to learning more about the medical procedures the vet will preform. I had such a great experience at the clinic.   

I (Emma) loved the animal clinic because I got to help the dogs feel comfortable and I really like watching the vet, Alex do the surgery on the dogs. I got to learn how to make a sterile kit, helped the dogs wake up from their Isofluorane, I was also able to help prepare a dog for surgery. The day that we went to the clinic they were packed with dogs, by the end of the day they had 7 dogs that were fixed and a cat, they also had 2 dogs that came in to be vaccinated and one urine test. 

Reading a dogs pulse

 The clinic is trying to get 10,000 signatures to ban Paraquat, it's a poison used to kill the weeds that grow on plants for the farmers, the problem with is that it also kills animals and humans. When a dog or cat consumes the Paraquat it burns the dogs from in side eating away their lungs and other inside organisms and is a very painful death that is why Animals Fiji is trying to ban it. It's very sad. If you too would like to sign the petition to ban Paraquat, click here. 

Creating sterile kits

Preparing a dog for surgery

We're both happy that our parents organized a day for us to volunteer with Animals Fiji and can't wait to go back. We're especially happy that mom didn't get upset when we told her that we felt like we learned more in one day at the clinic than had we done homeschool! 

Happy To Go North By: Jess

About a week ago, all of us as a crew had to make a hard decision. We needed to decide if we were going to still head South or go back North.  The reason we needed to make this decision was because we felt as if we weren't having fun. One reason was because the seas were never pleasant in fact they'd sometimes was absolutely terrifying. Another reason was that we'd always do passages and they were always longer than expected. The anchorages were always rolly and Murphy (the cat) got seasick when we were anchored. Season 2 was a wreck until we decided to go back North. We decided to go North for 1 more reason, we were going crazy because we didn't see one boat in any of the anchorages we were in. While we were  sailing South, the only other boats we saw were headed North.

Even though we really wanted to go South to Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Bahamas etc. we are happy to say that we are going to the Sea of Cortez again. We had so much fun in the Sea of Cortez, I cant wait to see kid boats again!

If you'd like to get in touch please email me jessicarnance@yahoo.com

At Los Gatos

Kid boat fun

Paddleboarding at Agua Verde

The gift of giving -- by jess

My 12th birthday was coming up and I really wanted something special. Living on a boat, there is not a lot of room for birthday presents, good thing I didn't want gifts.

 Since I was born, I've had a love for animals and for a very long time I have wanted to be a Vet. My family and I were volunteering at the local animal shelter (San Miguel De Allende's  S.P.A.) when I decided I want to help the local animals rather than receive gifts for my birthday.

After speaking with the Director of the shelter, she told us they could use a special fund to cover unrecovered medical costs. In addition to adoptions, the shelter also provides medical care to anyone that brings in a pet even though sometimes people can't pay the shelter. We decided to set up "Jessica's Fund" to help cover these medical costs.

I was happy to hear that we raised the funds and help many of the San Miguel de Allende animals. I was even happier to hear that we raised more than 100 percent of my goal!!!!!

Better than receiving gifts was being able to hand the S.P.A. a check to cover medical costs and help other families.

My favorite place so far

I've been sailing with my family for almost five months and trust me I've seen some breath taking places. All the places I've seen are very unique from each other.

My favorite place so far is Isla Coronados and I will give you three reasons why.

1. I loved the hike there because you could see the mainland, other islands and all around the island from the top. You could see all the different shades of the turquoise water, it was beautiful! 

2. I was amazed by how many manta rays there where swimming under our boat. They would jump two feet out of the water and do summer salts or belly flops. 

3. Fishing is amazing there because i caught about six trigger fish and one snapper. That made some yummy fish tacos that night!   I love the Sea of Cortez , it very beautiful. I never expected the water to be so clear and the fish to be so colorful. I love the Sea of Cortez !!!!!!!

The Sea of Cortez is full of fish and there are more fish when the water is warm. When I fish I use metal lures instead of rubber ones because the rubber ones will not last as long. I enjoy fishing but its tough to watch my dad filet them. As a animal lover I hate to see my dad filet the fish, but they sure do taste good! 

What keeps us busy.... Legos to moustaches and more

When were not pretending to be filming Titanic at anchor here are some of our favorite things onboard to keep us busy.  We have an enormous amount of space to keep our toys... Thankfully

On an easy passage we love playing with Legos.  We can build anything out of our Legos.  We don't recommend keeping them in a popcorn tin as it's getting rusty. 

Whatever you do, don't leave the dock without stick-on moustaches! Easy to pack and loads of fun. We went over to Sv Makai wearing them for fun. 

Who doesn't love a moustache?

Do you know how fast you were going, meow ?

We have 10-11 Barbie dolls. 3 boy dolls and 8 girls. We also have Barbie's golfcart and her convertible Mini... She really does have everything!!!

Raven is a horrible driver!!!!!

We also love our Monster High dolls

In Cabo we convinced our parents to buy good quality float rings...they're awesome. In Jaltemba we used them to sit and watch an up close and personal dolphin show.  The dolphins swam right up to us and started doing flips

We LOVE our kayaks

It's easy to pack fun Chinese paper lanterns.  Buy them off Amazon, they lay flat and can store under mattresses. Be sure to get the kind with bamboo sticks and not metal frames.... You don't want to create waste in the Ocean!

On a smooth passage we like to create collages using old magazines, scissors and glue sticks

Don't forget cute sun protective shirts!

We love boat slumber parties! We enjoyed hanging out with Sophie from Sv Stochastic in Banderas Bay

We know just enough Spanish to bargain while shopping. We are learning Spanish as we go. 

We both LOVE to fish! Our dad bought us poles and lots of lures.  Unfortunately Puffer and Trigger fish love to nibble our lures... We had to buy more. 

In Turtle Bay our dad bought us about 12 "squiggly" lures. We loved them so much we named them:

Disco, Boogar, Pixle, Mr and Mrs Squiggly, Cool Jazz, Big girl, Baby, Granny, Watermelon, Shimmer, Floppy and Sky. Because most of the "squiggly" lures got torn apart we just bought 4 new metal ones. 

The metal lures have been named: Sunhine, Strike, Ocean and Zebra.  Yes, we're little girls who name our fishing lures!

Don't forget to pack snorkel gear.  We can carry on full conversations underwater while speaking through our snorkels. 

We have tons of books on board, Mad Libs, playing cards, board games, musical instruments, hot wheels, dress up costumes, art supplies, stuffed animals and a HuGE box of Littlest Pet Shops (71 animals to be exact)

Anytime you see us at anchor come play... We have more than enough to share!!!

Turning bread into science

Sometimes my mom makes loaves of bread on the boat. One time the yeast was dead and she made a loaf of bread anyways. After she was done baking and the bread didn't turn out, my dad asked if he could use the bread as bait.  With his fishing line and moms bread he was able to catch a really small fish. We used the fish to learn about science. 

First my dad had us sketch the fish.

He pointed out the different parts of the fish.

Then my dad cut open the fish so we could see the inside

We took out the gallbladder, intestines, liver, heart, and eyeball. 

Emma and I were able to look at the different parts of the fish under our microscope.

I thought seeing all the different parts of a fish was educational and cool. Science on the boat is fun, especially when my dad is a scientist. i love homeschool!!!!! 

COURTESY FLAGS

A courtesy flag  is flown by a ship in foreign waters as a sign of respect by a visiting vessel. It is often a small national maritime flag of the host country. The flag is customarily flown off the flag halyard of the starboard spreader. The flag should be flown the whole time you're in that same country.

We put our Mexico flag up almost 2 weeks ago and it will stay up until we leave Mexico.

OUR MEXICO COURTESY FLAG

I WOULD LIKE TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO SALLY'S CLASS AT I.A.  THANKS FOR FOLLOWING AND I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!

FEED THE HUNGRY

Have you ever wondered how much food we waste and how many people die each year from hunger?

We waste 230 tons world wide each year ! 

 What made me notice how much food we waste was when we were in the grocery store and I saw 2 carts full of bread that they were going to throw out. Next time you are shopping please take a look at the amount of full grocery carts full of food getting ready to get thrown in the dumpster.  

Thousands of pounds of food every day go to waste even if its sill good to eat. Especially fruit and vegetables, like potatoes if they are the wrong shape or size they get thrown out. I think we should give food to the hungry because its very un-fair that we eat as much as we want and then throw the rest away without noticing that there are starving people wondering if there ever going to eat.

Please take a moment to view this video. What can we do to get the food from carts headed to the dumpster into hungry bellies?

Fun House

Something I like about my grandma and grandpa's house is the wild life because when you walk out side you hear birds and frogs.You might see Falcons, crows, lizard, rabbits,and coyotes. Almost every sunset at least a hundred crows fly over the their house. Once it gets dark the frogs and coyotes come out, if you take a moment and listen you will hear them and sometimes see them. My grandma has a fountain and around the summer you will see little tadpoles swimming around until they are frogs. It's great that the mountains have so many animals.

Another thing I like about my grandma's and grandpa's house is the orange trees there. We each have our own orange tree. Its like a fort because we got clippers to cut some leaves out. Every summer its orange season so we are usually picking oranges, making decorations out of oranges and making scented candles. Sometimes we take the oranges and make juice out of them. Our oranges are usually sweet and juicy. I really like my orange tree!

          This is the fountain at Grandma and Grandpa's. 

Click HERE to see more fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Sailing San Diego by Jess

This last weekend we went sailing. It takes a long time to put your crew to work! My dad has to get the sails ready. My mom has to get the inside of the boat ready. This means she has to secure anything that could fall down while sailing. Emma and I have to secure all the doors so they don't slam as we sail. Emma and I also take down all the window covers so that we can see while sailing. Once we get going my job is pull up the fenders from the side of the boat and put away the dock lines. Everyone has jobs on a sail boat.

 All of us get excited to sail expect our cat Murphy. It's hard when your cat gets sea sick when we go sailing. I hope Murphy won't get  sea sick once we get going.

When you're trying to get your boat ready for what were doing, its a never ending list of boat projects. We  put a new fan and new lights in my parents room.  So what we did was put sticky notes of what we need to do and when we do it we throw away that sticky note. Its hard work to live on a boat but you get used to it.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY !!!!

Here are some pictures I have taken, tell me what you think.