This is a post by Geneva: Hola all of you people! Sorry I haven't been writing on the blog lately. It's been pretty busy with everything going on, but we have been having a blast the last couple of weeks in Georgetown. Yes we have officially left after 3 full months of fun. It was not easy leaving all of the kids, for we have all split up. In Georgetown 2 of my friends Sam and AnnMarie had their 12Th birthday on February 27Th and it was so cool. We sang a song for AnnMarie that I think was weird but it was fun. We had a small birthday party with all the cruiser kids on the beach with tug-a-war, relays, cakes(2). Everyone was ecstatic to participate. Thanks to Priority (Dakota, Declan) I have learned to wake board, not as good as their dad (Scott) who can jump and all that jazz. I'll soon be able to do 360s.....Tehee..... NOT! Yesterday we celebrated another great birthday Dakotas' AND Brendon's'. Another double birthday, the day was full of slingshots, pizza, and cake. The slingshot makes you fell like your flying, you go so high. Back in Lake Erie we need to do that and amaze our marina friends as they say we are going to die. This may come as a shocker but my dad used the slingshot and he went flying. The slingshot is made up of a halyard line, another line tied to the end, the other line tied to the dingy as it throttles up and flings you as you scream and hold on. Bird on a Wire, Sandpiper, Priority, and Zola are currently anchored with us in Staniel with the pigs on the beach that are huge. I've might of said this before but I could literally ride these pigs! Oh did tell you that Sargent Majors are vicious. All 2 inches of them! I was feeding them in Thunder ball Cave and one came up and took a chunk out of my knuckle (well using its 1 centimeter sized mouth) and drew blood!! I was amazed at how much it hurt. There are sharks here but so far they have been nurse sharks (although there is a bull shark in Cambridge). In Cambridge (a mooring field) it's in the Land and Sea Park so it is beautiful they have a great snorkel spot called the aquarium. It's called that because it has so many colorful fish and coral that you think it's a aquarium. The only bad thing is that there are gorgeous shells and you can't take them even if they are broken pieces of conch. Next to the mooring field there is a island. Any guesses on who owns it? Johnny Depp! He only uses the beaches but when we were snorkeling his yacht was there so that meant he was there! Cool isn't it? Of only he would invite us over... Right off of the island there is a sunken plane. It was said that it was a drug plane because it was so small. I really thought it was awesome because I got to practice free diving pretty deep on the plane.
It is true that lion fish are taking over the Bahamas from the Pacific. They are so pretty but they have stingers that feel like scorpion stings when touched. These invasive species are also eating Nassau Grouper eggs (a really good tasting fish) and have no natural predators. Well, I have to go snorkel on the coral heads! Tootles, and we are coming back soon! We may go to Atlantis in Nassau for we are now moving north now, heading back home. Yey! Well see you guys soon! There will be more to type about as we get closer and closer to the end of the trip...

Update from Erin:

Our cruising year is coming to an end. We will be heading back to the states soon. Our time in the Bahamas has been extravagant. It has been a long time since we have written in our blog. So what we have done in the couple of months has been a mystery. After Long Island, we went back to George Town. We stayed there another month. We stayed for some of the cruising regatta. My mom and dad did the children's day event in George Town. At first we thought it was going to be a disaster because we had only nine Bahamian kids and 10 cruising kids and 30 helpers. However, the George Town Elementary school let the fifth graders join us. Originally, it was the third and fourth graders. The third graders couldn't come because of some kind of problems with behavior. We played tug-of-war, obstacle course, water balloon toss, and other relay games. It was a fun day for everyone.
We also had a Marine Biologist in our midst. The cruising kids did experiments on the clarity of the water. We made Secky discs out of bucket lids and black electrical tape. We had four dighys to go out and experiment different areas of the harbor and test the water. The Secky discs were held under the water and one person had a line attached to it and drifted back until they could not see it any more. This is how we measured visibility in the water. We also took sediment samples. We tested current by seeing how long it took to drift back 3 meters. Each group tested four different areas. Our group was made up of the kids and adults of Sailing Vessel 'Priority' (Declan, Dakota and Dad Scott). When we finished all the testing in all four spots we met up with the three other groups on the beach. We got bottles and put in all the sediment samples in different bottles and compared them. We compared them by shaking them and then looking at each one to see which were the clearest. Our group had the clearest results in the clarity tests. The conclusion of the experiments were that the North Ocean cut was the cleanest.
We have split off from Georgetown now with Bird on a Wire. We have gone to Black point where we did not do much.. We went into town which had nothing really. They had a couple of run down houses and a bakery. It was a house. You knocked on the door and she would take you into her house. We ordered and she had bread fresh out of the oven the next day. The house smelled of homemade bread. The next day, we were on the move once more to Staniel Cay where we dove Thunder ball cave (again). Thunder ball cave is a grotto which is a cave under water with an air pocket. Sargent Majors guard the entrance. (Sergeant Majors are a type of fish). We got to feed them hard boiled eggs. We found out that they bite.
We entered the Land and Sea Park in the Exumas where we dove on a ship. There is no fishing or shelling. We paid for our mooring by painting a house boat. We also had a movie night on the beach . A Huerta (small rodent) ran across Geneva's feet scaring her and us to death. The next day, we were off again to a new location, Cambridge Cay.
There we saw an aquarium under water. It was extravagant with colorful reefs, lots of angel fish, Sargent majors, lion fish and parrot fish. We also saw an 8ft manta ray gliding under us. That same day we dove on an old drug running one passenger plane. It crashed in about 10 feet of water and had coral growing on it. Once again the day went by fast and that night we watched the shuttle launch. However that is not what interested us the most. By the island near us, a huge 100+ foot boat had anchored. No one is allowed near that island, so what was the boat doing there? The Island belongs to Johnny Depp. It turns out, the boat also belonged to him. He invited us over for dinner (OK - maybe not). The peaceful night went by with no dog piles in the middle of the night. The next day we went to a very rolly anchorage and stayed long enough to enjoy a dingy ride through the mangroves and and afternoon on the beach. Because of the windy weather, we decided to back track to Staniel Cay. It was not only smooth, but Priority and Zola were there. Also it was Dakota's 13Th birthday. We had a fun day of Wake boarding, sling shot, and later pizza and a movie that night.
We are planning to continue heading north to Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas. That is all of now folks - stay tuned for more.
Erin.
I am sure you are wondering about the human slingshot. To make it, we took a line that was attached to the top of the mast and then attach it to another line. A fast dingy takes this line and a person is holding it and drives away from the boat slinging that person into the air. I am sure my mom has pictures to share of this adventure.

Last Days at Georgetown

All good things must come to an end and our visit to Georgetown Exumas is ending. We are planning to start north tomorrow March 11 and visit the northern Bahamas on our way. We are still not sure when we will arrive back to the states, but we are getting close to the end of our adventure.

More Bahamas

Long Island Bahamas

We took a side trip to Long Island.

Bahamas

Hola Amigos! I miss all of you, however I have been having a super duper time! From snorkeling to hanging out at the beach with my new cruising friends the fun never ends. I'll start with my new friends: AnnMarie,Brian,Brady,David,Sam,Chris,and Josh. It's really fun to actually have kids my age! The weather of course is ah-maz-ing. I can't remember a day yet that I have had to stay on the boat all day. Of course, I don't think my parents could keep me cooped up in our boat all day. I've been snorkeling on the reefs and seen some lion fish. So far, no one has been stung or pricked by the lion fish. They are an invasive species. The barracuda sightings are minimum surprisingly I've seen more sea turtles than barracudas. The sea turtles are everywhere, one swam right under me when I was on the reef. Did you you know when sea turtles have their heads above water they look like upside down pineapples!? Weird! Let me tell you one thing its short and simple. Hermit crabs pinch really hard when they get on your foot! I can't believe how dark a tan I have since I've been here. I've only worn my bathing suit and shorts most of the day. Okay I just need to say it: I CAN'T BELIEVE ON CHRISTMAS MORNING I WENT SWIMMING OUTSIDE AND THE WATER WAS WARM!!!!!! Well that's it for you chick-a-Dee's. Adios amigos and thanks for reading my blog. Later Gators and have a good uh... whatever the next holiday is! ; ) Geneva

Update from Erin - Well as you know we are in the Bahamas, Mon! We have been to some really cool, neat places! When we were in Shroud Cay, there was a little place up a little mangrove stream that we went up in our dingys. At the end of the stream, we made it to the ocean. It was there you could look out to a pool and it had really strong currents like a washing machine. When we tried to swim from one beach to the other the currents would take you away to the ocean where there was like 1 foot of water and where you would have to walk back to shore!
The first place we went was Chub Cay. There was a house there, if you walked to the upstairs it was house and downstairs it was a restaurant with only little tables and the bathroom also had a shower. That is how much of a house it was. Have you ever heard of the James Bond movie Thunder ball?? We went to Thunder ball cave!!!! It was soooo cool. It was an underwater cave that a bunch of fish followed us in and we fed them. Mark jumped from a hole in the top of the cave. It had to have been a 20 foot drop. There were holes underwater we would swim though. (I lost my fin a couple of times from the cave walls knocking it off). When we were at Wadrick Wells, there were blow holes on the top of the hills. When the tide came up they would blow and the wind coming up would be strong enough to take your hat off!
We did our normal Christmas Caroling through the anchorage. We had 3 dingies full of kids and went from boat to boat singing. We also decorated the boat with lights. We made a Christmas tree that went up the mast. It was great.

Florida - Getting ready for the Bahamas

This is a post by... Geneva!: Thank you, Thank you very much! a lot has happened over the last week or so where to begin....
Yea! We are finally in Florida and I'm in a bathing suit! This is the first time in Sandridge history that I, Geneva Anne Sandridge, is in a bathing suit for Thanksgiving and hopefully Christmas. I also want to say.. Happy Thanksgiving! well at least belated. For Thanksgiving we had fun but not as fun as seeing our cousins. Actually I think it was equal to the fun with our cousins and family. We had two Thanksgiving meals. One with friends Brian and Linda at their great home and a huge pot luck dinner at Vero Beach with around 150 people. Last year they had so much left overs they gave it to the homeless shelter! But they probably didn't have a lot this year now that the Sandridge family has been here! Any way, I was really glad we got to meet up with Brian and Linda. Let me tell you if I wanted to live in Florida that is probably the best house to buy!! They also graciously lent us their car to go to the zoo and cooked a phenomenal Thanksgiving type dinner! My favorite part was feeding the birds. Except when one pooped on my head, that was nasty. :) When we rafted at Vero beach it was the only place that sold bathing suits because it's, wait for it, "winter" isn't that's weird!? I mean it was like 80 degrees outside and they had UGG boots and parkas in the stores!! Also, we saw our friends Bird on a Wire for the last time today until February!! :( This is also our last post until who knows? ) So I just want to say a few things.... I'll miss you guys, Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, Happy Valentines day and all the other holidays between here and when we are back! Puppy Dog Chow! Peace.

Hey ya’ll!! It is Erin! I have to tell any one and everyone reading this that I will be in the Bahamas. Yea! We will only get Internet in some places.We will not update the blog very often, so sorry readers. I had to tell you that so you did not think that we fell off the face of the earth. We could but I am thinking not. This morning we had to part with our friends which we have been traveling with for a month now. It was a very sad event. We hope to see them again in a few months. Well anyway lets talk about happy things. We had such a great time with them. We would watch movies and play games all the time. We had a great time with them. We also got to see some of my dad and mom’s good friends, Brian and Linda. They brought us to their house. When you would walk in the front door there was a swimming pool that had a hot tub that drained into the pool by a little waterfall. They also gave us the best home cooked meal I have ever had. We also got to go to the zoo. We also fed the birds. They would sit on your back, your hand and your head, it was really cool. One bird sat on me and would not get off even when I ran out of food. It would nibble on my finger. It would go over to Geneva and nibble on her finger and always come back to me. I guess my finger tasted good.

We spent Thanksgiving at Vero Beach with about 150 other boats going south. It was great, we had a lot of food and a lot of people. Jack and Kris from our Marina came to visit and take us to lunch. It was great to see them, they bought Geneva and me chocolate peanut butter cream pie. Well that’s my update. You will get some soon so don’t be sad, smile!