Days 1-3: St. Maarten/St. Martin -- February 16-18, 2007 What can you say about a month out of the cold? We’re good at being snowbirds? How about we went sailing on a big boat, err, ship in the French West Indies? I think everyone has a little bit of a pirate spirit in them and sailing on a Windjammer ship is a good way to bring that out! One thing Windjammer employees will tell you is that “this ain’t no foo foo ship”...I am guessing it’s a jab at those huge floating cities we see in [View Full Entry]

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Day 5: Nevis -- February 21, 2007 Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery As we saw in St. Barths, with the Mick Jagger imitator, a mirror image of something great is just that, or is it? Nevis, though in the French West Indies, is British, and looked to us anyway - a lot like Dominica. There was a rain forest, few people and the people were incredibly friendly - the ones we met anyway...Like Dominica, it teased us to explore further. It seemed to be a place where nature prevails and commercialism is prohibited. Twenty years ago in St. Maarten [View Full Entry]

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Days 1-3: St. Maarten/St. Martin What can you say about a month out of the cold? We’re good at being snowbirds? How about we went sailing on a big boat, err, ship in the French West Indies? I think everyone has a little bit of a pirate spirit in them and sailing on a Windjammer ship is a good way to bring that out! One thing Windjammer employees will tell you is that “this ain’t no foo foo ship”...I am guessing it’s a jab at those huge floating cities we see invade tiny Caribbean islands...I’ve never been on a cruiseship....but being [View Full Entry]

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Sometimes you can find the best things right in your own back yard! We spent the summer discovering the local waters in our kayaks and boy do we have some good stuff here in the midwest! The Morgan Family pioneered the canoeing industry in the Southwestern Ohio and Southeastern Indiana regions nearly 50 years Gomorra has 3 locations and we chose the Little Miami for most of our summer adventures. Every Wednesday this summer, until the river got really, really slow, we went to Morgan's Ft. Ancient to paddle six miles. The river is generally a Class I and mellow is [View Full Entry]

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I have an acquaintance who scuba dives. To hear him describe the activity and characters that live beneath the sea is true poetry. After our trip to the Everglades, we went to Captiva and then on to Key West, a grueling schedule as I am sure you can imagine. Once that leg of our journey was completed, I traveled to see my friend in Grand Cayman. Everyone should travel to the Cayman Islands! You don’t go to Grand Cayman to see the architecture, the landscape or the tourist attractions. In fact, hurricane Ivan destroyed much of this beautiful Caribbean Island. Grand [View Full Entry]

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Everglades has no single feature, no prominent point of interest now or ever. It is a mosaic of many things seen, smelled, heard and endured. Daniel Beard, first superintendent of Everglades National Park You start out in a midwest snowstorm and end up in Florida packing nothing but beef jerky, cut-offs, sunscreen, red and yellow kayaks. Travel is great when you do it this way. Homeschooling on the road. Beef jerky at it’s finest, "Catcher in the Rye" for reading and the thoughts of a new adventure. A drive on the single road through Everglades National Park d [View Full Entry]

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We often take our schooling on the road. Last February we went to Cabbage Key, Florida to study Botany and Conservation. We're thinking about a return engagement, this time we'l take the kayaks. My journal from that week... I'm Pretty Sure It's Not Poison Ivy Cabbage Key, Florida - February 2005 DAY 1 & 2 The whole point of Cabbage Key was to study Botany and do nothing. That’s what we did for seven days. Cabbage Key is directly across from marker 60 on the Florida Intercoastal Waterway. That’s due west form Pine Island, Florida, USA. Sanibel and Captiva islands are [View Full Entry]

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My student and I have been out on the Kayaks in Algonquin Provincial Park. Boy did we have a ball! I have a lot to write about, but right now we are busy getting ready to start another “school year”. In the meantime have a look at our list of top 10 paddler tips, devised from our experiences at Algonquin and along the way! 1. It is inappropriate sit on the bow of the he Maid of the Mist with your kayak paddles and shout “bring it on” at Niagara falls. 2. Algonquin Provincial park wolves really do exist and will [View Full Entry]

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Well Daphne the Science Guinea Pig is much better thanks to constant “basting” with Betadine. We’ve acquired those new day touring kayaks, Perception Carolina 13.5 and Carolina 14.5 and we chose not to go with Hully Rollers but Yakima Kayak stackers and boat loaders. Our days of renting water craft are over. Had to keep my student away from the trolling motors, we’re going to work on upper body strength and character. Paddlefest 2005 Paddlefest 2005sealed the deal [View Full Entry]

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Staying on course to travel this summer has been tough. My student and I would much rather play than get this house together. We’ve been spending our time going through boxes in the basement, mainly to stay out of the midwest humidity, but also so we have a place to stow our kayaks. There aren’t many boxes left to survey, but there were 2 two that were fun. They were simply labeled “33LPs - Good Stuff”. It was the first time my student ever saw an “album”. Man were there some classics: The Who, Stones, Aerosmith, Heart, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, [View Full Entry]

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