Pompeii, Rome, Corsica, and Baleric Islands (Folding Prop Install)

Amazed at how well preserved the frescoes are in Pompeii!

After watching the volcano erupt for one last time, we set sail for an overnight passage to Pompeii, near the Bay of Naples. We would have loved to been able to stop and explore Capri, but the conditions were not right. We pulled into the marina, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background, hooked up to a/c for Sunny (we hate leaving her behind, but dogs are not allowed in Pompeii), and caught a cab to the dig site.

Pompeii was not the only city to be demolished by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD. While Pompeii is the most famous, there are several other exhibits of town also wiped out by the clouds of ash and gas.

Math in the sand: calculating how many years have passed since the eruption.

The site of Pompeii is quite large and one really needs an entire day to devote to exploring it all. An estimated 20,000 people resided here in this prosperous city.

Wandering the streets of Pompeii. The water from the baths on the hill would flow down into the city streets, washing away all of the refuse. The large stepping stones allowed residents to cross without getting wet.

View over part of the city, beautiful artwork, artifacts awaiting categorization.

Food found around the site.

One of the games they played.

The archeologists are still uncovering many parts of the city still  buried under centuries of soil. As we walked around, we happened upon a live dig where they had just uncovered a tomb. They took photos and then turned to show us through the fence. They told the kids 'you are the first people to see this newly discovered artifact'!

Observing the archeologists at work. We were the first to view the photos of the newly discovered tomb!

Viewing the photos just after they were taken!

We spent the entire day exploring and did not get to see everything. We had to leave to pick up a guest in Rome, so after a quick stop for provisions, we left for an overnight passage to Porto Romano, just up the Tiber river.

The artwork is amazing. I look at these tiny tiles and think about how much work it must have been!

That passage was awful. No matter which way we turned the boat, we got hit with swell. It was severely confused seas and not much wind, but we motored through and were very thankful when we entered the Tiber river and escaped the swell. We topped up on fuel and settled in to our dock, which happened to be right next to the swimming pool.

Michelle getting introduced to boat life. 

The next day, we picked up Michelle, who was very much a part of our family when the kids were little. She was their nanny and we sure did miss her when she went off to college! We loved getting to spend some time with her and show her the sailing life.

We had only a single day to spend in Rome and made the most of it. We got an early start and explored a lot of the area, including the massive colosseum! The guided tour was enlightening and our guide was kind enough to point out some of his own local favorite spots, such as an ice cream shop with over 150 flavors!

Boca de Veritas (mouth of truth). Put your hand in and answer someone's question or make a statement. Tell a lie and you might just lose your hand! 

Gladiator training area.

Taking in the size of the colosseum. 

Another view of the colosseum and Trevi fountain on the right. 

There are fountains with fresh water all over the place!

With another good night's rest, we set off early the next morning for Corsica. We met up with our friends on Abaco in a calm anchorage, where Jared ended up installing our new folding props. Thanks Abaco, for letting us borrow your dive gear!

Corsica sea caves

The folding props were pretty easy to install, thanks to using dive gear! 

Parts ready to be installed. We kept them in separate bags and when Jared asked for a part, I could easily find it.

Cadence shows Michelle how its done! #boatlife #boatkids #Corsica

With the clock ticking and more friends to meet, we left Corsica and sailed on to Menorca. We are pretty even matched with Abaco and sailed together the entire way, dropping the hook in Mahon bay around 1am.

Roundabout at anchor in Mahon bay.

We woke up to our friends on No Plans Just Options waving hello. The kids were happy to play in the water and run around on the beach. Later on that afternoon, we explored the old fort and nice museum.

Walking into the fort.

Isn't this like a scene from Indiana Jones?

The following day we dinghied up the bay into the town of Mahon. This town is beautiful with lush gardens, cobblestone walkways, and shops galore. We were most charmed by the handmade shoes on display in just about every window.

Seriously, there is one in every color, even glitter and animal prints!

We love it when dolphins come to visit!

Boats in the bay at Calla de Porter. Photo credit: Amber Utting.

Our next anchorage was around the corner at Cala en Porter, between two steep cliffs in bright blue water. There was a festival de los caballos (festival of horses) in full swing, so after a quick swim, cave explorations, and dinner, we dinghied over to the town. This was quite the experience. Horses with their riders were decked out in full gear and they danced to special music.

The tradition is to surround the horse and rider and then inside that circle, a group of adults and children run at and chase the horse around, patting its rump. The horses seemed used to this, although our kids did not think it was right. I asked one of the audience members to tell us the story behind this ritual. They explained that back in times of war, they wanted to desensitize the horses and so this was how it was done. This contradicts my internet search which mentions Saint Joan and how it was about the brotherhood between humans and horses. Only the children of the farming community were allowed to be inside the circle with the horses. The true version? Maybe it's both, more to research...

We led the kids back to playing on the beach and ate from the food stalls set up along the pathway. There was a special local drink (for adults) which tasted sort of like limoncello. Lots of energy surrounded us as we shouted over the music and chatter from all of those around us. After the kids came to us one by one with tired faces, we finally retired to our boats for some sleep. It didn't last too long though, as the swell had clocked around and was coming into the tiny narrow bay. We heard NPJO haul anchor around 1am and head out for Mallorca. After 30 minutes of being rolled around and not sleeping anyway, we also left the anchorage for Mallorca. Abaco followed suit an hour later.

Not one is the same...

Around midnight on the following night, we dropped the hook in the large bay of Palma and finally had a good night's sleep. 9am the next morning found us moving to a different spot over by Cala Major, as the spot we were in had sea grass, which you are not allowed to anchor in (let alone have any part of your anchor or chain touching it). We settled into a lovely anchorage with a nice sandy beach near Calla Major. We spent most of the day swimming in the lovely blue water, enjoying more aquatic life than we'd seen in a long time. There were also quite a few of those funky fried-egg jellies floating about.

We enjoyed some time exploring the town, dinner, and sangrias (oh, the sangrias were soooo good), and tried three times to check the boat in with customs. Finally, on the third day, we found the correct official who knew what he was doing. Basically, since our boat is our residence, we don't need to stamp in. If we decided to stay on land, that would be different.

We moved over closer to Puerto de Palma for the big boat kid combination birthday bash. Met some new sailing families and had a blast! The kids slept hard that night after such a long day partying. We had a bit of trouble with our anchor windlass motor (we've had issues with it, ---as you can read about by clicking that link---even after Jared serviced it and installed new brushes), which finally gave up the ghost.

Palma Cathedral in the background.

In 20 knot winds, Jared pulled up anchor by hand and we moved back over to Cala Major (the coast guard would not allow us to remain at anchor near the big port).

Installing the new anchor windlass motor.

On the way, our rudder sensor also died. Fortunately, while walking around the town, I was able to purchase a new rudder sensor off the shelf and ordered the new windlass motor for delivery the following day. With both of these installed, we were back in business!

After a 'see you in the Caribbean' send off dinner, Michelle was back on an airplane returning to land life. We also said 'see you later' to Abaco. They were hanging around there for family to visit and we needed to move on. We left Cala Major for the island of Formentera (near Ibiza). It was another motor-sail. We rode out the big wind storm on Mallorca and there just wasn't much wind left to send us west. Definitely looking forward to the better sailing in the Caribbean!

Formentera anchorage. Look at that water!!

Formentera is gorgeous! Stunning turquoise water and white soft sandy beaches! Our kids dived right in and enjoyed lots of beach time. We stayed the day and ended up leaving around 8pm for Cartagena. We needed to continue on, as we had our new sail and lazy-bag to pick up in Gibraltar.

The Pechan Adventure Academy

The books and other curricular items are packed and ready to be shipped to the boat, but there was one last thing I had to do before we leave.

For California, if you wish to homeschool your children, you must file a Private School Affidavit with the CDE (CA dept of education). This exempts the kids from the attendance laws for the state and will allow us to operate as our own educational institution. So, with the final submission of the forms (easy and all online), the Pechan Adventure Academy was born.  Yes, our school consists of only three students, but at least we are all legit as far as the state and school district are concerned.

The usual filing date is October 1st each year, however, since we will miss August and September, I submitted the form this month to have us covered. Then, when October rolls around, I will re-submit the form to cover us for the remainder of the school year. All of the details are provided in the link above, or feel free to send us an email for more info.

Being as I am a teacher for the district, I had an easier time determining what we would use for curriculum. I chose to follow the same state standards and will use the same programs (with some supplementing, of course) so that when the kids re-enter in the future, they will be familiar with what their peers are using. Here is what the kids will be using:

Math: MY Math for grades 3 and 5, and Big Ideas for 6th grade.

(2018-2019 school year: grades 4 MY Math and Singapore Math. Grades 6 & 7 Big Ideas Math, Singapore Math.

Science: we will follow the NGSS standards (no textbooks for the NGSS yet), have a lot of hands-on science activities, as well as STEAM integration. We will also be participating in a few citizen science projects.

Language Arts: Benchmark for grades 3 and 5, and Study Sync for 6th grade.
(2018-2019 school year: Benchmark for grade 4 combined with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for grades 4/5, and 6. Grade 7 is using an integration of online curriculum such as Big History Project and Study Sync.

Social Studies: Scott Foresman for grades 3 and 5, and Study Sync for 6th grade.
*In our district, 6th grade has a CORE class consisting of ELA and History. Study Sync incorporates both.
(2018-2019 school year: Scott Foresman grade 4, Ancient Civilizations supplemental curriculum for grades 6 & 7, as well as Study Sync.

Foreign Language: Duolingo (a great app and lots of fun) as well as interacting with people we meet on a daily basis.

I have quite the collection of supplemental materials in my classroom library. I plan to bring these along to use when appropriate (and will write about them in separate posts).

The 'WHY are we doing this' post

Jared introduced me to sailing back before we were married. We would take his little 16' Hobie Cat out onto lakes and sail it to a remote camping spot. We loved the feeling of being out on the water and the freedom to go where we wanted.

Fast forward to marriage, careers, and three kids later. We sold the Hobie Cat and moved up to sailing a 32' monohull, joined a racing crew, and brought the kids along. While we continued on with our typical suburban life, we never gave up on our dream of setting sail someday. Jared and I worked like crazy, while also raising our kids. The years were flying by!

We discovered that life was getting away from us. All we seemed to do was work, drive the kids to their activities, work again after the kids were in bed, and then do it all over again the next day. We found that the words "too tired" ventured into our vocabulary much too often for our liking. Our kids were growing up so quickly before our eyes, so we decided that NOW was the time to go.

We would finally have quality time with our kids and each other, while exploring this amazing world together. What  better way of seeing things from different perspectives and embracing what the world has to offer, than together as a family. This is the best gift we could ever give to ourselves and to our children. And get this, we aren't the only ones who see things this way!

Here are some other families that decided to ditch surburbia and head out on their own adventure 

Dessert First 

Around N Circles

Totem

Maple

Terrapin

and quite a few more over in the "blogs we read" sidebar!

Will you always be out at sea?

Of course not. We will spend most of our time on the hook (at anchor), tied up to a mooring, or in some instances, berthed at a marina. We require the internet for work, so we won't really be far from land, except on long passages. We plan on crossing the Atlantic in November 2017 and then the Pacific sometime in 2018. While out at sea, we will still have ways to communicate and access the internet (its just a bit more expensive).

What about pirates?

Yes, we know about pirates and this activity is monitored internationally. Thanks to the many cruisers out on the big blue, there is a lot of information out there. We are not going to any of those risky areas and will always do our research before setting off for a new port.
We have the necessary equipment on board to keep us safe and in communication with the world at all times.

What about storms?

Sailors know how to read the weather. Not only do we have this equipment on board, we are experienced and know how to stay safe. We won't go anywhere until we have a good weather window. Safety equipment such as a life raft, ditch bags, EPIRB, etc. are all on board, as well as a few other items we threw in for extra measure. We are extremely safety conscious. Just ask our kids!

How long?

The plan right now is about two years, however, if we really love it, we will find a way to keep doing it.

Don't the kids need to go to school?

Yep and they will! Stef is a teacher, so we lucked out in that regard. We've got it all planned out.
Stef's taught combination classrooms before, so this isn't any different; it's actually better because she can just focus on teaching our own kids. Check out the education plan here.

What if you get sick or injured?

We certainly hope this doesn't happen, but are prepared in the event something does. We began talking with our medical professionals about a year in advance of leaving. We took classes on medical training, obtained prescriptions for all sorts of medicines to bring on board, conducted hours of research, and talked with other cruising families.We have quite the extensive medical kit for both the family and the dog. The kids pediatrician and dentist are excited to be our "boat doctors" should we need to call or email them for anything.

Any more questions? Send us an email. 

S.T.E.A.M. for education

                                     Ozobot station at Family S.T.E.A.M. Night, 1-19-2017 

S.T.E.A.M. = science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics

As S.T.E.A.M. coordinator for our district, I am often asked by parents what sort of things they should get for their kids. Here is a short list of items we have bought for our own kids, what I have in my classroom and school science inventory, and will also bring on the boat. While my own kids will be using these in addition to their regular school curriculum, I will also incorporate them into S.T.E.A.M. education abroad (as guest teacher & related programs in other countries):

1.Ozobots are great little robots that you code using color and various color patterns. These are so popular in my classroom and our after school classes. We recently had a family S.T.E.A.M. night and the Ozobot station was packed! The best part about the Ozobots, is that they can be used with both paper and markers or an ipad as well. Coding in these different formats is a great introduction to the world of coding!

2.Osmo Wonder Kit is used with an ipad and has a lot of different apps! Included in this kit are: the Osmo base and reflector tool, Tangrams, Numbers, Words, and Coding. This kit (we have 3 at school) was another packed station at our Family S.T.E.A.M. night and is a popular center in my classroom. I bought a kit for my own kids to take on board, as it provides lots of educational benefits such as math games, spelling, reading, and coding. There are a few apps that don't require a game kit, which provides lot of interactive fun as well. Masterpiece is a cool drawing app and Newton is an engineering/design app.

3.Sphero SPRK+ STEAM Educational Robot is a water-proof spherical robot that allows for a variety of coding and programming opportunities. This was a birthday gift for Matthew last year and we also made a station for it at Family S.T.E.A.M. night. Again, it was a HUGE hit. I love that it is made from a polycarbonate shell (kid-proof) and can go underwater! How cool is that?!

4.3Doodler 3D Printing Pen: Since I cant' bring my desktop 3D Printer on board, I am taking one of these along. The kids can make 3D drawings come to life and enjoy some creative drawing time outside of the usual art materials. There are two versions of the 3Doodler: one for younger kids and one for older kids/adults. The younger child version doesn't clog up as bad as the pen for older kids. Trust me, I have 24 of the original 3Doodler and their latest Create version.
*I wrote a unit on 3D Printing for the classroom. It has lesson plans, step-by-step instructions for creating a variety of projects, vocabulary task cards, and more.

5.Apple iPad Mini and protective case are great for some tech time and educational apps. Each of our kids will have their own to use during boat school time or while on a long passage. We will store them in a safe, so the kids don't have access 24/7. There are many other things they can do with their time, like fishing and just enjoying the outdoors! =)

6. Chibitronics  is a cool way to teach circuits using adhesive copper tape, LED light stickers, and a coin cell battery. Their starter kit comes stocked with a book, supplies, and there are also tutorial videos online. I use this in my classroom each year to teach the basic of circuits. We also create light-up water-color art. I'll create a separate post on this lesson soon (my students are in the middle of it right now).

7. CircuitScribe  another cool way to teach about circuits using DRAWING! The kit comes with a book with lessons, special silver conductive ink pen, battery, and all the accessories. This is also incorporated into my circuits unit in my classroom.

8. View-Master Virtual Reality Glasses allow for field trips to anywhere in the world from your seat! I recently wrote and received a grant for 40 of these AWESOME VR glasses for my school. So far, my class has walked on the moon, explored a space shuttle, traveled through Venice, Italy, and rode roller coasters! We are going to visit colonial plantations next week and then the kids will tie in other social studies and current events locations to create a list of places we should visit virtually.

That's the short list for now. More educational posts to come! =)
If you have any questions or want my lesson plans for the 3D printing, circuits unit, robotics, or other S.T.E.A.M. activities, just let me know.

In no way am I affiliated with any of these companies. These opinions are my own from a classroom teacher and parent point of view. =)

Voyaging With Kids: Interview with Delos and Totem

This is a great informational series on cruising with kids. If you or your family have questions about this topic, check this out! There are 8 videos in the series:

Check our their blogs:
http://www.sailingtotem.com/
http://svdelos.com/

Brokers and Sea Stars

Yesterday morning's sailing adventure to go beyond the point for some open ocean sailing started off with a surprise guest on board.

Zach is shown gently returning the sea star to the water (even though it was no longer alive). We figured a sea gull had dropped its lunch mid flight sometime between Wednesday's race and yesterday morning.

**Ok, Jared just mentioned it is not called folding the sail, but flaking the sail. Correction made honey.**

While preparing to get under way, we received a call from our broker. He may have some leads for a few boats to check out next week! With that exciting news, we headed out into the bay.

Cadence fell asleep while watching for dolphins. Stef carried her down below to continue her nap.







The wind picked up quite a bit towards the mouth of the bay and we began to have a bouncy ride. We decided that with two kiddos napping, we would just stick to sailing the bay for the day. It was a calm sail the next couple of hours.

Eventually, we headed in to our slip to hang out for a couple of hours and just enjoy the sunshine. We had an appointment later that afternoon with the local dive shop and wanted to pick up some fresh fish from the harbor for dinner.

Matt is bringing us into the harbor with the conch shell.


 This is what our kids do while hanging out on the boat!

After tidying up, we headed out to the Monterey Fish Company and then to our local dive shop to set up our certification courses. Jared, Matt, and I will start with open water (up to 35 feet), where as Zach has to start in the pool (only 10 and up can start in open water, so he will work on other skills in the pool). Cadence will have to wait another year until she is old enough, so she and Zach will get certified for open water while we are out cruising.

 

They always have fresh seafood for sale!

The rest of this weekend entails yard work and school supply shopping (we still have about a month left before it starts, but I always get our stuff early. It is one less thing I have to think about while setting up my classroom). We are planning on making a trip to check out a few boats next week, if all goes well.