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Caroline's Past Blogs
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December 31, 2008
In the Spanish virgin island we went to mosquito
bay .We went to the bioluminescent bay. When we got in the water my body glowed. It was really cool.
When a flying fish jumped out of the water it looked like a sparkle ball. You could see the fish under the water. They looked
like a big glowing line.
School
is going well. My favorite subject is spelling. My mom is teaching me well. I think she is the best teacher in the world.
After school we get to go swimming or play at the beach.
On Christmas Eve we went to this tiny church. This woman came over to me and asked if I wanted to be in their processional.
I was so scared. I couldn’t understand anyone because they spoke French. In the morning I got a lot of cool stuff..
Right now, we are in Barbuda.
There is this really big beach. It is about 11 miles long. We were all by ourselves
here until today. We found a conch shell and I found a shell necklace. It is really
nice here but the water is cold but not as cold as Lake Michigan. Next we are going to go to Antigua and
pick up my Grandpa and my cousin. They are going to stay with us for a week.
March 2009
The San Blas were really nice we met new kid boat’s, Ohanakai, Vagabond Heart, and Sonrisa. Every day the kids
on Ohanakai and Vagabond hearts would paddle out to Imagine on their surf boards or the kayak and then we would go up to the
beach and hike around it WITHOUT our parents. I used to be afraid to go up on islands by myself but now that’s all I
want to do.
From there, we went to Colon, Panama
on the mouth of the Panama canal. Did you know the president at the time the canal was being built was Teddy Roosevelt?
Even though the canal is in Panama the US built it about 100 years ago. We are at a marina here
with a pool so it is easy for mom and dad to get boat work done when my brothers and I are at the pool with friends.
Once all the work is done we go on hikes to see the howler monkeys. I can’t wait to go through
the canal.
April
2009
In the Galapagos there are a lot of
sea lions. They will hop on your boat and even sleep there. Their barks are so loud. The babies are so cute. We went to three
different islands, San Cristobal is known for the most sea lions. Santa Cruz is the busiest island and is good for tours.
Isabella has a lot of volcanoes. The Lynches our friends came to visit us for 2 weeks. We went to all three of the islands.
We jumped of the cliffs, swam with sea lions, went to the beaches, we rode horses but most of all we had fun!!!!!
July 2009
We went to Tahiti and were on a dock. It
was lovely. We saw Honeymoon and played with Orono1. We also met a new kid boat named All the Colours. I played with Monica,
and the boys played with Jack and Alicter. Then I went with Elizabeth to get our nails done but it was to expensive. When
we got back there was a party and we got to see Polynesian dancing. The next day was the race to Moorea. There was very light
winds so Imagine didn’t do so well but we beat Honeymoon. The next day we raced other boats in Polynesian style. We
were called the Imaginary Honeymooners and the kids had a team too. It was really fun. There was canoe racing and a banana
stalk race. For the banana race we had to carry a bamboo stick with a stalk of bananas at both ends over our shoulder and
run around the beach. The stick was really heavy. My relay team was PJ from Orono and me and we won out of all the kids team.
Yeah!!! Then we had a euchre night with Seth and Elizabeth and Dad and Elizabeth beat Mom and Seth by a lot. We had a sleepover
on Honeymoon. It was really fun. In Moorea we also swam with sting rays. It was so cool. They would come up on you and felt
rubbery. When we went back to Tahiti we saw All the Colours and Galivanter. We went to the store and got a lot of food. The
next day we had a sleep over on All the Colours and watched Mama Mia.
Then we picked up Grandpa and Aunt Julie and went back to Moorea. We took them to swim with the sting rays.
It was fun to see my Grandpa swimming with the sting rays. Then we went to the pools at three hotels on Moorea. It was so
fun. My Aunt Julie swam with a dolphin. It did a lot of flips in the air. It was fun to have them here!!!!
The attached blog is actually an article that Caroline wrote for the Niue newspaper.
She was asked by
Keith, the Commodore at the Yacht Club to write an article describing her visit to Niue. Keith also visited Imagine and Caroline
provided a tour which was videotaped. We hope that the article and DVD are helpful for Niue tourism and to educate other children
about our life aboard. My name is Caroline Adams. I am 10 years
old. I live on a sail boat called Imagine. She is a Hallberg-Rassy 46. My hobbies are swimming and playing the guitar. We
left our home in Chicago USA (the Windy City). Since then we have sailed through the states the Caribbean through the Panama
Canal and all over the Pacific. We left our home a year ago.
Niue is a great place the people are nice and friendly. The hikes are great, too, but the thing that I liked most
and I think my whole family liked most were the whales. They would come right up to our boat and just hover above the water
and just stay there. We would get in the water and snorkel by our boat and wait for them to leave or put their flukes in the
air. When snorkeling we were careful not to disturb them but I don’t think I would’ve because I so scared and
excited. The whales were awesome. We also saw some dolphins.
We
did almost all of the hikes on the island. Here are some of my favorites. Togo Chasm was one of my favorites. It was so cool
to think of how the sand got inside all those rocks. Vaiea sea track was very nice and the pools were cool. I liked how the
waves would splash up into the pools. Limu pools had very clear and wonderful water. All the hikes were great it is hard to
pick my favorite between all of them. We went to the Noni factory
and saw how they made it. At the end we got to taste it. It tasted horrible but it is suppose to be really healthy.
Niue is a great place. If you are on a boat you should come to Niue
and visit the yacht club and have some yummy ice cream. I loved Niue and I hope everyone else will like it as much as I did!!!!!
BY Caroline Adams 10 Years
old s/y Imagine
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October 31, 2009 - Tonga
When
we got to Tonga there was a regatta. There were fun activities like a corn hole tournament, a costume party, kids fun day
and two races with our boats. We would have a passport and go to different restraunts and stores and get a stamp from each
one. Then at the end of the regatta we would hand it in and get prizes. We won a safari cart ride, whale watch tour, and lots
of other things.
We were happy to get back in touch with Monkey
Feet, Honey Moon, Vagabond Hearts, Lucy Blue, Love Song, Light foot, Anamos, Catmousses, and HipNautical. Then we met Zen
with Tom, Monique, Cameron and Cole. It seems that Tonga is a place to connect back up with boats you know and to meet new
boats.
There are a lot of little islands at least an
hour to two hours apart from each other. My favorite islands were Port Maurelle, Nuku, and Hunga.
Then we went to Ha'Apai and visited the school. There was an American peace
corps worker who taught the kids how to speak English. The boys and I went to school for a couple of days. When it was Halloween
we wore our costumes up to the school. At first the kids weren't sure what was going on but Melanie the peace corps worker
explained it to them but it was still a little bit funny. Some of the girls names that I played with most were Ongoongo, Mona,
Nila, Ana and Lenila. They were a lot of fun. We all had a lot of fun in Haipai.
December 10, 2009 - New Zealand's History
As part of their
schooling Caroline and Grant reviewed a children's history book of New Zealand. After their lessons they wrote a composition
on one are of NZ's history. Attached is Caroline's composition.
In the early 1600's the Europeans started to come to New Zealand. They brought lots of items and just came to
explore. Some did not last long, some stayed and made friends, and some just became dinner. Whether or not they stayed or
became dinner, it is all great history.
Able Tasman was the first European to come to New Zealand. He anchored
his ship in the Tasman Bay. The Maori blew their horn so Tasman blew his back. They didn't realize that they accepted
a challenge and three of Tasman's men died. Able Tasman named the area Murderer's Bay which is now called Golden Bay.
As you can guess Tasman didn't stay long after three of his men died and that is true.
Captain James Cook was
the second European to come to New Zealand. Cook's ship's name was the Endeavor. It was 1769 when Cook got to New
Zealand. Nicholas Young was the first to spot land which is now called Young Nick's Head. Captain Cook traded nails, iron,
and kumara (sweet potato) to the Maori. Cook went through a short cut which we call Cook Strait (pretty obvious). Captain
Cook left New Zealand and later went to Hawaii. Sadly Cook died there. Bad luck, Cook, you should have stayed in New Zealand.
When the Europeans came they effected the animals. The rats came on the ships. They took the bird eggs and that did
not make the mother birds very happy. By the rats taking the eggs, it decreased the number of birds. Seals also started to
decrease. The Europeans killed the seals. They made seal hats and sold it to America and China. They animal population is
no getting bigger again.
Not only did the Europeans effect the animal population but they also effected they also
effected the Maoris. When the Europeans came to New Zealand they brought muskets. The good thing was that it helped the Maoris
to hunt but the bad thing was that it also made it easier to kill and many Maoris died. They also brought the flu. Many of
the Maoris died from this. The Maoris thought that their gods were failing them.
Like I said, "All New Zealand
history is fascinating, no matter what happens."
February 2, 2010 - New Zealand South Island Car & Camping Adventure
When I was out traveling with my family around the South Island of New Zealand
I saw and did a lot of cool stuff. We saw a lot of cool animals, went to a ton of cool places and did a lot of awesome activities.
I will tell you about most of them but not all because it would be too much.
We saw two different types of penguins. There was the yellow eyed penguin which is the rarest penguin in the world.
Not only did we see the rarest penguin in the world but it was feeding it's chicks. We also saw the Little Blue penguin
and they are the smallest penguin in the world the weird thing is that they only come out at night. Then we saw some seals.
We saw elephant seals and they are the biggest seals and are quite ugly. Then we saw New Zealand Fur seals.. They used to
be used for hats and other clothes which is hard to believe because they are so cute. We saw tons of birds like the kea and
they are the alpine parrot, kiwis and they are nocturnal and the Albatross which are the biggest flying bird. The thing we
saw most of was sheep. We saw sheep after sheep. As you can tell we saw a lot of animals.
Three of my favorite places were Dunnedin, Queenstown and Nelson. Dunnedin is where we saw the Albatross, Little
Blue Penguins and fur seals. It was so cool when the Little Blue Penguin touched me when they were walking on shore. Queenstown
was nice too we went on some hikes and on one of the hikes we even made a snowman. That is where Grandpa and Uncle Doug came
to visit. My favorite place so far is Nelson where the boat, NZ friends the Franklins and most of our boat friends are.
A few of my favorite activities were the luge, zip trek and Ernslaw. We did all
those activities in Queenstown. The luge was so much fun I did it with mom. I did the zip trek with Uncle Doug and Grant.
We went back and forth 4 times. We all did the Ernslaw. We road the boat over to Walter Peak. We got to feed the sheep, touch
the antlers of red deer, watch sheep get sheared and try weaving wool. Those were my favorite activities.
All the things I told you about I think you should see and do if you come
to New Zealand. New Zealand is great so far.
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February
19, 2010 - Wellington, NZ
We also went to Windy Wellington. We went to the museum. It was so cool. It was almost all electronic. My favorite part
was OUR SPACE. You would take a picture on the TV. and then put it on a big screen . You could move it around with
the wand and make it look funny. There were a lot of other cool sections in the museum. For instance, there
was a part that was all about animals and a part on the biggest prehistoric squid. There was a lot more
but it is hard to remember everything.
Then
we went to the zoo for Noah’s birthday. It was so cool. There was a talk every half an hour. We got to feed the giraffe,
watch someone feed the tigers and the bears, see penguins get their medicine and best of all we got to see a kiwi. I know
your thinking it is just a bird but no it is one of the rarest birds in New Zealand. It is also the national
bird of NZ like the bald eagle is in the US. Not only was this a kiwi but this kiwi had lost a leg in a
stoat trap. It was so cool. I really liked Wellington. Even though it was very, very, very windy
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Fiji
- May/June 2010 We went to a Fijian church. It was really cool. The music was only their voice, because they had
no instruments. It was wonderful and relaxing but loud. The priest of their little church was very friendly and let us borrow
a hymnal. All the lyrics were in Fijian. It was easier to follow along than I thought it would be and much, much easier than
French (sorry Grandma). After church we went to a local’s house for lunch. We met him the first day we got to that
island. His name is Kry and he was very nice. He also had a five year old daughter. Anyway we went to Kry’s
house for lunch. It was very different from our PB and J or ham sandwiches but it was wonderful. We had two kinds of fish(I
can’t remember the names and the fish still had their heads on and all the bones were connected including the spinal
cord),breadfruit, rice, two minute noodles, SEAWEED,(It was definitely better than I thought it would be)
and a chocolate cake that I made. It was all delicious. If I could do the whole day again I most definitely would.
Vanuatu - June 2010Now we are in wonderful Vanuatu (not kidding). It was a
cold windy and looked like it was going to rain (and I think it did) day when we arrived. It didn’t stay like that for
long though. Enough to fill all our sinks with rain water. Anyway enough about crappy weather. When we were at an island called Tanna we saw a real
live active volcano (as Noah said it).It was so cool. We hiked up to the top where we saw really big blows. There was this
one particular big blow. It went way above our heads. It was so big that every one there started to back up. Even dad got
in front of us and started to back us up. You would think Mr. Mountain Man wouldn’t be scared of any thing. I just think
he was doing it for the rest of us (maybe). When we started to go back there was another big blow and a
squirt of lava landed just inches in front of me (Just kidding).On the way back it was so late that Noah
and Grant fell asleep. I probably would have but dad and I were in the back of the pick up truck which was a little uncomfortable
but it was worth it.
August 10, 2010 - Darwin, Australia After a little passage we anchored in Thursday Island, Australia. That
morning customs came on the boat for an inspection (boring). It was not a comfortable anchorage at all.
We didn’t stay there very long because we wanted to get to Darwin, and see Orono before they left, so we quickly
took a four day passage to Darwin. That was what Mom called the annoying passage. I
was thankful when we got there, also. The next morning we had breakfast, more like brunch, with Orono.
It was really good food we had sasages, eggs and toast and it was
really good to see them. A few days later, we went on a little inland roadtrip. The
first day at the hotel we just relaxed. We had the AC on and took two showeres, and also watched cable
TV. The next day, we got up early to go to the croc cruise. On the way, we went to look
at some old aboriginal cave paintings. The Aborigines had a name for every painting. Most
of the Rock Art is over 20,000 yrs old. Later, we got on a boat to go through the water. We
saw a lot of salties (saltwater crocs). We also saw a lot of wallabies (little kangaroos), not just the
lifeless ones on the side of the road but lives one hopping all around. It was nice to get off the boat
for a few days but we were all ready to get back. After a big grocery shop and after I got my tetanus and
hepatitis booster shots, we were ready to go to Indonesia.
August 17, 2010 - Kupang, Indonesia
We landed in Kupang, Indonesia.
It was in the morning when we arrived and very foggy. The city was much bigger than I expected
it would be. When we went up to the shore we saw a lot of good T-shirt shops. It was
so cheap….for one T-Shirt it was only 10,000 Rupiah ($1.00US) that’s why I bought a really cool Tshirt.
Since things were so cheap we ate out while we were there and I played pool with the locals. There’s
not much else to say about Kupang.
August 30, 2010 - Flores, Indonesia
The next island that we went to was Flores Island.
It was really nice anchorage very calm and beautiful. When we went to the village, we were swarmed
by kids. We met a really nice man named Patrick and we went to his house and listened to
some Indonesian music and watch movies with many local kids. We also met Paul, a teacher, and he asked
us to help him teach English at the school. It was fun but I decided I would rather teach to English speaking
kids.
Soon after that we went on a tour. We left at 4:00 AM and did not get back until 5:00 PM.
It was a long day. We drove through rice paddies. Then we went to the tri-color
lakes. We had to walk a little bit but it wasn’t far. There are three lakes:
one was blue, one was black, and the last one was green. When we were sitting by the lakes, monkeys
came up to us. A little while later we stopped for lunch at a village. We had rice which
was the only food that wasn’t spicy. There were three different colored kinds of rice white rice, yellow rice and purple
rice.
September 4, 2010 - Gilli Bodo, Indonesia
On September 4th, we celebrated Grant’s 10th birthday. Finale who
has Stephine is 10, Orono 1 who has P.J. and Heidi who are 10 and 8, Tin Soldier who has Jaryd is 14 and us all went up to
the beach. First we did the X marks the spot scavenger hunt. Then we played tug of war
and had a water balloon fight. After a long day at the beach, we had all the kids over for dinner.
We had ham, mac and cheese, and rice - Grant’s favorite foods. Then we all watched “The
Lightning Thief”. Then P.J. and Heidi had a sleepover. It was a great day.
September 12, 2010 - Komodo,
Indonesia
Then
we went to Komodo. We were there with Esprit and went to see the Komodo dragons with them also.
The dragons were very big and also kind of disgusting. There poop was white because of the calcium
from the bones of the animal they eat. On the way back we saw a ton of monkeys, Esprit even had one in
their dinghy. At a different anchorage, Dad taught me how to scuba dive. It was so great!
We saw a huge clam and a good sized turtle that got an arm length away from us. Looking up from forty feet below the
water just blew my mind. It was amazing. August
10, 2010 - Darwin, Australia After a little passage we anchored in Thursday Island, Australia. That morning customs came on
the boat for an inspection (boring). It was not a comfortable anchorage at all. We didn’t
stay there very long because we wanted to get to Darwin, and see Orono before they left, so we quickly took a four day passage
to Darwin. That was what Mom called the annoying passage. I was thankful when we got
there, also. The next morning we had breakfast, more like brunch, with Orono. It
was really good food we had sasages, eggs and toast and it was really
good to see them. A few days later, we went on a little inland roadtrip. The first day
at the hotel we just relaxed. We had the AC on and took two showeres, and also watched cable TV.
The next day, we got up early to go to the croc cruise. On the way, we went to look at some old
aboriginal cave paintings. The Aborigines had a name for every painting. Most of the
Rock Art is over 20,000 yrs old. Later, we got on a boat to go through the water. We
saw a lot of salties (saltwater crocs). We also saw a lot of wallabies (little kangaroos), not just the
lifeless ones on the side of the road but lives one hopping all around. It was nice to get off the boat
for a few days but we were all ready to get back. After a big grocery shop and after I got my tetanus and
hepatitis booster shots, we were ready to go to Indonesia.
August 17, 2010 - Kupang, Indonesia
We landed in Kupang, Indonesia.
It was in the morning when we arrived and very foggy. The city was much bigger than I expected
it would be. When we went up to the shore we saw a lot of good T-shirt shops. It was
so cheap….for one T-Shirt it was only 10,000 Rupiah ($1.00US) that’s why I bought a really cool Tshirt.
Since things were so cheap we ate out while we were there and I played pool with the locals. There’s
not much else to say about Kupang.
August 30, 2010 - Flores, Indonesia
The next island that we went to was Flores Island.
It was really nice anchorage very calm and beautiful. When we went to the village, we were swarmed
by kids. We met a really nice man named Patrick and we went to his house and listened to
some Indonesian music and watch movies with many local kids. We also met Paul, a teacher, and he asked
us to help him teach English at the school. It was fun but I decided I would rather teach to English speaking
kids.
Soon after that we went on a tour. We left at 4:00 AM and did not get back until 5:00 PM.
It was a long day. We drove through rice paddies. Then we went to the tri-color
lakes. We had to walk a little bit but it wasn’t far. There are three lakes:
one was blue, one was black, and the last one was green. When we were sitting by the lakes, monkeys
came up to us. A little while later we stopped for lunch at a village. We had rice which
was the only food that wasn’t spicy. There were three different colored kinds of rice white rice, yellow rice and purple
rice.
September 4, 2010 - Gilli Bodo, Indonesia
On September 4th, we celebrated Grant’s 10th birthday. Finale who
has Stephine is 10, Orono 1 who has P.J. and Heidi who are 10 and 8, Tin Soldier who has Jaryd is 14 and us all went up to
the beach. First we did the X marks the spot scavenger hunt. Then we played tug of war
and had a water balloon fight. After a long day at the beach, we had all the kids over for dinner.
We had ham, mac and cheese, and rice - Grant’s favorite foods. Then we all watched “The
Lightning Thief”. Then P.J. and Heidi had a sleepover. It was a great day.
September 12, 2010 - Komodo,
Indonesia
Then
we went to Komodo. We were there with Esprit and went to see the Komodo dragons with them also.
The dragons were very big and also kind of disgusting. There poop was white because of the calcium
from the bones of the animal they eat. On the way back we saw a ton of monkeys, Esprit even had one in
their dinghy. At a different anchorage, Dad taught me how to scuba dive. It was so great!
We saw a huge clam and a good sized turtle that got an arm length away from us. Looking up from forty feet below the
water just blew my mind. It was amazing.
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