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Cruising with Kids
in the Bahamas
1/25/03
By: Ali Taubner (age
12)
S/V Triana Marie, Port Washington, WI
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The
author, Ali, aboard Triana Marie
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Group shot of
Charbonneau and Triana Marie in a cave on Long Island, Bahamas |
Ali (back) and
her sisters, Meggi (left) and Dani (right) |
Blaine, the
Triana Marie girls, and their father, Paul Taubner. |
The girls strike
a pose at the Columbus monument on Long Island. |
When people think of cruising
with kids, many think they would be isolating themselves and their
children from others. For me and my two sisters, Meggi and Dani,
this is far from the truth. Almost everywhere my family and I have
gone there have been many great people just waiting to talk to us and
assist us. Many of these people were cruisers we met along our way
to, and in, the Bahamas. Almost everywhere we go, there are tons of
kids just waiting to be our friends.
In George Town, Exumas, for example, there are more
great kids than anywhere else on the planet! I had the most fun
there than anywhere else we've gone so far and I can't wait to get back.
I met kids of all ages and from many different countries and it's fun to
keep in touch with them. In my mind there's no better place to make
friends than George Town.
Sometimes, it seems like kids don't like to spend
time with their families, but cruising families are different. When
you're cruising, you spend tons of time with your
family. It's fun, you work together, and you learn a lot from each
other. It's what cruising with kids is all about.
Another thing that's great about cruising
is home schooling. I think that I learned way more home schooling
than I would ever learn in regular school even though I do use regular
school textbooks. When I explore forts, deserted mansions, and
Bahamian towns, I learn about them, and their history, not just by reading
about them but by experiencing it first hand. If we catch a fish, I
guess identifying it, filleting it, and cooking it is science in some
ways! I also don't have other kids to distract me so I get done a
lot faster than in regular school. My favorite part about home
schooling is that I can control how much work I do. Some days I
finish 2 days of school work instead of just one. That way I can
have a day off, meaning I can hang out, and do whatever I want for the
whole day! After school I completely forget about watching TV as we often
wanted to do when we were in our house. I'd rather go to shore, go
to another boat to play with friends, maybe go hiking, or, of course,
swim! It usually takes only about 3 to 4 hours to get school done
and since it doesn't matter when I start those hours, I love being able to
sleep in and take my time through breakfast. Even if our family gets
together with another boat for dinner and stays up late on a school night
it doesn't matter.
Being part of the cruising community, whether
you're cruising with kids or not, is definitely a big highlight of
cruising. After all, if we hadn't become friends with Blaine and
Janet on Charbonneau, I wouldn't be sharing my experience with you on
their website!
PS: Our spaghetti dinner at Charbonneau last night was delicious!
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