Caicos, Puerto Rico, and other small islands,
heading south until we reached Grenada,
where we went on a little bus tour. Our first
stop was a big waterfall. It was so beautiful,
and we jumped off a smaller one. Then we
stopped at a nutmeg factory. In Grenada
nutmeg is very famous, but the island had
just suffered a big hurricane at the time of our
visit, and 95 percent of the nutmeg trees were
knocked down. Grenada must have had a lot
of nutmeg trees, though, because when we
visited the factory, the many giant bins were
overflowing! Each of the kids got a couple of
nutmegs, and long afterwards we still have
some. My parents grated the spice into their
sundowners.
Next, we visited a chocolate factory,
where the chocolate was made straight from
the cocoa beans in an old machine. There
were varying textures and grades of chocolate, from extra-light to super-dark. We got to
try a few pieces and they were all excellent.
Finally we visited a very old rum factory that
used an antique rum press, and we got to
see the ancient machinery work. At the end,
the parents got a very small cup of rum and
a very large glass of water. Apparently they
really needed that water afterwards! My mom
bought a tiny bottle of the rum. We still have
it — nobody’s been brave enough to drink
it yet. From Grenada, we continued on to
Trinidad and went on a “turtle tour.” We saw
baby leatherback sea turtles hatching, and
mama leatherback laying her eggs. We even
got to hold the baby turtles! It was a great
The funny thing is,
I remember I always
thought I wanted
to go home on the
trip, but now that
I’m back in Portland,
I dream of going
back cruising again
experience that went on until midnight.
After Trinidad, we sailed to Venezuela and
from there we tried to go to Panama. However,
halfway through the passage, our engine
died! The situation got worse as Hurricane
Wilma was forming to the north. We had to
get out of there! There was no way we could
make it to Panama, so we veered towards
Colombia instead. We got into an anchorage
whose entrance was guarded by two tall rocks
by hitching our dinghy to Zora’s side and
using it as a tugboat! Colombia was very fun.
Soon we were in the San Blas Islands of
Panama. This string of perfect islands would
have to be one of my favorite places. Kuna
Indians who made beautiful cloth pictures
called molas inhabited the islands. They
paddled long burnt-log canoes called ulus
and made jewelry from claws and teeth.
After the San Blas, we went to see Tikal, the
great ruined Mayan civilization in Guatemala.
There were huge temples of limestone rising
up out of the vast jungle. Tikal was used in
“Star Wars” as the rebel base. There were parrots and monkeys, toucans and coatimundis.
That was a truly amazing experience! After
Tikal, it was time for us to go home. The
funny thing is, I remember I always thought
I wanted to go home while on the trip, but
now that I’m back in Portland, I dream of
going back cruising again.
Olivia, now a teenager, and her parents live
in Maine. They hope to embark on another
longer-range world cruise aboard Zora.
TIPS FOR BOATING FAMILIES: READ “HOW WE HOOKED THE KIDS, A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR PARENTS,” PLUS A
LIST OF THE BEST BOATING BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. WWW.BOATUS.COM/MAGAZINE/2011/AUGUST/CHILDREN.ASP
