As you may know if you’ve been following Dogbark’s tracker, we are back in Honolulu! We got in at 2:30 am Wednesday morning after a quick jaunt to French Polynesia, land of the pearl farm, snorkel heaven, Hakka, petroglyph, and cruising kid! What is a cruising kid, you ask? It’s a kid with parents just as crazy as ours who decided to quit school and jobs and head off on a boat to remote and exotic places. You may be surprised that we aren’t the only people to do this. Actually, hundreds of boats flock to French Polynesia each year, quite a few of them with kids!
We made friends with tons of kids in French Polynesia, and were very sad to leave them to return to Hawaii. Shoutout to SV Luminesce, Slingshot, Itchy Foot, Minstrel Boy, Alondra, and Panacea! We also have a few great kid boat friends in Hawaii, SV Debonair and Goblin.
Hanging out with cruising kids is a blast! After everyone is done with boatschool, we call each other on channel 72 or 08 on the VHF and plan the day’s adventure. It can be hiking, boogie boarding, painting, snorkeling, jumping off each other’s boats, bake offs, and much more! Usually, these activities happen unsupervised by adults, with pretty much complete freedom to do whatever we want. It’s great!
Back in Hawaii, we go back to being just cruisers, which is still pretty fun, because there are a lot of adult cruisers here. Some of them even act like kids sometimes, like Jay on SV Present Moment who was brave enough to do a hand stand contest with Savai. (She crushed him, of course). We enjoy movie night, hiking, exploring museums, tour excursions, and happy hour with these cruisers. Thanks SV Tango, Volpaia, and Whey to Go!
Cruising is pretty fun when there are other people to enjoy it with, particularly kids. We will miss all the boats we met in French Polynesia, but are excited for adventures ahead of us as well, and seeing friends back home. I hope this provided you with a little insight into what it’s like to be a cruiser kid. Here are a few pictures of fun we’ve had with other cruisers.
Kid Boat Blogs
Talia, this is fascinating!!
Was the weather extremely hot, and the water warm, everywhere you swam?
What about shops and groceries? What was available, compared to Honolulu?
Whopee! Great reporting, Talia! Puts me right there. I’m imagining myself – 60+ years ago – a kid in the south Pacific. That would’ve been just when the pressures to be more civilized – I believe “ladylike” was the term – suddenly started crushing down.
What’s next? More Alaska?
Jack and I are back on S/V Aurora, after flying into Petersburg AK on Wednesday via Juneau. Whole planeload got off. Many oldsters, all briefing us and one another on what not to miss during the Little Norway Festival. It’s wild. Hope you can cover this 10-day event some year. Color, costumes, food, and weird, impossibly challenging competitions. Yesterday was the Herring Toss. Can you imagine catching a little slippery fish from someone throwing it to you down the main street from half a block away?
Talia,
oh my gosh I miss you so much but I’m so happy your living your best life! 🤪 we all miss you down here in Bainbridge but we can’t wait for you all too come back in August and for you to start 8th grade with us! the French Polynesia sounds so cool and I I hope your loving it in Hawaii! looks like your having so much fun and I can’t wait to hear about all your adventures! lol Savai also looks like she’s having a blast!! ❤️💕💘
love,
Ruby
P.S Soren, Elle, Isabella, Cameron, Abby, Hannah, and Simon all say HI and MISS YOU!!
Hi Carol, great to hear from you. Sorry we will miss the Little Norway festival, sounds fun, even the herring toss. Lots of friends asking us about keeping a boat in AK, do you have any thoughts or recommendations? Petersburg comes up a lot, but where else did you consider?