Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Monument Lake, Everglades, FL
ODOMETER: 80,735 | MILES TRAVELED: 2,790
by Grant
I found an airboat ride that got great reviews online for this morning. Jana and I have our usual early morning coffee together and take the dogs for their morning walk.
Phoebe decides to go after a little black dog that a lady is walking nearby. She is so strong she drags Jana over and I have to rugby tackle Phoebe before any damage is done, or someone has a heart attack. The poor lady and puppy :-(( she’s apologizing because she walked into our ‘space’, but we’re mortified by Phoebe’s actions and it starts the day off very poorly. Luckily, everyone is unharmed.
Jana’s hip and knee are hurt, I think I cracked a rib (not as hardy as I used to be) and the kids are equally concerned. We decided to do the airboat tour anyway and head over to Everglade City Airboat Tours.
The skipper of the airboat is Captain Gary and he’s a 190-year veteran of the airboat industry. We’ve heard, and he confirmed, that there are a lot of airboat outfits that push their boats well beyond safe limits. If you’re after a nail biting, death defying thrill ride then those opportunities abound. Everglades City Airboat rides focus on safety and sharing their knowledge of the mangrove habitat that this boundary between the Everglades and the ocean.
It abounds with alligators, manatees, abundant birdlife and much more. Captain Gary does a really nice job gliding his airboat through a complex web of narrow channels. Jack got a lot of great birdlife photos and we all really enjoyed being immersed in this ecosystem, which feels prehistoric and other-worldly.
On the way back to the campground, we stop at Joanie’s Cafe which is a little red shack on the side of 41 whose proprietor (Joanie I assume) is a tough local of this grass jungle.
We also stop at the H.W. Williams Roadside Park and get up and close with some alligators. It’s a very cool opportunity to see these ancient reptiles in their native habitat.
We head back to the RV and I spend some time catching up on work and Jana and Jack search through many days of great photos to see what we have to share from our recent exploits.
Jack got a lot of great birdlife photos and we all really enjoyed being immersed in this ecosystem, which feels prehistoric and other-worldly.
IMG_4407
IMG_4342
IMG_4343
IMG_4405
IMG_4353
IMG_4352
IMG_4359
IMG_4365
IMG_4385
IMG_4391
DSC_6219
DSC_6212
DSC_6152
DSC_6199
DSC_6186
DSC_6248
DSC_6285
IMG_4784 2
Travel with us:
Travel Diary
Travel
This is a daily log and photos of what we’re up to.
Sailing Tahiti to Australia | Leg 4: Fiji to Brisbane Passage
Sailing Tahiti to Australia | Leg 4: Fiji to Brisbane Passageinstagramfacebookyoutubetwitter A Long-Awaited Departure After having waited in French Polynesia for two and a half months, we excitedly sailed out of Bora Bora around 7:30 am on Saturday, September 4th....
Sailing Tahiti to Australia | Leg 3: Bora Bora to Fiji Passage
After having waited in French Polynesia for two and a half months, we excitedly sailed out of Bora Bora around 7:30 am on Saturday, September 4th. Like the rest of French Polynesia, Bora Bora was in COVID lockdown, and we had spent the last week waiting for our departure paperwork to go through all the requisite bureaucratic channels. This required multiple trips to the local gendarmerie (police station), where Grant quickly befriended the two kind and helpful officers, Alex and Bruno.
Sailing Tahiti to Australia | Leg 2: Mo’orea to Bora Bora
It took us about 24 hours to get from Mo’orea to Bora Bora on August 28 2021. Like the rest of French Polynesia, Bora Bora was in COVID lockdown, and we spent a week there waiting for our departure paperwork to go through all the requisite bureaucratic channels. This required multiple trips to the local gendarmerie (police station), where Grant quickly befriended the two kind and helpful officers, Alex and Bruno.
We made trips to get water, fuel and provisions, but apart from that we had to stay on the boat. We passed the time snorkeling (saw a giant moray eel!) and inventing new water sports.
Once we received our exit paperwork, we were finally free to leave for Fiji.
Reflections
Reflections
These are our personal thoughts on some of our experiences.
How Big Is Too Big?
Lessons From the Road | How Big Is Too Big?instagramfacebookyoutubetwitterDoes Our Built Environment Affect Our Relationships? The “Big Mac” symbolizes the belief that more is better. If one beef patty is good, wouldn’t two beef patties be better? Similarly, the...
Lessons from the Road | Less is More: Adventure over Stuff
Lessons From the Road | Less is More: Adventure Over StuffinstagramfacebookyoutubetwitterWe have been on the road for about four months, and while that’s a relatively short time, I think that some of the big lessons happen in the initial “adjustment period” of an...
My 10 Favorite Books of 2020
My 10 Favorite Books of 2020instagramfacebookyoutubetwitterWelcome to 2021! Most of us couldn't wait to see the back of 2020, looking forward to better times with hope and anticipation. If you are at all astrologically inclined like I am, you know that on December...
Read about our family's transformative, year-long travel journey during the height of the global COVID pandemic.
High tide at Whitehaven Beach this morning followed by a sail from Tongue Bay to Hamilton Island with nice 14-20 knot winds.
15-20 knot winds made for a perfect sail from Palm Bay to Whitehaven Beach, the icon of the Whitsunday Islands.
Palm Bay, Whitsunday Islands, Australia
25-30 knot winds made for an exciting sail from Nara Inlet to Palm Bay in the Whitsunday Islands today 🌬⛵️
Today we left Stonehaven and explored beautiful Black Island, then sailed to Nara Inlet and hiked to a cave that contains 2,500-year old art from the Ngaro people. ⛵️
In July 2020, we collectively decided to reject the status quo and created the space to completely re-imagine our lives. We sold our home in Virginia along with most of our belongings and hit the road in "Thelma," a 20-year-old bus, in search of more joy, peace, health and well-being. Over the next 12 months, we traveled over 32,000 km (20,000 miles), visited 26 U.S. states, 11 National Parks, five countries, spent three months living on a beach in Mexico and four months living on "Hanavave," a sailboat in French Polynesia. We finished our journey with an intrepid, 7,000-kilometer (4,350-mile) crossing of the South Pacific Ocean from Bora Bora to our new home in Brisbane, Australia.
We emerged with more clarity and joy than we could ever have anticipated.
As recent history’s biggest disruptor to life as we know it, the global pandemic has made many people question where they live, how they work, and other important lifestyle choices. Chronic disease rates are at an all-time high, depression, anxiety and mental fatigue are endemic, people feel increasingly despondent about the state of the world, and climate change is devastating crucial ecosystems across the planet at record rates. Our teenagers are suffering more than ever but since our society has turned parenting into a competitive sport, most parents don’t discuss their parenting struggles for fear of negative judgment. It has become clear that our way of life is not only unhealthy, but also unsustainable.
The space our family created by exiting the mainstream for an extended period of time allowed us to gain clarity and reframe our beliefs around everything from how we live, how we parent, how we learn, how much we’re affected by unreasonable societal expectations around achievement and status, and more.
The purpose of this book is to inspire parents, busy professionals, young people, and anyone seeking more from their lives, to re-evaluate how they live and how they view their place in the world in order to create more healthy, fulfilled, and happy lives.
Our Trip
Trip
Our Trip
Trip
TRAVEL WITH US!
We are currently sailing the South Pacific to Australia.
Thank you for joining us, have a great day!