Habla Espanyolo! Parlez Vous Frencha! Hola Bonjour South America!!

We expect to set sail outside of North America's hurricane season. That means sometime between November and April. Given how I'm compensated at work and the amount of vacation time I'm granted, we expect to head out like in December, although we've not picked which December yet (this December is very very very very unlikely).

Our intent is to have our boat shipped to a marina in Mertle Beach, South Carolina in December. At the same time, Val will be taking a 5 day off shore sailing school and I will take KJ and Dy to Disney world. Once all that is done, we will drive out to South Carolina with Aunt Jenny and Aunt Iris (we won't own a car).

We will head for the Caribbean poking our way along the Eastern coast of the US. Once we jump off from the Keys (we expect around February), we will make our way to the Caribbean staying until April, then down towards South America below the hurricane zone.

We expect to spend the first year or so migrating south towards the Falkland Islands (Val wants to see Emperor penguins). As we move south, we plan on working on our Spanish. The intent is to use the Rosetta Stone product. Both Val and I have taken formal Spanish classes, but that was 20 plus years ago. That said, we expect with the right self learning materials and being completely immersed in the culture in South America (on the eastern side), all of us will be speaking well enough to add the language to our repertoire.

Once we've had our fill of the Eastern side of South America, including a visit to the Amazon River in our 18 inch draft boat, we will probably head north again, outside of hurricane season, to America to visit with family and take stock in the trip so far. Then back south to get to the other side of South America, were French is the language of choice. Back to the Rosetta Stone product.

Once we've had our fill on the Western side of South America, we will head off on the first big ocean crossing with our first major stopping place being the Galapagos Islands. Then we will be off south to Easter Island (I must see the Big Heads!), and all the magic islands there after (Cook, etc.)

Language skills for our girls will be critical ... and speaking Spanish will really help them. It is all part of the journey.

(yes, I know that the words in the title aren't all real words)