Age of Discovery

My ninas were not bowled over by the Nina. Though Clem was bowled over by the surf shortly after this shot of her levitating. She scrambled up before I could capture her look of shock.

For some reason I want the kids to learn the word caravel. After all, it was the invention of the caravel that made Columbus' voyage possible. Maybe I just like the way it rolls of the tongue.

The boat itself is a bit too small to have fun on. The crowds of people made it easy to envision just how claustrophobic three months aboard at sea with 26 other men would be.

And they don't let you on the raised aft deck or down below.

But there was one detail that will stick with me. The livestock swung in slings down below. Cargo weighted down the ship. So the men slept on deck, waves washing over them at regular intervals. Lucky ones slept on a coil of rope that raised them above the deck. The very lucky got the high aft deck.

I took only my macro lens, so I was not able to get far enough away to get a shot of the whole boat.

But I could get a closeup of this little guy. An isopod?

The ninas did enjoy the beach.

Evelyn took hundreds of photos of birds.

Unfortunately the ones of a pelican turning his pouch inside out did not come out.

Homeschooling is so great because we get to share the kids' Ages of Discovery. We almost always find the Americas instead of the Indies we are looking for, but there's plenty of spice to go around.