Written by Mia:

We have mentioned the lovely friends we have been making along the way and how these people have been making all the difference with their support and generosity. And now we have also been lucky enough to start meeting more boats with kids. Teo has had a ball!

A marinera is Spanish for the person who works for a marina who does lots of different jobs around the place but often meets boats at their designated spaces and takes lines and takes lines to help incoming boats get the boat moored safely. One morning the very friendly marinera was waiting across from our slot and asked Teo to help him catch lines for the incoming boat. Teo was full of proud smiles and then the icing on that cake was the four (and a half) year old that was on that boat.

The boys spent the next few days dividing their time pretty evenly between Lego on Itchy Foot and playing on their boat – Go Beyond. Teo slowly began to remember his Norsk as his new friend was Norwegian. We went to the beach one day all together as well and shared dinner together. The energy that kids have when they are in the company of other kids is different and so is their communication. Sini and I were talking a lot about this when she was on board and Teo should be doing a lot of his learning through play and an important element of that is interaction with other kids. We were so happy to see him together with a new friend and he was very sad when we said goodbye.

Thankfully, this time it was only a few days before we made some new friends! it is SO nice to be in the company of other cruisers. We were anchored off the lovely La Graciosa and we woke up to a new neighbour in the bay. A Belgian flagged yacht, Sta Vast was anchored close by and we knew they had young crew members on board. They had taken contact with us a week or two earlier saying that they are on the same rally and were hoping to meet up. This was a match made in heaven for Teo, a boy aged 10 and a girl aged 8. We were so excited to meet them that we quickly got Nemo in the water and went over to say hi. The kids were fast friends, there was more Lego  and even a zombie battle complete with its own theme song.

The weather in the anchorage turned bad and we were forced to move but we all went to the same marina down the coast so we could spend more time together. There was school in the morning and lots of playing in the afternoon. One day we went for a long walk altogether to find out we all have lots to chat about. There was even a sleepover on Itchy Foot with pasta, movies and popcorn and pancakes the next morning. Everyone was giggling and playing. Later, there were crafts and Teo’s ”favorite meal ever” on Sta Vast. This means there were also two sets of parents who got to have dates! I don’t think anyone even noticed all the rain we had.

Boat kid friendships are quick, probably because you never know when you might meet new small humans and also because you never know how long you will all be in the same place. it also doesn’t seem like age or gender matters as much as it does in ‘the real world’. We have been reading about the sailing kids community and have been missing it most of the summer so far, so it was a real joy to experience first hand. We are looking forward to getting to Santa Cruz to see our new friends again and also to meet more boats with kids. There are several more boats we have been in contact with whom we look forward to meeting.

One of the main reasons for choosing to cross over to the Caribbean was in search of finding more playmates for Teo. So far, so good.