Rolianne Afloat and Abroad

With its population of around 14 millions, Buenos Aires is one of the biggest metropolitan area in the Americas. Surprisingly, I found this city to be a fun place to visit with kids. They have beautiful playgrounds with a fence so that you don't even have to worry about your kid running away. Some of the slides are made out of wood, but I like to think that all potential splinters are long time gone by now... Just walking down Florida street was a constant entertainment for all of us. On our first day, we walked for hours, looking at nothing and everything. We made it to the Casa Rosa, which is just like the White House, but in pink!   Another thing that I loved about Buenos Aires are the many graffitis that you can find all around town. Street art is definitively popular around here!!  Eating is also a thing here in BA. It’s affordable, and always served with a good bottle of Malbec. 😋 We even kept the kids up late one night to treat ourselves to a bife d...

After spending the last few days trying to improve our fishing skills (we bought brand new fishing rods for each kid for Christmas, so that they can tease the snappers!!!), we spent yesterday preparing the boat for its one month stay at Sea Bird marina.   The kids have been healthy for the past 4 months, but of course Romain had to get an infection in the ear area just a day before flying. So we went to the hospital on a Sunday. I have to say, it was a bless not to be sitting for hours in the waiting room! Now we have to carry liquid antibiotics on ice across the border, so we’ll see how that goes, but at least he’s feeling way better and we can stick to the plan. It was a little nerve wracking to pack everything for the four of us, especially that we will need summer clothes for Buenos Aires and warmer stuff for Antarctica, but I’m pretty sure we have everything in this load! Argentina, here we come!!! Oh, and here is the link to a video that Sam prepared o...

When we first thought about this trip, I was not too excited about the Keys because we had been here before Twice. Today, I can say that I love it here! I am just amazed by all the wildlife we see everyday. We had doplhins swimming ahead of our boat just to play, and manatees chilling in the harbor all around us. Just the color of the water is worth it!! The kids also love fishing (now that we have caught a fish!), so we spend more and more time throwing a line, hoping to catch our dinner. My next challenge: learning to catch spinny lobsters. I still have to get some equipment, but as the kids and I will finally spend more time than expected here...  Because yes, while Sam is gone for 5-6 weeks, instead of staying in Cuba, we have decided to stick around here. Easier and less stressful, because of the tight schedule between both trips to Antarctica. So here are a couple of pics and videos that show all the reasons why to love the Florida Keys...       ...

We left Miami when the winds calmed down to officially enter the Keys!! We are still up North, but it is just wow. Inhabited islands with mangrove all around, navigating in 6-7 feet of water all the way, blue-green water all around. If feels like the Keys for sure! Everywhere we stop, there is a bar on the waterside where to get a cold beer, a beach where to swim or a cove to explore with the dinghy.  This morning, while motoring from Bottle Key (where we spent the night) to our anchorage at Plantation Key, we saw a bunch of dolphins with a baby swimming at the front of our boat for like 2 minutes!! It was definitively the nicest dolphin seeing we’ve had. 😍 We’re planning on getting on the ocean side tomorrow to access a snorkelling site offshore with the boat. Can’t wait for that!!