On January 6, 2010, something wonderful happened. Our family went on a great adventure. We got to go sailing with our cousins on Kamaya. We live in Alaska, so the chance to go to Panama in January and sail with them for 10 days was something we couldn’t pass up. My name is Hannah Ziva Berkowitz Kimmel, I am 9 years old, and I want to tell you all about our trip on the Kamaya.
I quickly realized that life on a boat is very different from life on land. You cannot use up much water is one difference and space is in really short supply especially when the boys fight. You see sea creatures and I like to feel the air running through my hair (something I called hair wind” when I was little).
I’m learning lots of new things like learning how to sail bigger boats and I really got to use what I learned at the San Francisco Yacht Club sailing camp. I also got to learn how to boogie board!
My cousin Kai was a pretty good surfer. He stood up on the surfboard and looked pretty cool with his cowboy hat.
Some of the most exciting times I’ve had were when I went in a kayak with Maya to the beach and when we were trying to land on the beach, we capsized over some rocks. Another first adventure was seeing dolphins and pilot whales swimming next to the boat as we were sailing. I’ve never sailed this far and for so many days. My five year old brother, Noah, even surfed and snorkeled for the first time!
We all got to steer Kamaya. Here's Noah at the wheel.
My Mom even learned to steer Kamaya and read the telltales, that's the yarn on the sails that tells you whether to head up or fall off.
But my Dad loved steering the most.
Each day Maya and I have been doing newscasts at breakfast, lunch and dinnertime. We always tell the time, exciting things that happened that day, and sometimes we tell what we’re going to do the next day. When we do our newscasts, we’re up on deck and shout the news into the dorade (they are on the top of the boat and they are air scoops so sound travels really well).
Every day I learn something new and get to see new places. And Grandma Anita, you wouldn’t believe this, but we got to snorkel above these beautiful reefs. We saw lots of colorful fish. And we’ve had lots of opportunities to speak Spanish. But the best thing about being on-board the Kamaya was I got to spend more time with my cousins and really get to know them! I also got to know Uncle Tim a lot better which has just been great. At first, when we boarded Kamaya, I thought I would not want to go back to Anchorage, but now, all I want to be is COOOLD.
