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10/6/2003 9:30:00 AM
Santa Cruz, CA
The nicest marina in Monterey Bay

August/September 2003

It is Robert?s second day ?at home? and he officially is now a ?Sailor?. We are all very excited about him being with us

Hallo you all,

It is October 1st and I get the monthly letter itch... It is Robert's second day "at home" and he officially is now a "Sailor".  We are all very excited about him being with us now full time, the kids were counting the days the last couple of weeks. On the other hand it does have a strange feeling to it, knowing that he now is not working for Deloitte anymore, who  he has been with for 7 years, being part of many projects and knowing quite a few people within the firm (specially on the West coast). Robert was fortunate to get a year sabbatical and that is a good feeling to know that we can always come back to it, specially since they are worldwide.  Let me continue in the chronological order, otherwise I get confused..

I had told you in my last report that Robert had to go to India for 3 weeks to straighten out some things with his team, since 70 percent of it is in Mumbai. He unfortunately hit a bad time, since it rained and stormed almost throughout the entire time. From his description (some of you might have been there) Mumbai seems to be a very dirty, dusty and overpopulated city and with a lot of rain it gets to be muddy on top of it - "Paradise"! He spent all is time either at the hotel, the office or his private taxi (the company doesn't allow rental cars, too much traffic and cows on the road...). One day he did a sightseeing tour but he still did not like Mumbai any better. The second weekend he flew to the East Coast of India to visit the Deloitte office there and spent two days at a retreat in Vishakapatnam. It is run by a "Guru" (a former Nuclear physist), the whole place was very simple - power was not a given thing, no shower, the toilet paper was a faucet with a bucket, and Robert was the exception at the meals - he had a spoon! Even though he did not have the comfort of his hotel in Mumbai and it all was very primitive, he had a good time and some nice chats with the "Guru", who had just come back from several weeks in the US. Robert got to see a different side of India and liked it a whole lot more than Mumbai.

After a week just the 3 of us on the boat we were gone for 10 days ourselves. Exactly on Benjamin's 4th birthday (we celebrated his "real" one with his friends the end of the month)  we joined Maura and Bob and their whole "offspring" - Maura's daughter Melissa (25), her friend Danielle (25), Bobs son John (19) and his girlfriend Laura (19), Bobs twin daughters Sarah and Megan (17), her boyfriend Mike (19) and his Russian friend Vladimir (?) as well as Alea (8), the daughter of a friend - for a week camping at the Smith River, almost at the Oregon border. Sebastian had been bugging me to go camping again for a long time, and Maura and Bob have invited us every year to come along on their annual trip, but so far it never had worked out. This time it fitted right into our schedule and might be the last chance to finally go with them.  They have been camping there for almost 25 years and even though it is a 9 hour drive (thank God I had Melissa and Danielle as a children's entertainment with me in the car) it is definitely worth it, I now understand. It is this very enchanted spot, where you almost forget that there is another world out there, it for sure was one of the most relaxing vacation I had in a long time. The campground has only around 20 sites and each spot is huge so that you almost have no contact with your neighbor. There was no power, showers and only some (stinky) outdoor toilets - very simple (just like India....) Every day after a leisure breakfast we went down to the beach at the Smith River, relaxed, swam in the (quite cold) turquoise colored water, and just did NOTHING! We also took our baths there, washed our hair and I did some laundry of very dirty kids clothes - back to nature! Before we left I did not quite know how much I would like vacationing like that, but much to my surprise I had a great time and did not mind at all. It was wonderful to be with all of them, and the boys had a blast, not only did they enjoy the adventure of camping but they loved being with the "big kids", and they all were wonderful to them, keeping them busy and laughing.  We also had all 3 dogs with us and Broesel very much enjoyed having us around all the time and to sleep with the 3 of us in the same tent (our watchdog for bears...) Most of the food got prepared back home and we took turns in the evening being in charge of dinner, washing dishes, etc. They day was ended by a warm camp fire, talks, laughs, and a good Harry Potter story, read aloud by Bob.

Unfortunately I had to leave on Friday, two days earlier then the rest, to attend a home schooling fair in Sacramento. The first two hours of my 8 hour drive alone was quite sad, since I did not want to leave and it was quite a shock to come to the first traffic light after 2 hours and realize that there is a "real" world out there. I am very glad though I went to the show since I learned a lot about the programs that are out there and to see what it is all about. Sebastian and Benjamin came back with Maura and Bob on Sunday night and I met up with them in Boulder Creek. Thursday evening the whole Schmid family was back in Santa Cruz, and Robert was lucky to get the last week of August off, so that he could continue on some projects on the boat. Every weekend in September he worked on it and next to many small repairs he also did the cabinetry work at the V-berth, replaced all the plumbing pipes (what a job!), put a new big aft window in and two weeks ago we stepped down the mast. There were smaller and bigger repairs on it and it was easier to do them while it was laying down, rather than climbing it up and down. It got put back yesterday, by the big crane and finally the boat has it's vertebrae again! Now we need to finish the inside with some cabinets, book shelves, some instrument installations and many other small projects. We hope to have her somewhat ready and represent able by October 11th, since that will be the day of our farewell party.

We hope to be able to go out and sail some more, before we leave at the end of October. We are taking one of our sailing instructors along for the first route to San Diego (about 10 days), as a help for our shake down cruise and a refresher course. In San Diego we have a few more repairs to do, that are easier and cheaper to do there, we want to do a few amusement parks, spent as much time as possible with Barbie and Jimmy and get everything ready for our first half year in Mexico. Many probably want to know what will happen after that, and to be honest we don't know  ourselves. We take each day and week as it comes right now and don't plan too much ahead, there is now sense and need for it, it all will fall into place (and change again...) . Well, one of the big things happening this August was the departure of Fiona, Graham, Ella and Oscar. They had been on a 3 week vacation through the US, which gave us a good idea how it will be with them gone. They came back for 1 more week for all their farewells before they left for good on August 26th back to Australia. We tried to see as much as possible of each other and they even spent another night on the boat (all together 9 of us, Ella also brought her friend Katlin, this is our absolute record, we did not even have the V-berth ready!) Saying good bye was very sad and we all miss them terribly, they boys mention Oscar at least a few times a day and our thoughts and conversations often travel to Brisbane... Sebastian even named his big stuffed piggy "Oscar", since he liked it so much too, and now he can go to sleep with "him" every night!

Robert has had his first week on the boat and even though it feels a bit like vacation, it is different - specially for him - like I had mentioned before his official titel now is "Sailor". On one of our cuddling mornings with the kids last week Robert said to them "Well as of next week you won't get rid of me anymore, I'll be fulltime Dad" Sebastian's reply "And Captain!". We accomplished a lot the last 7 days, the mast is back in (we got a "vertebrae" again), some instruments are installed and we work from one project to the other. The kids are happy to have us both around and are really good at entertaining themselves while we work or even get to be big helpers. They both adapted wonderful to the boat living, climb around as if it was a jungle, ride their scooters or skateboards at the harbor parking lot and if time allows we walk up to the beach or the park.  September proved to be a wonderful warm almost hot month and we were lucky to have a few friends with pools where we could cool off (the boys had also swim lessons twice a week) and try our new snorkels and fins - but where are all the beautiful fish...? I have to admit that I have not started with the home schooling program yet, I did get all the curriculums but we are so busy with doctor appointments, errands for the trip, boat work, visiting friends etc. Sebastian's teacher assured me that he is a third into the first grade level and that I should not worry, he will catch up with it in no time. Two weeks ago I took them up to San Francisco for a day on the cable car, we had a great time riding every line they have, visiting the museum and enjoyed a gorgeous hot day in the city (picture perfect - except that my camera was out of batteries.... Did that ever happen to any of you?) We all had a wonderful time and I think that Sebastian will be old enough to remember it.

That pretty much wraps up all the new things, unless you want me to go into detail of all the repairs... I hope I will succeed this time with some pictures, since I have not sent any the last time. Many are asking how they can get in touch with us now, well there will always be our e-mail Robert@theschmis.org and Niki@theschmids.org - at the moment we try to load them down every 3 days, the replies will take a bit but we will get back to you just be patient. We also have our cell phone and since we will be in the US until November, we will have good reception, it is Robert's number 408 505 2474 (ATTENTION! Niki's phone got disconnected so please only use this number) and if you want to use the good old mail (for weeding, birth announcements or X-mas cards) please mail it to (we will get it forwarded every 2-3 weeks)

PMB 502, 88005 Overseas Hwy., # 9, ISLAMORADA,  FL 33036-3087

We hope to get some return mails, maybe there are more questions, since I cannot write about everything and some things are "normal" for us already that I don't even think about telling them. Let us know how your summer was, we would love to read from you. Many, many dear regards and hugs from

The 4 Schmids - and sea lions, otters, seagulls, great big heron, fish, crab, mussels, etc. (a year ago we saw a dear on our way home, today the boys get excited about the marine life!)

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