Jake turns 17 - Harry Potter Scavenger Hunt

While at Lee Stocking Island, we celebrated Jacob's 17 birthday. We had all been working hard on a big surprise for him and the big day was finally here. Jake loves Harry Potter and we knew we had to do something that featured his favorite books/movies. The rest of us put our imaginations to work and with limited resources and only the supplies we had with us, we created a magical Harry Potter world aboard Miss Daisy in the out islands of the Bahamas.

[Caution: If you haven't read the books or watched the movies, you may be a little lost. Just roll with it and know that this all coincides with the series.]

We decided we would create a bit of a scavenger hunt [Harry Potter style, of course]. Dani and I worked hard for several weeks, planning, researching, collecting, and downloading any fonts, clipart and photos we would need when we were able to access the internet. It would all start with an owl delivering Jacob his invitation to Hogwarts. For this to happen, we used a balloon, colored to look like an owl, tied to a fishing pole that had his letter tied to it. We custom made his letter using HogwartsWizard font in green [because that is the color Professor McGonagall writes in] and used coffee to stain the paper to look like parchment. In place of a seal, we used a Hogwarts Crest. We had recorded owl noises from the movie and had that playing over our loud bluetooth speaker and had his "Owl" meet him upon return. I don't have a great picture of either but here is the letter and a clip of Jake receiving it. In order to get the boat prepped and be able to surprise Jake, we sent him out to help Dad walk the dogs on the island and Steve was ordered not to return until we radioed him that we had generator issues.

From here, he then proceeded to Diagon Alley [the galley] where we had Ollivander's Wand Shop set up. We had the Harry Potter movie theme playing in the background for effect. Jacob has a decent collection of driftwood wands that he has found along our travels but Dani had worked hard the last few weeks to create the ultimate wand....the Elder Wand! She used some driftwood, added clay for the knots and end and then painted it all. So we filled the galley with his existing wands along with his new one. In true Potter fashion, I played Ollivander and had Jake try on several wands for size but then told him that he was destined for something greater. I pulled the Elder Wand. Jake's eyes lit up and his smile stretched from ear to ear. I then told him since that wand chose him, then I had something else for him. I pulled out his very own Marauder's Map. We made this with an extra large sheet of paper we had leftover from Dani's art class. I used some Mod Podge to stiffen the paper and add texture. Using different shades of paint, we got it the color we wanted and I tore the edges for an old parchment affect. The map would tell him what was expected of him in this journey and where to go next. 

After reading his note from Harry on the map, his first step was to head to the Great Hall and get sorted into a house. We set up the bridge as the Great Hall and made a sorting hat out of Steve's straw hat. We printed out house shields and put them on colored paper to make a banner with all the Hogwart Houses and the Hogwart shield in the middle. We had mixed together several sound clips from the movie of the sorting hat, where he goes back and forth, deciding on a house for Harry and ended it with the sound clip of the hat shouting "GRYFFINDOR!" [Jake's favorite]. After that, the sorting hat dished out a couple of presents - homemade bracelets in Gryffindor colors, red and gold.

Jake opening one of the presents from the Sorting Hat [on the left] while he still holds his Elder Wand.

 From here, the map said he was to follow his prefect to the Gryfindor common room, the aft head, for a welcome party. Steve played the prefect and led Jake to the door where he announced the password to the fat lady. "CAPUT DRACONIS!" and the door opened. [we had two doors to the aft head so I was able to open from the inside without Jake seeing].

Once inside, Jake found another gift with a note from Harry. It was an "invisibility cloak" for Jake to use later in the hunt. For this we took his favorite blanket, that he often uses as a sensory blanket, and wrapped it in red and gold string. I did the same process to the letter that I did to the other writings and hand wrote the note for effect. Inside the shower, held in place by the shower curtain, were dozens of balloons. Each balloon held money in either coins or bills, similar to what we did for Brandon's last birthday. Jake had loved that so much we knew we had to incorporate it into his. In one of the balloons on the bottom was one of the horcruxes. This horcux happened to be the Marvolo Gaunt's ring. We made it in our own style instead of trying to replicate the movie one and made it green for Slytherin. Jake used his Elder wand to pop all the balloons before he could continue on his quest.

Flashback of Brandon's birthday balloon massacre Aug 2015

After popping all his balloons, Jake's next task was to head to the Quidditch Room for tryouts. We had this set up on the back deck with access outside. We had worked for days trying to figure out the best item to use for his broom. We tried palm fronds, leaves, dried seaweed but settled on some cool foliage Steve and I found on Black Point tied around a broom shaped driftwood piece we also found. Once he had his broom, we told him he had to find the golden snitch. We made that out of two gold balloons wrapped around sand with feathers glued to it. We hung this from the front spotlight. He found it a lot quicker than we expected, but we got a kick out of the fact that he rode the broomstick the entire trip around the boat. Also hanging from the spotlight was the second horcrux - Salazar Slytherin's Locket. We used an old necklace, added some clay to shape it the way we wanted and then painted it black and green. Again, we weren't going for a match to the movie/book, just the idea of what it could look like.

 His next task was to use his "Invisibility Cloak" to access the Restricted Area of the Library. We had this under the inside helm. In there, we placed another Horcrux - Tom Riddle's Diary. For the diary, we took an empty journal and covered it with some spare material we had. On the first page, we wrote out the conversation Harry Potter had with the diary. Inside, we placed homemade Harry Potter themed bookmarks Dani and I had made for him. 

Can you see him under his Invisibility Cloak? 

Looking in the diary

Since he had now found the three horcruxes [the ring, the necklace, and the diary], he was to head to the Chamber of Secrets and find an item he could use to destroy the cursed horcruxes, thus banishing Voldermort and saving the human [and wizarding] race. We used the stair entrance to our engine room as the chamber. Since our engine room is quite large, we placed the "item" fairly close to the stairs but not too easy to find. The hint from his map was that it might bite. He figured out very quickly it was a Basilisk fang. Dani made this out of clay and painted it to resemble the large snake's fang. He proceeded to pretend to smash each of the three horcruxes with the fang, in true actor's flair and was ready for his final stop.

The three Horcruxes - Tom Riddle's diary, Marvolo Gaunt's ring, and Salazar Slytherin's locket

The chamber of secrets

Using the fang to destroy the ring

After destroying all the horcruxes, the map told Jacob to go to the Headmaster's office so he could receive his OWL results. We had turned our bedroom into the office, decorated with more owl balloons and a beautifully colored phoenix, Fawkes, that Dani made for Jake. He received his OWL results [Ordinary Wizarding Level testing], and in passing, then received his Master of Wizardry diploma. 

Finally!

 

With his mission complete, we settled in to a marathon of Harry Potter movies. For dinner, we made homemade pizza out of tortillas and had chocolate lava cake for dessert. It was a magical day for sure. All done without any access to party stores, a Walmart, or civilization for that matter! We used what we had on hand and what we found along our travels. We made all of his presents, except the money of course, and created an experience we'll all remember for a lifetime. Not your ordinary 17th birthday but then again, Jacob has never been ordinary! 

So for those keeping track, his presents included:

• Souvenir map, letter, diploma and OWL results
• A quidditch broom
• A golden snitch that happens to be a stress ball
• A repurposed blanket, now known as the invisibility cloak.
• A new, very unique, journal
• A new wand
• Two bracelets
• Three new bookmarks
• A Dani original Fawkes poster for his room
• Money
• Souvenir ring, necklace and basilisk fang

Also for those die-hard HP fans, we realize the timeline and accuracy are in question, but we weren't going for exact - and our resources were, of course, limited. This was about the experience for all of us and that was worth so much more. In addition to our family celebration, our new friends from Hawaii, anchored next to us, sang Jake a traditional Hawaiian birthday song and gave him some candied bananas from their farm back home. He couldn't have been happier with his special day!

Next up, Lee Stocking Island!

Staniel Cay - Big Major Cay

Welcome to Staniel Cay

We had been looking forward to our stop in Staniel Cay for most of our trip. This was one of my father's favorite stops every time he cruised through the Exumas. From the swimming pigs to the Thunderball grotto of 007 fame, and of course shopping, our to do list was long and our excitement was high.

One of the charter yachts with part of the BMC anchorage

A lot of boats anchor off of Big Major Cay, just north of Staniel Cay but there were already too many boats there for our taste. Behind about 50 boats in the anchorage, were the charter yachts, about 5-6 100'-200' yachts covering the entire area, well out into the bay. We decided we'd pass on that anchorage and head in towards the Staniel Cay Yacht Club see what the small anchorage area looked like just off Staniel Cay.

There were only a couple boats anchored, but the area was small and the current was strong. We slowly crept around and our patience paid off. We found a small spot, just out of the way, with a great view and plenty of room to swing with the current. 

Steve checking for anchor drag before checking in the dinghy

View of Staniel Cay from Miss Daisy

Once Captain was sure the anchor was set, we couldn't wait any longer to check out the grotto. I thought I pretty much knew what to expect when we got there, I was so wrong! We anchored the dinghy just off the entrance to the grotto and geared up. There were only a couple other dinghies there, several heading out so it looked like our timing was perfect. 

Swimming in, you know it will open up once inside but what I didn't anticipate was the sun shining in through the hole at the top. The rays of light lit the water similar to the effect of underwater LEDs. The large underwater openings glowed as a beautiful backdrop that helped distinguish the hundreds of fish swimming around. Speaking of fish! Outside large tropical aquariums in places like Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, I have never seen so many beautiful fish, let alone as large as the ones there. All the color was almost a shock to your system. From the ice blue of the water, to the bright yellow/white of the sun's rays shining down, to the coral, the walls and the fish. So many colors of fish! Steve had thought to bring a small container of leftover corn that he let go in the water inside. The fish swarmed and surrounded us, happily feeding without a care in the world. With very strict "No fishing" rules there, they had no concern and it was obvious we weren't the first to think of the food idea. At times we had the entire place to ourselves - it was all ours to explore every amazing part. I could have stayed there for hours but after about 45 minutes, the crowd returned and if you have snorkeled before, you know how much fun it can be with a crowd of tourist in snorkel gear can be in a confined place - all fins and elbows! We headed back home with all of us riding high on the excitement of what we just experienced. One of the highlights of my life for sure! Here is a video we had put together while we were there to show family. The quality of Dani's underwater camera isn't great but hopefully it gets some of the awesomeness across. [Spoiler alert: the video also includes images from our trip to feed the pigs that  I'll talk about in a bit.]

  

Excited to head in to explore the island

Once back, with plenty of energy from our excitement, we picked up Grandma and headed in to shore for a provision trip and tour of the island. After striking out at the first store, Isles General Store, conveniently located right on the water with a dock, we decided to head into the other stores located further up the road in town. It had been awhile since Grandma had been to shore and she was anxious to stretch her legs and walk around - the only problem, it was so incredibly hot and it was now about 2pm, the heat of the day. So what do we do to help us out??..fuel up on Goombay Punch and candy bars, of course!

First stop for excursion fuel

Heading out after fueling up

After energizing with sugar, we headed out to what the locals call the "Pink" house, so named because it's painted all pink]. At the Pink Pearl we were pleasantly surprised by the cold air-conditioning and well stocked inventory, we purchased some items but with only accepting cash, we didn't want to use up too much of the cash we had with us. We then went to the "Blue" store, [you got it, all blue!] where they were able to accept our debit card, and finished our provisioning including cake mix for Jake's upcoming birthday. [Big plans in the works for his special day.]

Along the walk and trip back to the boat, we loved seeing all the chickens running loose, baby chicks hiding in a small shelter and several Sloops ready for the upcoming annual Family Regatta in Georgetown. I always love walking through these island towns, wondering what daily life is like for the locals. The pace is always slow, the energy is always friendly, and the breeze is always blowing with the smell of fresh baked bread. Everyone is always so helpful and not once since arriving in the Bahamas have we ever worried about crime or felt in danger. It truly has been paradise.

why?

babies!

Once back at the boat, we unloaded and stowed all our supplies. We enjoyed some of the fresh fruit we had just purchased and cut up the rest for storage. With a bunch of fruit rinds and food scrapes, we headed out to Big Major in search of swimming pigs to feed.

At first we had a little trouble finding the right beach. There were three crescent beaches in a row and no pigs in sight. In fact, only one couple were the only occupants. We stopped and asked the couple if we were in the right place. They said we were and that the first beach is the one we wanted. With a "you can't miss them" we headed back to the first beach. Upon getting close, all we saw were big rocks located right at the tree line in the shade.....until those rocks started moving! Those weren't rocks at all but giant pigs, hiding from the hot sun! Not quite what we were expecting since we were expecting cute little swimming piglets. These big guys were not at all shy and were very forward about their desire for our treats. After a few minutes, a couple other boats joined in the fun. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, this was quite the experience.

After a very FULL day, we enjoyed a mellow sunset with dinner and quickly settled into exhausted sleep.

The next morning, while Steve preformed some routine boat maintenance, the kids and I took a swim. After the kids tired out, I was swimming along the boat and spotted a massive manta ray. As it floated regally below me, I floated, mesmerized, 10 feet above it. I was temporarily transported into another world as we silently glided together. A moment I'll remember forever. Regretfully, I didn't have a camera with me but I did take a mental video that I replay frequently.

Once maintenance was completed and after a quick second visit to the grotto, we headed out of Staniel Cay full of amazing memories. With a couple of uneventful stops at Black Point and then White Point, we made our way to the island we ended up staying at the longest. 

Next up, Lee Stocking Island!