These incredible sisters are growing up while sailing the Caribbean

Childhood is magical. It’s filled with adventures, and excitement, and delights, all of which come naturally with discovering the world for the first time. But for two lucky little girls being raised on a sailboat in the Caribbean, they’re discovering a lot more of the world than just their backyard or the street they live on.

When Genevieve and Eben Stoltz found out they were having a child, they decided not to abandon their dream of sailing the Caribbean, but instead to make it happen when their daughter was young enough to be “portable.” Now, five years later, (and still sailing) they have two daughters who are growing into fearless little girls with more life experience than most adults could even wish for.

Around the age when I was mystified by poking roly-polys on the sidewalk, 2-year-old Aria has already learned to treat stingrays as her personal pets — so much so that she even taught tourists how to pet and feed them. (Don’t worry, they’re docile stingrays in the Bahamas, so no one gets hurt!)

And at age 5, when I was still proud of learning how to ride a bike (with training wheels), Ellia is practically a master kiteboarder. OK, she mostly piggybacks with her dad, but that’s still super impressive.

With a combined age of merely 7, these girls have already crossed off tons of items that are still on my bucket list. They’ve gone paddle boarding, snorkeling, hiking through the Virgin Islands, and Aria both rocked and won a duathalon in the Bahamas. (Granted, she was the only one in her division, since there wasn’t anyone else in her age bracket to compete against!)

They’re also smart as well as adventurous. Genevieve, their mom, taught kindergarten and elementary school before leaving on the trip, and is such a good teacher that both girls are above grade level. It doesn’t hurt when your classroom is the ocean, either. The girls can simply jump into the water to learn about starfish, or walk on shore to learn about hermit crabs and sea turtles.

Genevieve wrote for Boredpanda and said that while some say the girls are too young to remember much of it, she knows that, “whether or not they remember, these experiences are developing strong, open-minded and adventurous characters.” Really, what more could a girl ask for? 

You can be sure I’ll be following their blog for as long as this family keeps having adventures. I may be in my 20s but that doesn’t mean I can’t live vicariously though these two cuties.

Surprising things I learned when I quit the city and moved to paradise

All the things we thought we’d do as an adult — when we were kids

[Images via the Stoltz’s blog, itsanecessity.net]