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Ben & Gaby join their boat buddy Maya' to celebrate her 13-th Birthday Party in Tonga

Happy Halloween!

The kids were very worried...we were going to be on passage (at sea) on October 31st, and all their hopes and dreams of a candy filled Halloween were dashed.  They resigned themselves to skipping Halloween this year, and reminisced sadly of "how much fun" they had had in previous years.  Oh boy, how unfair this cruising life is!!

We arrived in New Caledonia on November 1st...but wait! We are a day ahead of the States!  It was still Halloween night in Florida!!  I told the kids to get a costume on, and they were going to go Trick-or-Treating!!

Ben emerged two seconds later, in his "surfer" costume.  He'd already worn this when they had the costume party on Fata Morgana a short while ago in Tonga.  He borrowed Dave's "hair piece"...a gag gift from Garrick for his 50th birthday last year.

Ben:  Surfer Dude

I had been expecting Gaby to come out dressed as the Archer she was for the party, but it was taking her a little longer this time.  "Just a minute"  she kept saying.

Gaby dressed as an Archer for the costume party in Tonga 

Ben and Gabs getting their party on

So in the meantime, I got some candy ready, sent Dave to one cabin, and I went to the other.  When they were ready, the kids came over from "their" hull to "our" hull and I heard a knock on our cabin door (where Dave was)  "Trick or Treat!" they cried! Oohs and Aahs and lots of laughter!  Next, I hear a knock on the cabin door I was behind.  "Trick or Treat!"  I opened the door, and this is what I saw:

Gaby the CLOWN!!

I have to admit...I was impressed with the costume she came up with in such a short time, and given the resources she had!!

And so it went on for a while...doors opened, closed, "Trick or Treat!"  and opened and closed again.  I ran from cabin to cabin, so they wouldn't know which door I was behind, and were surprised if and when I opened it!

Ben gets creative with the hair piece.  All he needed was a top hat and he could have been Abraham Licoln!

What a clown!

Of course this is what it's all about:  CANDY!  A fair amount of time was spent "trading".  Sometimes two pieces for one favourite the other might have had!  It took a while, was quite meticulous, and there was some major wheeling and dealing going on.  But in the end, all parties were more than satisfied with the final outcome:

BEST. HALLOWEEN. EVER!!