Hannah Koenes, 11, above, and her brother, Michael, 9, carry water onto their family’s 32-foot O’Day sailboat, Happy Hour, at City Front Thursday. The Koeneses, including parents Maria and Bob Koenes, brother David, 21, and sisters, Sarah, 7, and Priscilla, 15, left Holland, Mich., on Sept. 26 for a “learning experience” sailing down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and on to Florida and, perhaps, the Bahamas. The Koeneses homeschool the children and expect the trip to last until the summer. They planned to leave Vicksburg today. At right, Sarah swings off the sailboat onto the dock. (Suzanne Feliciano*The Vicksburg Post)