C. Dutch St Maarten encompasses the southern half of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, while the northern half of the island is French territory. Laura chose the island for her arrival because she feared social workers would place her in custody if she returned directly to the Netherlands.

Q: During the course of her journey Laura swapped the Dutch flag on her boat for the flag of New Zealand, where she also holds citizenship because she was born on a sailboat moored just off its coast in the South Pacific. What is the nickname for New Zealanders?

A. Aussies

B. Koalas

C. Kiwis

D. Dutch

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C. Kiwi are flightless birds native to New Zealand and a national symbol. Laura said she would rather go to New Zealand than to return to the Netherlands, where authorities once asked a judge to place her in a secure clinic because of her plan to sail around the world.

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Q: Dutch social workers said they only wanted to protect Laura who began her voyage just months after the dramatic rescue of 16-year-old Abby Sunderland, an American attempting a solo sail around the world. Abby's boat lost its mast after leaving Cape Town, South Africa, and heading east into the . . .

A. Atlantic Ocean

B. Indian Ocean

C. Pacific Ocean

D. Arctic Ocean

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B. Abby had sailed south in the Pacific from Marina Del Rey, California, and around Cape Horn at the tip of South America. She sailed east across the Atlantic to Cape Town, rounded Cape Agulhas at the tip of Africa and sailed east into the Indian Ocean.

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Q: While Abby was the youngest person to sail solo around Cape Horn, Laura went through the Panama Canal to get from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific. What does the canal cross?

A. Peninsula

B. Strait

C. Cape

D. Isthmus

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D. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. The Isthmus of Panama links North and South America and separates currents of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

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