Just ask the Hunter family I Is it really better in Bermuda? By Jack Evans The Intelligencer It's better in Bermuda! That's the observation of one Belleville family, Don, Patti' and Beth Hunter, who spent the past year cruising the Caribbean area on their 39-foot ketch, Prism One. The Hunters returned home in August, in time for Beth, 14, to start high school. (She had been finishing her elementary level by correspondence courses during the year.) Interviewed on board their boat at a Belleville dock re- cently, where they were still liv- ing, Patti said: "Reality is starting to sink in. We're still looking for a place to live." But despite the reality of re- turning to their normal lives as electrician for Don, school bus driver for Patti and student for Beth, they wouldn't even think of trading their one-year hiatus. After extensive searching, they bought the boat in 1991 and Don spent the best part of two years trying to restore.it to tip- top shape to take their dream trip. Then in July, 1993 they qui- etly slipped out of Belleville har- bor and headed down the Erie Canal for the Hudson River and New York City. Their first major open water destination was Bermuda, which normally takes about four days for sailboats. But they were becalmed for four days so it took 10. "Don refused to start the mo- tor," joked Patti. They loved Bermuda, they said, spending almost two-and- a-half months there before moving on. "We didn't want to leave there," they agreed. "We met so many friends, including two from Belleville." The long stay brought a chance for Don to crew aboard another sailboat, much larger than his own, bound for the Azores, a 19-day trip before flying back to Bermuda. But that's another story, Don says. Their next destination was Guyana in South America but en route they ran into their first spell of rough weather. "The seas just kept building," said Don. "Finally Intelligencer photo by Jack Evans The Hunter family, from left, Don, Patti and Beth. '