Bagpipe music floats over the water each day at sunset in Lower Hadlock, a loving tribute to the parents who started a clan.

The family that grew up on a boat, and some of whose members were among Jefferson County’s first homeschoolers in 1979, is back, with more family members, music and dance, boats and beach volleyball, and a vibrant enthusiasm for life and meeting people.

Living aboard the 49-foot Sea Wolf in the ’70s, the family sometimes found it hard to get the children to school when storms would kick up, explained Brady Buntin, the ninth of the 11 children of Carrol Anne and Rupert Morris Buntin.

So they became homeschool students, teaching themselves.

The children were encouraged to participate in the work on the boat, play music and follow their interests.

“Each person was an individual, and Dad said to make sure you stay an individual,” recalled Brady.

Each child developed their own expertise, and opinions.

“Living on a boat, you can have arguments, but you still have to work together,” said Brady. “There’s nowhere else to go.”

As the children came of age, they went out into the world, but realized they liked being together as a family.

After a stint in Alaska, they got together in Mexico, on the Sea of Cortez. It was there that the Sea Wolf name was translated to Lobo Del Mar, which became the name of their marine trade business.

“Mom and Dad love to travel, and we just follow along,” said Brady. “We never do vacations. It’s the people that make the place more than anything.”

After 14 years in Mexico and the addition of quite a few more members, the family moved to Hawai‘i, where they spent six years working with boats, developing music and managing resorts.

Two years ago, they returned to Port Hadlock and one of their favorite childhood places: the beach in Lower Hadlock.

“I love it here,” said Jaime Hayashi, a Hawaiian native married to Brena, and a manager at the Fort Worden Public Development Authority (FWPDA). “It’s beautiful and friendly. This is paradise.”

Now, there are 56 family members, representing a combination of Scottish, Cherokee, Israeli, Finnish and Mexican descent, speaking English, Spanish, Hebrew and Japanese, happily centered around the parental boat.

For the Buntins, their family-owned and -operated activity and entertainment company is an umbrella operation that nurtures each family member with its many facets. The family does everything together, including homeschooling their children.

Thirty of them, 12 musicians and 18 dancers, perform family music and dance ensemble shows, of primarily Celtic music with bluegrass and flamenco fusion, with the women and girls dancing flamenco, Irish step, Tahitian hula and a cabaret style of belly dancing.

“They have such energy and variety that their show is like a kaleidoscope of sight and sound. And they look like they are having so much fun on stage that you can’t help but share in their excitement,” said Coyle impresario Norm Johnson.

“The age range must cover about four generations, from grandparents down to the littlest preschoolers. Everyone gets involved. They travel together in a large bus, so everyone gets to come, plus they use it for a costume-changing room between acts,” noted Johnson. “I love it that they live right here in Jefferson County now!”

“The concert on the Coyle was packed, and one of the funnest for me,” said Brady. “We were really impressed with that. It was kind of like being in our living room.”

Granddaughter Rachael books performances of the family show, and has a performance a week lined up until October. Details are online at lobodelmar.com.

She and Brady take turns tending Lobo’s Trading Post in Lower Hadlock, where you can buy her handcrafted jewelry and his musical instruments, or book a parasail ride.

An interest in history led Brady to Old World instruments. He crafts bagpipes, along with harps, psalteries, lyres, cajón drums, didgeridoos, dulcimers, kanteles, kinnors, kotos, langspils, tongue drums and whistles, and sells 44 different instruments out of the family trading post as well as online at lobostradingpost.com.

His first bagpipe was made out of PVC pipe. While it made sound, it wasn’t the sound he was striving for, and he kept at it till he got it.

Puget Sound Parasail is another facet of the family operation. Three brothers are boat captains, and they run salvage operations and conduct beach clean-up. They’re proud that not a drop of the Lady A’s 675 gallons of fuel was spilled in the rescue operation of the 67-foot wooden yacht sunk off Dungeness Spit in October 2014. Two family members are diving instructors. They also work with search and rescue, and train firefighters.

Family members run the sound board at shows, take videos and manage the family websites. Among them are a yacht broker, a music teacher, an emergency room doctor and an oyster farmer.

There is someone to do almost everything, except dentistry and possibly make beer and whiskey, said Rett, adding that the doctor in the family can probably pull teeth if needed. Rett’s gift is mechanics.

“Things just work for me,” he said, “but I don’t want to be good at something. Then I’d have to do it all the time.”

It’s hard to believe anyone in this family does anything all the time. Even the bagpipers trade off, but the music is always lovely.