Zack and Cody - Part 2

The boys were woken up by us listening to the SSB radio in the morning.  Fed them breakfast and then we met Mark and Deb from Sea Cycle to walk around Portobelo and pick up some fresh bread before we head out Wednesday morning.  Mark is an avid reader and has all kinds of historical trivia stashed away, so he was the walking tour guide.  Then we went for cheeseburgers and fries at Captain Jack's, their last meal out for a couple of weeks and did some shopping in the local tourist store.  Deb and I hadn't been in there before and we were amazed at the neat stuff and good prices.  The morning rain had stopped, so Dennis decided we should all go snorkeling.  Wow, we were surprised at how great the snorkeling was there.  The boys did amazingly well, considering this was the first time either of them had snorkeled.  Headed back to the boat, dinner and dishes and an early night.

At the fort in Portobelo

Captain Jack's sign

Up and underway by 6 a.m. Wednesday  morning, and the boys didn't wake up until we were past Isla Grande.  Sailing is not their thing, obviously, as they were both queasy and slept the majority of the day.  Cody was hungry and ate his sandwich before going back to sleep, but Zack just looked at his and promptly went back to sleep.  We caught a small shark, so that was exciting for them, and finally pulled into the East Lemmons and anchored around 5 p.m.  They had a swim and felt much better.  After dinner, we had another early night.

They're getting better at
the West Lemmons

On Thursday our plan was to hit as many places as we could to snorkel.  Unfortunately, there were a million jellyfish everywhere, so we weren't able to snorkel by the East Lemmons or Dog Island.  We headed over to the West Lemmons, and because we were on the other side of the island we didn't see any jellyfish.  We're amazed at how well the boys are doing with their snorkeling.

Digging the hole for
garbage burning

Picked up the anchor after lunch and headed down to the Western Hollandes, a great snorkeling spot.  All the boys went fishing and did a beach walk while I got dinner ready.  On Friday we were out nice and early (well, that means mid-morning for the boys) and took the dinghy over to the Central Hollandes to snorkel.  We saw an eagle ray and barracuda, and they spotted a shark on the snorkel I decided not to go on.  Woo hoo.  I don't care if it's a nurse shark, they freak me out.  Dennis took them to the beach to burn garbage, and then we picked up the anchor to head to the East Hollandes and anchor in the Swimming Pool.  We finally caught up with Sid and Manuela on Paradise, and they came over to 'noodle' behind our boat for happy hour, since they were leaving the next day to take Manuela's cousin Gaby back to Portobelo.

They take turns at the helm

Zack with a lobster

Cody with a lobster

Dennis took the boys out snorkeling on Saturday and he speared a grouper and 2 lobster, and they saw a spotted eagle ray.  It's hot, there's no jellly fish, so we're spending a lot of time in the water.  Turns out Cody's biggest thrill is going to bathroom, flushing, and then watching poop particles float by.  You've got to love 13 year old boys!  He and Zack laughed over that forever.


While Cody was on deck he made the comment about the shark that was swimming by.  Shark?  Really, I can climb the anchor chain if I need to.  Dennis tired them out with all the snorkeling, so we all had another early night.

Gathered starfish

Some of the starfish

Cody fighting the shark

Zack fighting the shark

The shark!

Movie afternoon

Sunday was a gloomy day, so we decided to stay put in the Swimming Pool anchorage.  We had to run the engine to charge, so the boys stayed below and watched Captain Ron.  Dennis put a fishing line out with bait and we had the resident nurse shark come and get hooked.  The boys both had a great time reeling it in before we released it.  Lots of pictures taken, and they were thrilled.  The weather finally cleared, so we headed off for a dinghy tour.  The boys wore their water shoes and brought masks and snorkel.  We found the starfish and they gathered them up to have starfish races.  Back to the boat for dinner.  Having dinner, Dennis' elbow hit the hot bbq, which made him jump, and Cody ended up with red wine all over him.  The stunned look on Cody's face had Zack and I crying we were laughing so hard.  While we had an early night, Zack and Cody had a movie night and put themselves to bed.


Time to change anchorages again!

Calling home from the San Blas

                                                                            ~~~_/)~~~