AUDREY PAIGE

Great Sailing!

2012-01-24T13:04:00.001-06:00

We installed a new wind generator at the beginning of the summer, and it has made a huge difference. Well, the amount of wind we've had lately does make it go all the time! Since we don't have to motorsail to charge the batteries, we've sailed every time we've changed anchorages. The sail from Nabadup to Green the other day was perfect. If we could only arrange that -- 10-15 knots of wind, 1 foot waves -- for our sail back to the US.

The 15-25 knots of wind has finally calmed down and we're so happy to be able to snorkel again. Dennis has caught a few small fish to pan fry, but nothing of size to bbq.

The rain has finally stopped, and that makes us happy to be able to snorkel, but it also means having to go down to Rio Azucar to get water. It's relatively painless, just a slow process. They now have a 'high speed' connection, which means the hose actually fills up. Dennis filled up the jerry cans, then we put the hose below and filled the tub, threw in soap and the laundry. I swished everything around, scrubbed, and by the time he finished filling the tank, I had washed everything, emptied the tub, and we refilled for rinse water. A very productive day. Plus, we were able to purchase gas at Rio Azucar (only $6 a gallon for all you people in the States who complain about gas prices), so we eliminated the need to go to Nargana. Smoke from the fires and the generator running all night long make for not a nice anchorage.

Hanging out at Green Island for awhile, where we have good phone coverage and sometimes decent internet!

~~~_/)~~~

Happy 2012

2012-01-13T13:49:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I've had a few complaints and just looked at the date of my last post. Guess it got away from me. We're back in the San Blas, so there will be no photos added until we're back in the land of real wifi, not a phone connection wifi.

Dennis finished his major sewing project of the dodger, bimini and side curtains. I think that's the most frustrated I've ever seen him. Well, maybe the motor mount job was up there. He did an amazing job! I know I would never have the patience or skill to do what he did.

We spent our 24th wedding anniversary at The Dock Restaurant at Shelter Bay, enjoying a great night with Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle. Spent our anniversary with them a couple of years ago in Aruba. The food and company were wonderful!

Time to get ready to head out. Took the bus into Panama City with Deb and Roger drove us around getting that all important provisioning done. Paid a little bit more this year for wine and beer because we ordered it through the Dock Shoppe, just opened at Shelter Bay, but well worth the money. Made life much easier. After another run to the grocery store and finishing up the laundry, we were ready to leave on December 17th. It's hard to cast off those dock lines and all the conveniences.

Had a good motorsail down to Portobelo. Rained like I've not seen for awhile, so no one got off the boat on Sunday. Monday looked like a good day to stage to Linton, but we were hoping to get Dennis' scuba tank refilled. Well, with the holidays coming up, that didn't happen. Left on Tuesday for Isla Grande, a nice 2 hour motorsail. The winds and waves are supposed to pick up, so we'll be here for awhile, but it's a good place to be. Nice resort place, we can swim and walk. Plus, Sid and Manuela on Paradise are now renting a house in Linton, so we were able to catch up with them. The best thing was that Manuela was going into Colon for groceries and took me with her for that last bit of fresh fruit and veggies. While we did that, Dennis did a load of laundry. Thank you, thank you Sid and Manuela :)

Left on Thursday, the 29th of December for the San Blas. The seas were supposed to be down to 4' by that time. Yeah, right! There were 8 to 10's out there easily, but luckily they were far apart and we were actually able to sail from the western edge of the Escribos Reef all the way into the East Lemmons. Not a bad day. Met Greg and Deb from Lion's Paw, Colorado, and spent some fun time with them. Finally caught up with Frank and Gretchen on Infinity, which is always a good time.

Hung around the East Lemmons until after the new year, and then went into Porvenir to check in and have a better phone connection for wifi. Cannot believe the number of boats on the reef in the last two years. Lots of backpacker boats, but others as well. Unbelievable.

We've had a lot of wind, and with this new wind generator, we have tons of power. Have actually had some amazing sails since we haven't had to recharge the batteries with the engine. Spent a couple of days in Salardup, then meeting up with Infinity again in Cambombia. Gretchen borrowed Dennis' sewing machine and they discussed sewing projects, while Frank is trying to get rid of a bogus program I picked up which affected the running of my computer.

We're currently anchored in Esnasdup, waiting for the wind to die down so that we can snorkel, and hopefully avoid the huge croc that swims between here and Green Island. Met John and Gerry on Peking and Gary and Kaija on Kaija's Song and had a fun night with dinner aboard Peking. Beautiful motorsailer.

Stay tuned ~~~_/)~~~

Shelter Bay Marina - Sewing Projects and Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T13:29:00.001-06:00

Busy cutting material

It's hard to believe we've only been back in Panama for 5 weeks. It's seemed like never-ending work -- well, at least for Dennis! He's in the process of making a new dodger, bimini and side curtains and doing an amazing job, but been very frustrated at times. And this from a man who has patience! Unfortunately, with the work he's doing, and all the rain, I haven't been able to do any woodwork. Guess that will be my project for the new year in the San Blas. Having the common room upstairs, with air conditioning, has been great for Dennis and Deb, from Sea Cycle, while they've worked on their projects and kept each other company.

And sewing

I've been cleaning and resting, still recovering from my episode with pneumonia. Very frustrating to be so tired all the time. We've been able to get a bit of walking in, but not as much as I'd like, mostly because of the rain.

Steve from LiWard (white hat),
recruited Frank, the Dock Manager
to play guitar and entertain us

Dylan and Mauricio before the
craziness of Thanksgiving dinner

Chris, Dylan, Mauricio and Gina

There's new management in the marina and hotel/restaurant, and the difference is unbelievable! Chris Young is the Manager for the restaurant/hotel, with Gina as his Assistant Manager. Customer service is amazing with the wait staff of Rosa, Mauricio and Dylan. Dennis said the other night that we might be spending more money on meals and happy hour, but at least we're having a great time. How true. They put together a Thanksgiving dinner, where The Dock Restaurant supplied turkey, gravy and cranberries, and the rest was potluck. There had to have been at least 60 people up for dinner, if not more, and the food was fantastic. What a fun, fun night! Then, the lunch special the next day was open faced turkey
sandwiches with gravy -- well, who could pass that up? Certainly not us!!

I'll post more photos when Dennis finishes his project. ~~~_/)~~~

Back in Panama

2011-11-05T14:55:00.000-05:00

Early morning flight, so up at 3 a.m., made sure the condo was all winterized and ready to go, and now we're back to the boat in Panama. Flew home in July able to check 2 bags, and now American has changed their policy? Had good flights, a short connection, and our driver picked us up and had us at Shelter Bay Marina by 5 p.m.

The Panama Canal entrance

We've booked the hotel room for a week so that we have an air conditioned place to collapse after cleaning, and Chris upgraded us to a marina view. We're happy, especially after going down and looking inside the boat. Well, the outside was pretty bad too. We were supposed to be gone 5 weeks and ended up 3 months away. Never left that long without an air conditioner in. Green and white are lovely colors -- just not inside my boat. Met up with Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle and Brian and Sue on Darramy for drinks and dinner. Up early to clean!!!

It was a lot of work, but by the time we checked out of the hotel room, everything inside and outside was clean. There are little things left to do inside, but they're things that can be done while we're on the boat. Dennis has started his sewing project - a new dodger and bimini. On top of this, we met up with Matt and Jean on SuperTed and told them we'd help out with their canal crossing if they needed us. They did, so we got ourselves ready for a Saturday/Sunday crossing.

Ready to go!

Woke up Saturday with a bit of a cough, but it will go away. Had to be out at the Flats for 1 p.m., which is frustrating, because the advisor kept changing the time he was coming out, and made it to the boat around 6:30, in the dark and the rain. Supposedly we were to go through at 7:30, but it ended up being closer to 8:30 ... in the dark and the rain, behind a tug and a Navy boat puking diesel fumes! My cough got worse! Everything went great, although the advisor was not happy that Matt wanted to center tie instead of tie off to the Navy boat and let them do all the work. Let's see ... newly painted 57' Beneteau next to a beat up Navy boat. No brainer as far as we were concerned. Finally tied up in Gatun Lake around 10:00 p.m., had one drink, and off to bed.

Jose, Jean and Matt

Crew underway (sorry Sue)

Well, on Sunday the advisor was there bright and early at 6:00 a.m. and we were underway. It's at least 4 hours across the lake, so I went back down below to have a rest. The cough kept me awake most of the night, and the slapping of the waves against the side, since we were side tied to the buoy. Went through the Miraflores Lock around 12:30, and anchored in the Pacific Ocean by about 2:00 p.m. That was cool. Staying on SuperTed one more night since transportation is easier on Monday than it is on Sunday. Jean kept telling us she couldn't cook, but that wasn't true. We had some great meals. Thanks Matt and Jean for the great adventure on SuperTed. What a beautiful boat!

Jean on SuperTed

Matt dropped us off at the dinghy dock Monday morning and we walked over with Sue and Stefan, their other 'crew', to Abernathy's, and then a cab to Albrook Mall, look around and take the bus back. Picked up some cough syrup at the Farmacia and that seemed to control the cough a bit. Back at Quatro Altos in time to catch the 3:15 bus back to Shelter Bay. Didn't go to happy hour because we were exhausted. An early night.

Still feeling really bad, with my temp going as high as 101.8, so decided on Wednesday to head into the Emergency Room at the Hospital. Blood tests, x-rays, and I have bronchial pneumonia in both lungs! No wonder I felt so horrible. Penicillin shots for 3 days, oral antibiotics, pain meds for the coughing and cough syrup -- hospital visit and all drugs, $150.00 U.S. Guess I have no choice but to relax now!

I'll get photos of Dennis' project for the next blog.

~~~ _/) ~~~

Time To Head Back To Panama

2011-10-17T19:34:00.000-05:00

Celebrating my birthday with
Kelly and Charlie

Apollo, the best dog ever

Well, it's been an eventful summer, what with buying a condo, gutting it, putting it back together and buying furniture, but it's time to head back to the boat and do all the cleaning and painting (woodwork) all over again. Had a wonderful summer, and Kelly and Char, Shaun and Kali were great for putting up with us for the two months until we got into the condo.

It was a ton of work, but we love our new place. Got into our old condo complex, buying a ranch instead of a townhouse. Let's eliminate all the stairs we can! The basement is huge, and with all the kids bringing old toys over, we lose them down there and have peace and quiet on the main floor. And, I have to say, I love my new queen size bed. That's not to say we don't love the boat, but since we've been living aboard full-time since 2005, with only a few breaks, it's a nice change. The boat is for sale, but we hope to get one more cruising season out of her. If it doesn't sell, we'll sail back to the States in April, put her on the hard in Georgia, and winter in the Bahamas until she sells. We've done that before and loved it.

Heading back to Panama in a couple of days, not too soon for Dennis who is craving the heat!

Up on a ladder - I hate that!

Cody, I thought you were working

The living room before

The living room after

Dennis scraping the kitchen vinyl

Relaxing in his new lazy boy
with the dining room in the background

The Murray family

The Piehler family

My birthday necklace with
all the grandkids

Brooklyn wasn't tired

Parker and Brooklyn
ready for school

Parker is in there somewhere

Brooklyn, Madison, Ryenn, Taylour, Parker and Emmy
with Avory in front

Home For The Summer

2011-09-07T20:22:00.000-05:00

I'm not quite sure where this summer has gone ... all I know is that we've been really, really busy. The first couple of weeks back was catching up with family and doing all that babysitting, then getting ready for Kelly and Charlie's wedding.

This is what we wake up to when
babysitting!

New bedroom set

New couch

In between time, we were spending a lot of time looking for condos. We had a price range, and it was getting a little frustrating trying to find something in that price range. Put a bid in on one place and got overbid with a cash offer. Then, nothing else seemed to measure up. We'd been driving around our old condo complex hoping to see if something came up, but no luck. On our fourth trip through, we stopped to see one of our old neighbors who was sitting on his porch. He told us about a woman who died in one of the condos behind him, that the daughter was putting it up for sale, and she lived in the homes behind the complex. We knocked on the door, 'Sorry about your loss, but do you want to sell the condo?', took a look through and shook on the deal. Unfortunately, we had changed our flights too early, and now we'll have to change them again! But, we've got the place we want, near the bike path and the beach! Now, spending lots of money on paint, flooring, carpeting and furniture ... but spinning our wheels waiting for the closing date.

Kelly and Charlie got married on Friday, August 12th, and then there was an open house on Saturday. Busy, busy time, but lots of fun.

Charlie, Kelly, Parker and
Brooklyn

Family photos

Nikki, Tara and Tania

Avory. Emmy, Brooklyn and Ryenn

With Tania and Kelly

Shaun and Kelly

After Parker's football game (photos next time!), we headed over to Tania and Rich's with Zack so that the boys could spend time together again. After swimming and dinner, we went back to Kelly and Charlie's, and after a lunch at White Castle, the boys dropped me off at Shaun's for a couple of days while they spent guy time together, going to the gun show and then, supposedly to go shooting. Well, I guess the law has changed and you have to be 18 now. So, after I got back, we headed out to pick the boys up and Dennis took the gun to Chris and MA's, where they have targets set up. The boys had a blast shooting, one more night at Kelly and Charlie's, and then took Cody home the next day.

Cody shooting

Zack shooting

Can't believe it's back to school time already. Here's Shaun's girls, first day going to school!

Ryenn, Avory and Emmy

Zack and Cody - Part 4

2011-08-31T15:46:00.002-05:00

Had a good run and anchored in Portobelo around 4 p.m. Checked the weather and decided we had better leave for the marina the next day, Thursday, since some pretty nasty weather was forecast for Friday. Sid and Manuela from Paradise stopped by the next morning for a short visit, and we were underway by 11. Dennis wanted all the sails out to dry them off after all the rain we'd had. Once we got out of the harbor we had the best sail we've had all year, sometimes getting up to 7 knots, which is great for us. Asked the boys if they wanted to come on deck for the sail - no noise, a beautiful day, light wind and calm seas - but they decided that they'd sleep again and come up when we got to the Canal. Really, I didn't know it was possible to sleep that much.

One of the pylons for the breakwall

Both boys eventually came on deck for the last part of the sail and motoring through the big ships, into the Canal Zone and then into the marina. Got tied up, Dennis hooked us up to power, I went to the office to register, and the boys discovered the swimming pool. The last couple of days were hectic, running into the grocery store Friday morning for juice, pop tarts and bread, getting all the laundry done and everything bagged up with dryer sheets to keep the mold off. Dennis took the boys for a hike, but they spent most of their time either in the pool or up in the air conditioned room with a TV. Had Mark and Deb from Sea Cycle over for dinner before they left for their summer of hiking.

Cody in the pool

Zack in the pool

Checked with the hotel and somehow they didn't have our reservation. Well, that's a pain. I wanted everyone off the boat so I could do a last wash down with bleach and water. That didn't happen, and we headed into Panama City a day early.

At the Lock

The boys with Roger

Luckily, they were able to take us a day early at the Costa Inn and there was a pool there as well. Roger picked us up Tuesday morning and we did a tour of the Miraflores Lock, the Old Town and the bluff overlooking the City. On Wednesday we took the free shuttle to Albrook Mall, where the boys did their shopping, until Dennis could stand it no longer and we headed back to the hotel and the pool.

View of the Pacific

View of Panama City

A ship going through the Lock

At one of the churches

The flag atop the hill --
as big as a basketball court

.

Luckily, all the luggage fit in the car! Our Panama flight was on time, but the Miami flight was delayed for an hour, so that made our late night even later. Zack's parents, M.A. and Chris picked us all up, and then dropped Dennis, myself and Cody off at Kelly and Charlie's around midnight. Cody will be going on vacation with his family the next day, so his parents will pick him up here. Dennis and Cody went off to bed and Kelly and I sat on the back porch drinking wine till around 2 a.m. It's good to be home!

~~~_/)~~~

Zack and Cody - Part 3

2011-08-24T11:22:00.000-05:00

Watching a movie

We picked up the anchor Monday morning after breakfast and headed over to Cambombia. Actually sailed! It was hot, and after we anchored off of Nabadup everyone went into the water until the jellyfish and trash came in. I don't remember all these jellyfish last summer, or all this trash! Had lunch and then took the dinghy over to the little island off Cambombia to snorkel. Saw only a couple of jellyfish, lots of lion fish and a big snapper that Dennis wasn't able to spear. Back to the boat, collapsed, burgers for dinner and then the boys watched Shrek 3 when we went to bed.

The weather looked questionable for travelling north later in the week, so we decided we'd pick up anchor after the boys took a trip up the Mangles River, and I baked more chocolate chip cookies. Planning to head to Porvenir to check out, up to Portobelo and into Shelter Bay early. With the jellyfish in the water, at least in the marina the boys can swim.

Had lunch, it looked calm, no wind, so picked up the anchor and decided to just motor to Porvenir. Only a minute or two of panic when I followed my track and found myself in 9 feet of water ... never saw less than 30 feet coming in. ??? An hour out, looked to the stern and ... where the hell did that storm come from??? Dark skies, thunder, lightening, tons of rain and wind. The boys went down and did their usual -- spread out and fell asleep. Dennis took the helm in his raincoat, and I stood in the companionway, in my raincoat -- he was trying to see ahead and I was trying to judge the lightening and tell him to take his hands away from the helm. Worst weather we've seen in forever. A mile away from the West Lemmons and we couldn't even see the island chain. Heard there were 35 knots an hour plus of wind, and I can believe it. Finally anchored in Porvenir, watching while one of the local boats was trying to pull a catamaran off the reef, where they'd dragged during the storm. Took the dinghy into shore to check out with the Port Captain ... and the boys slept on. The temp has dipped down to the low 80's, so no swimming :) Again, dinner and early night.

A sunbow we saw underway

We were up early and underway by 6 a.m. .. and again, the boys slept on. Dennis decided not to put any fishing lines out since we were ready to head home ... and the boys were sleeping. About 9 a.m., while we were off the reef, we had hundreds of dolphins all over. The boys hadn't really done well with the sailing part of the trip, so I talked Dennis out of waking them up, until he could take no more and woke them up. They were thrilled. Since they don't do well with the sailing part, we're doing a direct run to Portobelo, and then into the marina a couple of days later.

Dolphins

More dolphins

Stay tuned for Zack and Cody - Part 4!

~~~_/)~~~

Zack and Cody - Part 2

2011-08-15T21:02:00.000-05:00

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

~~~_/)~~~

Zack and Cody - Part 1

2011-08-02T21:03:00.000-05:00

Left the East Lemmons bright and early to head to Portobello, on our way to pick up Zack and Cody. Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle were out ahead of us, and having engine problems. We motorsailed, and they pretty well sailed the whole way to Portobello. We had three hits on our lines, and ended up bringing in one and a half tuna. Actually saw the shark that took our half tuna!

Tucked into the town side of Portobello for a change, by the town dock. Needed water, fuel, groceries, and picking the boys up, so needed to be close. Mark and Deb were great, taking us into the dock to pick up the bus to Panama City and then doing a couple of trips to take us back to the boat. Long, long trip into Panama City. Obviously the slow buses! Plus, there is always a checkpoint on the way into Panama City, and they decided our bus was the one to stop. Yeah, they took off students and housewives to check out, there was a 45 minute delay.

Zack and Cody's passports

Flying into Miami

Went to Price Smart, and then decided we ran out of time and needed to get to the airport. Roger picked us up and while were standing at the airport, thought they should have been out by now! Turned out their luggage didn't make their flight, but would hopefully be in on the 8 p.m. flight. American Airlines gave us $100 credit for each of the kids to pick up what they needed for a day. That's great, but now we have to stop at the mall and pick them up clothes and undies! Worked out well, and we got into Portobello around 8 at night, with Mark picking us up and doing trips between the dock and our boat.

In Panama City

And here's Audrey Paige at anchor
in Portobello

The boys had an early night while I put away as many groceries as I could without disturbing them. Touring tomorrow!!

~~~~_/)~~~~~

Audrey Paige For Sale

2011-07-26T20:46:00.001-05:00

It's time. Here's a few photos, but the majority will be posted in our Picasa Web Albums, in the sidebar on the lefthand side of the page. Audrey Paige is a wonderful boat, solid and sails great. We've owned her for 10 years, sailed away 9 years ago, and lived aboard full-time for 7 years. Explored many islands and anchorages, with many memorable moments, but can't afford to go home to visit the kids and grandkids, sail, and travel to the places we can't get to by boat. Our plans are to buy a condo back in Michigan to be close to the kids and grandkids in the summer and fall (my fav time of the year), and then travel to warm climates after Thanksgiving. We're both looking forward to being land based again. But, if the boat doesn't sell, we'll get crew to help us take her back to the States from Panama in April, and then do the Florida/Bahama trip for the winters, and summer in Michigan. Many options open!

AUDREY PAIGE FOR SALE

36' Bayfield Cutter - Built in 1987
LOA 41' 3" LWL 30' 6" BEAM 12' DRAFT 5' 6" DISPLACEMENT 18,500 lbs
100 gallon water tank 54 gallon diesel tank 40 gallon holding tank Macerator with diverter
44 HP Yanmar Balmar 100 amp alternator/Smart regulator

New sheets, main halyard, topping lift and lazy jacks 2010

Awlgrip 2007 - Hood furling systems on jib and staysail - New Doyle jib 2006 - New Doyle full batten main 2009

New stainless steel lifelines 2007

5 step stainless steel folding boarding ladder
44 lb. Bruce anchor with 150' 3/8" BBB chain - 22 lb. high tensil Danforth anchor - 15 lb. Guardian aluminum anchor

60' 3/8" chain - 150' 1/2" line - 50' 5/8" bridle line - 6 30' 5/8" docklines

Lofrans manual windlass
4 water jerry cans - 2 diesel jerry cans - 2 gasoline jerry cans

4' x 4' rain catcher - splash cloths - sun curtains and full cockpit enclosure
New Air X Wind Generator, 2011

3 Solar panels - 150 watt, 120 watt, 65 watt
Kato stainless steel davits with floodlight

Stainless steel outboard lifting crane

2 stainless steel fishing pole holders

Avon 9' 6" rib dinghy, 2002

5 hp. Yamaha, 2003, with 3 gallon gas tank

Magma bbq grill with 6 lb. propane tank

450 amp house battery bank and separate starting battery

Cockpit --

New cushions - 2" closed cell foam covered with waterproof material

Folding table
VHF radio

Depth and Speedometer
Raymarine autopilot with 24,000 lb. core pack
Edson outboard motor bracket

Cabin Equipment and Accessories
New Jabsco head
New stainless steel faucets with soap dispenser in head and galley

Whale galley salt water foot pump

Nova Kool refrigerator

Origo 2 burner non-pressurized alcohol stove/oven
Origo 5,000 BTU cabin heater

Nav station VHF radio

ICOM 700 PRO SSB with auto tuner - 2009
Garmin 230 GPS

Garmin 430 chartplotter with chips for the Eastern and Western Caribbean
Jensen AM/FM stereo/CD player with 6 speakers

Teak dish rack, spice rack and all galley dishes, etc.

5 cabin Hella fans

Globalstar phone
Tools and fishing gear

Safety Equipment

2 Sospenders life jackets - 2 offshore lifejackets - 2 dinghy lifejackets

Lifesling Rescue Pack

406 EPRIB - new battery in 2010

25 millimetre flaregun with flares, etc.

Emergency Ditch Bag

Any inquiries, email us at sailingdream@aol.com

~~~_/)~~~

My next blogs will be on our visiting grandsons :)

Time to Change Anchorages

2011-07-01T16:03:00.000-05:00

After a couple of weeks in the East Lemmons, it's time to visit some more of the anchorages we love. Plus, we really need to do laundry. Not much wind these days, so we motorsailed over and anchored off of the Mangles River. Took a dinghy trip up the river to check things out, pick up shower water, and check out the tide to do laundry the next day.

The Mangles River

After doing our month's worth of laundry, we headed back to the boat to wring it out and hang it up to dry. Luckily, a small wind came up and everything dried before the rain started. Sometimes you just get lucky! Only saw one croc at the beginning of the river, nowhere near where we do laundry, so I was a happy person. Nothing like looking over your shoulder for the hour it takes to wash and rinse everything.

Somehow, when we were up in Bocas the chartplotter managed to dump all of my tracks for getting in and out of the San Blas anchorages. So, a few discussions about which reef to cut through to get into the Nabadup and Cambombia anchorage. I didn't agree with Dennis, so instead of arguing, I turned the helm over to him and decided I would watch the depths from the bow. That lasted two minutes, and he decided it would be smarter to let me go where I thought we should! In safely and nothing less than 30 feet!!!

Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle have finally arrived in the San Blas and are heading down our way after they check in. Had fun catching up, but we decided we needed some stronger internet for banking that needed to be done, so we headed off to Green Island, where they'll join us in a day or two. As always, we don't anchor near each other, for privacy, but manage to get together when the mood strikes!

Was this container empty when it
floated to shore?

Did some snorkeling over at Esnasdup, wondering where that container came from. Then, off to the Western Hollandes where the snorkeling was probably the best we've seen down here. It got a little rolly and we were chased out by a backpacker boat who anchored too close. When your dinghies can mate, they're too close. Off to the Central Hollandes for a few days for more snorkeling, and then to the Swimming Pool in the Eastern Hollandes. I'm seeing way too many sharks out here. A smiling nurse shark was swimming my way -- nice to know Dennis can hear me underwater when it's a high pitched scream!! Finally managed to have Bob and Sue from Sunrise over for happy hour, along with Mark and Deb. Had a fun night.

The next day, while we were out snorkeling again (need exercise) we saw a beautiful 57' Nordhaven pulling into the anchorage. Met Mike and Lynn on Time2. Dennis went out fishing with Mike, and then they invited us over for dinner that night. They even turned the air conditioning on!!! Great food and company.

Back to the Western Hollandes since there seems to be some sun for snorkeling (looking for those elusive sea horses!), and then to the East Lemmons, getting ready to head back to Portobello. Zack and Cody, our 13 year old grandsons, are arriving July 4th, so we need to get fuel, water and, most importantly, groceries!!

~~~_/)~~~

The San Blas Again!

2011-06-28T16:43:00.000-05:00

Mike and Linda on Casa

Anchor up early a.m., out of Isla Grande on the way to Porvenir in the San Blas. A couple of hits on the fishing line along the way, but no fish on board. Pulled into Porvenir early afternoon, quickly dropped the dinghy, put the motor on and headed in to the Port Captain's office and then to pay our Kuna Congresso fee. Anchored right in front of Casa del Mar! Good to see them again. Unfortunately, they've been stuck in Porvenir as their transmission decided it wasn't going to work when they were coming into the anchorage. Stayed 2 days in Porvenir to visit with them and have them over for dinner. They're waiting on decent weather so that they can sail all the way to Shelter Bay and figure out if it's the transmission, the motor, or both. We feel for them!!!

Frank, Gretchen and
the best boat dog, Loki

Said goodbye to Casa and headed down to the East Lemmons to catch up with Frank and Gretchen on Infinity (and Loki the best boat dog too) before they headed home. We spent over 2 weeks in the East Lemmons because the weather was wonderful, and in between Dennis doing stainless and me doing the Cetol in the cockpit, we got a little bit of swimming and snorkelling in.

Heraldo - veggie boat

Our favorite people to see are Heraldo or Maxel on the veggie boats, and we were lucky enough to see both of them. Unfortunately, they don't come around often in the summertime and our fridge only holds so much produce.

Another shark!

Dennis was also on my list of people I'm not happy with when he decided to throw a fish head on a fishing pole off the back of the boat in the middle of the afternoon. I think that's a nurse shark, but there goes my swimming for the day. I'm pretty sure Blue Sky's guests weren't too thrilled with it either!

The bad news for Infinity was that their 1501 Dell computer died. The good news for us was that they gave us their battery, since ours died and it really affected how our computer ran. I thought it was a fair trade for the booze they got from us when we left the San Blas! The big computer is working again :)

More on the San Blas later! ~~~_/)~~~

Rio Chagres to Portobello

2011-05-30T16:35:00.000-05:00

Up bright and early, just a tad nervous about leaving the river. I was at the helm, with Dennis calling out depth soundings ... that worked out much better. The least amount of water I found was 15', so this is a GPS track that I will keep!

Dennis and his tuna!

Of course, right on the nose with rollers a short distance apart. Makes for a miserable ride. Dennis headed off a bit to see if we could actually sail out and then tack back in to Portobello. It worked for awhile, and we were almost totally sailing. Of course, that huge ship behind us was on his own track and didn't care if we had right-of-way or not. I saw him coming up behind us -- right behind us -- and asked Dennis to take it off autopilot and go to port. Yes, I know we have right-of-way, but he's really, really big!!!! We steered to port and he finally steered a bit to starboard, and then we cut behind his stern on our course to Portobello. It turned out to be not a bad day, especially when we caught that blackfin tuna! And, yes, it actually made it on board this time.

Again, pulled into Portobello in the rain. It always rains in Portobello. Got absolutely drenched one day going in in the dinghy. The umbrellas helped very little. Love walking around town soggy!

Took the bus into Colon to stop off at Novey (think Ace Hardware Store), and the Rey Supermarket at the Quatro Altos Mall. The meat selection at that Rey Supermarket is SO much better than at Sabanitas. A taxi ride to the bus station, good seats on the bus, with an overhead rack to stow our stuff. Unfortunately, the fruit and veg selection isn't great in Portobello, so while Dennis filled up with gas and diesel on Saturday, I took the bus into Sabanitas. They have produce in the store and then a fresh market on the outside, so I bought as much as I could carry by myself.

Sunday morning, took the dinghy in to get rid of the last of the garbage, visit the bakery for bread, and off we go to Isla Grande, hopefully only a 3 hour motorsail. Then, finally, back to the San Blas!

~~~_/)~~~

Rio Chagres

2011-05-24T11:27:00.001-05:00

I think it's actually better to do a straight run between Bocas del Toro and the San Blas -- I hate these long days. A nine hour day to Euero and a 12 hour day to the Rio Chagres. The plan was to check out the swell going into the river, and if it didn't look good, we'd head in through the breakwater going into the Canal and drop the hook for the night. Dennis was at the helm and thought we were good. Well, it was okay as far as swell, but he kept getting too far to starboard and found 9.5'. I was calling out the depth and begging him to go to port. I was the one that took us in and out the last time, so I knew where we were supposed to be, and the least amount of water I found was 15'. The good news is, we made it in safe and sound and dropped the hook just after 6 p.m. I won't be saving that track on the GPS! The way I feel right now ... I'm never leaving the river!!!

Had a relaxing day, doing some dinghy exploring, and then moving farther down the river. We're amazed at the difference from the last time we were here. We anchored here at the end of September, 2010, and then they had the tremendous amount of rain in December, where they closed the Canal for the first time since WWII, and opened the floodgates. Cialo had pulled in, and with the force of the water coming down the river, their chain and anchor parted and they ended up on the beach. Sadly, it's been written off, stripped, and just the hull remains on the shore. Where before all the vegetation came right to the shore, there's now 8' banks on each side of the river, depending where the water flow was the strongest.

Calabash waiting to carve

Thought we had hit the motherlode of calabash! When we were here in September, they were little baby calabash, and now they looked to be all grown up and big. With a lot of perseverance we ended up with 5 of them that we cut in half to clean and make into bowls and lamps. Hmmm ... why are there hard sea pods when before we just scooped stuff out? Found out why after we spent all afternoon cleaning them and leaving them to dry. I guess they were just a little too ripe, and instead of hardening up they just shriveled up. :( Dennis tossed them into the water and we sadly watched them head downstream.

When we anchored before, we were in fresh water halfway down the river. The time of year definitely makes a difference. We took the dinghy down to the dam to get fresh water for the jerry cans and do some laundry. Then headed back up towards the entrance again for a couple of days to do more dinghy exploring and much needed work on he wood. Hopefully, we'll find a calm anchorage in the San Blas to add the Cetol and gloss to the cockpit.

No internet or phone service, and, as always, Globalstar is painstakingly frustrating, so it's time to head to Portobello, and then get back to the San Blas before Frank and Gretchen on Infinity head back home.

Once we have better internet I'll post before and after photos of the river.

~~~_/)~~~

Escudo de Veraguas

2011-05-22T13:45:00.000-05:00

The beach at Escudo

Another motorsail. Left Cayo de Agua around 8:30 a.m. and dropped anchor at Escudo about 2:30. Went for a swim in this once again beautiful crystal blue water. After a peaceful night, we put the motor on the dinghy and went exploring. First order of business was burning garbage after a week out. Walked the beach and explored a couple of reefs that we'll snorkel tomorrow.

What are those sounds? It's 6 a.m. and I hear a helicopter? Three circled the island and then landed on the beach in front of us. Not quite sure what's going on. They stayed a couple of hours, with only the pilots walking around, then left. We went out snorkelling and exploring the west side of the island. Beautiful!

One of the helicopters

After a swim and shower, enjoying quiet deck time, when all three helicopters are back, this time with lots of people. Looked to be some type of model photo shoot. Young people bounding all over the place with cameras, lights ... yeah, whatever. We're off tomorrow, slowly making our way to the San Blas.

Good thing we were up early, because those helicopters are back. We've got sails up, anchor up and we're gone! Off to Euero, 50 miles down the coast.

~~~ _/)~~~

Cayo de Agua and beyond!

2011-05-21T10:57:00.000-05:00

It didn't look like we'd be able to leave Johnson's Cay when we first got up -- lots of cloud cover, which isn't good for going through all the reefs. Did some boat chores and decided to spend a day relaxing ... and then the sun came out around 11 a.m. Off we go to Cayo de Agua. Worked our way through the reefs, heading almost to Zapatilla Cays to avoid a 4' spot, and then headed east. Motorsailing along, I happened to look to starboard and wondered why there was light blue water. The chartplotter and Bauhaus' guide showed a 25' spot ... except I saw 25, 20, 15, 10 ..... OMG 9.5??? I screamed and handed the helm over to Dennis while I checked over the side. That was the least amount of water we saw, and it only took an hour or two for my heart rate to get back to normal!! Anchored at Cayo de Agua early afternoon.

Cayo de Agua

Spent a couple of days at Cayo de Agua, trying to figure out why our third solar panel wasn't working. Lots of time doing all kinds of tests ... it needs to be rewired. Unfortunately, that means totally unpacking the quarter berth, AGAIN, to get the wire we need. And, oh, look, there's that extra bbq regulator we couldn't find. Then, Dennis was working on the solar panel, deciding to cut the wood frame down to a more manageable size, using the hole saw. Told him to do it in the cockpit, which needs cleaning, but he decided to do it over the side. Oops, the hole saw grabbed the wood, pulled out of the drill chuck and went over the side in 25 feet of water. He spent an hour dragging the magnet around the bottom with no luck. While all of this was happening, we were visited by two young boys in a canoe wondering what we were doing. They got to watch Dennis put on all his scuba gear to dive down and retrieve the hole saw. They had a very entertaining morning. He let them test the scuba regulator, watch him drill some more, re-wire the solar panel, until they were finally as bored as I was!

Did some dinghy touring and snorkelling, and on our way to Escudo de Veraguas to anchor in these calm winds.

~~~_/)~~~

Finally!!

2011-05-20T11:04:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo, the order is arriving in Bocas on Saturday's ferry. Dana from Bocas Marina will pick it up, make sure everything is there, and we're able to pick it up Monday. Time to start getting serious!! We've been making many trips to town instead of doing one huge provisioning. Makes life much easier, stowing away bits at a time instead of lots at a time! We'll make a stop in Portobello in order to go into to Colon and the Rey grocery store. The meat selection as far as beef and pork is better there, and there are a few things I can't get in Bocas. Put in our last load of laundry. From now until we head back home, it will be doing laundry by hand!

Two of my Calypso Cantina guys!

We checked out Wednesday, since it's Easter weekend and everyone is closing early for the long weekend. One last meal at Calypso Cantina Wednesday night with Lynn and Randy from High States, and then lunch on Thursday with Mark (Sea Cycle), along with Lynn and Randy, at the Rip Tide Restaurant. Well, I guess it's called Tides Out right now, since the boat has disappeared in a divorce dispute! Hugs and kisses to all, goodbye, back to the boat, and motored down to Johnson's Cay. Weather looks great, and we'll be able to head over to Cayo de Agua and Escudo de Veragas. I will miss all these meals out!

On our way, slowly, back to the San Blas :)

~~~_/)~~~

Slowly Getting Ready!

2011-05-18T14:17:00.000-05:00

Still waiting for that Marine Warehouse order, provisioning, and forcing ourselves to have fun!!!!

Steve and Lili (LiWard) and Liz and Craig (Salida)

Steve and Lili on LiWard are huge Jimmy Buffett fans and have Sirius radio, so invited lots of us over to their boat to listen to the concert and have a great evening. Steve makes a mean Margarita! Food, as always, was fantastic, as we all brought different dishes. Our old cruising guru, Colin from Mandalay, was one of the guitarists in the warm-up band. Unfortunately, they didn't make it on to the Sirius radio program. We did have another wonderful evening.

Pixie from Silver Sea invited a few of us to join them for a massage on Wednesday over on one of the islands. John, an ex-pat, has built a beautiful home, but missed his massages ... that was resolved easily enough ... he's trained a local woman to come to his house every Wednesday to give massages. Not a professional massage, but it sure felt good! $15 for an hour ... we all just melted afterwards! Another fun, fun day!

Rumor has it that our Marine Warehouse order is in Panama City ... now we just need it to be in Bocas!

~~~_/)~~~

Rain!!!!

2011-05-15T22:16:00.000-05:00

First off, oops, typed blogs ahead of time and this should have been before the Back In Bocas :)

Well, the weather report was right ... it did rain. Luckily, we picked up anchor at Johnson Cay with good weather, motoring up one side of Isla Solarte (Cayo Nancy, Isla Solarte -- different charts, different names), and down the other, into the Red Frog anchorage. Needed to charge those batteries. Three solar panels and a wind generator, but if there's no wind and sun, it's not good!!! Got in early afternoon, but decided to stay on the boat. And again the next day, since it rained all day long! A reprieve from the weather-- in to check in, pay our weekly fee for internet, showers and garbage and off to walk.

Hiked all around the new homes going up, trying to find a road to get to the far beach. That didn't happen, but we had a great hike. Went down to the beach but, unfortunately, the waves aren't good for body surfing (more like body slamming), and we haven't been able to use our new boogie boards.

The next day was questionable weather, but we managed to head across the bay to pick our handheld radio up from Panache, or BEN 93. We had lent them our 2nd backup for the races. Stopped by and said hi to Jan and George on Claire de Lune, then a quick stop at Chewbacca, who were in the marina. Picked up some goodies from them, since they're heading home for 6 months :) By the time we were ready to head up to Kayukos the sky opened up. Hid underneath the roof of the workshop for a bit, and then decided to get even wetter. A busy, busy afternoon -- tours were there having lunch and hiding out from the rain as well. Finally, they left, and then Rick and Carol on Chewbacca joined us for lunch and drinks. Glad we got that walk in because it poured all day the next day. By 5 o'clock everyone was going stir crazy and the radio came alive. Even the radio police didn't come in to complain when people started singing Eeensy Weensy Spider!

Our pet gecko Pip!

The good thing was, we collected about 30 gallons of water, and that's always great! It was so bad, our pet gecko was found below, when he's always outside. Poor thing was probably drowning out there!

We were going to leave Sunday to head back to Bocas Town, but the rain never stopped, so up bright and early Monday morning. We need to get back to celebrate Deb's birthday (Sea Cycle)!

~~~_/)~~~

Back in the Bocas Town Anchorage

2011-05-15T16:06:00.000-05:00

Wow, decent weather for the trip back to Bocas. Unfortunately, when we went to anchor where we usually do it was really crowded, and I refused to anchor in 7 feet of water. Call me crazy -- draw 6 feet! So, headed back around the reef and anchored close to the channel entrance to Bocas Marina. There's only one rock underneath our anchor chain, and we only hear it depending on the direction we're facing.

Dennis, Brian and Vossie - Randy and
Mark are hiding

Gaynor, Sue, Allayne, Deb and Lynn

Talked to Mark and Deb and we're heading in for Indian food at the OM Cafe to celebrate Deb's birthday. There's ourselves, Lynn and Randy fom High States, Brian and Sue from Darramy and Vossie and Gaynor from Talacam. Well, of course, and Sea Cycle with the birthday girl.

Fantastic food and a wonderful evening. Mark was too generous - a bottle of wine for each couple was his gift to all of us! Hmmm ... the next morning was a little tough :)

Deb's heading back to Canada for a month so we met them for lunch at the Buena Vista and walked with them towards the airport. Not all the way, because that was an extra 2 blocks and we had shopping to do!

Provisioning while we wait for our Marine Warehouse order to arrive :)

~~~_/)~~~

Good Intentions

2011-04-15T19:18:00.000-05:00

Chewbacca under sail

Well, the plan was to leave Laguna Palos, go through the cut into Laguna Porras, then through that cut into Bahia de Almirante, on through the Crawl Cay area and out to Cayo de Agua. It was a good plan to do something different ... unfortunately, the weather didn't co-operate. Made it through the two cuts fine, with only one 20' spot, and sailed into the Bahia de Almirante with Chewbacca. They headed up the bay and into Red Frog, where they'll leave the boat to go home for the summer. It was starting to cloud up, and the Crawl Cay area has a lot of reefs, so we pulled in behind Johnson's Cay and relaxed. It's been a busy couple of days.

Realized I had a bit of a phone signal, so downloaded our email for weather. Cayo de Agua is out right now. Not only is it going to rain for the next 5 days, there's going to be WNW winds -- not a good thing for that anchorage. Good thing all plans are made in jello! Decided that with the winds and weather we'd head back to the Red Frog anchorage, where at least we have great internet, walking, swimming and a place to hang out at Kayukos. ~~~_/)~~~

We're Invisible!!!!

2011-04-12T21:33:00.000-05:00

Lifted the anchor mid-day Friday and back up to Starfish till Sunday morning. Spent Friday and Saturday hanging out in the water with our noodles. It's so hot!!

They're trashed

On Saturday night, I couldn't sleep (Dennis doesn't have that problem), so I was sitting reading about 11 p.m. All of a sudden there was a pull on the boat, like something had hit our anchor chain. Really, the panga couldn't see us? Light on the bow, light on the stern and a light at the top of the mast, my boat is light coloured and it was a bright night. I ran up on deck, yelling a few choice words. The boat was dead in the water and they had torn the bimini off their boat. Must have seen us at the last minute and swerved, because the only mark on our boat was white fibreglass on the anchor chain. At first we thought they were drunk ... I'm going more for stoned out of their minds. Put the dinghy in the water and Dennis went over to find out what they were doing. One of the guys, for some reason, had jumped in the water and was having trouble. Dennis hesitated a minute, and then helped him out. I had put a call out on the radio to anyone in the BEN network, and both Mary, BEN 1 from Camrikaland, and BEN 13, Captain Ron came back. Steve and Amy on Serenity were in the anchorage with company, and while Amy stayed by the radio, Rob (Red Frog Marina dockmaster) and Steve came over in the dinghy as well, mostly for moral support. Mary asked if we wanted the police called, and Steve on Serenity thought it might be a good idea, since these two guys were not in good shape. Amazingly, the police showed up within 45 minutes! They took all of our information, plus asking the trick question of how old we were. I don't know, you have my passport :) Surprisingly, they didn't go and find the guys who had been towed to the beach by Serenity's dinghy. I did show them the photos I had taken though. Maybe they knew who they were?

Minus a bimini top

Needless to say, neither one of us slept well that night and were awake at first light to head down to Rana Azul. Luckily we had a good track on our chartplotter because it rained the whole way there. Our theory is, take down the rain catcher, there's lots of rain!

What a fun afternoon. Steve from LiWard and Dave from High Spirits played guitar and sang, while George from Silver Sea was percussion with his golden egg. Good food, lots of friends, a great time and the sun came out. I think that might have been the latest Rana Azul has been open on a Sunday. Everyone is usually out of there by 5 p.m., since they open at noon. When we left at 6:30 and there were still people there. Rumour has it, they were there till after 9 at night!

Steve, George and Dave

Maria finally getting a break and
visiting with Mary and Willie
on Twilight

Needless to say, an early night for us. ~~~_/)~~~

Dennis' Birthday

2011-04-10T15:23:00.000-05:00

Dennis, Mark, Randy, Lynn,
Deb, Rick and Carol

Happy birthday!

Happy 63 Dennis :)

Lynn and Randy on High States are back from their visit to Canada, and Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle are coming back to Bocas to provision as well, so we arranged to celebrate Dennis' birthday at the Calypso Cantina. Thursdays are usually guest chef nights, but the guest chef backed out, so Dyllan asked Dennis what he would like cooked for his birthday. Their wonderful lasagna was his choice. What a great place! As we were having our drinks, Rick and Carol from Chewbacca arrived, so we invited them over to join us. We met them in Shelter Bay back in November, where they had just purchased the boat and were heading down to the San Blas.

I made a carrot cake with cream cheese icing (my speciality, everything out of packages!) for everyone at the restaurant. It was a great hit. The best was Dennis' gift from Mark and Deb - everything a guy needs to survive!!

Dennis' favourite things!

Another big weekend down at Rana Azul - Steve on Liward will be singing and playing guitar on Sunday afternoon. We were going to head down there Friday since we were all provisioned again (you know, the good stuff - bread, chips, beer and wine), but it was just so hot we headed back to Starfish Beach to hang out in the water, and we'll get up bright and early Sunday morning for the 3 hour trip down to Rana Azul.

~~~_/)~~~

Bastimentos Boat Races

2011-04-09T17:30:00.000-05:00

Anything that floated was a place to party

One of the party boats

What a fun weekend. The Calypso Cantina had rented the houseboat Jampan and served great sandwiches with potato salad and, of course, drinks. They also had another float boat for their great party weekend. We spent some time there and then drove around the anchorage. Stopped and visited with John and Nancy on DixSea, and finished off our time, with our cooler of drinks, aboard Salida. I can't believe how many boats are anchored over here!

The races, naturally, were all running late, and I think we might have seen one go by. Decided that on Sunday we would head over to Bastimentos way later in the afternoon.

Back in the Red Frog anchorage, peace and quiet. Made home fries and an omelet for breakfast, had a relaxing day, and then over to Bastimentos Town around 3 p.m. Drove around the anchorage a bit ... so, so busy. Changed our minds about going to shore since it looked insane, and headed back to Salida when Craig and Liz called us over. What a fun afternoon. Oh, and I want a catamaran! Yeah, but that's not happening on our budget :(

So, so much fun. George and Pixie (Silver Sea), Willie and Mary (Twilight), Kevin, Melissa and their 2 boys , James and Caleb (Solange 4), Barb and Bill (Babsea), Frankie and Terry (used to be Second Wind, now BEN 00), Juan was there from Arenas (what a great kid, so well behaved!), Bill and Bruce (land based) and the folks from Teal Sea. They had this great little sailing/pedalling boat that they let all the kids use. Spent the majority of the time in the water (on a catamaran you can actually hide out from the sun under the hulls!) and, again, saw very little of the racing. Just a fun, fun time!!!

Hiding out from the sun
underneath Salida

Caleb and Juan having fun!

Amazing how those supplies go down. Back to Bocas Town to provision again! ~~~_/)~~~

Back To Red Frog

2011-04-08T16:36:00.000-05:00

Provisioned in Bocas Town and off to Red Frog. I'm still trying to get a good track between Red Frog and Bocas. I hate seeing 17' of water under the keel. Yes, isn't that too funny since we ended up anchoring in 10' of water -- Dennis' kind of anchorage. When you have a manual windlass, shallow anchorages mean less chain out, which means less work for Dennis hauling it up. It's wonderful -- no jellyfish in the anchorage so we can swim from the boat :)

Heading up the hill

Lunch at Kayukos

We're over here because this weekend is the Bastimentos Boat Races, and it's a short dinghy ride away from Bastimentos Town. Also, there's the walking, swimming and meals at Kayukos, the restaurant at Bocas Bound, the hostel. The beach is wonderful here, and we did a lot of hiking and body surfing.

Saw a lot of people on the rented boogie boards and ended up buying 2 when we went back to Bocas Town. Can't wait to try them out!!

The trail to Kayukos

Next post, the races ~~~_/)~~~

Didn't Mean To Go Back To Starfish

2011-04-07T13:18:00.000-05:00

Time to leave, need to swim. Picked up the anchor once the sun came out (amazing how you can see the reefs when the sun is out!!), made it safely through he reef and the cut, promptly turned to port to hopefully anchor at Agama Cay. I don't care where we go, as long as we move when I'm bored. Dennis pours over the guide books and charts, plotting our courses and entering waypoints. Can't swim at Rana Azul, so he decided that Agama Cay, just off the mainland, looked like a good place to be.

Doing some walking
Looking over towards Starfish

Unfortunately, it looks much, much better in the guidebook than it does when you're there. Where they showed anchoring in 15-20' of water, I was still seeing 55'. To get to shallow water meant tucking in between the mainland and a mangrove island. Hmmm, that means lots of no-see-ums! Plus, the water didn't really look nice enough to swim in. So, main back up again and out we go, back to Starfish Beach. Had a really good sail going, passing Isla Shepherd and past Snapper Point into Bahia Almirante. Finally ran out of wind and water, so started the motor up again and anchored at Starfish late afternoon.

Al and Joan from Break 'N Run

Seriously considered heading into the anchorage at Bocas to get a treatment from Jules on Ocean Mandalay, a chiropractor. Not sleeping, can hardly move, agony! I said to head to Starfish, hoping walking and swimming will help. No, it's not, so after a couple of days we head back to the Bocas Marina anchorage for a couple of reasons ... Break 'N Run have arrived and are leaving again soon to head to Providencia and ports north, and I really need to see a chiropractor.

Another fun Friday night with Sea Cycle, Darramy and Break 'N Run. catching up on what they've been doing and wishing them fond farewell. And, enough red wine does dull the pain!

An appointment on Ocean Mandalay Saturday morning, woo hoo! Jules spent about half an hour massaging and adjusting my back. I feel like a new person. As she said, it will take a couple of days for all those tense muscles to relax, and she's right. Soreness for a few days, but I can finally sleep. I love chiropractors!!!!:)

We'll hang around for a couple of days, pick up fruit, veg and bread (yes, that is what our life consists of), and then head to Red Frog for some more beach time. ~~~_/)~~~

Visiting Anchorages :)

2011-04-06T18:02:00.000-05:00

I love being out at anchor again. Left Starfish Beach mid-day for that 2 hour motorsail back to the anchorage outside of Bocas Marina. Dropped the hook, had a swim, shower and relaxed. Called Sea Cycle to see if there was anything they needed as we were heading down their way to Rana Azul Friday afternoon. Zipped into town in the early morning, dropped off garbage, picked up some provisions, picked up anchor and on our way. Had a great sail, with all three sails up ... for about 10 minutes. Wind shifted and then died, so motored with the main up. Made sure we gave the markers at Isla Cristobal a wide berth, and then headed down Bahia de Almirante towards Palos Lagoon, in what's called the Dark Lands in Tierra Oscura. Started out a beautiful day, and then we watched the clouds and rain squalls rolling in. Great, right when we have to go through shallow water and a narrow cut. Visibility wasn't great, but luckily it rained behind us and in front of us.

Deb on Sea Cycle had emailed us some waypoints to get inside the reef at Rana Azul. Do you know that the difference between the waypoints she sent me of 09.070N and 09.090N, and the way points that Dennis entered in the chartplotter of 09.700N and 09.900N, are the difference of making it through the reef or almost going aground!!! Like I said, the clouds had come in, so you couldn't read the water. Dennis was on the bow as I was following the waypoints. Luckily, Mark and Deb were in their cockpit and wondered where the heck we were going, so Mark hopped in the dinghy to guide us in ... just as I saw 11', 7' 6' ... 3.9'??? We draw 6', but the bow is cut out in the front, thankfully, so that when I immediately put it in reverse, we, amazingly, didn't touch bottom. Mark guided us in in the dinghy with his portable depth sounder. We went over to visit later and Deb showed me her chart plotter, the waypoints, and her notes. Didn't look the same as mine. That's when I went back and checked Dennis' entries (yes, I guess I should do that every time!) and found out that he had made that 'little' error. Oh well, safe and sound, I guess that's all that counts.

Captain Ron, BEN 13, in the white tshirt,
Ernie, the self-appointed mayor of
Tiera Oscuro, and land based people
having fun!

Had a wonderful dinner ashore at Rana Azul, run by Josef and Maria from Austria. Josef greets you at the dinghy dock as Maria stands by the restaurant in her chef's outfit to welcome you. Good home cooking, absolutely amazing and great prices. Finally got to meet Captain Ron, BEN 13, who does the local weekend net. As someone said to me, we don't have TV or radio, so the morning net is our little bit of entertainment. Local weather, news, community announcements, boat tips, trivia. It's fun!

Josef with Manhing and his cousin

To explain the BEN thing ... it's the Bocas Emergency Net. For the most part they're ex-cruisers, but just a lot of ex-pats as well. Captain Ron has supplied all of these land based people with antennas and VHF radios, which they leave on 24 hours a day, to be available in the case of an emergency. There's doctors, nurses, mechanics, people with fast boats ... but they're all there, waiting to help in any way they can. This is a fantastic community!

Peace and quiet and getting boat chores done. The good thing is, free internet. The bad thing is, can't swim, way too many jellyfish. The big, ugly kind as well.

The wood in the cockpit needs some serious work. All the rain we've had in the last 2 months has made everything black with mold no matter how much I clean. I'm now sanding everything down and going back to Cetol. A lot of work. Did real well on all the handrails and the eyebrow on deck, then rinsing everything down ... until that last bucket of water. Bucket up, back out :( Agony!!!! Worked through it the next day. Need to head back to Bocas Town to visit Jules on Ocean Mandalay, a chiropractor!

Always a fun time at Rana Azul

Headed in to Rana Azul again on Sunday afternoon for their clay oven baked pizza. There was a crowd over from Red Frog Marina, and had a short visit with George and Pixie on Silver Sea. Hmmm, pain medication and red wine ... this might be working! ~~~_/)~~~

Starfish Beach

2011-03-25T20:27:00.001-05:00

We enjoyed five wonderful days at Starfish Beach, swimming, snorkelling, walking the beach and, best of all, watching the tourists. All those white people turning red before our eyes! Decided to go for a beach walk the day after Sea Cycle left.

A little mis-communication between us. I thought we were going for a short beach walk ... Dennis decided we were going to go for a hike but didn't let me know till we were off the boat and walking along. When we leave the boat, I always close everything up. Top hatches closed and ports all closed. My theory is that it cools down quicker than it dries out. Well ... I'm right on that. Dennis thought we should leave everything open because there wasn't a rain cloud in sight. I asked him to at least close the top hatches. So, on we go, enjoying our walk down the beach ... get to the restaurant, and he decides we're going to see if we can get to the tip of the island and see Swan Island. Wouldn't you know it, there's rain clouds out there. A private road, so we couldn't continue. Turned back and it started to sprinkle ... then it started to rain ... then it started to pour! EEEEK!

So, we power walked back to the dinghy, got back to the boat and yes, there was water everywhere. The rain came mostly in the port side, of course. If it had come in the starboard side, it wouldn't have been as bad. The bed was soaked, the setee, the cushions that hold the blankets -- the quarter berth was the worst. Clothes lines strung below with fans going and the sun finally came out enough to dry out the clothes on deck. I still can't believe we did that and somehow it was my fault?!

Back off to the Bocas anchorage to pick up some fruit, veg and bread and then on to Rana Azul ~~_/)~~

Free At Last!

2011-03-23T22:32:00.001-05:00

Doesn't he look like he's having fun?

Yes!, the part finally arrived. Jeff pulled up in his panga wishing us a Merry Xmas. Yes, I know it's 3 months too late! He was too busy to put it in, so Dennis got to hang over the motor, put in the prop flange coupling and then crawl into the bilge to align the motor. Looks like we're ready to go. Spent Friday provisioning in town, and then it was Carnival night at the Cantina. Lots of fun again.

Some of my favorite Cantina guys

Saturday morning, cast off those dock lines and headed up to Starfish Beach. Ahhhhh, peace and quiet. Well, at least during the hours from 5 at night till 9 in the morning. Sea Cycle arrived from Rana Azul with Josh and Ivanka, their friends' son and girlfriend who were spending the week. Deb invited us for dinner, so we brought a pork tenderloin and cheesecake tarts. As usual, had a wonderful night aboard Sea Cycle.

Starfish is great for beach walking and swimming. The next day there was a catamaran that pulled in, dropped anchor in 25 feet, putting out 30 feet of anchor rode. Let's see, 10 feet of chain, the rest rope ... AND NO SCOPE! In the middle of lunch they were dragging down on Sea Cycle, who had no dinghy to fend them off, since Josh and Ivanka were ashore. We headed over, along with Gecko. Dennis pulled up the anchor, and that's when we discovered the 10 feet of chain with no scope. He hopped on board, with the 2 guys they had left on board who had no idea what they were doing, and managed to re-anchor. Life is never dull!

Pixie and George from Silver Sea

Back to Bocas and then down to Rana Azul! ~~~_/)~

Ah, Darion, where do
you get all these costumes :)

Girls Afternoon

2011-03-13T17:02:00.001-05:00

Deb, Nicole, Allayne and Lynn

It's almost time for Nicole, Mark and Deb's daughter (Sea Cycle) to head back to cold, snowy Toronto, so Deb called and asked if I'd like to join them for a girls afternoon -- lunch and wandering around town. Don't have to ask me twice! Lynn and Randy from High States were over having lunch at the Calypso Cantina, so Mark and Dennis joined Randy, Lynn finished her lunch and joined us for drinks. We stopped off for lunch at Buena Vista for a great Greek wrap and a wander around town without complaints.

Andy on bongos and
Patrick on guitar

The next night was another Friday night at the Cantina, with a possible Jimmy Buffett sighting. Guess he was in town, but too tired to 'be Jimmy Buffett'. Guitar and bongos by Patrick and Andy and then Dyllan's iPod was the music for the rest of the night. Another fun night of drinking and dancing :) I did spot Buffett the next day across the dock, returning from surfing with the marina owner and manager.

Lindsay singing

Saturday night we took a water taxi into Bocas Town with Mark and Deb to see the Talent Show at Toro Loco. Well, we'd already seen Ray juggle, Sara do the fire dancing and heard Lindsay sing ... that was the top talent! Just a bunch of drunk ex-pats being obnoxious. Think I'll stay out of town at night. Oh, and these aren't kids!

On Sunday, I spent the afternoon getting my enchilada casserole together, making coleslaw and salsa -- Mark, Deb and Nicole are joining us for dinner. Unfortunately, it rained pretty well all day, so we were forced to eat below. The good thing is, we're in the marina and can run all the lights and fans! Another fun night and they headed back to the boat in between rain showers.

Rumour has it our part might be in soon :)

Still Hanging Out _/)

2011-02-28T15:56:00.001-06:00

While we're still hanging out in the marina, getting progressively lazier, Tamar from Xanadu stopped by for the photos of our afternoon at the Thai restaurant and chocolate place. I downloaded them on to her memory stick and walked up to the Calypso Cantina to deliver them. We sat and talked to Paul while she was busy researching waterproof cameras to have brought down by their company in a couple of weeks. That's the reason she needed our photos, is that her little camera was slowly dying, and having a camera brought down by company was a great opportunity to replace it.

A Piece of Eight

As we were visiting, an older gentleman wandered up looking for Jeff from Homeward Bound. Dennis went off to find Jeff, and then we had a wonderful visit with Retired Captain Giacomo Amoroso, who was a divemaster on Mel Fisher's expedition salvaging the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha. Dennis, being a retired police diver, was absolutely fascinated, and spent a couple of hours listening to stories. The treasure from the Atocha was estimated at over 400 million dollars, and John (as the Retired Captain is known in English) was lucky enough to be there when they hit the motherlode. Absolutely fascinating! He's now one of the ex-pats living in Bocas Town. Here we have Dennis holding John's Piece of Eight that all of the divers got, and then John wearing his.

Retired Captain Giacomo Amoroso

This is what I love about the cruising life. We'd never meet all of these interesting people without being out here! ~~~_/)~~~

Still Finding Fun Things To Do

2011-02-23T16:53:00.001-06:00

Janette, Allayne Tamar and Dana

The view from the Thai restaurant

Tamar on Xanadu came up to the boat last week and asked if I'd be interested in a girls afternoon. Oh, let me think about this! Five of us hopped into a water taxi and headed over to Bastimentos for the walk up to the Thai restaurant for lunch. Mmmmm, wonderful! Kim on Kailani had to head back with her friend, so Tamar, Dana (Vida Libre) and I walked up the hill some more to the Chocolate Factory. The last time we did this walk it was raining ... what a difference and such an easy walk! I got the history from Tamar, but didn't write it down right away ... there goes the memory. Anyway, Janette (from Aberdeen) and her South American husband opened up this quaint little place, harvesting the coco beans from their acreage and making delicious coffees and chocolates, jewellery and all kinds of neat stuff. Oh, and a couple of adorable little boys in there too! Had some interesting cold tea. Something about some creature growing and doing stuff that made this tea great. Fortunately, found out it was a mushroom like creature instead of an alien! Interesting :)

Kirkley, Marina Manager
at Red Frog -- and her
new little bundle

We were supposed to be picked up on Friday by Sea Cycle for a sail over to Red Frog. Mark called on the phone -- poor Deb was really sick. Mark and Nicole decided they wouldn't go because they didn't want to be known as the plague ship! Lynn and Randy on High States had told us we were more than welcome to stay with them overnight if we didn't want to dinghy back in the dark. Packed the two backpacks just in case. We took the dinghy over, since it's only a 10-15 minute ride in good seas (which it was), dropped the backpacks off on High States and went into Red Frog to check in and receive our wristbands. They're having a big party this weekend called the Red Frog Marina Expansion Party. They've added 40 new slips, there's villas being built and in one of the villas there's a spa with yoga, massages and an infinity pool. Oh, and free food and drink -- those magic words to a cruiser. There was a full moon, so we were pretty sure we were going to head back in the dark, but Lynn had made up the quarter berth and had drinking water and glasses out for us, so we decided we'd stay. What great hospitality, how could we refuse? Had a wonderful night socializing, and meeting up again with Frankie and Terry on Second Wind that we hadn't seen since our first trip to Curacao. We stayed around long enough to win a hat and t-shirt, and then went back to High States.

Randy, George, Lynn and Pixie
High States and Silver Sea

Wow, their quarter berth is bigger than what we sleep in, so had a great sleep and stretched out. Lynn fed us a great breakfast of pancakes, bacon and melon ... and for me, lots of great coffee. Headed back to the boat for a lazy day. How can we be so tired doing nothing???? ~~~_/)~~~

Fun Things To Do

2011-02-20T15:32:00.004-06:00

While we sit here, waiting for parts, we are finding fun things to do and getting some work done on the boat. I finally got the quarter berth cleaned out, washed down with vinegar and put some more teak sealer on. Hard to get done while the guys are working on the motor and have the steps off and stuff all over the place.

In the meantime, there was a swap meet on Saturday night at the Calypso Cantina, and then a Valentine's Brunch on Sunday (the Cantina is closed Monday's). Dennis sold some fishing lures that he hasn't used and six of his homemade ones, which we've had the most success with in catching wahoo. He gave them a harbour warranty ... once you leave the harbour, the warranty is over!

Valentine's Day brunch was a great get-together with Bloody Mary's and Eggs Benedict. The unfortunate thing was that the rain was like a monsoon. Lots of wind and a ton of rain. There ended up being about 20-25 people that couldn't make it, but we all still had fun. Darion was Cupid, shooting arrows ... he was amazing!!!!

Hmmm ... would love to take these two home with me :)

Deb and Brian from Uhane

Captain Paul from Xanadu with Darion ...
I mean Cupid

Our Valentine's Cupid!

Mark and Deb's daughter, Nicole, flew in from Toronto, so we spent happy hour with them on Tuesday night. They're showing her all the different anchorages and they think she's enjoying herself. I'm pretty sure she is... let's see, warm weather and no work! Wish we were travelling with them! We met them in town on Wednesday picking up last minute goodies, while we were lucky enough to do the paperwork and get our Maritime Visa, extending our time another six months without having to leave the country. It's something you can only get in Colon and Bocas (not the San Blas for some reason), and you can renew it 3 times, giving you basically 2 years in Panama without having to leave. Works for us!

Nicole, Mark and Deb

We're hoping to sail to Red Frog with Sea Cycle on Friday. Red Frog Marina is having a Marina Expansion Party with free food, drinks and lots of goodies. We'll take the dinghy, meet up with them, and then dinghy back at night. Looking forward to a fun time! ~~~_/)~~~

Still Waiting On Parts

2011-02-20T14:55:00.001-06:00

Here we are, mid-February, still in the marina. Frustration upon frustration. Re-welded the broken engine mount, replaced the broken motor mount, and spent four days and many hours removing the bent prop shaft flange. It just wouldn't come off after Dennis spent two days hanging over the motor trying to remove the set screws, so he admitted defeat and called in the mechanic. Jeff is shorter than Dennis, so he can fit down in the bilge a little easier, but even he was complaining about how tight it was.

Jeff's working hard and he also elects to
come out over the top of the engine!

Unfortunately, Jeff is the only mechanic and extremely busy, so we spend a lot of time waiting for him to show up. The first day everyone was set to go and Isla Colon lost power, so there went any hope of using that angle grinder. Then it was Sunday, Valentine's Day, and we had torrential downpours all day long, so he couldn't work then. Monday, over to finish with the angle grinder. No luck. Screws out but it seemed to be rusted on to the shaft. Jeff left and Dennis lubed everything up, let it sit for 24 hours, and they worked at it again Tuesday. Finally, after using the saws-all and setting the towel on fire (thankfully, I was up at the Calypso Cantina visiting with Mark on Sea Cycle), the flange came off. Jeff put the order in Tuesday for a new flange, but Marine Warehouse's idea of ASAP and mine are two totally separate things. As of Saturday it still wasn't on my Visa bill :(

All squished in!

So, here we sit, finding things to do while stuck

in the marina with no motor. ~~~_/)~~~

Trying to get the flange off!

Dennis, with his claustraphobia getting worse, just could not have gotten into the spaces that Jeff did. Money well spent!!!!

It's a Small World

2011-02-13T15:02:00.000-06:00

Well, we're still here in Bocas Marina, waiting for parts and new problems to pop up all the time. This wasn't the way I wanted to see the Bocas. But, while we're here, we're trying to make the best of it. One day we rented bikes (haven't been on bikes in probably 10 years) and rode over to Starfish Beach. Well, that was one hell of a ride. Two solid hours later, up and down many hills, (walking the bikes up some of the bigger ones) we arrived up at the Bocas del Drago Channel. Locked up the bikes and decided to walk down the beach a bit. I really hadn't planned on walking far, but there was a young Indian girl carrying 2 large bags of ice ... she'd walk a bit, set them down, look around, walk a bit, set them down, look around. We finally caught up to her and Dennis took the one bag from her. Through the sand, around one corner, through the water, another corner ... he finally took the second bag from her and she carried his sandals. We kept looking for Sea Cycle, because they were supposed to be anchored up here, but didn't see them. A mile later we got over to Starfish Beach where this young girl's family had a beverage stand set up, and there was Sea Cycle. Great phone service, so I called Deb and told her they could run, but they couldn't hide! Mark put the dinghy in the water and we went over to visit. Deb fed us lunch, we caught up and chatted away for awhile, and then, thankfully, Mark drove us in the dinghy down to the bikes, so cut a mile off our return trip.

Sea Cycle at anchor at Starfish Beach

My hope had been to catch a taxi back to town and ride the last mile. Most the taxis here are small pickup trucks. Seems they were all loaded ... actually made it back in an hour and a half. There was one amazing tree with feeler branches down to the ground from about 50 feet up. No photos because it was at the bottom of the hill and neither one of us were willing to get off the bike at the bottom of this large hill. Finally made it back ... let me tell you, that last mile was the worst ... then a mile walk to pick up the shuttle back to the marina. Needless to say, the next day we did absolutely nothing.

Travis with his Detroit Tigers hat and Dennis with
his Detroit Red Wings !

The good weather has continued, so a few days later we decided to take the dinghy on the 15 minute ride over to Red Frog and hit the beach. No sooner did we get to the beach than the skies opened up, so we headed over to the Punta Lava for a lemonade and waited for the rain to stop. Dennis went swimming in the surf, but the waves were a little too large and breaking for me to feel comfortable with, so I sat and read. We were walking down the beach on the way back to the marina when we heard someone calling from behind us. Dennis had his Detroit Red Wings hat on, and Travis had seen it. Travis and Wilson were from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter that had been anchored in the bay for the last week. So, we met Travis Thompson, originally from Port Huron, whose home is now in St. Clair Shores, right in our neighborhood. He's stationed in Maine, with two months out to sea at a time, and shore leave to visit his wife and family in Michigan for short periods. We've shared a couple of emails back and forth, so that's just really neat for us. It's a small world!! ~~~/_)~~~

Red Frog Benefit

2011-02-03T14:47:00.000-06:00

Someone, somewhere, was looking down and granted everyone the perfect day for this benefit. For us, Brian picked us up at 10:15 and we motored with he and Sue on Darramy down to the anchorage off of Red Frog Marina. Sue made sandwiches, I had a cooler with some cold drinks and snacks and we headed over to the beach with Matt and Jean from Superted. Felt good to get in the water again.

Dennis actually caught a King Mackeral on the way over. We've been giving them away, but after seeing what the meat looks like when Brian was filleting it, he's decided we'll keep the next one to try.

When we came ashore, Pixie from Silver Sea said she'd love it if I helped out. We headed over to the beach for a couple of hours, back to shower, and then I helped out by being one of the servers. Everyone at Red Frog worked so, so hard. What happened was that a 9 year old was playing with matches and his home caught on fire (these homes are made out of logs and palm leaves), and with the wind, another four homes burned to the ground. There's five familes displaced, with between 30-40 infants, children and adults involved. Alkahest was the biggest donor. He charged $100 to go up the mast, do a rig inspection, clean the mast and rigging, with all proceeds going towards the benefit.

The village that burned down was right next to Red Frog Marina, which is one of the reasons they were so involved. I can't believe the work everyone from there put in. Steve and Patrick on guitar and vocals, with Andy on the bongos, put on a wonderful afternoon of music. Gary from Sea Feather smoked all the fish, and it was so, so good. A great showing and a wonderful afternoon. Missed the first water taxi back (Brian was getting a little worried that we'd be spending the night), but Pixie called the driver and he came back and picked the rest of us up that were in Bocas Marina.

This is my second attempt at this blog, once I realized that my movie hadn't turned out. That's Ray from Aventura juggling first with fire sticks; then eating an apple while juggling fire sticks; and then with the bowling balls. What talent. He told Dennis he was a street performer in San Francisco, and he sure put on a great show. The other photos are myself, Amy and Lili serving, and then Craig and George serving bar, along with their helper Juan. And, of course, the great band! ~~~_/)~~~

Bocas Marina

2011-01-29T20:58:00.000-06:00

Deb, Brenda and John

Me and my friend!

Well, we did end up at the Calypso Cantina for Friday night ribs, having a great time with Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle and John and Brenda on Willow. In fact, had so much fun, we repeated the night the next week, still with Mark and Deb, and joined by Brian and Sue on Darramy and Matt and Jean on SuperTed. The first week was entertainment by two young guys called White Chocolate (reminded me of my late teens at the DH on a Friday night), and the second week was music again, along with a young girl doing martial arts with swords and Dyllan and Darion with their fire dancing. What a crowd. It really is a great place to hang out ... even with the no-see-ums!

We got the engine mount back and the weld is redone and reinforced. Hopefully this time it will hold. Unfortunately, when we were putting that back together, we discovered that the front starboard motor mount bolt was broken, eight months old. Really? This is getting to be really, really frustrating and depressing. Oh, and then the bolt going into the engine block was stripped. Isn't that special? Can't hardly see it, need to fix it. Had to put a heli-coil in. When Jeff, the mechanic, came over to put the heli-coil in, Dennis told him not to put any tools where they would drop into the bilge. He did .... they did. He spent an hour on the boat, Dennis spent eight hours before he was finally successful in getting his heli-coil installation tool out of the bilge. It was black, not metal, and didn't float. Oh what fun! It seems every time we have someone work on the boat, Dennis spends more time fishing stuff out of the bilge than they spend on the boat. Last time was in Antigua when it was a cell phone dropped.

Jean, Allayne, Sue and Deb

Dennis, Mark, Matt and Brian

In between all this work, we have had some fun times. Darramy called and said we all needed to get together for a happy hour in town. Met up at the Bocas Hotel for happy hour and dinner with Brian and Sue, Mark and Deb and Matt and Jean. Another really fun night. It is a challenge getting back to the marina from Bocas Town in the dark, even with our lights. Dennis decided he needed a break, so went out fishing for a couple of hours the next day. Lost his lure and no fish in sight, but Deb on Sea Cycle came over and we had a great girls afternoon.

Bocas Town looking right

Bocas Town looking left

We're stuck in the marina, but we're not shovelling snow! Mark and Deb went up island to Starfish Beach, SuperTed went around the island fishing before heading over to Red Frog, and Darramy are taking us sailing with them Sunday for the benefit over at Red Frog Marina. There's a shuttle back to the marina at 5:45, so it should be a fun day. Unfortunately, one of the young boys was playing with matches and burned five homes down, so there's a fundraiser over at Red Frog where the fire was. That will be the next blog. ~~~_/)~~~

Again???

2011-01-27T15:13:00.003-06:00

So, we motored/sailed all the way into Bocas Town and there just seems to be more vibration that usual with the motor. Something isn't right. Dennis spent a sleepless night, and then was up first thing Wednesday morning emptying the lazarette, pulling the stairs off and drilling holes to be able to see things clearly. Four hours later ... the engine mount we had had welded in Colon has broken. This is so not good! We now need to pull into Bocas Marina because we'll need power if we can't run the motor, which has to be hoisted up partway.

The good news is, Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle are going to be here in a day or two. We're excited to see the both of them again. We took the dinghy into town and then over to Bocas Marina to arrange a slip. Wow, what a difference from Shelter Bay. They're friendly, helpful, offer information. Chuck even walked us down the dock to see which slip we'd prefer, and then to the end of the dock to show us the best way to come into the marina. Okay, this staff needs to head down to Shelter Bay and give them lessons on how to treat people! Anyway, walking back to the dinghy we saw Mark and Deb sailing in. Said hi, let them anchor, we'll catch up later.

That night we met Mark and Deb at the Calypso Cantina for Happy Hour. (Paul from Winpipe, it's a Lats and Atts approved hang-out!) Had a great time catching up and stayed for dinner. We've tried different restaurants while we've been here but I have to say, Dyllan does an amazing job. The chicken lasagna was to die for!!!! Check out the Calypso Cantina on Facebook.

Dyllan taking a break

Anchor up, headed into the marina around 9 a.m. I let Dennis take the helm for the shallow spots (although, we didn't see less than 10 feet). Three or four people from the marina helping us get in was nice. Unfortunately, the marina is in the middle of mangroves and I am being eaten alive!! We have coils burning outside and fans running everywhere down below hoping that the no-see-ums can't find us ... they're finding me just fine!!! Help, they're everywhere!!

I met up with Mark and Deb after we had everything settled in the marina and showed them around Bocas Town. Mark thought Deb and I had time to go shopping while he turned in his papers to the Port Captain. When I told him we'd wait, he was surprised when he was out a minute later. We wandered around town (he said he needs to send us ahead to scope things out and then let him know!) and then had lunch at the Riptide Restaraunt. It's amazing the things you can pick up here, and the prices aren't bad. From memory, less than US prices. While walking around town, all Mark could say is, "Now I know why people stay here". Luckily, Dennis went to the Calypso Cantina for the 'best burgers in Bocas', so I didn't have to cook dinner that night. That is the nice treat about being here - a meal out if you want.

Working away, and you can get out this
way if you wan!

When we were out at the anchorage, we were right beside John and Brenda on Willow, who we haven't seen in a few years. Chatted with them, and we're all going to meet up at the Calypso Cantina for ribs on Friday night.

The engine mount is off and on to Jeff on Homeward Bound, who is going to take it into the welding shop in town. Sitting here, spinning our wheels, not able to do anything, waiting for parts! Frustrating. My husband is spending his time on the internet looking up sites to sell a Bayfield 36! :( ~~~_/)~~~

Anchor up!

2011-01-22T21:33:00.001-06:00

This was my fun for the day!

Sunlight, finally, and we're on the way to the Jackanally Cays. Okay, who talked me into this? Of course, as soon as we picked up the anchor, the clouds rolled over -- reefs everywhere!! Dennis on the bow directing where to go (yeah, but it's still going to be my fault if we hit anything!), while I watch the chartplotter, the depth sounder and the water. Don't know how good this photo of the chart will turn out, but all those light blue areas are really shallow water. We didn't see any less than 20' all the way in, but I was an absolute basket case by the time we dropped anchor. Why? I don't know! Brian from Darramy called as we were making our way through the reefs and had a chuckle at how stressed I was. Glad I can amuse some people.

Anchored in good holding, on the outside of the mangroves, hopefully away from all the bugs. Brian and Sue from Darramy were on their way back to the boat after visiting a French Canadian couple who have built a small house on the close island. Did a short snorkel with Brian, enjoying getting in the water again. Unfortunately, just as we were ready to head off to visit them, the sky turned black, the clouds rolled in and the rain came in sheets.

Off for our village hike

Exploring in the river

Not quite sure what's up -- Dennis isn't feeling well, with a headache and sore back -- so while he napped 2 hours after getting up I re-organized the canned goods. Felt better the next day and went dinghy exploring with Brian and Sue up the Salt River. Were surprised when we explored a couple of little cut-offs, and then one led to a village of 500 people! The sign said they were funded by the US (of course), and like Bluefields, there were nice homes, sidewalks, a school and stores. There was also a sort of tourist center that did tours and hikes. They stopped us to show us everything and how much different things would cost ... we were exploring, no one had any money! They allowed us to walk around on our own when we explained we were just taking a short walk and had no money. Met a young man from the Peace Corps from Pennsylvannia. He's been here 18 months as a volunteer teaching English to the kids and, now that they're out of school, the adults. In this little place there's actually 500 people, and 250-300 of those are kids.

Heading through the mangroves

Woke up the next morning and we're both sick! I hate this. Headaches and all achy. I need to look up the symptoms for malaria and denge fever! The weather is horrible, raining all the time, so we're spending a lot of time sleeping off our sickness. Seems to be one day of sun for 3 days of rain. GET ME OFF THIS BOAT!!! I just want phone service and civilization again. Took the dinghy over to the tienda (little store) at the Crawl Cay area - bread but no fruits or veggies. Time to pick those up.

Finally, Tuesday, the 18th, there was sun again. Instead of snorkelling, we picked up anchor, headed out of the reefs, through the cut by the Zapatillo Cays, out in the big water to do some fishing before we drop anchor by Bocas Town to re-provision. Good fishing. First caught a king mackeral, which we don't like so let go. Then, something really big hit the Cuban yoyo, took the line out, dead pull on 200 lb test, then broke the 100 lb leader. Hmmm, would have loved to see what that was! Finally, another hit. Caught a small blackfin tuna, amazingly on a surface plug, enough for one meal, but we're happy!

Motor is acting funny, have to check that out. Pulled into the anchorage off of Bocas Marina, anchoring in what feels like a parking lot. Clunk, clunk, drag, drag ... ooooh, hope that's a hook! 10' water - Dennis should be happy!

~~~/_)~~~

Happy New Year!

2011-01-19T21:16:00.000-06:00

Well, can't believe it's actually 2011. Where are these years going???? We spent a quiet New Year's Eve, dealing with the rain yet again. Panache came on the VHF radio early in the evening and reminded everyone that using UTC (Universal time, the old GMT), New Year's Eve was actually at 7 p.m. local time. Woo hoo, early to bed!! There was a group from the marina headed over to the beach to ring in the New Year, but we just didn't think we'd make it up that late. Plus, we're out at anchorage and they're tied to a dock.

Up at a decent hour on New Year's Day, did a few boat chores (they are never ending) and then headed over to the beach. Ended up skipping the 'Black Eyed Peas' happy hour - it's a southern thing -- because we were late back from the beach and showering. We've been enjoying our time achored off of Red Frog, walking (no more 'hikes from hell') and joining Lynn and Randy up at Bocas Bound, Jungle Lodge and Hostel (http://www.bocasbound.com/staying-with-us/why-choose-us/welcome) for lunch, drinks, or both! The food is amazing for a reasonable price. Beautiful homes and condos on the island for sale and rent. Check out the different links with Bocas Bound.

A beautiful sunset at Red Frog

Well, it's finally time to pull ourselves away from the anchorage at Red Frog, with all the amenities and wifi, and 'get out there' again. We decided not to do The Gap, even though we finally had good light. There's lots of shoals, reefs and shallow spots around here. I needed a good track to leave Red Frog and go over to the Bocas Town area, so out we went, travelling down the south side of Nancy Cay, down to Johnson Cay. Pulled in late afternoon and, guess what, it started raining again. This is getting really, really old. The first day was good, since we had sunlight to navigate the reefs. On day 2, the wind changed to the southwest and, once again, we were not in a good anchorage. Dennis wanted to give it till 2 p.m. ... at noon, I decided it was time to move. Motored around the reefs to the back side of the island and life was good once more. Wind with no waves. Unfortunately, it was another corally anchorage. Not sure on how good we're actually hooked and get to listen to the chain grind away. The rain has been coming in waves, so we haven't been able to get off and explore. However, we saw the most amazing double rainbow. Check out the photos!

The middle ... and for some reason I can't download the other part
... you can't see the end of the rainbow?

Talked to Darramy, and when the weather clears we'll head over to the Jackanally Cays. Hopefully better weather and good snorkelling!

Hike from Hell!!

2010-12-31T19:20:00.002-06:00

Can you see the mud?

Okay, I have to remember, time and time again, hikes with Dennis can be really, really bad!! He decided we needed to be off the boat, let's hike from Red Frog Beach to Wizard Beach. Tried it last week, with flip flops on, and that wasn't really a good thing. Mud everywhere. Okay, now we're ready -- Dennis with his Tevas and me with my Keans. Started off nice and sunny ... then the rain started again. Got to the beach and the tide was amazingly high. Hmmm, this should be interesting. Off we go, striding away on new paths. Well, the one path we had been down before, enjoying, taking pictures of sloths, seeing a monkey and, wow, a calabash tree... little bit different. Ants all over the path, and as fast as we walked, they were on our sandals and biting. Running down the path to the water to get rid of them! The walk over to Wizard Beach was pretty bad. We didn't have walking sticks and it was really, really muddy. Lost my shoes a couple of times in the mud, and Dennis even had to go back to retrieve one.

Yeah, and Dennis thinks this looks like fun!

Wizard Beach is beautiful, but really no different, as far as I was concerned, than Red Frog. I was determined that I was not going back the way I came ... we were going to go over the hill to Bastimentos Town, which had to be easier. NOT!!! While the horrible mud hike over to Wizard was about a half hour, the walk to Bastimentos Town was almost 2 hours, at times pretty well crawling through the mud on hands and knees. Yep, got to give it to my husband, he knows how to show a girl a good time!!!

DW cleaning off his sandals again

Finally got down to Bastimentos Town, hoping to catch a launch to Red Frog. The one taxi boat there said he'd gladly take us to Red Frog ... then once we got underway said he had to go over to Bocas Town first to drop off the other 2 passengers, then to pick up some gas, then to Red Frog. So ... 45 minutes later, freezing cold and wet, we were finally at the dinghy. Yes, it rained all day ... so the good thing was that our water tanks were full and we got to take a hot shower!

Red wine and comfy clothes are sounding real good!!!

Bocas del Toro

2010-12-31T10:43:00.001-06:00

Woke up Sunday morning, December 12th, and decided that this was the best the weather was going to be, so we put up the sails for the 25 miles over to Bocas Town. The wind died again, so we motorsailed most of the 5 hour trip. There were some pretty big swells coming into the channel and the sun was doing its disappearing act again, so we pulled around the reef and anchored off of Bastimentos Town. Lots of taxi boats going back and forth, but quiet at night. Once again, the winds and rain arrived and we were stuck on the boat for another 2 days. Tuesday morning we picked up anchor and headed the 4 miles over to Bocas Town, anchoring just outside of Bocas Marina in lots of coral.

Finally put the dinghy in the water and headed into town to check in with the Port Captain. Walked around Bocas Town -- what a wonderful, funky little town with hostels, hotels, restaurants, grocery stores and bakeries everywhere. Had lunch out and picked up some fresh produce before heading back to the boat. The anchor chain was pretty noisy, rubbing on the coral on the bottom, so Dennis decided we should try another spot. The biggest problem was that, once again, there was no sun, which made it difficult to see the reefs and shallow spots. Well, 3 times later (remember, we have a manual windlass) we ended up in the same spot with a very tired Dennis.

Time to change anchorages again since we finally have a bit of sun. Motored the 5 miles to anchor outside of Red Frog Marina. Finally, good holding and quiet. Lots of mangroves, but the bugs haven't been too bad. We did find a new product to use which works better than any of the OFF that we've used. It's called Bay Rum, and in Panama you can buy it in either liquid or gel. We have both, but I prefer the gel. Put the liquid in a spray bottle and that works great too. You smell like cloves, but it's certainly better than eau de OFF. It's the best stuff I've ever used, since I'm the one who gets bitten all the time.

Red Frog Beach

Allayne at the Red Frog Bar

We took the dinghy into the marina, saw George and Pixie on Silver Sea, who gave us all the local info. Walked over the hill to beautiful Red Frog Beach where there's some fantastic body surfing and a restaurant bar at the end of the beach. I like it here! Plus, you can pay the marina $35 a month, pick up their wifi, drop off garbage, get water and use their showers. Those showers are really nice to use after an afternoon of body surfing with sand everywhere! If you don't want to take the dinghy the 5 miles back to Bocas Town you can catch one of the boat taxis over for $4 each, one way, walk around, do some shopping, a nice lunch, and then back to the boat. We'll hang around here until the weather clears and then head over to some of the remote anchorages for snorkelling. For right now, at least we have the beach!

Lynn and Randy body sufing

Colon to Bocas del Toro

2010-12-28T20:19:00.000-06:00

We finally left the marina Friday, December 3rd, once again with the assistance of Randy from High States (Lynn was off shopping). Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle came to help, but Dennis was ready to leave and we were just pulling out of the slip and got to wave to them. Once again, Dennis did a great job of pulling out of the slip. Like I said in one of the last blogs, we were in a slip right next to the wall in 7 1/2 feet of water, (we draw almost 6 feet) and I was a little concerned about the rocks behind us. My hero pulls through again!

We've decided that since there's some pretty big swells still 'out there', we'd head the 6 miles east to Naranjo Abajo, wait for the seas to calm down a bit, and then get underway to the Bocas on Sunday. Yes, there were some pretty big swells outside the breakwater, but once we got down to Naranjo Abajo, we tucked in behind the island, anchored in 15 feet of water and put a stern anchor out. Ah, peace and quiet and no roll!

Happy anniverysary - 23 years - and we're headed up to the Bocas area. Guess there's no steak, lobster and champagne tonight! Left about 9 in the morning and started out with a pretty good sail, making 6 knots. Unfortunately, that didn't last a whole long time. Once we passed the Chagres we ran into brown water and a debris field that lasted probably 25 to 30 miles. With all the rain we've had, everything was floating out there. Mostly, whole trees! About 4 o'clock it was like a line in the sand, the debris was gone and we had blue water again. Thankfully, we won't have to worry about that overnight, since we've ended up on a moonless night. Didn't time that quite right. Actually had a pretty good night of motorsailing, with each of us taking 2 hour watches. The beanbag chair we brought back from Michigan (Kelly gave us Parker's old one, and he doesn't know we have it!) worked out great for the passage. We can stick it in the corner and get real comfy, listen to the IPOD, and stand up every song or two to look around. Absolutely nothing out there all night, which was kind of nice. Our planned anchorage was Escudo de Veraguas. The wind died and we had about 2 knots of current against us, so it was a slow passage. Just as we were getting close to the anchorage the skies opened up and the island disappeared. Slowed down, waited for the rain to stop and then pulled in. It's a great anchorage in north, northwest or northeast winds. The winds were supposed to be west/northwest, switching to north/northwest. We would be protected from the seas! Well, that certainly didn't happen. Started off west/northwest and then actually switched to the west, then to the southwest. Four foot seas at anchor were not fun, so our time was short there!!! The first night was good, the second unbearable, so we picked up anchor and headed over to Bluefield Lagoon. Anchored off of Playa Raya, since we'd been told that the anchorage at Punta Allegre would have many people visiting us. This whole area is inhabitated by the Ngobe Indians, who are obviously very big into farming. The anchorage was pretty rolly, so we put a bridle on, which Dennis adjusted many, many times. On the way into the anchorage we caught a King Mackeral, which we don't eat. Dennis tried to let it go and get his lure back, which didn't work, so we gaffed it, put it in the dinghy and gave it to the first canoe we saw.

Spent another few days on the boat, then the rain and wind stopped so we took a dinghy ride into Punta Avispa. Paid a dollar to get rid of garbage, take a walk around 'town', got a few photographs and some exercise.

Panama has experienced unbelievable rain. The Canal was actually closed for 17 hours due to flooding. We almost went and anchored in the Chagres and waited for the next weather window. Thankfully, we continued on. A boat coming down from the Bocas on the way to the San Blas decided to stop just inside the entrance to the Chagres. When they closed the Canal, they opened the floodgates, and Cielo was blown out of the anchorage and onto the beach, where they still are 2 weeks later. There were mudslides in Portabello and deaths. A Canadian man, with his Panamanian wife, her son, daughter-in-law and grandchild, were caught in one of the many mudslides and only the husband survived. Very, very sad.

After 4 days in Laguna de Bluefield, it's time to head up to the main area of Bocas Town and check in. Hopefully the weather will get better!!! ~~~_/)~~~

Pigs under the store and the local church.

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-25T20:21:00.009-06:00

Okay, I'll fill in our trip from Colon up to Bocas del Toro next, but we wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Xmas. Santa and Tinkerbell (Brian and Sue from Darramy) came up singing Christmas songs, and we had a great Christmas Eve aboard Audrey Paige with them, Lynn and Randy from High States and Ron and Paula from Dovekie.

Look at that, Santa likes the same wine that I do!!!

Christmas Eve aboard Audrey Paige

We have a great internet connection so I was able to talk briefly to my cousin Marion in Scotland, and then a great conversation with my other cousin, Adrian, in New Zealand. I love Skype!

The sun finally broke through on Christmas Day, so we took advantage and had a great beach walk. Dennis went in for some body surfing, but it was a little rough for me, so I stayed on shore and chatted to Sue from Darramy. We did see a couple of sloths, a monkey and a red frog while we were hiking, and picked up a couple of small calabash.

The sloth, great hiking and the red frog

Back for a late lunch and then over for Christmas dinner on High States. A great day and a wonderful evening!!!

Hope everyone had a happy holiday! We certainly did. ~~~_/)~~~

Boat Chores and Provisioning

2010-12-23T13:24:00.006-06:00

Can't believe that we've only been gone a couple of months and we're back here with chores and provisioning to do again. Hmmm ... might have been all that time we spent snorkelling in the San Blas doing very little on the boat. My friend Brigitte always told me that if you were going to spend the money on staying in a marina, then you really had to be productive to make it worthwhile. I hate that that's still in my head 8 years later!!!!

A successful docking (although I was a little worried since we were in the first slip that I've only seen catamarans in!) and the first people to greet us were Deb and Mark on Sea Cycle. So good to see them again. Then, Lynn and Randy on High States wandered over. Old home week! Bob and Sue on Sunrise were doing a dock walk and stopped by and invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner. We had met them this summer in the San Blas. For a change, the marina is full of returning Canadians and very few Americans. Shaun and his girls were having Thanksgiving dinner at Kelly's house, so we got to Skype them and see all those wonderful little faces. Wish the other two would download Skype so that we could see all the grandkids (yes, that means Tania and MA!)

Had an amazing dinner aboard Sunrise with Bob and Sue, Buddy and Lorraine (Black Dog), Lee (Serenity) and Steve (Better Days). Luckily those 35 Morgans are very spacious. Turkey, dressing, potatoes, cranberries, salad, appetizers and dessert (I made cherry cheesecake tarts). Everything was delicious and we had a great evening.

Bob carving the turkey
Dennis and Lee

Sue, Lorraine and Buddy

Spent a little longer in the marina than we wanted to because Roger wasn't available to run us around Panama City until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Took the bus into Panama City with Deb from Sea Cycle and had a very successful day of shopping at Abernathys, Price Smart and Riba Smith. The first is a marine/fishing store, Price Smart is a Costco type store, and Riba Smith a wonderful grocery store that stocks all kinds of US stuff. Since Deb and Dennis are the ones who do the fishing and the sewing, they did a lot of serious shopping and consulting while I just meandered. Hit a few hardware stores, material stores and others along the way before Roger dropped us off at the marina around 7:30 that night. It would have been sooner except for the fact that we were stuck for almost an hour waiting for the locks to clear before we could proceed across the bridge. Frustrating. And poor Roger had to not only turn around and drive that hour drive back to Panama City, he then returned first thing in the morning!

Spent Wednesday putting everything away and doing laundry, hoping to leave the marina Thursday morning. By the time we were ready to leave the wind had picked up and basically pinned us to the dock. We had planned on returning to the Rio Chagres, but Sunrise told us to be careful because, depending on the swell, the entrance could be dangerous. We hadn't thought of that since we were there in calm conditions last time. Decided to hike up to the fort, which marks the entrance to the Chagres, and check things out. After all, it was only 9 kilometres. Really, I think it was just 'a little' more than that. Luckily it was all paved road, and 2 hours later we were checking out the area. Saw a couple of tourist buses headed up and back, thinking, darn, missed a ride back down! Decided that while the anchorage looked good, there were some pretty big swells and, with reefs and sandbars all over the entrance, it wasn't going to happen. Saw a couple of buses at the Fort, but we had no money with us. Turned out it was a school outing, and the kids were having a great time playing Red Rover in the rain.

Waved to the bus drivers on our long hike back down, hoping to make it before dark. Oooooh, scary things come out in the dark here! About 20 minutes into our walk, now raining heavier, the first bus came back down, honking his horn, lights flashing (you've seen these buses on earlier blogs, they are so cool) and told us to get on, he'd take us to the bottom. Thank you, thank you to the bus named The Whip from the Sabanitas area. These kids are amazing - the bus is going full speed down this hill, around corners, while we hang on for dear life - and they're all in the back seeing who can dance the best. I'm sure that every muscle we have will ache tomorrow. Lynn and Randy were in the hot tub (well, semi-warm tub), so we went back to the boat, got drinks, and joined them in the rain.

It's been a busy time, but also a lot of fun in the marina. Peter and Eileen on Appleseeds are back as well as Brian and Sue on Darramy. Darramy shared their experiences in the Bocas, gave us some tips, and we'll meet them up there around Xmas time to hear more of their wonderful summertime experiences. Machu Pichu, Chile and a cruise to the Antarctic!

So, we're off to Naranjo Abajo tomorrow! ~~~_/)~~~

On The Way To Shelter Bay ... Again!

2010-12-14T13:38:00.005-06:00

Checked out in Porvenir with the Port Captain, and where the Congresso actually does now check your boat name to make sure you've paid the requisite fees. Luckily, we were still within our month time limit, so there were no extra fees there. Dennis headed over to Wichuhuala to pick up diesel for Infinity while I got us ready to head back to the East Lemmons. Chichime was way too crowded. A Kuna family paddled up -- please, no more molas! Instead, they had something new. A couple of calabash bowls that were painted like a traditional mola and one with a crab. Very interesting and, of course, I had to buy one. Actually sailed most of the way back to the East Lemmons. dropped off the diesel to Infinity, and got ready to leave early Thursday morning.

Up and underway just after 6:30 in the morning. All sails up, with the motor going to charge batteries and help fight that current. And then ..... all of a sudden ..... the hit of all hits!! The line is screaming, the reel is actually smoking, and Dennis is yelling at me to take in the other lines and head towards the fish, whatever it is, as it's already taken out 400 yards of line. I look behind, as he's going forward, and OMG!!!!!!!!! it's a huge blue marlin. A couple of years ago, off of Curacao, with John and Brigitte on board, we hooked a white marlin. That was a baby compared to this. I brought in the other lines, went below to get the camera and his fighting belt, then had to steer towards the fish. Wouldn't you know it, the battery was dying on the camera. Back down once again to get the other camera, only to see that it doesn't have much battery life either. Guess it didn't really matter in the end -- I have many talents, but steering the boat in seas, under full sail to follow the fish, and taking photos was quite a challenge. Got a photo of a really big splash and hope this video shows some of it. (Well, tried many times and for some reason I'm just not able to download the video). After 40 minutes, with Dennis drenched in sweat and blisters on his hands, we actually had the fish up to the side of the boat where we could cut the line below the leader, about 3 feet from the fish's mouth. If we had something to tag it with, it would be considered a tag, we were that close. It was longer than our 9' dinghy from eye to tail. Thrill of a lifetime for Dennis, but we did lose the lure -- darn!!

Next to the boat and the splash

Okay, all back together again, heading to Isla Grande. Five miles from Isla Grande we hooked a pretty good size Wahoo which, unfortunately, spat the hook out when it got up to the boat :(

Had a nice night in Isla Grande, up the next day to Portabello, and then on to Shelter Bay. Enjoyed our time in Portabello, catching up with Dick and Moira on Equinox and Tom and Rose on Sojourn. On to Shelter Bay where we were met at the dock by Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle, and then Randy and Lynn on High States stopped by. Boat projects and shopping are in our future! ~~~_/)~~~

Back in the San Blas

2010-12-02T10:53:00.004-06:00

Well, I've been a little slow getting out a new blog, but snorkelling every day keeps us busy! We left Isla Grande and arrived in Chichime late afternoon. Had a few hits on the line, but the only thing we managed to catch was the other fishing line, so that mess took Dennis awhile to untangle. Headed over to Porvenir to check in, but the Port Captain was away for a few days, so that will have to wait until we're ready. Motorsailed down to the East Lemmons to keep Gretchen on Infinity company until Frank got back from Hawaii. Dennis made his first fish kill with the new speargun -- about a 10 lb. dog snapper. Wonderful eating! Went over to Infinity to sail with Gretchen and Loki (the best boat dog) to pick Frank up in Carti. One of the pangas ended up dropping him off at the boat just off the West Lemmons, so we sailed outside the reef on the way back to the East Lemmons. Just outside the anchorage we brought in a huge blackfin tuna. They gave us a 1/4 of the fish, which was enough for 4 meals for us, and then had us over for dinner for more. Love tuna and Infinity!

The bad thing is, they've now outlawed the Kunas from selling alcohol in the San Blas, which is making for very creative ways to get your alcohol in. We were going to make a run up to Portabello and back to restock, but Lynn and Randy on High States were heading back to Shelter Bay to leave the boat and head to Costa Rica for their immigration time, so sold us all their excess! My excuse for not doing the same is that they have a bigger boat, therefore, more room. Works for me.

We stopped at the Central Hollandes and enjoyed the anchorage there, off snorkelling to the reef with Infinity. Beautiful! Very cave like and tons of fish ... and a couple of sharks. Then back to the BBQ Island area, over to the Cocos, and our favourite spot, Nabadup. Got lumpy with a west wind blowing in, so we motored over to the Mangles River and dropped the hook. Much, much better. Plus, it was a short dinghy ride up the river to do laundry. The rain actually stopped long enough to dry the laundry. Saw 3 pretty good sized crocs (and those aren't the shoes!) up the river. Made doing laundry challenging. Wash clothes, look out for crocs! Finally met up with Pam and Richard on Tisha Baby and spent a happy hour over on their boat. They have a guest coming in to Panama City, so I lent her my Price Smart card. When she came back she brought me a bottle of wine -- not expected but so, so appreciated!

Decided to head back to Green Island and met up with Frank and Gretchen again. Some great walks around Ogopsibudup and spear fishing to die for! So far this year we've done well between ourselves and Infinity. Well, okay, they're getting most of them! They're young, they can dive deeper and for longer periods of time. Dennis says that unless it's in less than 15 feet of water, he's not shooting!

We've decided to spend Christmas up in the Bocas del Toro area, so we're heading back to Shelter Bay to provision (much easier from the dock than the dinghy) and see Sea Cycle, who should be in the water by the time we get there. Hopefully High States will be ready to go when we are. If not, there's quite a few people we'll be meeting up there :)

~~~_/)~~~

In Portabello

2010-11-08T22:41:00.001-06:00

Well, it's been awhile, so time to get to another blog. As I said, pulled into Portabello in the rain, got a good hook and relaxed. When we were here in July there was a new youth hostel just getting started called Captain Jack. It's run by Jack and Dennis. They've done a great job. Painted the building, happy hour every night, wifi available, meals, laundry and trips into Colon and Panama City. All the prices are reasonable and they're making Portabello a place you want to be. On the weekends there's music and street vendors set up and the food you can buy is amazing! Bought the most delicious roasted chicken with plantains for $6. Enough for 2 meals!

Jack in the back, with Dennis, his wife Negrita and baby Jacqueline

I finally got my new phone hooked up to the internet and it works fantastic. Well, it did until I decided to go with the shorter cord, put the phone in the same place, and watched it drop right on the internet connection and break off. So, fantastic for 2 days! Can't live without it now, so I was heading into Panama City by myself to meet up with Roger and pick up a new phone. Randy on High States came over in the dinghy and said that Lynn would go with me if I wanted. Ooooh, yes, a girls day out! Took the bus from Portabello to downtown Colon to pick up the Panama City bus, had coffee, wandered around Albrook Mall and then Roger picked us up to take us to Eldorado Mall where they have the store that sells the unlocked Nokia phones. He then dropped us back at Albrook Mall, where we wandered around the shops, had lunch, and then headed back. Had a great day! Got off the bus at Sabanitas to catch the bus back to Portabello and saved ourselves an hour by not heading all the way back to Colon. Randy was already up at Captain Jack's, so we called Dennis on the radio to meet us up there. Just after we got up there, the sky opened up. Dennis was a tad wet by the time he got there. Fantastic lightening display -- scary!

Lots of socializing done in Portabello. Went up for happy hour a few times, and then on a Sunday they have Mexican Train dominoes and a potluck. Well, neither Dennis or I have the attention span for an afternoon of dominoes, so we just went for the potluck.

John (Dixie) Lynn and Randy (High States) and Jeannie (Island Dreamin')

The swell got kind of challenging at times in the anchorage. We were lucky to be tucked in enough to be out of the roll, but just getting into the dock was scary at times. Our last day there we couldn't tie up at the music school because of the swell (the water was over the dock), so headed into the town dock. Not really fond of that because if you lock up, you're locking up to a tire they can cut away. Just headed in to pick up some more wine, eggs, a case of beer for Infinity and some great french bread.

Back to the boat, prepared to leave. Quite the swell leaving and not real fun, but made it down to Isla Grande in a couple of hours. Tucked in, anchored, went for a swim and out the next morning for Chichime. ~~~_/)~~~

Rio Chagres

2010-10-15T21:23:00.003-05:00

Everything done, and we finally left Shelter Bay Marina around noon. Again, with help from Lynn and Randy on High States. How would we leave the marina without them? Called Port Authority, told them we were leaving the area, and they told us to watch out for ships. Of course, right when we were leaving, there was a huge car carrier ship sounding its horn for us to get out of the way. Okay, you have priority!

Got out of the shipping area and actually had a great sail, all three sails up, for about half an hour. Then the wind died and we motored into the Chagres. Foreigner was already anchored there, so we motored down, around the corner, and had peace and quiet, and relaxed from all the marina time.

Spent a week in the Chagres (including my birthday), just hanging out, getting boat projects done and dinghy exploring. Finally saw a toucan, howler monkies and lizards.

The challenge was when we were leaving to head to Portabelo - a large trawler had gone aground and run lines across the whole river. Luckily, we saw that they were all the way across at the last minute. Oh, and this is the interesting part of the river to navigate. Forty minutes later, they had lines in and we sailed and motored down to Portabelo. Of course, just as we entered the bay, the sky opened up. Good thing is, we've been here before, know where to anchor, and the rain felt good!! :)

Shelter Bay

2010-10-04T21:12:00.003-05:00

Amazing how there's always photos of the cool stuff we do, but none of the work. Guess that would be because we're so busy working, neither one of us thinks to haul the camera out.

Roger picked us up from the airport, and was probably pretty worried since we were almost the last ones out from the flight. They had to check our bag for the knee pads. Cannot find any in Panama, so brought them from home. Everything else checked out, and then we were on our way to El Tapiz to drop off our foam for our new cockpit cushions. Really, with material and labor at $100, how can you go wrong? Seems to be an issue picking up our EPIRB which was supposed to be getting a new battery. They thought it was just having a vacation from the boat and it wasn't done ... 6 weeks later! After a couple of trips, it was decided to leave the money with Roger to pick up and deliver to Shelter Bay when he was there next.

Collapsed at the Milan after a busy day of travelling and running around on errands, and then, once again, Roger picked us up in the morning to drive us to Shelter Bay. Way too much stuff to travel on the bus with! Got into the hotel room, dropped all of our luggage off, and off to the boat to start cleaning. YUK ... mold everywhere! So glad we have 5 days in the hotel. After long days on the boat, at least we can go back to air conditioning and collapse. Dennis worked on the boat Saturday while I took the morning bus in to pick up groceries. Everything went well. Cleaning everything, getting rid of extras! Dennis was able to take the cutlass bearing out without dropping the rudder, and had the new one in the next day in 20 minutes. My hero!

We had the yard work on blisters on the boat while we were gone, sanding and filling, so once they were done I started with the bottom paint. Another Bayfield, Windborne III, has sanded down their waterline, put a couple of coats of hard paint on the waterline and then the ablative. I did that and I really hope it works. I hate when the waterline looks horrible when the ablative wears off!

Spent an extra couple of days in the hotel while we continued to put the boat back together. Yes, expensive, but we're heading back to the San Blas where we won't spend any money! The only unhappy experience was when they were putting us back in the water, the truck operator backed up too fast and hit the jackstands at the front of the boat. That resulted in 2 big chunks out of my new bottom paint (right to the hull) and smudged where the 4 jackstands were. I was not happy! I complained (yeah, go figure on that one!) and so far we haven't been charged for some of the yard work. Stay tuned!

Audrey Paige ready to go in after the touch-up, and a couple of the big SMUDGES!

Frank and Gretchen on Infinity came back at the same time we did, so we had a great time with them again. A couple of dinners aboard Audrey Paige and Infinity where there was way too much wine consumed! We even did dog sitting for Loki (the best boat dog) one day. Headed in on the bus to Panama City, where Roger met us to pick up our cockpit cushions (I love them!!!), take us to Price Smart, Riba Smith, and all the little things we need that he knows where they are.

Really did enjoy our time in the marina, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Lynn and Randy on High States pulled in to re-provision (it's much easier from the marina), so we got to catch up with them again. Burt and Marie Elena from Not So Interim were there, and met Karen and Ralph on Five Islands. They are really trying new things at the marina. Tony, the restaurant manager, is doing a Saturday night movie night, with restaurant service upstairs, and he rents the movie for everyone to watch.

Back in the water, provisioning, and off to the Rio Chagres! ~~~_/)~~~

Family Weekend

2010-09-17T21:08:00.017-05:00

Our family ... top row ... Char, Kelly, Brooklyn, MA, Shaun, Emmy, Cody, Allayne, Dennis, Rich, Tania, Taylour
bottom row ... Ryenn, Parker, Zachary, Jake, Avory and Madison

Busy, busy weekend. Shopped all day Thursday for our family weekend, then I headed off to Shaun's to spend the night and watch the girls on Friday. We did our usual, off to the park for an hour or so, and then fun stuff at home until Shaun got home from work. Back to Kelly's to prepare my stuff for Saturday, to find that Kelly (love her!) had already made up my brownie mixes! Really, such a little thing made a huge difference in my work that night!

Arranged for the bounce house with the slide again through Wacky Zone for our family weekend. It was supposed to be a pirate house, but they double booked and we ended up with a bigger bounce house with basketball hoops and punch bags for the same price. This time, everyone was able to make it, except for poor Chris, who has too few weekends off and is still trying to put up siding on the house. Dennis' friend, Jerry (his brother's friend from childhood) was able to make it, with his daughter and son-in-law, Amy and Dante, and their daughter and son. I'm terrible, I forget their names, but they were adorable. Amy's daughter was 6, as were our Avory and Mady, so the girls had a great time comparing notes and having fun. Nine grandkids stayed over, along with Parker's friend, Liam (Jake went home with MA). I suppose we could have done more with them the next day, but we were just too exhausted! The kids did get to play in the bounce house again, since they didn't pick it up till around 2 in the afternoon. Dennis took Cody and Zach out to get White Castle, and brought some back for Kelly and Taylour. Charlie was smart enough to head out at 7 in the morning to go golfing.

Grandpa with Avory, Ryenn and Emmy ... Char, Kelly, MA, Taylour, Tania and Rich. ... Amy in charge of lunch with the little ones

Uncle Rich and Emmy ...Taylour, Tania, Cody, Rich and Maddy ... Shaun with Ryenn, Emmy and Avory

Ma, Zach and Jake ... Char and Apollo ... Kelly and Brooklyn

It's so great to have everyone together!!!!

Where has the time gone? Dennis had hoped to take Cody and Zach out to the gun range for some shooting, but just ran out of time. Took Taylour, Cody and Maddy home to Windsor on Monday; haircuts, last minute shopping and packing Tuesday; dropped off the rental car Wednesday, and Kelly took us out to the airport hotel; back to Panama Thursday.

Where did those five weeks go?

At Home In Michigan

2010-09-13T19:56:00.004-05:00

While we were back home, drove over to Windsor one Sunday to take Taylour, Cody and Madison out for lunch. Went to our favorite, Swiss Chalet, and then Baskin Robbins for dessert. Dropped the kids off and had time to kill, so decided to drive down to Lakeside Marina and see if Paul and Mary on Winpipe were in the area. We thought they were members of the Yacht Club, so stopped in there first. Then checked out Lakeside Marina, and who was walking by, in full Scottish uniform, but Paul and Mary. He's a world class piper, and had been piping for an anniversary ... how unbelievable that they'd be walking by when we drove up! We had a drink at the restaurant while they went home and changed, and then had dinner aboard Winpipe and enjoyed a fantastic evening!

Paul and Mary, thanks for a great evening!!!

Grand Canadian Tour

2010-09-13T16:42:00.001-05:00

Had a wonderful two weeks staying with either Kelly and Char or at Shaun's, and then decided to give them a break from us and visit our Canadian friends for a week.

Headed up to Brockville, Ontario, in the Thousand Islands, to visit with John and Brigitte. As always, tons of fun. The scary looking mermaid is Brigitte's new puppet! Got up, walked around town and then took a car trip, crossing over the Thousand Island Bridge to New York State; then drove down to Clayton, doing tourist stuff and taking two ferries back over to Kingston where we had dinner and ice cream before heading back home. The next day we got up and headed down to Mystic, their 35' Niagara. Just a short little motor to their yacht club's island, where Brigitte made lunch, we went exploring, played a mean game of Mexican Train dominoes, and then ate a fantastic dinner. Motored back to their berth, put Mystic to bed, and then ourselves!

Up the next day and after breakfast went over to see Brigitte's dad's beer stein and photo collection. What a wonderful 83 year old! Then, on the road again, heading to Toronto to visit with Mark and Deb (Sea Cycle) at their condo in Toronto.

Amazingly, hit no traffic and we were there in no time. Thought about going out, but just hung out, with a little wine, and caught up. What a view from the 49th floor down by the Lake!! Spent the next day on a walking tour and stopping by the Rustic Cosmo Cafe - Deb's cafe, now run by their daughter Nicole. Okay, if you're in Toronto, you need to stop by this place. Neat looking place in the artist district, and the food is amazing!! (They're on Facebook) That night we had a great time -- dinner at Mark and Deb's, and visiting with old cruising friends Cliff and Deb from Watermark, who actually live down the hall! Haven't seen them in about four years, so there was lots of catching up to do. A very, very late night! The next day Mark took Dennis on another walking tour of Toronto while Deb and I went shopping. I think Dennis actually likes Toronto now!

Time to travel again. Left Toronto and headed over to Lake Huron, where our friends Sue and Dan have a beautiful home. We were there about four years ago when it was still being built, and now we were able to see the finished result. All we both can say is -- WOW! They did a fantastic job. Dan had a second knee replacement two months ago, so we went on a short hike, which he was able to manage, and then had lunch in Tobermory. That little town sure has changed since Dennis and I were last there. Eeek ... Sue and Dan actually went in the lake for a swim. Dennis stood on the shore wrapped in a towel, waiting to go into the hot tub.

Alas, all good things must come to an end, so we said goodbye to Sue and Dan and headed back to Michigan. Took the scenic route all the way, including catching the ferry from the Canadian side over to Marine City in Michigan. That was so much better than waiting for an hour on the Sarnia/Port Huron bridge!

Back to Shaun's first, where we were welcomed with little girl hugs and kisses!! ~~~_/)~~~

Home with family

2010-08-24T20:05:00.000-05:00

Shelter Bay and home

2010-08-24T19:32:00.003-05:00

Oh, now I remember what I hate about putting the boat away. Had a good motor sail up to Shelter Bay, with only a slight confusion. We swore they said A2, when they said D28???? New management in Shelter Bay has not impressed me so far, but we'll see what it brings.

Didn't help that I was sick for 2 weeks before we hauled, but I did as much as I could, so there really wasn't that much to do once we were in the marina. Took the shuttle into Novey to compare prices ... we'll be better picking up things in Panama than bringing them back with us! Love it, there's a first!

Roger picked us up from the marina at 9 a.m., along with Dick and Moira on Equinox, to take us into Panama City. Dropped us off at the Milan, and then took Dick and Moira to the American Embassy to renew their passports. Then picked us up for our trip to La Tapiz and to drop our EPIRB off to get a new battery. What a successful day. They say there's no rain and lightning in Panama City ... whoever they are, they're lying! It finally calmed down enough that we met Dick and Moira for dinner at the Brew Pub and had a wonderful meal. Up the next morning to explore the city. Well, malls to see, phones to buy, etc.

Again, Roger picked us up early to take us to the airport to fly home. Great trip! Connections fantastic and Kelly was there to pick us up with Brooklyn and Parker just as our last bag came off the conveyer belt.

Kid time again .... loving it! ~~~_/)~~~

Leaving the San Blas

2010-08-13T19:50:00.012-05:00

Like I said, where does the time go? Left Chichime at 6:30 in the morning and headed towards Isla Grande, going on the outside of the Escribos Reef. At the same place we hooked (and lost) a wahoo the last time, we had three hits at once. Brought in the hand reel and had a wonderful blackfin tuna. The other two hits were too small to keep, but, hey, we had a couple of really good meals. I went below to check into the 6209 net, said we were out here, but had to get back up to help deal with the fish. Got back on deck, looked around ... I thought we had a fish?? Somehow the line that Dennis had hooked through the tuna to bleed it had unhooked itself, so there's a shark out there enjoying my tuna dinner! :( And, no, it didn't come loose from the fish, it somehow, line and all, came unattached from the boat. I wasn't going to check into the San Blas net, but Angel Heart said he had heard us on the earlier net and wanted to know how the fish was. Sadly, I had to admit that we were now a catch and release boat.

Amazingly, had a pretty good sail most of the way, with full main and both jibs. Pulled into Isla Grande, relaxed and swam. Enjoyed a couple of days there, finally getting some walking in, but also a ton of rain. That's okay, filling the water tanks and getting laundry done.

Took the dinghy through the cut from Isla Grande to Isla Linton and realized, with good sun, you could make it through easily. Well, when we went to leave, the sun was hiding, so we went the long way around, dropping our anchor in 40' of water. Enjoyed our time catching up with Lynn and Randy on High States, Michael on Panda (Edie was back in the States), and a quick hi to Bob and Jeannie on Island Dreamin'. Sadly, we heard that Petra from Kokomo had been diagnosed with colon and liver cancer and they were hoping she would be well enough to fly back to Germany. I'm glad we stayed around for an extra day and were able to say hi to Peter (Kokomo), tell him we'd be back in the fall if he needed anything for the boat, and just give a hug. Life is short all!

And, speaking of stuff like that happening -- Lara from Antipodes, the boat we went through the Canal on, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. She's had two surgeries and is now undergoing radiation. If you believe in the power of prayer, please send all you can her way! You can follow her progress at http://www.yorksafloat.com/

Left Isla Linton and headed up to Portabello, where we had a wonderful time for a couple of days ... until I felt horrible! Well, okay, just a fever, cough and feeling really bad. Didn't eat or drink for five days. For anyone who knows me, that explains how bad I felt!!!! Really wasn't a good time for that, since I was trying to get as much done before we left as I could.

Our dingy trip up the river and a beautiful rainbow over the anchorage

We were able to watch a Dockwise boat sending off two small ships, and then the Festival of the Virgin Del Carmen, where they decorated the boats with yellow and white balloons and flowers and drove through the anchorage.

With the free wifi we can pick up from the hotel, this is a wonderful place to anchor. Only rolled once when the wind changed. Had worse roll in Isla Grande and Linton.

Also took a few bus trips in from the Linton area and Portabello. These buses are amazing. Basic school buses with the most amazing artwork you've ever seen. The photos we have here actually have an airbrushed photo of the driver's daughters!

Finally, time to leave and head into Shelter Bay Marina. The main sail is the only one left up still, for stability, while we motorsail up there.

Where does the time go?? ~~~_/)~~~

Just Hanging Out!

2010-08-07T16:26:00.005-05:00

Well, here we are, back in Cambombia, and it seems so strange to be the only boat here! We picked the only good day of the week to do laundry, since the rain held off until late afternoon, and then it rained for the next four days. Wow, what a change in the Mangles River with all the rain. We couldn't get as far up the river because of the shoals and shallow water.

The weather cleared a bit so we picked up and headed down the chain to Miriadup, seeing a lot of shallow water. Once again, we were lucky, and the rain held off until we did some snorkelling. Saw a couple of lion fish, which we're supposed to kill since they're such an invasive species. A shame, because they are beautiful.

A couple of days later, headed over to Moron Island to another shallow anchorage. Dennis loves that, with our manual windlass! Unfortunately, the the weather didn't clear up enough to snorkel, even though it looked interesting. Did we tell you, it is the rainy season!

Off to Porvenir to check in, then to the East Lemmons. The Silas was on the island (Kuna Chief), and while I didn't mind if he used my phone to call his family the one time, by day four it was getting a little old. We then headed down to BBQ island for the Monday night happy hour. We stayed a week, only because Tienda Eidi was supposed to come out the following Sunday with fruit and veg. It's a little tougher to get at this time of year because there's only 50 boats in all of Kuna Yala, instead of the 160-180 during the season. It rained hard enough to fill our tanks and do more laundry.

The Hollandes with rain ............................. And then beautiful!

Back to Green Island where we actually saw a shark feeding on the surface as we were pulling in, and I found lots of hamburger seabeans as I was walking the island while Dennis burned garbage. Went snorkelling and never did find all those crabs that were hanging out on the reef during the closed season. Hmm, guess they're pretty smart after all!

Down to Nargana for the day, where we picked up some more diesel and had our chicken lunch, then back to Green Island for the night. Had a nice motorsail down to Porvenir to check out with the Port Captain, and then spent a few days over in Chichime before heading towards Isla Grande. We did manage to get some snorkelling in between the rain showers.

Where does the time go? It's time to start heading west on our way up to Shelter Bay and home. ~~~_/)~~~

To Sapzurro and Back!

2010-07-28T19:54:00.015-05:00

Finally left the Coco Banderos and marked our trail through the western reef, waving goodbye to Dick and Moira on Equinox, until we see them back in Shelter Bay. Oooh, scary, reefs all around, but amazingly deep water. Very light winds and no seas. Soujourn, a 37' Alberg, is a much lighter boat than ours, and was having a great sail. We were plodding along at a whopping 3 miles an hour under sail, and by 1:30 were thoroughly bored, so we pulled into Ariadup while Sojourn continued on. Beautiful anchorage, clear water and had a refreshing swim, planning on stopping here on the way back to do some snorkelling and exploring. When we went to pull anchor the next morning there was a huge barracuda swimming lazily under the boat. Glad we didn't see him the night before!

We headed out of Ariadup early and motorsailed down to a small island just west of Ustupu, meeting up with Sojourn again. Swam over to their boat, getting our exercise for the day. The plan was to head out the next morning, but morning brought rain, thunder and lightning. Sojourn decided to leave, while we decided not to. Really don't like sailing while there's lightning out there, and we weren't in a rush. Plus, there was a huge waterspout out there! Disconnected all the electronics and stowed what we could in the oven, hoping to protect the computers and chart plotter in case of a lightning strike. Had a relaxing day, doing a few chores and reading.

The rain let up and we had another motorsail down to an anchorage off of Caledonia, where Senor Castro paddled out as a representative from the island. He visited for awhile, asking us to take his photo, which we promised to print out and give him on our return. There was a $5 anchoring fee, but it was good for a month. He also had a list from the Congresso on what you were and weren't allowed to do in the area and on their island. It was informative and great, in that they asked you not to give cookies and sweets to the kids because it wasn't good for them.

Stayed overnight, with plans to stop on the way back. Another motorsail, anchoring in the bay in Sapzurro. The wind and rain came in shortly after we anchored -- way to test that anchor! Arranged for a launch over to Capurgano the next day to check in and check out of Columbia. Unfortunately, the power was out in Capurgano, and Immigration wasn't going to show up until 1 p.m. So .... there we were, bright and early at 9 a.m., trying to kill a few hours. It was challenging, since the town isn't that big. Thought about taking the waterfall hike, but none of us had dressed for it since we thought we weren't going to be there long. Maybe tomorrow? Found a restaurant to have lunch, finally got our paperwork done and took the launch back to Sapzurro. A misunderstanding on price ... with my poor Spanish, I understood $6 a person roundtrip. No, it was $6 a person, one way. So much for tomorrow's hike ... not at that price! Then they came to collect the $15 anchoring fee for Sapzurro. This gets a little old!! Decided that we weren't that interested in hiking the small waterfall (this is summer and the no-see-ums are horrible -- using lots of bug spray and mosquito coils), so left the next day and motorsailed back up to Caledonia.

The mode of transport in Capurgano and the town dock

Did some dinghy touring, snorkelling, and toured the island with Senor Castro. Probably one of the cleanest Kuna villages we've seen. All the families live together in a walled off compound, but in their own huts. They also have a small hostel over the water. Quite nice and very primitive. Didn't take photos because on top of the $3 a person to walk on the island, they also wanted to charge for photos. I realize they need a way to make money, but I passed on photos.

The way back was motorsailing, but mostly motoring, with the main up just for stability. Pulled in behind Isla Pinos, where the pirates of old left their ships while they plundered the mainland. Lots of sea grass, which we don't anchor in well, but found a clear patch about two feet wide and an eighth of a mile long. Dropped the anchor in the sand in 9 feet of water. Well, I guess if we drag into shallow water it's just sand and grass!! The Silas (chief of the island) came by to collect the $8 anchoring fee. I only had a $5 or a $20, so I gave him the $5 and he said he'd collect the balance when we went ashore the next day. Went exploring and met Senor Horatio. Sea Cycle and Equinox had told us how wonderful he was, giving them an island tour. Well, he was a wonderful man, but they've introduced generators and inverters to Pinos to run their radios and TV sets, and he was looking for someone to help with some problems they were having. Had a busy day repairing his cooler, taking photos and printing them out, and working on 3 or 4 electrical problems. It was interesting and enjoyable. The kids were adorable, all wanting their photos taken, and absolutely thrilled when we brought back the photo for them. Senor Horatio asked us to take a photo of his granddaughter and her children. Really, it is very primitive, and they would have no way to record the kids growing up! The only frustrating thing was that after all the work we did for the people of Isla Pinos, the Silas still wanted his extra $3. I guess he just didn't understand that we were helping his people!!!!

Senor Horatio, Dennis and Tom hard at work and the kids enjoying my Dollar Store glow-in-the-dark bracelets

A couple of more stops and Sojourn headed back off to the Coco Banderos, while we stopped off in Nargana for some fruit and veg, and then off to Cambombia and the Mangles River to do laundry. ~~~_/)~~~

Shelter Bay to the San Blas

2010-07-22T20:33:00.010-05:00

It was finally time to leave the marina after hugs from Lynn and Randy on High States and promises to meet up again in the San Blas. Our first stop was Naranjo Abajo, one of two islands about 6 miles from Colon. A good first stop. Pulled in and there was a catamaran already there. Peter from Kokomo came over to say hi, he thought that was us. Peter and Petra had left their boat in Portobello while they were line handlers on a few boats going through the Canal, so we saw them quite a bit when we were in Shelter Bay. Relaxed for a couple of days and then headed to Portobello. I guess we were lucky with weather, since we found it a great anchorage over on the north side by the fort. Lots of walking, exploring and 4 small grocery stores. Also caught up with Brian and Sue on Darramy and spent some time with them again!

View from the fort at Portabello above, and the Black Christ, the famous Portabello tourist attraction

Our next stop was Isla Grande, where there's a rumour about fantastic ice cream! Found a great spot to anchor, off a beautiful beach, just behind Not So Interim. Marie Elena was good enough to point out where to tie the dinghy up to walk the shore and where to find the wonderful ice cream! Okay, $14 for 'ice cream' is expensive, but this was more than just ice cream. It was a chocolate ice milk, which came with some cookies (okay, so they were animal crackers ... I'm okay with that!) Plus, when you haven't seen anything resembling ice cream in forever ... well, we thought it was worth it!

A beautiful sunset off Isla Grande

Had a great sail down from Isla Grande, passing to the north of the West Lemmon Cays, through the Eden Channel and anchoring in the East Lemmons. Stayed for four days and mostly swam off the boat and chilled! Heaven after all that work in the marina. Finally put the dinghy in the water because Mike and Linda on Casa Del Mar were in Chichime, so we needed to see them before they headed up to Shelter Bay. Yes, they had picked up some stove alcohol for us, but we also wanted to spend some time with them. Hopefully we'll meet up with them again next season! So good to see the two of them again!

Next stop, Coco Banderos, where Rose and Tom on Sojourn are also planning to head to Sapzurro, and we can meet up with Moira and Dick on Equinox before we all go our separate ways.

A beach bbq at the Cocos, meeting new people and catching up with old friends. Garbage burning, a walk around the island, and time to leave to head east to the Panama/Columbia border and do that checkin/checkout thing to make all the Customs and Immigration people happy. ~~~_/)~~~

Shelter Bay Marina

2010-07-13T22:10:00.002-05:00

Well, it was an interesting trip from the San Blas to Shelter Bay Marina. Motored really, really slow with what we knew was at least one broken motor mount. Of course, you know there was absolutely no wind! First stop was Linton for a couple of days, where we had a great cheeseburger in Paradise at Panamarina, and then headed straight to the marina up in Colon. Of course, just as we were getting to the entrance in towards the Canal, the skies opened up. Called Port Authority, were given permission to go through, and luckily there were no other ships close by. It was raining so hard we couldn't see the entrance to the marina, so pulled in, got close to the breakwall in 20 feet of water and dropped the hook until the rain let up. Wow, with no rain, that entrance to the marina was easy to see. Called for an hour and a half on the VHF with no response, finally calling them on the phone. You absolutely need a local phone out here. Amazingly enough, a week and a half later, as we did a test run on the motor mounts, the marina actually called us as we were coming through the cut to find out where we were going. Back to our slip, thanks, don't need your help!

So, into the slip and the work started. Don't think we have any photos for this blog because we were way too busy working to even think about photos! After removing the steps and the cabinet, Dennis could at least breathe after he worked his way down through the lazerette to get to the motor mounts and the muffler that we knew was leaking. Turned out there was a broken motor mount, a broken engine mount and the muffler was not in good shape. Found a welding shop down by the bus station in Colon that was amazing. Did some repairs on the muffler that we took back, tried out, didn't work, so he pretty well rebuilt the muffler for about $150 US ... while you wait! He also welded the broken motor mount. Frustrating, but finally got everything done.

A lot of people complain about Shelter Bay being expensive, but it's comparable to the US. There's a free shuttle to take you shopping every morning at 8, returning around 11:30, and then an afternoon bus around 1:00, returning around 4:00. Can't beat that, since a one way taxi ride is $20. And we took that shuttle many times to wander the hardware stores, department stores and do groceries.

So, while we were really busy with boat projects (Lord, does this stainless work ever end?), we still had a lot of fun. Of course, there was our amazing trip through the Canal on Antipodes, and then we caught up with Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle (after all, we hadn't seen them for about 10 days), Frank and Gretchen on Infinity pulled in to haul out; Peter and Eileen on Appleseeds; and Randy and Lynn on High States. Plus, there is a pretty nice pool to relax in after a hard day and share a drink. And the shower rooms are amazing. Not to mention, washers and dryers, with actual hot water for the washers! First I've seen that since the States! But, all good things must end, and it's time to cast off those lines and head out to anchor again!!! ~~~_/)~~~

Through the Panama Canal

2010-05-13T21:08:00.012-05:00

Well, did we get lucky. After I returned from the States we quickly made our way up towards Colon and Shelter Bay Marina to install the motor mounts I had brought back. Not much of a choice with fruit and veg in Nargana, and then no veggie boats to be found, but got lucky and found a veggie boat just heading out by Porvenir after we checked out. Luckily, a calm night and out the next morning just after 6 a.m.

Checked in with the morning Cruising Net on 6209 on the way from Porvenir to Linton, then anchored in Linton after a long day of motoring with no wind. Not really what we wanted to do with questionable motor mounts! Had a 4' wahoo right next to the boat, but when I took over the pole he decided to make a run for it and spit the lure right next to the boat. And wahoo being our favorite fish to eat! Took the dinghy over to the anchorage at Panamarina to check out the availability of mooring balls for August. Nothing available, but had a great lunch of cheeseburger and fries. Restaurants are few and far between down here, so that was a real treat to have someone else do all the work!

Up the next morning to head to Shelter Bay. Turned the SouthWest Caribbean Net on again, not planning to check in, just wanted to listen. Relaxing in the cockpit when we heard Antipodes checking in and looking for line handlers to go through the Canal the following week. I made it down below in record time to say that we'd love to help them out. Dennis said afterwards we should have checked out what kind of boat it was first ... it could have been a 26' sailboat. Said I didn't care, it was a great opportunity. Turned out to be a 55' steel trawler with owners Jim and Lara and their guest Dan. Great boat and really nice people - how lucky was that??

Jim and Lara

Lots of work to do in the marina (I'll post that on a later blog). The first departure was supposed to be Wednesday, but ended up being a Saturday/Sunday transit. It was a delay for them, but actually worked out better for us. We got on to Antipodes on Saturday afternoon, after lunch, a swim in the pool and a shower. Headed off to the Flats around 2 p.m. to wait for the Advisors/Pilots to board the 3 cruising boats heading through the Canal. There was Antipodes, Ruby Slippers and Thule. Our Advisor was Jose, who was a tugboat captain doing this on his day off. Being the bigger boat (wow, how cool is that to say?!), the Advisors decided that the 2 sailboats would raft off to us while Jim steered us all through the locks. He said he likes to call those fiberglass fenders! Worked out great for us (well, us as line handlers), since the sailboats did all the line handling and Jim did all the helm work. Bow and stern thrusters sure are nice. Tied up to the mooring ball in Gatun Lake around 8 p.m., ate our cheeseburgers and beans and collapsed early.

John and Ivy on Ruby Slippers

Dennis with Captain Jim and Dan

Thule alongside Lara cooking

Up the next morning at 5:45 when it started to rain and it was like throwing a switch and the howler monkeys started up. Our next Advisor was Ricardo, who was an instructor at the maritime school, teaching people how to navigate the Canal. We left the mooring ball around 6:30 in the morning and arrived at the locks around noon. Shaun was the only one to see us on the Miraflores Lock web cam. We said we'd wave, but he said it was just kind of a blur! We actually had to handle the lines this time, but it was fun. The Erie Barge Canal is much more challenging, since it's a side tie. A center tie, with someone throwing you monkey fists (small lines) to attach to your larger lines is much easier. Well, that's if they can throw. The guys at the Miraflores locks had a challenge or two and need to improve their aim!

I think we're having fun!!!

The Panama Canal crew of Antipodes

Through the locks and tied up to the the Balboa Yacht Club mooring just after 1 p.m. A couple of days and a lot of fun. Took the taxi boat in, had a drink at the Yacht Club and then a taxi to Costa Inn.

The water taxi on the left and Dennis with Captain Jim and Antipodes in the background on the right

Dan, who helped Jim and Lara bring the boat from Puerto Rico, didn't have anywhere booked, so I called the hotel and we got him a room as well. We checked into the Costa, relaxed, showered and met up for dinner. Walked for a bit to see if we could find a restaurant, then took a taxi up by the Vegas Inn and went to the Brew Pub where we had dinner with Sea Cycle. Reasonable prices and fantastic food, and Dan insisted on treating us! Spent an enjoyable evening, then met him for breakfast the next morning. He headed out on a walk before his flight left, and we went to try Immigration stuff, which didn't work out, so took the air conditioned bus back to Colon for a whole $2.50 a person.

Great weekend, wonderful people, fantastic memories!!!!!!! Will do a Picasa Web Album soon. ~~~_/)~~~

Back in Michigan

2010-05-11T01:46:00.011-05:00

Back with the kids, and I'm so excited. Thirty degree temperature drop, but I'm okay with that. First time in a long time that my sweat rag is used only to tie my hair back. Missed the exit to Kelly's, but eventually found my way there.

So wonderful to see all the kids again. Arrived in Michgan Wednesday, April 7th, spent time with Kelly and then to Shaun's. Spent my time between Kelly and Shaun and just loved it.

All my girls in the kitchen ... Kelly and MA relax and catch up!

Kelly got everyone together and we celebrated Parker's birthday and a family function. All the kids decided to spend the night - what craziness! The boys were all upstairs, and Shaun and I were downstairs with all the girls. Kelly and Charlie are great to put up with all this family stuff and craziness to make us happy! Lots of babysitting and I loved it!!!

Family photo at left, just missing Charlie and Chris ......... my grownup girls at the right

Me and my pumpkin (he doesn't read the blog, so I can write this!)

Miss everyone! I'll post a few photos now and eventually do a Picassa web album.~~~/_)~~~

Swimming Pool

2010-05-11T01:20:00.007-05:00

Okay, it's time to catch up on the blog site, since we've had so much happen. Anchored in the Swimming Pool anchorage with way too many boats, just so that we could do the Monday night happy hour. Spent more time with Homer's Odyssey - need to email and keep in touch with them!! So enjoyed their company.

Jeff, Valerie and Andrea

Paul and Karin

Paul on Dream Weaver stopped by and invited us over for Mexican dinner and to meet their guests. Had a wonderful night with Paul and Karin, their guests Jeff, Valerie and Andrea, Anthylide, Sea Cycle and ourselves. We all pitched in, had a great meal and hopefully didn't leave Karin too much mess to clean up. Valerie and her daughter, Andrea (I hope I have the name right!) admired Dennis' bracelet, so he was up first thing in the morning to make one for them before they left.

It was Easter weekend and the Kuna Port Authority decided to drive around to each boat to attempt to collect money. They inspected our paperwork, Dennis did the whole Detroit Police, US Marine thing, told them we were heading to Nargana for me to fly out, and they were great. Everyone else was charged in all the anchorages. We left the Holandes, went to Nabadup, then to Nargana, and every time the panga with the military and Kunas passed our boat, they all smiled and waved! Sometimes professional courtesy works!

So, here I am, off on Air Panama, back to visit the kids and grandkids. Dennis is sad, but I'm excited!!!!! ~~~_/)~~~

Boat Sitting

2010-04-13T19:44:00.004-05:00

Picked up the anchor in Nabadup and had a nice motorsail over to Green Island to meet up with Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle and take over our boat sitting duties of Sojourn on the weekend. Okay, so we were a few days early to spend some time with Sea Cycle. Mark ended up catching some kind of bug, giving him a sore throat and making him feel pretty lousy, so they stayed at Green a day longer than us. Not a bad place to be anchored, that's for sure. Stan and Lynn from Homer's Odyssey came over, introduced themselves and volunteered to take garbage ashore to burn. Spent some really enjoyable time with them. Brian and Sue on Darramy were already there and Brian got Deb and I to join them in water aerobics. We're going to try to keep it up!

Snorkelling is good and there's lot of different areas to investigate. Went to the outside reef that we've enjoyed in the past. Dennis called me over to take a photo of 2 blowfish that were face to face. I got over there and they took off. Guess it was that 6' lemon shark cruising by that did it. We slowly swam back to the dinghy, which was a really, really long way away, looking around us the whole way back while Dennis held my hand. I guess anything to get the death grip off his wet suit! We tried to go snorkelling every day while we were there since there's so many interesting places to see.

Went over with Sue from Darramy to Homer's Odyssey for a visit from Catherina with her beautiful jewellery. So many choices. Bought two things for myself and then some gifts for our girls (that they don't know about yet). Catherina and her husband make some amazing jewellery out of different nuts, a couple of which are vegetable ivory. So neat!

It was our week for boat sitting Sojourn, so Dennis went over every day to do the boat check. By Friday we were getting low on water and wanted to head to Nargana for a refill on our Tropigas tank, gas and diesel. We needed a good charge on the batteries, so I went and picked up Mark and Deb in our dinghy and they brought their empty jugs and joined us on the hour motor. It sure was nice having the extra help to fill the water tank. When we pulled up there was a supply boat there, so we tied off to them to fill up. Unfortunately, the hose wouldn't reach all the way to the water tank, but at least made it as far as the deck so that Dennis and Mark could fill the jerry cans and then carry them across the deck to fill the main tank. Deb and I wandered the town while they did all the work.

The town in Rio Azucar and the outhouses over the water.

Then motored over to Nargana, filled up on gas and diesel, had lunch and picked up some fruit and veggies. Mark and Deb hadn't been here yet, so I gave them the grand tour of Nargana and Corozon de Jesus. Didn't take too long! Off we went, motored back an hour and a bit, dropped them back off at Sea Cycle and collapsed. Busy day!

This is how they fill gas and diesel

Did a last check of Sojourn on Saturday, and then we headed off to the Holandes on Sunday morning. Had an amazing sail, anchoring in the Swimming Pool in 9' of water, much to Dennis' delight. I prefer deeper water, but we do have a manual windlass, so shallow works out well for him. Dennis made the comment about almost getting whiplash when we hit 10' of water and I hit Reverse. They call it the swimming pool because the water is so, so clear, so you have t0 pay attention to the depth sounder because you always think you're going to be aground. Well, I do anyway.

Looking forward to Monday night happy hour. ~~~_/)~~~

Clear, Blue Water!

2010-04-09T22:21:00.005-05:00

After all that packing stuff away, off we went, heading towards Salardup. Started off motoring to charge the batteries, just pounding into the small seas and current. Finally got past the reef, put up all sails, and had a great sail to Salardup. Sea Cycle left after us and decided to head up to Esnusdup, and we got some great shots while they passed by.

Anchored in Salardup, ready to relax, but George and Pixie on Silver Seas called to tell us about bocci ball on the beach and then happy hour. We passed on bocci, but made it in for happy hour. Gary on Rainbow Rider called on Sunday morning to invite us over to Dream Weaver for a Texas Hold'em poker game. What a fun afternoon. Ended up with Karin and Paul on Dream Weaver putting together a great Mexican feast with ourselves, Jeff and Una on Dragonfly, Gary and Linda on Rainbowrider and Scott and Kim on Anthyllide. Lots and lots of laughs!

Stayed a couple of days and then off to join Mark and Deb in Esnusdup. Anchored near the lagoon in shallow, clear water ... then the wind died and the no-see-ums arrived. For me, it doesn't take much - I was chewed alive in Salardup in 25 kt. winds. Where did they come from? Picked up anchor when Dennis saw them buzzing in and out of the screens, and moved down to the tip of one of the islands where we had some breeze and no bugs. Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle headed up to Green Island to begin their week of boat watching for Sojourn, while we headed back to Nabadup and laundry.

Found a new spot to anchor in Nabadup - a 12' sandbar with lots of swinging room in case of wind shifts. Lots of privacy! Up the river to do our laundry before we head over to Green Island for our boat watch week. I made sure I was totally bug-proofed this time. Wore my reef guard shirt and long gauze pants. Tired of no-see-ums making a meal out of me!

Laundry done, time to head off to Green and meet up with Sea Cycle for our turn at watching Sojourn. ~~~_/)~~~

What A Trip!!

2010-04-03T15:35:00.002-05:00

So, had an absolutely wonderful time in Panama City. The guys went and did their stuff and Deb and I went shopping, mostly in grocery stores! Picked up all kinds of good stuff and our rooms were absolutely stuffed! Waiting for the guys to come back from their shopping, I brought my computer down to Mark and Deb's room so we could do our internet stuff, have a glass of wine and unwind. Well, Skype was on and our phones were ringing, so there went our unwinding time. But, great to talk to everyone again after being out of touch for so long.

Our second night in the city we walked and found a great Mexican food restaurant, then back to the room to take long showers and finish up all the internet stuff we needed to get done. I finally got to talk to my cousin Adrian who now lives in New Zealand. It's a little tough with that 18 hour time difference. I was online till 2 a.m., getting everything done while I can. Up early the next morning, down to pick up a cafe con leche in the restaurant, and off to do our last grocery shopping. The taxi driver was only going to charge us $3 to take us back to the hotel, until he saw all of the groceries, and then it was changed to a whopping $4! Where are we going to put all of this?

Back to meet up with the guys and a last minute running around fiasco for Sojourn - frustration! We needed to hit the bank one last time, so finally found one and practically ran back to the hotel to get in that last little bit of internet and groceries down to the lobby! Many trips later, everything was in the lobby, with more than one person commenting about how much room our stuff took up. 'Walmart?', asked one gentleman. Phoned our driver to make sure he was going to show up. Hmmm -- he'll be a bit late, maybe 20 minutes. Forty minutes later he arrived, but then it took another 20 to pack everything into and onto the truck. Took off down the highway with Alfonso, with the back end of the truck swaying back and forth. Stopped for gas - oh, the truck doesn't start. Had to pop the clutch going downhill with a transport riding up fast behind us. Mark kept telling him that they had a saying in Canada - DRIVE TO ARRIVE ALIVE! We repeated that many times, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Stopped for McD's takeout, and at one point I commented to Deb that I never thought my last meal would be a quarter pounder with cheese and fries! I was hoping more for steak and potatoes! What a trip!!!!

Finally made it off the highway and onto the dirt road. All I can think of is that the Kuna Yala border closes at 4:30 and between the two boats, we probably have between $400 to $600 worth of meat and cheese. Let's see ... 2 flat tires later ... The first flat was before the border and luckily Alfonso had stopped and picked up a jack from a truck at a construction site.

Deb remains cheerful!

While they were fixing that flat, another truck stopped and swapped his flat for their spare - THANK GOODNESS! Just got past the border around 3:15 when we had the second flat. By this time I'm watching the ice melt and run down the windshield from my cooler on the roof. Got the second flat fixed and hit the river, which was high. Might have made it through the river and up the embankment, except for that bulldozer coming down. So, had to stop and just had a heck of a time getting through the mud. Oh, turns out his 4 wheel drive isn't working!!!!!!!!!! Trucks coming down so that we couldn't get up, but finally the bulldozer cleared the way and, amazingly, we made it through.

The truck wasn't great, but our driver was cheerful through it all!

Found a panga to take us back to our boats for $10 a couple and it was well worth it. They pulled up to our boat, they helped tie off, then 2 of them hopped out and passed things down to me in the cockpit. They were great!

We had some of Sea Cycle's groceries and they had some of ours, but we figured we'd straighten it out the next day. We worked till about 8 p.m., then collapsed and finished up the next day with storing and vacuum sealing! A fun time but we're exhausted!! ~~_/)~~

AUDREY PAIGE

Great Sailing!

Happy 2012

Shelter Bay Marina - Sewing Projects and Thanksgiving

Back in Panama

Time To Head Back To Panama

Home For The Summer

Zack and Cody - Part 4

Zack and Cody - Part 3

Zack and Cody - Part 2

Zack and Cody - Part 1

Audrey Paige For Sale

Time to Change Anchorages

The San Blas Again!

Rio Chagres to Portobello

Rio Chagres

Escudo de Veraguas

Cayo de Agua and beyond!

Finally!!

Slowly Getting Ready!

Rain!!!!

Back in the Bocas Town Anchorage

Good Intentions

We're Invisible!!!!

Dennis' Birthday

Bastimentos Boat Races

Back To Red Frog

Didn't Mean To Go Back To Starfish

Visiting Anchorages :)

Starfish Beach

Free At Last!

Girls Afternoon

Still Hanging Out ~~_/)~~

Still Finding Fun Things To Do

Fun Things To Do

Still Waiting On Parts

It's a Small World

Red Frog Benefit

Bocas Marina

Again???

Anchor up!

Happy New Year!

Hike from Hell!!

Bocas del Toro

Colon to Bocas del Toro

Merry Christmas!!

Boat Chores and Provisioning

On The Way To Shelter Bay ... Again!

Back in the San Blas

In Portabello

Rio Chagres

Shelter Bay

Family Weekend

At Home In Michigan

Grand Canadian Tour

Home with family

Shelter Bay and home

Leaving the San Blas

Just Hanging Out!

To Sapzurro and Back!

Shelter Bay to the San Blas

Shelter Bay Marina

Through the Panama Canal

Back in Michigan

Swimming Pool

Boat Sitting

Clear, Blue Water!

What A Trip!!

Still Hanging Out _/)