It's a Small World

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!! ~~~/_)~~~