We are currently in Texas, spending 3 months with our family and friends.  We return on March 6th to Panama.

This morning, we loaded up the Suburban with Billy, Stacie, Claire, Chase, Madonna, and Kylie, and headed to Ada, OK for Kawika's 7th birthday party.

Hugh prepared another delicious meal for us on his boat.  He is doing good, has been back to Kemah for one year now, after cruising, and he and his wife are hoping to be able to cruise the Eastern US in the near future.

It may be somewhat confusing, but when we were at Lake Texoma, we were close friends with S/V Bear Necessities and S/V Bear Necessity.  It was confusing when we were all out sailing and would hail each other on the radio.  Singular or Plural.... ☺

We have enjoyed every visit with all of our friends and family so much.  It has been a very special time for us.

We are currently in the Miami airport, waiting our next connection to Panama City.  Now that we are at this point, we are getting anxious to get home.  The current economic situation gets very depressing, watching it daily on TV.  We are ready to get back on Valentina, anchor out, and eat a lot of fish.  We can live very modestly, conserving water, power, and pennies.  We have so much to be thankful for....and realize just how good life really is.   It matters what is in your heart....not your wallet.
 

Our plane was delayed one hour so the fire extinguisher could be mounted back on.  But, we arrived safe and sound in Panama City, met up with Jim and Pat, and waited for our ride to our hotel.   All is well.  After a long day, we closed our eyes at midnight.

1)  Make a deposit into an account for our solar panels.  Yes, we are getting two more.  Hopefully, we can be totally self-sufficient on anchor.  We currently have: 2-75 watts, and 2-130 watts.   We are getting two more 130's.  They will be delivered to Bocas del Toro and we will install them.

2)  Sonny wanted a pneumatic spear-gun.  So, we hopped into a cab and headed to Abernathy's.  Sure enough, they did have 'one', however, it is currently in customs, but they can deliver it to Bocas.  Hopefully, we will get it off the ferry sometime next week.

3)  Kay wanted to go shopping at Avenida Centrale where the locals go, and clothes are good quality but very inexpensive.  So, we bought some new bathing suits and shirts, so we are clothed for a while.

We all went back to the hotel to make airline reservations for our trip back to Bocas del Toro tomorrow.  Being Sunday, the flights were full on Air Panama, so we called Aero Perlis and had reservations for $80 each.  But, they mentioned that you get one bag of 25 lbs and it is $.70 for each pound over.  For our luggage, it would cost us $150 extra to get home.  So, we opted for the all night bus trip.

So we arrived at the bus terminal at 6 p.m. for the 8 p.m. bus.  Except the 8 p.m. bus was full....so we waited for the 10:45 p.m. bus to David (little more than half-way).  They like their air-conditioners....we about froze to death.  We had extra t-shirts, so we covered our heads with them and wrapped the long sleeves around our necks.  But, we did not take pictures. ; )  

We arrived in David at 5:30 a.m.  Then, we moved to a smaller bus for the 4 hour trip to Almerante.  On this ride, you go over the top of a huge mountain and over roads that had been previously washed out.  This road is commonly closed due to high winds and mud slides, but today it was open.

The wind was howling as we were nearing the top of the mountain, along with rain.  After we arrived to Almerante, we hopped in a pick-up taxi to go to the water taxi and unloaded and reloaded our 8 heavy bags (counting Jim and Pat's) onto the launcha.  It took us 30 minutes to get to Bocas then we unloaded and reloaded our bags, for the last time, into a launcha to Carenero Marina.  Home at last!  We are so glad to be here!

Children playing at Isla Carenero

Then, we dinghied over to Bocas Marina to pick up some parts Paul and Mary Margaret brought to us from Panama City.  We were hoping it would be the perfect fit....but, it was not.  So, we went to the stores on the island, but no such luck in finding a 1" thru hull of brass for Valentina. So, we will continue the search.

Also, Sonny asked on the morning VHF net if anyone had a 1" ball valve, but no one had a spare.   We had offers of close sizes, but none that were 1".  So, we had the local diver at the marina cram a rag in the thru hull to slow the water flow, while Sonny opened the hole on the ball valve with a screwdriver, then screwed another ball valve on top of the first one.

And we are most thankful that it worked perfectly.  No leaks and the engine runs good.   It is definitely not like in the States where you can just go to West Marine to buy what parts you need.  Sometimes, you have to be creative.

Kay and Pat worked on the rain enclosure for the cockpit.  It was just solid stamoid material, and we put Lexan plastic in to make big windows to see out.  We can enjoy our cockpit much better in this rainy weather.

About 4:15 p.m. we were sitting in the palapa checking our emails, when the building started wiggling back and forth.  We looked at each other and looked around.   When I got up to go outside to look, we were told it was an earthquake.  My eyes got so big.....Being from Texas, we had never felt an earthquake before.  It only lasted about 15 seconds, but was a very different feeling. 

We took the water taxi to Bocas Marina for the chicken-fried-chicken dinner.  It was very good.  There was Steve and Mary (S/V Barefoot), Judy (currently on Tabasco), and Pat and Jim (our guests and friends from OK) and Steve (S/V Argo).   A very good evening after a very good day's work.

Pat and Kay went to the local Chinese tienda and picked up another papaya ($1.90) and pineapple ($1.75).

We received a telephone call tonight from Lola that our solar panels are finally going to be delivered in the morning.  We will meet the ferry at 10 a.m. which their delivery truck from David will be aboard.  The road from David has been closed since we came on the bus, so hopefully all will be well.

Friday, the 13th?  No, it is a good day.....our solar panels actually arrived on the ferry today.  Mañana really did mean today.

Another very good project day!

Sonny was up at the top of the mast early this morning to install our anemometer back on our wind instrument.  We sent it off to Switzerland to be repaired while we were in Texas.   He also attached a new flag halyard that broke while we were gone.

Then, we all went to eat at Cosmic Crab and this afternoon Sonny and Jim began installing our new solar panels.

A very nice place within walking distance to our marina.

Kay and Pat went to a local church service, of course, total Spanish.   We could understand some of the sermon though.

Steve and Mary (S/V Barefoot) called this afternoon to see if we wanted to go eat with them at the Cosmic Crab for their (possible) last evening in Bocas.  So, we did.

On our way, we stopped by the cabin of John and Brooke Bogart, from California.  They are here on vacation and we met them the day before.  Very nice people.  John is most interested in solar power, so when we told him the guys were installing more solar panels on our boat, they came by yesterday to check it out.

Sonny and Jim worked on the watermaker today and changed some hoses and flushed it out.  They also installed a carbon filter in the line.  It is ready for use when we leave the marina on Friday.

To get our mariner's visa, we have to take our dinghy to Bocas, where we catch a water taxi (about 30 minute ride) to Almerante.   There, you are swarmed by young boys wanting to carry packages or help you get a taxi, for a tip, of course.

 Then, we hired a taxi for $4 each to take us straight to Changuinola.

It was a most beautiful 25 minute ride.  We drove on the ridge of a mountain and the view was spectacular.  Once we arrived, we got our mariner's visa, without much hassle.

We went across the street to eat a coriente lunch.  We had stewed chicken, rice, beans, and salad for $2.25.  And, it was very delicious.

We had asked several people for a box of bananas.  The Chiquita banana plantation is in Changuinola.   We got a huge box of bananas for $5.   They are green, of course.  So, in a week or two, we will have more bananas than we will know what to do.  If you have any good recipes, please pass them along.  {thanks}

Then we took a taxi to the bus station to get back to Almerante.

Sonny sat next to a man that had worked at the banana plantation for 25 years.  He said that here are 60,000 hectares of bananas in Changuinola.  And, every Friday, they load 450,000 boxes of bananas to be shipped to Europe, which takes 16 days to get there.

Once, back in Almerante, we took a taxi to the water taxi, then the 30 minute ride back to Bocas.

Every day is an adventure, and getting around is always exciting.  You are so thankful to return to the cockpit of Valentina at the end of the day.

After our showers, we talked to some of our kids and grandkids on Skype.  How cool!  We now have a camera on our computer, so we can see them too!  It makes it easier being away from them when we can keep in touch.  But, we sure do miss them.

We will not have access to the internet to update the website as often, but are all four (Pat, Jim, Sonny and I) doing wonderful and I will update when we are near an internet cafe. 

You can email us at our winlink address, which we will check daily on board.

We then went over to Bocas Marina to talk to Paul and Mary Margaret on S/V Angel Heart and Joe and Sharon on S/V Rose of Sharon.  They are going to the San Blas islands and had some questions about it. 

We are anchored out at Bastimentos, near Red Frog Beach.   Just enjoying a quiet evening, watching a dolphin swim around the boat, birds flying near the island, and watching the shapes of the clouds as they fill the sky. 

Life is so good....we are very thankful!

Today is rainy, dreary....but it will not stop us.   We are all going to dinghy over to Red Frog Beach in search of the famous, tiny, poisonous red frog.

We enjoyed the beach, in spite of the cold drizzle.   On our way back on the trail, we asked a local about the red frogs.  He paused, then said, "I hear one", and proceeded to tromp out across the vines in search of the red frog.   Finally, he said, "Here he is".   So, we all tromped over to where he was, and sure enough, there was a tiny red frog.  He is about the size of your thumbnail.  Pat was quick with the camera and we have photos of him.

Later, we were riding around in the dinghy and a local came up to us paddling his ulu.  He asked us for four dollars for some food.   We told him we did not have the money but would give him some beans. He was thankful.

When we found out where he lived, we gave him a bag of beans.  When we arrived, he was reading a New Testament on the dock.

We all played Mexican train dominoes tonight until 11 p.m.  Ready for a good night's sleep to the sound of the drizzling rain.

It was just breathtakingly beautiful property.  We have been there before, but it is just as awesome now.

When the cacao is yellow, they open the pod to retrieve the beans.  Then they ferment the beans for four days.  Then they put them in the sun to dry.

He has a 12 x 12 work room that he uses an old butane tank reservoir to heat the chocolate to 250 degrees, then he puts it in a grinder 10 times, to grind and liquefy the chocolate.  It is then ready to put into molds for selling.

And.....we found some.....little green frogs.

A neat thing......this daddy frog on the right,  carries his baby on his back.  He takes his baby to the base of a tree or a flower that retains water and deposits his baby into the water. He then returns to feed them...each day.

They had a bag of marañon for sale for one dollar. 

Marañon is the red pear shaped fruit from the cashew plant.  The poisonous cashew nuts hang off the bottom of the yellow and orange pear like fruits.  The fruit is safe to eat, but the cashew is poisonous until it is carefully roasted.  One cashew nut is harvested from each fruit.  No wonder why they are so expensive.

These are photos when we were leaving.  We are not taking photos after being out for 30 hours.  ; )

We had a 15-18 knot wind and as it got darker, the swells turned into probably 8' short, choppy waves.

We were greeted during our crossing by four different schools of dolphin.  One group we could see coming towards Valentina, all jumping out of the water. 

We saw a lot of flying fish, but did not snag anything on our fishing lines while trolling.

While underway, Kay prepared a pot of beans, pork chops and sliced tomato for our lunch.

We checked in with the SW Caribbean evening net at 5 p.m. to let them know we are underway and will check back in at 8:15 a.m. in the morning. 

When we left, a catamaran sailboat was ahead of us.  That was the only boat/ship we saw the entire day/night until about two hours before we arrived at Linton, when we crossed the ship traffic for the Panama Canal.  We passed (or dodged) six ships in about one hour.

We saw a huge turtle when we arrived at the entrance to Linton.  We poked his head up and saw us, and dove down very quickly.

At 4:30 p.m., we dropped our anchor.  Pat and Kay prepared some bean burritos, while Jim and Sonny cleaned up the boat from the crossing.

We all took showers and crashed into bed at 7:30 p.m.

We have always said, "For us, crossings are not fun!  Especially one day ones.  Your body is not is a routine, and we do not sleep well while underway.  But, it sure is good when you drop the anchor at another beautiful place to explore."

What an animal day....

We walked over to Ann and Sarah's house and enjoyed their parrot and toucan.

Then, we dinghied over to the island to see the wild spider monkeys.  The girl monkey was friendly, until her man came around, then they are not as friendly.

Then, we went up to Bennie and Roger's beautiful home for a ping-pong day.  It was so nice and their home is just awesome.  Roger designed and built it, and they are the proud owners of four sloths.  "Lightning" is the princess and lives in their bed. 

They are all very much part of the family.  They have adopted the four sloths and have many more in their beautifully landscaped backyard.

Sonny's plan is to be at the machine shop, and stay, until "Manaña" arrives and the job is completed.  Luckily, with 4 people in their small office, they decided to get right on our project, and, thankfully, they did a very good and thorough job.   Sonny and Jim were looking over the gentleman's shoulder the whole time, as he worked diligently to get our shaft just as perfect as we requested.  (You just could not hang out in the machine shops in the US like this).

We took a taxi to McDonald's for lunch, then off to the Rey's supermarket, then waited for the bus outside.  We took the bus to Portobello, then, we had to get off, and wait two hours for another bus to take us to Puerto Linda (where Valentina is anchored).

We met a lady on the bus that was 95 years old.  She was such a sweetheart and loved to have her picture taken.  She would just giggle when she would see herself in the display on the camera.

Sonny put on our bus driver's hat, which he really liked.  It is a Panama hat, which sells for $125.  (Maybe he will just model it with a 95 year old and not buy one....).

When we returned to Valentina, after a hard's day bus rides, we jumped in the water for some salt water showers.

What a good month it has been....not a lot of fun, like you would think the cruising life should be...but it has been very beneficial.   Sometimes, it is not always easy, but it is definitely worth it.

We are so thankful to have Pat and Jim on board with us.   There are not a lot of people who could live in such close quarters of a boat for months at a time.  We are truly thankful for their friendship.

You can email Pat and Jim or us at our winlink email address on the boat.   Thanks for traveling with us.