MAY 08- DEC. 08 (Finally the SAN BLAS/Kuna Yala)
MAY: Bocas Del Toro Panama: Back on Attitude w/o crutches yea! Off we go to Starfish beach Puento Roancho.. Beautiful pt. with nice
clean water, something we haven’t seen in awhile. Not bad snorkeling Neil found a trident trumpet shell with a starfish attached, we are still
not sure who was eating whom?? Also sailed over to Martin-Perez , spotted a good size nurse shark & a few arrow head crabs. Man nice
to be out in the water again. Well we had 2 weeks out and need to go back to get refridge worked on ALWAYS SOMETHING.. prop on
dinghy needs to be replaced, radar not working on nav pod topside & jib needs repair. Love this boat life.
JUNE: Gallegos Cays: Mr (grandson Jared) here with us nice cays in the mangroves. Snorkeling we saw a toadfish and a few nurse sharks,
NO fish to shoot for dinner but a fisherman passed us in his cayuca as we were snorkeling .Cashed in bought 4 lobsters and 2 snappers for
$20. Neil did have to jump in the dinghy and go back to Attitude to get some cash. Had a call from Always Sunday (another boat) MTV
was filming “Island “a reality show at Starfish so we headed back with mr at the helm, to late they were dismantling the set. But we did see
lots of lobster, porcupine fish & rays while snorkeling. Back to Bocas mr caught a Spanish mackerel it’s the only fish we have caught in
Panama so far! Hanging in anchorage at Bocas Mr and I in the water and he starts SCREAMIN’ swims like a maniac back to Attitude.
Poor guy was stung by some tentacles of a jelly, neither of us saw. A bit of vinegar and a Fanta he was fine in a few hrs. But wow what a
good pic ha! Off we go again to the Zapatillas & Escudo DeVeraguas.. Gpa Neil and Mr. body surfed all afternoon in the great waves off
Escudo De Veraquas while I shell hunted. Took Dinghy around to East side of EDV to snorkel around. Big waves & some cool coves mr
and I went into while gpa Neil did his spear fishing thing. Time for mr to leave, as he is packing we see Javier (our gecko) sitting on his
toothpaste! I guess he was saying goodbye too.
JULY : Cauchero,7 miles SE of Bocas on the mainland. Going to visit Karen & Brad (Karen’s Weigh) who are building there. Saw
Dolphins a few times on our way there, always makes a passage fun. Great place, nice harbor and jungle full of wild life. Howler monkeys
could be heard ea morning, tree sloths were spotted from my kayak and while hiking along up to where K& B are building AND we even
saw the famous poison dart frogs (blue & green). While Neil was off taking care of his visa I went on a dinghy trip with Brad and Mark
(Balance) up the rivers. Beautiful paddle down river lots of flowers one which Brad had to have. So we paddle the dinghy over to shore
hang on a tree while Brad reaches up to take the flower. Hum what is that buzz YIKES its bees paddle, paddle fast.. Shoot they are still
around us….. Duh the nest was on the flower!!!! We did escape w/o any stings lucky us. 4th of JULY 3 American boats and one Brit &
Canadian all meet up so Tommy & Cynthia (Moon Dancer) the non Americans bring hotdogs.. They were excellent he put sauted onions
and cheese on them & even wrapped them in foil “hey that’s what you Americans do right?” Can’t beat hanging on a boat in a gorgeous bay
as a beautiful spotted Eagle ray did his dance Better than fireworks! Rest of July sucked… had the refridge torn apart(all teak box) boat a
mess smelled like fiberglass and dust all over Plus we lived out of coolers and had the 2 lg boxes from freezer and refridge in middle of cabin
YUK! Oh yea in all of the mess we had Cynthia with her sewing machine re stitching our canvas..
AUG: Bocas Del Toro Worth the carpenter finally finished the refridge & put it all back together looking great!!! Hey only 10 weeks off
and on. Michael my nephew had asked us a yr ago if Neil could marry him on our boat. Sure we said… after research they found out it is
just a myth that a captain can legally marry people. SO Neil got on line while in Bocas and became a minister.. Seriously! His religion is the
Neptunism and the church is The Order of the Trident…. Off we went back to Starfish bay with Michael and Terah for a wedding. Neil in
his “outfit” picks up bottle from the surf which has M& T vows in it. Beautiful day, ceremony, bride and groom, Neil’s 1st performance he
loved it! So all company come and gone time to sail to SAN BLAS…
NOPE we get a distressing call from daughter Cari seems Lily who is not to show up until Nov decided she wanted out NOW.. Off I go to
Cincinnati… Lily showed up Aug 26th weighing all of 3 lbs 2 oz. . It was a scary month or so but all turned out well. I came home to
Attitude in Oct and left a happy little girl(tweeters) with her mom and dad.
OCT. Bocas FINAL Days Gathering all the stuff NEIL ordered and has sent to me in Cincy I get an e from him before I leave. “Hey I
was robbed last night!” It was a storm all hatches were closed but the companionway was open like always. When Neil got up he noticed
his phone was gone then hey so is the computer CRAP… Well those who know Neil well can imagine how mad he was Not that things
were gone just that he slept through it… He is SOOO ready with all his weapons ha. I am glad he did sleep. Ok we have another comp so
not to bad. Off to marina for drinks and dinner wake up and crap front hatches are open and EVERY door and drawer is open! “ Ah Neil
did you move your spear guns” NOOOOOO guess what they got us again! This time all fishing poles spear guns other computer gone. So
off to Panama City we go to replace things, poor Neil never got you use his new riffe spear gun. Neil decided to play Columbo so after he
did the police stuff he headed for the “streets”. By that I mean he went to all the drug dealers in town and asked about our stuff. It seems the
kid who stole our things is well known around Bocas. After a week all “dealers” new Neil and were looking out for us.. I really think Neil
thought he was Serpico as he cruised around the back streets ea day! Well we still managed to have some fun. Charkey (runs the cantina)
has a ponga so 11 of us went out for a day trip. We had Tons of fun and nice water to snorkel in. Also squeezed in a “drive by” to
Dolphin Bay where Moon Dancer was anchored. They had an 11 MOON surprise, probably not a pretty sight ha! Fantastic guys on
Jackaroo, Dyllan and Darion, were the life of the marina they performed fire dance shows a few times and were very good. Darion also
gave a great strip show for a party on shore. Let’s just say he is not shy! Leaving Bocas was bitter sweet. What a great gang of friends we
had and hated to leave but were sooo ready to make our way to San Blas. We had a wonderful going away dinner with the entire cast of
characters… Hopefully we will see some of them down the line.
OCT.23rd.: SAN BLAS HERE WE COME: off of dock at 7:15 Neil caught a Mackerel right away and one “sort of “ jumped out of the
cooler.. NOT MY FAULT! Anchored in Escudo de Veraquas by 3pm in time for nice cerviche for happy hr. Checking nav lights for out
overnight and guess what port nav not working! Like I said always something. Off we go to Portobello nice motor sail no rain and calm
night. Passing the Panama Canal was pretty cool,lots of huge ships waiting their turn.. someday that will be us! We got into Portobello a few
days to late & missed the Festival of the Black Christ, oh well ! Portobello has a huge history , lots of forts and Christopher Columbus
stopped their on his 3rd trip. This was a major haven for silver, which brought on many pirate attacks.. We should have really gone for a
dive there! From Portobello we headed to Isla Grande for a night, picked up a hitch hiking mangrove swallow on the way. Poor thing was
really tired I guess and needed a rest!
OCT 29 On to Porvenir, Neil caught a nice 22 lb tuna! Yippee we are definitely back into the cruising life. Porvenir. 1st port in San Blas
(KUNA YALA is the real name of San Blas) there were 3 ulus (dugouts) waiting for us full of Kuna Indians and the molas they make.
MOLA:brightly covered reverse-applique panels, made by sewing together layers of fabric & cutting down through layers to form designs &
figures often telling stories. All this done by hand..I asked them all to come later so we could go check in.. Kuna’s came right back and of
course I did by one mola.. hey start out slow I have heard people who buy hundreds.
So our 1st night in San Blas we had rain with the infamous LIGHTENING all night & heard a few good bangs .So all checked in and veg
guy Gerardo came by so we stocked back up & headed for Chichime 2 nice islands there Uchutupu Dummat & Uchutupu Pipigua yea say
that twice fast ha!! Hum speed instrument it NOT working?? So we anchor in and what do you know a few ulus waiting … I hand out some
candy to the kids but say no thanks for molas..BUT one person says oh you speak English ? It turns out it was Lisa a famous mola maker..
So we bought a few more now we are up to 7 ha..but hey gifts ya know.So we are done… well now we have Venancio the real master
mola maker at our boat.ok ok now we have 14 but DONE really! Lobster man come by he tries to sell for 15 ha no way we end up with a
2-3 lb for 10 and a magazine! Thank goodness we saved tons of mags for the Kunas! Halloween we are by ourselves but did make N
dress up at least for a pic. And btw we had tricks & treats!
Hum sailmail not working! Neil worked on all ssb connections and grounding for the next few days still not getting out. I was even in the
back lazarette taking things apart!
Holandes/Swimming Pool ,Kauquirdup,Banedup & Ogoppirladup..like I said swimming pool ha! Fantastic place nicest water since Los
Aves Ven…. N & I head off to reef to check things out he is hunting Im just looking .no luck but I did see a lg reef shark! Happy hr
hanging on Attitude I see about 8 dolphin but they are all in a bunch & cruising back & forth. COOL then I see a very sm baby he flips up
and lays on top of a big one ,then goes under.. hey I think I just saw a birth or dolphin swim lessons .. so fun this went on for at least an hr..
SEE why I love this life!!
Hum Radar says scanner not responding!! Now what. We get a hold of Dave from Ft Lauderdale ( our electronic friend) wow he says what
all is out?? Radar/ssb tuner/wind… Hum any lightening? Sounds like a side strike ! YOU’RE KIDDING? Ok we had one day in SanBlas
(which is famous for lightening) and we must of gotten hit .. CRAP.. ok well we are going back to the states for Christmas this yr so we will
just have to haul all this stuff for repair could be worse..
Snorkeling is wonderful here and very clear I see ocean triggers every day just hanging out following me. Nice reef behing us has a few 6-
7ft nurse sharks that live there . A spotted eagle ray or atlantic ray almost every day, along with trunk fish, cow fish, lobsters (sm). Took
long kayak around Tiadup & BB Q islands I found a nice Caribbean crown conch shell yea a new one for my collection! Loving all the
clear water and good seafood. PRISON BREAK:We had a great array of food . 2 conchs ,4 lobster and a HUGE crab yum so we put the
crab & lobsters in a net bag ,hung it over the back of boat and ate the conch for dinner. Oh boy lobster and crab tonight WOA we had a
prison break all the lobsters escaped and left mr crab to take the wrap or in his case to get eaten!
Neil shot 2 snappers that day so we didn’t starve. We may be out in no where but you really can get what ya need. Edwino sm Kuna in an
ulu came by we bought a crab from him & he said he could get what ever we want. Now these guys are paddling sm wooden boats. Since
we can not do email we feel a bit out of touch. We do have a cell but did not buy lots of min cuz we thought we would do email. Anyway
we ask Edwino.. he paddles somewhere? Come back says call this # its his wife on another island she bought phone cards scratched them
off and told us the #’s to put in our phone. SO See all can be accomplished no matter where . Off to hunt/snorkel again on another reef N
got a nice 5lb snapper for us this time YUM.
Dad’s visit: I just get up and N says I think your dad was here? ( he has been gone a few yrs now ) we do think he shows up as a bird once
and awhile ,well ya never know. Anyway we had a very cute baby white heron hanging in the cockpit and then just sat on the deck for
awhile. He did have a big beak like my dad ????
Nov. 15 Exploring: 6 dinghies full of cruisers took off to the reef making our way over shallows to some cool grottos. Nice structures you
can dive into & come out in another hole. Very pretty, Neil went in everyone of them.. I guess he is full of “air” . I just looked. Neil did
some hunting after that while I swam around admiring more nurse sharks, reef sharks, lobster, parrot fish, & trunk fish. N found a beautiful
Queen trigger (which I said is to pretty to shoot) Well he shot it and got his spear stuck in the coral! Big time it took about 20 mins & lots of
diving down to get it out. Not to mention the looking around for the reef sharks since poor Q trigger was still on the spear, pissed off and
trying to get way. Full moon tonight so all went to B-B Q island for a full moon party. Partick on Rhapsody entertained us with his guitar
playing ,We had Attitude,Nautibear,Infini,Brick House,Bagherra,K- Sera, all howling at the moon!
Not all play time. N cleaned the bottom while we are here and had a 3ft.shark sucker following him around ,guess he was looking for a
home, Also found a mantis shrimp under Attitude so fun to watch! We also finally scrubbed the dinghy N did the bottom turned it upside
down in the water and sat on top for a few hrs of scrubbing.At the same time a nice size spotted eagle ray did a double jump behind us.
Way cool!! I did may share and scrubbed the inside for an hr or so . wow almost like new..
The Big find: took dinghy out to other side of Banedup island N did his hunting , I snorkeled around looking. Wow what is that?? Some
kind of bones., weird when I picked them up they looked like ribs with plates on them? Oh man there are a bunch of turtle shell all over. I
ended up picking up 16 lg beautiful pieces of shell poor turtle but lucky me! NO fish for dinner but we did see a nice spotted eagle ray ,
squid, huge barracuda and my favorite a lg porcupine fish just cruising along.
The deal is Neil hunts I cruise looking for Lg fish or lobster. So Neil gives me a coke bottle to float around with, I am to mark my spot when
I find something since we are ALWAYS miles apart. Well I did find a few good fish just waiting to be shot and at least a 3 lobsters
waiving their antenna. BUT lets just say we had pasta on those nights .So I am doing my part right? Nov. 23 just had a big wind storm 44
mph and hard rain last night the anchorage all light up with boats spreader lights making sure we all stay where we are. Anyway Im on the
transom just finishing my yoga look down and see a BIG fish kind of hovering under out transom… NEIL quick grab your spear gun… 13
lbs dog snapper! I like to call him YOGA FISH was our dinner that night,, Hey That was pretty good scouting I think all Neil had to do
was lean over on the step and shoot!! I think the poor guy was pooped out from the big wind /current for the last 24 hrs. Lucky Us!
Well its Turkey Day ,Runner & Nautibear(both in San Blass for up to 8 yrs) tell us they usually have a feast on the sm B-B Q island .BUT
the Kunas now have a new rule they don’t want “gatherings” of cruisers on the island. This is a deserted Island! Plus there is a Kuna who
brought tourists there to camp. So Runner was kind or crazy? And had 15 people on board for dinner. Everyone brought something just like
the states. Turkey/cranberries/stuffing even pie..The coolest part is there were only 4 Americans !! hey anything for a party!
Nov 26th Porvenir: stopped in Porvenir to check out BUT.. no port capt.. Hum now what. Well we talked the Kuna Chief into stampping a
paper we wrote up saying we were in San Blas-leaving SB but not port capt so here is a stamp and signature …and took off. Stopped in
abajo and arriba for a night .& had a nice kayak around the 2 islands.OH YEA Neil bought a kayak off Hurrah(another sailboat) so now I
have to use my get away kayak and go the OTHER WAY ha!
DEC :Shelter Bay in Colon Panama to haul out Attitude and head for the states for Christmas. :Like always we will be running for a month
or so. I get to play Nanny for Lily,Cari& James tiny premie which is huge now , for a month plus Christmas with the family ,mom, .sisters
w/their families,,brother and all our kids with their kids 1st time in 10 yrs will be way to much fun. Our great friend Dale in Cincinnati is
lending his house for this madness!.After Christmas we will do our “March ski trip” which has been moved to Jan since we are in the states
for Christmas AND we have another wedding. Son Matt& GF Katt ( I know funny huh matt & katt) are getting married Feb 7th. So
Christmas/ski/wedding & then back to ATTITUDE and San Blass plan on spending 6 months to a yr there so it’s a great time to come visit
this Beautiful place.
So until FEB….. going on yr 6 and STILL loving the boat ,water, sealife ,wildlife and yea each other… hope to you see some of you in
Panama
Kathy & Neil
MAY: Bocas Del Toro Panama: Back on Attitude w/o crutches yea! Off we go to Starfish beach Puento Roancho.. Beautiful pt. with nice
clean water, something we haven’t seen in awhile. Not bad snorkeling Neil found a trident trumpet shell with a starfish attached, we are still
not sure who was eating whom?? Also sailed over to Martin-Perez , spotted a good size nurse shark & a few arrow head crabs. Man nice
to be out in the water again. Well we had 2 weeks out and need to go back to get refridge worked on ALWAYS SOMETHING.. prop on
dinghy needs to be replaced, radar not working on nav pod topside & jib needs repair. Love this boat life.
JUNE: Gallegos Cays: Mr (grandson Jared) here with us nice cays in the mangroves. Snorkeling we saw a toadfish and a few nurse sharks,
NO fish to shoot for dinner but a fisherman passed us in his cayuca as we were snorkeling .Cashed in bought 4 lobsters and 2 snappers for
$20. Neil did have to jump in the dinghy and go back to Attitude to get some cash. Had a call from Always Sunday (another boat) MTV
was filming “Island “a reality show at Starfish so we headed back with mr at the helm, to late they were dismantling the set. But we did see
lots of lobster, porcupine fish & rays while snorkeling. Back to Bocas mr caught a Spanish mackerel it’s the only fish we have caught in
Panama so far! Hanging in anchorage at Bocas Mr and I in the water and he starts SCREAMIN’ swims like a maniac back to Attitude.
Poor guy was stung by some tentacles of a jelly, neither of us saw. A bit of vinegar and a Fanta he was fine in a few hrs. But wow what a
good pic ha! Off we go again to the Zapatillas & Escudo DeVeraguas.. Gpa Neil and Mr. body surfed all afternoon in the great waves off
Escudo De Veraquas while I shell hunted. Took Dinghy around to East side of EDV to snorkel around. Big waves & some cool coves mr
and I went into while gpa Neil did his spear fishing thing. Time for mr to leave, as he is packing we see Javier (our gecko) sitting on his
toothpaste! I guess he was saying goodbye too.
JULY : Cauchero,7 miles SE of Bocas on the mainland. Going to visit Karen & Brad (Karen’s Weigh) who are building there. Saw
Dolphins a few times on our way there, always makes a passage fun. Great place, nice harbor and jungle full of wild life. Howler monkeys
could be heard ea morning, tree sloths were spotted from my kayak and while hiking along up to where K& B are building AND we even
saw the famous poison dart frogs (blue & green). While Neil was off taking care of his visa I went on a dinghy trip with Brad and Mark
(Balance) up the rivers. Beautiful paddle down river lots of flowers one which Brad had to have. So we paddle the dinghy over to shore
hang on a tree while Brad reaches up to take the flower. Hum what is that buzz YIKES its bees paddle, paddle fast.. Shoot they are still
around us….. Duh the nest was on the flower!!!! We did escape w/o any stings lucky us. 4th of JULY 3 American boats and one Brit &
Canadian all meet up so Tommy & Cynthia (Moon Dancer) the non Americans bring hotdogs.. They were excellent he put sauted onions
and cheese on them & even wrapped them in foil “hey that’s what you Americans do right?” Can’t beat hanging on a boat in a gorgeous bay
as a beautiful spotted Eagle ray did his dance Better than fireworks! Rest of July sucked… had the refridge torn apart(all teak box) boat a
mess smelled like fiberglass and dust all over Plus we lived out of coolers and had the 2 lg boxes from freezer and refridge in middle of cabin
YUK! Oh yea in all of the mess we had Cynthia with her sewing machine re stitching our canvas..
AUG: Bocas Del Toro Worth the carpenter finally finished the refridge & put it all back together looking great!!! Hey only 10 weeks off
and on. Michael my nephew had asked us a yr ago if Neil could marry him on our boat. Sure we said… after research they found out it is
just a myth that a captain can legally marry people. SO Neil got on line while in Bocas and became a minister.. Seriously! His religion is the
Neptunism and the church is The Order of the Trident…. Off we went back to Starfish bay with Michael and Terah for a wedding. Neil in
his “outfit” picks up bottle from the surf which has M& T vows in it. Beautiful day, ceremony, bride and groom, Neil’s 1st performance he
loved it! So all company come and gone time to sail to SAN BLAS…
NOPE we get a distressing call from daughter Cari seems Lily who is not to show up until Nov decided she wanted out NOW.. Off I go to
Cincinnati… Lily showed up Aug 26th weighing all of 3 lbs 2 oz. . It was a scary month or so but all turned out well. I came home to
Attitude in Oct and left a happy little girl(tweeters) with her mom and dad.
OCT. Bocas FINAL Days Gathering all the stuff NEIL ordered and has sent to me in Cincy I get an e from him before I leave. “Hey I
was robbed last night!” It was a storm all hatches were closed but the companionway was open like always. When Neil got up he noticed
his phone was gone then hey so is the computer CRAP… Well those who know Neil well can imagine how mad he was Not that things
were gone just that he slept through it… He is SOOO ready with all his weapons ha. I am glad he did sleep. Ok we have another comp so
not to bad. Off to marina for drinks and dinner wake up and crap front hatches are open and EVERY door and drawer is open! “ Ah Neil
did you move your spear guns” NOOOOOO guess what they got us again! This time all fishing poles spear guns other computer gone. So
off to Panama City we go to replace things, poor Neil never got you use his new riffe spear gun. Neil decided to play Columbo so after he
did the police stuff he headed for the “streets”. By that I mean he went to all the drug dealers in town and asked about our stuff. It seems the
kid who stole our things is well known around Bocas. After a week all “dealers” new Neil and were looking out for us.. I really think Neil
thought he was Serpico as he cruised around the back streets ea day! Well we still managed to have some fun. Charkey (runs the cantina)
has a ponga so 11 of us went out for a day trip. We had Tons of fun and nice water to snorkel in. Also squeezed in a “drive by” to
Dolphin Bay where Moon Dancer was anchored. They had an 11 MOON surprise, probably not a pretty sight ha! Fantastic guys on
Jackaroo, Dyllan and Darion, were the life of the marina they performed fire dance shows a few times and were very good. Darion also
gave a great strip show for a party on shore. Let’s just say he is not shy! Leaving Bocas was bitter sweet. What a great gang of friends we
had and hated to leave but were sooo ready to make our way to San Blas. We had a wonderful going away dinner with the entire cast of
characters… Hopefully we will see some of them down the line.
OCT.23rd.: SAN BLAS HERE WE COME: off of dock at 7:15 Neil caught a Mackerel right away and one “sort of “ jumped out of the
cooler.. NOT MY FAULT! Anchored in Escudo de Veraquas by 3pm in time for nice cerviche for happy hr. Checking nav lights for out
overnight and guess what port nav not working! Like I said always something. Off we go to Portobello nice motor sail no rain and calm
night. Passing the Panama Canal was pretty cool,lots of huge ships waiting their turn.. someday that will be us! We got into Portobello a few
days to late & missed the Festival of the Black Christ, oh well ! Portobello has a huge history , lots of forts and Christopher Columbus
stopped their on his 3rd trip. This was a major haven for silver, which brought on many pirate attacks.. We should have really gone for a
dive there! From Portobello we headed to Isla Grande for a night, picked up a hitch hiking mangrove swallow on the way. Poor thing was
really tired I guess and needed a rest!
OCT 29 On to Porvenir, Neil caught a nice 22 lb tuna! Yippee we are definitely back into the cruising life. Porvenir. 1st port in San Blas
(KUNA YALA is the real name of San Blas) there were 3 ulus (dugouts) waiting for us full of Kuna Indians and the molas they make.
MOLA:brightly covered reverse-applique panels, made by sewing together layers of fabric & cutting down through layers to form designs &
figures often telling stories. All this done by hand..I asked them all to come later so we could go check in.. Kuna’s came right back and of
course I did by one mola.. hey start out slow I have heard people who buy hundreds.
So our 1st night in San Blas we had rain with the infamous LIGHTENING all night & heard a few good bangs .So all checked in and veg
guy Gerardo came by so we stocked back up & headed for Chichime 2 nice islands there Uchutupu Dummat & Uchutupu Pipigua yea say
that twice fast ha!! Hum speed instrument it NOT working?? So we anchor in and what do you know a few ulus waiting … I hand out some
candy to the kids but say no thanks for molas..BUT one person says oh you speak English ? It turns out it was Lisa a famous mola maker..
So we bought a few more now we are up to 7 ha..but hey gifts ya know.So we are done… well now we have Venancio the real master
mola maker at our boat.ok ok now we have 14 but DONE really! Lobster man come by he tries to sell for 15 ha no way we end up with a
2-3 lb for 10 and a magazine! Thank goodness we saved tons of mags for the Kunas! Halloween we are by ourselves but did make N
dress up at least for a pic. And btw we had tricks & treats!
Hum sailmail not working! Neil worked on all ssb connections and grounding for the next few days still not getting out. I was even in the
back lazarette taking things apart!
Holandes/Swimming Pool ,Kauquirdup,Banedup & Ogoppirladup..like I said swimming pool ha! Fantastic place nicest water since Los
Aves Ven…. N & I head off to reef to check things out he is hunting Im just looking .no luck but I did see a lg reef shark! Happy hr
hanging on Attitude I see about 8 dolphin but they are all in a bunch & cruising back & forth. COOL then I see a very sm baby he flips up
and lays on top of a big one ,then goes under.. hey I think I just saw a birth or dolphin swim lessons .. so fun this went on for at least an hr..
SEE why I love this life!!
Hum Radar says scanner not responding!! Now what. We get a hold of Dave from Ft Lauderdale ( our electronic friend) wow he says what
all is out?? Radar/ssb tuner/wind… Hum any lightening? Sounds like a side strike ! YOU’RE KIDDING? Ok we had one day in SanBlas
(which is famous for lightening) and we must of gotten hit .. CRAP.. ok well we are going back to the states for Christmas this yr so we will
just have to haul all this stuff for repair could be worse..
Snorkeling is wonderful here and very clear I see ocean triggers every day just hanging out following me. Nice reef behing us has a few 6-
7ft nurse sharks that live there . A spotted eagle ray or atlantic ray almost every day, along with trunk fish, cow fish, lobsters (sm). Took
long kayak around Tiadup & BB Q islands I found a nice Caribbean crown conch shell yea a new one for my collection! Loving all the
clear water and good seafood. PRISON BREAK:We had a great array of food . 2 conchs ,4 lobster and a HUGE crab yum so we put the
crab & lobsters in a net bag ,hung it over the back of boat and ate the conch for dinner. Oh boy lobster and crab tonight WOA we had a
prison break all the lobsters escaped and left mr crab to take the wrap or in his case to get eaten!
Neil shot 2 snappers that day so we didn’t starve. We may be out in no where but you really can get what ya need. Edwino sm Kuna in an
ulu came by we bought a crab from him & he said he could get what ever we want. Now these guys are paddling sm wooden boats. Since
we can not do email we feel a bit out of touch. We do have a cell but did not buy lots of min cuz we thought we would do email. Anyway
we ask Edwino.. he paddles somewhere? Come back says call this # its his wife on another island she bought phone cards scratched them
off and told us the #’s to put in our phone. SO See all can be accomplished no matter where . Off to hunt/snorkel again on another reef N
got a nice 5lb snapper for us this time YUM.
Dad’s visit: I just get up and N says I think your dad was here? ( he has been gone a few yrs now ) we do think he shows up as a bird once
and awhile ,well ya never know. Anyway we had a very cute baby white heron hanging in the cockpit and then just sat on the deck for
awhile. He did have a big beak like my dad ????
Nov. 15 Exploring: 6 dinghies full of cruisers took off to the reef making our way over shallows to some cool grottos. Nice structures you
can dive into & come out in another hole. Very pretty, Neil went in everyone of them.. I guess he is full of “air” . I just looked. Neil did
some hunting after that while I swam around admiring more nurse sharks, reef sharks, lobster, parrot fish, & trunk fish. N found a beautiful
Queen trigger (which I said is to pretty to shoot) Well he shot it and got his spear stuck in the coral! Big time it took about 20 mins & lots of
diving down to get it out. Not to mention the looking around for the reef sharks since poor Q trigger was still on the spear, pissed off and
trying to get way. Full moon tonight so all went to B-B Q island for a full moon party. Partick on Rhapsody entertained us with his guitar
playing ,We had Attitude,Nautibear,Infini,Brick House,Bagherra,K- Sera, all howling at the moon!
Not all play time. N cleaned the bottom while we are here and had a 3ft.shark sucker following him around ,guess he was looking for a
home, Also found a mantis shrimp under Attitude so fun to watch! We also finally scrubbed the dinghy N did the bottom turned it upside
down in the water and sat on top for a few hrs of scrubbing.At the same time a nice size spotted eagle ray did a double jump behind us.
Way cool!! I did may share and scrubbed the inside for an hr or so . wow almost like new..
The Big find: took dinghy out to other side of Banedup island N did his hunting , I snorkeled around looking. Wow what is that?? Some
kind of bones., weird when I picked them up they looked like ribs with plates on them? Oh man there are a bunch of turtle shell all over. I
ended up picking up 16 lg beautiful pieces of shell poor turtle but lucky me! NO fish for dinner but we did see a nice spotted eagle ray ,
squid, huge barracuda and my favorite a lg porcupine fish just cruising along.
The deal is Neil hunts I cruise looking for Lg fish or lobster. So Neil gives me a coke bottle to float around with, I am to mark my spot when
I find something since we are ALWAYS miles apart. Well I did find a few good fish just waiting to be shot and at least a 3 lobsters
waiving their antenna. BUT lets just say we had pasta on those nights .So I am doing my part right? Nov. 23 just had a big wind storm 44
mph and hard rain last night the anchorage all light up with boats spreader lights making sure we all stay where we are. Anyway Im on the
transom just finishing my yoga look down and see a BIG fish kind of hovering under out transom… NEIL quick grab your spear gun… 13
lbs dog snapper! I like to call him YOGA FISH was our dinner that night,, Hey That was pretty good scouting I think all Neil had to do
was lean over on the step and shoot!! I think the poor guy was pooped out from the big wind /current for the last 24 hrs. Lucky Us!
Well its Turkey Day ,Runner & Nautibear(both in San Blass for up to 8 yrs) tell us they usually have a feast on the sm B-B Q island .BUT
the Kunas now have a new rule they don’t want “gatherings” of cruisers on the island. This is a deserted Island! Plus there is a Kuna who
brought tourists there to camp. So Runner was kind or crazy? And had 15 people on board for dinner. Everyone brought something just like
the states. Turkey/cranberries/stuffing even pie..The coolest part is there were only 4 Americans !! hey anything for a party!
Nov 26th Porvenir: stopped in Porvenir to check out BUT.. no port capt.. Hum now what. Well we talked the Kuna Chief into stampping a
paper we wrote up saying we were in San Blas-leaving SB but not port capt so here is a stamp and signature …and took off. Stopped in
abajo and arriba for a night .& had a nice kayak around the 2 islands.OH YEA Neil bought a kayak off Hurrah(another sailboat) so now I
have to use my get away kayak and go the OTHER WAY ha!
DEC :Shelter Bay in Colon Panama to haul out Attitude and head for the states for Christmas. :Like always we will be running for a month
or so. I get to play Nanny for Lily,Cari& James tiny premie which is huge now , for a month plus Christmas with the family ,mom, .sisters
w/their families,,brother and all our kids with their kids 1st time in 10 yrs will be way to much fun. Our great friend Dale in Cincinnati is
lending his house for this madness!.After Christmas we will do our “March ski trip” which has been moved to Jan since we are in the states
for Christmas AND we have another wedding. Son Matt& GF Katt ( I know funny huh matt & katt) are getting married Feb 7th. So
Christmas/ski/wedding & then back to ATTITUDE and San Blass plan on spending 6 months to a yr there so it’s a great time to come visit
this Beautiful place.
So until FEB….. going on yr 6 and STILL loving the boat ,water, sealife ,wildlife and yea each other… hope to you see some of you in
Panama
Kathy & Neil
Modern cayuca making in Cauchero Panama
View from Hot Tub San Blas
Venancio(master Mola maker) & Brothers
Neil on Uchutu Pipigua San Blas
Attitude's mast view of Swimming Pool
San Blas
San Blas
Tiadup Island San Blas
air strip Porvenir San Blas
buying from the Kuna women
Kuna women selling Molas & beads
1st group of Molas from Lisa..Chichime
Lobster our usual dinner in San Blas
Entrance to Holandes SanBlas
Clear water in San Blas
Pictures from San Blas ENJOY
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