Dec 08- Feb 09 (OFF ATTITUDE)
Dec: Spent a great month taking care of Lily (newest, premie granddaughter) and hanging with the kids. Entire family made it to Cincinnati
for Christmas. Fabulous time eating, drinking and enjoying all the little ones. We even had a dusting of snow for the day. Need to thank our
great friend Dale once again for having 14 plus people staying at his house AND he is still speaking to us.
Jan: Started the New Year off in Canada, Whistler B.C , skied for a month! Some of the kids made it up again this yr . I was a little
more nervous than I thought 1st time after last yrs big break, but by the end of the month I was not such a snail!
Feb: Back to Cincinnati for a BIG wedding. Son Matt and wife Katt’s wedding was beautiful! Small elegant and lots of FUN. It’s amazing
how everyone cleans up so nicely ha! Bride and Groom looked great and could NOT stop smiling, makes it sooooo special. Even snuck in
a family photo shoot day after wedding, lots of tired eyes.
Feb: Quick stop in Nicaragua to Visit Mike and Lynne in Giante . Relaxed on their deck over looking the ocean with a view of Costa Rica
.. Nice time nice visit
FEB –APRIL 16
Feb 20th Colon Panama : Finally back to Attitude on the hard in Shelter Bay Marina, Sherman Panama. Gave her a new bottom and
weeks of scrubbing and polishing the rust off to get Attitude back into shape. Shelter Bay Marina is surrounded by buildings and an airfield
that used to be part of the Ft Sherman U S Military reserve.
We loved the virgin rainforest and National Park and took advantage of the setting. Major nature hikes ea day. Neil and I would head out
and ALWAYS see howler monkeys, anteaters in trees or crossing the road, Tree sloth hanging about and sometimes those poor guys
would try to cross a road. The national park really got us into bird watching. I know I know not real exciting. Really Toucans & Parrots are
way cool to see close up flying about. Even I got to know different kinds of woodpeckers (no jokes about peckers please!) Neil was really
into the different hawks. We even lucked out and saw dolphins in the bay. I still needed to hunt shells and found a fantastic place. About
an hr walk you come to Playa Diablo a nice little beach where I became more obsessed with the donkey eye nuts and cowrie shells. No
kidding N & I found 100 donkey eyes one day.
We did some work here too. Since we had a lightening strike in Oct we had to replace a few things! Radar dome, control screen for our
wind instrument, Single side band tuner, (to do email) chart plotter screens. And they all WORKED!
Shelter Bay like all others had is cast of characters. Susie and Jon on Cabaret were the party people. We really enjoyed them. Susie had a
big scooter she used to buzzed back and forth to Colon, they had major work they were doing on Cabaret. I went tooling downtown Colon
with her one day. Let’s just say it’s not pretty or safe but thank goodness we both look “rough” ha!!! Really it was a blast. They also but on
a great big party for her b-day. I’m talking sound system, to get people to dance and I hate to say it but even the Macarena!! Attitude did
manage to have a St Patrick’s Day party green food and drinks even! For being stuck in a marina it wasn’t bad, hanging with Waldon
(Susan & Jeff), Limerick (Tom and Susan), and the crew
from Sea Shell and Cabaret was great.
MARCH
So Attitude all put back together and working N did tons of shopping and we are all stocked and ready to head out… Finally!!
BUT the 5th I’m up all night not feeling well, I did just eat an entire bag of potato chips
(we usually cant get those and boy were they good).6th Neil ready to take the bus for
last minute shopping but I’m still in PAIN, he is saying lets go to a doc. I’m like NAH
it’s just the friggin chips. N is gone all a.m. I’m not having fun and figure ok I’m ready
to go to hospital, a ½ hr taxi ride ONCE you can get a taxi. N gets back, I’m really
sick waiting outside for a taxi to go to the emergency room… end up in ICU with
emergency gall bladder surgery!!! All worked out ok but I did not get the nice little
holes I got a nice big zipper down my gut! Docs (pic at right) were nice and had some
English which helps. The head of the Hospital even offered to translate our bill into English
for us so we could submit it to our insurance.
Needless to say we did not lv shelter bay yet. DARN IT
April 4 Rio Chagres Panama: Entering the Rio is interesting as you Ft San Lorenzo. Took Attitude the 6 miles down to Gatun Dam (built in
1910 to create Gatun Lake and supply water for the locks of the Panama Canal) the Rio has lots of little branches off it for great kayaking.
The issue is the Alligators!
Off we go into a sm side river it’s a bit late in the afternoon so kind of shadowy! Neil is hunting for gators I’m hoping NOT to see any;
somehow my little plastic kayak is not a comfort. Wonderful wide life, so far 2 kinds of toucans, big sloth, 2 anteaters all seen from our
kayaks up close and personal. A really cute sloth is hanging over the water N has the camera so I call him over to get up under the bank
(which is high and shrubby). SPLASH Neil’s kayak goes a rocking and water is everywhere. Mr. Gator did not like N poking into his place
of rest…. He jumped down and landed on tip of the kayak then swam away.WOA I’m like that was NOT a fish lets goooooooo. N was
very quiet and a bit pale but then I heard MMMM FFFFFF come out of his mouth!!! He recovered fast and was like HEY let go follow
him… you know him always ready for an adventure.
Continuing our kayak, we hear a weird sound again near the shore, like a bird NOT an alligator, so I’m ok getting closer. N goes on one
side of trees I’m on other he tries to flush it out. All of a sudden this big thing comes flying out at me. I swear it was a platypus!!! A strange
lg bird that has a platypus bill and looks like he is wearing a toupee. Well we spot them a few more times and send emails to our friends on
Limerick, we are guessing he is a Boat- Billed Heron. Angle Heart & Rose of Sharon came to anchor by us on the Rio and its Easter, so
we had a nice brunch on Attitude Easter Baskets (made with cups and torn up green paper for grass) and even Easter eggs thanks to
Sharon on Rose of Sharon.
14th Linton Panama: 9 ½ hr sail to Linton felt good to be out again. Like always Neil has 3 lines out and yea we got something. N is
yelling for me to look cuz it appears we have 2 fish on the line. NO we have a sm shark trying to steal our tuna! We won he didn’t get
much so we had a really nice sashimi dinner.
April 16 Yippee! BACK IN SAN BLAS Porvenir: Again we had a great sail love it 7 knots, even caught 2 more tuna.YUM. Dolphins
lead us into the anchorage how cool is that?
APRIL 4-17
East Holandes (swimming pool): Banedup, Ogoppiriadup, Tiadup, & Quinouindup islands enjoying the clear water and beautiful reefs.
Yellow rays. Electric rays, spotted eagles, trunk fish, lobster, nurse sharks and lots of barracuda are our daily sightings. We anchor on
Barracuda reef (my favorite) Neil really wants to catch a barracuda. So we get in dinghy I have to drive while he trolls, I’m not thrilled we
just want to go around in circles around the reef. Ok N says just a half hr or so. With in 5 mines, he has one, cool, ok pull him in lets go
back to Attitude, NO Neil says one more time around, yea like he will catch another, sure enough he did. Nice dinner that night of Curry
Barracuda. Neil does well in the pool shot a 10 lb Nassau grouper and almost always brings home some good size school masters. While at
the “pool” you can get things done Mark on Melody does trips to Panama City and Colon, he also has the know how and tools to do
almost anything. So while we were here we bought propane for our tanks from him. (This is what we use to cook with). Like everything else
in “boat life” it’s a challenge. The tank has to be upside down and cool, so Neil rigged it up on the transom.
THE INVASION BEGINS!!! MAY-09
4-30 Buzzed over to NONOMULU for the night to pick our friend Mike up in the a.m.(HE IS GUEST #1)
5-5-09 Coco Bandero Cays, Olosicuidup,Dupwala & Guariadup beautiful set of sm islands. Guys went off to fish while I kayaked out to
sm Tiadup Island. We all met on Guariadup to walk around island. A gecko landed on Neil’s head so we named him dup and took him
back to Attitude, always good to have a pet! The boys had no luck fishing but the local Kuna guys came by and we bought 3 LG lobster
for 10 bucks, love it here!
Nargana: needed fuel and to check out the “store” greeted by Federico paddling a sm ulu(the dug-out canoes the Kuna Indians use for
transportation), he tells us he takes garbage, can get us diesel & gas and does tours! We have not heard of him from other cruisers so we
don’t use him. Into “town” we go find Paco the diesel guy sleeping in a hammock so we wake him and begin the procedure of getting diesel
and gas. Lg drums are in his yard they siphon it out with a hose into a bucket so you can see what It looks like then filtered with a rag or
sock into your cans AND guess who was there helping, Federico so now we know we can use him ha!
Back to the East Holandes (pool) for a few days nice 4 hr sail. Mike and Neil out spear fishing everyday, Mike got a 20lb 30 in black
grouper! Oh no now N needs a big one ha! I had a close encounter with a nice lg spotted eagle ray ,
the poor guy had no tail I have named him stumpy and have seen him many
more times in the Holandes. Motored back to Nonomulu for Mike to find a
ride back to Panama City waited about 4hrs. There is only one rd from
Panama City to the San Blas it’s dirt , up mts & through rivers so one never
knows IF there is a way in or out by land or not!
NEXT STOP GUNBOAT CAYS/NUBASITUPU spotted a dolphin on
the way, always makes me happy. Beautiful little island circled by a pretty
nice reef. One family of Kunas own this one so they came out to greet and
sell molas. Priciliano & Adelaida sold us a very orange and black baseball
cap all molaed up. Ha perfect for out son in law James who is a
Cincinnati Bengals fan.
EAST LEMON CAYS/BANEDUP & NUINDUP The go to man on the
Lemon Cays is Mr. G. he is a Kuna who is “trying” to make $ off the cruisers.
Well he has a shack with a shelf of like 4 old cans, 1 bottle of whiskey & an
old refridge for beer he sells. He also has someone come make Kuna bread
(long rolls) The Island he stays on is really pretty, he even has solar panels up
on bamboo poles. There is often Volley ball games &/or dinners. We really
enjoyed a seafood lunch he put on, more for the company than the food.
Hey I have Neil to cook…Great reef for snorkeling there too. I found spotted
drum fish, file fish, trunkfish. Scorpion fish, porcupine fish and a lg scrawled
cow fish.
San Blas Sea Life
EAST NAGUARGANDUP CAYS /CONBOMBIA(MORBEDUP) Perfect bay good reefs for snorkeling & 3 nice islands you can
walk around ,or in my case HUNT shells, plus only 1 boat.. NICE Heading back to Attitude, from a snorkel we see 7 boats in the
anchorage. Ok no more solitude so, let’s party. Rainbow Rider, SandCastle, Glide, Blow Me Away, Southern Bell, Dragon Fly, Toucan
and Attitude (us) had a nice fish fry on the beach. Dennis from Glide even made a table out of bamboo and palm leaves!!
EAST HOLANDES (POOL) a fast stop here got some cool snorkeling in as always, nurse sharks, eagle rays, little puffer fish, some cool
banded coral shrimp, and a nice big golden tail eel. Dragon fly (Jeff & Una) came by to invite us back to the Lemon cays for a wedding. His
sister was coming down to the sand blas to get married “Kuna Style” Well hey we love parties!
EAST LEMON CAYS, BANEDUP “The Kuna Wedding” Laurie and Hans came down for a traditional Kuna wedding 50 cruisers (none
knew the Bride and Groom before the big day) gathered on Banedup Island. Mr. G (the Kuna go to man) planned traditional dances by
Kuna Indians, traditional food (rice) and a Kuna ceremony, including Kuna clothing. In the ceremony the village picks the man up & puts
him in the hammock, next the women, they do this 3 x’s then the couple stay in the hammock for 3 days while the MOM sits with them! The
Kuna couple do NOT know ea other before the “hammock toss”. Well H & L were great sports, 1st off Kunas are TINY people, H & L
are not but somehow the Kunas dressed them for the wedding. They did modify the hammock toss a bit too, 1 x instead of 3 and poor
Laurie kept telling them IM Big you cant pick me up. Wellllllll they managed. It was a great party; lots of talented musical cruisers out there
gave us music all eve. Thanks to Laurie, Hans and Jeff & Una for putting it all together and inviting us.
WESTERN HOLANDES, ACUAKARGANA/WAISALADUP fun to explore new anchorages. Attitude all alone here, nice after all the
parties lately. N is off hunting I’m snorkeling saw the cool yellowline arrow head crabs, lobster ,porcupine fish, French angles and ocean
trigger fish. N had no luck so when he came back I showed him the lobster I found. Well they outsmarted us again; we could not get those
suckers out from under the coral. So here we are really out in the middle of no where and an ulu paddles up and asked if we could plug in
their cell and charge it.A bit bizarre I would say. Ha!
Ok so it’s not all just parties, fishing and snorkeling. Our refridge is constantly having issues Neil is really a good mechanic now even if he
doesn’t want to be. Our chart plotter is acting up again, dinghy is in need of repairs, organizer ( for lines on deck ) needs fixing, Neil’s kayak
is all cracked and duct taped (really it works) so he needs to find a way to fix that, Blah blah blah.. It is always something. We head
back to the East Holandes (the pool), if you haven’t guessed that is our favorite spot. Here we work on a few things, pick up supplies from
Mark (on Melody), get some snorkeling in Neil did a bit of spear fishing & we got ready for guest # 2. It was time for Jarrid 11 yr old
grandson’s annual month or 2 visit. Plus every Monday on B-B- Q island is Happy hr. can’t miss that.
Off to Panama City I fly to meet Mr. (Jarrid) at the airport. Drop off bags at Marparaiso(our fav and cheap place to stay in the city) and taxi
to shop. Heading for Riba Smith, grocery store with all kinds of goodies like we can find in the U. S. and you know I already had a nice
long list ha!
Up for 6 a.m. flight to San Blas, (Corazon De Jesus) Neil (gpa) and Federico our find anything do anything for you guy is there to help with
bags all well.
WEST COCO BANDEROS /ORDUPTARBOAT for a day Mr. jumped off side of Attitude ASAP, need to renew our papers so off to
ISLA PORVENIR nice entry with a dolphin to greet us. Did a fast stop at the office and off to EAST LEMONS CAYS
/BANEDUP/NUINIDIP we gave Mr the job of diving the anchor from now on. He did a great job diving down to make sure we are in
the sand ok(job #1) Nice treat underway N caught a small shark an Atlantic sharpnose, which we had for happy hr on Slip Away, really
tasty! .Great to see them again it’s been a few yrs. Fun afternoon had a nice snorkel til a storm blew up. Mr. and I just chilling slowly back
to the boat watching a turtle, spotted drum and lobsters while N is on deck yelling get back here winds blew up to 30 knots. Next day on
Banedup for a, lobster lunch and Volley ball. Tim & Paula on Hooligan came by to show Mr. a HUGE helmet shell, beautiful we all ohhh
and awed them threw him back in hoping the Kunas did not go pick him up and eat him.
EAST HOLANDES (POOL) huge supply from Mark(on Melody) to pick up great having Mr. onboard to unload dinghy ,write dates on
all and help put away(job #2 for him ) So gpa figures Jarrid is ready Spearfish, well I’m not thrilled but off we go. Gpa gives Mr. a Hawaiian
sling to use turns out the kid is pretty good he ended spearing at least 4 fish on his vacation. If not spear fishing/ snorkeling we are kayaking
& Mr. and gpa always take things to the extreme, they had kayak wars. While Mr. and I kayaked to different islands to hunt for treasures
one day we saw a really good waterspout a bit to close for my comfort but Jarrid was like lets get closer!!! Spent fathers day/summer
solstice on EAST COCO BANDEROS/DUPWALA Nice cookout on Dupwala with Angel Heart, Hooligan, Dream Weaver, Rainbow
Rider, El Regalo, & Blue Sky
SALARDUP Mr. at the helm the entire way, he is great at keeping on track. (Job#3).We anchored here to wait for Lisa (master mola
maker, tour guide and transvestite) to pick us up in the a.m for a tour up the Rio Sidra., Rose of Sharon, (Sharon, Joe and grand daughter
Hannah) joined us. It is a 1 hr ride in a dug out canoe (ulu), and then we hike. Lisa takes us up to her family cemetery, shallow graves with
the deceased belongings hanging near. Lisa was a bit upset because the rains cause the graves to cave in and her mother’s was caving in.
Here we are given a sm cross make of bamboo to help keep us safe on our journey!!! 2 hr hike we finally get to the river and jumping spot.
Gpa & Mr. love this. I’m a whip but finally I am pressed, ya know grandkid pressure, to jump. The way back you follow the river which is
very cool, a few places you have to slide down rocks into the river & one more jump, which they did NOT tell me about, but I made it!
We found a cool seed pod that holds my favorite, donkey eye nuts and a cool looking frog with a white head
Trip was fantastic and I will have to put that on our “tour list”.
Here we go, tuner on Single Side Band radio not working, which means no email, & fan on invertor not working so its keeps over
heating!!! But the local fishing guys came by and we got a nice big crab YUM
SHARKS
Back to the EAST HOLANDES (POOL) Mr. at the helm all the way again! Off we go to gpa‘s favorite spot to hunt, which we have
named shark alley. N goes one way and Mr. & I go the other way I just kind of hang behind him and watch him hunt, all of a sudden he
swims by and says hey that nurse shark is following me! Nurse sharks are not usually aggressive and he didn’t have a fish on the spear or
anything so it was sort of weird. Next we see a black tip reef shark cool he just swims by. Went back to same reef a few days later this time
we have an aggressive shark really bothering us. Mr. and I just keep going a different way trying to get away from him. After N has a few
fish, including the 1st Barracuda he has shot, we head back to Attitude to look at the book again re: sharks. WELLLLLL it turns out a
Lemon Shark is what was bothering Mr. and me! Wow a true example of ignorance is bliss (or stupid) we were actually laughing and
couldn’t figure out what was up with these 2 sharks, we thought it was parent and kid and we were bothering them. Stayed a while at the
pool gpa and Mr. supplied dinner every night one day had a great haul ,flounder, crab, ocean trigger, lobster & Mr.’s 3 fish . By now Jarrid
is good at cleaning all his fish too.
Runner (Deb & Reg) invited us onboard for a magic show. Herb on Bokanon (Margo) is a really good slight of hand magician and gave a
performance for us. No kidding we were sitting right in front of him and a cockpit is not a HUGE space but we never caught any of his
“tricks”. Later Herb invited Mr. to his boat to show him some ticks. Mr. came back with a new deck of cards,cd’s with magic tips on them ,
emails and info and 2 fantastic tricks! Seriously I have no idea how he was doing it but hey ya never know we may have a Houdini! Thanks
again to Herb that was really nice of him.
JULY 09
Ok so 4th of July I am up about 5 am cant sleep just reading and I feel the boat shaking like a huge thing is under it and shaking it about.
Weird I go topside look around, thought maybe someone dragged into us or something. Later that day I hear someone talking about an
earthquake here in San Blas, Isla Porvenir, 18 mi from us had a 6.5 earthquake. Hey I’m not nuts we really did’ have something shaking the
boat.
Nice party on B-B Q island, 30 people, .red white and blue flags lots of good food and a conch blowing contest. Attitude did not win but
Mr. and I tried! Time for Mr. to leave, he was so fun this yr and a huge help, checking the oil before ea passage, anchor diving, filling and
sinking bottles, taking the helm ,cleaning fish, learning to chop veggies with gpa 10in chef knife!, and most important setting up happy hrs ea
day HA!
East Lemons Alberto picked us up at 5:30 am in his lancha, to take us to Porvenir where we will fly to Panama City, Paula from Hooligan
joined us. Mr. and I headed to Tocumen International and off he went boo hoo! Met Paula back at Marparaiso and we went out for a
fantastic dinner at Manola Caracol 15 plus courses and wine, aw poor Neil and Tim missed it. Next day shop shop and shop driver picked
us up at 9 and at 2 we finished after hitting EVERY store possible and picking up new tuner for SSB from marine warehouse. 3 hr trip in
jeep back towards Carti where Alberto picked us up in his lancha again and returned us to the East Lemons… long 2 days but fun and now
we are loaded once again with rum junk food and wine! Every thing put away N hooked up new turner but NO LUCK, SSB still now
working. Rich off of Slip Away was heading into Panama City & offered to take ssb radio and tuner to a place in Panama City, we hope to
get repaired.
NARGANA time for our 3rd guest daughter Christine, Andy and Ella (2)!! So Clean sheets, towels, room for Ella, bake cookies, get gas ,
Kuna bread, and get out the umbrellas for the welcome drinks, we are ready.
July 11 straight for the “pool” Eastern Holandes went out of bay for a nice day sail since we had good wind. Hung here for awhile N took
Andy off to “shark Alley” for a hunt so he got to see the nurse, Lemon and reef sharks. This was Andy’s 1st time to use a spear gun, but he
figured after one day he was ready! Off he swam from stern of Attitude (onto Barracuda reef, the same place we always anchor) with gun in
hand. We are on deck in hammock playing with Ella and I see Andy swimming like a maniac yelling something but he still has snorkel in
mouth. Then I hear BARRACUDA, so I’m thinking yea no biggy the reef is full of them , then I hear SHARK and Andy is walking on
water, jumps in our dinghy (tied behind Attitude).It was like a seal leaping into the dinghy he is flush and out of breath! Andy had shot a LG
barracuda and had to swim against current AND he swears a shark was coming at him. Again the ignorance is bliss rule applies. Don’t
spearfish far from the boat or dinghy and really not a good idea at 4 or so in the afternoon that is feeding /hunting time for sharks. Christine
Andy Ella Papi (Neil) and I all enjoyed getting some plain old snorkeling in on Barracuda reef. Christine ended up with a nice Trident
Trumpet shell to clean up and take home. Spotted a nice octopus, electric ray, yellow line arrowhead crab & some banned coral shrimp.
Coco Banderos Dupwala cook out on the beach with Hooligan & Mystic Moon, so Andy was able to show off his lg ocean trigger and we
had a really good dinner .Shopping day Catherine a French woman on Eolia rowed over to Attitude and told us she makes jewelry out or
Tagua nuts, (a nut sometimes called vegetable ivory,) Cool she came onboard and we all ohhhed, awed and bought she really had beautiful
pieces. Hey then we see Lisa (remember transvestite master mola maker) on Guariadup island (next to our boat) so we call her over and
C& A get to see and buy a few molas. Ok the San Blas experience is complete now ha! Ella and I did a lot of kayaking, I would put her in
and we would tie Mr. Turtle (her float) to the back of the kayak and head for an island beach... Ella loved the beach and that is what she
would ask for ea day! She held fish, starfish and even a lobster but she likes to through all things back into the water so we had to keep a
good eye on her ha! We had no problems with getting her to sleep poor girl was exhausted ea day, even passed out eating a tootsie roll
pop. By the time they left Andy was supplying his fare share of fish & great at making fires (had to go to islands, dig. build a fire and burn
diapers Yuk). I think Christine got some r&r and became a really good shell hunter, digging on the beaches for even tiny shells! The week
went fast but we love being grammy & papi and giving Christine & Andy a peek into our “boat life”
Daily Boat Crap July 18
So now we have no chart plotter (sent it with Christine to send in), no Single Side Band radio (no email), inverter still over heating, dinghy
engine STOPPED working the day we dropped off Christine Andy and Ella in Corazon De Jesus. Dinghy still loosing air patches not
working well I guess, AND now we have a hot water issue, we need a new one! No hot water yikes! ok Neil works on D engine & takes it
to someone on island cool its working & cost 12 bucks. let’s get out of here Nargana is not a pretty place it’s lined with out houses on
every space you see!
GREEN ISLAND 7/20-29th a nice close 3 ½ miles from Nargana. New place for us plus no chart plotter so we had to learn how to use a
hand held GPS, talk about spoiled ha! Slip Away also in anchorage really pretty bay a few neat islands to hunt around and good reefs for
fishing! Ulu pulls up with crab and lobster and the kunas start to point and say Coucho Coucho. we look and there is the “ALLIGATOR”.
We had heard there was one here but really thought it was BS. nope he is real and big! I yell get the camera N says I’m busy, pancakes
were his priority NOT a pic of an Alligator! We ask the Kunas doesn’t he bother you or eat people so one kids jumps in the water and
starts yelling, old Coucho just kept going. Needless to say I was not very relaxed after that when ever we went out to snorkel. Neil came
back one day with an octopus, made a great app and we had a nice happy hr on SlipAway. Enjoyed 9 days of fishing and snorkeling before
guest # 4 came down. Daughter Michelle who has not been on Attitude, Jarrid always comes alone, called and said hey J is at his dads and
I may come down with Boy friend is that ok.. Cool! Beautiful sunset at Kanlidup.
BACK TO NARGANA CORAZON DE JESUS make water, clean sheets,towels,buy beer, Kuna bread and hopefully some veggies or
fruit we are empty! Oh yea and get out the umbrellas for the welcome drinks
Shell and Spinney make it in at 6:50 am, the plane is even a few minutes early!
Breakfast and off we go to the East Holandes (pool). It’s a 4 hr sail but that day we had rough seas and 10ft waves. Poor Shell it is
NEVER like that. No fish underway darn it. Into water ASAP on to Barracuda reef but there is a pretty strong current and shell is not sure
of her snorkeling skills so she used the kick board.
Huge waves breaking on the reef so the boys go off in the dinghy to check it out. As usual we took them out to “shark alley” told shell she
has to see the sharks since we had her son hanging out with them ha! Saw nice spotted eagle ray, lobster, trunk fish, and lots of squid. Shell
and I did spot 3 nice size nurse sharks hanging under a ledge, Shell was not thrilled!! Michelle and Spinney went for kayaks just about every
day and Spinney and N went spear fishing poor Spinney never did get a fish and got one spear stuck in a coral head but I think he did have
fun. Michelle and I took a day kayaked to Tiadup walked around shell hunting it was really fun and back just in time for a nice happy hr with
crab and shots of Tequila! Last day for them in the pool they were up at 5 watching the sun rise and out in the kayaks by 6! Local guys
came by so we lucked out and they did get to have lobster and crabs!! Nargana anchored and the kids packed up their things. They got to
meet Frederico and Shell gave herself a pedicure on the sandspit. We really enjoyed having Michelle onboard we had another fun week
with family LOVE IT!
AUGUST 09
WESTERN COCO BANDEROS/ORDUPTARBOAT great spot all alone 2 nice islands and many reefs to hunt on we chilled here for
about a week, when Hooligan called as passing and wanted us to come over to Eastern Cocos to hook up for dinner since they will be
leaving SanBlas soon. With no radio for 2 months and lots of company we have been out of touch so we went and had a really nice cook
out with Blue Sky, Hooligan and 2 by sea.
NONOMULU chart plotter and SSB (radio) are both repaired and have been sent to Panama City, we took Attitude to Nonomulu so Neil
could fly out of Carti. Nice rainy day, plane 1hr late and unbelievable chitras (no see ums) biting. There is a very sm dark block building
(office ) a man came out with a burning blanket, we find out it is how they try to get rid of the chitras the burning blanket was in this no
windowed block building, talk about smoke! So N is off I dinghy back to Attitude ahhhh alone time, but its raining all day and the bugs are
terrible! The plan was for N to go in pick stuff up do some shopping(always) and he “had “ a jeep ride back, that is why he flew out of Carti
not Corazon De Jesus. Well Ricardo never showed up so Neil was with Roger (the guy who picked him up at the airport, and ran him
around all day) sitting at the grocery store with piles and piles of stuff and our electronics! Roger was great called around and they finally
found N a ride back the next day. So N headed for Marparaiso, went to dinner at Manolo Caracol and came home the next day.
EAST HOLANDES back to our “home “on barracuda reef. Neil puts in chart plotter, & Single Side band they work!!!! I get sail mail
working again, we are full of veggies, fruit, wine, rum & coke. Life is good
We will hang here and wait for guest # 5, Cari, James and Lily (1) will be heading down Sept 4th. Thank goodness we only have 4 kids and
Matt changed his trip to coming to Whistler to ski instead of San Blas ha!!
Next up date will be short I promise !!!!!
Dec: Spent a great month taking care of Lily (newest, premie granddaughter) and hanging with the kids. Entire family made it to Cincinnati
for Christmas. Fabulous time eating, drinking and enjoying all the little ones. We even had a dusting of snow for the day. Need to thank our
great friend Dale once again for having 14 plus people staying at his house AND he is still speaking to us.
Jan: Started the New Year off in Canada, Whistler B.C , skied for a month! Some of the kids made it up again this yr . I was a little
more nervous than I thought 1st time after last yrs big break, but by the end of the month I was not such a snail!
Feb: Back to Cincinnati for a BIG wedding. Son Matt and wife Katt’s wedding was beautiful! Small elegant and lots of FUN. It’s amazing
how everyone cleans up so nicely ha! Bride and Groom looked great and could NOT stop smiling, makes it sooooo special. Even snuck in
a family photo shoot day after wedding, lots of tired eyes.
Feb: Quick stop in Nicaragua to Visit Mike and Lynne in Giante . Relaxed on their deck over looking the ocean with a view of Costa Rica
.. Nice time nice visit
FEB –APRIL 16
Feb 20th Colon Panama : Finally back to Attitude on the hard in Shelter Bay Marina, Sherman Panama. Gave her a new bottom and
weeks of scrubbing and polishing the rust off to get Attitude back into shape. Shelter Bay Marina is surrounded by buildings and an airfield
that used to be part of the Ft Sherman U S Military reserve.
We loved the virgin rainforest and National Park and took advantage of the setting. Major nature hikes ea day. Neil and I would head out
and ALWAYS see howler monkeys, anteaters in trees or crossing the road, Tree sloth hanging about and sometimes those poor guys
would try to cross a road. The national park really got us into bird watching. I know I know not real exciting. Really Toucans & Parrots are
way cool to see close up flying about. Even I got to know different kinds of woodpeckers (no jokes about peckers please!) Neil was really
into the different hawks. We even lucked out and saw dolphins in the bay. I still needed to hunt shells and found a fantastic place. About
an hr walk you come to Playa Diablo a nice little beach where I became more obsessed with the donkey eye nuts and cowrie shells. No
kidding N & I found 100 donkey eyes one day.
We did some work here too. Since we had a lightening strike in Oct we had to replace a few things! Radar dome, control screen for our
wind instrument, Single side band tuner, (to do email) chart plotter screens. And they all WORKED!
Shelter Bay like all others had is cast of characters. Susie and Jon on Cabaret were the party people. We really enjoyed them. Susie had a
big scooter she used to buzzed back and forth to Colon, they had major work they were doing on Cabaret. I went tooling downtown Colon
with her one day. Let’s just say it’s not pretty or safe but thank goodness we both look “rough” ha!!! Really it was a blast. They also but on
a great big party for her b-day. I’m talking sound system, to get people to dance and I hate to say it but even the Macarena!! Attitude did
manage to have a St Patrick’s Day party green food and drinks even! For being stuck in a marina it wasn’t bad, hanging with Waldon
(Susan & Jeff), Limerick (Tom and Susan), and the crew
from Sea Shell and Cabaret was great.
MARCH
So Attitude all put back together and working N did tons of shopping and we are all stocked and ready to head out… Finally!!
BUT the 5th I’m up all night not feeling well, I did just eat an entire bag of potato chips
(we usually cant get those and boy were they good).6th Neil ready to take the bus for
last minute shopping but I’m still in PAIN, he is saying lets go to a doc. I’m like NAH
it’s just the friggin chips. N is gone all a.m. I’m not having fun and figure ok I’m ready
to go to hospital, a ½ hr taxi ride ONCE you can get a taxi. N gets back, I’m really
sick waiting outside for a taxi to go to the emergency room… end up in ICU with
emergency gall bladder surgery!!! All worked out ok but I did not get the nice little
holes I got a nice big zipper down my gut! Docs (pic at right) were nice and had some
English which helps. The head of the Hospital even offered to translate our bill into English
for us so we could submit it to our insurance.
Needless to say we did not lv shelter bay yet. DARN IT
April 4 Rio Chagres Panama: Entering the Rio is interesting as you Ft San Lorenzo. Took Attitude the 6 miles down to Gatun Dam (built in
1910 to create Gatun Lake and supply water for the locks of the Panama Canal) the Rio has lots of little branches off it for great kayaking.
The issue is the Alligators!
Off we go into a sm side river it’s a bit late in the afternoon so kind of shadowy! Neil is hunting for gators I’m hoping NOT to see any;
somehow my little plastic kayak is not a comfort. Wonderful wide life, so far 2 kinds of toucans, big sloth, 2 anteaters all seen from our
kayaks up close and personal. A really cute sloth is hanging over the water N has the camera so I call him over to get up under the bank
(which is high and shrubby). SPLASH Neil’s kayak goes a rocking and water is everywhere. Mr. Gator did not like N poking into his place
of rest…. He jumped down and landed on tip of the kayak then swam away.WOA I’m like that was NOT a fish lets goooooooo. N was
very quiet and a bit pale but then I heard MMMM FFFFFF come out of his mouth!!! He recovered fast and was like HEY let go follow
him… you know him always ready for an adventure.
Continuing our kayak, we hear a weird sound again near the shore, like a bird NOT an alligator, so I’m ok getting closer. N goes on one
side of trees I’m on other he tries to flush it out. All of a sudden this big thing comes flying out at me. I swear it was a platypus!!! A strange
lg bird that has a platypus bill and looks like he is wearing a toupee. Well we spot them a few more times and send emails to our friends on
Limerick, we are guessing he is a Boat- Billed Heron. Angle Heart & Rose of Sharon came to anchor by us on the Rio and its Easter, so
we had a nice brunch on Attitude Easter Baskets (made with cups and torn up green paper for grass) and even Easter eggs thanks to
Sharon on Rose of Sharon.
14th Linton Panama: 9 ½ hr sail to Linton felt good to be out again. Like always Neil has 3 lines out and yea we got something. N is
yelling for me to look cuz it appears we have 2 fish on the line. NO we have a sm shark trying to steal our tuna! We won he didn’t get
much so we had a really nice sashimi dinner.
April 16 Yippee! BACK IN SAN BLAS Porvenir: Again we had a great sail love it 7 knots, even caught 2 more tuna.YUM. Dolphins
lead us into the anchorage how cool is that?
APRIL 4-17
East Holandes (swimming pool): Banedup, Ogoppiriadup, Tiadup, & Quinouindup islands enjoying the clear water and beautiful reefs.
Yellow rays. Electric rays, spotted eagles, trunk fish, lobster, nurse sharks and lots of barracuda are our daily sightings. We anchor on
Barracuda reef (my favorite) Neil really wants to catch a barracuda. So we get in dinghy I have to drive while he trolls, I’m not thrilled we
just want to go around in circles around the reef. Ok N says just a half hr or so. With in 5 mines, he has one, cool, ok pull him in lets go
back to Attitude, NO Neil says one more time around, yea like he will catch another, sure enough he did. Nice dinner that night of Curry
Barracuda. Neil does well in the pool shot a 10 lb Nassau grouper and almost always brings home some good size school masters. While at
the “pool” you can get things done Mark on Melody does trips to Panama City and Colon, he also has the know how and tools to do
almost anything. So while we were here we bought propane for our tanks from him. (This is what we use to cook with). Like everything else
in “boat life” it’s a challenge. The tank has to be upside down and cool, so Neil rigged it up on the transom.
THE INVASION BEGINS!!! MAY-09
4-30 Buzzed over to NONOMULU for the night to pick our friend Mike up in the a.m.(HE IS GUEST #1)
5-5-09 Coco Bandero Cays, Olosicuidup,Dupwala & Guariadup beautiful set of sm islands. Guys went off to fish while I kayaked out to
sm Tiadup Island. We all met on Guariadup to walk around island. A gecko landed on Neil’s head so we named him dup and took him
back to Attitude, always good to have a pet! The boys had no luck fishing but the local Kuna guys came by and we bought 3 LG lobster
for 10 bucks, love it here!
Nargana: needed fuel and to check out the “store” greeted by Federico paddling a sm ulu(the dug-out canoes the Kuna Indians use for
transportation), he tells us he takes garbage, can get us diesel & gas and does tours! We have not heard of him from other cruisers so we
don’t use him. Into “town” we go find Paco the diesel guy sleeping in a hammock so we wake him and begin the procedure of getting diesel
and gas. Lg drums are in his yard they siphon it out with a hose into a bucket so you can see what It looks like then filtered with a rag or
sock into your cans AND guess who was there helping, Federico so now we know we can use him ha!
Back to the East Holandes (pool) for a few days nice 4 hr sail. Mike and Neil out spear fishing everyday, Mike got a 20lb 30 in black
grouper! Oh no now N needs a big one ha! I had a close encounter with a nice lg spotted eagle ray ,
the poor guy had no tail I have named him stumpy and have seen him many
more times in the Holandes. Motored back to Nonomulu for Mike to find a
ride back to Panama City waited about 4hrs. There is only one rd from
Panama City to the San Blas it’s dirt , up mts & through rivers so one never
knows IF there is a way in or out by land or not!
NEXT STOP GUNBOAT CAYS/NUBASITUPU spotted a dolphin on
the way, always makes me happy. Beautiful little island circled by a pretty
nice reef. One family of Kunas own this one so they came out to greet and
sell molas. Priciliano & Adelaida sold us a very orange and black baseball
cap all molaed up. Ha perfect for out son in law James who is a
Cincinnati Bengals fan.
EAST LEMON CAYS/BANEDUP & NUINDUP The go to man on the
Lemon Cays is Mr. G. he is a Kuna who is “trying” to make $ off the cruisers.
Well he has a shack with a shelf of like 4 old cans, 1 bottle of whiskey & an
old refridge for beer he sells. He also has someone come make Kuna bread
(long rolls) The Island he stays on is really pretty, he even has solar panels up
on bamboo poles. There is often Volley ball games &/or dinners. We really
enjoyed a seafood lunch he put on, more for the company than the food.
Hey I have Neil to cook…Great reef for snorkeling there too. I found spotted
drum fish, file fish, trunkfish. Scorpion fish, porcupine fish and a lg scrawled
cow fish.
San Blas Sea Life
EAST NAGUARGANDUP CAYS /CONBOMBIA(MORBEDUP) Perfect bay good reefs for snorkeling & 3 nice islands you can
walk around ,or in my case HUNT shells, plus only 1 boat.. NICE Heading back to Attitude, from a snorkel we see 7 boats in the
anchorage. Ok no more solitude so, let’s party. Rainbow Rider, SandCastle, Glide, Blow Me Away, Southern Bell, Dragon Fly, Toucan
and Attitude (us) had a nice fish fry on the beach. Dennis from Glide even made a table out of bamboo and palm leaves!!
EAST HOLANDES (POOL) a fast stop here got some cool snorkeling in as always, nurse sharks, eagle rays, little puffer fish, some cool
banded coral shrimp, and a nice big golden tail eel. Dragon fly (Jeff & Una) came by to invite us back to the Lemon cays for a wedding. His
sister was coming down to the sand blas to get married “Kuna Style” Well hey we love parties!
EAST LEMON CAYS, BANEDUP “The Kuna Wedding” Laurie and Hans came down for a traditional Kuna wedding 50 cruisers (none
knew the Bride and Groom before the big day) gathered on Banedup Island. Mr. G (the Kuna go to man) planned traditional dances by
Kuna Indians, traditional food (rice) and a Kuna ceremony, including Kuna clothing. In the ceremony the village picks the man up & puts
him in the hammock, next the women, they do this 3 x’s then the couple stay in the hammock for 3 days while the MOM sits with them! The
Kuna couple do NOT know ea other before the “hammock toss”. Well H & L were great sports, 1st off Kunas are TINY people, H & L
are not but somehow the Kunas dressed them for the wedding. They did modify the hammock toss a bit too, 1 x instead of 3 and poor
Laurie kept telling them IM Big you cant pick me up. Wellllllll they managed. It was a great party; lots of talented musical cruisers out there
gave us music all eve. Thanks to Laurie, Hans and Jeff & Una for putting it all together and inviting us.
WESTERN HOLANDES, ACUAKARGANA/WAISALADUP fun to explore new anchorages. Attitude all alone here, nice after all the
parties lately. N is off hunting I’m snorkeling saw the cool yellowline arrow head crabs, lobster ,porcupine fish, French angles and ocean
trigger fish. N had no luck so when he came back I showed him the lobster I found. Well they outsmarted us again; we could not get those
suckers out from under the coral. So here we are really out in the middle of no where and an ulu paddles up and asked if we could plug in
their cell and charge it.A bit bizarre I would say. Ha!
Ok so it’s not all just parties, fishing and snorkeling. Our refridge is constantly having issues Neil is really a good mechanic now even if he
doesn’t want to be. Our chart plotter is acting up again, dinghy is in need of repairs, organizer ( for lines on deck ) needs fixing, Neil’s kayak
is all cracked and duct taped (really it works) so he needs to find a way to fix that, Blah blah blah.. It is always something. We head
back to the East Holandes (the pool), if you haven’t guessed that is our favorite spot. Here we work on a few things, pick up supplies from
Mark (on Melody), get some snorkeling in Neil did a bit of spear fishing & we got ready for guest # 2. It was time for Jarrid 11 yr old
grandson’s annual month or 2 visit. Plus every Monday on B-B- Q island is Happy hr. can’t miss that.
Off to Panama City I fly to meet Mr. (Jarrid) at the airport. Drop off bags at Marparaiso(our fav and cheap place to stay in the city) and taxi
to shop. Heading for Riba Smith, grocery store with all kinds of goodies like we can find in the U. S. and you know I already had a nice
long list ha!
Up for 6 a.m. flight to San Blas, (Corazon De Jesus) Neil (gpa) and Federico our find anything do anything for you guy is there to help with
bags all well.
WEST COCO BANDEROS /ORDUPTARBOAT for a day Mr. jumped off side of Attitude ASAP, need to renew our papers so off to
ISLA PORVENIR nice entry with a dolphin to greet us. Did a fast stop at the office and off to EAST LEMONS CAYS
/BANEDUP/NUINIDIP we gave Mr the job of diving the anchor from now on. He did a great job diving down to make sure we are in
the sand ok(job #1) Nice treat underway N caught a small shark an Atlantic sharpnose, which we had for happy hr on Slip Away, really
tasty! .Great to see them again it’s been a few yrs. Fun afternoon had a nice snorkel til a storm blew up. Mr. and I just chilling slowly back
to the boat watching a turtle, spotted drum and lobsters while N is on deck yelling get back here winds blew up to 30 knots. Next day on
Banedup for a, lobster lunch and Volley ball. Tim & Paula on Hooligan came by to show Mr. a HUGE helmet shell, beautiful we all ohhh
and awed them threw him back in hoping the Kunas did not go pick him up and eat him.
EAST HOLANDES (POOL) huge supply from Mark(on Melody) to pick up great having Mr. onboard to unload dinghy ,write dates on
all and help put away(job #2 for him ) So gpa figures Jarrid is ready Spearfish, well I’m not thrilled but off we go. Gpa gives Mr. a Hawaiian
sling to use turns out the kid is pretty good he ended spearing at least 4 fish on his vacation. If not spear fishing/ snorkeling we are kayaking
& Mr. and gpa always take things to the extreme, they had kayak wars. While Mr. and I kayaked to different islands to hunt for treasures
one day we saw a really good waterspout a bit to close for my comfort but Jarrid was like lets get closer!!! Spent fathers day/summer
solstice on EAST COCO BANDEROS/DUPWALA Nice cookout on Dupwala with Angel Heart, Hooligan, Dream Weaver, Rainbow
Rider, El Regalo, & Blue Sky
SALARDUP Mr. at the helm the entire way, he is great at keeping on track. (Job#3).We anchored here to wait for Lisa (master mola
maker, tour guide and transvestite) to pick us up in the a.m for a tour up the Rio Sidra., Rose of Sharon, (Sharon, Joe and grand daughter
Hannah) joined us. It is a 1 hr ride in a dug out canoe (ulu), and then we hike. Lisa takes us up to her family cemetery, shallow graves with
the deceased belongings hanging near. Lisa was a bit upset because the rains cause the graves to cave in and her mother’s was caving in.
Here we are given a sm cross make of bamboo to help keep us safe on our journey!!! 2 hr hike we finally get to the river and jumping spot.
Gpa & Mr. love this. I’m a whip but finally I am pressed, ya know grandkid pressure, to jump. The way back you follow the river which is
very cool, a few places you have to slide down rocks into the river & one more jump, which they did NOT tell me about, but I made it!
We found a cool seed pod that holds my favorite, donkey eye nuts and a cool looking frog with a white head
Trip was fantastic and I will have to put that on our “tour list”.
Here we go, tuner on Single Side Band radio not working, which means no email, & fan on invertor not working so its keeps over
heating!!! But the local fishing guys came by and we got a nice big crab YUM
SHARKS
Back to the EAST HOLANDES (POOL) Mr. at the helm all the way again! Off we go to gpa‘s favorite spot to hunt, which we have
named shark alley. N goes one way and Mr. & I go the other way I just kind of hang behind him and watch him hunt, all of a sudden he
swims by and says hey that nurse shark is following me! Nurse sharks are not usually aggressive and he didn’t have a fish on the spear or
anything so it was sort of weird. Next we see a black tip reef shark cool he just swims by. Went back to same reef a few days later this time
we have an aggressive shark really bothering us. Mr. and I just keep going a different way trying to get away from him. After N has a few
fish, including the 1st Barracuda he has shot, we head back to Attitude to look at the book again re: sharks. WELLLLLL it turns out a
Lemon Shark is what was bothering Mr. and me! Wow a true example of ignorance is bliss (or stupid) we were actually laughing and
couldn’t figure out what was up with these 2 sharks, we thought it was parent and kid and we were bothering them. Stayed a while at the
pool gpa and Mr. supplied dinner every night one day had a great haul ,flounder, crab, ocean trigger, lobster & Mr.’s 3 fish . By now Jarrid
is good at cleaning all his fish too.
Runner (Deb & Reg) invited us onboard for a magic show. Herb on Bokanon (Margo) is a really good slight of hand magician and gave a
performance for us. No kidding we were sitting right in front of him and a cockpit is not a HUGE space but we never caught any of his
“tricks”. Later Herb invited Mr. to his boat to show him some ticks. Mr. came back with a new deck of cards,cd’s with magic tips on them ,
emails and info and 2 fantastic tricks! Seriously I have no idea how he was doing it but hey ya never know we may have a Houdini! Thanks
again to Herb that was really nice of him.
JULY 09
Ok so 4th of July I am up about 5 am cant sleep just reading and I feel the boat shaking like a huge thing is under it and shaking it about.
Weird I go topside look around, thought maybe someone dragged into us or something. Later that day I hear someone talking about an
earthquake here in San Blas, Isla Porvenir, 18 mi from us had a 6.5 earthquake. Hey I’m not nuts we really did’ have something shaking the
boat.
Nice party on B-B Q island, 30 people, .red white and blue flags lots of good food and a conch blowing contest. Attitude did not win but
Mr. and I tried! Time for Mr. to leave, he was so fun this yr and a huge help, checking the oil before ea passage, anchor diving, filling and
sinking bottles, taking the helm ,cleaning fish, learning to chop veggies with gpa 10in chef knife!, and most important setting up happy hrs ea
day HA!
East Lemons Alberto picked us up at 5:30 am in his lancha, to take us to Porvenir where we will fly to Panama City, Paula from Hooligan
joined us. Mr. and I headed to Tocumen International and off he went boo hoo! Met Paula back at Marparaiso and we went out for a
fantastic dinner at Manola Caracol 15 plus courses and wine, aw poor Neil and Tim missed it. Next day shop shop and shop driver picked
us up at 9 and at 2 we finished after hitting EVERY store possible and picking up new tuner for SSB from marine warehouse. 3 hr trip in
jeep back towards Carti where Alberto picked us up in his lancha again and returned us to the East Lemons… long 2 days but fun and now
we are loaded once again with rum junk food and wine! Every thing put away N hooked up new turner but NO LUCK, SSB still now
working. Rich off of Slip Away was heading into Panama City & offered to take ssb radio and tuner to a place in Panama City, we hope to
get repaired.
NARGANA time for our 3rd guest daughter Christine, Andy and Ella (2)!! So Clean sheets, towels, room for Ella, bake cookies, get gas ,
Kuna bread, and get out the umbrellas for the welcome drinks, we are ready.
July 11 straight for the “pool” Eastern Holandes went out of bay for a nice day sail since we had good wind. Hung here for awhile N took
Andy off to “shark Alley” for a hunt so he got to see the nurse, Lemon and reef sharks. This was Andy’s 1st time to use a spear gun, but he
figured after one day he was ready! Off he swam from stern of Attitude (onto Barracuda reef, the same place we always anchor) with gun in
hand. We are on deck in hammock playing with Ella and I see Andy swimming like a maniac yelling something but he still has snorkel in
mouth. Then I hear BARRACUDA, so I’m thinking yea no biggy the reef is full of them , then I hear SHARK and Andy is walking on
water, jumps in our dinghy (tied behind Attitude).It was like a seal leaping into the dinghy he is flush and out of breath! Andy had shot a LG
barracuda and had to swim against current AND he swears a shark was coming at him. Again the ignorance is bliss rule applies. Don’t
spearfish far from the boat or dinghy and really not a good idea at 4 or so in the afternoon that is feeding /hunting time for sharks. Christine
Andy Ella Papi (Neil) and I all enjoyed getting some plain old snorkeling in on Barracuda reef. Christine ended up with a nice Trident
Trumpet shell to clean up and take home. Spotted a nice octopus, electric ray, yellow line arrowhead crab & some banned coral shrimp.
Coco Banderos Dupwala cook out on the beach with Hooligan & Mystic Moon, so Andy was able to show off his lg ocean trigger and we
had a really good dinner .Shopping day Catherine a French woman on Eolia rowed over to Attitude and told us she makes jewelry out or
Tagua nuts, (a nut sometimes called vegetable ivory,) Cool she came onboard and we all ohhhed, awed and bought she really had beautiful
pieces. Hey then we see Lisa (remember transvestite master mola maker) on Guariadup island (next to our boat) so we call her over and
C& A get to see and buy a few molas. Ok the San Blas experience is complete now ha! Ella and I did a lot of kayaking, I would put her in
and we would tie Mr. Turtle (her float) to the back of the kayak and head for an island beach... Ella loved the beach and that is what she
would ask for ea day! She held fish, starfish and even a lobster but she likes to through all things back into the water so we had to keep a
good eye on her ha! We had no problems with getting her to sleep poor girl was exhausted ea day, even passed out eating a tootsie roll
pop. By the time they left Andy was supplying his fare share of fish & great at making fires (had to go to islands, dig. build a fire and burn
diapers Yuk). I think Christine got some r&r and became a really good shell hunter, digging on the beaches for even tiny shells! The week
went fast but we love being grammy & papi and giving Christine & Andy a peek into our “boat life”
Daily Boat Crap July 18
So now we have no chart plotter (sent it with Christine to send in), no Single Side Band radio (no email), inverter still over heating, dinghy
engine STOPPED working the day we dropped off Christine Andy and Ella in Corazon De Jesus. Dinghy still loosing air patches not
working well I guess, AND now we have a hot water issue, we need a new one! No hot water yikes! ok Neil works on D engine & takes it
to someone on island cool its working & cost 12 bucks. let’s get out of here Nargana is not a pretty place it’s lined with out houses on
every space you see!
GREEN ISLAND 7/20-29th a nice close 3 ½ miles from Nargana. New place for us plus no chart plotter so we had to learn how to use a
hand held GPS, talk about spoiled ha! Slip Away also in anchorage really pretty bay a few neat islands to hunt around and good reefs for
fishing! Ulu pulls up with crab and lobster and the kunas start to point and say Coucho Coucho. we look and there is the “ALLIGATOR”.
We had heard there was one here but really thought it was BS. nope he is real and big! I yell get the camera N says I’m busy, pancakes
were his priority NOT a pic of an Alligator! We ask the Kunas doesn’t he bother you or eat people so one kids jumps in the water and
starts yelling, old Coucho just kept going. Needless to say I was not very relaxed after that when ever we went out to snorkel. Neil came
back one day with an octopus, made a great app and we had a nice happy hr on SlipAway. Enjoyed 9 days of fishing and snorkeling before
guest # 4 came down. Daughter Michelle who has not been on Attitude, Jarrid always comes alone, called and said hey J is at his dads and
I may come down with Boy friend is that ok.. Cool! Beautiful sunset at Kanlidup.
BACK TO NARGANA CORAZON DE JESUS make water, clean sheets,towels,buy beer, Kuna bread and hopefully some veggies or
fruit we are empty! Oh yea and get out the umbrellas for the welcome drinks
Shell and Spinney make it in at 6:50 am, the plane is even a few minutes early!
Breakfast and off we go to the East Holandes (pool). It’s a 4 hr sail but that day we had rough seas and 10ft waves. Poor Shell it is
NEVER like that. No fish underway darn it. Into water ASAP on to Barracuda reef but there is a pretty strong current and shell is not sure
of her snorkeling skills so she used the kick board.
Huge waves breaking on the reef so the boys go off in the dinghy to check it out. As usual we took them out to “shark alley” told shell she
has to see the sharks since we had her son hanging out with them ha! Saw nice spotted eagle ray, lobster, trunk fish, and lots of squid. Shell
and I did spot 3 nice size nurse sharks hanging under a ledge, Shell was not thrilled!! Michelle and Spinney went for kayaks just about every
day and Spinney and N went spear fishing poor Spinney never did get a fish and got one spear stuck in a coral head but I think he did have
fun. Michelle and I took a day kayaked to Tiadup walked around shell hunting it was really fun and back just in time for a nice happy hr with
crab and shots of Tequila! Last day for them in the pool they were up at 5 watching the sun rise and out in the kayaks by 6! Local guys
came by so we lucked out and they did get to have lobster and crabs!! Nargana anchored and the kids packed up their things. They got to
meet Frederico and Shell gave herself a pedicure on the sandspit. We really enjoyed having Michelle onboard we had another fun week
with family LOVE IT!
AUGUST 09
WESTERN COCO BANDEROS/ORDUPTARBOAT great spot all alone 2 nice islands and many reefs to hunt on we chilled here for
about a week, when Hooligan called as passing and wanted us to come over to Eastern Cocos to hook up for dinner since they will be
leaving SanBlas soon. With no radio for 2 months and lots of company we have been out of touch so we went and had a really nice cook
out with Blue Sky, Hooligan and 2 by sea.
NONOMULU chart plotter and SSB (radio) are both repaired and have been sent to Panama City, we took Attitude to Nonomulu so Neil
could fly out of Carti. Nice rainy day, plane 1hr late and unbelievable chitras (no see ums) biting. There is a very sm dark block building
(office ) a man came out with a burning blanket, we find out it is how they try to get rid of the chitras the burning blanket was in this no
windowed block building, talk about smoke! So N is off I dinghy back to Attitude ahhhh alone time, but its raining all day and the bugs are
terrible! The plan was for N to go in pick stuff up do some shopping(always) and he “had “ a jeep ride back, that is why he flew out of Carti
not Corazon De Jesus. Well Ricardo never showed up so Neil was with Roger (the guy who picked him up at the airport, and ran him
around all day) sitting at the grocery store with piles and piles of stuff and our electronics! Roger was great called around and they finally
found N a ride back the next day. So N headed for Marparaiso, went to dinner at Manolo Caracol and came home the next day.
EAST HOLANDES back to our “home “on barracuda reef. Neil puts in chart plotter, & Single Side band they work!!!! I get sail mail
working again, we are full of veggies, fruit, wine, rum & coke. Life is good
We will hang here and wait for guest # 5, Cari, James and Lily (1) will be heading down Sept 4th. Thank goodness we only have 4 kids and
Matt changed his trip to coming to Whistler to ski instead of San Blas ha!!
Next up date will be short I promise !!!!!
Dec 2008-Aug 2009
Stumpy the spotted eagle ray
EAST LEMON CAYS/BANEDUP & NUINDUP
Left, Mr buying Kuna bread and right,
gets ready for a yummy crab dinner!
gets ready for a yummy crab dinner!
July 4th on BBQ Island
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