Thursday 6/07/2007- Saturday 6/09/2007
We spent these few days in San Andreas- eating meat pies and drinking strong Columbian coffee at the little bakery Bread Fruit, walking about, ancy to be in Panama. Our ever generous neighbor Hugh did have us over to his boat on Friday for a little dinner party of sorts. It was great. we met a couple of incredibly friendly locals- George and Cecilia who run the marina and party boat where we dock our dinghy and a very nice couple on "Suenos". Kay from another neighboring boat brought homemade pecan pie that was to die for! Saturday evening Jeremy and I took a ride on George's booze criuse party boat. It was cool. His son was upstairs D.J.-ing and we were the only gringos among a crowd of vacationing Columbians who were letting loose! We spent most of the time talkingwith George about traveling, boating, Columbia, etc. At the end of the cruise he refused to let us pay a penny (even after we consumed all of those rum punches!), as he considered us his guests. All this and we only met him last night- what a guy!

Sunday 6/08/2007
This morning we recieved a call on the radio from Sonny and Kay on "Valentino" that we had all been invited by Cecilia to her church this morning. My first thought was "this will be an experience!", as it seems that most of the locals attend church, and so I began to dig out my nice clothes and real shoes from the very depths of our boat. Luckily, I found some that were acceptable,and Sonny and Kay came over to pick me up (Jeremy opted to stay on the boat to prepare for our crossing tomorrow). We hopped a cab to the little seaside Baptist church and marched upstairs where the sermon in english took place. Today happened to be Children's Day", so all of the little children took turns singing in the chorus, clappin' their hands and all swingin to the beat. So much noise and life here! It really was an experience, all the way up to the ride back to the marina, where Cecilia put us on a full school bus and sent us on our way. She is really great... When Hugh was hit by that panga, Cecilia was there in minutes to help him and George was close behind, ready to accompany him to the Coast guard office, translating and pulling contacts where he could. It was a huge help, and they hardly even knew him. It is just how they work. They're two in a million.
This afternoon the wind had completely died down, and though we had planned to make this crossing with our three neighbors in the morning, we cannot stand to wait any longer. Our very good friend Martini flew in to Panama several days ago from California and her birthday is on Tuesday. So we say "until later" to our friends, pull anchor, and are off. Since we are leaving in the evening rather than the morning we will have to skip the Albuquerque Cays (which I really wanted to see: uninhabited, quiet, perfect.). Perhaps on the way back.

Monday 6/11/2007 I am awakened this morning by Jeremy's voice calling down the companion-way "Love, there are whales at the bow!". I am not even completely awake after last night's long watch as I stumble to the bow and behold three pilot whales, lazily riding our wake. The dad is about 16ft.long, accompanied by the mother and little baby who is about eight feet long. Jeremy said that he was securing the anchor at the bow when the giant suddenly surfaced directly under him, giving him quite a start! I watch as the dad rolls over on his side to inspect us for a moment before the three disappear. For hours we spot them only for a few minutes at a time, off of our stern or at the bow. Always a welcome sight. Once they are gone, we see nothing but a desert of ocean for hours and hours (ahhhhh. so nice!) until late in the afternoon when we hook a beautiful 5ft. silky shark. It was a chore setting her loose from the hook,but Jeremy managed, and miraculously without any blood shed from either!

Tuesday 6/10/2007 We arrive in Bocas Del Toro at dawn after a delightfully calm and fruitful (mmm. Tuna!) crossing. We take in the scene as we put the last channel marker to our stern, and it is just as we had hoped! The area is dotted with green islands, backed by a vast horizon of purple mountains covered by a blanket of milky clouds. Around us locals float by in their little cayucas, even the children tossing cast-nets with a master's grace and skill. We anchor-up and wait around for hours before the "hola- now give me your money" check-in crew finally arrives. They are a sour bunch, but they get the job done and in no time we are on Calico Jack, hugging greetings to Martini, Travis and Joanne! We got word in San Andreas that a lovely French family who used to be our neighbors in Key West on their boat "Sashay" are here in Bocas Del Toro. We sadly lost touch when they sailed away over a year ago to who knew where and are very excited to greet them with a little surprise visit this evening! We head in to explore the town a bit and soon find out that other friends from Key West whom we had lost touch with, Bill and Sharron, have a bar here. Then we see Eli, who lives in Key West, just strolling down the street. He takes us over to a restaurant where a whole group of Kew Westers are eating and having a good old time. Turns out they are all here in Panama doing a real estate video. It is cool to see them all, but I must admit that it has put me in a bit of the twilight zone, if you know what I mean. As our friend Jessie Brown (who we ran into the next day-also on the film crew) put it, "You try to get away from it all..." Later we make our way to the Marina to see "Sashay" and only Sophie (mom) is home. She cannot believe it and agrees to keep it a secret so that we can surprise Bruno and the girls when they are back later on this evening.Unfortunately Travis is under the weather tonight, so it is only Jeremy Martini and I heading out for some birthday celebrations. First we go to Bocas Marina. Little Estelle (8) and Marjorie (5) give us an overwelmingly warm welcome. Bruno is busy being the chef, but is also very pleasantly surprised to see us! It is difficult forus to tear ourselves away from these little smiling faces but it is time to get on with the birthday rounds, and we've already missed the big Key West party down town. We ran into Eli and we all went to this hip bar called The Iguana for some drinks. After that we wandered around a while before heading back to Chateau Max for some more cocktails. It was a heck of a first day in Panama!