Bocas Del Toro

                                Nov 13 0930

    Yesterday we had sun in the afternoon and took full advantage of it to go for a snorkel. As rough and stormy as it’s been, the visibility wasn’t great but if you swam down so you were close to the coral and fish it was really cool. There was a wall, which we want to go back and do with tanks, that had loads off fun things to see. It goes from about 6ft to 30 or more almost straight down. It’s my first wall and I’m looking forward to exploring it more. It’s close to the anchorage and has a mooring ball so it’s easy to get there and you don’t have to worry about hurting the coral with your anchor. It’ll be amazing when it’s calmer.
    We’re working on getting settled in here since we expect to be here for a bit. We’ll be getting a modem for internet but the store was out of them and won’t get more in until mid week (tropical time, so which week I don‘t know). We’ve walk around town enough to have a good since of the stores (grocery, hardware, etc) and the restaurants. The cruiser community here is large and very active. We’ve seen people we’d met in Isla and have made some new acquaintances, some of whom, I’m sure, will become good friends.

                                1600 hrs
    We’ve have a little sun today and got another snorkel in. The  spot we went today has old concrete pilings with quite a variety of coral and anemones  growing on them. The fish swimming around the pilings were small, but varied and colorful. This spot is inside the bay, so it’s a bit calmer than where we went yesterday. The clarity of the water was much better and it was shallow, so the colors were vivid especially when the sun came out.

                                Nov 15 1830hrs
    It rained all day yesterday, but today the sun has been out and, again, we took full advantage. After lunch, we took a long ride in Hook, around to the far end of Isla Bastimentos, one of the five main islands in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago. We ran through the cut and out to a beautiful spot of reef to snorkel. One of the really nice things they have done here is put in mooring balls in the reef areas that anyone can tie up to, so it’s very easy to find a ball in a nice spot, tie off, and go in with no anchor stress.
    This section of reef was very colorful and vibrant. There weren’t many big fish, but lots and lots of little, beautiful, tropical fish. I can’t stress the colors enough. Both the fish and the coral had various shades of reds, blues, yellows, greens, oranges, purples, tans, browns,  black, white and silver. There wasn’t a lot of current so you could float over one area and just watch what came and went. There are so many different forms of life interacting, it’s just amazing to watch.

                                Nov 16 1030hrs
    Bob and Johne have gone fishing this morning. I’ve just been doing the usual morning boat chores. Tomorrow is Bob’s last day here. He’ll fly to Panama City, then on home from there. His time here flew by and we’ll be sorry to see him go.

                                Nov 21 1240hrs
    I’m sitting on the couch in the saloon. It’s raining again. We still don’t have internet onboard. The people at the store where we’ve been trying to get the modem have switched from saying they‘ll be in “manana”, to “next week”. We’ll need to go into town in a bit (hopefully when it stops raining) to take care of some things online.
    We had Capt Ray, an x-pat cruiser who’s been here for several years, aboard this morning to pass along some of his recommendations of fun things to do and places to snorkel and dive around the area. We had met him in Isla Mujeres and he’s been very welcoming and helpful since we arrived here.
    We also had another guest aboard this morning. When Capt Johne went out on the aft deck to have his breakfast this morning, there was a baby red tailed boa on the rail of the wet deck. He came in to get the camera and told me to look out the port. What a treat! We decided that if we just left it there either a bird would get it or it would find it’s way into the boat, hide, and probably starve to death. So, I picked it up snuggled it warm, and it’s now asleep inside my shirt. We’ll take it out to the mangroves this afternoon and put it back in the wild where it belongs. It’s very small. Only about 20” long and no bigger around at the neck than my finger. It’s a very pretty little thing. It will be hard for me to release it but the boat is not a good place for a snake and it won’t stay small. The one I had, that now lives with my sister, is now 7 ½ or 8 feet long and weighs 35-40lbs (I think). But it’s been fun having this one visiting, even if I can‘t keep it...