Next Bocas update

Nov 22 2000hrs

It’s Thanksgiving evening. As is usual for the day, I’m sitting on the couch, feeling a little fuller than is most comfortable, enjoying the after glow of a nice day with good friends. I spent the morning baking, pies, bread and rolls. Don and Rita came for dinner at about 1300hrs and for the next four  hours we all talked and ate and laughed and ate and drank and ate and laughed some more. As I was finishing up the prep work an setting the table (tablecloth, 2 knifes, 2 forks, a spoon, a napkin and a wine glass at each place) I thought; this really feels like a holiday. Sometimes, with our lifestyle, holidays we use to celebrate get lost in the shuffle. Sometimes you get extra holidays you never knew about before. Just a few days ago was Bocas day. There were marching bands, and fireworks and miss Bocas was crowned. But this felt like Thanksgiving. Even though we didn’t have turkey, it felt right and we are very thankful.

Nov 24 1500hrs
Yesterday we took Second Star to Almirante, about 10 miles across the bay, to get fuel, which is $0.46 a gallon cheaper than here. Don and Rita came along for the ride and we had a very pleasant trip over and back. We put about 550 gallons aboard, which should last us about six months, if we don’t go very far. While living on anchor, our expenses are just fuel for the generator, food and play. We have a good supply of dry goods (rice, flour, sugar…) and now we’re well stocked on fuel, so we should be able to live very frugally for quite a while.
While we were on the mainland I was able to get an internet modem so we, once again, have internet onboard. It was a very productive day.
Today’s been pretty quiet. Capt. Johne’s a bit under the weather and it’s been raining most of the day. I just went for a swim to check that the anchor had set well after yesterdays  trip. They’re predicting strong winds tomorrow and we don’t want to be playing bumper boats in the anchorage.

Nov 26 0730hrs
Yesterday, in spite of the fact that we put the snake back in the mangroves, I was thinking we should be going out and collecting all the animals 2 by 2, and bring them aboard the boat. But it stopped raining last night, and this morning the sun is peeking through the clouds. The good news about all the rain is we’ve gotten lots of reading and baking time. Hopefully we’ll be able to get out today, without getting soaked.

Dec 2 0745hrs
We’ve had a couple of sunny days now. But they say Dec is just as rainy as Nov, so I don’t know how long it will last. This morning has dawned bright and beautiful. Today we’re planning to take an overnight trip to one of the outlying bays. This area of archipelagos is very spread out, with parts of the community on outlying islands, so there will be lots of over night adventures as we explore the area.
19145hrs
Well, we’ve gotten to know a few more people in the community now. There is a restaurant at the very end of a bay on the south-west side of Isla San Cristobal called Rana Azul (blue frog). They’re only accessible by boat and only open Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. Definitely a destination restaurant. You can’t just stumble across it. We’d heard about it on the VHF morning cruisers net, and our friend Capt Ray was going to be there today, so we made the 8 mile, hour-and-a-half trip in Second Star to anchor down here, see some new sights and meet some new people. Now, some of the people we met were people we were somewhat familiar with from the net. It was interesting to put faces with the voices from the radio. We’ve had invitations to come and anchor by some of their homes in other parts of the archipelago. We’re really looking forward to Dolphin Bay. Apparently the dolphins breed there and there are always families of them around. Anyway, today was lots of mojitos, beer, food and fun with very interesting people…