Ciao Lorna and Dave

Our recent guests have flown back to cold Ohio (if the Cleveland airport is open) and we enjoyed our time with them aboard Astarte. They are frequent guests and pretty much have the routine down pat. Unfortunately Lorna wasn't up to full "party girl" health, but we did enjoy their company, some sailing and snorkeling, a river adventure, a few games and time solving the world's problems! Thanks to them for all the goodies they brought from tasty snacks, decadent chocolates and pastries, fabric and boat parts plus many other thirst quenching libations.

After they departed Kuna Yala, we headed back up the Rio Diablo – this time not for sightseeing, but rather to do the laundry. Michael also cleaned the water filters up here, taking adventure of free, fresh flowing water. As usual, we looked like a laundry boat using every clothespin and hanger we had on board. The breeze and sun were out for good drying.

We stayed in Nargana just long enough for a cook's night off (dinner out) and a little provisioning after our laundry day. Today (Thursday) we headed back to Esnasdup. It's been a rather cloudy, rainy day with a lot of wind. So we'll just get a few more things put away and just relax. When we have guests (which we really do love getting) it means a bit of reorganizing aboard to make room for them. We do have a lot of "stuff" that needs to find homes while guests are on board. Now that we are back to "normal" we get to clear out the aft cabin and make the v-berth and forward head the attic and laundry room as usual.

We'll take a few days to relax and then we have to decide where we're heading next and when. We've not had internet access now since Cartagena (December) and we have to check on some things so that may be a priority. Michael's been working hard (and getting frustrated) at trying to get the cell phone to work as a modem again. We were able to do that before we left Panama before but this time he's running headfirst into brick walls (or perhaps firewalls). If we can get that done onboard – we'll probably be able to stay longer in San Blas. If not, we'll probably have to head towards Portobello in a few weeks.

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