Day Two,Three and Four Off the Water

So far so good! Hope we're not jinxing it! We've done the water taxi from the dock; the really fast water taxi to Almirante; the really LONG bus ride to Panama City (10 plus hours!); a day in Panama City to get more pages in Michael's passport; and now we're out of Panama and on our way to Boston – leg one completed. We're cleared into the US and now we wait for the next flight.

The water taxi from Bocas Town to Almirante was a very efficient operation and the driver went full tilt the entire way – it took about 20 minutes. Then we waited for the "Express" bus to PC from Almirante. The good news – it was a Mercedes Benz bus with comfy seats, two movies and working air conditioning. The bad news – it was more than ten hours with quite a few stops along the way. It was a nice day so we did see quite a bit of the countryside. Heading up into the hills and rain forest was really beautiful. Then we went over to the Pacific side and got on the back roads and it wasn't quite as scenic – but it was still a pleasant trip. Our guy Roger was at the bus stop to meet us and get us through the awful PC traffic to our hotel.

The next morning we started early and had to fight major traffic to get to the US Embassy. We were luckily first in line for "American Citizen Services" and after about an hour, Michael now has a much thicker passport (and a lighter wallet!)

We then spent the rest of the day doing some much needed shopping at a big "Metro Mall." It was good to stretch our legs after the all day sitting adventure on the bus.

Thursday, day four, we got to Tocumen International Airport in Panama City and got on our morning flight to Atlanta. We had a long time between connections in Atlanta to get to Boston. Customs and immigration went quickly. We had plenty of time to our next gate. Luckily we missed the plane collision in Boston – and made it in a bit late.

All is good...now, we'll probably take time to enjoy our family and friends (with some work and projects as well). So you also get a break from the SV Astarte log page.

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Boats, Taxis, Buses, Planes and Trains

We're on the move. After big time cleaning up and the stressful closing up of Astarte, we have left her at summer camp (thanks Anna and Ian) and we are heading back to the states. Barbara's mom turns 90 and we must be there to celebrate that momentous occasion in August. We'll also see Michael's mom with a visit to Nashville (she'll be coming there from Oregon) and then a stop in St. Petersburg before heading back to Panama (loaded down with boat parts). Michael will also be adding some much needed funds to the cruising kitty and logging some additional airplane miles with some great and interesting work.

We started this adventure – because all these trips are just that, adventures – with a water taxi from Solarte to Bocas Town. Then a cab to the Hotel Angela where we'll spend the night. Then an early wake-up call to make the first water taxi from Bocas Town to Almirante. From there, a cab to the bus stop and a LONG bus trip down the isthmus of Panama to Panama City. They say it takes between 8 and 12 hours depending on traffic, strikes, marches, road closures etc. The bus leaves at 0800 and they are supposed to be comfortable and air conditioned. We'll see. We do have seats (that was an adventure in itself figuring out how to book seats in advance). It should be beautiful for the first portion of the trip at least as we head into the mountains near David and Boquete. This is where there are coffee plantations, pineapple and banana farms and lots of beautiful rain forest and landscape. We're looking forward to that. Once we get on the Pacific Highway, it probably won't be as scenic, but it will be nice to see some of the interior of Panama – we've certainly done much of the Caribbean Coast areas.

In Panama City, we'll head to the US Embassy as Michael needs more pages in his passport (he's down to his last page). Hopefully we can get that done in a half day. We get on an airplane bright and early Thursday morning for an all-day air travel adventure to Boston (long layover in Atlanta).

So we'll be stateside for a bit – and this log may take a hiatus for a short time (unless we feel inspired).

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Morning Trivia

We've talked about the morning radio nets a few times. Here in the Bocas archipelago the morning net has the typical information – weather, emergencies, buying and selling of boat bits as well as the local community announcements (mostly restaurant specials and music with the occasional movie, garden club event or fire dance). But here, there is also a morning trivia game. The crew of Astarte have recently been pretty good at coming up with the answers. The questions are quite interesting as well as some fun facts that are shared as well. The last few days have been filled with pirate trivia – today's included one about a pirate leader trying to settle his men down and did that, by importing a bunch of French women to marry them off. There was also an interesting fact about the year 2011. July has five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays (this happens once in something like 800 years); there is the 1/1/11, 11/11/11 and if you add your age and the last two digits of your birth year, it will add up to 111.

We are about to tie up to the dock tomorrow and get the last minute preps to the boat done before we head off. That means getting the water maker pickled, all thru-hulls closed, the freezer and refrigerator emptied and cleaned, everything off the decks and stored, all the last minute cleaning, and wash done, and, all the garbage packed up and hauled off. Then on Monday we leave for Bocas Town and on Tuesday we leave for Almirante and then Panama City. We're giving ourselves a few days in Panama City as a safety and we need to go to the US Embassy as Michael needs more pages in his passport. Hopefully we can get that done there quickly- though we know it will be an adventure – it always is!

So we are in the finally preps – its hot and sticky – but we're checking things off the list to get ready.

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