After Hours Party

We're moving a bit slow today thanks to the incredible hospitality of Josef and Maria of Rana Azul and some fellow boaters. We went to Rana Azul for their Sunday afternoon dinner and to say our goodbyes to many of the folks we met here over the last few months. The "land" people tend to head there on Sundays and we thought it would be a good place to see everyone at once. Plus the food is always great and you never fail to have a good time. When our friend Tom came, he told us that the best time he had with us was the afternoon at Rana Azul.

So we upped our anchor from the one side of the lagoon and headed across the bay. We did stop in the middle to try to get the twists out of our anchor chain. We have new anchor chain (thanks again Tom) sitting and waiting for us in Panama City – and our current chain is all rusty and gets bad twists in it as we are dropping it or hauling it up. So we attempted to get some of the twists out of it, making a rusty mess of our foredeck and ourselves.

We re-anchored near Rana Azul. We headed in around noon and it was a small but friendly crowd and we enjoyed our feasts. Then we just hung around with our friends from Baros, Linda and Hans as well as a Dutch couple Yvonne and Andrew from the sailboat Windhond. Josef and Maria and their staff were also relaxing and we toasted someone's nineteenth birthday (the first extra round of beers). The famous house lemoncello was also brought out and shots of it were passed around (several times). The music was great and the dancing started along with the "singing" - which really was Josef's commentary on various songs with back-ups by Linda (and even Barbara who always wanted to be a back-up singer though she can't sing worth a darn). The evening proceeded with Slim and Gail from Miss Gail joining in the festivities and buying a round. The evening wore on with various discussions into the political arena, the music world and of course everyone's various personal experiences. Most of the group were Europeans – Josef and Maria are Austrians, Hans is Dutch, Linda Belgian, Yvonne and Andrew also Dutch and the others Americans. We always are a bit embarrassed that folks must speak English because we are around – and the amazing part is – they all can.

The evening wore on with singing, dancing, toasting and lots of laughing and fun. It was a great sendoff for us from Bocas and will be a night we treasure and remember.

Thanks to all our partying pals for making it a great night and to Josef and Maria for their generous hospitality. We're moving a tad slow this morning – and it is a rainy, grey day so we may or may not move on.

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