Fun Fundraiser

One of the things we particularly like to do is attend local events. We've been to parades, dance performances, local music events, beauty pageants and dinners. In Bocas Town, we attended the "Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot Fashion Show" for the "Floating Doctors." And it was quite an evening out!

It was held at the Bocas Marina's "Calypso Cantina and Grill" which is a mostly outside venue. One of the docks was converted to a raised runway and stage with the help of beer cases and plywood. Covered in black plastic it was lit with red LED rope lights and big spotlights. Decorated with some local flora, it looked great! Plastic chairs were put all around the stage, though not quite enough to sit the 200 plus people.

Dinner was a nice buffet, but knowing cruisers, they only provided a tiny plate to load up with the salads, cold cuts, lasagna and curried chicken and rice. They did run out of silverware at one point. The entertainment was, well entertaining! Bubba, the local chainsaw artist was doing a demonstration of his "art" which was being raffled as one of the night's prizes. Just before the fashion show would begin at 2030 (8:30 pm), two bathing suited women came on the runway (to music being played by a local band) and one woman proceeded to body paint the other. A few others joined in the painting as well.

Then to the song "hot hot hot" a bathing suited woman came out with a hula hoop aflame and did a fire dance sending the row in front of us scurrying She was very good (she was also the woman who did the body painting and we met her earlier in the week as the yoga instructor, masseuse and person who ran the spa at "Red Frog.")

Barbara was happy because the fashion show started with some very good looking men in swimsuits! The show was very well done and a lot of fun even though we aren't exactly fashion mavens. The models were good looking local folks who seemed to be having a lot of fun and they were well-rehearsed. There were swimsuits (Michael's favorite was the bikini set), casual clothes and even raingear from Helly Hansen, the boaters' loved that (Barbara loved it when the men took off the raincoats and had on boxers or swimsuits!)

Lots of prizes were raffled off and there was also a silent auction. Some of the prizes included dinners at local eateries, dive trips, local art, overnight stays at the hotels, massages, personal trainers and tattoos! Unfortunately we came home prize less but it was fun to see how excited people got when they won! Then, they auctioned a date with the doctor, Dr. Ben, who runs the "Floating Doctors" and he is quite handsome and really hammed it up on stage. We thought of bidding in the hopes of getting our annual physicals for a good price!. The bidding was between two folks and got to $275! Well out of our price range.

It was a fun evening and we called it a night around 2300 (11 pm) and dinghied back to our boat at anchor near the marina. It was a madhouse watching people leaving the event as water taxis were zipping and speeding every which way. Back on the boat, we listened to the music continue for quite awhile and were glad we left when the karaoke singing started!

We were glad to spend some of our limited funds on the night and support the "Floating Doctors." It was an entertaining night and the organization is a good one. "Floating Doctors" is an all-volunteer, non-profit medical relief team who work in remote areas to help in emergency situations (they were in Haiti twice – once after the earthquakes and once for the cholera outbreak) as well as to help provide education and care in remote coastal places. They work off a large motor-sailboat, the SV Southern Wind. Check them out at www.floatingdoctors.com

After all the excitement of Bocas Town, we moved to the "Dark Lands" on Saturday – more on that later!

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In Search of the Elusive, Indigenous Oophaga Pumilio

It rained most of Monday – something we hadn't seen much of lately. So we collected water, did some laundry and washed the decks. That also meant that the famous Bastimentos Red Frog might also make an appearance.

On Tuesday, we decided to take a hike into the area rainforest to hunt for the little red poison dart frogs. Covered in bug spray we headed out. We trudged through the grasses (hoping not to find the dreaded “fer de lance”) looking for the tiny bright red frog that is indigenous to this island. We went up a several paths and into some clearings to look. We understood you could see them in the undergrowth. Finally, we spotted one little guy. They are relatively territorial (especially the males), so chances are we wouldn't see a bunch in one spot.

There bright red color does help in spotting them. We hiked around looking for one particular area (which we never found – it was off the only road we didn't go down) where another boater said he spotted several. We did manage to get all the way to the top of the hill and got a nice view amongst the construction of some high end homes and spa.

We had a good hike and ended up with at least one sighting. Of this guy.

We also heard all kinds of wonderful bird and insect and frog calls on the walk. It was good to get out and enjoy a good hike It does get hot here and when we got back to the boat we were ready for showers. Just in time, a big rain and wind squall came and we got more water and fresh water rain showers. Had some old friends Damon and David over for sundowners and it was good to reconnect with them – we saw them last in the Bay of Chilon in Colombia,

Today, we'll probably move Astarte and get a look at another area of Bocas. Its a big place and lots of explore.

Full moon tonight!

Exploring the Bocas Archipelago

Getting to explore new areas is one of the real joys of cruising. Now that we are checked-in to Panama, rested up from the six-day passage, and have the boat back in some order, we are ready to start learning about this area. And boy, is there a lot to learn. Get out your maps – the Bocas del Toro area is in the northwestern corner of Panama, just 30 miles south of the Costa Rican border. Once in the Bocas waters from the Caribbean Sea, you're cruising through two major bodies of water – Bahia Almirante and Laguna de Chiriqui. The mainland and mountains of Panama are visible which give the area a great backdrop. Within these waters there are eight major islands surrounded by another 50 plus cays and more than 200 islets. Many are small mangrove dots in the sea of blue. The area is a bit confusing because the locals, the area's ex-pats, and the cruisers all have different or multiple names for every bay, anchorage or location.

A little history lesson. It was discovered (like just about everything it seems in the Caribbean) by Christopher Columbus on his fourth and final voyage. In the 19th century, immigrants descended upon the area that was populated by various indigenous Ngobe tribes. These immigrants were mainly slaves from the Colombian islands, US and some of the more eastern Caribbean islands. The banana industry brought in more folks and bananas still make up more than 80 percent of Panama's exports.

The present population is made up of an interesting mix of folks – the descendants from the slaves, the Chinese (which seem to own and run every store in the area including what is known as "the Chinese Walmart."), various indigenous Ngobe tribes, many ex-pats from the US and Canada and a mix of Latin Americans. Their language is "guari-guari" - a mix of Afro-Antillean English and Ngobere with a splash of French.

The wildlife of the area is quite remarkable. We are anchored off one of the large islands – Bastimentos where there is an indigenous red frog. This small very colorful frog is from the pumilio family – the poison dart frog. This small one is not quite as toxic as others – unless eaten (so we won't taste). Kids in the area collect them and carry them around in big leaves with a touch of water and show them to you for a tip. Unfortunately they often put the frogs in salt water. There are also monkeys, sloths and all types of colorful, beautiful sounding birds. We took a nice walk across the island yesterday to see the incredible beaches on the other side. Saw a few red frogs (caught by the local young boys) and heard some great birds. We'll take a walk after some rain and hope to see "lots of red frogs" after a rain shower.

Because of the large ex-pat community and cruisers who are here for long periods of time, there are lots of activities in the area. It starts with the morning radio net filled with everything from the local restaurants' menu specials to trivia to all the various events going on (garden club, charity fund raisers, movie nights etc.)

We'll explore the area and enjoy the process of doing so....

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Bocas del Toro Arrival

After six days – well, two hours short of six days – we anchored in Bocas del Toro, Panama. We sailed much of the way and managed to not have to stop for fuel in either Providencia or San Andres. The last 30 hours we did have to motor as the Caribbean Sea turned into a windless waterway. We kept hoping for a wisp of air to be able to turn off the engine, but it was incredibly calm. The passage was a very good one – we hit two big rainy squalls (luckily not terribly windy or lightning-filled). They did seem to last forever, staying on top of us and just dumping rain. Wish we had water-proofed the bimini before leaving. It rained as hard under the canvas in the cockpit as outside! It seemed we were constantly drying cushions and clothes after passing through the squalls. Seas were relatively calm except when we had wind. But the boat handles them better when she's under sail – so all was fine.

We arrived just at sunrise off the entrance of Bocas del Toro and made it through the cut and around a few cays to anchor off Bocas Marina. We had barely got the anchor set and a crew of officials were at the boat, climbing aboard. Bocas del Toro does have a reputation of being the most officious (read: expensive) check-in procedure for boats in all of Panama. In fact, under way, we thought of heading to Portobello instead to clear in to the country and then just get a national zarpe to come here. But, because we have to get the boat ready to head to the states and also the winds would be calm for days – we would burn more fuel to go to Portobello and then the 155 miles to Bocas from there. So, we decided to just suck it up and deal with the check-in procedure here(read: more money).

So we get six guys on board, two from customs, two from immigration and the Port "Capitan" (plus the launcha driver). Most speak good English though we were hoping for Spanish practice. Papers start to fly and costs start to add up. One of the customs guys comes below for an inspection and opens all cabinets and engine compartment etc. I think because we hadn't yet cleaned up the boat or ourselves (they did arrive right after the anchor dropped), the inspection went quite quickly. While underway, things get stored so they don't go flying, snacks and water bottles are kept handy, and damp and dirty clothes were still hanging about so the boat was not in the tidiest of shape. When we go in to clear, we are usually all cleaned up, showered, clean clothes etc. But these guys didn't get that treatment.

After they left the boat, and more than a hundred of our favorite dollars was handed over (20 per person plus $15 for the launcha driver), we still had to go to town to complete the process. This meant a trip to the Port Capitan's office to get a new cruising permit (the rules changed yet again regarding cruising permits in Panama – now the permit we had was not valid because we left the country), and we had to complete the immigration process. So we launched our dinghy and outboard and went to town. We went first to get our Cruising Permit ($193), then to buy "immigration stamps" at the National Bank ($30), and then to the immigration office. This gave us a nice walking tour of Bocas Town and a good stretch of our tired legs. But it was warm, we were tired and we had to get a lot done before the noon closure of the immigration office. At immigration, we then had to go across the street to make a copy of the stamps now in our passports ($0.60). With all the legal stuff done (or so we thought), we then picked up some phone cards, cold sodas, fresh bread and fruit and headed back to the boat. We hoped to get fuel at the Bocas Marina fuel dock – but they didn't have any diesel. After getting back to Astarte, another "official" came by from quarantine who took our "foreign" garbage and did an inspection (well not really – he asked some questions about where we bought our food). And he needed more money. After some arguments we handed him $18. ($15 for the "inspection and $3 for our garbage.) So after six zero dollar days for the passage, we were spending money like drunken sailors.

After an afternoon of picking up and trying to get the internet/phone to work, we decided to head in for taco night at Bocas Marina's Calypso Cantina. Heck, we were spending money all day – why not continue???

It was a nice evening where we met interesting folks and reconnected with some people we met in the Bahamas in 2009. It was nice to get some local information about the area and get served a meal and not have to do dishes.

Back to Astarte and in bed for what we hoped was more than three hours of sleep at a time. It was a restful night though neither of us slept quite as "dead" as we thought we would. The body was probably in that 3 hours sleep pattern.

Today, we have to deal with fuel which will mean at least two taxi runs with jerry cans into the gas station in town. Perhaps a little more exploring around Bocas Town and maybe even an ice cream treat!

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Passages - =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=93Where are we?=94?=

We are underway, finally! We left Guanaja, Bay Islands, Honduras on Wednesday morning around 1115 for the 600 mile trip to Bocas del Toro, Panama. We cleared out of Honduras (one of the best and easiest countries to accomplish that task), fueled up and stocked up on a few last minute items like bread and eggs. We are hoping to make a straight run to Panama without any stops. We don't carry enough fuel for motoring all of it, so we have to sail – but we are a sailboat after all.

Day one was potentially the roughest portion of the trip as we have to head almost due east (into the normal trade winds) to get past mainland Honduras. Then we make the turn to the southeast for awhile and then more south/southwest as we get closer to Panama. We waited and waited for the best weather window – which would mean very light easterlies so that we wouldn't have to crash into winds and seas. Michael picked out a great window to get us started – the winds were very favorable – light and northerly. We actually sailed a good portion of the first day (from about 1400 until 2030). We motored over the nighttime hours as the winds were so light that the sails wouldn't stay full and were banging around. But seas were light so we made good time. Day one – no fish. (we dragged a handmade lure that Walt on "Will of the Wisp" made us and we've named the "Sooper Cooper."

Day two – Thursday – we sailed all from sunup through most of the day and night. We had a small jog through some reef areas that we motored through as the light wind was on the nose. We've had a few squalls – mostly some rain – nothing too dramatic (that's the way we like it – not too dramatic.) Day two - "Sooper Cooper" still the favored lure – no fish. And we are definitely sailing fish catching speed at times.

Day three – still sailing – albeit mighty slowly. The winds are now due north so we are sailing dead downwind. The seas are about 3 feet but at times really cause Astarte to wallow and backfill the main. But we are making steady progress and saving fuel. See our progress on our "where are we" page – we update it daily. "Sooper Cooper" was lost today – something big broke the swivel and the whole lure was lost – so sad, But not long after – we pulled in a huge mackerel on a silver spoon. It's always an adventure landing these things on a rolly deck. But we did land it. Finally the fishing curse is hopefully over. The "Sooper Cooper" must have provided good luck. (Jim E – does that mean Barbara won??)

We are now into day four – it is Saturday. We are checking in daily with two different radio nets to give our position. The northwest Caribbean net and now the Southwest Caribbean net. The net controllers are kind enough to come up twice a day (morning and evenings) and we give them our current position. It's nice to talk with someone and have someone know where we are. We're still slowly sailing and the wind may be backing more to the northwest which may give us a better/faster sailing angle. Unfortunately, the forecast is for south westerlies as we get closer to Panama (that's the direction we'll be heading). So we'll sail as long as we can and save our fuel in case we have to motor the last leg or portion of it.

It now looks like we won't get in until Tuesday at the earliest. The few slow nights have pushed the timing back. But its been comfortable (mostly) though the boat seems to roll more at night (probably because we reef the sails at night for safety – the squalls are harder to see at night). That makes sleeping more difficult. We're doing our normal three hours on watch then three hours of sleep.

Glad we prepped so many meals in advance for the trip – the roll would make it hard to cook. Re-heating is easier.

All is good aboard the good ship Astarte and we hope the weather continues to be kind to us. There is a low sitting over the Caribbean giving us this favorable wind for now – we hope it doesn't develop into something nasty or create too many squalls.

Sailing on...and fishing.

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Oh, The People You Meet

Saturday Michael solved a big mystery on the boat with his battery monitor. He is now getting an accurate graphic reading of how many amps are going in and out of the batteries. That was a great thing as its been a problem he's been trying to solve for months. It took a drill, some wires and the length of the boat to solve. We needed to make a new twisted pair of wires and run them in a different path to the battery bank. All in all it worked pretty well and best of all solved the problem that we have not been able to resolve for a very long time.

So to celebrate the solving of the Link 10 issue and because it was Saturday night in Guanaja, we went to the local eatery, The Manati, here in El Bight. On Saturday it's the place to be as they have a weekly "special" and many of the locals (albeit mostly the gringo ex-pats) come for it. It's always interesting to meet these folks and you have the most interesting and unusual conversations.

The proprietors are a couple from Germany – Annette and Klaus. They've been here for quite awhile and serve mostly German food (schnitzel, roast pork, german noodles, sauerkraut, sausages etc.). They are very nice and interesting and always make you feel very welcome in their establishment.

There are two guys who each live on a boat in El Bight and have been here since we've been coming to Guanaja. Gar is on a boat called "My Way" and he's the local expert on the hiking trails around the island. He used to work as a lumberjack setting chokers, moved to Alaska to work in the oil fields and crossed the Pacific on a boat. He's had some interesting adventures. We passed on a book to him about the the Pacific Northwest Haidas and lumbering and he told us last night he was really enjoying it. The other guy is Brian who lives aboard "Ketch 22" and he is usually quieter. Though last night we found out he's written two books and has a publisher now interested. He's self-published the two and they were at the bar. He also loves music and we shared music stories as well as Barbara's hope to also write and publish. He has a great sense of humor.

The local ex-pats are an interesting group. One guy who was helping to tend bar named Mike, built a lot of large buildings in the St Petersburg/Tampa area. He worked on the city center building in St. Pete, the cruise ship dock in Tampa and the Tampa Bay Performing Art Center. He and his wife have lived on Guanaja for over 11 years. He showed us some pictures he's taken of the hummingbirds that will eat out of his hand. It seems they've been there so long and he calls himself their "sugar daddy." He took some nice photos. He's also a musician – more on that later. His wife makes a local traditional Honduran Garafuna herbal drink called "guifiti" which we had the pleasure of sampling after dinner as a treat from Annette. This is a concoction of various herbs, spices, roots and alcohol. It is said to be a cure-all for everything from high and low blood pressure (how can it be for both??), headaches (I think it gives you one first), flus and colds, mosquito bites - but you have to drink it daily (hmmm- guifiti or mossies??), stomach cramps etc. It had an interesting taste but you certainly wouldn't want to get drunk on this stuff. We had it served in these lovely traditional stone "glasses" that made it probably taste even more exotic.

Back to the characters. Another ex-pat guy who could be running a Saturday Market stand in Eugene, Oregon (though with a tan and tropical attire), has lived here since the 70s. He has a long white haired ponytail, wild shirt and baggy trousers. He has a house with a stream and dam ("I didn't put the dam up , I bought the property and it was already there.") and we're sure a "garden." Old hippies don't die, they just move to the tropics!

Another guy told us about the water table on Guanaja (perhaps he was a burned out real estate agent!). He said the island never runs out of water because it is supplied by an aquifer from the mainland. We also learned about the waterfall on the other side of the island that we've hiked several times. It used to be much larger with a giant pool at the bottom of the big fall. It seems that Hurricane Mitch broke off a large wall and tumbled big rock down the cliff and made the falls smaller and the pool very shallow. He and his wife liked their drinks.

We dined with our friends Beate and Wolfgang from the boat Genesis and their friend Uli from another boat. They are all German and love chance to speak German and eat traditional food here. They were all kind enough to speak English for our benefit through the meal and post meal conversations. We were joined after dinner by Annette (the proprietress) for the guifiti drink and many, many stories of family, growing up, Germany, Honduras etc. It was very interesting and entertaining.

Then, the "live" music started. Klaus (the proprietor) used to play in a band in Germany. He plays bass guitar. Mike, (the ex-pat hummingbird feeder, builder of things in Tampa Bay) plays keyboards. The restaurant has an area set up with amps, a drum set, lots of instruments and microphones, etc. for anyone to join and and play. Unfortunately on this night it was a bass - keyboard duet. The "House of the Rising Sun" was first on the playlist. We needed more guifiti...quick! Then it was "Knocking on Heavens Door" and some other song. It was thankfully a short-set and we returned to the great pre-recorded playlist. But it made for an interesting interlude and we always love a chance to hear live music,

As seems to be always the case, it was an interesting night out in the islands. We safely made it back to Astarte past our normal bedtime.

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Fueling Up for Moving On

The guests have gone (so sad) and now it's time to head south out of the hurricane zone and to get Astarte and us to Panama. We made the move from West End to French Key Harbour where we enjoyed another fun day with our friends Honoree and Walt from "Will o' the Wisp". Then on Wednesday we made the slow slog into the wind and waves to Guanaja and settled into El Bight. Here we will fuel up for the 600 mile trek to Panama. We also need to clear out of Honduras and pick up the fruit, veggies and bread for the trip south. We are hoping we can make it without any stops, but it all depends on the weather conditions We don't carry enough fuel to motor all the way and the prevailing winds will mean we have to motor a good portion of the trip. The first leg is pretty east/southeast which is where the winds come from this time of year. Once we reach Providencia, we'll have a better angle to Bocas del Toro, Panama – and hopefully enough wind to sail. We may have to stop and fuel up in Providencia which we hope we don't have to do for several reasons. It will mean having to clear in there (expensive); the fuel is all bio-diesel (our old engine isn't fond of that) and it means we motored the whole way (noisy and expensive). But we'll see. We have to get to Panama sooner than later. It looks like Tuesday or Wednesday might be days we can leave (lighter easterlies than normal – flatter seas).

In the meantime we like Guanaja except for the no-see-ums which seem to have evolved to come out even in a good stiff breeze. Jumping in the water is a good solution (except when you're trying to sleep).

We're getting a few projects done while we wait for a weather window. Michael worked on the wind generator yesterday (thanks for the new foam insulation Jim E.) and Barbara's prepping meals for the passage. We'll do some stainless polishing as well and if we get some much needed rain (haven't seen any rain for a month or more), we'll get some cleaning done.

But its he weather waiting game for now.

Best wishes to Barbara's mom – she broke her arm the other day and want her to know we're thinking of her everyday.

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