Shelter Bay Marina

Welcome to our Blog. Our latest entry always comes up first... 
Click this link if you want to start at the beginning:
FIRST BLOG ENTRY
If you want to start at the beginning of our trip:
START OF TRIP
If you want to see the story of our trip from South Carolina
(where we bought the boat)
 to Lake Ontario Click this link:
  SOUTH CAROLINA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We arrived in Shelter Bay on Tuesday February 2nd...  On the 3rd, we lost our main laptop computer and could not recover the data so far.  We faithfully did back-ups but it seems they are not working.  So now after a few weeks we have a new to us, Panasonic TOUGHBOOK...  And boy, does it look tough!...  So hopefully now after days of replacing all that was lost, we can get across the Pacific with an in tact computer...

Life here at the marina has been FUN!  The last time we were here we had to rush home to Canada and while we were gone the boat was on the hard.  This time we have enjoyed a little "dock life"

The people here at Shelter Bay are friendly and fun.  We have enjoyed swimming, walking and cocktails every evening....

We were here for Superbowl Sunday.  What a collection of people!  Try explaining American football to a Aussie or Brit!

Shelley and Ginger

Here at the marina they hold a swap meet every Friday morning...  We took advantage of this to sell/give away a bunch of stuff we don't need anymore...

Shelley connected with some interesting folks who walk and bird watch.  She has become quite proficient at locating and identifying the many birds and critters here in Panama... She has also produced some beautiful photos...

Life here has not been all play....  We have now lowered the waterline by almost 2 inches with enough provisions for 6 MONTHS!  Think about how much we eat in a day, then multiply that by 180....  That's a lot of food....  We took the bus to Panama City and had our friend, Roger drive us home with a van full of supplies...  Our day in Panama City included a trip to the Albrook Mall with over 800 stores!  For people who have been in the jungle for almost a year, it is quite a change...

We also got a long list of boat jobs completed.  The biggest was the re-painting of our decks...  It is nice to have the boat looking so pretty...  (At least for a little while...)

One theme that keeps re-occuring in our life is AMAZING PEOPLE!  Over he last few weeks we have met some great people from all over.  Two couples in particular have been our new Australian friends, Chris & Margaret (S/V Storm Bay) and Bruce & Carrie (S/V Haven).  they have gone through the canal on their way to the Galapagos.  We hope to meet up with them in French Polynesia later...  Lanny and Ginger (S/V Swift Sure) who we met in the San Blas, are also on the same trajectory as us and are even helping us line handle through the canal...  There are so many others!

Michelle (from Oklahoma/Cozumel) has also joined us again for our canal transit.  We will post on the transit next...

The last big job we needed done was to replenish our school supplies.  Thanks to the generosity of so many, we found almost everything we need for our trip to the South Pacific.  For more on our work with kids, check out: www.righttowriteministry.blogspot.com

We are just now looking after the last minute jobs on the boat before we begin the journey that will see us move from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific...

Cheers!

We Finally Had To Go...

Welcome to our Blog. Our latest entry always comes up first... 
Click this link if you want to start at the beginning:
FIRST BLOG ENTRY
If you want to start at the beginning of our trip:
START OF TRIP
If you want to see the story of our trip from South Carolina
(where we bought the boat)
 to Lake Ontario Click this link:
  SOUTH CAROLINA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The San Blas Islands (or more correctly, the Guna Yala Province) has been amazing.  We arrived on November 12 and have visited more than 15 islands in the last few months...

We will never forget the azure blue water and the soft white sand...  But mostly, we will never forget the people we met along our journey so far...

Leaving some places and some people is difficult.  We have come to know some great people.  But we are heading for new places and hopefully some new people....

Before we left and since our last post we were happy to see Shelley's brother Bob and his wife, Kelly who came to visit us from home...  

We arrived in Nonomulu the night before they arrived.  The morning of their arrival we dinghied to the Carti docks and picked them up. After a short trip back to Blowin' Bubbles, we sailed close hauled 25 nautical miles to Nargana where we picked up provisions. We enjoyed KFC (Kuna Fried Chicken) and a cold beer served by a lovely family  who allow cruisers to use their dock to tie up our dinghies....

After Nargana we got together with Robin and Michael (S/V Mermaid) and explored  few islands where we snorkeled and swam and ate like kings...  

Bob cleaning his first lobster

Bob & Kelly are excellent musicians and so we had a few more jam sessions while they were here....

During their stay we went on the same tour that we took our daughter Kelly on when she was here...  What great fun!  Even the second time!

Eventually they had to return to reality and we had to begin moving toward Shelter Bay where we will get ready to transit the Panama Canal around February 20th...  We have also ordered 300' of new anchor chain as ours has completely worn itself out...  Salt water can destroy ANYTHING!.

Our time with Robin & Mike is over.... :(

On Monday, January 25th we left the San Blas with 15-20 knot winds out of the north east.  It was a rough ride to Linton, but we covered the distance in record time with all sails flying...

We caught a small tuna on our way...

After an overnight stop in Linton, we sailed a few more hours to Portabelo where we stopped on our way to San Blas back in November.  Last time, we did not really get a chance to explore this neat place.  This time we decided to stay a week. Soon after we arrived we re-connected with our friends, Joanne & Bill from s/v Ultra and Carrie & Bruce from s/v Haven

What a good choice!  There is a RICH history to this place...  I mean that figuratively and literally as this was (in the 1700's) the gateway for millions of tons of gold destined for the then powerful nation of Spain.  There are 4  forts whose remains are fun to explore.  Late in the day on Thursday, our good friends, Joanne and Bill who were with us in Bocas del Toro, arrived here on their way to the San Blas...

We wasted no time picking up where we left off over 5 months ago and explored two of the four forts here in Portabelo.  

s/v Haven

s/v Blowin bubbles

s/v ultra

Carrie and Bruce (s/v Haven)

 The small museum was awesome...

 We dingied up the river to search for birds and sloths...

our guide...

beautiful flowers...

amazing birds...

Casa Vela... our watering hole...

Yesterday, after a sad goodbye to Joanne & Bill  we sailed to Shelter Bay Marina where we have begun the process of booking passage through the Panama Canal around February 20th..

Our last night in Portabelo

Last night, just after we arrived, we took delivery of 300' of brand new anchor chain...  Our old chain was well past it's useful life...  This was a big expense but it will keep our home safe for years to come we hope...

More soon, Cheers!