We have had some excellent and some sad time in our present anchorage. SV Effie, with Mac and Alan aboard, finally came through the canal and met up with us here. We have known them since 2005 in Mexico. We had an appie pot-luck aboard Effie two nights ago, brought out the guitars (I even played mine!!!) and had a sing-a-long with Slip Away, Homers' and us. A great time was had by all!! It has been four years or so since we were all together. Alan and I did some singing in PV. He got me up to perform and, again, he got me up to play guitar, in front of my first audience. It helps to have supportive people around you when you first do that sort of thing.
Unfortunately, Mac has received some bad news about her sister's health, and they are now heading to Panamarina in order to leave Effie and fly home to help out. We were just so happy to see them and hoping to travel together for some time. They were so happy to have finally arrived on this side. Stuff happens and you deal with it. Hopefully we'll catch up with them when they return. We are sending positive, good thoughts their way.
Kuna Yala (San Blas) has been an interesting spot. It is hard to imagine that you'd be bored here, but we have felt somewhat that way. We've had many overcast days which makes for a lot of time on the boat since snorkeling isn't good without sun. Greg has been trying to hunt with his pole spear, and has had some luck. Effie has given him a real spear gun so he will be trying that out soon. Thank God for Greg's Monkey Golf game as it gets us ashore doing something. We've also been playing Bocci Ball with the crew of Southern Belle.
Not to say that there's nothing to do aboard, especially for the cook!! That would be the other downside of life here. There is very little in the way of conveniences here: no cash machines, no "real" stores, little in the way of provisions, no laundries, no restaurants, etc. That makes for a lot of cooking and hand laundry. There are ulus, (small Kuna canoes), or pangas that bring some combination of fruits, veggies, eggs, chicken, beer, boxed wine, milk or juice, and Kuna bread (hot-dog looking buns...as long but about 1/3 as wide. Not all boats have the same stuff and, you can bet, whatever it is you need isn't likely to show up anytime soon. When they do show up, it takes some time to discover what they do have aboard and you pay royally for the provisions. However, it would be impossible to be here without them since you are so far away from any real provisioning stops. Real bread has been impossible to find, and I've never made this much bread in my entire life! Lots of work, and eaten up in a flash. Impossible to get cheeses, sour cream etc. I never realized how many appetizers revolve around those two ingredients.
Laundry has also been a problem as our watermaker doesn't really make enough to allow for that job. We've done sheets and towels ashore, with water available in "wells" on a few of the islands, but this is hard work and probably my least favourite job. Ralph and Greg do most of the hard wringing as my hands/wrists can't take it and I don't have enough hand strength to do it properly.
After Marilyn's birthday, we will be heading to Isla Tigre to participate in the festivities revolving around the commemoration of the Kuna revolution. It is supposed to be a great event and we are looking forward to it. After that, we plan to head back toward Linton and Portobello, to get more money and reprovision. Then, since we have to leave Panama by March 8th, we plan to check out and head to Costa Rica. At present, we plan to head to Nicaragua after that, then circle back toward Cartagena...however, it all depends on the weather and where the wind blows us. We are supposed to fly out of Bogota on May 30th...but, as always, cruisers plans are written in sand at low tide.
