pie de limon

as the final days approached before leaving panama to argentina we had to completely finish our food supplies in order not to leave any for possible rottens during the two months the boat was to be alone (not that we had so much food left to begin with).... and as you can imagine in a boat we do not have all the kitchen utensils one would need to make pastries and all sorts of fancy food... so we have to be creative and use what we have :-) at the end, using the tools at hand and two left over lemons we created lunch, which was a healthy and really delicious lemon pie!!!

the making:



the result:

red frog marina

the end of october was approaching and we needed to fly to argentina soon; so we moved the boat from the anchorage in bocas town in isla colon to the beautiful red frog marina in isla bastimentos. this marina has exelent facilities and the most amazing beaches just minutes away walking or going by dinghy. this marina will be home to puerto seguro for the next couple of months while we fly to argentina and then to colombia for christmas.

video of the marina:



video of the beach:

cayo nancy

another beautiful cay in the bocas del toro area. while snorkeling and trying to catch dinner esteban spotted a big shark, he couldn't tell which one it was, but he was certainly on board of the dinghy in no time after seeing the scary animal.... and with no dinner. i think we had pasta that night. because this cay is just across carenero we went on a short dinghy ride to swim and enjoy the sights!!

isla carenero

isla carenero is a small island across isla colon. the pickled parrot has the best burgers and pineapple juice and the beach is surrounded by swamps but pretty nice. a great place to spend the day!

bocas town

a beautiful town with a strong caribbean touch. most houses are built on the water on stilts. the town is full of surfers and pretty cool people. we met katrine and noa on board their boat, evening star. as of yet we have not seen chris because he is busy preparing a boat to bring from washington, but it was really amazing to see noa so big and beautiful and to be with katrine on her boat, which we had seen last in key west almost two years ago.

isla bastimentos

bastimentos is the outer most island in bocas del toro. it was our our first anchorage in this area and most probably where puerto seguro will stay for a couple of months if and when we go to argentina (at the red frog marina a beautiful and calm bay surrounded by mangroves).

from san blas to bocas del toro

we got our zarpe in porvenir and started the crossing on a thursday afternoon. we sailed along david who was sailing high spirits, his Morgan 38. the crossing was a long one and with little wind and 2 knots of current against us. we had a couple of storms and some beautiful days. we saw dolphins swimming along the boat and what was most impressive, we had birds resting in the boat. some went inside the companionway and others landed in esteban's head!!!!!!!! amazing to see these birds from the wild being so close and relaxed with humans. because the autopilot finally decided to quit on us, we were extremely tired after this crossing, as we had to steer the boat by hand for over 30 hours without any decent sleep. at one point our watches were of 30 minutes only because we could not keep each other awake and steering any longer than that, but we made it to bocas safely and after the third day we anchored in a bay in bocas del toro in an island called bastimentos.

kiting in paradise

we finally had some decent wind to kite, a great spot and all the conditions ready for esteban's first class... when we elevated the kite we were definitely the main attraction in the anchorage and some sailors came to see what was kiting all about. it was amazing to be doing such a fun sport in such a beautiful place and passing so close to other boats and puerto seguro. with just a few more hours esteban will be kiting like a pro, i'm sure.

dog island

the kunas charge one dollar to visit this island but it is well worth it, this island is a beautiful place, just like all others, really. there is a wreck in the reef and the story is that when the ship was taking in water, the captain decided to run aground to save the cargo, which was mainly rum!! dog and devil islands were just a 5 minute dinghy ride away from our anchorage so it was very convenient to just go and spend the day and enjoy the beach, the scenery and the ride!!

culo e' pollo

that is the name given to the storms in this part of the world, at least in colombia. they are squalls that extend a couple of miles and last about 30 minutes to one hour. they bring showers and winds of up to 45 knots. we had several of them in the passage from colombia to panama and in the different anchorages in san blas. the lighting storms are pretty amazing and scary; it is very easy and common to be hit by lighting and the result is devastating, it can kill all electronics on board. as a precaution we tried to put the most expensive ones inside the oven. with the strong winds many boats drag and for some weird reason this tends to happen at any time from 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM depriving us sailors of any possible sleep during the night.

east lemon cays

east lemon has to be one of the best anchorages in san blas and the one with most americans. it was fun to be here because we went to different sailboats for dinner every night, we met all the cruisers at the different beaches to play music, eat or play volleyball, or simply met them to go snorkeling. a different part of cruising when you are anchored in a little community. i must admit we like anchorages with less boats but socializing with other cruisers was a lot of fun!

chichime

so many islands in san blas and they are all equally beautiful. the entrance to this one was completely off on the charts. If we had followed the GPS on the way in, we would have surely sailed on top of corals and a tiny island with a palm tree. fortunately we arrived during the day and the channel was obvious, so we followed the color of the water and what we saw, instead of the electronics, and went right in. we could see an old boat up against the reefs at a distance. not the best of sites for a sailor. this island had maybe 5 other sailboats at anchor and we quickly met most of them. one of them was captain don north, the owner of another morgan 38. we were happy to see another boat just like ours so we went to meet him and introduced ourselves. he invited us onboard. it is strange to see another boat just like ours and see how the same boat can be so different. he also went to our boat and brought us very good champagne which we drank with delicious lobsters. we celebrated the encounter and complimented each other’s boats, of course. we also met other captains and crew from the other sailboats. we were even singing alone one night with a group of backpackers playing a guitar and singing american tunes (as if we knew any)… i guess more than signing we were humming along but having a lot of fun. a big part of sailing is spending time with the other boaters. we admit we do not do this often, but somehow in this place we did, and we actually enjoyed it. the days passed in this place very fast. we would snorkel, swim and try to get lobster every day, and at night we would be in ours or someone else’s boat eating the lobster we had bought from the kunas, because we failed miserably at every try to get some ourselves… we like this routine very much. it wouldn’t be hard at all for us to live in a place like this.