Author Archives: Mark
Transiting the Panama Canal – Part Two
Link to: Transiting the Panama Canal – Part One 5 am came too soon. This is it. This is the big day. I quickly brushed my teeth and got dressed. Going into the main salon and peeking in the forward cabin I see the line-handlers completely zonked out. I’ll make the coffee, I thought, that’ll […]
Transiting the Panama Canal – Part One
Absolutely feakin’ awesome! Wow! We went through the Panama Canal! I won’t say this was a dream of a lifetime come true but it’s pretty darn close. Because there is so much to talk about, I am going to have to divide this post into two parts. I’ll begin with the preparation and take you […]
Panama City!
Shelter Bay Marina is a brief stopover for us. The marina is nice but it is in the middle of nowhere. It is a 30-40 minute bus ride to the closest grocery store in Colón. The marina is located on the old US Army base Ft. Sherman from pre 2000 when the USA controlled the […]
Goodbye San Blas
The canned ham is gone and the rains are here. We have absolutely loved our time in the San Blas Islands. The Kuna Yala region of Panama is a little slice of heaven on earth and every day was like a dream come true. The San Blas are exactly what we dreamed about when we […]
Croc Watch at Green Island
After our visit to Sin City and still sailing in the San Blas Islands, we found a fantastic spot to anchor behind aptly named Green Island. I felt a little bit bad since there was one other Australian flagged boat in this spot and my intuition was when they saw us coming they probably thought, […]
Sin City
We went to Sin City. I’ll explain in a little bit. We have been having an absolutely awesome time in the Coco Banderas Cays. Our ear infections cleared up and we spent about 5 days snorkeling in the area. Lucky for us, we discovered one of the best snorkel spots since Bonaire (9°30’35.2″N 78°36’50.9″W). Water […]
San Blas Islands – Coco Bandero Cays
Cream Puff is anchored in a really sweet spot. We sailed to a small group of about 12 islands called the Coco Bandero Cays. We are anchored between three islands that are an easy swim from the boat. When we looked at the guidebook we are using for this area we were amused to see […]
Kuna and Karma
One of the Kuna fishermen cut his foot while out on the panga. The three fishermen in the boat turned towards the anchored cruising yachts for aid. Like us, many cruisers carry an extensive first aid kit. And, I mean extensive. We carry it for times just like this. Being very isolated here, self preservation […]
San Blas Islands – Eastern Holandes Cays
For the past few days our daily routine is to get up, eat breakfast, walk on the beach and visit boats in the area while out and about on our dinghy. Returning to Cream Puff, we eat lunch and go for a swim or snorkel. The waters are crystal clear and warm. In fact, the […]
San Blas Islands – Chichime Island
Venancio welcomed us to the San Blas Islands but more on him later. The San Blas Islands! Most people have no idea where these are. Don’t fret, neither did we before we started this adventure. The San Blas Islands are a part of Panama, well sort of, on the Caribbean side. I say sort of […]
Passage to Panama
It’s my job to throw the dead fish off the deck in the mornings when we are underway. I do this each morning before they start to bake in the sun and stink up the place. They will also stain the deck if left stranded. We had nine dead fish on our second night out. […]
It’s Time to Leave Santa Marta
We decided to leave Colombia. As soon as we made this decision, the wind started to howl making the passage out of here very uncomfortable. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know by now how we are all about comfort. So here we sit just sort of hanging until the wind […]
Rodadero
This past week we extended our Colombian visas. This means we have been here for about ninety days. The itch to get moving again is starting to flare up but we’ll not scratch it just yet; soon, but not just yet. We are still really loving Colombia and the people here. Also, the longer we […]
Tragedy Adverted
Today could have turned out to be a very bad day for me had I not possessed the foresight to plan ahead. Cruising on a boat forces a person to live with less. Deciding to stock a spare pump over an extra pair of shoes are common decisions made by cruisers when prioritizing space aboard […]
Cartagena – Part Four
A free walking tour is the best way to experience the Walled City. We noticed the tour guides with yellow umbrellas and their groups of about twenty people and wondered if they offered English speaking tours. Luckily they did offer tours in English and we reserved a spot online. I am repeating myself when I […]
