Sandcastle27

When we left Shelter Bay Marina of Colon, Panama it was a warm, sunny day. We were full of emotions, sad and excited at leaving friends behind but with hope of seeing new sites ahead. The trip, all 2 ½ miles of it, was uneventful. The coastline is beautiful with its mixture of palm trees, very large hardwood trees and rocky, low coastline. The water was flat calm. At the entrance of the river is Fort San Lorenzo. It is mostly gone now, crumbled away with time and covered by vines. The river runs out at the mouth causing some wave to be negotiated but nothing scary! The river twists and turns as we continue up towards the dam built in 1910 creating the Gatun lake which supplies the water for the locks of the Panama ... read more

Here we sit in Shelter Bay Marina after having hauled and painted the bottom contemplating the trip ahead. Although exciting it is sad to be ending this phase of our last 5 years sailing the Carribean. We will be leaving behind an army of new friends from all over the world who have experienced this wonderful country with us. We take with us hours and hours of memories. Each and every stop held exciting new people, foods, cultures, wildlife and friendships. We learned to be self-sufficient and frugal something we would never have learned safe and warm at home working 24 x 7 with two cars, 3 bedroom home, a TV on every floor, internet cable, etc.... As is the case for many of our friends we travel back to New Bern, NC, USA to a ... read more