Peek-a-boat

We all imagine that we are alone on our boats. Gently swaying at anchor, with the sun shining down, lulls us into a false sense of [...]

V-berth vacations

The in-laws are coming to visit. Having friends or relatives coming to stay is always an interesting exercise. Visitors to a boat, however, have a completely different set of challenges to meet [...]

The uninvited guest

“Stop scratching!” I’m pleading with my 3 year-old daughter who has a cluster of red welts on both her calves. Yes, the cruising life is an extraordinary one, packed with fulfilling encounters and adventures. However, today [...]

Dolphin Watching

While our boat is out of the water, prepping for leaving New Zealand shortly, we're heading south to visit some friends. First stop is Auckland and the lovely folks from s/v Dolphin of Leith, who we first met in the San Blas islands of Panama more…

Farewell to the boy next door

Being quite new to cruising has meant that we've welcomed the opportunities to make new friends whenever we can. We made friends for life in Laurie and Damon of s/v Mother Jones in Panama, and ended up buddy-boating with them for a few months and…

Method in the madness

So what vital bit of the story has been missing here? Were any of you questioning our decision to head north for 2,250 miles for over three and a half months in order to get to Banderas Bay in Mexico for hurricane season? Well, if not, then maybe…

The Pleasures of Passage Making

A frigate bird wheels overhead as the hazy dawn light is mirrored back by the water. The sea is absolutely still, more like a lake than an ocean, blurring the horizon so that the sky bleeds into the water. Slowly, gently, a large, old leatherback…

Read the signs

Wow, Panama City really doesn't like you to feed anything [...]

Red tide at Taboga

Ahhhhh, Taboga. Only 7 little miles from the hustle and bustle of Panama City but it might as well be another world. We like it here immensely, in fact, it wins our prize for the place we’ve liked most in all of Panama. Why? Well, for starters it’s…

Rude awakening

It’s 5:30am, the boat is rocking violently from side to side and James and I are covered in water. Had we been on passage this might be something that we were expecting or at least prepared for. But no, this time, we are actually at anchor. The…

The Panama Canal

So we talked about it, planned it and worried about it for so long that the actual Canal transit seemed like an absolute doddle (does this remind anyone of all our talk of the Bay of Biscay?). We had decided to use a canal agent as our month in the…

Adamastor Admeasured

Yes – we’re finally doing it. The path between the seas beckons, we have our transit date for the Panama canal. We returned from the San Blas islands to Portobelo and were greeted by a mountain of admin back in the UK that had accumulated from a…

Sun, sand and Santa – a month in San Blás

The San Blás islands, also known as the Kuna Yala, is home to the Kuna Indians who are in charge of the entire archipelago of over 350 islands and retain autonomy without interference from the national Panamanian government. The archipelago is…

On crazy monkeys, hungry bats and lost camels…

Isla Linton is a sweet little island with a huge anchorage almost entirely occupied by French or German boats. Strange, first we found Bocas to be full of Americans, now Linton is full of the French – are there any Panamanians in Panama??? This huge…

Keeping up with the Joneses

Buddy-boating was a term that we had heard used but never fully understood until we left Bocas del Toro. We found ourselves in the fortunate position to have made some really great friends in Laurie and Damon of sailing vessel Mother Jones. We met…

Bye bye Bocas

The time has come. We have been in Bocas for 5 months now, had 4 sets of family and friends to visit, trashed and subsequently replaced our mainsail, done a full engine service, cleaned our keel and prop and even hosted a toddler. We've made amazing…

The family Edwards

Following the last post, I should have said it was the perfect break until...We got stuck at the border coming back into Panama. I was already anticipating issues as my passport renewal has resulted in me owning two valid British passports…

Me, James and mister raccoon

What are the consequences of staying in Bocas so long? Well, it means you need to do a visa run. In typical Panamanian style the rules for how to renew your visa changed in the week we were set to do it. It used to be that you had to leave the…

Going potty…

It turns out that one of the great perks of being in Bocas for so much time is that we have managed to amass a great big circle of friends. For the first time in the trip we have other cruisers all around us that can give advice, swap stories and…

The art of hibernation

Ah, an empty boat and no guests this month. What to do... what to do? Well, the first answer is, gratefully, nothing. Mary and Don left us and we stayed safely tucked away below deck in the same favoured anchoring spot for nearly 2 weeks before we…