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Monday-Thusday February 22-25, 2010

GPS POSITION 8° 55.036 N 79° 31.199W Flamingo Marina Panama

Rise up! One Costa Rican soldier is man down with food poisoning. We all had dinner at the Marina Bar and Grill last night. Bill Barcus had some shrimp and rice that must have been bad, mala.

Today we leave for Panama Canal, but we have a lot of preparation work plus fueling up before we leave. John has to finish changing the oil in BD's 4 diesel engines, 2 generators and 2 propellers. The engines are in cramped under deck compartments that are sweet boxes in this heat. John has spread the job over the days we have been in Costa Rica; each change is a major workout. Deborah is determined to finish the pile of wash and do the necessary cleaning after days of habitation by 5 typical dudes. Everyone gets involved in the moving and stowing of the toys, John's surf ski and my Hobie trimaran, Hobo. They live under the cockpit table during potentially rough legs of our passage.

We move BD to the fuel dock about noon and return to our overnight dock to finish our preparations. The Bills are leaving us. I think they need to find a nice air conditioned room to recover from the too short a visit with us. At about 2 PM we make a slow start back to the sea. Out to the Pacific Ocean and take a left. The seas are flat and the winds are light; we will be mostly motoring with a stay up at 30 degrees to the apparent wind. It is so calm we ride the stationary bike and lift weights in the gym.We spot many dolphins all around us. It's a beautiful sunset.

Tuesday morning, it is definitely hotter and more humid as we go south. The trade winds are blocked by Costa Rica, so except for land breeze at night and sea breeze in the afternoon, the prevailing wind is still. Thus our plan is to cruise just off shore. It is 7 AM and it is already 88 degrees in the salon and 72% humidity. BD's salon has only the cockpit doors open so there is little air flow and the rising sun is coming down on its sun screen covered windows. The air temperature is a little lower in the cockpit but the morning air is still and heavy even there. Up in the fly bridge the sun it beading down on the bimini an the air flow is insufficient to be cool. As the afternoon arrives the brisk sea breeze starts to blow and not only are we cooler but the Genoa is out and SOG is 8 to 9 knots. That's better.

At noon the salon temperature is 106 degrees, but the humidity has dropped to 47%. We are drinking water a litter at a time quite often. I went into our gym today and worked out but quickly I was sopping wet and exhausted. The shower did not help at all to drop my body temperature. I think we will turn the air conditioner on tonight.

Wednesday is a repeat of Tuesday, a carbon copy. The sea is flat and the winds are calm. The good news is we have a current pushing us between 8 and 9 knots with no sails up. We may make it to Panama Thursday instead of Friday. This morning the dolphins are jumping 8 to 10 feet out of the water. It is a lift to your spirits to see happy dolphins. We see huge swarms of fish with birds following them. I would love to fish but we are so close to shore and do not have the proper fishing license.

The night is so cool; it is a good thing because the air conditioning needs to be flushed; it is not working as good as opening a hatch. This is the best night of sleep I have had in days. I prefer fresh air but not hot humid fresh air.

Thursday, we are 50 miles from Panama. The prospect of a cold shower tied to a dock sounds good right now. We tie up only to hear we can not be totally checked in until tomorrow. We have our first sun downer in days in the cockpit with a cool breeze blowing talking to Tina our agent handling check-in and our schedule to transit the canal. She is a very high energy Latin woman that seems to be blackberry driven, Even though we called her this morning on the Iridium satellite phone to say we would be in about 2 PM, her blackberry said tomorrow so here we sit until tomorrow. She is a very interesting person and as we sip our wine she tells us all about what there is to do in Panama. When she finally leaves the BD we all agree she reminds us of Shaz, the third crew member we had in the Caribbean and East Coast 4 years ago.

We are all exhausted so off to the restaurant in the Flamingo Marina for dinner.

God Bless Bella Donna