OK, so we are STILL waiting for a weather window to head North to the Albuquerque Cays and beyond. Who ever heard of two solid weeks of gale force winds and 10+ foot seas in March in this part of the Caribbean?? Anyway, while we are waiting, we are not suffering too much. One of our new pleasures is the "cool pool." This is Panama's answer to New Hampshire's hot tub. (It is entirely my own creation.) As I originally envisioned it, it was a cement structure about 5' x 3' x 4' deep with a seat built into one end. Somehow the project grew and now we have a beautiful tub with a mosaic sun on the floor, a moon on the seat's backrest, and waves along the walls - all in mosaics of tile left over from our and our neighbor's bathrooms and kitchens. The far side of the pool sports and "infinity edge" that overflows into a drain. The pool is filled from overflow water from our rain catchment system. First rain fills the "roof washer" that gets rid of any dirt, etc. on the roof. This requires about 1/8" of rain. After that, the rain fills two 1250 gallon tanks for our domestic water use. After they are full, the overflow goes into our new pool. When it is full, the overflow goes over the infinity edge and into a drain down to a creek below our house. If that sounds like a lot of rain, remember that this is a rain forest. Yesterday we got nearly 3" of rain and the all of the above were filled to overflowing. The constant flow will keep the pool clean without a mechanical pump or filter. (At least that is the plan.) Since the pool is not heated and is on the North side of the house and therefore in the shade, it remains at about the average daily temperature, which right now is about 80*. At the end of the day when we are hot and tired, we retire to the "cool pool". It feels moderately cool as we get in, but not enough to make us want to hesitate - really just the same sort of contrast that a hot tub provides. Sitting in the cool pool and watching the displaced water fall over the infinity edge, we can relax and cool off. Today we got to use it for the first time. IT WORKS! It felt really great. We stayed in for 15' or so and were really refreshed and cooled off to enjoy the evening. So soon we will be leaving on our extended cruise (weather permitting), but in the meantime, all is cool!