"Slapping", it's a sailing term applied to the wake created from the inside of both hulls of a Catamaran. When the two wakes meet, they force each other upwards thus slapping your boats bum. The slap can be hard enough that the kettle, your dinner or that cherished cuppa becomes airborne.

A Fontaine Pajot is wide enough with a high enough bridge deck that it's not a huge issue. When asleep below decks, the perfect slap can sound like my whole tool kit (and it's huge), been dropped on the deck, accompanied by a "buck".

So why am I talking about "slapping"? A plastic cup is sitting on the rear deck table, right about the point a good lap would occur. We are doing eight knots in 22 knots of wind and the slapping is obvious in its absence. The little cup just sits still and behaves.

And with that cups impeccable manners comes a lack of seasickness amongst my crew. I should call them family really but hey, I'm no Captain if I only have family on board.

I just replaced Charlotte on watch...her first ever solo watch. Her first ever spent actually watching for stuff. She even managed to dodge a ship. She was having such a time of it she didn't wake Luke up for his watch...she just powered through. Sarah isn't sleeping in the salon like she did on the previous sail as it's the area on Ooroo where least movement happens. She waddled off to her cabin without breaking anything and has stayed there. Jules has been asleep for six hours and will be taking her spot on deck at 4am for her first ever solo watch. No one is sick.

It's the perfect sail. After the excesses of Christmas eating, New Years Eve drinking, morning espressos and French pastries, afternoon sun downers and even a 3am finish at the Coco Loco night club, I think it is what we all hoped for.

Ooroo seems to be on rail tracks. She is cutting through the ocean like she is skiing on a fresh covering of powder snow.

We are heading the 250nm back to Panama. San Blas is again my destination. I wanted Sarah to see it before she flys home in a week. I wanted Luke and Charlotte to have pristine water and beaches for their last two weeks on board and Jules to have a little alone time there before my new crew come on board and we do the final maintenance and provisioning before we cross to the Pacific.

A little side note from Charlotte -
Mother Nature has been in our midst, working her magic all around us. Only a couple of hours into the sail we were led by a huge pod of playful dolphins. There must have been 20-30 of them zigzagging across Ooroo's bow, every few seconds flying into the air and gracefully sliding back into the oncoming swell. They stayed with us for what seemed like an eternity before disappearing into the depths with a friendly wave of the dorsal fin. After blue skies and wispy cloud formations the curtains were drawn and the night sky became cluttered with stars. Like diamonds crushed by angry gods they glistened above us, diminishing the illusion that we are powerful, that we are relevant in the scheme of things. The scene in front of me unfolded again as I peered over the side of the boat. Phosphorescence gleamed along the boats hull and danced in our wake. It was as if the starry sky was all around us, like Ooroo had spread its wings and soared well above the stratosphere and into the unknown. And it really did feel like we were flying.

Sailing can be painful, drawn out, uncomfortable and risky. We had one of those sails to San Andres. But we don't remember those sails for long. The sail from San Andres to San Blas was perfection. The wind blew hard but didn't need to much management. The waves gave the sea atmosphere without menace. Nature showed its beauty and not it's power. Ooroo was in her element as was I.

We covered to 250nm without so much as adjusting a sail in 40 hours. Two dark nights where we all slept well and ate even better. I had to slow Ooroo down so that we could reach Isla Provenir for a 8am check in. It was here that we struck the only negative of this passage.

A bribe!. I had to pay another $193 dollars for a new Cruising permit, which I expected. I also had to pay a $20 overtime fee because it's was a weekend, also expected...this was all paid to Ishmel whom I have met on numerous occasions and whom I respect. The immigration guy was new to me. He pretended it was too early for us to check in, but when Ishmel started processing our permit he stated stamping our passports. He then asked us for airline tickets to leave Panama. My suspicion was peaked. I asked him why and he said anyone who doesn't have one must pay an additional $100. I thought "bullshit" but didn't say it. We had tickets for Charlotte, Luke and Sarah. He wanted copies which we retrieved from the boat. I argued that this is a new charge that is not required as I have a boat to leave Panama in. I don't need an aircraft.

I considered doctoring up some tickets...he couldn't read English, I could have given him a false boat name and he would have accepted it. But instead I found the receipt for when I last checked in....it said I paid six dollars. I slapped the receipt and the six dollars down.

Like a referee during a "knock out" he started counting to nine...using his fingers. I suspected he was after an additional nine dollars and so with no change took the six dollars back and replaced it with $20. He scooped it up, opened his draw and dropped it in...with no offer of a receipt. But he did offer his hand, which I shook...in surprise. Luke told me latter that he was actually counting the months since I last checked in at this office...I was counting the savings from the initial hundreds he demanded.

Ahhhhh, East Lemon Cay, San Blas. Everyone is happy.

PS....I latter found out that this new $100 charge was designed to fleece the backpackers. It was in for no more than a week before the canny backpackers started doing as I would have. They forged airline tickets online. Let's think about this a little. I think more money should flow from the tourist to the Kuna people (not to Panama). Regardless of your status...cruiser, backpacker or millionaire, why can't they just be consistent and add a fee, not a tacky complicated money grab that allows officials to be corrupted.