As much as we love Red Frog Marina, we're getting ready to head east early this Thursday to the San Blas Islands. We are anxious to cast off the lines and enjoy time with the Guna Yala and their beautiful archipelago.
We have been back in Panama for a week. After landing in Panama City, we had a wonderful adventure driving across the country with much help from several Panamanians. Driving in a rented SUV in Panama City was something-- only one tour around and back through the airport until we found the exit led to many, many street signs along the way where i was doing my best to translate Spanish to Skip with about 50% success. Weonly got lost in the slums for about 30 MINUTES?

Betsy is done with work, and we are headed south! We'll head back down to the Mighty Duck in Panama in just a few days and then we're off! We plan on spending this first year cruising the Western Caribbean, and then we'll do the Canal thing. Hard to believe that after all the planning and dreaming we are finally set to take off. Now if I could just figure out how to get my picture posts to come out right-side-up everything would be hunky-dorey, peachy-keen.

Well, we've made several trips back and forth Annapolis/Panama and we're getting close to shoving off. We' re heading to the San Blas for a week or two with some friends and then we'll come back to Red Frog until Jan. 2013, at which time Betsy will be finished with work and we'll then head thru the Canal and on to ports west. I'll post some photos of the San Blas soon.

> We're safely docked in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. Quite the trip! The six night trip from Long Island, Bahamas seemed like one very long day because of the three-on, three-off watch schedule. Nine-foot seas in the trades made for quite the mess below; rather like a, bomb went off. Drake faired up like a salty dog, but he's happy to now be on a stable platform.
> This is one beautiful place! We're in the Red Frog Beach Marina, on an island separated from the mainland, so we're taking a water taxi over to Bocas Town to finish clearing in today.
> What a ride! We've promised ourselves; No More Deliveries! From now on when we move the boat, it'll be on our ( and the weather's) schedule. From what I understand, from here on, the rest of the world is a down-wind ride!