As we sail up and around Panama's beautiful countryside and coast, we often times experience extreme hardship or tough going. Yesterday was one of those days, and I'm a bit beat down and battered as a result of it. My spirits are low, and I'm in desperate need of a warm fuzzy. We were anchored off a quaint little island called Santa Catalina, were dread-locked, hippy surfers snooze in the afternoon, and wait for the "perfect right" or the "most bodacious left". We went ashore in hopes to find some gasoline for the dingy and returned not only with a full tank of gas, but loads of groceries!! Halleluiah. Our guide books did not mention any stores or markets in the village, so we were pleasantly surprised to find not one, but two markets! I love double whammies. We hit both places, and hit them hard, provisioning tons of oranges, passion fruits, pineapples, onions, carrots, peppers (green and red), cucumbers, plantains, cabbage, potatoes, and best of all, bread in various varieties. I was so wound up I had difficulty containing my emotions and repeatedly reminded myself to remain focused. While perusing the small, but eclectic bread section of the second market, I found the most glorious looking fresh desert bread. I snatched it off the shelf without hesitation. I figured it would be good, but probably not great. After all, the market did have its share of near death dogs lying in the aisles. Wrong I was! The bread was the most moist, oil-packed, sugar-jammed stuff in town. I gobbled down three scrumptious pieces on the way back to the dingy and moaned with every bite, making sure my mouth was full while doing it. I considered skipping down the hill to the dingy but didn't want to choke.

We got back to boat, stowed our fresh provisions, whisked the anchor up, and headed off for the islands surrounding Coiba, our next stop. The wind cooperated and we were able to sail all the way to our anchorage. On the way Chris and I gabbed about ropes and bolts and boats, which is a normal topic of conversation. That and fishing. I managed to sneak in a 15 minute snooze and munched down a couple more pieces of sugar bread as an afternoon snack. As we approached Isla Afuera, one of the fishing lines went running, making the most harmonious buzzing noise. Not only was my tummy full of freshly baked, artery-clogging bread, but now we have a sizeable fish on the line. Could it get any better? We had seen Skipjacks jumping in the area, but once again, were pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful Yellow Fin Tuna at the end of line. I instantaneously thought of one thing: sushi for dinner baby! While not easy, we landed the fish and gave out a few cries of excitement. Wahoo! I could already feel the fresh, tingling burn of wasabi and soy on my palate. We were making almost 8 knots at the time and approaching our island, so I reeled in the second line. Bam! A second hit, not more than 10 seconds after we landed the other fish. Yes, we landed not one, but two Yellow Fin Tunas (pics of the fish can be viewed on Chris and Julie's blog: www.cisnecito.com). Two double whammies in one day? Iron Chef, Chris Mays brilliantly carved the fish while I thinly sliced cucumbers and peppers, grated fresh ginger, and whipped out the smoked paprika powder and sesame oil. My sticky rice came out great, thanks to the guidance of my good friend Jenny Hee, who told me how to make it a few months back. Before leaving for this trip I went out on a limb and tried to impress a girl I was dating with a homemade sushi dinner, so I had sushi rolls researched, studied, and down to a science. Much to my relief the sushi date turned out great, and I was able to put my rolling skills to work down here in Panama. Our Tuna rolls and wedges turned out nothing short of spectacular and we stuffed ourselves while listening to Beastie Boys, "Ill Communication"

. "Cause you can, you won't, and you don't stop!" How romantic.