Am in the final days of preparation toward leaving Cartagena and heading to the Panama Canal. Our family friend Sue Kelly will join me for the trip to the Canal and then we will be joined by Lesley and Nancie for the transit itself. It promises to be a unique experience, complete with tires to protect the boat, hazards of small boats in amongst the giants, line handlers, professional advisors and ....well I will post a description of what we are to expect.

Then when reaching the Pacific, all leave the boat and I continue on alone. And...where's Mango? Well, very reluctantly I accompanied Mango back to Vermont and he now enjoys his natural state of snow and subzero temperatures. He has found a new girlfriend "Nelia", my sister's black standard poodle, ..... is reportedly very happy. The nasty dog policies of the Pacific Islands and Australia made it impossible to go on together. So for the rest of the trip, its ''mangoandmewithoutmango". The boat seems empty without him and symbolically his dog bowl sits where it always sat.....in the cockpit....now empty.

As to going on solo......I was asked this morning...."Why?". And, after being rather inarticulate as to an answer.......I seemed to paraphrase the old famous answer: "because its there". "because I want to see what its like" what is it really like......alone, in the middle of the biggest ocean on earth. So, baring finding a perfect crewmate......my intention is to set out on the 8000 mile voyage alone.