Spoke to Ray today and he informed me that the weather in the Caribbean is turning nasty and setting in for a few days which has thwarted their plans to head for Columbia. They've checked out of the US Virgins anyway so they may head to Puerto Rico. The dilemma is that a lot of the other boats are already in Panama and about to transit through the canal and Ray had hoped to be going through at the same time. He needs to haul the boat for antifouling and may do that in Puerto Rico instead now. Basically, he's undecided. The crew are champing at the bit to get going but Ray's gut instinct on the weather, which has proven correct in the past, is setting of warning signals for him. I guess it's ultimately the skippers decision and he won't be wanting the shake-down cruise with the new crew to be a nightmare voyage.