Phil' er' up
11 December 2019 | Vista Mar Marina, Panama
Judy | Sun shining on Judy
Phil doing his duty, evaluating rum.
How do you get enough of Phil? Take him on the Baderas Race Week or on two Atlantic crossings? Nope. How about spending thanksgiving together, transiting the Panama Canal and spending a few days in the Las Perlas islands? Nope. Phil left us still wanting more. Talk about the perfect crew!
Or maybe it's the never a dull moment when Phil is around. It began at the Panama City international airport. Ricky comes through customs leaving Kristin holding one of Phil’s bags. Where is Phil? He got stopped by customs because he did not fill out his custom form properly. That turned into a full on search of Phil's other bag which contained some misc. Ship stores for TIVOLI. The officer quit searching when he came across our new toilet seat and let Phil go.
Then there was the lost toiletry bag, that mysteriously appeared in his duffle bag after 3 days. We used to try to help him find his lost items but now we've given up. My favorite one was when he lost his headlamp on our last Atlantic crossing and when Torben found it, we kept it, wrapped it up, and gave it to him for his birthday!
After we transited the Canal I witnessed Phil searching every BLUE hull boat we came across in hopes of running into Vickie and Rowan Fenell from RYC. The morning we were getting ready to leave Las Perlas, who should come by TIVOLI in a dinghy? The Fenells and they came from that WHITE hull boat!
But a visit on TIVOLI is never complete unless we subject you to a rum taste off. And Phil was no exception. After tasting seven (7) different types of rum blindfolded, then confirming his rating by drinking full shots of his two top rated rums, he declare with a smile that the rum tasting and night portion of the canal transit has been his favorite part of the trip!
A picture is worth a thousand words!
And then the good by. We arranged for a private taxi to take Phil to the airport. We exchanged with the driver his vehicle info for a photo of Phil and sent Phil on his way. Thinking everything is fine, we get a text from the driver 30 minutes later. Where's Phil? He should have been long gone. Well he was long gone, in some body else’s taxi!
Love yea buddy!