Our friends Claire and Brandon came for a visit! This picture was taken outside of Boquete, Panama where we slack-lined, swung from a vine, rappelled down the waterfall and generally just splashed around.
We rang in the New Year in style, on our boat with our good friends in Coiba National Park, imbibing with mead and wine they carried from Oregon, indulging in oversized fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, splashing among the sparkly phosphorescence and recapping the highs and lows of 2013. The first day of the New Year found our keel bumping uglies with the mud bottom in 5 feet of water; hopefully that’s not a bad omen. We prepared Serenity, jumped ship and watched from shore as she pounded into the soft bottom and then slowly floated out of that predicament. Upon our return to civilization, we escaped the heat on the coast by making our way to the Chiriqui Highlands where the climate is conducive to long vertical hikes and drinking lots of hot coffee.
Once our friends departed for the return trip home, we hunkered down and focused on finishing some projects onboard and exploring the beautiful area around Boca Chica. Jeff put in countless hours on a home-built self-steering windvane while I worked away on a final report and a journal article for my job. Relaxing consisted of finding a deserted beach and floating in the surf, frequenting one of the local resorts for some beer and internet, grabbing a six pack and going for a dinghy ride or attending the weekly “Tiki party” at Seagull Cove Lodge. We’ve met a lot of really lovely people here and are happy to make it a bit of a “home base” for the time being. The end of January found us embarking on a big island tour with our friends aboard SV Vagabundo, starting with lovely Isla Gamez in the Gulf of Chiriqui.
Here’s the quick recap in numbers!
65 … nautical miles traveled
24 …. nights on the hook
1 … nights at sea
7 … nights on a mooring
0 … nights at a marina
9 … nights that our friends Claire and Brandon stayed with us aboard Serenity
124 … approximate square feet of livable indoor space aboard Serenity
31 … approximate square feet of livable indoor space per person with four people on board
90 … degrees, average temperature inside the cabin on a normal day
80 … percent of daylight hours that Claire and Brandon spent outside, either soaking up or hiding from the sun under our makeshift sunshade
2 … times our friend Claire got “stung” – once by a scorpion, once by a wasp (she’s pretty hardcore)
14 … feet, the largest tidal shift we saw at Isla Coiba
5 … feet, the lowest water depth we found ourselves in (on anchor at Isla Coiba)
6 … feet, the depth of our boat (yup, we were good and grounded, thankfully in some fine, silty, sand)
0 … monkeys seen on Sendero de Monos (Monkey Trail) on Isla Coiba
0 … quetzales seen on Sendero de Quetzales (Quetzal Trail) outside of Boquete, Panama
133 … species of birds living on Isla Coiba (Brandon and Claire were much better at spotting them than we were!)
270,125 … hectares, the size of Isla Coiba National Park
30 … feet, visibility of the crystal clear water around Isla Coiba and Islas Secas
6:30 … time the first bus apparently left Boca Chica in the morning (there isn’t a formal “schedule”)
5:55 … time in the morning we attempted to leave for the bus, though it required us to get across the property where we were on a mooring ball (Carlos’ “marina” in Boca Chica)
14 … Rottweilers apparently guarding Carlos’ property (he lets them out every night)
4 … dogs actually seen
100 … pounds, weight of Carlos’ Rottweiler that was supposedly eaten by a crocodile (yikes!)
6:15 … time in the morning we got across Carlos’ property and through the locked gate to the road
7:30 … time in the morning that the first bus actually left Boca Chica
2.5 … hours to get from Boca Chica to Boquete once we got on the first bus (relatively quick trip!)
3 … hours spent waiting for the bus to leave the terminal in David on our way back home to Boca Chica
3 … dollars per person, cost for the bus to/from Boca Chica for gringos (the “gringo tax”)
2 … dollars per person, cost for the same bus for locals
1200 … meters (3937 feet), altitude of Boquete, Panama
83 … high (daily) temperature in Boquete during the dry season
63 … low (nighttime) temperature in Boquete during the dry season
6 … cups of coffee (per person) or hot chocolate enjoyed while wandering around the cool mountain climes (a Pacific Northwesterner’s dream!)
92 … high (daily) temperature in Boca Chica during the dry season
72 … low (nighttime) temperature in Boca Chica during the dry season
2 … gatherings at the Tiki Bar at Seagull Cove Lodge in Boca Chica where we made countless new friends
7 … years that Jeff and I have been together as of January 1 (Happy Anniversary!!!)