Coming into Panama

We left Georgetown, Bahamas at noon on February 3 and arrived in Colon, Panama on Thursday, February 11 so it was 8 days at sea. Postings from others will follow, but here are a few photos.

Here, Jon is steering us toward Colon, Panama after spending the early morning hours dodging a lot of cargo ships. This was mostly done with the aid of our wonderful AIS system which identifies everything you'd want to know about another large ship remotely near your boat, and by talking to the skippers on VHF radio.

Prior to coming into to Colon, I began (slowly) my Farsi lessons with my sister-in-law Guita. Here she is teaching me the alphabet in the cockpit. Yes that is bandana tied backward on my head----that's because it has an ice pack that Jon made for me to help me stay cool in the ever increasing heat. (I know all our friends and family in snow bound Washington, DC area might be jealous, but it is really hot here. I am probably one of the few people who would have thoroughly enjoyed the blizzard.)

Here is a photo of Jennifer sewing at sea...working on some mosquito netting prior to our arrival in Panama. The sea behind me is a swell--about 8-10 feet. You can tell it's a swell because you cannot see the horizon, but no photograph can ever truly convey what a swell looks like as it's coming upon you. When coming from the stern, it's a gentle rolling. From the side or front, we call it "getting the sh*t kicked out of you."

While we all participate in tracking our course and Jon is our primary navigator, Stephen and Guita have played special rolls in our navigation. We had only paper charts in the Bahamas where the waters can be quite shallow and dangerous due the shifting shoals and coral reefs. While Stephen and I sat at the bow on watch for coral heads, Jon drove the boat with Guita at his side giving him minute-by-minute updates on our exact locations on the chart. She was superb. Coming into Panama, Stephen took over the navigation while Jon kept his eyes on the ship traffic. Here is a photo of Stephen the Navigator: