Guess I should have explained this. Prior to entering into a country’s waters, 3-5 miles offshore, you fly that country’s flag as well as the “Q” quarantine (solid yellow) flag, which signifies you need to go through customs. Once you clear customs you lower the yellow “ Q” flag. That country’s flag is typically flown near the spreaders on the mast as a courtesy, your country’s flag off the stern.
Wednesday January 8
There is an old tall ship here in the marina. It arrived from Germany with a volunteer crew and 30 high school students. The kids are all off to Costa Rico for two weeks then will come back here then their off to Cuba. They had tours of the boat today for those in the marina.
Started working on the three back panels for the cockpit enclosure, 4:00pm Aqua fit, 5:30pm, cruisers happy hour in the pavilion, bring your own drinks and an appetizer.
Tuesday January 7
Today we decided was a “do nothing” day. I did finish making our Panama courtesy flag, Danielle swam laps in the morning and Dan got the water maker connected and running. A lot of time was spent at the pool, reading.
We had dinner with Island Packet 420 owners Lou and Patrice Haggerty from San Francisco CA.
Monday January 6
We went shopping! That was an experience. There’s a shuttle bus that takes you from the marina to a shopping center in Colon, returning to the marina 2 hours later. On the way we crossed the new bridge where we had a view of the first set of canal locks. The store was full of many familiar brand products but in Spanish. Our list was mostly for produce and cereal.
Saturday January 4
Baby it’s hot here! We rigged up a sun shade for the boat deck to help it stay cooler inside. We used an old Thistle main and jib. Dan greased up the bikes for us to ride up and down the docks. Thank you Joe Raynock for the bikes!!

Spent most of the day rearranging items in the galley, trying to make things work better, optimizing space. Later, Danielle and I took a Aquafit class in the pool, afterwards we watched the Bills, Texans football game at the bar but didn’t stay to watch the Patriots lose. The bar wings were okay, missing Ben’s famous buffalo wings on game day.

Friday January 3
On our approach to Panama we were greeted with dolphins who gleefully swam around bow as well as schools of flying fish. 15 miles from shore, first sight of land in 11 days!
At 8 miles out we radioed they Canal that we were heading to the marina, we were allowed to sail on in. The triangles on the screen
Thursday January 2
Currently we are 132 nautical miles from Panama, should arrive sometime tomorrow. With a stiff 16 knot breeze, full main, staysail and Genoa we’re cruising at 8 knots.

Danielle and I cut out the parts for a Panama flag, I’ll sew them together when the waves are a bit smaller.
Wednesday January 1

Walking through the boat with waves and swells has been a challenge for Danielle and I, as the grab bars on the ceiling are a bit high for us. Dan rigged up a rope for us to grab.

Tuesday December 31
New Years Eve! Just keep sailing, sailing, sailing…are we there yet?
The day was relatively calm. For the past 2 days we’ve been listening to a book on CD. John Grisham’s “The Appeal” the collection is 10 discs. At the end the author comments that characters and events were all fictional, the one thing I don’t recall him saying was the political antics were fictional. In the book, a big corporation loses a personal injury law suit, they appeal, then “buy” their way to electing a state Supreme Court justice who will rule in their favor employing multiple special interest groups money to fund the campaign, and did. This was written in 2008.

Monday December 30
We’re here on the western Caribbean Sea, not another boat nor sight of land on our 360 horizon. Just a beautiful day! Blue sky, a few clouds, cruising along at 6 knots with an occasional bird that circled the boat.

Sailing Trance 