Out of Oregon

The Final Story, Grenada

2009-04-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

GRENADA, Journey's End:

This blog has been full of Sunset shots of every imaginable tint and hue. So maybe it's fitting that this be the parting shot in our 4 month adventure.

What an amazing, adventurous, relaxing, thrilling, challenging time it has been for all of us. We have seen so many wonderful, beautiful, spectacular sights, met so many kind and helpful people. We have challenged ourselves, acted frequently beyond our usual comfort zones, been forced into much greater self-reliance, and more importantly, inter-dependence on one another. We have learned gratitude, perspective, humility, confidence. We have learned that dreams come true, that goals are meant to be realized, and that many of the most meaningful achievements come only after long effort, sleepless nights, physical/mental/economic discomfort and persistence. We learned that the sun always comes up. We learned that God knows each of us, and will help us, many times in unseen or unrecognized ways, if we just ask (and importantly, whether we deserve it or not).

And so, here was our final Caribbean sunset on board One Life. This boat has been our home for the past 8 weeks. We've loved it, hated it, cussed it, blessed it, cleaned it, and made it dirty again many times. It has kept us safe, mostly comfortable, and carried us where we wanted to go.

Our last night all together, in St Georges Harbor, at some mediocre and nameless restaurant. What the food was lacking was recompensed by good and lively company,as we retold sailing stories, mostly accurate. Here are Babs, me, Capt Bryan, Peter G, Joan G, Kathy, and JF. Love em all!

Mates forever. Peter, Kyle W, Keenan G. What a pleasure it was to have them all aboard. Here playing on Grand Anse.

Another Carib lunch plate. I fell in love with these. Washed down with this unique local fruit juice made from the flowers called sorrel. Amazingly good.

Look! Another sunset. On the beach in front of COYABA on Grand Anse.

An evening meal with everyone at a wonderful Italian place near the Mall. Seemed very popular w/ all the tourists. Fantastic pizza, pasta and calzone! First in many weeks!

St. Georges harbor in Grenada was our final destination where we would turn in the boat. When we arrived we were surprised to see how modern it was. It actually had a "Foodland"! (Too bad that we didn't need to provision anymore!) We had trouble finding secure anchoring in the harbor. The depth was 7-14 feet, but the floor was mud/silt which was not good holding. Our anchor slipped just after returning from a 3 hour trip to a local beach! We arrived just in time to prevent ourselves from banging into another boat! A tender mercy indeed. Later we met up with our old captain, Brian, and moved the boat into a slip on the dock. We went out to dinner with everyone that night, including Babs, JR, and Brian. The next day we worked to clear out of the boat and check out with Brian. Then on by taxi to our wonderful hotel just down the road.

After leaving the boat, the Grants arranged for all of us to stay in a beautiful resort called "Coyaba" for two days before flying home. It was wonderful! It had a pool, lovely rooms, and a private beach. We will never forget what it felt like to actually bathe in warm water for as long as we wanted!!! It was also across from a mall that had a food court!!

Keith is right below the pool with its pool bar and restaurant.

After getting our rooms we decided to take a nice taxi bus and see the island of Grenada. Peter Grant had to leave a day before us, so we wanted to get in as much sight-seeing as possible. (On his flight back he had electronics stolen out of his checked luggage.)

This is a view of the city from the taxi. Weston is in front and notice that the driver is on the right and that they drive on the left.

This was one of many beautiful large homes that we saw on Grenada.

While exploring the island we came across this cove, which was used by pirates (to hang out and hide). It is now a place to store old boats and confiscated boats from drug busts.

On the windward side we drove past the old airport. Actually, for a segment, the old runway IS the highway. Here we saw evidence of the US invasion of Grenada some years ago. Two old shot-up Russian and Cuban prop airplanes sit by the sideof the runway. 85% of the Grenadian popluation is greatful for the US intervention that freed the island population from the attempted socialist revolution and resulting chaos and murderous rampaging that was occuring at the time, including jeopardizing the welfare of the many American medical students who study in the off-shore medical schools here. 19 American soldiers died in the intervention.

Our taxi driver took us to the island's famous organic Chocolate factory/farm, called Belmont Plantation. It was really interesting how they process cocoa seeds. They ferment them in bins to get off the creamy white fruit, then dry them outside in the sun. We also got to drink cocoa tea (below) which I love! The cocoa is mixed with nutmeg, mace, vanilla, bay leaf, and cinnamon, then rolled unto balls and boiled several hours, strained and mixed with milk and sugar.

YUMMMMM!!!!

This is the centuries-old farm bell that used to call the slaves to work during the slavery days on the Belmont Plantation here on Grenada. It is located next to the main building below.

This is part of the main building on the chocolate farm.

This is what a ripe cocoa pod looks like. The inside is white and creamy with purplish cocoa seeds.

We've learned NOT to bite the purple seeds in this cocoa pod. The white fruit is quite good though!

The cocoa seeds are fermented first in bins which are hand-rotated every 2 days, then laid out to dry in these open-air bins. Local women walk through them periodically to stir them up. The trays can be pushed in under each other and into a shed when it rains.

At the end the chocolate farm tour, we went into a museum. This photo is of one of the original desks with an old register that records the farm's growth and sale of cocoa.

We drove past this beautiful little "crater lake" high up in the mountains of Grenada, formed in the crater of a long extinct volcano. Grand Etang is too deep to measure. The locals fish out of the lake and catch very, very large fish. The taxi driver said that no one swims in the lake out of fear of its large inhabitants, plus it is prohibited since it supplies much of the drinking water.

We had the taxi driver take us to this waterfall called Annandale. It was getting a bit dark and was a little chilly by the time we got to the falls, but some of us took the plunge anyway.

Keith, Joan and the boys jumped in several times from the ledge.

This is higher than it looks and the water is fairly deep.

Peter also went in a couple of times. A local man offered to jump from a ledge about 50 feet above the water for $10, but we didn't take him up on it.

After leaving the falls a local boy showed us his armadillo called Kevin. We got to hold him and were surprised at how soft the armadillo was. It was kind of like a very large rat. He then hit us up for a "donation". I guess feeding Kevin doesn't come cheaply.

Posted by Keith and Kath

Tobago Cays, Union Island, Mopion Island, Petit St Vincent and Carriacou

2009-04-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

Captain hard at work. Actually, this didn't happen often. I decided to see why everyone liked hanging out on the foredeck so much....NOW I understand!

What a lovely sight...blowing sails set against a warm, blue Caribbean sky. Aahhh. I can almost feel the sun baking me again.

After spending our next to last night of this trip on the boat, we wayed anchor and with very mixed emotions set sail on our last passage of the trip, a 20 mile sail from Carriacou to Grenada. After some initial motoring, we unfurled our sails for the last time. The winds were a little squirrley, not quite a broad reach, not quite a run, and real shifty, veering and backing every few moments. As we approached the northern shore of Grenada it was fun and slightly exciting to imagine what lay 5000 feet under our keel. There is a 1.5 km exclusion zone around the underwater volcano "Kick-em-Jenny". Last erupted 20+ years ago, but sure wouldn't want to be blithely sailing over the top if she ever decided to blow her top again.

CARRIACOU, March 29th

We anchored in Hillsborough, Carriacou and went ashore to check into customs and immigration. We decided to hire a local taxi driver to show us the island. After hiring our taxi driver, Geroge on the far right, we went to lunch at one of the local hotels. (Most places were closed because it was a Sunday.) You typically order a plate special, chicken, pork, goat, etc, served w/ salad, bananas, dascheen, potatoes and rice. Ummm! George then drove us up to the northern part of the island for general sight-seeing.

We passed the local cricket pitch while exploring the island with the taxi driver. (This photo does not show the game, I will put one in later that does.) Our customs officer was playing cricket, so we had to wait several hours for him to get done and later met him at his home to finish the legalities!

Our taxi driver took us to one of the high landmarks of the island at Hospital Point to see the hospital. It was recently refurbished after hurricane damage, a never-ending process in these islands, it seems. The nurses were dressed in pink and this one was taking out the trash. There were goats and dogs wandering all over the grounds (photo below). The men were in one ward, and the women in another. No private rooms; just a large male and female ward, single large rooms. But very clean and orderly.

This was the entrance to the hospital. It also served as an evacuation center during hurricanes.

This was the view from the hospital...makes you WANT to get sick just to stay in the hospital, doesn't it?

UNION ISLAND:

The morning of March 28 we motored just a few short miles from Tobago Cays to Union Island so we could check out of the Grenadines. Keith and I and Joan and Peter Grant anchored at Clifton Harbor on Union Island after much difficulty and several attempts to find good holding. We dragged anchor several times. The customs office was located at the airport, so we had to walk about 1/2 mile. Then some local grocery shopping, and away we went to tiny Mopion Island, and thence another mile to lovely Petit St Vinvent where we anchored for the night. Mopion Island is composed of just a few square meters of lovely white sand, rising no more than 2-3 feet above sea level, and supporting a small grass hut, which apparently gets blown away regularly and then rebuilt by the locals. It is ringed by a reef. We dinghied over (twice, the first time being aborted when we ran out of gas, and requiring Peter G and I to row, rtow, row our boat back to One Life to fill the petrol tank). Thus renewed ( and minus Kathy who had now had enough) we dinghied back over for an hour of swimming. Peter and I scuba'd, picking our way thru the reef. Water was somewhat cloudy, but saw a moray eel free swimming. It was really windy and cloudy, which moderated the enjoyment, but still picturesque and fun.

The boys played games or cards when they were not crewing. Here they are playing Speed Scrabble.

TOBAGO CAYS, March 26-27, 2009

After leaving Mustique we sailed to Tobago Cays and anchored for two nights. The water was a bit rough and we had a little rocking and rolling on the boat while cooking, but it was well worth the trouble. This marine park was very beautiful and full of colorful reefs, turtles, iguannas, barracuda, etc. Kathy took Weston out a couple of times on the kayak while the others snorkled in the rougher waters. (Kathy's note: The wind was a bit rough for kayaking and there was a coulple of times I didn't know if I had enough strength to make it to the island...so I tacked back and forth beating in and out of the wind until I made it. The hard work paid off when we looked down and saw 7 sea turtles swimming with us!)

Our boat is the multi-hull in the middle. Photo looking south from atop Baradel, Jamesby Beach in the background.

This shows the area from top of Baradel Island. Look at the color of that beautiful water and how far out the reef is breaking!

We explored this small beach on tiny Jamesby Island. The islands were windy, but very interesting.

This photo is of Joan and Peter. This area had some of the best coral and sea-life that we had seen so far on our trip, but the water was a bit rough for snorkeling and kayaking. We saw many hornbill turtles, baracuda, a small shark, sting rays, and many fish. Here Peter Williams saved a couple of overweight, and over-confident French people who had no business out boating, let alone swimming. He had to haul their fat butts out of the water. He was a lifesaver that day, I tell you. You should have seen him swimming out to help these floundering people. He was motivated, and he was moving!

This island had a lot of iguanas, but only Keith saw them. He was the only one who had brought shoes and the vegetation had sharp thorns!

We not only saw land turtles, we also saw a lot of sea turtles while snorkeling and kayaking!

We sailed on a lovely wing and wing sail formation on a run from Mustique, past the leeward side of Canouan, and then into Tobago Cays, one of our favorite spots of the entire trip. A lovely little group of 5 small islands, reef-ringed, and very popluar. Many boats here. Quite windy, because it is directly exposed to the winds arriving from Africa...that's a long fetch! Here we really felt we were in the Windwards. Met immediately by Walter, who had the deepest voice ( think Barry White on steroids) and the most gold teeth I have ever witnessed. He brought us baked goods, fruit, and hauled away our garbage. We anchored partially in the lee of Baradel Island, but there was still an awful lot of wind.

Posted by Kathy

X FILES

2009-03-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well, by popular demand (and having met the requests of the STAR corporate attorneys), the pictures are now back on. Keenan Grant is now $2000 richer because of his entrepreneurial spirit. He came home and sold the photo rights to Star magazine (I didn't know there even was such a newsrag). Way to go, Keenan. Now let's have a talk about the Captain's cut. Whatever happened to the Pirate's Code? Kids these days.

The band this night at Basil's Bar in Mustique was right on, really jammin'. Good enough to bring the Celebs out, and even get K&K out on the floor.

(Original photo of David and Tea dancing was temporarily removed due to certain business enterprises (See pages 46-47 of the April 27, 2009 publication of Star Magazine). This photo is of David and Tea in line for the buffet dinner.)

We were eating dinner the evening of March 25th at the famous weekly "Jump-Up" at Basil's Bar in Mustique and who was sitting next to us? David Duchovny and Tea Leoni. Notice the tatooed rings on their hands...we think they are newly back together. We danced literally two feet from them and stood behind them in the buffet line ! This picture was taken slyly (as slyly as a flash photo can be) by Keenan while taking pictures of Keith and I (and Joan and Peter) dancing.

This is Keith and Kathy dancing with David and Tea to our right.

Kathy's Favorite fruit is now Cheramoya (also called soursop on many islands). It is the green fruit in the middle, in front of the yellow cocoa pod. Inside of the soursop you will find white fruit with black seeds. It tastes sweet with some tartness and the flavor is hard to explain, but the locals claim it is a sex enhancer. Have some more Kathy.

This was at the restaurant Les Auberge des Grenadine on the island of Bequia. Keith is with the waitress. The Grants took us out on the town for a great lobster meal. This was where Kyle had his first bite of lobster!

This was an interesting building on the island of Becquia. It says something about the Jews...I guess we never quite understood what they were trying to get across.

This was supposed to be a good place to eat according to our cruising guide. The chairs and bar were actually carved out of real whale bones. This island is one of the last places that actually whale hunt the old traditional way. Local whalers can take up to 4 whales a year.

Behind us was a great place for buying gingerbread cookies! I have never tasted such great cookies! These islands sure know their spices! (Notice the garbage in Kyle's hand. We always had garbage to unload everytime we got off the boat.)

Nothing beats smooth sailing so we could be out on the boat's trampoline...ahh this is the life!

If we lived in the ancient Mayan days we probably would have been sun worshippers.

Peter Grant at the helm! We loved having the Grant's help and company!

This was our last view of the Pitons before leaving St. Lucia.

Great sunset from our boat as we anchored in the Piton Bay overnight.

(Weston really looks like he wanted to try a "Peter" by putting a rope around his waist and swimming behind a moving boat.)

Another view of the Pitons (and Keenan). The mountains were so large that they blocked the sun rising until mid-morning. There were lots of small stinging jellyfish in the water here when we first arrived. Our swimming was cut short.

Who says that Peter doesn't know how to cook? Here he is putting together a papaya/mango salad (no, the diet coke did not go in the salad).

And here we are trying to cook for a crew of 8. This galley was a one-woman galley, but Joan and I managed somehow. It was a good thing we were both small and careful with knives!

Posted by Kathy and Keith

Martinique and St Lucia

2009-03-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

ST LUCIA, MARCH 18-PRESENT

Today was another fun day. We are still docked in Marigot Bay Marina, a really lovely place. We have no complaints about being here except the mosquitoes. Also maybe the minor meddling of every passer-by walking down the marina dock. We are stern-to, wedged in between an 80 foot super yacht on one side, Diamond Girl, and a 120 foot absolutely beautiful mega yacht, Amnesia, on the other, and every person walking by knows exactly what we are eating, reading, or cleaning. I have been asked at least 10 times today how I got a boat from Edmonton, Canada to St Lucia. (You drive I-25 south to Albuquerque and turn left).

Anyway, we awoke at our usual 8 AM, slowly roused and prepped for the day, and after getting the marina repairmen going on many repair projects on the boat, took off again in our trusty Daihatsu for more fun in the sun, this time going north to Castries and Rodney Bay. The passengers seemed somewhat less apprehensive today about the driver (me) and driving on the left, though we are all getting tired of turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. Everything except the foot pedals are mirror-image backwards on this vehicle.

So we drove through small villages, arriving in Castries in about 15 minutes. This is the nation's capitol. We drove past two large cruise ships docked there, and the international airport at Vigie, and then drove on to Rodney Bay. This place has a very interesting history. St Lucia has changed hands 14 times between the French and English in its history since discovery by the Spanish who never really had any interest in the island. Admiral Rodney defeated the French naval forces on Martinique in 1780 or so. There is an old resored British fort on Pidgeon Island in Rodney Bay, now administered by the National Park system. Pidgeon is not even an island anymore, having been connected to the mainland by a man-made causeway in 1971. Anyway, we ate in an old English style pub in the restored fort ( even had real live Brits whooping it up at the bar). Had bangers and mash, real good. Then with full stomachs we spent two hours on the beach soaking up the sunshine and watching the sights. Many boats in the harbor, jet skis, para-sails, etc. Sandals has a very large complex right next door. Then we went on a self-guided tour of the old fort, kitchen, mess, barracks, officers latrine, musket redoubt, gun batteries, etc. This site was also used by USA as signal station in WW2. USA also built a naval air station here for long range recon of approaches to Panama Canal during the war. All very cool.

Me and Kath in front of magazine on top of Fort Rodney overlooking Rodney Bay.

Peter sitting on old water cistern.

OK, I just found my new range toy.

These guys are everywhere. Sometimes quite scary. We are sitting by ourselves on the beach. He walks up talking loudly to himself, and flashing this very big knife. Obviously high (not on life). He sits down right in my shadow (close), and starts whittling and weaving a palm basket, all the while still talking very loudly in an apparent monologue. ME: "What's your name?". HIM: "Bob Marley. Call me Righteous Bob". ME: "OK, Righteous Bob, who are you talking to?" RB: "I am talking to God, talking to Bob Marley". ME: "What does God tell you, Righteous Bob?" RB: " He tells me not to drink rum". ME: "When is the last time you drank, RB?" RB: "Today, Righteous Keith. He tells me to smoke ganja". Anyway, you get the picture. How can I argue with God? You go right ahead and smoke, Righteous Bob. And while you are at it, put away your honking big knife and sell me that exquisite basket, will you RB? All this was basically a highly refined extortion act to get $5 for a personally engraved, authentic, St Lucian palm frond basket which will be brown in a few days and undoubtedly will not make it past US Customs anyway.

Looking north from Pidegon Island toward Martinique 21 miles away.

On the Beach (this story has a happy ending)

We got home last night to find that the 120 footer next to us had set up for a live band on their foredeck. Turns out it was someone's birthday party on the boat, and they hired this band ( pretty good really) to play privately to the four of them, sitting in barca-loungers on the top deck drinking champagne, the 3 chicks rocking out, and the one guy trying to look not too eager). So this is how a birthday party should really be celebrated. I have really been missing the boat, haven't I.

Friday we drove south down the island to Soufriere and Pitons. We rented a Chevy 4 seater from the Marina office, but after about 5 miles of ear-splitting grinding emanating from the right side of the car whenever I applied the brakes, and seeing the 20-30 degree pitch of the roads, we turned around back to the rental office for the old switcharoo. We got upgraded for free to a 5 seater SUV Daihatsu Terios and off we went again.

Along the way we stopped for fresh green coconut milk and discovered the guy had a boa constrictor. After avoiding the hard sell on his touristy coconut trinkets, we continued on thru some very small villages to the town of Soufriere and then up into the mountains to a hotel called Ladera, listed by Conde Naste as the #1 hotel in the world. We finaggled our way in past security and ate a late lunch at Dascheen, their wonderful restaurant. I had a local dish, banana fishcakes with creole sauce. Very good. Kath and Pete had chicken roti again. Also very tasty. This hotel sits at 1100 feet nestled right up between the Pitons, these amazing rock formations on the coast. We experienced a wonderfull sudden rain burst while there. Was really magical. They give you squirt guns at the tables in the open air restaurant to shoot the birds that try and pester you.

Returning to the car, we drove a few more miles south and ended up quite off the beaten path on the coast below Gros Piton. While meandering we raced some local school boys on their way home from school, and came across a local man, Nicholas Ishmael, who asked for a ride. We had a very difficult time understanding him due to language barrier (I think he just spoke Creole). Along the way he showed us the local cocoa plantation. Brought some cocoa pods into the car for us. How alien! This bright yellow leathery pods, fairly soft shells, which when broken open reveal these slimy, sweet white seed pods. They are sweet but a bit astringent, covering a somewhat bitter seed, which if chewed, and then spit out, produces a very bright purple pulp...apparently chocolate, though did not taste like any Hersheys I have ever had. We saw and smelled them roasting these pods, and they smelled really yeasty, organic, almost like roasted barley.

Nicholas then took us to a friend's house, where we got some wonderful pictures of Piton Bay. We met the woman owner of the house with 4 of her 5 children, youngest 19. Saw more fighting cocks being raised, a turtle, suckling piglets, etc. Then drove down the steepest concrete road I have ever experienced, steep concrete gutters both sides to Jalousie Beach. We will moor here in a few days. I can't wait. This place is seriously stunningly beautiful.

On the drive back we turned off for a swimming detour to Anse Chastenet above Soufriere. No fishing of any kind allowed here, and the single best reef I have seen during the entire 2 month sail. Many fish, big and small, large beautiful coral formations, sea fans, and sea caves. It was just sunset and we were the only ones there. Really enchanting.

Anse Chastenet

Rainbow over Soufriere

Nicholas Ishmael, our trusty hitchhiker friend and guide

Eat it, I dare you

Photo of Piton Bay looking north toward Petit Piton. I had never heard of the Pitons before coming to St Lucia, I am embarrassed to say. But it is truly one of the most spectacular locations I have ever been. We will moor here in very deep water in a few days. Maybe scuba a wall or two here.

The restaurant at Ladera. This poor picture does not do it justice.

On Thursday Pete and I took the dinghy (finally got a dinghy anchor) out to the mouth of Marigot Bay to some fine rock and coral formations for an hour. Not many fish, but found a sea cave and had fun with the camera. Pete likes free diving. I am a traditional guy...give me snorkel mask anyday.

We had a very calm and leisurely sail south from Fort de France on Wednesday. Awoke early at 6 AM, wayed anchor, and off we went. Everyone else went back to bed, and I sailed the 26 miles to Marigot Bay. Saw Pidgeon Island in the north of Rodney Bay, passed some large cruise ships in Castries Harbor, and sailed past the very big Hess oil depot in Baie Cul de Sac. The entry to Marigot Bay is almost hidden from view unless you know it is there or are hugging the coast. It is a hurricane hole, safe for vessels in a major storm. But it is a truly beautiful, small bay, steep-to sides and shoals in places, the inner harbor lined entirely by beautiful mangroves, a small beach, some older and some newer up-scale hotel developments, and a fine new Marina. The new hotel is called Discovery. Kathy and I walked thru it. Would be a great destination hotel for a week on St Lucia. The other place I would consider staying on a return trip here would be Ladera or Jalousie Resorts down south. Maybe a mix of 2 spots. Anyway this is a lovely spot. We are also mollified that they have a Moorings base here with many qualified and conscientious workers and techs to fix all of the inumerable flaws and breaks in the boat systems. Already they have completely flushed, cleaned, replaced the head gaskets, disharge lines, holding tanks, and all the head smells are gone, and we do not need to discharge directly into the harbor thru the overflow lines. They are also working on repairing/replacing many windows, repairing the jib sail, sorting out the inverter issues, fixing the starboard bilge pump (it was getting no power), deep cleaning the fiberglass, getting anchor rode ( it only had 150 feet of chain), replacing many absent/ fractured hinge pins, repairing faulty masthead fly wind indicator and anchor light, etc.

MARTINIQUE, MARCH 14-17, 2009

We ended up staying 2 nights anchored in the lee of the sea wall of Fort St Louis in Fort de France. It was a pleasant anchorage, sheltered but close to town with a wonderful dinghy dock. We actually wayed anchor the second day and motored across the bay to Anse Mitan, but the dock and fuel dock were destroyed and the anchorage full, and the town not very inviting-looking, so we turned around and went back. On the way we stopped for fuel on the north side and Pete did a spectacular job of backing us onto the pontoon fuel dock. After filling up with diesel and water we returned back to our original anchor site. Kathy and I spent the afternoon exploring the town. Pete wanted to stay on the boat and swam to shore for some exercise. We just walked thru the town, explored, and took pictures, and did a little more provisioning. After returning to the boat and after dinner, Kathy spent a few hours under the deck light hand-stitching about 7 feet of loose jib sail seam. She did a very nice job, and we tested her workmanship the very next day on our sail down to St Lucia. This job was especially hard on her already arthritic fingers.

It appears that the local school kids take some of their school P.E. training at the beach...go figure, an island kid having to learn how to swim. They are all in PFD's and an instructor is close by in a power skiff.

Peter tying up at the dinghy dock in Fort de France.

The interior of this fantastic library in the city. Looks like something out of a library from a 100+ years ago, which it is. I did not expect to find a library of this stature in a tropical place like this. Just many walls of old and some newer books, classics and paperbacks. Rousseau next to Steven King. All in French. Beautiful tiled floors. In some disrepair, broken windows. Hate to see it not maintained fully.

The Schoelcher Library in Fort de France. Byzantine style decor. Completely out of context in this place but beautiful and surprising.

Some street scenes follow.

Carnival remnants on the street lights.

The Betsy Ross of Jibs. Oh, and another stunning sunset.

Martinique, St Pierre and Fort de France

2009-03-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

We are at a French internet cafe in Fort de France, and we are struggling to use a French keyboard.

It was a sad day for all when Stacy, Chris and Malinda departed from us on Wednesday March 11. Stacy had a very early morning flight out of Marigot, so required a 4:30 AM dinghy ride. Chris and Mal needed the same at a saner hour, and we took them over at 10:30 AM. We had such a wonderful time with all of our guests, and they added so much to our fun and enjoyment and provided so many memories for us. The time on board really flew by.

That afternoon Keith hired Albert to take him fishing. Purchased some baleyhoo and took a marginal rod/reel from the boat as well as a hand line, and headed off. Spent 50 EC dollars, 2-3 hours and a gallon of gas trolling, but nothing. Kathy was not at all surprised, and had a nice dinner prepared for us.

The next morning we sailed 2.5 hours south to Roseau, where we took a mooring ball just south of Fort Young. We were there two nights, having made arrangements to get our heads pumped and declogged. However after 6 hours of frustration, were unsuccessful. The Dominicans, though kind and well-intentioned, just did not have the where-with-all to take care of things. We tried blowing it out with compressed air from our scuba tank, a plumbers snake ( not enough AC power to run it) both below and above the deck, etc. Keith made about 10 dinghy runs getting people, plumbers, supplies, manual pumps, etc, but nothing worked. Paid them all 100 EC dollars just for their time, but really got nothing done except the port holding tank pumped, which did smell better. (Funny, Keith's berth is on the port side; what a coincidence).

Spent a day exploring Roseau. Has some very old and interesting architecture. We just walked the streets, visited the Catholic and Methodist churches, went in and listened to Vespers and choir practice, and ate dinner at the same cafe as a few days earlier. We must have walked into six other cafes, but none were serving. This time we watched "Cash Cab" instead of cricket matches. Curry goat was very good.

Below is a big cruise ship that came into Roseau the morning we sailed out to Martinique.

March 14th we sailed into Saint Pierre, Martinique on a single broad reach! It was a rough sail, 6 foot sea swells/waves and 20+ k winds. Peter got beat up pretty good by whipping jib sheets on the foredeck when he went up to reef the main. It remained really very windy right up until the last 400 meters till shore, and there were only 4-5 other boats, including one that was recently destroyed after washing up on the beach. We nearly pushed on to Fort de France, but decided to give it a try anyway. We are so glad we stayed. St Pierre was one of our favorite towns of the entire voyage.

When we arrived most everything was closed due to the strike. We checked in at the local internet cafe/Customs office...it's all on computer and do-it-yourself. And free!

Here's a view of St. Pierre. We sure could have used Stacy's French here!

This is where we anchored. The wind was really funky and we ended up rotating 360° in the night...thankfully no anchor issues.

No this is not our boat and I was not at the helm! Every boater that came in to port worried when they saw this beached Cat. Apparently this happened a week prior when a potent storm from the north hit... that was the night when our anchor slipped in Isle de Saints and Stacy saved us from a collision. The owner of this cat had not listened to the weather and went fishing the night of the accident. Expensive fishing trip.

We walked all around town and discovered a place where people were betting on cock fights. They asked if we wanted to stay, but after seeing the Gendarmerie we decided to leave. Saw some dead roosters, and a lot of money changing hands. Sort of creepy, actually.

A local river that runs thru town.

St Pierre has a very interesting history. Was the capital of Martinique and the Paris of the Caribbean, very cosmopolitan, sustained by extensive plantations. Mt Pele exploded in 1902, and despite days/weeks of warnings all 30,000 inhabitants were killed in a massive eruption, including sinking 12 ships anchored in the harbor. Only two survivors reputedly, including one Cyparis, a murderer housed in a local jail.

This was part of the fortification in the city.

What a parent won't do to get a good photo. And so natural. Isn't this what you do in your windows?

We think this was the home of Victor Hugo when he lived in St. Pierre.
This is on the grounds of the theatre/prison, virtually destroyed in the eruption. The theater sat over 800 people. This partial restoration reminds me of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

This is like Stacy, protesting when she had to leave the boat. Wierd statue, sort of Pompeii-esque.

The next morning Keith and I got up early and hiked up a hill to a lighted statue of The Virgin of Mariners, designed to guide all incoming ships. In the town is the Catholic Church that was a favorite of pirates, and they donated their booty to its support. The church has some beautiful carillon bells, and we heard them call the faithful several times a day in the harbor. Really quaint and beautiful.

Kathy ( or is this The Virgin). Mount Pelee is in the background of this picture.

As usual, I found a great bakery after the hike. We ate more calories than we walked off! Ate a chocolate eclair, pain du chocolate, and raisin cinnamon bun.

Kids are so cute. Always shy.

Our anchorage in St Pierre.

We have yet to see the "green flash", but we've seen many great sunsets.

Monday we sailed 3 hours south to Fort de France, Martinique. It is the largest city in Windwards. It looks like L.A., California!

Here is Fort St Louis, which is still in active use by the French Navy and closed to sight-seers. We anchored at the bottom of the sea wall in the lee.

This was quite the chore trying to type on a weird keyboard. It's a good thing I am typing for my mom. This is a Petter typage.

-KATHY!

God Bless Dominica (and Les Saints, Guadeloupe, Antigua, St Barts and St Martin)

2009-03-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well, procrastination has run its course and we are out of excuses. Today we have time, Internet, and no reason not to finally submit a posting, the first in almost 3 weeks. Truly, most of this time we have simply had no Internet access, wireless, etc, however, some of it has simply been a paucity of time. A simple choice between RECORDING memories, and MAKING memories.

Once again, we are working back in time. If you want to follow this chronologically, go to the bottom of this posting.

DOMINICA, MARCH 8, 2009 TILL PRESENT

We are currently in Portsmouth, Dominica since Sunday afternoon.

Nightly occurence. They don't make enough pixels.

Yesterday in Portsmouth. We decided to have just a chill day, instead of beating ourselves up with day trips, as Chris and Mal and Stacy prepare to leave tomorrow. Did a little grocery shopping, then stopped for lunch in a cafe. Chicken roti is wonderful...curry chicken, potatoe, etc wrapped in a fresh hot tortilla. Also "Seamoss" to drink. The owner would not reveal the recipe, made fresh in the cafe. Apparently sort of a local egg nog with seaweed, milk, spices. Was really delicious. While waiting, we were all glued (except sleepy Pete) to CNN. First news we have seen/heard in weeks. Nothing good. Ignorance is wonderful sometimes. Then spent the day swimming, sunning on the trampoline, reading, card games, speed scrabble.

Albert (our river guide) and his 18 y.o. daughter Aretha ("better than Aretha") came for dinner on the boat. Chris made Dominican food (Republic, not Commonwealth). It was good....rice, beans, squash, onions, peppers, chicken..."La Bandera". And now proof that Peter does know how to do dishes. Just find an ocean big enough and he can clean any pot. This is how we clean dishes actually. Crude rinse in ocean water, then soapy wash in the sink, usually cold. Helps conserve fresh water.

Malinda has been our faithful historian/diarist throughout the past two weeks. It has been a bit of a community event as we have all contributed facts and details at the end of the day as journal and pen come out. A nice way to end the day with a recollection of all the exciting, new, educational or just plain wierd things that we experienced.

Robert Ludlum, Diet Coke, Stacy's guacamole with chips on the poop deck at sunset. Bliss.

Our driver, Dylan, took us to his favorite eating place in the city, Roseau, after our trip to Trafalgar Falls, for some down-home, creole cooking. Great meal of curry mutton or BBQ pork or chicken, with potato salad, rice, banana, veggies, etc. All the while watching their national obsession, cricket, on the Tele. Not that we understood it. We also watched a few minutes of a youth cricket practice in the park, but not sure that we understand the rules any better now than before.

in 1979 Hurricane David did a number on Dominica. This school bus was on the wrong side of this African bilbao tree in Roseau. No one hurt. Not something you see very often. Sort of makes the rules about putting gum under the seats seem silly.

We hiked into Trafalgar Falls, which we had been to three years earlier on a Cruise ship, and some of us bouldered up to the falls and sat under the deluge. The water was strong enough to prevent standing. I won't need to shampoo for a week. The water was not cold, just cool ( or was it adrenalin), and so clear. Vis was great. Saw small fish. Peter and Chris found an underwater channel behind the falls. I just watched and looked for my BLS card.

Came down from the Falls and found Kathy looking for the soap under the water with this Frenchman. Boy they can hold their breath a long time.

This geo-thermal hot spring felt so good. It was the first hot bath we have had in 5 weeks. We soaked for 30+ minutes until we were sweating prunes. Nature's hot tub.

(Stacy taught us the fine art of flash-filling when taking our photos...)

Enroute to Trafalgar Falls, Dylan (our guide and driver) took us to his home town on the west coast, Colihaut, a small fishing town. There we went to his neighborhood, met the local kids, saw goats, chickens, mango and breadfruit trees galore. Very narrow streets, really only about 10 feet wide, deep gutters usually. The kids all wear very fancy school uniforms...the girls in dresses and blouses, the boys in slacks, dress shoes, white shirts and ties. Looks like a grade school MTC.

Albert our river guide introduced us to Cocoa Tea (Cocoa ground with nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla, then rolled into cigars shapes) and we found some in a local shop. We tried it back at the boat, and Chris, Peter and Kathy really love it (Keith is not so sure).

Albert took us on a trip up the Indian River in his boat. We saw some great flora and fauna. This is where I learned that bananas have flowers below their fruit! But the greatest thing was seeing where they filmed the witch scenes in the the 2nd Pirates of the Carribbean!

(Great picture Chris!! I think this is called a brown lizard. We did see many green iguanas too.)

Albert, our river guide, may have had a little crush on Stacy. Mark where are you when we need you?

This is more the Caribbean scene we were expecting. Home made fishing boats on a palm-studded, wind-sept shore against Caribbean blue water. Pass the sunscreen and get out of my way.

More hurricane remnants; this time from Luis in 1995 and Omar in 2007. These ships line the shore of Prince Rupert Bay. One ship has been deliberately scuttled just at the mouth of Indian River as a breakwater.

So after finally clearing Bourg des Saints Harbor, we motored out past Pain de Sucre and Terre de Basse into open water, where we raised a reefed main and jib and sailed off on a wonderful broad reach, reaching Portsmouth Dominica in a single port tack. Seas were 3-6 feet and winds 20 knots with some gusts to 28. We got an occasional strong stern wave which really created an amazing yaw, much to the chagrin of Malinda, who got wet from the Captain's Diet Coke on the salon table as she lay in her usual supine command post during the passage.

We sailed into Prince Rupert Bay and were immediately met by Albert, our new friend, Indian River guide, fishing guide, general gopher. He grew up here in Logoon on Rat Island. He still lives there on family land. He lives out in a swamp approached walking over coconut logs above the mud and water. Dodges boa constrictors...really. Anyway, he was waiting for us (for anyone really) out at the harbor mouth drumming up business. We dropped sail and motored over to the ferry dock to take on water and wash the boat. $20 for all the fresh water we needed. Got a good rubber skid mark on the starboard side from the old tire fender on the dock...our fender handlers missed. Oh well. I paid a Rastaman smoking the ganja weed mon $30 the next day to clean the sides of the boat, scrape scum, etc.

ISLES DE SAINTS, MARCH 6-8 2009

Sunday morning March 8th was beautiful, sunny but still quite windy. We had a leisurely morning. We commenced Sacrament meeting with 3 verses of Master the Tempest is Raging, chosen by Kathy and words written out by Stacy, opening prayer, followed by a few choice announcements..."Please return chalk supplies to the Library; we are running low. There will be swimming linger-longer after the meeting today, and Family Home Evening will be held on on Dominica Monday night; The men would like to thank the Sisters for bringing in dinner, etc". You get the idea. Dad was then released from Captain and Commander, and Peter was unanimously sustained as same. We then sang Green Hill followed by the Sacrament. Peter gave an extemporaneous talk on Alma 40, followed by a lesson by Chris on Acts 16-17. No shipwrecks this time. Then a closing song and prayer. We thought we were good to go to Dominica. We tried to go to Dominica. We REALLY tried to go to Dominica.

We couldn't raise our anchor. It just wouldn't come up despite all the usual maneuvers. So Keith, quickly reverting back to Captain and Commander, ordered (uh, suggested) that Chris don scuba gear and go check it out. Turns out that in the midnight slip and slide all over the windy harbor two nights before I had dropped anchor directly on an old, unmarked mooring chain 30 feet under us. 5 feet either direction and we would have missed it. At least we held good in all the strong wind. We didn't move an inch. Anyway, after we took the tension off the anchor chain Chris in his majesty calmly removed the anchor from the obstruction, climbed aboard, and we were off. Chris is now our boat Dirk Pitt. Move over Peter. Ah how fleeting is fame. One day you are a hero, and the next just a galley mate again.

This beautiful, wooden sailing schooner sailed into Les Saints on our last day. You watch this and can almost imagine the 19th century in front of you. Actually we saw many of these large sailing vessels, though this was one of the prettiest. Many of them are commercial sailing cruise ships like Seven Seas, etc.

We made reservations at "Les Tres Boats". The chef and owner (his name was "Chicken George" after the "Roots" character) told us to return at 7 PM and then bought the ingredients and cooked us up a 5 course meal. When we tried to have four more join us for dinner from our sister ship "Seabbatical" the chef said that he had only made enough for the six of us! He made a passion fruit sauce over grilled mahi-mahi, with streamed veggies ( cristophene, mashed yams, other) after a coconut fish ceviche served over fresh pineappple puree. Then a baked chocolate cake and ice cream.

Here we are waiting in the park for dinner. Kids were playing tag, riding in-line skates, etc.

These were the two most used forms of transportation on the island. We had to really watch ourselves not to get run over.

Ah yes Mal, dessert before dinner! Just wait until I get home and show Ella and Eli this photo!!

Uhhhh, our three men: "He who points", "He who scratches head", and "He who sits".

Our favorite Beach of the whole trip...Plage de Pompierre, on the windward side of Terre de Haut. Pete and Dad swam 1/2 mile out to the mouth of the bay at the breakers. The bay is nearly enclosed by steep rock cliff and stone formations....just beautiful and protected. It is closed to all motorized boats.

AHHHH...

Wow! This is the scene coming back from the beach. We had a long walk, but it was worth it!

Running with Stacy's posse. She drew a crowd everywhere she went, and seemed to invite approach by the most unusual people. Why would a seemingly normal, grown Frenchman want to have Stacy take his picture with an old TV atop a washing machine?

The manikins in this shop were just plain wierd! As you can see we couldn't help but make fun...the question is, which is the dummy ?

Hoisting the mainsail takes a lot of upper-body strength. If Keith or Peter get hurt after Chris leaves, we are dead!

The first night we were anchored in 48 feet of water in Saints harbor, and the wind was blowing like a banchee. About 1 AM Stacy was up and noticed a strange sight outside her port window...an adjacent sailboat just a few feet away. WE WERE DRAGGING ANCHOR! So were several other boats. We called all hands on deck, grabbed fenders, and manually pushed away the bowsprit of the adjacent monohull. The dinghy painter had somehow become wedged in the rudder, so with little encouragement Pete jumped right over the side 30 sec after waking up. I handed him the dive light, and he quickly freed the line. Then we motored up, quickly raised out dragging anchor, and motored across the bay to what we thought was a more protected site. It was, but very steep drop-off in an on-shore swell, and by the time we had safe amount of anchor chain out our stern was just a few feet from shore....too close for comfort. So up again, and off to the third possibility, over near the commercial dock. Here we finally found good holding in 30 feet of water, tho still quite wind-exposed. I was up on anchor watch till after 3 AM while the others slept. What a night. Pete was the hero of the night. We dub thee "Dirk Pitt". And good eyes, Stacy. We clearly need more anchor chain on board. 150 feet of chain w/o rode is insufficient to give > 5:1 scope in > 30 feet of water. Lesson learned.

GUADELOUPE, MARCH 3-6, 2009

This pic is in the marina in Basse Terre, Guadeloupe. Even tho the picture is blurry, I really like the fluid, motion artifact because it shows how the lamp-post and anchorlight and starlight reflects off the ripply water in a thousand directions. It can be quite disorienting.

We needed to provision our boat, but the locals have been on strike and protesting for higher wages in all of the French Islands and the rioting caused the shut down of many businesses. When we came into this Leader Price grocery store in Basse Terre we were so shocked by how bare the shelves were. We decided not to try to provision on this island...the locals needed the food more than we did. Interesting story...I was driving the very nattow and round-about- backstreets looking for this place with no luck. No map or address, just finger pointing from passers-by. In desperation we stopped again to ask, and instead were escorted by 2 EMT's in their ambulance to the market. Would that be "Code Grocery" ? Very nice people everywhere we went.

We stopped here at the McDonalds in Gosier on the way to St Anne Beach to use the restroom and walked into a protest march. We later learned from a French teacher who happened to be there that this was a focal point "hot bed" for the protest. He said that this was the first time in 10 days that he had come out of his apartment!! (How do we time these things?) Later, the French police came and broke up the protest after the protesters tried to storm the then-closed McDonalds.

After our trip to the rain forest and falls, we visited St. Annes Beach and had the local crepes (chocolate-banana, {Dauphine...bacon, potato, sour cream sauce}etc) while using the slow internet. Cute rear-view shot of Keith...

We took a steep, adventurous drive (Thanks Mal for sitting over the gear shift/emergency break for hours!) up to Chutes de Carbet in southern Guadeloupe and hiked into the rain forest! It reminded us of Multnomah Falls on the Columbia River, minus the cold wind.

This foot bridge was hit by a mud slide, but we took turns going out onto it to get pictures.

The commercially-sold bananas were all wrapped up in blue plastic to protect them from the birds.

Stacy lost a bet with Kathy and had to pet a wild cat. (We never did ACTUALLY see her touching the cat, although she said that she tried...)

This was Fort Louis. Keith did some, shall we say, slightly illegal driving to get us to the area. There is always a car story behing every trip we take!

We asked around a local cafe near the dinghy dock for a rental car place, and met a very wonderful French couple. She was a dentist, and he was a General Practitioner MD. They were there eating with their family. After their meal they drove me 30 mins to a car rental shop, and stayed to help translate. They were very kind. The only rental car we could get was a 2 door Peugeot that seated just four. We had six big people ! So we tried all kinds of things to get us from place to place. (Cassan and Peter, do you remember Austria and Switzerland ? Annie and Chris, do you remember Gorgona?)

While getting more provisions, some local girls came up to Kathy and started to touch her clothes. They said, "hi" in their best English (locals speak French), so she asked if they wanted a picture with her.

Stacy put these signs up on the port and starboard sides of the boat. They represent the French and Dutch sides of St. Maarten. The French side (where all of our guests stay) have the stinkiest heads... for more details call Stacy, Chris or Mal. But the French side also claims to have had more fun. The names come from our favorite soon-to-be Top 10 Pop hit we heard for the first time in a St Martin night club..."On the Dutch side".

A view of the starboard hull looking forward from the stern berth.

Keith tried trolling between Deshaies and Basse Terre, Cousteau Marine Park notwithstanding. No luck. The Williams fishing jinx continues.

This is Deshaies harbor on northwest Guadeloupe. The town was small and quaint. We arrived here after a robust sail from English Harbor. Our main sheet parted 10 miles into the sail. Gave me a start when I heard this loud crack. I thought the boat was breaking up. We tied up the main sheet on both sides and just motor sailed with our jib the rest of the way.

We got up early ( 6 AM), weighed anchor, and sailed on a very fast run from Green Island back to English Harbor so we could be there at 8 AM opening to check out of Customs/ Immigration. After checking out at 3 different adjacent offices ( Port Authority, Immigration, and then finally Customs after the guy finally showed up at 10:30,) we sailed south out of the harbor for Deshaies, Guadeloupe.

The two REAL master and commanders...

ANTIGUA, FEBRUARY 26--MARCH 3, 2009

Kathy and Chris kayaked while Keith and Mal dingied over to West Beach on Green Island and found hermit crabs, a sitting hammock, and warm sand. Peter later swam over...show off!

We had a GREAT gourmet dinner (featured in Gourmet Magazine) at Harmony Hill in Brown's Bay of Nonsuch Bay on the east side of Antigua. They allowed guests to swim in their swimming pool and had a tower with a great view. It was on old sugar cane distillery.

Harmony Hill, Brown Bay, Nonsuch Bay. Who can forget fresh herb rolls, olive tapenade, and lobster taglietelle?

This was one of the best meals we've ever had!

Peter never turns down a good swim~ And he needed it. His swim shorts were very stinky. Can occur easily in sea water in not rinsed and dried.

Speaking of swimming...

Wahoo! Who would have known you could find swimsuit models on Ricket Beach!

Our favorite after-dinner past-time: fighting over which game to play!

Hammock Wars :

Bryan left for Dominica our first night in English Harbor. We are now on our own! After 2 nights here we sailed 2 hours east to Green Island. What a beautiful place. Not many boats, protected beaches, large ringing reef.

English Harbor, Fort Berkeley. We are hogging the only shade!

Sitting on top of the fort wall gave us quite a view. One Life in the background. Looking into Freeman Bay. Shirley Heights in the background.

Chris and Mal

The only surviving (though restored) Georgian Naval Base @ English Harbor , Antigua. Admiral Horatio Nelson served here early on in his career. There is a very nice museum dedicated to his history and life in general in the British Navy of the time. The pic below is of a sailhouse...they would sail the boat into this area. The pillars supported a sail loft, and the first floor where the pillars are was open.

One Life through old window in the guardhouse on point of Fort Berkeley

This explanation of why a ship called "she" particularly poignant after preceeding picture:

Another in an endless supply of bakeries we visited in our wanderings. Kathy's Achilles heel. This in the old English Harbor village.

The passage from west side of Antigua to English Harbor. Peter tied on a safety line and was towed behind the boat while we were motoring right into the wind. He kept up pretty well with his butterfly stroke for a while, then the waves won, he swallowed about a liter of salt water, and we pulled him in. Only Peter. We kept quiet about this in front of Bryan and Mom for a while. (Note from Kathy: It was obvious what they had done, because they had not put away their evidence. It wasn't hard to figure it out after seeing a life jacket, line (rope), and water all over the place. Come on, I know these guys only too well!)

This is a wonderful little bay called Deep Bay on the northwest side of Antigua, just below the mouth of St Johns Harbor. A 100 year old shipwreck lies here in 20 feet of water. Two old wooden masts just rise above the water. Here lies the Andes, a pitch carrier from South America which caught fire and sank here. We snorkeled and scuba'ed on the wreck. Sadly, very poor vis. Kathy kayaked.

Our passage from St Barts to Antigua was distinctly more difficult and tedious than Anegada Passage, for sure. Higher winds and waves, 15-20+ knots and 5-6 feet seas from the southeast, exactly our direction of travel. Sailing was out. We covered the 75 miles in 12 hours or so, but it was a rodeo the whole way. Peter, Stacy and I took shifts at the helm, harnessed in. Once again, the stars were amazing, watching nav lights of passing boats was interesting, and navigating by lighted ATON's and GPS into Jolly Harbor on west coast of Antigua at night was fun. We found an easy, shallow anchorage, dropped anchor, and caught a few hours of sleep. Then motored into the marina area to arrange laundry ( very expensive), got diesel and water and washed the boat, and did some shopping. Bryan and I went to a local pizzeria for pizza and Internet. Chris and Mal flew in about 10PM that night and took a cab from the airport to Jolly Harbor where we met them with the dinghy. So wonderful to have them here with us!

Kathy scratched her cornea with her comb and had to have an eye patch on for 5 days. Just try not having depth perception or equilibrium on a boat for 5 days! It sucked! I now have a lot in common with Admiral Nelson! He got a statue. Navigation and cooking was all I was good for!

Sadly, on the afternoon of the 24th we departed St Barts after entering and clearing Customs/ Immigration. Would have liked to spend more time here. Looked like a cute little island to explore on foot, scooter or taxi. Their airport looked awesome....we watched small planes pass over our heads in the harbor and land on a plateau inland several hundred feet high. We could only see the windsock, but it looked cool. But we were anxious to see Antigua, and needed to be there by the afternoon of the 26th to pick up Chris and Mal.

ST BARTS, FEBRUARY 24-25th

A local landmark. There is a little bit of everything on this building...

This picture is for the IRS. This was a business trip, honest.

Stacy has been reading about Jeanne D'Arc. (Peter, on the far right, is sitting down waiting for us to take yet another photo or read yet another street marker!)

"What do you mean you don't have a bakery??? This is France, isn't it?" "Yes, Kathy it is France, but this is a church, a 100 year old Anglican church, and the only bread here is served on Sundays."

This is a bit of what the seas can look like.

We have decided to re-name this boat: "One Duct Tape", or Duct Tape Life"! Everything is being held together with duct tape from the windows to the dingy gas line, to leaks in the ceiling, etc!

SAINT MAARTIN, FEBRUARY 17 THRU 24th

Mark was still here with us and we had a nice lunch in a local creperie/boulangerie. We were told that the owner/server could remember peoples names from years ago and the food was GREAT! Greek pitas, etc.

What can be said about this photo? Obviously the guys have 6-pack envy~

This was taken on the dingy bridge in Phillipsburg!

Bryan and Mark at Customs in Phillipsburg. What a dinghy ride to get their...out in open water around cruise ships. We got the run-around, or as its known, the "Customs Cha-Cha". We spent a lot of time doing this from island to island, country to country. Check in, then later check out.

Peter has become quite the sailor! We would really struggle without his help. We will really miss him when he heads off to college in June!

We miss everyone and hope all is well back home!

Keith, Kathy, Peter

Keith's New and Improved Foot!

2009-02-22T16:32:00.000-08:00

We are unable to upload pictures again! So here is our past week's update: (This problem has been rectified, thanks to petter)

After Keith's stitches incident we left Nanny Cay and sailed through The Narrows to Cruz Bay in St. Johns, U.S. Virgin Islands. We checked in with Customs and immediately found a great bakery at Mongoose Point. It was nice sailing in U.S. waters where all of the "heads" are closed and use holding tanks instead of going into our snorkeling area. We sailed for a couple of hours southwest of the island in a series of tacks thru some moderate swells and waves, and then sailed into a very nice place called Gent Bay on the south side of St John's in Reef Bay with just two mooring balls situated 50 yards from shore between two reefs. Kathy kayaked over to the island and explored an old sugar refinery. It was really cool and had bats all over the ceiling and hermit crabs over the grounds (no, she didn't try to play with one again!). This was one of Kathy's favorite places so far, even though the chitras were bad. We snorkeled and took the gun out till we remembered we were in a National Marine Park. No fish tonight.

The next morning we sailed over to Coral Bay on the east side and had trouble finding a place to anchor. The locals people chased us out of the area claiming to "own" the mooring balls that we were anchoring close to (you go figure how you can claim to own property in the water!). Not only that, there was no dock!! We had to leave Keith in the boat (foot) and wade through the water to get to the store to get groceries. A very loud, friendly and very drunk lady kept Keith occupied until we returned. This was definitely not a place that we would return to.

In the morning we motored upwind over to Spanish Town (the original capital) on Virgin Gorda, having completed our BVI circumnavigation, hoisted up our yellow Q flag ( A "quarantine" flag, so as not to have to check back in with Customs again), and prepared to leave for the Anegada Passage that evening. We wayed anchor for the often very lumpy 90 mile open water passage expecting 6-8 foot waves and 15-20 knot winds in our faces, but were pleasantly surprised to have glassy seas. We rotated through the night in about 2 hour shifts going from the helm to the navigation table to bed. (My thanks to the crew for letting the cook sleep a bit longer than planned!) This picture is looking back to the west at Ginger Island at sunset from Anegada Pass. The stars were intense. We learned a bit of celestial navigation. It was so cool to see moonrise at 00:55. A beautiful half moon. Tides are minimal in the tropics...1-1/2 feet at most. The Northern Equatorial Current runs 1-3 knots generally. We had fun keeping track of our fellow sailors at night by following their nav lights. Overall it was a good first experience for night-time passage-making.

We arrived in Marigot, St Martin around 7:30 AM. After anchoring and a short dinghy ride Kathy and Keith ate in a wonderful French bakery and Peter and Bryan did their Internet Cafe thing as usual while waiting to check in with French Customs/Immigration. Kathy did a little shopping looking for "grandkid" items in the local market, but left early because of a grouchy vendor lady. (She was mad that I wasn't buying anything!)

We then motored over to Baie Grande Case on the French side of the Island (there are French and Dutch sides dating back to 1648 when they peaceably created a boundary dividing the Island east-west). There is a weekly parade and street vendor fair in Grand Case which happened to be scheduled that Tuesday evening, so we got cleaned up and ate dinner at a BBQ place in town, eating some great BBQ ribs and so-so island lobster. The parade consisted of a small float, 30 little girls dressed up like Minnie Mouse !, a percussion and brass band, and some older girls twirling light sticks. There are many wonderful French restaurants and many small shops. I did find some great handmade dolls for the grand daughters...still looking for something for Eli. That evening we waited in line for about an hour for chocolate crepes. They were yummy and I am quite sure that Peter is thinking about getting me a crepe maker for my birthday...hint, hint!

At this point I need to mention that Keith, who had been dying to get back into the water, finally bagged and taped up his foot, tied his foot to a blow-up donut, put on a lifejacket, tied on a tether, and swam in the ocean, all in full view of many tourists who came thousands of miles to experience real Island Life. We just told everyone we were from Canada. Yes, Medford Medical staff, we have it on video tape for the 2009 Christmas party!! (Just see Kathy in April.) Terry and Sarah, this may also be used for blackmail purposes when you see fit.

We then sailed over to the Dutch side of the island, transited the 56 foot lift bridge that allows entrance into the 12 square mile, fully enclosed lagoon and went into a slip in Simpson's Bay Lagoon where we docked at Lagoon Marina for several days of repairs (aluminum, port fuel tank leak welded, new house batteries, etc). It was fun to experience the bridge transit. (We have it all on video...if we could ever get a decent Internet to post it!) Once inside the large bay we had a hairy time trying to locate our assigned marina space. The chart was marked incorrectly, buoyage had changed, and our depth sounder was showing a depth of -1 !! (Later we found out that the depth transducer had been painted over when they painted the hull, giving us an incorrect reading.) Keith cleaned this with a soft scrub under the hull, and it seems to be working better. Bryan checked us into Dutch Customs.

The Skillmans flew in to Princess Julianna Airport last Thursday to stay with us for a while and they are still here...until they get sick of us!! Kathy is SOOO GLAD to have someone else with estrogen here!!! Although she does get into more trouble with Stacy around...let's just say that Double Estrogen + 1 rental car+ 1 credit card + NO watch = very upset husbands. Even though the guys were worried as to why we took so long at the grocery store and boulangerie, we ended up having a great day of snorkeling and exploring the whole island. We rented a car the night before and visited the famous Sunset Beach where the jet wash tumbles people into the ocean. Keith, Mark, and Peter held onto the rickety chain-link fence while a big Continental twin jet took off. They asked a lady to use Keith's camera to video tape them and she ended up being blown away with Keith's camera instead of the guys. It was absolutely hilarious (now his camera is full of sand)!! (You need to check St Martin's Sunset Beach out on YouTube!) The jet blast was so hot, and their skin stung from blowing sand. It was intense.

Then we drove north a bit to Cupecoy Beach for a few fun hours of hot sun, blue skies, cumulus clouds and fair waves for body surfing. We took turns getting slammed in the shore break. We rented chairs and an umbrella and bought BBQ chicken sandwiches on the Beach. Peter got a crash course in French beach attire ( or more correctly, the lack of it). They use a lot more sun screen than we do.

The windward side of St Maarten has great kite boarding and wind surfing at Le Galion, and the leeward side (Philipsburg) sells cheaper, duty-free electronics! Keith bought an HP dv5-1140 laptop plus case and mouse for less than what Peter's laptop cost at home thru an e-store.

On St Martin we ate at "3 Palms" in Simpson Bay (best hamburger ever), and La California in Grande Case (best mussels!, served in a Roquefort sauce). Always served with the best French Bread ever.

Peter also found out while we were here that he got accepted to BYU Provo starting Summer term! He is excited to choose between BYU Idaho and Provo! We are very proud of him.

On Feb 22nd we tacked and then motor sailed the 14 miles to St. Barts Island. Winds were 20+ knots on the nose, and the waves/swells were 5 to 8 feet tall. After four hours at only 3 knots we were only half way there and the port engine suddenly quit. The Jib furler drum also got fouled. So we turned around and sailed on a 12 knot broad reach back to Phillipsburg. We repaired everything and fueled up. Diesel is 77 cents a liter. By the time we were back in Phillipsburg Harbor the engine was working just fine. We figured it must have developed an air bubble in the fuel line, likely from air in a less than full tank while sloshing around in rough seas. All the gauges, water intake and prop checked out fine, so we could not find any other reason for the sudden loss of RPM's and power. After getting everything shipshape, we swam around the boat, checked the anchor, replaced the propeller zincs. Peter donned scuba gear and spent some time down under. The water was very cloudy due to weather. Still trying to figure out how he did a 10 foot safety stop in just 8 feet of water. Kathy cooked a marvelous peanut chicken and wild rice dinner with fresh kiwi and pineapple, followed by chocolate no-bakes.

We hope the weather changes so we can begin our transit to St Barts and Antigua. It is looking like Mark will have to change his return flight back to the States on Wednesday. We are sad that he has not been able to see anything beyond St Martin, but the weather rules, and St Martin is beautiful. Tomorrow we will stay here and swim and maybe try kite boarding. Hopefully by Tuesday the high pressure front will have passed and allow us some good wind and seas. Chris and Mal fly into Antigua on Thursday for two weeks. We are so excited to see them.

We have been monitoring the civil unrest and rioting on Guadaloupe and Martinique, and will adjust our itinerary as needed.

Last but not least, Keith was happy to have his STITCHES REMOVED today! Brian, our captain, took them out. He left a couple of them in at Keith's request to help keep the wound stable. They will be removed tomorrow! Yaayy! Keith will soon be free to swim without floaties! Notice Stacy's hand...she is a hand model (more specifically, a right hand model).

Life is good and we are happy!
Kathy

2009-02-13T04:13:00.000-08:00

We are experiencing very erratic Internet connections. It takes hours to load and reload pictures, etc. It is now Friday 2/13/09. We are in Nanny Cay on south side of Tortola, BVI doing some boat and people repairs. Because of the paucity of Internet access we are way behind in blog posts. Due to the screwy nature of this blog site, we are forced to load from the bottom up, rather than from the top down as we typically write and read. So forgive the screwiness. Doubly difficult given the week or so of updating to do.

Phone texting seems to be the most reliable means of communication. FYI.

If you want to follow this post chronologically, then start with the bottom pictures ( the associated captions and commentary usually follow), and then read up.

NANNY CAY, TORTOLA

...my foot slipped on wet deck, and stepped down onto the end of a deck cleat, tearing thru my 3-4 toe interspace about 3 cm on plantar and 1 cm on dorsal surface. Luckily neurovasc intact, no fracture, and minimal bleeding. This was a deep wound, and though I toyed with the idea of self-treatment, opted for professional help.

We weighed anchor and motor sailed past Cane Garden, Sandy Cay and around Steele Point, past Soper's Hole and then a hard beat to windward up Drake's Passage to Nanny Cay. To add insult to injury, our dinghy motor got bucked off the dinghy into the water in the rough seas, and took a major effort to get it loaded back on board. Will need to visit the small engine mechanic today.

Anyway, I cabbed over to Peebles Public Hospital in Roadtown. I walked up to front entrance, filled out a brief registration form, no I.D. or health insurance needed. Paid my $30 for a consultation, waited maybe 5-10 minutes, and taken into treatment room. VS, O2 sat, and removal of my Telfa dressing and Bounty paper towel and duct tape bandage, and then met the ER doc. From Nigeria, some Ortho-surg post grad in UK, then few years in Grenada, now here. Used a nice laceration pack, lido local, and multiple nylon closures w/o absorbables. Dressed, and walked out on my own steam a few minutes later to be picked up by Kathy in a cab coming back from Bobbies Market after another $450 grocery run. We have a very full fridge. Our taxi driver took me back to the boat in a marina cart...that's gotta be a first.

Anyway, I am doomed to a few days of dry non-weightbearing. I must say, however, that I am really very grateful that this all happened in the time and place that it did. Timing actually very good (we were due to be in Nanny Cay anyway today for some boat maintenance, good and kind medical care, and a chance today to blog, finally, with my foot up. Kathy is arranging for a bunch of laundry to be done, and she and Pete now at the pool.

GUANA ISLAND

Thursday Feb 12th dawned bright, sunny, warm, full of promise. I got up alone and went for a kayak ride over to Monkey Point, tied off my kayak on a ball, and enjoyed some amazing snorkeling. Saw tarpon, baracuda, yellow snapper, and large schools of small fish. The pelicans were diving. A little spooky swimming thru clouds of prey fish so thick you can't see the predators out there. Then began a slow paddle back to the boat, for the kayak sprung a leak, many of them actually. These must be old kayaks, and lots of sun exposure has weakened the plastic, for it split multiple seams top and bottom, and the kayak swamped just as I got back to OneLife. This kayak is headed for the junkyard. We still have a 2-man kayak on board.

Back on board I was putting the paddle away on the foredeck, and then...

FYI Mark, dinghies can swamp here also, just as on Cypress Island, if left unattended. Nevertheless, a stunning afternoon.

We anchored in 30 feet of water over sand on the north side of White Bay on the leeward side of Guana. Good snorkeling here, lots of fish. There was a little excitement this night. We started hearing lots of dinghy engine noise close by, then some Channel 16 chatter about a Footloose boat ? adrift in White Bay. Some locals found the boat and towed it onto a mooring ball near us. San Juan Coast Guard station was involved.

This picture of Peter just sort of says it all. What a glorious day.

So after spending two nights at Anegada, we motored out thru the reef line and into open seas, where we raised the main and jib and set off on a blistering broad reach toward our next destination, Guana Island, named after the iguana shape of one of the rock outcroppings on its western side. What a ride we had! We had 4-6 foot following seas in 30 knot winds, gusting to 35 knots. We were doing 10+ knots S.O.G. Here a picture of me and Bryan.

ANEGADA ISLAND (anegada da veeda, baby)

On Feb 9th we sailed out of Drake's Anchorage through North Sound out past Necker Island. This is a private island owned by Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic and adventure flying fame. How would it be to own an island? Anyway we sailed a comfortable close reach 14 miles north to a low-lying coral island called Anegada. Kathy and Peter are gaining good experience navigating. They are routinely getting fixes, doing dead reckoning (why must they call it that?), obtaining electronic fixes (lat/long). We have an excellent, new, GPS chartplotter, and together with our paper nautical charts and cruising guides we feel we have very good nav capabilities.

Anyway, Anegada is ringed by an extensive reef, good for lobsters, harder for boaters. There is a well marked entry channel however, and we found a good anchorgae over sand in just 8 feet of water. With 150 feet of anchor chain out we weren't going anywhere. Which was good because we were in the midst of a moderate to fresh breeze of 20+ knots. Over the side for a swim/snorkel and to check the anchor holding. No fish here.

The next morning we dinghied to shore, tying up at Potters by the Sea, a small restaurant where we hung out wth the dreadlock locals for a while (they say they are speaking English, maan, but mostly I'm clueless. Think we had a better go of it in Spanish Panama). Anyway, then rode bikes around. After a while we decided to permanently shake the scooter monkey off the Williams' backs, and rented two 50 cc scooters. Pretty safe and gutless (highest point on the enire island is 30 feet). We started out in mixed skies, and ended in a downpour. After just a few minutes we were freezing wet. Pulled off to the side of the two-lane concrete road under some tall bushes. The squall passed mostly and we drove into The Settlement (sounds like an M Night Shyamalan movie) and stopped at a small bakery run out of her house (Dotsy's). Then off again north over rough unpaved roads to Loblolly Bay, where there was supposed to be excellent snorkeling. Unfortunately, still raining, rough surf and current and lots of coral damage, so we stayed just briefly. Kathy got smart and bummed a ride back to Potters with some other boaters on a taxi while Pete and I rode the scooters back (we felt like Lloyd and Harry in Dumb and Dumber riding to Aspen on mini-bikes). Then a very wet dinghy ride back to OneLife and tacos for dinner. Unfortunately not many photos of this place, but got some cool video.

In the evening after dinner we have developed the habit of playing Rummikub, UNO or watching movies on Pete's lap top ( the promised TV w/ DVD player on the boat never materialized, along with several other promised and advertised items, like watermaker, satellite email, and life raft ( the life raft we are picking up in St Thomas in 2 days). But Bryan has been wonderful, very experienced, calm and pleasant demeanor, loves to teach, handy fixing things around the boat. Of note, water has not been an issue. We're just reasonably frugal and no problems. We have hot water, freezer, and a microwave that sometimes works (not always enough on-board amps to run it). We have a satellite phone if we ever need it. I removed and cleaned the boat speed transducer which was non-functioning...vinegar and a toothbrush works great, and I helped Bryan up the bosun's chair to replace a steaming light.

VIRGIN GORDA ISLAND

Here is a great vista looking east out the Anegada Pass, which we will sail in a few days. This will be our longest sail of the trip, 100 nautical miles, to St Martin. We will need to choose our weather wisely. This trip can require up to 20 hours, often motoring due to traveling almost wind on the nose. We will start the trip in the evening around 7-8 PM so as to arrive in St Martin during daylight hours where daylight is crucial for entering the harbor safely and clearing Customs.

Isn't this just a classic Tropics/ Corona beer commercial? Kathy lounging on a chaise on a pelapa over the water under a breezy blue sky. What could be better? Except that she was suffering from an acute crab bite on the palm of her hand. Who'd have thought that little crabs could be so vicious. Even after being dropped 4 feet. You should have heard the shriek. I have not heard that sound in 31 years. I expected the local authorities to come running assuming an assault in progress.

We hiked past Biras Creek through some cool mangrove trails. I hiked 525 feet up to the top of the local high spot up on the northern tip of V.G. called Alvin's Height (I felt right at home...my grandfather's name was Alvin). Easy climb past great vistas of the Atlantic, past wild goats, unique cactus ( turban cactus with sweet, small, pink cactus fruit..."don't eat that, Keith. Sweet doesn't mean safe"). Wouldn't you know it...the moment I arrived at the top to enjoy the view the heavens opened up and I got wet and my view quite limited by the squall. The rain was warm so no problem a few minutes of sunshine wouldn't dry out. After the rain though the colors seemed so intensified. Even the lichens on the rocks were fluorescent. Saw some very cool bromeliads growing right out of rocks.

Some of these islands have natural salt ponds where commercial salt production has occured for centuries.

As soon as we hit land Peter made a beeline for the local pub for a burger, some fries, and an Internet connection.

The weather continued very breezy with numerous showers. Here is a picture from land looking out past the dinghy dock into the harbor. Many boats, some of which are immense, beautiful motor yachts 200 feet long. We saw one yesterday at Soper's Hole with it's own helicopter on the poop deck. What Hollywood star or Kuwaiti sheik owned that one, we wondered. Kathy and I took a dinghy ride around the harbor (again while Peter was eating). We tied up at Saba Rock and watched several neon green morays in a tank, along with the cannon and anchor from The Rhone, a Royal Mail steamship sunk off Salt Island in 1867 in a hurricane. We motored over to Vixen Point on Prickly Pear Island...only Kathy was qualified to go ashore. Swam and bought Cokes here. Ate a lousy, expensive meal at the restaurant at Bitter End Resort that night...don't ever go there.

We did a little hiking here to get a vantage point. Just beautiful. Interesting plant life. Despite tropical nature, the plant life seems mostly scrubby even on the windward side. So far very few palm trees.

On the 7th we motored upwind again to the east. This was a beautiful spot on the southwest side of Virgin Gorda called The Baths. Not sure where the name came from. There are several hundred yards of these beautiful large granite boulders at waters edge. Supposed to be great snorkeling here, but water very rough and poor vis due to weather conditions, high winds and high seas, so just a quick snorkel and off again for 3 hours of close haul north to Gordo Sound. Kathy motored us past Anguilla Point...there could not have been more than 6-12" under our keels, but an incredible white sand beach was here. We motored into the protected waters of the bay and tied up to a mooring ball in front of Bitter End Yacht Club.

After spending a relaxing, warm day snorkeling in The Bight and Treasure Caves on Norman Island, and after the rather speedy return of Seabbatical and Bryan after repairing their starboard engine starter back at Nanny Cay, on Feb 6th we high tailed it upwind (iron spinnaker) to Manchioneel Bay on Cooper Island, where we tied up to a mooring ball and barbequed steaks on the back deck. The charcoal grill took some getting used to, and required finishing off the meat in the oven broiler to avert a crew mutiny. We were all hungry ! Kathy made a fantastic lemon cake despite a rather crummy oven. We dinghied over with the cake and had a delightful evening with JF and Babs and Tom on Seabbatical.

The boat galley where Kathy does her magic. We have been eating very GOOD!. The work space is small, only room enough for one person unfortunately. Bad for cooking, good for doing dishes. We have had to purchase many items for the galley...dishes, bowls, microwave, etc. Everything is very expensive here. We have spent $2000 on food and boat items in the past 10 days, but should be less expensive from here on (we hope, otherwise we will be home sooner. Can you be homeless on a boat?)

Our home for the next 2 months, One Life, sitting at the dock in Nanny Cay on south side of Tortola, BVI. It's nice having marine services so close...shops, grocery, land showers, swimming pool. Not so nice...mosquitoes, some marine head (toilet) smells. Surprisingly, here in Caribbean holding tanks are not used, even in marinas, and everything goes immediately overboard into the water. Makes for easy use of heads, but bad for the nose, and even worse for water quality at times. We definitely do not swim at times near the boat, and generally try to anchor apart from others.

NORMAN ISLAND

One Life sitting on mooring ball in The Bight, Norman Island, Feb 6th.

There are three sea caves on the west end of Norman Island just above Carvel Rocks. Robert Louis Stevenson based his book "Treasure Island" on this location, so the rumor goes. Caves really are spectacular. You tie up your dinghy to dinghy floats outside, then snorkel in. Pete and I took our dive lights into one of the deep caves...very creepy due to high turbidity. We had no idea what sea creature was waiting for us in the shadows. OK. I'm not quite the Dirk Pitt I thought I was. One of the caves was truly beautiful, multiple compartments, spotty light shining down (like in the Yucatan cenotes) and tree roots streaming down, lots of fish, etc.

There is a local boat here, Deliverance, which visits all the boaters in the bay offering ice, booze, trash pick-up, baked goods, etc. Nice service and quite the racket. Boat name appropos.

Keith

2009-02-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

On board e-mail not working. We are relying on intermittent Internet. So sorry.

Views from under our dingly. Beats our lobby aquarium.

Merman.

Seabbatical at Indian Rocks. Saw snapper galore, baracuda, shark.

Galley salon on OneLife.

We are presently at Bitter End Resort on northern end of Virgin Gorda. Kathy just got bit bigtime by a land crab she was playing with. Was a great sailing day. 3 hours of a close haul up west coast from The Baths.

Well, got to go. Crew waiting. Fajitas waiting for us on the boat.

More to follow tomorrow. We are going to spend another day here before we head up to Anegada for a few days.

Keith

Yeah!

2009-02-06T09:29:00.001-08:00

* fer some reason it was really slow to upload pics onto here, so unfortunately you're gonna have to make due with... reading..
Yeah! So we are now finally on our boat! At the moment we are just chillin in "The Bight" within the Norman Islands. It's kinda weird that we get internet here, what with being in the middle of nowhere. Looking back however i realize that there has been quite a gap between the last blog, so i am gonna do a small recap. Once we landed in San Juan, we spent the night in a Best Western and took a small Cessna over to Tortola where we will pick up and provision our Catamaran.

After the long and expensive taxi ride to the docks, we realized that our boat wouldnt be ready until several hours from then, so we killed the time by geting our provisions early. During that time we also met the other couple that would be accompaning us on another boat, Babs and her hubby, "J.F.". Once we finished the provisioning and organizing, we spent the night on the boat. The next day we met our Capitan, Brian, and unfortunately we were unable to leave that day, which allowed us to finish any last minute problems. So now we were off, Brian helped my dad at the helm, and me and my mom with the sails, until finally we were out of the marina and were heading towards a place called "the indians". It's a pretty random name for a cluster of rocks, but it had some pretty good snorkeling, so we snorkeled and whatnot until we had decided to sail the last 20 min towards our landin' spot of The Bight. After spending the night here, we woke up to find that Babs' boat's motor or something had broken, so we sent Brian out to go sort things out. While he was being Mr. Mechanic, we dingy'ed out to some caves, where the movie Treasure Island was filmed (or written... can't remember which). This was a really good snorkeling spot, with lots of fish and really clear water.

*Yeah, like, there was supposed to be a pretty cool pictuere here but...

So yeah, now we're just chillin in The Bight waiting for Brian to get back, but we are thinking that we might have to wait here another night... also, getting internet is random so the blog may not be updated as often as we would like..

This is a Petter Post..

February 2, 2009 Posting from San Juan, Puerto Rico

2009-01-31T23:42:00.000-08:00

Well, after a long day of travel, we are comfortably ensconced in our Best Western Hotel right here on the San Juan Airport grounds. After a night of minimal sleep ( meaning it was almost not worth the chore of making the bed this morning), we got up early at 2:30 to arrive at MFR airport for a 5 AM flight to PDX, which was very foggy; some minor flight delay. We weren't expecting that. MFR yes, PDX no. Despite that, today's flights were how flying should be. No delays, short connections, luggage arrived. Prayers paid off. Thanks to the Skillman's for picking up our car at the Airport.

It is so nice to be back in a warm, muggy climate. The coat came off right off the jetway!

We had some nice farewell phone calls in the past few days, for which we are very grateful. Our love and gratitude extend to you across the ocean.

We are 4 hours ahead of Medford here, only 7 PM Pacific time, but we are pooped after the craziness of the past 48 hours. We're going to bed! Tomorrow off to BVI. We fly a Cessna about 50 min to Tortola, then a cab to the boat! Yeah! We will spend the rest of the day inventorying the boat, meeting our flotilla captain, then off to the market for provisioning. Maybe the chandlery for pilot books, charts, etc.

I will email everyone ( and maybe post or link on the blog) our new email address on the boat, as well as our new blog site. On the boat we will have a satellite-based email and Weblog system called Skymate. This blog site here may not function well with our new communication system. We'll have to wait and see.

Lastly, I have uploaded a few MMC photos from the past 2 months. These are wonderful employees and endearing friends.

Charlie's Angels: Jennifer, Terri and Sarah.

Examining the new 4th flloor. My MA's are envious.

Scott's treasure chest. I could go for a piece of cake right now.

Make sure someone is continuing the beatings. I don't want anyone getting grumpy.

Keith

3 days left in count-down to sun, heat, water

2009-01-29T22:01:00.000-08:00

Hello again ! It has been 2 weeks of wonderfully relaxing time to sleep in, slow down and renew friendships. Once again, as we return home from spending time abroad, no matter how exotic, fascinating or enlightening the travel has been, we always realize quickly how much we love living in our Rogue Valley home (at least after Spring break and before Thanksgiving). Sure, there are aspects of life here which are not our favorite. Who likes fog, 20 degree temperatures and scraping windshields, but we consider them a small price to pay for living here in this beautiful area. And while we're at it, we love the USA! This land has been blessed. Since arriving home we've had nice times enjoying a good meal with you at Cafe Dejeuner, Macaroni's or 38 on Central, or attending church together, or at target practice or Liam Neeson movies, or resurrecting dusty, old carpentry skills, or just visiting and a dozen other things. Our tans have faded, but what a small price to pay. Besides, we're getting 'em back again real soon. It has been nice to experience the more normal ( some would say mundane) rituals of being at home...think picking up at the Cleaners, buying milk, paying bills, watching the news on TV, Home Teaching, visiting the barber, buying stamps and sending UPS, etc. But there is a measure of comfort and familiarity in these tasks which we all crave at times, especially without the pressures of reporting to work at 8 o'clock every morning. Besides, by next week our biggest task will be whether to catch fish or look for lobster or scallops for dinner.

We want to introduce some very special people to everyone. Sadly, these members of our family were unable to join us on our Panama adventures due to job requirements, but we kept them in our hearts, and we want to highlight them here. Above are son Marc with Britni and Malia a year ago at Marc's graduation from the Northern Arizona Police Academy.

And below is our "special" son Chris, who graduated from Burger King Academy recently. We are so proud of him. He has now mastered Double Whoppers and is working hard on Fish Fillets.

We are "truly" proud of Chris and Malinda. They graduated last summer from St Louis University School of Medicine, and Chris is now an ER doc-in-training in Tucson.

This photo was from Disneyland last summer when all of our children and grandchildren reunited for a blessed week. What joy ! (and noise and mayhem). We can't wait to do it again. Here are Ella and Eli.

The debate is over. The election has been held. The votes are counted. The electoral votes have been tallied. It was a clean election with no evidence of voter fraud, pregnant chads, or bought votes. We ran a clean, honest, positive campaign. The concession speech has been given. It is now time for my acceptance speech. I proudly acknowledge that I do have the cutest and smartest grandchildren. Kathy has administered the official "Grandpa Oath of Office" (though she said it wrong and has to re-administer it to me during the Super Bowl).

Please meet Ella, Malia, Amalie, and Eli.

Amalie and Suede.

What can be said? Heaven looks like this.

Beautiful Britni, Marc, and the girls in Lithia Park last November.

Grandma Oregon, Ella Tucson.

Father Williams. I miss my Mom and my Dad. I think of you every day.

Kathy's Mom Jo at Cassandra's graduation from Phoenix High in 2007.

So that's some of the rest of The Fam. We love you and miss you. You make it hard to leave and easy to return.

Keith

2009-01-15T10:55:00.000-08:00

We came home last night to find ourselves infested with bugs and geckos all over our kitchen. There is only one cure for this infestation. We are getting out of Dodge again in 2 weeks for warmer climes. Our Eastern Carib sailing adventure begins soon.

We came home late last night in sort of the same fashion we left...flying by the seat of our pants, using alternate means of transport after our SLC-to-Medford flight was cancelled by Delta due to terrible, foggy weather here in Oregon. We caught a last minute flight to Eugene, where we rented a Chevy Cobalt for the bleary-eyed drive home. We were exhausted, and Kathy and I alternated drivers 3 times for the usually brief 2.5 hour drive home. We sank into bed at 3 AM, not even bothering to exterminate the kitchen. We were just grateful to Stacy and Mark for getting our home thermostat replaced so we had heat. We cranked on every spaceheater and our pellet stove along with the furnace, and ratcheted up our electric blankets, and still we are cold. To think, just 36 hours ago we were complaining that the AC in Panama City was inadequate ! That all being said, we are so grateful to be safe back home, sans luggage, and having this time to regroup, rebalance, renew. Today we get to shop for food, pay quarterly taxes ( did you know that Panamanians pay only 5% taxes), visit the hairdresser, return our rental car to the airport, run on the treadmill, blog, visit the bank to plead for more money (still waiting for Obama's national vacation coverage), and maybe start to watch some of The Office or The Unit episodes we missed.

The lessons of Panama are still distilling in our minds, and I think we will maybe present a few final thoughts about this recent 6 week hide-and-seek over the next few days, but for now we are just basking in the pleasure of warm water memories, new tan lines, better relationships, and the reward of living life less hurried and more relaxed.

Peter and Dad enjoying a last moment on the beach just before we returned our rental car. Here at Veracruz just west of the Canal next to the runway of what used to be Howard AFB (birthplace of John McCain). Isla Taboga ( see prior post) in the background.

Our trusty steed for the past 4 weeks. Turns out that somewhere along the way we managed to acquire a scrape on our driver's side fender, which we discovered on the last day and added to the unanticipated cost of the trip.

Our next to last day in Panama. We have never, ever done this on any of our past trips, but we decided to try an all-inclusive resort for a day at Playa Blanca west of Coronado. It was listed by the NYTimes as one of the 50 top vacation spots in the world this year. The NYTimes has just lost some more credibility for me. This was the least favorite place of any of our lodging locations of the past 6 weeks...small, conventional hotel room next to construction site, very mediocre food, impersonal, crowded beaches, too many people, no waves. Just nothing special, for a lot of money. But it was WARM, and I'm pretty sure we won't find any casetas con techo de paja back home in Medford.

We found iguanas here. Kathy's happy. Also, watch out for the dreaded garden hose snake.

We found fresh water turtles here. Kathy is very happy. They like cinnamon granola bars.

This was the view from the beach of the Las Olas hotel at Playa Barqueta. This was an impulse stay. We left Boquete after just 4 of the planned 5 nights there. I loved Boquete, but Kathy was missing the warmth of the beach ( actually we all were). So we made on-line reservations and drove southwest an hour or so, less than an hour from the Costa Rica "frontier". This turned out to be the very best beach of our entire stay in Panama. Very BIG waves, great body surfing. Very broad beach, no people( we were the only people for at least 1/2 mile). Clean sand, very warm water. Peculiar absence of any shells. I loved it, and in retrospect would have enjoyed staying here longer. The hotel is pretty average, but acceptable.

The market place in Boquete. I enjoyed photo-graphing the locals.

There were cops everywhere throughout Panama. They use a lot of radar on the roads. We were pulled over several times, sometimes for document checks, sometimes for who knows what. Only once did I deserve it. One cop was going to cite me for going 10 KM over the posted limit of 100kmh, but he lost heart after 5 minutes. The ticket form is very long, and he knew I was a tourist on my way out of the country. And it became apparent to him that I was willing to let him write the ticket without reaching into my wallet on the spot. I never saw a cop follow anybody in their vehicle to stop them. They would just wave at you from the roadside to stop and you were expected to pull over. They all carried side-arms. Saw only 2-3 rifles or shotguns in the 6 weeks though. All generally nice and non-threatening. Almost none speak any English at all. Imagine that in Panama.

Our hotel in Boquete. I liked it a lot. Sat at 3700 feet elevation, cool, windy, lush, verdant. Some skeeters, rained one night. The light in Boquete was amazing. The colors were all so clear and intense. The south of France was always touted as having a special light, but I found the light here remarkable. Made me want to take up painting. Each cabana had two levels. Our room was on the bottom level, and had a bedroom, small kitchen and sitting room. Rio Caldera ran right behind it. It sat in Valle Arcoiris (valley of rainbows). It deserved its name.

From our ATV adventure. This view on top of Volcancito overlooking the town of Boquete. Very beautiful spot, but intensely windy. Our ATV guide took the picture from atop his ATV...hence the movement artifact in the photo.

Another picture of Boquete from same vantage point. Looking north. Highway to David runs to the south. Our ATV adventure was one of my top 2-3 events of the 6 week trip. The mountains were just beautiful. The light was phenomenal. It was so warm. The wind was wonderful. After hiking 5000' up Volcan Baru 2 days before, climbing 2000+ feet without walking was nice. The scenery was just remarkable, despite Peter's sarcasm.

Coffee everywhere here. Juan Valdez is just smelling the beans, Bishop.

Keith

Extreme Zip-Lining & ATV-ing in Boquete!! Kathy and Petter Post..

2009-01-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

**Before Peter writes this post, Kathy needs to say one thing: "Yes, even though we were led today to our ATV adventure by wild, teenage, non-English-speaking, testosterone-infested boys...we somehow came out alive to tell the story! We were picked up at our hotel by three teenagers and taken through town to the location to begin our tour. On the way my driver (of course) almost hit a car and a dog going 40 miles/hr and still managed to whistle at all the "chicks"! Never-the less, WE HAD A BLAST!

**Alright, I suppose due to complaints from my brothers, sisters, friends and my own parents that it was time I contributed a small part to this blog. I see that mother here has already said her bit so, less typing for me. However, before I start I wanna let Chey and the rest of the Skillman family know that I shall be calling "ATV-ing" by its proper name of "quading". Furthermore, due to user technicalities, these pictures are slightly out of order, and the pictures of us Quading happened today, whereas the Zip-Lining stuff happened yesterday.

Here is a small look at the scenery that we drove through. This is Mom. (Just some heads up, between my mom's and dad's camera, about 40 pictures were used on scenery. No need to worry though, I didn't put all of them on. Not like scenery is a bad thing but...)

Here is a small peek at the two handsome men on the journey. Well one handsome man at any rate...

And this is... some more scenery!

This is home-sweet-home of some of the Indians of Boquete. I don't mean to be rude but I am rather happy I live in America...

This is an Indian woman and her dog, walking up a very, very long hill back to home-sweet-home.

*GASP*, more scenery.

Here is Mom posing after she almost made it up a particularly steep hill. In her defense, it was a tough one to go up, with a nice 100 foot drop on one side.

Aw, how cute... We were quadding through extensive coffee plantations.

Yeah, that is me inside that fatty helmet.

Me, I thought this one was a pretty cool photo.

Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures of the ending journey, but we did get one of this tasty French restaurant. Maybe Chris D could get some of the recipes for his French Bistro idea! Kathy had awesome eggplant crepes and trout almondine followed by a chocolate banana crepe for dessert.

After quading, mom and dad decided to walk 2 miles home and go through the local Fair and I had no choice but to follow. No biggy though, I found a fricken sweet beanie that i could walk around BYU with (Ha)... Oh, by the way did I mention that I got accepted to BYU-I?

Dad tried his luck at the local "Toss the Ring Around the Booze Bottle" game. 25 cents buys you 5 tosses. He said that he was trying to get a ring around the Ginger Ale bottle. Let's put it this way, after playing we had to walk home. Honest, Bishop Gillespie.

This was the road and bridge that was washed out by the recent flood. It led up to our hotel, so we had to take another road to get to our place when we first came here.

This poor hotel was COMPLETELY washed out by the flood. It had just opened brand new a month before the flood. It was just across from the bridge in the previous picture.

This was the beginning of our trip to go Zip-lining. This zip-line was one of the largest in South America. It had about 12 lines, some of which were 400 meters long ( that's 1300 feet for you metrically impaired)and drops of about 200 feet. The platforms were also slatted so that you could actually see how high up in the trees we were! The scenery was great, but the ride up in the truck was VERY bumpy!

This is a picture of the truck that we rode in. There were about 20 of us. The truck was kinda cool. It had been altered to go up steep, 50-60 degree, rough terrain hills, and pulled out on the side for people to step down when they got off.

Here was were our camp/lodge was to get geared -up. We were way-the-heck up on some very high mountain!

WOAH! Mom's sideways!

There's me and my dad with a group of some pretty chill Dutch guys on holiday.

This is the first wire we went on and we were unable to get any pictures after that. It was just too intense!

It was a fun trip and we passed the course, or something, because we all got awarded certificates with the names of Peter Williams, Kathy Williams, and Keetl Williams.

This is a Petter post!
The next post will be written by Keetl =].

From Panama City to Boquete!

2009-01-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

On our last day in Panama City Keith and I went for a walk and came across this huge tree. It grows vines that attach to the ground creating this unique affect. The vines are very tough and one can only imagine how difficult it would be to go through a jungle with these trees.

This an outside view of our condo in Panama City. We would have liked to have had a balcony, but the location on the Panama Canal was great!

We drove for 7 hours to get to our next destination, Boquete, in the mountains about an hour from the Costa Rican border. Along the way we stopped at a local "Pio Pio" fast food place to have lunch. We had to really scramble to get what we wanted, because no one spoke English. Peter actually did a pretty good job getting my order. I wanted only white-meat and my chicken grilled (I hate oily fried stuff!). When we were done ordering, we looked at each other and said," Now lets see what we end up REALLY getting"!

We are smiling because we DID actually get what Peter asked for in Spanish! It was a fun adventure! And 3 combo plates of chicken etc for just $9 total.

Keith finally had to remove the embedded sliver that plagued him for the past 5 weeks. (That's what climbing coconut trees with your son will do for you!) He did the surgery himself with the emergency kit he brought. He anesthetized his own hand, cut it open, and dug out the very large (deep) sliver of wood. Peter and I were impressed and of course assisted him all the way (NOT)! I honestly don't think I would have had the guts to do that on myself (as Keith's nurses will attest: I hate blood!)

Here you can see how large the piece of wood was! (The maid won't be very happy when she sees the towel in the morning...)

In Boquete some of the Panamanian (and Columbian, Ecuadorean and Peruvian) Indians were gathering for the annual Provincial Fair ("Feria"). Their dresses were very colorful. The President of Panama was coming to the fair that evening to officially open the festivities.

This is our apartment in the "Boquete Garden Inn". The area is very lovely with pine trees and lush green vegetation. It is a lot colder here (altitude 3700 feet) and it rains more than anywhere else. The Pacific Ocean is an hour away and I miss it, but I am willing to give it up for a while so as to be able to experience all of Panama! Boquete was hit by terrible flooding in November which washed out one of four bridges and totally destroyed a new hotel. But the town is bouncing back.

Well, our first full day in Boquete, Keith and Peter decided to hike the volcano. What a hike! They climbed Volcan Baru which is 10,900 feet high, the highest point in Panama. They hiked 13.5 km up and 13.5 km back in 8 hours. After ascending 5000 feet to the top of the dormant volcano they could see the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Ocean on the other side!

They got up at 4:30 AM and I cooked them breakfast and sent them on their way. The hike was extremely difficult, too difficult for someone with a hip replacement (me). A guide (Mario) took them up to the top. This photo is early morning from about a third up the mountain. They started out in the dark using headlamps.

Here Keith and Peter are smiling because the made it to the top!

This is a view of Caribbean Ocean. This is the only point in the whole Western Hemisphere where one can see both the Pacific and the Caribbean oceans!

On the way down the mountain the guys came across a Coatamundi. They watched him for a long time and said that he was really interesting, but smelled REALLY bad! After just completing the first 5 hours of their hike, I have to wonder who smelled worse...hmmm..
Well Keith and Peter came home safe and sound and I cooked a fantastic Curried Chicken and salad and papaya (Yum!) for dinner. All of this followed by a plate of pastries obtained today from 3 different bakeries in town. You know where my weakness is! Needless to say the guys are all now snoring, crashed out on their beds. The guide said that they will be "feeling it" for several days! (Now, how do I get to sleep with all of this noise?)
Kathy

Trip to Colon, Monday January 5, 2009

2009-01-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

(This is our third posting today...to catch us up!)

Monday, January 5th (Chris DeBeikes' Birthday!) we took a train to Colon, a port city just 50 miles away on the north (Caribbean) coast. We decided NOT to take a tour group and to do it all ourselves. We chose to locate a guide/taxi once we reached Colon. We secured a guide at the railway station in Colon whose name was "Rigo".

As I was putting this post together I noticed that our travel book recommended that we NOT do this without using a tour company and warned that we would be"asking to be mugged" to walk alone in Colon. I AM GLAD THAT I NEVER READ THAT PARAGRAPH BEFORE OUR TRIP, because we had a REALLY nice/safe time! Colon has much violent crime, everyone says. Poverty is extensive here. Funny that the cruise lines are trying to push this area as a port of origin for cruise ships because everyone says it is completely unsafe to walk beyond the port limits. There is an enormous "zona libre", "free trade zone here, tho really geared toward wholesale purchases. There are over 2000 storefronts here selling everything imaginable. This free trade zone is the second largest in the world after Singapore.

This is a photo of the train "station" in Colon, really just a covered platform.

Below are photos of Portobelo (named "beautiful port" by Columbus in 1502). For several centuries this was an affluent trading center that stored South American gold, silver, sugar, quinine and other luxury-trade items headed for Europe. Needless to say, this was a popular place for pirate attacks (Pirates of the Caribbean)! Because of the frequent attacks military defensive emplacements were built and rebuilt many times, the remains of which are partially seen today, though generally in a quite poor state of repair given their historical significance. These iron cannon 300 years old are just rusting in the mud, and there is mud and litter everywhere. All this despite being a UN-anointed historical site.

I just love this photo. The hole allows you to look through several walls as if a cannon ball went through all of them simultaneously (maybe one did)!

What a view!!!

Ok, now if Chris DeBeikes was only here...look at our England pictures if you what to know why I thought of him just now.

Our guide (Rigo) took us to a beach on Isla Grande by water taxi . The name of the place was the "Bananas Village Resort". It was beautiful even though the weather was on and off rain and our towels never came until our last few minutes at the resort (the maid was still doing the wash!).

I am taking this photo from the pool area. What you see is the coral reef area of the Caribbean. The resort is on the windward side of the island. We noticed that the Caribbean had more rain-fall than the Pacific side of Panama.

Here we are with Rigo eating our lunch at the resort. The food was very good!

Can you say: Froot Loop or Tucan-Sam? The island had a nice collection of exotic birds!

The road to get to Isla Grande was what I affectionately call a "Meclizine Road". OH MY GOSH!!! There was a paved road PART of the time and when it WAS paved it was only paved in pieces! (Annie, Chris, Cassan: take our Gorgona road and times that by on hour!) Here we stopped for a cute cow in the middle of the road. The area reminded me of some parts of Hawaii. It was lush. colorful, and agricultural (from what I could see with my eyes closed trying to avoid being sick.)

Of course we returned by train, and as you can see the train had a sky-view! The cars were very nice, even the toilet area. (Not like in Russia, Cassan, where they emptied onto the track.)

There was a waitress that served all of the passengers food and drinks. We tried a weird Kosher food (there are a lot of Jewish people in Panama) that everyone was eating. It was like a sesame corn cracker shaped into "O's". I think you needed to have an "acquired taste"...

This was a GREAT day!! Thanks to Keith for getting us to and from the train station and doing all of the research for the trip! I do wonder if he conveniently forgot to tell a certain spouse about the warnings in the travelers guide book though...
Kathy

January 4, 2009 in Panama City

2009-01-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

We visited here at Plaza Cinco de Mayo one evening, ate junk food like there was no tomorrow, and generally really enjoyed ourselves. There was a lady selling beef shish kabobs at a food stand on the street. $1 for a skewer of steak, onions, green peppers, and secret sauce. Wow! Kathy went shopping for make-up. The department stores look small from the street, but spread out to the rear forever. The other pictures are just some interesting street shots. Lots of ethnic diversity here...East Indians, Chinese, blacks (slave desecndants), ethnic indians ( Kuna, Ngobe Bugle, Embera, Wounaan, others), hispanics, whites, Arabs. There is a large Jewish population here. Apparently Panama was a safe haven during and after the Holocaaust. A truly boiling melting pot.

The omnipresent golden arches in P.C.

Garbage men in the city, but quite honestly most streets look like they miss more trash than they collect.

An observant Moslem family crossing the street.

Cool lighting effects of the tree shadows falling over Panama Viejo ruins. This was the first Pacific settlement of the Spanish, founded in 1519 by Balboa. It was the main Pacific gold shipment port for the Spanish for tons of Inca gold en route back home. It was shipped from Lima, carried by mules across the isthmus to Nombre de Dios, Portobelo, or Fuerte San Lorenzo, and then sent by Spanish galleons across the Atlantic, occasionally entirely absconded by English privateers like Sir Francis Drake, Henry Morgan, Edward Vernon, etc. Drake totally defeated the Spanish soldiers at Panama Viejo and raized the city in 1671. Thereafter the Spanish moved their port city on the Pacific a mile west to a more protected spot at Casco Viejo. Anyway, tho very little remains it was cool to think of the many hundreds of years that have elapsed and what has taken place on this soil. By the way, it took a concerted effort at patience to drive to this place. Roads maps, signage, and directions leave a lot to be desired. I felt like Balboa finding this place. Did Balboa ever snap at his wife when he was lost? Sorry, honey.

Puente del Rey at Panama Viejo, the oldest surviving bridge in the Western Hemisphere purportedly. 1/3 of the world's gold reportedly crossed over this bridge on the fabled Camino Real on its way across the isthmus from Pacific to Carribean coasts. Kathy should have married a conquistador.

Following church we also drove to the top of Ancon Hill (The first ship to transit the Canal in 1914 was the USS Ancon). We had some nice views of the city in all directions from atop. Crowning the hill is the beautiful Panamanian flag. The Temple is also visible in the distance to the north of the hill past old Albrook airfield (now Gelabert domestic airport.)

Following Church we took two hours to drive around the main administrative portion of the old CZ. You see the main Admin building set up on a rise behind this fountain dedicated to the chief engineer of the American portion of the Canal. Surrounding this area are many acres of many uniform, well-constructed additional admin buildings, movie theater, fire department, school, sports field, churches, many beautiful old homes on lovely streets, etc. All of this sits at the western base of Cerro Ancon, the prominent hill rising above the city. Of course all of this is now back in Panamanian hands. I would love to have seen the CZ back in the days of American occupation. It frankly mostly looks worn and shotty now.

Sunday we attended the Balboa Ward ("Barrio") in Panama City, just down the road from where we are presently living as it turns out. Once again we understand almost nothing as we attended Fast and Testimony meeting. Yet the same Spirit attends these services in any language, and the familiarity is comforting. We did discover that Panamanians apparently like to write in their hymn books. Once again we shook many hands and met two missionaries serving from La Ceiba, Honduras, Elder Reyes, and another from El Salvador, Elder Soto. Both very fascile in English thankfully. They tell us that the mission here has missionaries from China, New Zealand, throughout Central America, Australia, USA, Tonga, Hawaii, etc. Riley, we kept saying to ourselves how exciting and rewarding for you to have been here to see and feel and experience all of this for yourself. All of this occuring because of the seeds sown and nurtured many years ago by Americans living in the Canal Zone. We saw no USA'ers here at church.

Keith

Just For Fun!!

2009-01-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

The following is a collection of interesting odds and ends. Below is a picture of one of the two large golden frogs that we had in our pool every night in Gorgona. At first we were afraid that they couldn't get out and would die from the chlorine, so every night we would religiously go and scoop them out. After awhile we caught on and realized that they were fine. They were great fun to play with!

This is a better picture of the Irish wolf hounds that lived next door in Gorgona. They are HUGE and because of their large size they only live 6-8 years.

This was another "Annie" sign that we found. (We actually found one that said "Adrianna" in Colon, but could not get a photo of it, and besides, it was a bar.) We have decided that her name is just very popular. (I can hear her say: "Duh, of course it is!"). Oh, incidentally, this photo was taken at Cinco De Mayo Plaza where in a period of 20 minutes Keith had finished a junk-food binge of: chocolate donut, grape snow cone with leche dulce, steak ka-bob, and what ever else Kathy couldn't finish too! (How is it he is still losing weight?!)

This was just "cool architecture"! I love this monastery ruin. It was at the Panama Viejo ruins (Old Panama--first major Spanish settlement). We will talk more about this in the next post.

Even the old dingy side streets of Panama can have a little bit of beauty! I love the balconies. This one was in Casco Viejo. This balcony still has Christmas decorations. Everyone here celebrates the "holidays" until January 6th, the Latin holiday of "Tres Reyes".

Would the REAL Cassandra please stand up? We noticed all along the highway from La Chorerra to Coronado these weird stuffed people! This photo was at a bus stop. They all had the name of the person who made them, and some had political signs attached...it is the election season here. We asked a "local" what the deal was and he said that it was a local tradition to make them stemming back many years, apparently also with some religious connotation. They then BLOW THEM UP or light them on fire on New Years Eve. There seemed to be some belief that their old sins of the past year would be forgottten and that they could start anew. We were thinking of making one of our own, but no one wanted to donate their clothing!

This was a cool picture passing under the "Bridge of the Americas" on the Panama Canal. The people on the deck above us were hanging their feet over the edge...until the captain told them not to.

This picture is just for Stacy...If you want to know why, ask her. (I just couldn't resist after hearing email complaints about me holding stray cats, while she on the otherhand was holding a filthy monkey!!!)

While up at Cerro Ancon summit, we found a baby armadillo. There was probably a mother close by, but we never saw her.

Kathy

2009-01-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to take a 45 minute, 20 km ferry ride on Barco Calypso to Isla Taboga (The Island of Flowers). It was settled by the Spanish in 1515 and has the second oldest church in the western hemisphere. The big attraction here though, is its beaches. They have soft white sand that slopes gradually into the warm, blue water. Taboga used to be the favorite place for English pirates and some places look like scenes out of "Pirates of the Caribbean". (As Johnny Depp would say, "But where's the Rum?"). Here is a glimpse of what we saw coming into the Isla. We rented three mats and an umbrella for $7.00, ate our peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches, and had a great time sunning, swimming and snorkeling. Keith swam to the east point of little Isla Moro and saw "a ton" of VERY large fish...of course he did not have his camera or his spear gun with him...hmmm...

We decided to take a walk and explore the town. I loved the splash of color from all of the flowers! Nothing beats colorful flowers against white stucco, with a background of blue ocean water!

This was the church mentioned at the top of this blog. It was built in the 1500's, and I wonder how it survived during WWII when the US Navy used this island for artillery fire.

This was taken at the front steps of the church. Notice the peeling paint behind me. Everyone is constantly painting and re-painting their metal railings around here. The salt water and humidity creates havoc.

Keith and I tried to hike up to the top of the Island to see the old WWII bunkers and the ruins of an old Spanish fort, but the trail became hidden in the jungle, so we turned back.

No, this is not a postcard. I took this from a restaurant that overlooked the canal tonight. You can see how it is going to be hard to come home in two weeks. We have talked with several people that came to Panama for a vacation and never returned. Now we can see why...

Kathy

2009-01-02T14:55:00.000-08:00

We left Gorgona (sigh, sigh, sigh) January 1st and went to Panama City for one night in a hotel on the canal and then to our condo on the canal in the Amador part of town. This was one of our last views (out our back door) of a local shrimp boat. "Cue the bird". It was just so unbelievably beautiful there. Keith and I will try to come back, it was a dream home with a dream view! It would be fun to share the house with another family...any takers?

Here we are (in our car) very sad to leave. We stayed up to the VERY last minute and even then the caretaker (a guy called Juan) was cleaning underneath us. We all thought that heaven would surely be like our Gorgona house!

Here we are biking down the causeway (2 km) to explore the four Islands of Naos, Culebra, Perico, and Flamenco. You can see the Bridge of the Americas behind us. It was very busy here (like Disneyland!) because everyone was on "Holiday" for the New Year. The Panamanians make a big deal out of the New Year and stretch out their celebrations for days and days!!

Here Keith is eating a hot dog from one of the street vendors. (This was actually my hot dog.) These tasted good! They were cut in a spiral on a stick, then grilled and basted with a sweet pepper salsa. We couldn't get the kids to eat one (too many bad memories of previous hot dogs), but Keith and I couldn't turn them down...that's what antibiotics are for! Medicate and move on.

This is the skyline of Panama City from our new condo on the canal. BEAUTIFUL!

The day after Cassandra left we went for a 2+ km hike in the Jungle park (600 acres) in the heart of Panama City. (Chris DeBeikes, we sure could have used your navigational skills to get to the park...Jeesh!!) It is nature reserve and many people come from all over to study the flora and fauna. I just wanted to see the sloths, monkeys and anteaters! Unfortunately, it was just too hot to see any big animals (shoot), but we did see some cool cutter ants!

On our hike we saw one of the most unusual trees! It had very sharp, triangular-shaped bumps, which faded away the further up you looked. Peter discovered it so we affectionately called it the "Prickly Pete" tree.

Ahhh, here we have on of my favorite insects: Cutter Ants! (Remember these in Cozumel, Mark and "E'stacy"? These were outside of our hotel room!) See if you can see in this picture where they are. They are underneath all of the dark green leaves. They cut leaves and carry them in a row to their nest. The jungle was full of these ants and you really had to watch where you stepped...they bite! Luckily they usually stay in rows, so you just need to keep and eye on the jungle floor.

This is one of the few, decent larger grocery stores we went in [Most were the Chino (Chinese) "Mini-Super"s]. Once you buy your food the bagger-boys take it to the car and load your groceries and you cannot handle the cart...of course then you need to pay them for the service! I've done most of the cooking here and we have not eaten out much. It just takes too long to get in and out of a restaurant here in Panama. The tradition here is to take your time eating and the waiter won't bring you the check until you ask for it. (That is actually not a bad thing, we just didn't want to spend a good part of our day eating. There's too much to do!)

Happy New Year everyone!
Kathy

Feliz Ano Nuevo, Prospero 2009 y Adios!!

2009-01-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

Fare thee well, Cassandra. We will miss you. The Fam.

Bridge of the Americas from our hotel in the City.

Last look at Gorgona on our final day. Sigh.

New Years Eve dinner at a local restaurant. Not the best meal we have ever had, but one we won't forget, for sure.

And the partings continue. Today was our last day in our beautiful Gorgona home. We ran up the AC, took a dip in the pool and ocean, I grabbed a bag full of black sand, and we drowned our woes in glasses of grape soda and diet coke. From there we made the drive to Panama City and the Country Inn that awaited us.

After dropping off our things, we drove to a bike shop (strange, huh? We drove to go biking...) and rented "bicicletas" for $3.75/hour each for a ride over the Amador Causeway to the nearby islands, negotiating cars, other bikes, strollers, skateboards, in-line skates and pedestrians. Stomachs are tricky things, however, so it wasn't long before Peter, Mom, and me were complaining about the lack of food. We persevered (all the while noting every restaurant we passed) until we were done. The ocean and its accompanying breezes were quite refreshing, and helped keep sweating at bay (quite a feat for anyone who has experienced "The Williams Sweat"- Annie, Chris, Marc, you sympathize?).

There was a TGIFridays restaurant connected to our hotel, so we stayed local and ate there for dinner. At around 10:19 PM, after watching "Apocolypto" and "The Snow Walker" en Espanol, Cassandra translating, we are all feeling rather sleepy, wishing we had the waves to rock us to sleep tonight, rather than dad's snoring (oh, it's coming, just wait).

I almost forgot New Years Eve! At about 2 PM that day we headed down to the local Chino market and found some rather inexpensive fireworks, the kind you know had to be on the black-market in the States. We weren't disappointed. After helping ourselves to rather salty local Chinese Food (there's a distinct Chinese influence in the area) we wasted little time in lighting the fireworks on the sandy beach. Mom found a bamboo pole on the beach to launch our bottle rockets from, which was dang useful. Each shot about 175 yards in the air. Some little fireworks, which we affectionately called "Russian Roulette", went anywhere but where we expected them to. Two landed in our neighbors yards after they skimmed over the top of our heads. We also lit up reams of fire crackers. The finale will rival future 4th of July celebrations for the next few years. The fireworks launched themselves one after one another in a sight that I could only compare with having a front row seat at the A's field firework's display. It was pretty sweet. And what was even better, we didn't need to clean anything up because it all landed in the ocean or got blown away with the sand (we are an environmentally friendly family...right).

I leave for home tomorrow, to Utah, a state a wee bit colder than Panama. Last I heard it was a frigid 25 degrees. I'll be taking home the laughs and smiles from my family, as well as their love, to keep me warm. And if that fails me, then I've snatched a bag full of sand and another full of sea shells to decorate my apartment. Oh, and my mom's razor blade. Shh...it'll be our little secret.

Happy New Years and bright tomorrows! Cassandra.

2008-12-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

Today was a sad day for one father, as I drove Annie and Chris back to Tocumen Airport for their return flight home. Every parent with grown children knows the sweetness of reunion, however brief, and the melancholy of another estrangement when they need to resume their separate lives. How much fun we have had. How much joy they brought with them. How many warm and pleasant memories they bring home with them. God bless you both.

We went on some walks today. Warm sunshine, black sand, fresh marine air. Just quiet, private times to see and feel and think and enjoy. No noise except the waves. Just the beauty of the earth and the temporary absence of agenda, expectation, urgency, demand.

Home Sweet Home. No bouganvillas in Medford or Pleasant Grove this time of year. Looking in thru our entrance gate. Ocean is on the opposite side.

We celebrated Chris' and Cassandra's birthdays yesterday. We made yellow cake and chocolate frosting with mostly proper candles...We purchased a "2" and a "0", but Kathy cut a "6" for Chris from a piece of paper. A burning paper candle made for an urgent "Happy Birthday" song. A few gift cards added to a nice birthday party.

We rely so heavily on our lap top and the Internet to help keep us connected with home and the world. We need to get a cooling pad. Peter and Chris downloaded James Bond "Golden Eye" from the old Nintendo 64 days for me today. It has been years since I played that. Thank you Pete ! We have had some free, live, on-line video sessions with family on Skype over the past few days. I still marvel at the technology. Postcards are an anachronism.

You have previously met some of our local zoological friends. Let us introduce you to some additional acquaintances. Please meet Fiona, our next door neighbor Irish wolf hound ( the largest canine in the world). She has a brother, Quigley. The tops of their heads are nearly at the level of my shoulders. Imagine this hound of the Baskervilles chasing you in the dark. Worse yet, their "deposits" on the beach can ruin a lovely dusk walk. Or, perhaps they are just "sea sponges" washed up on shore, right Annie? Also meet one of the crabs we had fun catching at surf line at midnight one night, a friendly yellow frog that seemed to enjoy our pool, and another friendly gecko.

Fun in the water, both above and below the surface.

Kathy bought some blow-up water toys at the local store a few days ago, and we have had so much fun with these playing out in the waves. It is quite remarkable how wide the tidal variation is on this beach at Gorgona, and we have fun playing in the waves at different times. At some times we get completeyly clobbered by the waves and dig sand out of previously undiscovered crevices, and at other times the water is glass-like. We all had a blast body-surfing, and got some fun video of Annie, Peter and Chris yesterday. We had fun watching two shrimping boats plying the waters in front of our house today. First clue was a sky full of seabirds, pelicans, terns, gulls, frigate birds. It was funny to see this boat with almost every inch of available line covered with these large, ungamely pelicans just motoring along with the boat waiting for its next free meal. These boats would leave an obvious brown wake where the bottom was disturbed by their shrimping nets. Bad for shrimp, good for camarones-eaters. Kathy bought some shrimp from a vendor on the street a few days ago. We grilled them with steaks.

Sorry for the screwy last post. Somehow, what appeared on the edit page was not what showed up on the actual post.

2008-12-29T08:49:00.000-08:00

So this is Keith again. My day to work on the blog-site. It's a tough life when the hardest thing one has to do in a day is write a few words and thoughts on an Internet blog site, ya know?

Yesterday we awoke early to drive about 40 min north on the Pan-American Highway to La Chorerra to attend Church services at Guadalupe Ward at 9AM. We found the address, Bishop Medina's name and meeting time on the Church's website, LDS.org. Using Google maps, GPS, and intuition we were able to find the recently built chapel. All were very friendly, though we (with the exception of Cassandra and Annie) could understand very little of the service. Nevertheless it was humbling, moving, and uplifting to attend and blend our faith and voices with those of the local Saints. They were all so friendly, and I think we shook hands with almost all of the 100+ members in attendance. We met Elder Hunter from Utah and his Honduran companion from San Pedro
Sula, Elder Hernandez. We had so much fun trying to speak with the kids and teenagers. They had no piano players, so everything was acapella. It would have been fun to have Annie or Cassan or Kathy play, but we didn't think about it till later. The Bishop, Obispo, is 40 years old, and he and his wife served missions in Panama.

Here is a picture of one of the Panamanian ? fresh-water crocs sunning on the side of the Canal. Hands in the boat, Stacy. Here we are traversing the Guillard Cut, one of the most difficult-to-construct portions of the Canal, thru rock of the Continental Divide. Here the Canal is about 85 feet above sea level, as I recall. They are presently widening, dredging and straightening the Canal, as well as making a new channel for larger ships. Right now the larger ships need to unload containers at one end, which are shipped by train to the other side, and then reloaded on another ship.

Here is a picture of La Puenta de las Americas. Tradition requires you to kiss the person closest to you when you pass under the bridge. Chris is still recuperating from the best kiss he ever got.

In the background of the picture is Country Inn where we spent two nights. In the foreground is Balboa Yacht Club. We have not yet been invited to join...I am sure the invitation is in the mail. Next week we will head down there and see if we can bum a free transit thru the canal on a passing boat that might need some line handlers. Each boat or ship traversing the Canal is required to have a professional ACP (Autoridad de Canal dePanama) pilot on board. We saw a beautiful sailboat transit thru Pedro Miguel lock. I was jealous.

Visions of our future.

This is the bombed out, destroyed shell of the Military Officers Club in Casco Viejo. This waterfront building was destroyed during the American invasion of Panama to oust Noriega in 1989.

And this is the shell of a man who has gone a month without a donut. Sadly, the donuts were not up to Puck's standards. The food court at this Albrook Mall was the biggest I have ever seen in any Mall. There were easily 30 food stores in just this section of the mall. The Mall was enormous. It was really packed, tho we were there the day after Christmas. Families looked like they just hung out there. Come to think of it, do Panamanians return gifts ?

A lovely picture on hundreds of years old bastion walls-turned-walkway at Plaza Francia in Casco Viejo. Many Kuna and other vendors sell their wares here.

Well, this morning we slept in. We decided to make coconut rice for breakfast, but discovered there is a difference between crema de coco and leche de coco. The former fried the rice without cooking it...we had to throw it away, and back to the local market. Now it tastes so good! And Chris made some wonderful pina coladas sin alcohol. We had these after spending an hour out body surfing. All the girls were out riding in their blow-up floaties. What a blast! Will try and load video if I can from my underwater camera. ( the battery was low and not sure if it took). I have discovered a new epicurean passion...ceviche de pulpo...octopus ceviche. It is citrus-cured seafood; they make it out of fish, shrimp, corvine (conch) or octopus, which I think is my favorite. Full of onion, lime juice, salt, some cilantro. Eaten with Ritz crackers. Muy sabrosa.

So, enough for now. We read and appreciate all your posts and comments, and your text messages and e-mails. We truly do miss all of you. We can't believe nearly a month has passed.

2008-12-28T08:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the latest installment of the Williams-DeBeikes adventure log! Yesterday we had a wonderful time taking a tour of the Panama Canal. We woke up much too early to then take a much too long drive into Panama City. Dad's navigational skills have much improved since Friday and we got to the pier without delay. All six of us then boarded a boat that proceeded to take us on a 4-hour narrated tour of the canal. It was so interesting to learn about the creation of the Panama Canal! It's hard to imagine the effort, time and manpower it took to create it back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I bet a bulldozer and a back hoe would have looked mighty nice back then. By far the most interesting aspect of the tour was going through the locks. The locks are a very cool elevating system where the water from the higher elevation level is fed into the lower chamber allowing ships to rise up to be level with the next lock. This takes you from the Pacific to Lake Gatun and then eventually to the Carribean ocean. It was fascinating to see the locks in action! I can't believe the ingenuity of it all - even after all this time, they still work! After the locks we spent the next couple of hours observing the Panamanian jungle (yes, we even saw a crocodile!) and seeing MASSIVE container barges pass us by. After the tour we ran to the store to buy some necessities, like swimwear and Cheetos, and then spent the rest of the afternoon tubing in the ocean! If that doesn't make you jealous, I don't know what will.

Below is a picture of the locks in action. Once we were enclosed inside the lock the water starting pouring in through underground, gravity-fed tunnels that lifted us up 3 feet a minute. It was very cool to watch. After this picture we threw in several more pictures of us in front of the temple and touring Casco Viejo from our Friday adventures. I especially like the last two. I think Mom and Dad decided that Peter needs to start earning his keep around here. However, I think shaving ice for the occasional 2 bucks an hour won't cut it.

Annie DeBeikes

This is a picture of Cassandra applying for entry into the old Dominican convent in Casco Viejo, Panama. Get thee to a nunnery. In case you are interested, Collin.

2008-12-26T18:09:00.000-08:00

So, I have been commissioned to post our next post in the blog. It may be because everyone knows that I am a wonderful writer, an original orater, the grand-master of grammer if you will, but I think the actual reason is because everyone else is too tired to update the blog, and we are 3 days behind.

Let me first preface by explaining that because we have not posted in 3 days, our pictures are a little out of order, so I will start explaining what we did today and work my way backwards, so try and keep up.

Today (12-26-08) started out by waking up at the crack of 8:00 AM-which is a ghastly hour when you are on vacation in Panama, let me assure you-which was followed up by a 90 minute crammed car ride to the new LDS temple near Panama City. Keith, Kathy, Annie, and I then attended a morning session in the beautiful new temple that was just dedicated in August. Peter and Cassan hung out on the grounds while we were in there. The grounds of the temple were absolutely stunning. Set in a lush tropical setting with a view of the canal in the background, it was enough to make anybody wanna set up camp and live there. Also, it was very fun meeting all of the native Panamanians who helped us during our visit. It truly transcends all boundaries when visiting a temple anywhere in the world, you just can't help but feel good.

After our delighful trip to the temple, we headed into the "old city" named Casco Viejo, which is were much of the gold during the day of the pirates used to filter through before being shipped up to Europe. It was a quaint little peninsula that was full of many old buildings and a lot of history. Here Kathy is making friends with a local Kuna native after purchasing some of her wares in the local shooping district. We had a wonderful time walking around and seeing the sites, purchasing some snow cones and enjoying the perfect concoction of humidity, temperature, and cloud cover to aid in our enjoyment. After spending the better part of the day in Casco, we then started a journey to the local mall (Albrook) that happens to be the largest one in Central America, and certainly the largest that I have ever been to. While trying to navigate for Keith, we quickly realized that a short little jaunt on the surface streets was not to be. After about 30 minutes of circling the same 5-block radius, we finally took a road that by all logic seemed as if it was not the proper way to go, only to be surprised by the fact that it led us right onto the doorstep of the mall. Panama needs a new road system, muy rapido! The mall itself was huge and pretty fun to walk around in, especially the day after Christmas, but it was still a mall and I quickly remembered how long one Williams girl likes to spend shopping, multiply that by three and you have a lot of boring time spent sitting with Keith and Peter waiting for our women folk to satisfy their insatiable appetite for "good, cheap clothing" :) After, we went home and prepared for our Canal tour the next day by hitting the hay nice and early.

Okay, try to switch gears now, let me describe to you one of the most relaxed, upside down Christmases I have ever personally experienced. We started out the day by waking up nice and lazy-like with no intention of getting up earlier that 10:30. We then had some of Kathy's delectable sausage fondue, with the local variation of sausage, which was very good. After we were all sufficiently stuffed to the brim, and reading and discussing the Bible story of Christmas with everyone for an hour, we proceeded to have our scavenger hunt for presents. We each picked names out of a hat a few days earlier and purchased one present for that person. We then all created clues for our person and hid them throughout the house and the beach for us to find and lead us to our present. In the morning we put the first clue in each person's "stocking" or sandal as we normal folk like to call it. This took about an hour and a half and was very entertaining, especially when Keith realized that the tide had come in and washed away Cassandra's clue that he had buried in the sand. After that we hung out and swam, read, did some video chats with most everyone who will be reading this, so no surprises there. I do have to tell an interesting story that happened to me later that evening.The waves started picking up right around dusk, so Peter and I decided to do a little bodysurfing, unbeknownst to us that there were creepy-crawlies ready to hunt, the menu-my foot! After some really gnarly waves and some very tumultuous spills, I felt a sudden sting on my foot that immediately progressed to the point where I felt like someone was holding a red hot needle to the top of my foot and adding 1 PSI of pressure every ten seconds. The initial reaction was that it was a jellyfish sting, and we all know what the ancient remedy is for that. Needless to say, I was desperate, so I decided to give the remedy a shot, lucky for me I am a boy, because it made the application of this particular remedy a lot less awkward than if I had needed assistance. After that offered zero help, I took an Ibuprofen and rested for the evening, and it eventually wore off. We are still uncertain of the culprit, whether jellyfish or stingray, but rest assured that I am on the case and will hopefully create a better world where nobody ever has to resort to such measures to fix their pain as I did that night.

This is our Christmas Tree! "Estacy" said that we needed to decorate a palm tree for Christmas and send her a picture. We were already going to to do that...so here it is! We all took turns making (and hanging up) one ornament out of anything that we could find. We made things out of shells, flowers, sandles, white lacy plates, and golden cereal. We thought it looked lovely!

Panama has the Wierdest Hot Dogs!!! First of all, the panamanians have this things about American hot dogs! You see hot dog shops everywhere--the hot dogs have unidentified hard chunks in them--, but when buy them in the grocery and make them at home, thats when it gets even MORE wierd! Several times we have been "forced" into buying hot dogs and both times they have come with plastic casings. Both times we have FAILED to notice this and have BBQed them with the plastic on! Needless to say, we've spent a lot of time desperately removing plastic before putting them on the buns!

The next photo shows Peter out on one of the two the wave-runners that we rented the day before Christmas. Kathy and Peter went out first--ignoring the rain--and then Keith, Annie,and Chris. YES, despite email warnings from the Skillmans, we took a vote and decided to allow Cassandra on a wave-runner! After her little accident in Mexico several years ago, where the Mexican authorities "detained" several of Kathy's students until a whole lot of money was paid, Cassandra was allowed to try it again...we just removed all other vehicles from the water first!

Chris DeBeikes

2008-12-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

Love this picture of Peter and Kathy in a ubiquitous water taxi. We are heading off to Bocas town for dinner and the sun is setting. $2 a person for a one-way 5 minute ride.

Photo from 2 days ago when we all went to Valle de Anton, a large, inhabited volcanic crater about an hour from here. Went zipping thru the jungle. We stopped at the local craft market on the way home to buy Christmas presents for everybody. We chose names and set a $10 limit (more or less). Chris and Peter get motion sick on the windy mountain roads....thank heaven for meclizine.

This a view of Panama City from Corredor Sur, an autopista that runs south of the city thru Panama Bay. It's undergoing a huge building boom in past years, mostly high-rise condos. The international airport at Tocumen is east of the city a few kilometers. The carretera cuota is nice driving, but otherwise negotiating city streets are a nightmare. It is cool however to see the organized chaos on the streets, and know we are traversing the same streets the natives and conquistadors of 500+ years have trod. I have driven over Las Puente de las Americas several times, and I can't get over seeing the Canal and all the ships, boats and tugs queuing to transit. Mark, I saw a catamarran heading east under the bridge and thought of our original scheme a few years ago. I still have not shelved that idea!

Had to add this classic picture to our blog site. This was from Bocas del Toro where chitras, mosquitos and large Mastodons bit us perpetually. Kathy in a genius ( or desperate moment) came up with this ingenious contraption which we will henceforth patent and call the 'Ronco Chitra-nator'...a simple vacuum attached to a high intensity light bulb, which when turned on invites all flying and biting insects within a 50 yard radius to a quick and merciless death.

2008-12-23T08:15:00.000-08:00

I may be omniscient, but even I cannot anticipate my family. I was just informed that I had to include this one last, tincy, wincy detail. So here I go. After our midnight swim, we took our frivolity up to the pool. We were playing a legit game of Marco Polo when Peter decided to play a game of Shark. Shark is basically the same as Marco Polo except that you have to find people without saying anything or making any noise. Well, that just invites cheating. Dad, Annie and myself decided to simply leave my gullible brother, eyes shut, in the pool. It was hilarious. After a few long minutes of stifled laughter, we finally told him the truth. We all thought that at some point we would've opened our eyes, but he kept them shut the entire time! What a guy.

2008-12-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

Hola! Bienvenidos a Panama! This is your narrator, Cassandra, and I will be your omniscient guide throughout this story.
It all began around 11 o'clock yesterday morning- when we actually woke up from our comatose state (Sarah, COMATOAST !). We found directions to a Zip-lining company in the Panamanian Highlands and with nothing else to do, we grabbed a bite to eat, put on our swim suits and crammed into the car.
The landscape is a change of pace from the relatively flat, warmer climate where our home is situated. It's a combination of rolling rills, verdant country side and a cooler climate. Our trip took us through and into a 2,000 foot elevation crater, now called "El Valle de Anton". If one had a few million dollars handy, you might be tempted to buy a home.
When we arrived at our destination, they loaded us down with Swedish seats, cables and carabiners and started us on a mild hike through the jungle. Our guide basically only spoke Spanish, which gave me an excuse to speak some Spanglish and to act as a translator. Most of the time I nodded my head in understanding towards him and kind of did the whole shrug my shoulders things with my family.
Finally, Zip-Lining. It's sweet! They hooked us up and let us go! There were a series of cables, so not just one long stretch. The third series of cables took us over "El Chorro Moro", an 88 meter tall waterfall on "el rio amarillo". It was beautiful and we took some rather stunning pictures. Even mom did it, although I think she saw more of the back of her eye lids than the scenary.
On the way back to our humble abode, we stopped in the village center at an artisan block. Earlier that morning we had pulled names for Secret Santas, and this gave us the opportunity to find our gifts. There were hand-painted wood sculptures, molas (traditional embroidered purses), platters, figurines, and even hand-painted feathers, as well as dresses, necklaces, earings, purses, knives, etc. The lady who soled me a purse was an Indian, commonly called a "Kuna". It's traditional for women to bind their ankles with embrodery to make their calves tiny. It looks awfully painful to me!
Wildlife loves us for some reason. Dad found a hermit crab yesterday, named Hermie (...and Chris dropped it), a broken butterfly attached itself to me for a good hour yesterday, hiking, zip-lining and everything, Chris caught a gecko, named Gary (...and dropped it), and we stepped on/played with a giant golden frog in the pool (very beautiful, and it didn't pee!!). Oh, and finally we chased/got chased by blue crabs on a midnight swim. Chris caught one....and dropped it. Save us (or save them from Chris! :)

Happiness is having your kids with you in a place like this

2008-12-23T06:02:00.000-08:00

Our favorite son-in-law, Chris Debeikes with his pet gecko, Gary (as opposed to Jerry the jumping gecko, and Gary the 2nd who lost his tail when Annie pulled it off). If we ever wondered where Chris was, it was usually out on safari trailing geckos, frogs, cucarachas or other creep-crawlies).

Steady Pete, no longer Stinky, who we always made go first to see if the cable would hold.

Pete and Annie just hanging out, one of the best parts of this adventure.

Chris and Annie on day one. Notice the lily-white skin and baggy eyes.

Cassandra, always the fashion vogue. Also day one. Follow the progress of her , leathery and tanned and wrinkled skin over the next 12 days.

Who couldn't love this motley crew ?!? This Dad does for sure. And darn happy they are all here. Our joy is tempered by the empty places at the dinner table, on the boogie boards, and onb the wave runners. We truly miss, painfully miss, our other sons, Chris and Marc, and lovely daughters-in-law, Britni and Mal. Throw in our 4 magnificent grandchildren and we might never come home.

2008-12-22T17:54:00.000-08:00

This is our first adventure in Gorgona. We took a tour of the jungle on a canopy zip-line. Our next blog will go into detail about this.

Here are the pictures of the home in Gorgona! The internet finally let me load these onto the blog. We are right on the beach and the home is quite a step up from our last place in Bocas.

We Are In Gorgona!

2008-12-21T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it to our next destination! We flew Air Panama from Bocas to Gelabert Domestic Airport, then cabbed to PTY where we got our Alamo rental car. We are now in a beautiful house in Las Palmas, Gorgona. We traded in our water taxi for a Toyota RAV4 and for two weeks we will be staying about an hour west of Panama City. We now have the Pacific Ocean at our feet.

Sadly, for some reason this internet connection won't let us put pictures on our blog. We will add them in later when we can. It is too bad that we can't throw in a couple of pictures, because this place is absolutely beautiful! This home is "grand" and opens directly onto a black sand beach!

Before I go on, I need to mention that it took us up until the last two days in Bocas to find the best place to eat. It was ironically right next door at a bar called The Pickled Parrot! The previous storm had nearly destoyed this establishment, but that didn't seem to hamper their ability to cook! We discovered this place when we decided NOT to take a water-taxi into town in the rain. We just applied our bug spray (did you know that DEET removes fingernail polish?) and sat down in their small, over-the-water, thatched restaurant. We ate great food while watching re-runs of Eric Clapton and the Eagles concerts on a gecko-covered T.V. The owner of the restaurant looks like Tim Egan--a teacher I worked with at Talent Middle School--wearing ONLY surfer swim-trunks! That gives new meaning to the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" phrase we have here in the States!

Today some of our children joined us here in Panama for the Christmas holiday. Adrianna, Chris (her husband), and Cassandra flew in this morning WITHOUT their luggage! Yes, we are still waiting for the airlines to locate their swim suits and shorts! The only clothing they have is the winter clothes on their backs! We are just lucky that they made it. The winter storms in the USA sound horrible and the kids had a little difficulty getting here. We would love to have the WHOLE family here, but we will take what we can get!

We have fewer Chitras here, or maybe we have just become more "local" and by doing so have become less interesting to them. They are more interested in the three new WHITE-skinned kids that have just joined us.

Kathy

Tuesday and Wednesday in Panama

2008-12-16T21:46:00.000-08:00

So by now I'm sure that everyone and their dog has heard about my swim in the sewer... yeah... I dont really want to talk about that... As for my driving, i blame the scooter, not myself.

We woke up Tuesday morning to some sunshine, so my dad called up some of the locals, and we got hooked up with a tourist site-seeing program. It first started with a ride over to Bocatoritos Bay where we got to see some dolphins playing.

After the dolphins, our guide took us over to a restaurant at Crawl Cay where we would order our food two whole hours before we were scheduled to eat. The restaurant sat on a great view of the water, and we could see lots of different fish, so my dad had this great idea to jump in and try and catch one. Equipped with snorkel gear and his speargun, he managed to shoot a big sucker, pulling it back to the dock. However, his victory was short-lived as an American woman tourist pointed at him and started yelling at him. After the staff was drawn out, it turns out Dad had killed a fish that was "protected" by the restaurant... Nicely done dad =] Anyway, we fed the fish to a local barracuda that inhabited the lagoon. It was cool to watch it eat. Dad took a few underwater pictures of the mangroves that ring all the islands in the region.

After that fishy excitement, we realized that we still had a good amount of time to spend, so we took a water taxi over to a small island called Cayo Zapatilla. Here there were great beaches, these small prehistoric-looking iquanas right out of Jurassic Park, and lots of coconuts. In this picture I tried to snag a couple and I managed to get one, and let me tell you, its a lot harder than it looks.

This is a picture of my Dad and I swimming in the ocean on a spit where waves from two different sides were hitting us. Anyways, after we had this adventure on the island, we headed back to the restaurant to eat the food we had ordered. Mom and me had grilled chicken, and Dad ate curried conch, both with ensalada and rice and potatoes. Conch is very rubbery. I'd rather just have the shell.

After we ate, we hitched a ride back to our place where we slept and relaxed. We visited Old Bank on Bastimentos and the boat drove us thru some cool mangrove islets on the south side of Bastimentos and thru Solarte Pass.

The following morning was very rainy so we were stuck inside for most of the day. However we did explore the western and northern side of our island of Caranero on 3 kayaks, where we found some really expensive houses to buy =].

2008-12-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

Dad and Peter paddled our kayaks about a mile and a half across Canal de Bocas del Toro yesterday to Hospital Point on the western edge of Isla Solarte. So called because it used to site a hospital for quarantining yellow fever victims during the banana republic heydays of the past century. Bocas and the surrounding mainland areas around Almirante and Changuinola were popular plantation sites for the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita). Hospital now defunct and replaced by some nice private residences. We found a small private landing zone and went ashore for some attempted exploration, but too many fences in place (to keep out those pesky and nosey foreign explorers, no doubt).

Anyway, on shore we found some cool red tree frogs. I dared Pete to lick it first; he would not take the bait. I told him I would if he would...still no go. We could have had a very mellow afternoon, darn it.

The swells were a little higher on the way back...3-4 feet, confused seas and wind picked up a little. Made for good kayak surfing on the return, in full view of half-inebriated denizens of "The Pickled Parrot"...the name says it all. The judges scored Peter higher on his surfing than me; course I was upside down in the surf so they didn't really get a good look at my form.

We have been "Bourne again" the past 3 nights as we have watched all 3 Ludlum Bourne movies. We think we like this character even better than James Bond.

So, you heard about the "Peter Principle" yesterday...all of the Williams rise to their level of internal combustion competence (marginally, 4 wheeled vehicles), and then are promoted to a level of incompetence (2 wheeled vehicles) where they maintain a rather lackluster performance. Peter is just the latest, and stinkiest, iteration of that principle, having been previously mentored by Dad(motorcycle), mom ( at least 2 VW's that she has publically owned up to), Chris (4 vehicles including the Skillman's Volvo in the Church parking lot), Marc who invented the world's first amphibious Taurus, ? Annie ( of course she is adopted; come to think about it it did take her 3-4 times to pass her DMV test), and Cassandra (ah, what can we say about Cassandra; comparing the rest of us to Cassandra is like comparing my MagLite to the Sun). I simply can't wait to see what happens when we turn the Williams loose on a whole new class of carbon-emitters, marine diesel engines. Alright!

There is an open air, over-the-water bar that cranks up the woofers the later it gets. The bar is probably 1/4-1/2 mile away, but sound travels well over water. I have had to resort to Kathy's Soma and my IPod to sleep most nights till 3 AM. It's called Bar Hundido if anyone wants to call in a smart bomb for me.

Anyway, after our sewer-capades 2 days ago we had a great trip out to Bocas del Drago. We had the beach all to ourselves. Calm, warm water. Peter and I swam way out into the bahia. On the island we saw none of the fabled howler monkeys, but did see beautiful scenery.

We missed attending MMC's fabled annual Christmas Party last night, the first time in 9 years we have missed. I am sad about that. They seem to go nuts with Christmas decorations here. Feliz Navidad!

Bye, Keith

Sailing Scooters in Sewers?

2008-12-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

What do scooters have to do with sewers? Well according to Peter they have a lot in common. Two minutes after we rented scooters to explore the island of Isla Colon, Peter turned a corner and skidded into a 5-foot deep open sewer! The locals helped us drag him and the fully submerged scooter out. Peter lost his shoe, I lost my camera (it was in his scooter), and Keith lost $150.00 in damages. We now call him "Stinky Pete". We learned a long time ago that "crap" (pun intended) happens to everyone, so just make the best of it. We gave Peter my bike, I rode with Keith, and we continued on our way to a beautiful beach!

Many of you that know me may be wondering what the heck "I" was doing driving a scooter!? After all, I hold the record in the family for the fastest crash (under one minute) in Cozumel...don't ask the Skillmans about it. They have a tendancy to hyperbolize about broken noses, Mexican law suits, and throttles instead of brakes! Well, I guess I just live dangerously (Ha!).

The truth is that poor Peter did not have a chance when it came to scooters. How could he? He was genetically flawed! I know that many people will recall their hospital visits to Keith after he crashed his motorcycle. What the heck were we thinking?

I guess we should count our blessings. Things could have been a lot worse. We could have been the poor passengers on this Panamanian flight! (By the way, this IS the airport we came in on, and the following two pictures.) Kathy.

About as close to a Christmas poinsettia as I can get. Merry Christmas MMC!

2008-12-12T16:10:00.000-08:00

Bocas del Drago beach

2008-12-12T16:05:00.000-08:00

2008-12-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

Sunday we hoped to get to Church over on the mainland. You take a 20-30 minute ferry across the Bay to Almirante. LDS.org listed a branch there (none on Bocas), but we got no response on several phone calls. So after a nce day of home cooked food (baked chicken, carrots, rice, and Betty Crcker chocolate cake with cherry frosting...ummm), we had a 2 hour discussion of Luke followed by the Sacrament, concluding at 11PM. The latest Sacrament meeting on record.

Peter and I chartered a boat last Saturday for a day of snorkeling and spear fishing. My new Asso hydraulic spear gun works great ! By that I mean I did not skewer my foot. Sadly no fish bigger than about 10 inches, and I can't bring myself to spear a reef fish since I'm not starving. Also the water vis is not good due to all the rain water runoff...high turbidity. The current was very strong...got a good work out and a one-sided sunburn. Nevertheless a beautiful day.

Have had a lot of time to read, play games, sleep, watch BBC Office episodes. Check out 1434 by Gavin Menzies ( actually read 1421 first). And I have learned never to believe Kathy in Monopoly when she whines about being property-rich and cash-poor.

I managed to get a good reef bite 2 days ago out kayak surfing, but no worries.

In light of our collective ownership of aproximately 400 sandfly bites and an additional assortment of stinging, biting, gouging, necrotizing and generally annoying bug bites, I spent the morning reviewing proper diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of Leishmaniasis and Malaria. Airfare to Bocas for 3...$3800. Internet access to Wikpedia...$1 a minute. Off woods DEET...priceless.

We took a panga into town again yesteday for some additional shopping...watermelon, Coka Dieta, whole red snapper, frozen chicken, Duncan Hines brownie mix, Di Giorno pizza (Supreme),
bread, peanut butter and jam, salsa, limes...you know, the basics. Then ate dinner on a sidewalk cafe. It was another of those wierd trans-cultural paradoxes. We spoke Spanglish to a Sicilian (Italian ristorante) on a Bocas beach in Panama. See the Christmas tree above.

Anyway, we are getting along fine. Wish the weather would clear a bit more, but at least it is WARM!. We are blessed to be here. We see the squalor around us and are immediately jolted back into greater humility and gratitude.

Keith

Why Columbus kept coming back.

2008-12-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

Kathy and Peter rented kayaks for 10 days. Kathy is now out daily preparing for the London Olympics. We are on the Eastern side of Isla Caranero. You can see the Western side of Isla Solarte out behind her, and Isla Bastimento out even further out. Google Earth it.

Wow, you never know whether the weather will be wet or dry or something in between.

2008-12-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

Think of the Nora Jones lyric "rain falling on a tin roof" and multiply that by about a hundred decibels and several hours a night, and you start to get an idea of what the past few nights have been like (minus Nora Jones of course). We woke up to a flooded yard this morning. Now the rain has stopped, and water mostly back where it is supposed to be ( in the ocean), tho still overcast and muggy. (I'm not complaining...86 degrees with my shirt off). Keith.

Three Days in Panama and We are Still Alive!

2008-12-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

I believe that a blog should consist of pictures and more pictures. That is why you will see most of my blogs filled with pictures and explanations. Pictures tell a story, so here is our story:

Yes Stacy, This is me (and Keith) with a cat. I am holding it just for you in front of our house. The previous storm took out the grass and left lots of sand with sand crabs and Geckos! Peter is standing in the ocean taking our picture. The water is from rain-catch and tastes bad, so I boil it and put in herbal tea.

You are probably wondering why Keith is in the ocean with a dinner menu. Well...lets just say that we were having a nice dinner on the dock when Keith accidentally knocked the menu into the water. The poor waitress couldn't retrieve it, so OF COURSE Keith just dove into that water and floated it back to her. The waitress was Keith's best friend after that and would say something in spanish everytime she passed our table and laughed at us crazy American(s ?).

This is what happens to people who think that they are too tough for bug spray. The "Chitras" or "no-see-ums" are like invisible mosquitos. Peter's and Keith's legs and torso are a lot worse than this picture captured. How many bites does Kathy have you may ask? Zero, Zip, Nada...she does not have testosterone and used bug spray.

Peter and Keith went spearfishing the second day here. The guide promised me that he would NOT bring them back if they didn't spear a fish for dinner. (Up to this point we had virtually no groceries in the house because the store was on the mainland and they would need to be hand-carried to and from a water taxi.) Yep, you guessed it, he brought them back anyway and we went out to dinner.

This is not a football. Peter and Keith are fighting over who can throw the largest coconut into the ocean the farthest and they both wanted the same coconut. Yes, once again this must be a testosterone thing. It just hit me...I am the only estrogen-packing sane person on this trip! How did this happen? Stacy, Cassan, Annie, Brit, Mal, Shelly, Sarah, Terri, where are you when I need you?

This is the teak wood used through-out the whole house. Maybe that is why there are no cockroaches in the house?? I expected them, but instead we just have tons of ants, geckos, and other little flying things (and one monster spider). Speaking of geckos (not the British-speaking ones), you will notice my "coka light" glass at the bottom of the picture. I learned after almost drinking in three of them that they LOVED diet coke! Who would have thought? The boys just heard me scream and then yell angrily. When they turned around to see what the commotion was they only saw their estrogen-based companion chasing three geckos up the wall with a metal object. The funny thing was (OK the second funny thing) was that they kept coming back down the wall toward my glass!! They finally quit after I chased them up two tor three more times and threatened to put each one of them in a jar!

Posted by Kathy (the lone woman in the Garden of Eden)

The eagle has landed...

2008-12-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

*Im not too sure where my dad left off in his latest "intro-blog" so i decided to give a small overview on whats up*
As you all have heard, me and my parents have decided to have a small four-month adventure in the warmest and most random parts thought of. For the first six weeks we will live in certain parts of Panama, where we will have the opportunity to experience the culture of your average Panama citizen. After the six weeks are up, we will be heading back to Oregon for two weeks to recoup and re-friend the people who have forgotten us. Once that is over we will begin the BIG CAJONES part of the trip, where we will be heading down to the Virgin isles area, with the intent of chartering a ship to sail around for two months... but that is a much, much later blog...

It all began at 3:36 am on December 3 in the Williams household. Several days before the trip, my mom called for a taxi to pick us up. Otherwise we would have had to leave the car at the airport which would have been fricken expensive. Naturally the Yellow Taxi company had completely spaced it, leaving us with the fricken expensive option. Finally we were safe and almost comfortable in the Medford airport lobby with two hours to spare.

At around 12:00 am, after much sitting, layovers, and flight cancelation crap we finally flew into Panama City! From there we hailed a cab and drove over to a pretty sweet hotel. Unfortunately our next plane ride was in several hours, so we got a quick nap and then drove over to the local airport. On the flight to our last stop in Bocas Del Toro, we experienced some pretty hardcore turbulence. Its not that i was scared or anything, i was just waaay motion sick, so i found myself closing my eyes and turning up the music on my ipod. Finally when the sickness began to fade, i opened my eyes and looked out the window to see lots of trees and small buildings... The eagle had landed...

This post is a Petter post....

Stacy, Mark, Kathy and Keith in Giza 10/07...Habibi !

2008-12-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

It all started...

2008-12-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

There is a point in every good adventure story when the participants are faced with the option of pulling out, backing off, turning around, going back. There have been more than a few times when my wife, family, friends, colleagues have looked at me like you would a poor soul who lost his mind or his winning Lottery ticket, or with pity for my family that Dad's manopause is affecting the family so unfairly.

It's all Mark's fault really.

Had he not disturbed an otherwise sedate and uneventful double date at Olive Garden on that fateful evening in '05 with this crazy talk about "wouldn't it be fun if we ran away from home", then I would be malpracticing today rather than packing scuba gear, GPS units, Speedos, and sunscreen, and writing this blog post. Our original grand scheme, penciled out that night with our wives rolling their eyes and shaking their heads, was for both of our families to take a year off, buy sailboats, and sail from LA to Florida. It all seemed so simple, so straightforward, so pure.

Well, 3 years, 2 more diabetics, multiple official American Sailing Association certifications, a few weeks of San Juan Islands sailing experience, countless hours of research and prep time, a severe financial downturn, and several Mini Mental Status Exams later, we are on the cusp of leaving. Sadly, Mark and Stacy et al are unable to join us, after all. We wish, more than almost anything, that you could be here too. We know you want it also. Oh well, just an excuse for another trip in a few years. I'll see you at Olive Garden.

Lastly, a personal note about motivation. This trip reflects my belief that the two saddest words in the whole world are "If only". We have time, means, health, enthusiasm, and desire. The good Lord has blessed our family in so many ways for which we thank Him.

I thank my colleagues at Medford Medical Clinic, Open 7 days a week, The help you need when you need it, for affording us the opportunity to do this. We will miss all of you at MMC. You are the best!

So, we're off to Panama and sailing the eastern Caribbean till April. Helm's alee.

Keith