Goodbye Nicki, Goodbye Infini, Goodbye San Blas

I have been having email-to-the-blog problems, so haven't been doing updates regularly. The previous 2 posts are old, I've just resent them.

We put Nicki and friend Phil on the plane from Porvenir last Wednesday. We had a great time and I think they did too. It was especially nice to have Mike and Sue's son Ty visiting on s/v Infini at the same time. The kids had some fun together without the old folks. It was a nice visit, but we were all ready for them to leave. They started talking about driving from the airport directly to a hamburger joint 2 days before they left! I'll get some pics posted soon.

We spent a few days lounging in the 'Swimming Pool' with Infini and about 10 other boats there. We took a couple of trips out to the Grottoes, showing others where they were. On the last visit, I accidentally put my hand down on a Scorpion Fish and got a really bad sting. Fortunately, Mike on Infini is a doctor and gave us some invaluable advice. (get her back to the boat immediately, take some Benadryl, and soak in hot water, start antibiotics). It hurt like heck for a few hours, but the hot
water soak (and a couple of Advil and a shot of rum) subdued the pain pretty quickly. My hand was very swollen for about 24 hours and then gradually returned to normal. It looks normal now, but still hurts a little. The 2 punctures on the palm just under the two middle fingers are looking OK. (Thanks Mike and Sue!)

Infini left the San Blas for Cartagena 2 days ago, and we left yesterday headed in the other direction... for Colon. We arrived this afternoon at the Panama Canal Yacht Club.

As we entered the breakwater at Colon, Dave said "Say goodbye to the Atlantic Ocean... we won't be seeing it again for a long time." Snif

We plan to go through the Canal to the Pacific about Sept 15. More details later when we have them.

It's a little scary contemplating the jump. Nobody else seems to be moving much this time of year, so we feel we are leaving all our friends behind. We know virtually nothing about the weather patterns or the radio schedules on the other side, and certainly will have a hard time getting used to the 10-15 foot tides. I'm sure we'll figure it all out, and find some new friends. But we do have a little anxiety over the change.

We'll be in internet contact til at least the 11th of Sep. (Anxiously watching a string of hurricanes zero in on our home in Florida).