It is December, 2007, two years since we left Kemah, Texas on our sailboat to live our dream of cruising the Caribbean. It has been a wonderful two years that we treasure dearly and look forward to many more.
Our lives have been deeply enriched and entwined with the many locals in each country we visit and so many close friends we have met on other boats. We have been touched and changed forever.
We are currently in the boat yard in Cartagena, Colombia getting a new bottom job. These are the stages of our progress in 7 days. Lots of work!
 |
 |
 |
|
|
| Original | 1st Sanding | 2nd Sanding to Gel coat |
Primer Coats Final Coats
We will be ready to get back in the water on Monday morning.....if the travel lift is repaired. But, there is always.....manaña
12/2
It is manaña and they are testing the lift. It appears to be working. They lifted a powerboat from the water first. We were thankful, we did not want Valentina to be the guinea pig. But, we were next, and all went well, and we are now back in the water with a new bottom.S/V Queen Mary was next, and they had no problems.
Now, we get to go back to the anchorage with a breeze down the hatches, sleep in our own beds, and have a dinghy again to run around. Life is good.
12/3
Happy 9th Birthday to our grand-daughter, Claire in Waxahachie, Texas12/4
We are waiting on a weather window to head back to San Blas, Panama, but the seas have been 10' and higher recently. We talked to Chris, our weather service we subscribe to on the SSB radio, and he said the wind and seas were calming down this week, and Thursday and Friday would be a good time before the seas start rebuilding on Saturday to 9'. So, we are getting it in gear to get ready to leave.
We need to: take our clothes in to get washed at the marina, go to the grocery store to reprovision for at least a month, refuel the boat on diesel, and clean Valentina and the dinghy from the dusty shipyard.
My new camera I purchased in May is not downloading the pictures, so we will have to get another one.
12/5
Today will be our last day to have access to internet for a while. San Blas is very remote with no electricity on most islands, so we will update the web when we can get to an internet cafe along the way.
We will always update our position on the homepage of our website through the SSB on "Where is Valentina" at the top right corner. You can track us as we travel through Panama.We will continue to communicate with our winlink email address and will check hotmail when we get to internet.
We wish you and your family the best holiday season and will keep in touch.
12/6
We (Valentina and Queen Mary) pulled up our anchors this morning at 3 a.m. and maneuvered our way out the Cartagena channel in the dark. We are thankful for our track coming in, due to so many lights, it is difficult to distinguish channel lights from city lights and parked barges with land. Eclipse, with Dave, Yoli and Steve will be leaving at noon today.
We are headed for the swimming pool in San Blas, about 200 miles. We have 8-12 knots of wind with 2-4' seas. A nice crossing, but we know the winds and seas are supposed to kick up, so we are trying to get in before they do.
We made good time and sailed on a beam reach most of the way, with following seas. Valentina's nice, newly painted bottom was a plus. She scooted through the water rather nicely.
As the afternoon progressed, the winds did get to 18-22 knots consistently and the seas kicked up, but we sailed right through.
12-7
After an all-nighter, we arrived at the swimming pool at 10:30 a.m. just in time for a squall to come through. We waited in deeper water for it to pass before meandering through the coral to get to the hot tub area.
We both have to admit, the all-nighters are just not fun. But, it is a way to get from one paradise to another. And, after dropping the anchor in a calm anchorage, you are just "so glad to be here".12-8
Sure enough, the winds are still piping, but we are safely tucked in behind the beautiful islands covered with palm trees and behind the reef, so although it is blowing 24 knots, we are calm on Valentina and getting rested up.
12-9
Kay rested on the boat today while Sonny went with Dave, Yoli, and Steve Schlosser snorkeling. They saw a huge sting ray while snorkeling. It is still windy, so the water is not very clear now. But, still just awesome. All the different shades of blue and depths of water can be seen from our cockpit in the hot tub anchorage. I think it is a postcard.
12-10
Today marks two years since we left Kemah, Texas on Valentina. We can say, it has been a wonderful two years and Valentina has safely carried us over 4,400 miles on our journey. We are blessed, as our love for each other and cruising just continues to grow.
12/13
After the morning radio nets, we headed for Porvenier, a 3 hour sail, to check into San Blas. While leaving, an ulu rowed up to Valentina holding us a huge hogfish for sale. We could not resist. We purchased the hogfish with two lobsters for $12. A feast! We then motor sailed over to Chichime, an hour away for our anchorage and meet up with Dave and Yoli on Eclipse.
Our ridged boom vang today leaked oil out the bottom and our boom came down on our boom gallows and bimini. After contacting Pro-Furl, they said it would have to be replaced for a price of $1200 - $1500. Ouch. We will be depending on our boom topping lift for a while.
12/14
We are the netcontrollers for the Panama Connection net on Fridays, so this morning after the net, we went to shore to explore.
12/15
The morning began early by being awaken hearing a "May Day" call on the VHF radio at about 5 a.m. Breeze, on S/V Blue Sky, was assisting S/V Aquilla with a May Day call. Aquilla had run aground on a reef and was sinking between Portobello and Linton (about 3 miles from where we were anchored) with Breeze's wife, Debbie, on board.
The three people on board abandoned ship, made it safely to land, and were rescued about four hours later by the Panamanian Coast Guard. S/V Aquilla was not so fortunate, she sank with only her sails and mast showing. The cruising family rallied around to assist as needed and able as our hearts are broken for the loss of the yacht, but thankful for the three lives that were saved.
On a brighter note........Happy 29th Birthday to our youngest son, Gentry.
We wish you the best year of your life.
We have just fallen in love with the Kuna Indian families here on Chichime in the San Blas. Our favorite part of cruising has been meeting the locals and experiencing their lifestyles, but here, they have stolen our hearts.
 Redelina holding her daughter on Valentina |
Typical Kuna dress, with molas in blouse  |
 |
 |
 Kay trading fingernail polish for beads |
 Sonny holding Greselda's parrot with Yami watching |
Their lives are so modest and simple, but their hearts are so big and their smiles are just captivating. We hand out candy to the children (and adults) as we go ashore or they come out to Valentina and we have given them dishes, lotions, fingernail polish, lipstick, hats, and food. Anything is appreciated.
Brodolie, a small boy 12 years old, from a family we gave dishes to, came up to Sonny and handed him two arrows he had carved and painted as a regalo (gift). We have them hanging on our wall on Valentina.
The guidebooks all say, "Do not take photos of the Kuna's without asking and you will probably have to pay them a fee for taking their pictures", but, when you befriend them, they love (and ask) you to take their pictures so they can see it on your display on your camera. They will all gather around the small camera, just to see their photo. They love it when we print out pictures and give to them.It is an orchestrated event when a new "yachtie" comes into the anchorage. Before you get the anchor set, you are greeted with several ulus surrounding your boat wanting to sell their molas, crab, fish, or lobster to you. My Christmas anklet
When you see a new sailboat arriving, you can watch on the shore where the four different groups of Kuna Indians in Chichime, who live on the four corners of the island, start gathering their buckets of molas, older women covering their heads with the head-dress, the small children running out to jump in the ulu, and all the families slowly start rowing out to the boat.
12/16
Today we decided to travel to Rio Sidra to check out the airport, town, and anchorage. That is where our daughter, Gina, and her family will be flying into from Panama City on the 23rd at 6:30 a.m.
We waved "good-bye" to our Kuna friends on Chichime island and made the two hour trip to Rio Sidra. We anchored near the island that was completely covered with thatched roof huts and we greeted by teenagers in ulus wanting to sell their molas. We did not like the looks of this place at all. We decided to drop the dinghy and go check out the airport where the kids are flying into and go to another island for the evening.We dinghied down to the airstrip, a semi-paved runway, not very long and ends at the sea's edge. Off the airstrip, there are two docks. One is a dock over the water leading to an outhouse and the other dock is where you tie your dinghy, to with probably a 6'x6' room (the airline terminal). Yikes! Our kids are flying into here? What kind of parents are we? Sorry, but I did not take pictures of this memory.
We went back to Valentina and immediately put the dinghy up, pulled up anchor (along with Eclipse) and headed to a nearby island while we had good light.It is the difference in night and day. We are one hour away (in our boat weaving around the reefs and coral), but as the crow flies, only two miles from Rio Sidra.
We are at Gunboat Island, and it looks like the Windows screensaver. There is a hut on it, for the Kuna family to live in, but no one lives there now. They row over to meet you, but presently are working and living on a nearby island.
It is just beautiful here.12/18
This morning, after the morning nets, we pulled up anchors (S/V Valentina and S/V Eclipse) and headed to the East Lemon Cays. We had been here over a month ago, and it was such a good feeling, when we went to the small island to buy fresh bread when all of the children immediately recognized us.
One little girl, probably 12 months old, held her fingers up to her eyes like a camera, just grinning, when she saw us. Her mother said, "She remembers you taking her picture!" Reality is.....she probably remembers us from the candy.....but, the main thing is....she remembered us. It makes you feel good to bring some sunshine into their lives.
Another neat story.....Breeze (S/V Blue Sky) is anchored in the East Lemons, where we are. Breeze's wife, Debbie, (who was aboard S/V Aquilla when it went down a few days ago on a reef), hitched a ride aboard Kira, a German boat to the East Lemon Cays. After three long days, she finally was able to make her way back to reunite with her husband. On their radio check in, Breeze told her to look for the boat with all of the Christmas lights on......and S/V Blue Sky was lit up like a Christmas tree. A very special time and thankful reunion!
12/19Life is so good, we have so much to be thankful for. This Christmas season has taught us so much to be thankful for.
12/22
Today we received an email from Air Panama confirming the kids' tickets to Porvenir rather than Rio Sidra. We were very thankful. Porvenir is a much nicer island to fly into rather than Rio Sidra.
We pulled up our anchor as soon as the rain stopped at about 12:30 p.m. and motored over to Porvenir to be ready in the morning when the kids fly from Panama City.
We are excited to have them on board this Christmas season.
12/23
Finally.....we can see the plane in the distance, and it is landing. We see familiar faces looking out the window. Our kids made it! We are so excited to have them here for Christmas and New Years. And, yes, even since July, our grandchildren have grown.After eating breakfast, we motored over to the East Lemons, where we plan to spend Christmas. The bread maker said on his island on Christmas Day, there would be a fiesta with Christmas dinner for $3 per person with fish or lobster for dinner, games, music, and fun. So we made our reservations for seven and planning on spending Christmas with the Kuna Indians on the island.
Kalei, Ashley, and Kawika arrived with pencils, magazines, books for children, fingernail polish and toys for the Kuna Indian children. What fun!12/24
Christmas Eve!
We are in the East Lemons on San Blas, and I doubt we will see a white Christmas. The Christmas winds have kicked in, and it blows 20-30 knots from the east consistently.
The kids have played in the water at the beach, been buried in the sand, up to their heads only, had crab races, bowled with coconuts, and run around the whole island in the sand (it is probably a football field size).
We went to Gene and Brenda's tonight aboard Queen Mary to play music. They have their son, Brad and his wife Jennifer, and Drexel down for the holidays. We have sure enjoyed them.
12/25
A Christmas Card for you from Sonny, Kay and Valentina......with a star for the top of your tree.May the true spirit of Christmas live in our hearts and minds
throughout the coming year.It's Christmas Day in the Caribbean. No snow, only beautiful islands, palm trees, coconuts, star fish in the water, beaches, sand, and some of our family and friends on this windy day.
Sonny went over to the bread maker's island early this morning to confirm again, the plans for Christmas dinner. The daughter said, in Spanish, because of the wind, they were not able to get the fish and lobster, so her father had gone to a nearby island to get chicken. So we all were a little sad, but it is the experience and memory that we are after, so "pollo" is good. It will begin at 3:00.
We went to the beach for another dose of sand and playing and then went to the boat to get cleaned up for our Christmas Dinner.
We went to the island at 3 p.m. ready for the fiesta. The daughter met us at the dock and said, "No tango comeda (We have no food), so we went ahead and got out of the dingy and went in to talk to some of the other cruisers who also made reservations. We had decided to go to our boats and prepare a potluck and go to Queen Mary (they are the biggest boat) for our Christmas dinner.
Then, the father arrived in his small boat, loaded with all kinds of food for their very small tienda, but....no chicken. He said, no problem, we have fish and we will feed you Christmas dinner for $3. So, we all stayed.
He brought out our dinner, and we all ate it. It was, we think, either canned sardines over rice or some of the dried fish over rice. It was not like any Christmas dinner we had ever had, but it was a great memory and makes us thankful this Christmas season for so much. Life really is good.We returned to Valentina for pecan pie.
12/26
Today, Queen Mary's family and Valentina's family went in our dinghies to the small island with only one palm tree and a sandy beach for family pictures. Brad, Jennifer, and Drexel (Queen Mary) will fly out in the morning, so in spite of the wind and rough water, we all made it safely to the island. Just a little wet for photos.
This island looked much better from afar, but we all wanted family pictures on it. Tiny with one lonely palm tree on a windy day.
Then, we dinghied over to another very small island for fun in the water and beach. It was just beautiful. It is a picture postcard. There was only one other couple on the whole island and they were Wiley, Texas, near Dallas. Of course, the Kuna lady was there to sell her molas.
After our field trips, the kids and the guys went to the island nearby to fish and snorkel while Gina and Kay washed clothes. It is a sight to see the sailboat at anchor with clothes flying from one end to the other. With seven people on board, we have a lot of clothes. Our watermaker is running pretty consistently.
And, the guys caught enough fish for our dinner. We sure are having fun and enjoying our kids and grandkids!12/27
This morning, we were planning to head to Chichime for a few days, but, Gene on Queen Mary called on their way back from Porvenir, and said there were already 11 boats in Chichime, so we will stay here today.
The kids and guys went snorkeling this morning while Gina and Kay worked on pictures, websites, chatting, and laptops.
Some locals came by today to sell us lobster. We bought 7 lobsters for $3. David bought an octopus for $1. 
12/28This morning, Sonny and Kawika went with Gene of Queen Mary to the bread island to get 30 loaves of Kuna bread for $3. Kuna Bread is like a long, skinny hot dog bun with pointy ends. But, good. We are thankful to have fresh bread.
It rained on and off all day.
Sonny and Kay took the grandkids to the island to play to let mom and dad have a break on the boat. We had crab races. walk the log contests, and foot races. Grandpa even won one foot race.
We had fun watching the pelicans fly around in circles, then dive bomb down quickly to get their dinner.
Some locals came by again with more lobster, so Kalei, Ashley and Kay prepared lobster for dinner tonight. David had marinated the octopus, so they tried that. Lobster and octopus.....with Kuna bread.
12/29
We decided to move to a new island today, so when we heard the sound of the conch horn, we knew the bread was ready on bread island, so David went over in the dinghy to get a new supply of Kuna bread.
We left the East Lemons at 11:30 a.m. and headed over to Banerdup. David and Kawika went with Dave and Yoli on Eclipse, and Queen Mary left earlier so they could stop by the Hollandaise islands to pick up their dive tank they loaned out and all meet at Banerdup.
This is a very protected anchorage, surrounded by islands with palm and coconut trees. We all went to Queen Mary's for a music night.
12/30
Sonny and David took the kids to the beach today while Kay washed clothes.In San Blas, it is prohibited to fish with a spear gun, but you can line fish. Sonny and David returned in the dinghy with a 4' nurse shark David caught and probably 15 small fish. It took a while to clean the shark. We soaked it in salt water, cut it in small pieces and fried it and it was very tasty.
12/31
Today is my (54th) birthday and I am so thankful to be able to celebrate it with my husband, our daughter, Gina, son-in-law David, and our grandchildren, Kalei, Ashley, and Kawika on board Valentina.Gene and Brenda came over at about 9:30 a.m. and said they were going to play in the water and invited David and I to go snorkeling. So we did.
Tonight, we were invited to Gene and Brenda's for a surprise birthday celebration along with Dave and Yoli on Eclipse. Brenda had made a cake, and coconut rice pudding, and we feasted on fried grouper, rice and cole slaw. It was delicious and a great celebration.
It is great to be with family and friends to celebrate New Year's and my birthday.We wish you a very Happy New Year and may 2008 be the best year of your life.
Life is Short.......Enjoy Every Day.
Your friends on Valentina
