Why the crew of Shenemere loves Panama…

We arrived during the main surfing season: December – February when Northeast storms deliver waves in the 4 – 15  foot range

Martin, Pierre and Garth are religious about their “Daily” 15 minute dingy ride at 5:30 AM to catch the first waves at sunrise, before the masses of other surfers arrive.

Usually they can surf about 3-4 hours before it gets too crowded

Pierre catching waves in Bocas del Toro

Bocas del Toro is a popular location for expatriates, surfers and sailors

Bocas Marina is a great cruiser’s hangout

We anchored off the Marina however, we still get to (pay for use) of The Bocas Marina’s  internet, showers, laundry, fuel and restaurant & bar facilities

Bocas Marina has helpful staff and a fascinating assortment of cruisers passing through to the Panama canal or the “salty dogs” that have sailed the Caribbean or have  a circumnavigation under their belt and now call Bocas “VELCRO HARBOR”

Our son Justin is in Florida and started the Commercial Diving Academy for a 6 months rigorous underwater diving course in Jacksonville, Florida…

That is Justin as a baby and he continued with his love for the sea all through adolescents… snorkeling, fishing, surfing, spear fishing and his first job as a Miami Dade Life Guard at Matheson Hammocks

Follow your Passion, You can’t go wrong
By S.Koning

Back in Bocas del Toro Shenemere’s rudder was removed so the “upper rudder bushing” could be sent back to the states to be fixed

Martin enjoying the “play(a) on words” … he grew up on Bluff Beach, South Africa

Elizabeth, Garth, Pierre, Adrien, Martin and Susan hiked to The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute of Bocas del Toro

The Day Trippers/ “Do-ers” that I have nicked named Elizabeth and Garth on S/V Irwinish are always planning outings:

Thank you Elizabeth!!!

In the span of a few days the “Do-ers” planned a hike, cycle and sail to: The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, La Gruta, The Plastic Village, Green Acres Chocolate Farm and finished at the Drunken Monkey Bar /Farmers Market

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute of Bocas del Toro; we saw a Sloth and Howler Monkeys; and an insightful tour of the impact these research studies are doing for environment conservation

Plastic Bottle Village

Martin, Elizabeth and Garth  at a Village made out of plastic bottles

After collecting more than a million plastic bottles, Robert Bezeau made an unconventional decision — to build an entire village out of plastic bottles

Since 1978, humans contributed “Unconsciously???” to spread plastic bottles over the oceans, beaches, cities and lands…

We don’t need a new planet, we need to clean our own planet

And with all this Jungleness…there are these…

Yes, we have bats onboard!!!!

Fruit bats: without bananas onboard they are less frequent 

La Gruta Cave in Colonia Santeña, a small village of cattle farmers 7km northwest of Bocas town

Garth, Elizabeth, Martin and Susan cycled the 7 km uphill for this remote cave adventure

Elizabeth and Garth in the cave with all these thousands of bats pictured!

The cave entrance marked by a small shrine to the Virgin Mary

Merry Christmas from Panama!

Adrien at the Boca Marina’s Christmas party

Happy Birthday Pierre

Our Adventure to Green Acres Chocolate Farm on S/V Irwinish

The adventure began with a beautiful day sail on the bay aboard S/V Irwinish for our first overnight outing on another persons boat…in this case our friends Elizabeth and Garth to the Green Acres Chocolate Farm

Beautiful Dolphin Bay 

Lush botanical gardens as we approached Green Acres Chocolate Farm

Robert the owner showed us indigenous trees and medicinal plants and explain how many traditional Indians use these plants today

I was a bit worried about a 3 hour tour (I suffer from SAS-short attention situational) however, I wasn’t disappointed.

We did tour a plantation of cacao trees and got to open a pod straight from the tree and I learned so much about cacao, and the farming of chocolate…harvesting, fermentation and drying of the seeds and how they miraculously turn this unassuming seed into chocolate! Wildlife, plants, flowers and traditional Indian folklore made for a very entertaining tour

 

Green Acres Chocolate Farm

@DrunkenMonkeyPanama

Every other Monday the Drunken Monkey has a “gathering” and Farmers Market in the remote mangrove homestead of CJ and Jess at Colibri Verde -Bocas del Toro, Panama 

Something out of Dilverance… this outpost that encourages an odd mixing of locals, expatriates and sailors to boat over to this remote location for a “Farmers Market” ( maybe an excuse) like one is needed to party on a Monday morning…seriously it starts at 9:00 AM and was finished at Noon!

UPDATE: The Upper Rudder Bushing has come in so, we are back to work getting Shenemere ready for the Panama Canal transit and on to the South Pacific, Gambier

Cheers!