Our Private Island in the distance

About Kids Play

I love watching the kids play on the beaches.  They are so smart and creative in their play.  We never seem to bring out water/sand toys to the shore, there's no need.  Unfortunately there's tons of washed up plastic bottles, shoes, toys, Styrofoam, etc. for them to play with.

The other day the boys were playing rolling wheels down the beach and chasing them into the surf rescuing them while the girls had found a large Styrofoam block and made a table.  They found a bowl that they were filling with a mud cake with a ball on top as a whipped cream topping.  They had found 2 spoons to eat with, as well as a thermos and cups for drinks.  They had an actual tea party going on.  It was fun to watch.

Later that same Styrofoam table came out into the surf as a raft for them to climb on, flip over, and float on.  They found a second floating Styrofoam piece, so could do it two at a time.

Then they found 3 figurines, a small plastic pig, cow, and dog.  They made Styrofoam rafts for them and launched them across a lake.  They have used shells as shovels, sticks as pens for all kinds of beach art and tic-tac-toe, coconuts as rafts, etc.  When we have fires, they light up the ends and use the charcoal to write on rocks or other things.  I can't even tell you how many wheels and balls we've come across.  We have 3 new balls onboard this week alone I think; a soccer ball that floated into the bay 2 days ago, a basketball that we found on the beach a week ago, and a beach ball that we found yesterday.  There have been other ones that weren't as nice, didn't hold air, and were too small or too hard, that we didn't keep.  These are the good ones.  Most evenings we end up on the trampolines after dinner tossing balls back and forth and around, so it's nice to double our ball population.  So far, we've rescued all of the overboard balls, but now we've got spares.

The other day I made a treasure hunt for Cassidy for her birthday.  I put a clue on a coconut, made a necklace of shells, coral, bones, small buoys and a plastic key we've found.  One was in a plastic bottle tied to a rock and thrown underwater (which sadly broke free and washed up on the beach by the time she'd arrived, so she didn't have to dive for it.)  As I placed one clue I slipped on the rocks and bloodied by elbow.  Next beach, just before I jumped out of the dinghy to drop off the clue on shore, Courage says "shark!!"  You could make out the shadow of a shark swimming just by the shore in front of us.  I told him I thought he was kidding when he said it because the last thing I wanted to do was jump into the water with blood and a shark.  He pointed out that it was probably not the last thing I wanted to do since I was going to do it anyway.  The shark was only 3-4 feet long and looked like a reef-shark, which would be harmless.

 

Cassidy had 10 clues and 3 pieces of map spread out along a 2-mile stretch of coast that she kayaked along to find a buried treasure birthday present.  I wrote "happy birthday" on the shore with sticks and shells.  It was fun, both a physical and mental challenge for her (and me).  These are the things you'll remember.

So much for all the recycling, upcycling, repurposing, etc.  Call it what you will, you can be creative and have as much fun and family bonding time without being a consumer.  You don't need to spend lots of money to impress people, or have all the matching tablecloths, napkins, plates and cups to have a great birthday party.  You don't need tons of toys; you can play with what you have around you.  You don't need tons of teaching materials, you can learn from the world around you.  You can make letters on the sand, you can count hermit crabs, you can sort them by the shape or color of their shells to learn patterns, you can sink/float all kinds of things, you can build dams and learn about water flow as well as strength of sand vs. rocks as building materials, etc. We have brought onboard new shoes (not matching), balls, shells, a carved wood turtle and a couple of other things from shore.  I also have a reed of bamboo that I hope to use to make sides to my new shelves since it's not too pretty, I'm out of wood, and I don't want things to fall off the sides.  It's in the cockpit, maybe my next project to get done . . .

There is so much that you can do with the things around you to have fun.   I love watching the kids, much to learn from them in that respect.  They destroy things quickly, but they can also make anything fun and interesting and fit into their dialogues and spend hours and hours contentedly creating, exploring, and learning about the world around you!

Shannon

Remote Island Garbage

It is sad to see how much washed up plastic garbage is out here.  We’ve noticed more here in Panama than in Costa Rica, but that's probably not a fair comparison since in Costa Rica we were on mainland and Panama we’ve mostly been on remote islands.  In Costa Rica there were garbage containers on most beaches, but they don't exist here.  But who would collect it on a remote island?  In the towns of Catalina and Puerto Mutis, the only 2 mainland stops we've had in Panama, there were garbage cans on the beach also.

Much of what we've seen in plastic bottles, with assorted other shoes, Styrofoam, toys, ice chests, 5 gallon buckets, rope and fishing line.  It's been very interesting to see what must float and not decompose.  It's also interesting to see how local attitudes affect the environment around you.  When we gave candies to the kids in the town of Esmerelda, they took the wrapper off and threw it straight into the water.  And it seems that everything you buy comes with packaging these days.  These little outlying villages have tiny stores that only stock things with long shelf lives - soda, not juice, cans, no fresh fruits or veggies, etc.  Now I’ve never been a fan of bottled water.  OK, I am a huge fan of the marketing strategy that can sell municipal water for $1.00 per bottle or maybe even filter the trace elements out of it and the added fluoride, then mark it up for that service.  But, not a fan in that I like to buy it or believe that I must have it rather than drink a glass of water from the tap. Therefore it’s disheartening to see all of these bottles out here washed up and know that we’re marketing bottles all over the place and consumers are eating it up hook, line and sinker.  And don’t get me wrong; there are times a bottle sure is convenient to bring in your car and not spill, or in a backpack or whatever.  Love the option!!  Just wish people would be a little better self-managed and a little more aware not to just drop them when they are done.  Solution? - no idea.  Need to change local attitudes about litter I think first and foremost.  Wish cruiser groups or local fishing groups, or even rangers would come and gather them up.  Collect them and bring them to mainland?  Maybe if they had a big enough value you'd get poor fisherman to come and collect them?  We have paid extraordinary fees for being in National Parks.  The rangers just seem to go around and collect the fees and maybe give tours.  I wish I saw them even just once go and do a beach clean up day since we paid them so handsomely.  On mainland Catalina I did see one sign that said "no more garbage on the beach, please place it in trash”.  And another handmade flyer on a post saying, "Saturday is beach clean up day" so they are trying at a local level, which is great.  Problem on the remote beaches is you need prevention since it's so hard to get access and room for all of the garbage you’d collect.

We burn our garbage when we get a bag full.  We recycle overboard anything that decomposes once we are 3 miles out and keep it in a separate bin when close to shore.  When we burn our garbage, we gather up all the plastic we can handle and burn it also.  Hundreds of bottles each time, the kids gather it or firewood in exchange for marshmallows to cook.  But it’s overwhelming, I spent hours at the fire the other day and only dented the 20-foot circle around the fire.  Guess in these remote areas, the litter affects few people also.  Would like to see it improved by people being responsible for their garbage rather than making it other people's issues.  Think education and local attitude is the most important step here.  Tourism being a big industry could be the best angle to take.  If you have litter all over the beaches, you won’t impress your tourists, they won’t give a good review, you won't get as many more tourists.  That being said - despite the garbage, Panama has been awesome.  Gorgeous islands, beaches, weather, water, and friendly people!!  Could work on the plastic litter issue.

From Crew-Member Shannon

Little Girl, Big Fish

Notes from 4 Days Ago

We are doing great still.  Some pongas came by; we bought some bananas, watermelons and corn, so restocked a little bit with fresh stuff.  Probably going to check out Panama City in a week or so, then pick up Loyal.  Saw a small village, Ensenada, yesterday.  Interesting.  They have a public payphone, but not a lot else.  No cars or roads.  Small store that only sells things with a long shelf life.  Few guys lying in hammocks; then a pot on a fire beside them.  Guess they were making lunch?  Kind of a Crockpot plan.  Had a little school, but it was about 10 am Tuesday and all the local kids were in the ocean and no one was at the school.  I saw September was Bible study month.  I wonder if someone comes once a week to teach or something?  Really no idea.  Didn't all add up.  But they were nice.  Wild dogs running around and chickens wandering aimlessly around town.  A small church with no doors, a wire with a bulb up on the roof, otherwise just a solid concrete building with benches for seating.  It all works.

Nice campfire on the beach today, burned our garbage so it doesn't build up.  Then had marshmallows.  We are much more prepared this time since my restocking was at an actual store.  Had some pizza yesterday night, marshmallows today, not just canned things and dried grains.  Got netting put up around our lifelines for Valiant mostly.  It's great though, now it's like an enclosure and our clothes hanging out to dry stay on better, we can toss balls on the front trampoline and they don't go overboard (as often).  It's made the space much more useful as well as safe.

We are in a beautiful place between 2 islands with beaches in all directions and seeing whales.  Yesterday snorkeling Courage found the largest hermit crab I've ever seen!!!  It was in one of those nice big conch shells, maybe 4-5 inches wide? The kids continue to find treasures on every beach.  We find buoys, shells, buckets, shovels, wheels, balls, etc.  Even found a carved out wood turtle. We are seeing turtle nests and crocodile tracks too.  Disheartening, I guess they move the turtle nests because where a turtle is born is where it will lay its eggs. But they crush many shells in the process and the places they are moving them from look very safe and protected.  I don't think there's a need out there. We've been seeing many turtles; they don't appear too endangered.  I would rather see the efforts of those people picking up the garbage littering the shores washed up.  Lots of plastic bottles and shoes.

Morning on the Beach - Our Paradise

Anchorage this Morning

The storm mostly missed us.

Mother Winter with her Dorado

Ancient Submarine offshore of San Telmo Island

Notes from Cassidy in Panama

Okay so I haven't written a blog in the longest time. Truth be told I'm only writing this because my precious iPad was threatened.  We are currently in the Perlas islands.  Before that we were at Isla Coiba, before that we were in Mutis, and before that we were somewhere else in Panama. Oh, and before Panama we were in Costa Rica.  Such lovely places, all one big blur at this point.  There were a few that stood out so I guess that's what I'll blog about.  Bahia Del Sol was our first stop in El Salvador.  It was a quiet, still, dirty watered lagoon, that was only accessible by surfing.  We literally had to surf a wave with the big boat.  We met another cruising boat, Grace, and went on a mangrove tour with one of the people from their crew.  Next we went to Golfo De Fonseca.  Isla Meanguera to be exact, where I met two nice boys that I will forever be teased about; parents these days!  Moving on.  While in Fonseca, we also visited El Tigre, Honduras for a day.  We paid for taxi (bumper carts) to drive us around the small island.  After touring the island and bugging all the locals to trade for foreign money, we left El Salvador.
A paragraph per country?  I can do this.  First stop in Costa Rica was Bahia Santa Elena.  Then we went to Coco and the family had had enough of me.  Poor old me was shipped back to America.  I had a great time, though. Family reunion, endless episodes of Lost, no constant smell of fish, swimming in a fresh water swimming pool (ocean is not a swimming pool, thank you very much), and stuffing my face with Chinese food. Anyway, BACK TO COSTA RICA!
From the airport in San Jose we went straight to Arenal Volcano National Park where I was bitten by a parrot, drank radiated milk, bathed in hot springs, drove cars across rivers, and discovered a tiny village.  Yes, I discovered it and it will forever be known as Mine.  I think it's a reasonable name.  After a few days in Arenal, we packed up and headed for the boat that was anchored somewhere that I don't remember, so apparently it wasn't that important.
I do remember Parque National Manuel Antonio, though. Monkeys, monkeys everywhere, and sloths, but mostly monkeys.  There were also raccoons, but they would steal my food and we have those in California so I preferred the monkeys.  I went to the park twice and loved it.  From Manuel Antonio we went to El Cania or whatever, it was a small island out of Drake Bay.  It was supposedly really nice diving but I didn't find it all that impressive.  The only thing that I found memorable there was the squall that hit us.  I don't remember the wind speed or anything but it pulled the boat so hard that one of the cleats that was holding the bridal ripped out and we eventually lost our anchor.  Uncle Loyal dove on it and saved the day.
Bahia Drake had some amazing hikes and a green watered estuary.   We hiked up to a village and some really nice beaches.  I left the family to go do my own exploring.  All in all it was probably my favorite place to hike.  From Drake the next place I remember is Golfito, sure we hit a few places along the way, but I don't remember those as well.  In Golfito we found heavenly Internet access, checked out of Costa Rica, and dropped off Uncle Loyal to go back to America.
Panama was the next country.  We went to some awesome little islands, Parida.  The best island in the group was Gamaz.  It was a small island that I could kayak all the way around.  The beach that we anchored off of had fine, white sand and a row of shady palm trees.  We left there for the Secas, which had amazing diving, rocky beaches, and nice tide pools.  There we met another cruising boat that has a ridiculously long name and it was probably in Italian anyways, so its not my fault that I cant remember it.  From the Secas we went to Isla Coiba and anchored off of off a huge beach that had a washed up boat.  When researching the beach, we discovered that it was a prison island.  A few decades ago a cruising couple anchored off of the island, the exact beach where we were, and the prisoners swam out, slit their throats, and stole their boat.  Very
Romantic.  Then we went to Montuso and swam with white tipped reef sharks.
After that we went to a few other islands around the area, then decided it was time to restock our food supply.  So after a month of eating down out canned food, we motored into Mutis.  It was a small little town that was hiding way up the estuary.  We stayed in Mutis for a few days, just long enough to check into Panama, bus to Santiago to restock food, and completely cover our bodies in no-see-um bites.
That was about a month ago now.  Since then we have been to Esmeralda, a small village with friendly, too friendly people.  I couldn't walk through town without all the native children following me.  And the children took up at least half of the town's population.  Shortly after we went to San Telmo.  It had a washed up submarine that would be out of the water at low tide and completely under water at high tide.  At low tide I could squeeze down the hatch into the surprisingly large cabin.  At high tide I could dive on it and swim with the little fishes.  Hopefully we got some pretty good video footage of the whole thing.  In the last day there were some whales sleeping not far from our boat, so we loaded up in the dinghy and motored out there.  The water visibility was horrible and I could only see about ten feet in front of me, but the group in the dinghy said that they were only about 30 feet away.  So I can proudly say that I swam with whales and a submarine.
From Telmo, we stayed a few other places and then anchored between Canas and Isla Puercos.   There were beaches on all sides, a new place to explore everyday.  Around the point of Isla Canas there were even more beaches and an impressive amount of caves.  We left there yesterday to come to the famous Isla Espiritu Santo.   The water is murky here, but the beach is beautiful.  And that’s about it.  I can’t really write about something that hasn't happened yet.
Bye-bye, Ta-ta, adios, till my iPad is threatened again.
Cassidy