phew....blogger apparently got tired of me yesterday and boycotted me for 24 hours - anyway, we had a great visit with Nancy and that was pretty much all that we did.

After our lovely time in the mountains we headed back to Bocas, found the boat in no worse condition than we left it, and - miracle of miracles - secured a sunny day to go on a herd-o-tourists snorkelling day trip. The underwater landscape here is really quite lovely, and it was a luxury to let someone else do the driving; plus, the little lanchas around here can get to the shallow spots that Ute just can't risk visiting with her deep belly. Highlights were a brief swim with a shark (dunno what type, harmless fellow about 5' long), getting inked by a school of squid (they flashed 5 different colors in succession before simultaneously hitting mach one and leaving me with just an indigo memory), and a bristly, squirming rainbow of brittle stars and basket stars entwined around all colors of sponges and soft corals. The snorkeling here is different from Roatan - instead of a barrier reef like in the Bay Islands, there are underwater gardens of coral here - less majestic, but just as intriguing in their own right, with lots of hidden delights.

Now we're back to just the of us for the first time since July - and we weren't quite ready to be staring at the same walls and the same projects again - but we know we can't complain.....we are, after all, stuck in paradise together. what a way to go. And we won't be bored for long - the next visitor due in is my former Zoo coworker Sarah!

Thanks again Nance AND all you sweet sweet folks out there who sent goodies with our visitors: Lava soap, underwear, badminton birdies, transmission help, raincoats, new music, movies, cheese, maple syrup, zoocamp tshirts, LOVE. right back at ya, Ute