the last vacationer leaves us....

Whew!...it's back to "normal" cruising life for us - or at least normal parked boat life - after yet another action-packed week with a visitor from the Northland. Between the boat being a construction zone and it being rainy season, we didn't manage to work in any sailing while she was here, but we did fit in some fun outings, and lots and lots of swimming. There were just enough sunny days to get out some, and enough drizzle to keep us from overheating.

What with Sarah being a zoo person, we had to work in a couple critter encounters. The highlight of the week - at least in our estimation - was a tour of a local cacao farm owned by two expat gringos. Not only was it an astonishingly beautiful place, but we got a full rainforest tour and cacao-growing and chocolate-processing lesson. And - major bonus! - we met a nine-month old ocelot. Yup, we pretty much wet our pants over this. The farm's owners resuced the soft, slinky little cat at the age of four months; prior to that, she had been kept in a small house without ever so much as setting foot on dirt or grass. Now, she runs free on the farm - and attacks visitors' kneecaps and ankles without warning. So it was one of those rare situations where we could meet a big cat, and actually go home feeling okay about someone having a "pet" ocelot. She's right at home in the jungles of Bocas.....

We also spent time inundating Sarah with boat facts, sailing lore, ocean tales, and more boat facts. The poor girl learned more than she ever wanted to know about boats and sailing, but she took it well. On Saturday, in a token attempt to get some work done, we packed her off on a field trip with a couple of the neighbors - to a meeting for, of all things, the Bocas Garden Club. She was whisked away to another islands and fed drinks in coconuts, all while learning about tropical plants. She was amazed, as we often are, to see house-sized wild representatives of plants that we struggle to grow in a pot or windowbox back home.

Okay, enough about other stuff, back to the ocelot. Seriously though, it was amazing. Plus, it made us happy to start doing things off the beaten tourist track here in Bocas - to get to know some locals (both the gringo and Panamanian kind) and go on outings that aren't advertised on sidewalk sandwich boards in Bocas town.

Thanks Sarah, for getting us out of the boat!