The day finally came – November 9^th! That glorious day, Jas expertly guided Morning Stars out of slip F-36 at Shelter Bay Marina. We were all giddy with excitement. We had just spent months getting Morning Stars ready to go. She wasn’t perfect, but ready enough!

I am writing this blog anchored in what can be accurately described as paradise! The San Blas Islands are a group of about 365 islands and cays on the Caribbean side of Panama.

The morning we left the marina we all had nervous energy. We knew it was our ‘shake down’ sail so we had to be open to things not going perfectly. As expected, we had some issues but nothing catastrophic. We did discover that all the gauges did not work – which was strange as they worked in the marina. Fortunately, we had the chartplotter that gave us the information we needed ie) depth and speed. Getting used to how Morning Stars moved will also take some getting used to.  Jas discovered that, in reverse, she really pulls to port, so he quickly needed to factor that into maneuvering us safely out of our slip. The prop also seems to sit quite high in the water giving us a lot of prop wash (wake off the back of the boat) that we aren’t used to. As the morning continued and we got used to things, we started to relax and celebrate finally being underway! At this point we still owned Starship. We had taken a lovely family from Panama City for a sea trial and they were very interested in her. We thought they were to be her new owners but offer talks did not finalize. We were starting to grow concerned and started talking about maybe needing to sail her back to Florida in the new year as may be that location would bring us more interest. The financial strain of her not being sold was not fun. Fortunately, a few days later that all changed. Read on to find out more on that! 😉

With very little wind, we motor sailed our way to Linton Bay. Linton Bay was about halfway between the marina and San Blas. We figured doing an overnight trip on our shakedown was not a wise idea. Linton Bay was fantastic and we finally caught up with our friends Ilka, Dogan, Ila and Aydin on SV Macera. They introduced us to some of their friends and before we knew it we were all in dinghies heading off to explore.

Very close to where we were anchored was this beautiful path through the mangroves called the Tunnel of Love. Friends back in Shelter Bay Marina had told us that we needed to try the amazing Piña Coladas (made with ice cream!) served by the little marina restaurant at the other end of the Tunnel of Love. We tried but the restaurant closes for a few hours in the afternoon and our timing did not work out. We decided we would try again when we return to Linton Bay on our way back to Shelter Bay Marina.

Being off the dock means we cannot use our air conditioner. Thankfully at anchor, a beautiful breeze blows through the hatches. This keeps the temperature on board quite manageable. Unfortunately, that very first night at anchor we had something other than just the breeze come through our open hatches. We woke up to find poop on our table and a partially eaten banana on the counter. Did an animal/rodent climb up the anchor chain?  How else would it have gotten onboard? It’s just that we never had the hatches open at the marina as we had the air conditioning running constantly. It had to come on in Linton Bay. A frantic google search quickly pointed to us having a rat onboard. Crap! I was so upset. We all were. We know how much damage rodents can do chewing wiring on boats and, omg, what if it has babies?! We made some DIY traps and hoped we’d be able to catch it. So far it is still at large but other than our discoveries that first morning, we have not seen any trace of it for fourteen days now. The way I see it, there are only two possibilities. It either found it’s way off the boat that same night (after it’s banana feast and gifting us it’s big poop) or it’s dead and we soon will be smelling its horrendous odor as it decomposes. There are so many tiny places it could be hiding and we just cannot find it. I guess we have no choice but to continue to wait and see.

After two days in Linton Bay it was time for us to pick up anchor and finally see what beautiful San Blas is all about! I pushed the thought of the rat out of my mind as we enjoyed a beautiful sail which included a visit from a pod of dolphins! That NEVER gets old! 😍

Our first anchorage in San Blas was in the Lemon Keys, also referred to as Cayos Limones. We arrived mid-afternoon and jumped in for a cool down swim. As soon as we got out of the water, we saw an exciting notification on our phone from our boat broker, Charles. We had a clean, no conditions, quick possession offer on Starship that was very close to our list price!  A Canadian from Nova Scotia wanted her! We immediately accepted the offer and nine days later, we passed possession of our beloved Starship to him. As sad as it is that we had come to the end of our era with Starship, it was a huge weight off our shoulders to have her sold. We look forward to meeting the new owner when we get back to Shelter Bay Marina.

In Lemons, we loved exploring the two islands close to us and enjoyed our first interactions with the locals. These islands are home to the Kuna (also spelled Guna or Cuna) people. The Kuna are the indigenous people of Panama and Columbia. Our experiences with them have truly added to the beauty of this place. They are very friendly and known for their traditional dress featuring bright and colourful molas. Molas are colourful fabric art that can also be sewn into the women’s blouses. We have purchased two beautiful molas from a Kuna man named Venancio. We have them hung up on Morning Stars and will cherish them always.

Meterologist Amanda Ward reporting live from the islands! 🤣

Once the big winds settled it was time for us to move on. A three hour motor sail had us arriving in an anchorage lovingly referred to as The Swimming Pool and we quickly saw why it is called that. The waters around us are crystal clear. Looking over the side we can see our anchor, the sandy bottom and occasional sea life swimming around (stingrays, various fish and even a few sharks have come by). With the visibility so clear, I feel relaxed enough to swim off the boat. If there’s a shark nearby I will easily see it. Mostly we see harmless nurse sharks but we have also seen reef sharks. I do not get in the water when I see reef sharks! 🦈 That’s a big ‘nope’!

One thing we really need to stay mindful of is our fresh water situation. We were not able to install our new watermaker before we left as some parts were missing in the shipment. We are relying on the water in our three water tanks (185 gallons total) and the hope for rain. It did not rain for many days after we got here and we started to get a bit concerned. I started wishing for rain and the rains came! Our tanks are topped up now so that is wonderful…problem solved!

Jas still needs to do some work on our power systems. The solar panels are just not bringing in enough to keep us charged. Running the engine for awhile helps so we do that from time to time.  Morning Stars has a generator but, like most things on this boat, it needs some TLC. We will need it running to allow us to run the water maker so that will be a focus for Jas when we get back from Winnipeg in January. We are also considering replacing the AGM battery bank with lithiums. Having a solid power system (with backup options) is so essential, especially with our plans to do a long passage into the South Pacific in the new year.

Our friends sailed over to joined us and we love it here. Dylan’s schooling and my remote work continues but we have also been enjoying the snorkelling, swimming and the beautiful islands nearby.  

Today Dogan and Ilka took us to an incredible snorkel spot called Sandy Island. For me it was the most amazing snorkelling experience I have ever had. The reef was absolutely teeming with different tropical fish! I would see a new coral section and as I swam towards it I would see a few fish but the closer and closer I got, the more it would literally come alive with sea life. Multicoloured fish darting in and out of the seafans, diploria and various types of coral. There was so much to admire and the water was crystal clear. At one point a school of millions…no billions….no trillions of little fish swarmed me. It’s hard to explain but there were so many fish that my eyes and mind had a hard time understanding what was happening. The water all around me was absolutely saturated with fish moving in unison and I was right in the middle of it all. It was truly unbeleiveable and something I will never forget for as long as I live. There were also two fascinating blue fish. I have looked online to try to identify them but I can’t find a picture that matches what they looked like. They were the prettiest and most vibrant shade of blue but it wasn’t like they were solid blue or striped even. No, it was more like an artist took a chunky paintbrush and perfectly stroked the colour all over them is a hectic way. They were stunning and a treat for my eyes as I watched them in the silence underwater. Shortly after that, Dylan accidentally got his hand pricked by a lionfish. Their spines are venomous so we quickly accessed him to see if he felt any numbness, pain or signs of fainting. He was fine fortunately. That ended our snorkelling for the day as we quickly whisked him back to the boat to properly clean and dress his wound to hopefully prevent infection. I am definately going back to that spot to snorkel again though. I want to go back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day….! 🐟💗

Luke and Cliodhna from Ireland were alot of fun to spend a few days with! We celebrated Luke’s birthday at the beach restaurant the other night. 

We enjoyed hearing about Kuna beliefs and history through descriptions of some of the paintings on display at the restaurant. We were told that Kuna people’s beliefs include the 4th, 5th and 6th dimensions and ufos which was very interesting.

Ilka and Dogan from SV Macera had us over recently for a lovely ‘fresh catch’ dinner with them. It was a super fun night together!

In about a week we will be needing to head back to the marina in order to give us time to clean up the boat and pack. We leave the boat to fly to Winnipeg on December 5th. It’s crazy to think about the climate shift we will soon be experiencing. It is so hot here but very soon we will be stepping out of Winnipeg airport into cold, winter weather! The heat, sand and palm trees here also make it so hard for us to feel like Christmas is coming. The other day I put up some decorations and cranked the Bing Crosby & Frank Sinatra Christmas classics in an effort to get some yuletide spirit going on Morning Stars damnit! 😆🎅🏻✨

We are so excited to be with family and friends back in Canada for awhile, but we also can’t help wanting to stay here for Christmas. The peaceful beauty of this place is just such a gift and we have worked so hard to get here. Once we return to the boat early January, we will have just under two months before we go through the canal. We have some big boat projects to jump on (surprise, surprise) but the hope is that we will also have a few weeks available to to come back here. I have created yet another spreadsheet and begun a new project plan for January’s boat work – watermaker install, generator fix, possible lithium battery install, oh yeah, and our galley sink appears to be falling apart! Life on a boat is never boring!🤪

The blog below talks about why we have decided to add the above Ko-fi button. 😊

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