Adventures of a Tribe

Finally Home!!!

Posted on June 12, 2015

Yesterday was long but tons of fun. I did learn something important … when we were checking in at LAX, the United agents gave us a hard time at first because we didn’t have return tickets.  They didn’t like or understand the idea of us not needing one because we were moving onto a sailboat. I finally showed them the boat registration to prove that we do inf act have a boat. What I learned is that we needed to have refundable return tickets booked, and right after checking in, cancel the return flights.

We ended up with 13 checked bags, which included the drone as  one, some boat parts as another and a huge drill in a case as another.  Miraculously, everything arrived on the same flight as us!!

Ashley met up with us in Houston, and it was wonderful to see her again. Now we are up to 6 creatures for a while…still missing 5.

It was so fun to listen to the creatures chat as we flew, and when we were above Panama, coming into Panama City, and they saw all the rainforests, they all exclaimed at it’s beauty and spoke excitedly. They had the attention of everyone toward the back of the plane, and when we got off I had three different people approach me and comment on what wonderful kids I have. One lady named Miriam gave me her business card and said to call her if we ever need anything.

Emma was especially excited to get her first stamp in her passport, and then the 90 min ($180) taxi ride to the Marina was interesting.  They actually found a bus big enough to fit us all. Our taxi driver got lost and once Danny’s phone finally got reception, he was able to turn on WAZE and have it direct us where to go. What a fun adventure!!

The creatures were SO SO excited to see Tanda Malaika.

After unloading our mountain of duffels (all collapsible so we can stow them easier), we all went and lay out in the coolness of the night on the trampoline in the front of the boat.

Our Marina here at Shelter Bay is wonderful.  I used the laundromat this morning and did 4 loads of washing, then came back and we all hung everything out to dry.  There are great bathrooms and showers and a pool to cool off in.

Tanda Malaika is in great shape and I think she’s happy to finally have her family about her.

This morning Ashley, Jonathan, Aidan and Emma scrubbed her belly clean with brushes to remove any growth that accumulated over these last three weeks.

While they were scrubbing a local bloke on a bicycle peddled past and said hey, be careful, it’s the rainy season and the crocodiles are out.  Emma shot straight over to the swim step at lightening speed and planted her butt on deck. Ashley and Jonathan cautiously kept cleaning and finally Aidan and Emma were in again and watching each others backs as they went along.

While they did that, the rest of us continued to unpack and organize. She’s slowly starting to look like we want her to with everything put away.

We walked the docks for a little while, then swam a bit to cool off. Aidan, Jonathan and Emma went for a walk and saw iguanas and monkeys. So, while Danny is taking a nap now, I am going to gather all the creatures up, and with camera in hand we will go monkey hunting together.  I hope to have photos to post later.