Adventures of a Tribe

Adventure to Almirante

Posted on June 22, 2015

There hasn’t been wifi the past couple days so I haven’t been able to blog, but here’s where our adventures took us:

On Saturday we prepped the boat to sail to Almirante – a town on the Panama coast that’s about a 2 hour sail from here.  This will be our routine every Saturday/Sunday, because it’s where our church is.

Before leaving, the veggies boat arrived.

I love shopping at the veggie boat because I know it’s supporting these beautiful people, and it’s convenient with pretty good produce.

Shortly after that we released Tanda Malaika from the dock and headed out.

As we moved along it was obvious that stormy weather was coming to greet us.  We were told that this part of Panama is the wettest part in the entire country.  No doubt about it! It pours every day.

It was an interesting journey. When we live ‘normal’ lives on land with our usual routines, we settle into certain communication and habits.  Once an entirely new life style is introduced – with different routines, some of which we are completely new to us, our communication and interaction must adjust and develop. Everyone tries their best, and the creatures have done so beautifully.  They are all natural sailors.

Once arriving in Almirante, we could see that it was an extremely poor little town.

We anchored close to an inlet that we’d have to dinghy up the next morning.

Knowing that it was going to be Fathers Day, Ashley and Emma had been talking and planning on what cake to make Danny, and I’d been trying to think of something good to serve for lunch.  The kids had excitedly walked through Bocas a couple days prior to try find something special for Danny as a gift, and had picked out a few little things, but nothing that he’d find meaningful. The thought and love was there though.

That night the lightning was spectacular.  It flashed brightly all night long and it rained hard.  Our anchor held firm, and on Sunday morning we dressed for church and made a couple trips to shore with the creatures.

The girls looked beautiful as usual, with Ashley as our little mermaid on the bow of the dinghy. It’s hard to be lady like in a dress in a dinghy, but we made it work.

Church was wonderful with about 50 people there.  The girls were invited to a girls camp in September if we are still right here, and the services were in Spanish as expected, so none of us understood a word.  But it was wonderful to be there. When I arrived I became so emotional thinking about my Dad. I miss him and it hurts so badly knowing he’s in so much pain. My sister sent me this photo of him and I wanted to reach through the phone and kiss his face. He looks so frail.

I am so grateful for a wonderful Father in law too.  He is an amazing man with so much love that he freely offers me.

After church we rode the dinghy back to Tanda Malaika and found everything safe there.

The kids were excited to give Danny his gifts at that point and we set sail and ate as we moved along. The winds were perfect on the way home and with the main and jib raised we gently moved along back to Red Frog Beach Marina, and best of all, Ashley and Emma’s cake was an upside down bananas foster with freshly grated coconut and it was SO GOOD!!!!