Farewell to Ashley

Posted on July 3, 2015

Since yesterday was Ashley’s last day with us, we decided to spend the day snorkeling a beautiful reef, and cruising around seeing more of our breathtaking surroundings.
We left the dock after breakfast and made our way through ‘The Gap’ to where the landscape is scattered with many rich green mangrove islands. It’s amazing being able to take a boat this large through areas of only 5 feet of water because of our 4.5ft keels. The creatures sat at the bow and looked down at the reef as we passed over it.

Sometimes while we are underway, wild things happen aboard – Aidan (and whom ever else) will break into dance that reminds me of some of the scenes from Mama Mia, where he’ll run from stern to bow, twirling and jumping and Jude and Mycah continue with exercise routines. They do wall sits, lunges, and Ashley has coached us in some awesome stretching exercises.

We reached the area where we wanted to be, dropped anchor and snorkeled around for a couple of hours.

The water had a green tint to it because of all the recent rains, but it was still clear and filled with so many parrot fish, angelfish, damsel fish, wrasse, needle nose, barracuda, sergeant majors, gobi’s, and so much more. Aidan and Emma got stung by a female jellyfish, and after dousing it with vinegar, some of the sting left, but they felt an ache in the affected areas for a while. By evening they have small welts but are much better. What cool battle wounds…not everyone can say they were stung by a jellyfish in Panama;)
Last night we anchored right by Bocas, so that this morning we would be just a short walk away from the airport for Ashley. We took the dinghy into town and all walked around for a bit, then saw a hole in the wall Mexican food restaurant called ‘Gringos’, and thought we’d try it out. The food was really quite good. The owner is a guy named Gary, who is from Santa Monica, CA, and has bee here for 16 years. He seemed to enjoy sitting and talking with us while the food was being prepared. He got a kick out of Mycah’s mischievous personality and the two of them agreed that they are now BFF’s.

 
After hitting the ice cream store and when were all back on the boat, we played a rambunctious game of spoons, and then headed to bed.

This morning Danny and I took Ashley to the Bocas airport and said our goodbyes. We were sad to see her go and have had so much fun having her visit.

We noticed this across the street from the airport and hoped Ashley’s airplane had better luck.  It did.

I was texting my sister yesterday and she asked me what I love most about our lifestyle – living on a boat. I thought of so many things, but two of them that I’ve continued to think about through this evening, are 1) the simplicity of our lives and 2) this irreplaceable time we are spending as a family.
I love not having a calendar filled with appointments, meetings and deadlines, and I think a big part of why life seems more simple, is because our schedule greatly revolves around mother natures schedule. It feels more peaceful this way.
I love living everyday with Danny and our children around us. We do everything together and love exploring and laughing and loving together. We work together and play together. Every meal is eaten together. I know we will never regret this time.
I’m so grateful for this opportunity.