The East Coast

Fidelity, has been making fabulous time up the east coast. North Carolina, Virgina, Atlantic City and currently NYC have been the ports of call!

Stay tuned, b/c the boys will be back in Pickering soon!!

Bahamas

At the End of June, Sam and Karen travelled to Grand Bahama Island, and spent time with Ryan, Davis and Seamus. Everyone had heaps of fun at Lucaya. Seamus also had a friend Briar come down for a visit! When the boy's decided to leave Bahamas, it was time to head back home!

CUBA

In Mid June Ryan's cousin Jeff travelled to Cuba to visit the Boat! Although he was there for a short time, they had a fantastic time!!

CAYMAN ISLANDS

Ryan and Davis are in the Caymen Islands.
Thay made awesome time, and should meet up with Davis' fam tomorow.

Good work guys, HAVE FUN!!!

Bocas Del Toro, Panama and San Andres, Columbia

When the visitors were gone the group sailed to Bocas Del Toro. They had some engine troubles so they had to spend more time in Bocas than planned. Maggie left from Bocas, and had a fabulous trip with the boys as she got to visit, Curacao, Aruba, Caracas Venezuela, Cartagena Columbia, San Blas Islands (Panama), Colon (Panama) and Bocas Del Toro (Panama).

Ryan arrived in San Andres Columbia yesterday. They will leave to sail to the Caymen Islands where their next set of visitors, Davis' family, will arrive.

Panama May 10th -17th

On May 10th My dad and I arrived in Panama to visit Ryan, Davis and Maggie. For our first night we rented a room at the Veneto hotel, as dad's flight had been delayed for about 7 hours.

When I arrived, Ryan was at the airport to pick me up. We decided to bus into town and go to the swimming pool at the Veneto. Public Transit in Panama is on a school bus. Many of them have been spray painted and fixed up with sirens and lights. The bus cost 5 cents to ride. When we got into Panama City, Ryan took me to a store to buy a swim suit, as I had left my luggage in storage at the airport. Everything was VERY Cheap in Panama and my swim suit cost 8 dollars. After having some drinks and chillen by the pool for the afternoon it was time to head back to the airport to pick up Dad. The bus ride was quite the adventure. Picture 3 people to a seat, and Ryan had 5 people to a seat at one point. The bus was packed with more people than you can imagine. The driver was crazy and it was an adventure for sure. We met dad, and went to the hotel.

The next day we awoke, and travelled by coach bus ($2.50) across the country to Colon, where Ryan's boat was located. It was raining when we arrived at the Panama Canal Yacht Club, so we chilled in the clubhouse, drinking dollar beers, and eating lunch. When the rain stopped Ryan took the luggage to the boat and Davis came back to pick, Maggie, Dad and I up. That evening we went grocery shopping and provisioned for our trip to Bocas Del Toro, and we would leave the ancorage on Monday morning.

Monday came along and dad wasn't feeling very well. He decided that he should not sail to Boca and he would meet us there by plane. That wasn't an option so we decided to go back in to Panama City and get a room at the Veneto. A/C and comfy beds would help dad we thought.....

We got a cab to drive us to Panama City, and this was an unbelievable story................................................................................................................................................

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Ryan, Maggie and I got into the backseat with a two year old child (the driver's daughter) and dad was in the front seat. We thought the cab driver was going to drop the kid off, but I guess decided it wasn't neccessary. Maggie held the baby for the first half of the trip, and was even asked to change her diaper. I told the cabbie to pull over and change the diaper herself. So she did. About 45 minutes into the trip the child would not stop crying....it was very annoying! The cabbie pulled over and asked us if anyone had a driver's license. I said we did, but at home in Canada. She didn't care and asked us to drive. Ryan hopped in the front seat and began to drive a cab, across Panama while the cabbie held her daughter in the backseat. I wish I had a pic of Ryan driving the cab!!!! Close to Panama City she began to drive again, and took us to the Veneto. Dad went to bed, and we hung out at the pool. At the hotel there was wine and tapas for free on the 17th floor between 6-8pm. It was fun and the bar tender left the bottles when he cleaned up.

On Tuesday we had to take my dad to the hospital. He ended up with severe food poisioning and was re-hydrated through IV. Thanks to Maggie's dad for helping us decide which hospital to take him too!

On Wed, I was sick, so I must have eaten something bad too. Fortunately my sickness didn't last as long as my dad's.

Thursday, we decided to do some site-seeing! Ryan, Dad and I went to the Panama Canal Museum. The exibits were in Spanish, but it was still interesting. We also saw a Rembrant Art Exhibit.

Friday the five of us travelled to the Panama Canal. We were at the Miraflores Locks. The museum was awesome, and the best part was we got to see 2 ships go through the canal. The first was a US submarine, and the second was a Disney cruise ship. We then switched hotels to be closer to the airport for our departure on Sat.

Although we didn't get to sail on Fidelity, it was great to hang out with Ryan, Davis and Maggie.

Pics from Panama