Dec. 9 -11th

Breakfast conversations with a couple from Australia, a couple of Irish guys, a mother daughter from Spain, Alex another KLR rider on his 2nd trip, Gabriel and Cynthia, riding double up on a KTM, to Peru.
On and off tropical rains, we anchor off a palm covered island and swim and snorkel. Moving to another anchorage with light wind we motor sail.
I can best describe our boat as a floating hostel, everybody gets a space, and that space is shared.


Jim got the worst of it sharing a couch bed with 3 other people. Euro style breakfast, fresh fruits, fresh baked black bread with what you want for breakfast Fish, vegis and rice for lunches in a curry or stew. Fritz knows his guest, good food and lots of it.


Afternoon swimming and spear fishing. The Aussies get a tiger fish to throw in the lunch pot. Fritz goes spear fishing and gets stung by another tiger fish, which will require medical attention. Gabriel a doctor, Alex a med school student and Cynthia a venom research doctor search the net for treatment. Hot water soak for 90 minutes then antibiotics and wait, if you feel better your ok if not further treatment, Fritz laughs "well of course"
Cocktail hour for the kids started early. Light rain continues on and off most of the day, beautiful sunset.


Jim and I talk about plans for the KTM in Columbia. We get good solid advice from Alex, who has done the trip Columbia to Cuzco before, about motorcycle repair options and our route.


Island time, sporting my Alaska tan.


The decision is made, the KTM is going in the shop in Medelin for how long is the unknown.

Location:San Blas Islands to Cartagena, Columbia

Dec. 13th

Miles today: 0 or just about

The day starts off with me getting mad. Jim and I dropped our laundry off yesterday at the hostel desk, early in the morning with the assurance that it would be done by 5:00 in the afternoon. I want to add that i dropped mine of first by at least an hour. Stuffed in the laundry bag is various clothes and a towel all wet from the boat trip. I go by the desk around 7:00pm to pick the laundry up, not ready yet. The best I can get is that it's not folded yet and a little bit is left to dry but tomorrow it will be done. To shorten the story I go to pick the laundry up in the morning and Mr Jame's is done and neatly folded, mine Is not even started. We have to meet Fritz to off load the bikes at 7:30am so no chance to get it done. So I grab my bag knowing full well the biology experiment growing on inside, hoping for a laundry tomorrow.


Bike unloading comes off with out a hitch, many hands rolling the bikes down the same plank we used load the bikes.


We say our good byes to Fritz Tulay and Jose, great people all living their dreams.
Alex has offered to take us to the import office and walk us through the paper work. This looks easy, no lines, a few signs and air conditioning, as we find out easy does not mean fast. The entry stamp on our passports is for December of 2012, something Fritz's agent missed yesterday, so Alex takes all our passports and head across town to the passport office. We manage to hit the import office again right at their 2 hour lunch break, so we wait, eat lunch and chat. I connect again with Cynthia and Gabriel from Costa Rico, they're riding double up down to Peru on a KLR 940. Plans are made to reconnect in Cuzco for New years.
When all is said and done it's 5:00 and we opt to spend another night in Cartagena. Thanks to Alex for his efforts and assistance.
I attempt to dry off what laundry I can from the morning non laundry event with the fan in the room. We head out for dinner. Great dinner at a local place, my usual adventure in ordering something I'm not completely sure of. Turned out to be good.
We run into Fritz and his woman walking home, say thanks again tell him about the passport stamp goof ups and then good bye again.
Tomorrow insurance and the road if all goes well.


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Location:Cartagena, Columbia

Dec12th

First day in South America another milestone.
Off the boat shower and laundry are the first order of business. Fritz and Tulay are taking care of our passports and entry into the country. Tomorrow the bikes get off loaded, we import the bikes and get insurance, which is mandatory in Columbia.
We meet at Harry's Tropical Bar to reclaim our passports and say goodbye to our fellow travelers.

Location:Cartagena, Columbia

Dec. 8th

We load up the bikes in the rain, say our good byes to Capt Jack, Lorraine, the rest of the staff and head off for bike loading.


Capt. Jack's an official Latts and Atts Harbor Hangout.

We are sailing with Capf Fritz on "Fritz the Cat." our bike loading is different from what I saw yesterday. Our boat is docked at the pier with 2x8 plank between the pier and the boat. There are 3 motorcycles ahead of us, 2 KLR's and one KTM 940 Adventure. Alex riding one of KLR's rides his bike up the plank on to the deck. It took him two tries because of the steepness and slipperiness of the plank. At my riding skill level this will be a challenge. I should add that this is not a flat water harbor. So I'm thinking, 2x8 slippery plank, uphill, moving boat, well there are lots of people to help or at least cheer for my success or disaster. Captain Fritz observes the first load, recognizes the potential for disaster and dictates that all bikes will now be pushed up the plank.


Riding the plank in Portobelo

Thank you Captain Fritz you are a wise man.
Now we all talk about a wider plank, a longer plank to decrease the angle, maybe some cleats for traction but this is an adventure ride and it is what it is, an adventure.
We leave the pier and anchor in the harbor to pack away our gear, secure the bikes and meet our fellow travelers. We settle up with the Capt. for the passage, cash is preferred, of course, he clears us out of Panama with immigration.
While he's at the port captains office ashore we hear more stories of interesting border crossing in Honduras. Seems the border agents at the Honduras border set Alex and David from Arizona up for a $300.00 fine when they tried to leave the country. Alex speaks fluent Spanish and looks Latino and has made this border crossing before. He insisted to the entrance agents that they needed an import stamp for the bikes, they said no and refused to give him anything regarding import. So, as you can now imagine, when they try to leave Honduras "big problem senior, you have no import papers, $300.00 fine per bike" Alex having done this crossing before walked away and basically hides out. They wait all day while all the trucks and private vehicles clear the border then as last ones start across he and David dropped into the end of the line and rolled out of Honduras unnoticed by anyone. Apparently the confusion at the border can work both ways.
Fritz and crew come back on board, we get a safety briefing from Fritz. Fritz is from Germany, has done 93 of these trips. I immediately like the guy as I sense everyone else does. His accent plus his references to past passages keeps us all laughing.


We have lunch vegetable pasta or rice all good. The youngsters start in on their bottles of rum. Fritz watches looks at me and rolls his eyes, many visits to the leeward rail that night.
Near full moon sail following the Panama coast to the San Blas Islands.
I sit on deck looking at the moon on the ocean and marvel at my life, thankful for family, friends and my beautiful lover.
We anchor off at 11:30pm after negating a tricky lagoon entrance, bright moonlight must have helped. 5-6 boats at anchor in the lagoon, quite water, soft tropical breeze, I sleep on deck for a bit then a rain squall puts me down below to my bunk.
Good night all.

Location:Portobelo to San Blas islands