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A Culinary Intro to Panama

 Last night we joined Tahina’s previous crew, David and Edel, for dinner in the Casco Viejo (old town) in Panama City. We met on the corner of the Plaza de la Independencia next to the cathedral, and walked across the street to a place called René Café. The restaurant features typical Panamanian fare in a set-menu style, with dinner including six small plates in courses, followed by a rice dish, a chicken dish, and a fish dish. Oh, and don’t forget dessert! We ordered a couple of bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and settled into the outdoor seating while we awaited our dinner. First came a fresh salad with corn and…

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We’ve Entered the Pacific

 Today we completed our transit through the Panama Canal. Thanks to all of our friends and family who snapped photos and messaged with us as we made our way through. The transit took 2 days, and we spent the night in Gatun Lake. Thanks especially to Mrs. Buchanan’s class at Hendricks Avenue Elementary in Jacksonville, Florida. Thanks to you, we managed to convince the Canal Authority to focus the cameras on us as we entered the Miraflores locks. Now we’re anchored in Panama City after crossing under the Bridge of the Americas this afternoon. We have a ton of cool photos and videos and will be uploading them all in…

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Take 2

 Hi everyone, So as long as the powers that be don’t change something again, we will be transiting the Panama Canal today.  We pick up our onboard advisor at 2:30 today and will head for the canal sometime after that.  Tahina has someone standing by to alert everyone when we are in the canal. Monitor the Tahina blog at www.tahinaexpedition.com after 2 and you’ll know when to go the the canal website. http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html Tahina will be the large catamaran with dark blue sail covers. She has an orange kayak on her starboard (that’s right) bow, and the logo on the sail cover and side of the cabin top is a large…

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Thwarted!

 The Panama Canal Authority bumped our transit today, so we’ve been rescheduled for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 24. Visit Tahina Expedition’s website for an up-to-the-minute message on when to look for us in the locks…and while you’re watching, grab us a screenshot or two! On another note, Tahina was featured on the National Geographic website yesterday. Check it out!

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Panama Canal!

 Hi guys, We’re crossing the canal on Tahina today and you can watch us at the Panama Canal website as we cross the Gatun lock today, and Miraflores tomorrow. We should be entering the canal around 2:30 p.m., but it could be later. Gatun is the first lock. We’re on a large white catamaran with blue sail covers named Tahina. She has an orange kayak on her starboard side bow. Pictures to come. Hugs, L & J

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Changes

 Hello friends, We left Kijro in Curaçao today to meet Tahina in Panama. She’s a 50′ St. Francis Catamaran, and you can find out all about her and her mission on the Tahina Expedition website. We plan to be with her until Tahiti. If ever you find that we’ve been slow about posting, Frank and Karen of Tahina do an amazing job of staying up to date. You can always get the lowdown with them as well. Frank and Karen are very accomplished sailors and we look forward to learning all we can while we crew with them across the Pacific. Lara

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Class partnership project

 Don’t think we’ve mentioned this yet, but thanks to our good friend Melissa in Jacksonville, Florida, we’ve been partnering with her class at Hendricks Avenue Elementary, sharing our experiences and lending inspiration for their extra credit projects. At each stop along the way, we pick out a postcard that expresses the culture of the place, and we write about some of the things we’ve learned. Then we mail it off to Hendricks Avenue, and Mrs. Buchanan’s class plots our postcards and moves our photo on a giant map posted in the hallway for all to see. Mrs. Buchanan has been giving out extra credit assignments for her students to research…

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Curaçao

 By John Ranahan, owner of Kijro Well, we’ve made it to Curaçao, but we discovered that the water-maker man has not yet returned from his vacation in Las Aves (which we sailed by on our way to Bonaire from La Blanquilla). We will wait for him here. We need to check in tomorrow morning, which will require a bus ride from here to the capital city. Actually, a fellow cruiser with a car has offered us a ride in the morning. It was a non-windy day today, so we motor-sailed from Bonaire. It took us just under seven hours to do the 35+ miles. It is a breezy, cool evening…

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Bonaire…is…AMAZING.

 On the way from La Blanquilla, we picked up a passenger for about 8.5 hours in the middle of a windy and quickly darkening evening. He hung out on our dodger all night, and upon seeing the lights  of Bonaire, he took his leave. I hope someone can identify what kind of bird he is. He was so tired, he tolerated me touching him and let me snap photos 6″ from his face. Yesterday morning, just before sunrise, Jason steered Kijro into Kralendijk harbor, bobbing along slowly with only the jib running, awaiting light for mooring. He awoke John and I, and we made our way to a mooring ball…

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Go West!

 We left Carriacou Monday evening about 6 p.m. and headed west toward Curacao. With 3-meter following seas and downwind breeze that varied from 5.5-30 kts apparent over two days, we got the opportunity to play with the twizzle rig John made specifically for the trip. In case we haven’t mentioned it before, the twizzle is two jibs, sewn together on the same luff, flown wing-on-wing, held out by dual poles, sans mainsail. The poles attach to a topping lift and downhaul but float freely without attaching to the mast. This allows them to float back and forth without inducing roll in the boat, and it’s more balanced than running a…

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