Casualties

1.) My waterproof camera is not so waterproof. It quit working, but I think it could resurrect if I could just dry it out. It's hard to dry it out when you live on a boat in the tropics during the rainy season. Colin dunked his digital camera and it's dead too. Fortunately we both have back up digitals.

2.) The red kayak wondered off in Benao. I'm sure the new owners are treating her well. She was a good vessel and served us stupendously through many landings and launchings. She hauled provisions and trash, shot the rapids with ease and once I even set the stern anchor off her rounded big bottom. She was my "go to gal" for the 2 months when I didn't have an outboard (remember those Philistine days?) She'll be missed. Maybe the $100 reward will generate an email but I doubt it.

3.) Colin lost another year. Today is his birthday. The real loss here is that I have only a few more days with my friend. I've raved about him for years and I'm fortunate I was able to have his company for the months that I did. Hopefully, when his bank account is refilled and his adventure flame is rekindled he'll jump back on board, until then, he'll be missed.

We are in transit between the Perlas islands and Balboa (Panama City), however we are going to make landfall in about 2 hours at one final island close to the mainland called Tobago because we heard there was a good Chinese restaurant there and Colin deserves to be given a break from the galley on his special day (besides, the provisions have been reduced to mangoes, potatoes, and a final bottle of bad red wine). We can already see the skyscrapers of the mainland in the distance. After so long in the islands hopping from crystal clear anchorage to pristine jungle settings I imagine it might be a wee shocker to enter a major population center again, so we have postponed it for one more day. I have to admit, I am looking forward to ice cream and a movie theater.

I’ve been dreaming of new batteries since my heady days back in the Dirty P. Seems so long ago and now they are only 15 miles away. I started this trip with 380 amp hours. For the last 4 months I’ve lived on 40. The lesson might be as simple as this; what we think we’ve lost, we may have never needed.

Casualties? I wonder.