The Blog is Back!



We’re baaaaaack.  Okay, we never stopped sailing, we just stopped writing and posting to the blog.  But, the good news is that 3G has made it to the San Blas Islands so now we have fairly decent internet (depending on which island we are at) so we can get back to sharing our stories.

I think we left off the blog in Houdras, diving the great sites in Roatan.  I will give you a two second run down of where we went from there…  we beat our way (please read motored into headwinds and seas) to the eastern tip of Hounduras, sailed south past the banks of Nicaragua and made our way to the small island of Providencia.  Awesome island.  Anyway, we stayed there for about two weeks due to weather, and then sailed directly to the San Blas Islands in Panama.  We cleared in, hung out, celebrated Maria’s birthday and then went to Portobello.  We said goodbye to Nancy and Harold (remember Maria’s folks were travelling with us), picked up four backpackers and a motorcycle and sailed over to Cartagena, Colombia.  What a great place Cartagena is…more on that later.  We explored Cartagena for a month or two then hauled out for two months to paint the boat and do a few other projects, then we hung out for another month or so in Cartagena before sailing back to the San Blas.  We started our charter business in the San Blas and had a great time meeting new people and introducing them to paradise.  Once the windy season was over and the rainy season began, we sailed back over to Cartagena to fill our bellies at the most amazing restaurants (at very affordable prices) one could ask for.  The San Blas Islands are still fairly primitive, don’t really have restaurants and the main staples are fish and chicken.  So, when you get to Cartagena and there is an unending supply of international cuisine, one may go slightly crazy for a week or so! 

Instead of going straight from the San Blas to Cartagena, we took the coastal route this time to explore the more traditional San Blas islands and to also see some of the Colombian beach towns, namely Sapzurro.  I will go into much more detail in later blogs about our route but all I can say is it was amazing!

We also did a bunch of work while we were there (upgraded our cockpit, made a “lounge” and upgraded our sitting area on the fore deck).  Cath’s mom also visited and treated us to a different culinary delight every night.  Now we are back in the San Blas and geared up for charter season #2.  If anyone wants to come sailing in paradise, let us know!  Email us atsailjoana@gmail.com or contact us via Face Book at Sail Joana.  If you can’t wait to see the pictures of our last year and a half on the blog postings, you can also visit our Sail Joana Face Book page and check out the pictures there.  We may have not posted a blog, but we sure did post a ton of pics on Face Book!

                                                          San Blas
                                                             

                                                   Our New Cockpit

                                                        The Lounge 

                                                      Comfy seating on the foredeck

                                                      Fresh Seafood

                    Shopping for local goods