Preparing for the Adventure

On September 29th, we fly out of New Bern, NC on our way to George Town, which is on the island of Great Exuma in the Exumas chain of the Bahamas. It’s sure to be one of those travel days that never fades from your memory. We are scheduled to change planes four times – first in Charlotte, then to Ft. Lauderdale, where we transfer to a Bahamas Air flight bound for Nassau. After a six-hour layover in Nassau, we’ll jump the evening flight to George Town, arriving there at approximately 7:15pm. Were hoping to catch a taxi from the airport to a place called Coco-Plums Beach Club, which we visited on our last trip to these islands. They are the proud creators of a cheeseburger, which has been rated #1 on both mine and Kate’s lifetime list of “Best Cheeseburgers Ever”.

The past few weeks have been hectic to say the least. We have been doing a lot of asset liquidation with the ultimate goal of getting down to the bare necessities of life. Believe it or not, Tomorrow is even up for sale, but we won’t let her go cheaply. If she doesn’t sell while we’re gone, we’ll be more than happy to have her, but if someone wants her badly enough between now and then, we’ll be happy to make the exchange.

Hopefully after the #1 Cheeseburger in the World, we’ll grab a taxi into George Town and meet up with Capt. Mark and Stray Cat, a 45’ Privilege catamaran. Probably the next day, we’ll weigh anchor, and begin our journey south, ultimately heading for the San Blas Islands of Panama. The route will take us offshore for through the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba, and then on to Jamaica. We plan to pull into Kingston, Jamaica for a day or two to rest and take on provisions and fuel. When the weather allows, we’ll make the decision to continue south for the last offshore leg to the San Blas Islands, a distance that should take 2 or 3 days to cover.

The San Blas are renowned for their tropical beauty, palm tree studded islands, white sand and turquoise blue waters. They are also famous for the indigenous Kuna Indians, who still live according to their generations old traditions and legal codes. The country of Panama even recognizes the sovereignty of their nation and their laws. They are famous for paddling out to meet visiting yachts in their dugout canoes with the desire to trade fish, coconuts, and most famously, the colorful “molas” that are crafted by the Kuna women and children.

We plan to explore San Blas for several weeks before making our way to the Bocas del Toro province of Panama where we will be based for several weeks. Past that point, the schedule is relatively open, and as sure as anything CAN happen, we are sure that many things WILL happen.

We’ll do our best to update this blog and our website with reports and pictures so that you can all go on a “virtual adventure” without ever leaving your computer screen.

In return, we only ask for your thoughts and prayers for a successful and safe voyage.

All the best,

Mike and Kate.