Wait...we might need just one more thing....

We anchored off Taboga Island for a few days. This cute little beach town, just 7nm from Panama City is full of flowers, vibrant colored houses and lots of tourists traveling in for a day of beach. Well within the reach of Panama City by ferry, the town was partying until the last ferry left the dock.

Laid back beach town of Taboga brings the weekend crowds.

In the evenings and mornings, it was pretty quiet. People doing yoga on the beach and the weekend crowd enjoying the quiet moments. The anchorage was a bit exposed to Panama Bay's northerly 'summer' winds (they call this 'dry season' summer!). We enjoyed several walks along the beach, some good beach side food and lots of people watching.

Taboga has an authentic Panama vibe even though its on the Pacific. It is the perfect weekend getaway for Panama City slickers.

Now we are in Panama City and the hectic bustle is palpable. We are tied up in Marina La Playa. Not far from our location is a road that is busy day and night as tourists come to the Amador Causeway to see the ships coming & going from the canal, the vibrant marina community and several other tourist attractions. The view of the city is quite magnificent.

All those green triangles/ships on the navigation are container ships. It was interesting to wind our way through them on the way to La Playita Anchorage.

There is now some nervous excitement aboard Okisollo as one might expect before one sets off on a great journey. I was thinking that it feels a bit like we are going to summer camp. There is the anticipation of what friends we'll make and what sort of adventures we will have --- and in the end it will all be a great time. Will they like us? Will we have packed all the right stuff? Will we get homesick? Should I have packed more Oreo's? (Literally, I had this same concern when I was 10!) I just want to get out and go, waiting is always the worst! Neither Dan nor I have the gift of patience.

A 300' wide tanker ship being turned around with 5 tugboats

Tomorrow, we are saying goodbye to our friends that are headed through the Canal. We are also going to rent a car and drive 90 minutes to the Caribbean side, so we can say a few more goodbyes to our friends we've made in the last year in Mexico and Central America. We don't know when we'll see them again but we hope we will!

The anchored research vessel Tara with a ship enroute to the Canal in the background.

The Panama cruising community vibe is not like any we've been in for a long time. Everyone is going somewhere and there is a bit of panic. "I need this part". "Who wants to buy this thing?" "Does anyone have a prop puller?" etc. etc. This marina is the staging location for boats going to/from the Pacific side of the canal. 1/4 of them are going East and 3/4 going West (it seems). There are ALL nationalities and all types of boats.

Coming out of the locks, a strange looking ship with no load

Just around us within a .5 nm there are Danish, French, English, Canadian, Panamanian, German, Swedish and of course a few US cruisers. We've seen really cool research vessels (https://fondationtaraocean.org/en/schooner/tara-schooner/), famous Youtubers (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d1vpzZ5m2Kw) and many container ships and cruise ships. Watching the boats going in and out of the canal is constant entertainment.

Tally Ho at anchor in the La Playita anchorage, at the Pacific entrance to the canal

But we don't have time for much entertainment, meanwhile, back on the boat, Dan has been waxing the hull, which is really hard work in the hot sun. I have the never ending grocery list. Several times I've said, "don't eat that or I'll have to buy it again". What a strange thing to say! I went to PriceSmart (imagine Costco and SamsClub in one store) one day. The mall the next. Today I pre-made several meals for the freezer. Dan and I have both been frantically buying small little things and sending to our crew (thank you Josh!) in Edmonds who will be carrying all sorts of gifts of miscellaneous items that we've not been able to find here in Panama.

The resident marina coati (known locally as "gato solo") getting a handout at the head of the dock.

For example, Dan's favorite amazon underwear, floating toys for lounging in the sun, a spare kill-switch for the outboard motor, a respirator, a VHF remote handheld and gas struts to name a few. There have been many times we've said -- maybe we should just get it -- we won't be able to get it in Tahiti. We'd better buy it now. Or Wait, there is just one more thing we need. I'm in a constant state of do we have enough? What harm will it be if we have one more block of cheese? Oh, and don't forget to review all inventory against the Galapagos food import requirements. The list of what we can bring is one page -- what not to bring is 4.... Preparing to sail around the world really teases all our hoarding tendencies. The boat is FULL. FULL. FULL. At some point for our sanity (and for our bank accounts) we just need to cast off and leave the dock.

We are SO ready to cast off!