Maya and I arrived in Panama City, Panama just after 8 p.m. last night. We hadn’t been in touch with Thumper since Wednesday morning when Harry said they were badly beat up by a freak storm trying to cross the Bay of Panama and they were still 70 miles from Panama City. Originally, we had intended to stay the night in a hotel and then take a short plane flight today to Piñas Bay, the home of the Tropic Star Lodge and some of the Pacific’s best sport-fishing. Plans change though, so we got the hotel driver to take us to Flamenco Marina where Harry said he was intending to make repairs. We had no way to get in touch with them, though, to find out where exactly they might be… or if they had made it at all! Our driver Edwin was kind and patient though as we drove around marinas asking about Thumper and Harry and Inta. On a hunch, Maya decided to check the bar and lo!

There they were. They’d found fishing-buddy friends already and we’re about to leave for a well-needed sleep in a shore-side bed at a nearby hotel. Our arrival had them stay a bit longer and share a meal of whole fried snapper and fried plantains as well as several local beers. Then we were off to our respective lodgings and we’re about to go meet up with them to assess the damage on the boat and what it’ll take to get her sea-worthy again. More later…

A monkey at our hotel watching us eat breakfast.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 12th, 2007 at 7:00 am UTC and is filed under Travelogue.