Miss us?fear not,so far we have avoided those nasty pirates of the Caribbean but mechanical and technical problems have slowed our progress.Our computer issues were solved by our brilliant friend Kerry Schwoyer.Wish we could give you a fishing report but have not heard from the boys in Isla.I’m flying in tomorrow to make sure they are on the fish and not the beach.
Transit tomorrow at 6AM.Can’t believe we are finally going to be running.But oh yeah, we have to spend 2 nights in Colon.Don’t ask….at least 10 days to Isla…Maybe
Here are a couple of stills of a catch off Panama’s west coast from Inta’s video camera, courtesy of Chris Davis:
Thumper is ready to rock.Final pieces will be in place tomorrow and we are shooting for a wed. Canal transit.Then north up the Coast to Bocas del Toro for a little beach and diving time.Spent the afternoon in the old city(Casa Viego).Much like Bourbon Street in New Orleans.We love PC but it’s time.
More photos in the rest of this entry…
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yours truly scored our second black (billfish #103) and a day later it still hurt so good.We ended up putting in 3 full days offshore at Pinas with 4 shots.Missed 1 black and 1 blue.Bite was slow by local standards with the fleet releasing 9 blacks,1 blue,1striped and 1 sail during our stay.(see sidebar for tropic star link)Although slow the size of the Marlin was world class by any standard with a 500lb class average.Unfortunately the trip underscored our mechanical shortcomings with autopilot,watermaker,and glendenning still out.Also we have at least 1 injector out on the starboard engine.Fortunately yesterday we found James Tobiasson (jdt@manpanama.com)the MAN man who can and will put it together.Now all we need is a weather window on the Atlantic side(currently 12 ft.at 8 seconds..bouyweather.com)and we can transit the canal and make a run for Isla.
Have not been right since learning of my friends fathers death.It’s like I have no right to joy when I know he is in pain.Our deepest condolences to the Banta family.