Thursday 29 December – Phoebe arrives after a mammoth trip to get here

Phoebe’s journey from Panama City was quite exciting, she couldn’t get a flight to Bocas del Toro as they were all booked out (peak time between Christmas and New Year) so she flew to a town called David on the Pacific coast. She then caught a three and a half hour taxi over the mountains to the Caribbean coast. From there it was a half hour ferry to Bocas. She cleverly set up live location so we could track her, she also sent us a photo of the taxi number plate for security. What an adventure! Her journey started with her departure from Budapest, with a flight to Gatwick. From there she had to catch two different trains to Heathrow onto a flight to New York. She spent a night at her apartment in New York picking up our new Starlink – Elon Musk’s satellite internet provider. She set it up in New York, it took a while to sort out as STARLINK was not coming up on her networks nearby, after an hour or so she read in smaller print somewhere that it is sometimes called STINKY, and hey presto Stinky had been there all the time, along with many other dubious named networks near her apartment.

Leaving our anchorage, the water taxis all gathered nearby around some poor dolphins, made me think of the tourist safari jeeps in the Serengeti

Passing a village on the water

Phoebe’s trip over the mountains

Stinky catching her flight!

Phoebe’s network list in NY ….. yikes!

We motored over to Bocas town and managed to squeeze into a space near the hustle and bustle of town. It is alive with water taxis screaming around all over the place. We headed into town on JeldiJeldi to get a few provisions, it really is backpackers heaven, the place has endless cheap accommodation and eateries. We had a funny time trying to buy fresh produce not from a supermarket which were all Chinese owned. Eventually a guy helped us out and we went down a side street and found what we wanted. But sadly no eggs which we had to resort to buying from the Chinese supermarket!

The most Christmas decorations we have seen!

Airport nearby

As we returned to Jeldi Jeldi we got a message from Phoebs that she had arrived. It was easier for her to get a water taxi to PolePole ($2) with her big case and Stinky. She was delivered just before we got there. What a reunion, and mammoth effort on her part. Poor thing was so sick before Christmas and still has a nasty cough. Some chill time on the boat is going to sort her out. So lovely to have her cheerful soul on board.

Rowan gave us a few options as to where we should go for the night, we all chose remote. So we headed down the far end of the archipelago to a recommendation in the guide book. A little nervously we wound our through shallow waters between mangrove islands and found our spot in splendid isolation!

Sadly not the best welcome for Phoebs as it was very cloudy afternoon with quite a bit of rain. Great celebrations were had when Stinky was plugged in and we had the fastest wifi we have ever, ever had! What a success.

We made a chicken curry for super with some delicious Naked wine, catching up on many stories and heard all about Phoebe’s Hungarian Christmas