We have moved back to an anchorage off of Isla Gamez after spending a week in Boca Chica for Christmas. Christmas Eve, the resort “Gone Fishing Panama”, had a nice buffet for their guests and invited the cruisers anchored nearby. We went and the food was delicious. After dinner there was a gift exchange and we ended up with a bottle of champagne which we plan to open on New Years Eve. Christmas day we ate dinner at “Frank’s Place” with Jan and George, Claire de Lune, and enjoyed a fresh fish meal.
New Years Eve was spent on Lanikai where we had a great view, from our buoy at the Balboa Yacht Club, of the many fireworks let off along the causeway. The convention center seemed to have the biggest display. The fireworks there started about 11:30 and were almost continuous until after midnight. We gave up at 12:20 and went to sleep with the sky still being lit up by the big booms.
New Years Day was sunny but the afternoon was filled with short intense rain showers even with the sun still shinning! Bill and I were invited to enjoy sauerkraut on Windsong. Shirley’s family traditionally eats sauerkraut on January 1 to bring good luck for the year. She cooked it for us with lots of sausage and pork. I took over mashed potatoes and fresh bread. It was very delicious, but then both Bill and I enjoy sauerkraut. Andy, Marianne and Andrew from Soy Libre joined in the feast but had to return to their – boat anchored off the far end of the causeway – before dark. We spent a little longer visiting with Frank and Shirley before returning home ourselves. Everyone was still tired after the late night of fireworks the night before.
Christmas Eve I cooked a dinner on the boat and we had Ed, from Kuay, over to eat with us. Ed’s boat was still out of the water when we met him ashore to enjoy a few beers while the dinner was cooking. He returned to his boat only to discover that the boat was going to be launched with the 6PM high tide! We put dinner on hold until Ed could get his boat safely checked out and tied back on a buoy. He arrived about 7PM and the food came out of the oven. The baked potatoes and spinach soufflé were good, but the small boneless ham that I had purchased frozen in pretty holiday green-and-red foil was no better than just a slab of lunch meat. We enjoyed the dinner anyway!!
Christmas Day at 2PM, we met with several other cruisers up at the Balboa Yacht Club bar for rides to Angel’s house where we enjoyed a very fun afternoon and evening. She had about 30 people over to enjoy the friendship and food. We spent several delightful hours visiting with the new friends that we met. Angel’s home was all decorated for the season and – although no snow fell outside – we had a grand rainstorm that lasted for several hours. Just as evening was darkening outside, Angel served the Christmas feast and it was wonderful. There was a real turkey and a real ham and all the usual goodies to go with it. Everyone stuffed themselves with the delicious food. We then exchanged the small gifts that everyone had brought. Some of the gifts were a real hoot and several of the guests had never participated in that type of gift exchange, but they soon caught on and enjoyed the fun.
Before leaving we were treated to some fabulous desserts. Angel is a professional pastry cook so you can imagine how good they were!!! Even though we were still quite full from the meal we enjoyed more than enough of the sweets. A group of the female cruisers helped with the kitchen clean-up, washing the stacks of dishes and even bagging the left over food for the refrigerator. The washing was made fun by all the “girl talk” that took place in the absence of male company. Shirley, of Windsong, had arranged drivers so we did not have to hunt down taxis for the ride back to the marina. We returned to Lanikai to realize that it was already after 10PM and bed time.
Bill is greeted by the family’s pet
The home is well decorated for the season
The food tables were covered with all the proper Christmas goodies
The gift exchange was almost the last activity.
