Wayne arrived in Bocas Town after four airports and a crazy taxi ride, just in time for happy hour.  We whisked him to Buena Vista for drinks with “Wandering Rose” whom he had met in Bonaire.  After a tasty dinner, we headed over to “Wandering Rose” for one last roadie and to say goodbye as this is where our sailing paths change course.  Dave and Mary are heading to Cayman Islands, Cuba, then back to the States.  Hopefully, our paths will cross again soon.

After we unpacked Wayne’s bags which were full of Sugar Shack parts and accessories, we headed to Bocas Marina to get fuel.  We want to have full tanks before we transit the canal and this was a fairly easy fuel dock to tie up to.  Sugar Shack took on 345 gallons which cost about $275, not bad.  Then we added another $62 in gasoline for the dinghy and new generator.

With the boat full of fuel, we made our way to Red Frog Marina’s anchorage off of Bastimentos. We wanted to show Wayne around the island, introduce him to the famous red frog.  There is one place we know where they can be found and that is in the jungle by the Red Frog’s spa.  One little guy came out to be famous.

Last time we were here, we hung out at Palomar, but this time we dropped in on Nachyo Momma for a cold beverage. They are right next door to each other and share the same beach.

We did not stay long as we wanted to travel down “the gap” to Dolphin Bay and over to the Dark Lands.  It was much easier the second time around as we had our old track to navigate from.  A beautiful journey through shallow water while surrounded by mangroves and reefs.

Arriving just in time for sunset, we dropped the anchor and enjoyed a cool evening on board Sugar Shack.  The boys went exploring in Sweetie while I showered and enjoyed some quiet time.

Los Amigos (or Ernie’s) is famous in the archipelago for its eggs benedict.  We missed it last time we were in the area, so we made a point of attending with Wayne.  When we arrived at 0900, the tables were full and he was in full swing.  We sat near our friends, Rick and Judy from “Chasing Sunsets” (who live at Tranquillo Place) and enjoyed an absolutely mouthwatering meal!

After breakfast, we explored the bay in Sweetie and found this cute floating house.  We later learned that the current owners bought it for $60k and then spent additional funds on the floating sun deck. Locals were appalled that it cost so much (said it should have cost around $20k).

It wasn’t long after we got back that the boys took a morning siesta. After all it had been a stressful day so far, eating breakfast with a few beers.

After we let our meal settle in our bellies, we took the big boat back over through Porras Lagoon to Crawl Cay.  This is another really pretty and quiet anchorage.  We are across from our friend’s Rick and Judy’s island “Tranquillo Place.”

Matt brought out a few water toys and we enjoyed the afternoon in the water.  There are many “moon” jellies in the water, so I stayed on the SUP.  Supposedly the moon jellies don’t sting, but they scared the crap out of me when they rubbed up against my leg.

Since we had an early night, I was up early and was blessed with this gorgeous sunrise over Tranquillo Place.

What kind of friends would we be if we did not take Wayne to Monday Market at the Drunken Monkey? Pretty crappy friends for sure.  So, we planned our escapades around this event.  We picked up Judy and headed over right when they open at 10am so we could get the best pick of the market.

By noon, the Drunken Monkey was packed with lots of pangas.  People park on either side and in front of it – where ever there is room.

Image:  Top left exterior of Drunken Monkey from the water; Top Right Drunken Monkey from shore; Bottom Left market area; Bottom Right Jessica and CJ’s home.

Wayne, Matt and I enjoying good times at the Drunken Monkey and Jessica trying to juggle many beer bottles.