Isla Mogo Mogo, Panama

We are enjoying our time here in the Las Perlas Islands, Panama. The boys were assigned a descriptive paragraph writing assignment by their cranky, old teacher for school recently and here are the results! 

Isla Mogo Mogo 

By J.P. Doolittle

Isla Mogo Mogo was a beautiful place. I saw an anchored boat with shining white fiberglass and lovely polished wood. I heard small gentle waves at a soft tone.  A cool, relaxing blanket of mist washed over me.  The steamy, flavorful, homemade hot dogs that were being cooked in the kitchen made me drool.  A strange leaf and stick structure settled in the distance on the beach. Isla Mogo Mogo was an awesome place.

Isla Mogo Mogo

By Mickey Doolittle

Isla Mogo Mogo is extremely beautiful.  There are hundreds of trees and the leaves look like moss growing on land.  When I shut my eyes,  I hear water breaking on the beach and children playing.  I turn my attention to the taste of chocolate milk which I swish around my mouth to make it cool.  After jumping overboard, the water hits me and a blast of harsh, cool water flows around my skin.  When I inhale through my nose, it smells like chocolate milk, salt water and wood.  The anchorage Isla Mogo Mogo is a key desitnation for cruisers and is an exciting and pretty place.

Golfito, Costa Rica

Current location: Panama City, Panama

GOLFITO

By Mickey Doolittle

Hello again blog readers!! Our time in Golfito was awesome. When we entered it was POURING rain like God was mad!! And I mean REALLY mad, but there was no lightening.  We were planning to hook up to a mooring ball (watch video below). It took three tries to get on it. Normally, it takes one or two attempts.  Finally, when we finished, I spotted two other friend’s boats, Macha and Contento.


This is a power boat, not a sailboat, but it should give you an idea of what it is.





 

At last we went into “Land and Sea”. It is a cruiser’s place about 20 feet from the mooring balls. When we got there we said hi to the crew of Macha: Tony, Caroline and their daughter Malia.  After we visited, we went to dinner. On the walk back to the boat, we heard light saber frogs. Well, they made sounds like a light saber. After three nights of underway passage, I got a good night’s sleep.

When I woke up I started making pancakes. They were awesome!! After eating, we walked into town and we got cash from the bank and groceries. Finally, my family and I walked the two miles home. We got there and loaded up the dinghy, took one trip out and came back in.  When we returned to the dock, dad decided to go to a different restaurant that night.  So we walked down the road and came across “Fish Hook”.  I devoured a delicious burger. When we were done, we returned to the boat and curled up and went to sleep.

The rest of the time in Golfito was wonderful.  We are dinner with Katie, the owner of Land and Sea. She invited her friend’s nieces and we talked via Google Translator, because they only spoke Spanish.  Also, mom and I crossed the border of Costa Rica and Panama to purchase cheaper groceries.  That is a long story! We finally got a generator, but it was VERY complicated. On the final night we ate a delicious dinner.

 

 

 

Christmas in Panama

Current location:  Panama City, Panama

CHRISTMAS IN PANAMA

By J.P. Doolittle

Merry Christmas!  Christmas Eve was exciting. The first thing we did was put on Santa hats. I was excited to open presents the next day. We sat around for a while and then our friends, Aaron and Nicole came over.

We hung out for a long time then I decided to ask dad if I could ride in the dinghy alone. I got my lifejacket on and took off. That’s when I realized my first problem.  All the weight in the dinghy, which was me, was tipped to one side. So I decided I would pick up more weight, Aaron.
 

I started taking tight turns. Aaron decided to start calling them “High G Turns”.   Then Aaron said he needed a drink. We agreed that I would go by the boat, without stopping and he would grab a beer. Success!! Then Mickey wanted to come so we picked him up. After that we did other boring stuff when we got back to the boat, like talking.

That night more friends came over for dessert. Then our friends from Gundermine gave me and Mickey a foot long plastic candy cane full of Hershey Kisses. After talking for ten minutes, Mickey and I went to bed. We just got settled into our beds when Mickey remembered to put cookies and milk out for Santa. We did ,and again went to bed.

That night I woke up at midnight. When I checked for presents, there were none. Then I went back to sleep and woke up at my normal time. I looked out and there were presents!!! I wanted to wake up mom and dad, but we made a rule that we can’t wake them up before 8:00. I stared at the clock for three hours and then woke them up. I got awesome presents like: Legos, a skateboard and I also got a stuffed animal that came with a star! Yeah, a real star! I even received some poker chips.

Christmas night we went to pizza. I tried my skateboard and the tires were sticking. Oh well! We had to lubricate the tires, that’s all.  Anyway, they had REALLY good pizza. After we ate, I got even more presents. Finally, Kara offered to me to play Minecraft, an exciting video game. Then we went home. Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year!

 

 

Kara from Taking Flight and I playing Minecraft!!

 

 

Some of the presents I got for Christmas!!