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!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waterfall Hike in Costa Rica

Here are a couple of blog entries from Mickey and J.P. We were anchored out in Bahia Santa Elena, Costa Rica for about a week and went totally off the grid.  They were subjected to some hiking, swimming, and gorgeous sunsets...poor kids. It should be noted that they were required to use an example of personification and a simile in this blog entry....again, poor kids!!!

Enjoy!

 

 

Mickey took this photograph after pulling into the anchorage at Bahia Santa Elena.

 

 

 

Easy One Mile Hike

By Mickey

 

Hello Readers!  Earlier this week we went on an "easy one mile hike." It was about 9:00 in the morning when my mom announced that we were going on a hike with our friends, Michael and Diana to a waterfall.  Supposedly the guide book said that it was an "easy one mile hike!".  We had to row a half a mile, but halfway there we caught a ride with our friends.  My family arrived at the beach in about 10 minutes instead of 30. When we got to the path, it wasn't quite a path. It was a river and we were pounding upstream!!  After a full hour, we finally go there. So much for an easy one mile hike!!

 

It was a beautiful waterfall and it looked like it was throwing buckets of water into the lake.  Also, we could drink the fresh water.  We swam next to the waterfall and had snacks of crackers, sandwiches, and cookies.  Then it was time to go back.

 

It was A LOT easier on the way back. We got to the road in only 15 minutes. Now THAT is an easy one mile hike! When we got to the dinghy, we caught a ride with Michael, but his engine broke down halfway there.  Thankfully, we saw Heather and Ron in their dinghy (they are the friends we got a ride from on the way there). Before they could get to our dinghy, I surprised everyone by jumping into the water! It felt soooooo good!! After I got up on the dinghy, they towed us back to our boat and I got in the water again. It was a great day!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waterfall Hike

By J.P.



 

Hello Blog Readers! A couple of days ago me and my family went on a lovely hike. The Costa Rica guide book said it was a easy one mile trek.  It was really a difficult three mile hike.  When we got into the dinghy we couldn't start the engine (long story). My dad rowed us for a little bit then Sundancer's dinghy came in and towed us. Once we got there we waited fro Michael and Diana for about five minutes.

 

The first leg of the hike we looked for the service road. That didn't take us long. Then we found it and we saw HUGE animal prints!  Michael (our friend, who came with us) found me a cool walking stick. After that, we found the river. We walked upstream. There were really big spiders! Dad (Ben) said there was nothing to worry about, but those were big!! There was really slippery moss, so it was harder to walk.

 

Finally, we arrived at the waterfall. It was my first time at a real waterfall, so to me, it looked like a person puking blue something.  The rocks were like little freckles on human skin. The water was so clear I bet if the rocks were 20 miles deeper, you could still see the bottom.  We had  an awesome lunch there. About half of my favorite foods were there. After that, we took a dip in the waterfall. The water was SO clear. I can't say it was crystal clear because I've never seen a crystal before!  After that I started skipping rocks then got board. Two minutes later, we headed back.

 

Going back down the river was as hard as it was coming there. Once we got back to the beach Michael and Diana were nice enough to tow us.  But after a couple of minutes, their engine overheated. So we rowed a while then Sundancer, Heather and Ron, towed us with their ten horsepower engine (which is a lot for a dinghy engine). That was a really fun hike.

 

 

 

 

 

As we pulled into the anchorage, there was a beautiful rainbow. Welcome to Costa Rica!!

 

Above photo credits go to Mickey!!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Visit to Ms. Johnson's Class

Visit to Molly’s Classroom

By Mickey

    On September 13^th we went to my mom’s friend’s classroom. It was a very nice school with a massive whiteboard. There were about 25 kids in the classs. The kids were extremely nice and so sweet.  The room number was 3 and Ms. Johnson, the teacher, would yell, “Who has it better than Room 3?”

    And everyone says, “NOBODY!”   It is from Jim Harbaugh, the 49ers coach.

    There were many things to do like dominoes and other activities. One of the students was doing the Baja Ha-Ha! She was going to do it in a few weeks!!! Also, we talked about our trip. We answered questions, helped with papers, played with the 1^st graders and talked about this blog.

    Well, I better be going. Bye!

Visit to Ms. Johnson’s Class

By J.P.

     Today I went to Ms. Johnson’s class. Me, Mickey and my mom went because we helped out. There were 25 kids at the class. It brought back a lot of first grade memories. I helped out a little. I wrote Ms. Johnson’s name on her books and showed the kids pictures of our boat.

    

     Ms. Johnson’s real name is Molly. Sometimes Molly would yell, “Who has it better than Room 3?”

    Then everybody would yell, “Nobody!”

    Their room is three. There was a girl there who was doing the Baja Ha-Ha. The Baja Ha-Ha is a sailboat race from San Diego to Mexico. I was so surprised!

     That’s all! Bye!

By Mickey Doolittle

Current Location: San Mateo, CA


Hi! We are back in the States right now.  Sorry I haven't written in such a long time. I really wanted to make my own movies so I asked my friend, Zach, who is a Apple genius, and he said Stop Motion Studios is the best app to use!

This is my video taking place five years after Return of the Jedi. Darth Vader has returned as a clone. The Jedi must stop him before he recreates his new empire.

You may have to turn your computer screen....sorry about that!!!

Coming Back to the U.S.

The boys wrote these a few days before leaving El Salvador....we have since flown home and are now back in the Uinted States, enjoying all of the things they were looking forward to....


Current location: San Mateo, California, U.S.A

Hi again; J.P. here! Me and my family are taking a trip back to the United States! I’m looking forward to the food there that I can’t get here in El Salvador. One thing is there’s ice cream that I can’t get here. And we will have a freezer to save ice cream! I’d also like to go back to McDonald’s. Another restrant I’d like to go to is Burger King. A bad thing is they don’t have papusas.

One other thing that I’m looking forward to is my cousin’s dog, Jackson. I’m looking forward to playing with him, feeding him, NOT picking up his poop, racing him and playing catch with him. He also does this thing I like to call treat circle. You just hold a treat over his head and he’ll do circles!
Another thing I’m looking forward to is the weather. It is REALLY hot here!! There’s also nice rain in the States. Rain water is good to drink. There’s also rainbows there!

We have 15 cousins back in the States. Our uncle’s pool is nice. I also would like to visit all of their houses. Here’s some examples; the Buccinio’s, Uncle Pat’s and Aunt Susan’s, Nana’s, and Jerry’s house. Well, guess  I’m done now!  Bye!

J.P. Doolittle

Going Back to the U.S.

By Mickey Doolittle

We are going back to the U.S. for the summer. I am looking forward to Twain Harte. Every year my twelve cousins and I go there. Every day we play mini golf. It is the most awesome course ever. Also, we go to Twain Harte Lake every day;  swimming, sand castles, snacks and the best ice cream in the world (except Baskin Robbins). It is a neat place!

I am also looking forward to Giant’s games. We are going on the 28^th! We are going with a few family members. Weeeeeeeee!   But my favorite part of Giant’s games is joining the crowd and slapping random people high fives when they score a run.

I am most looking forward to seeing all my friends and family. I haven’t seen them for 8 months. I also used to spend every day with my P.E. teacher, Ms. Pam. So I can finally hang out with her.

The food in the U.S rocks! There is a chicken called Orange Chicken and it has this sauce. It is a little spicy, but is really good! McDonalds in the U.S. has the 2 cheeseburger meal. 2 cheeseburgers with fries!!! Bingo! I guess that’s it! I will enjoy.

We'll have to trade in our dinghy for a car for a while.....

Rush hour traffic may be a little different too!



No more riding in the back of pickup trucks either!



We will miss our house on the water....

It's no McDonald's play structure, but hammocks are way cool!!

The view is better than McDonald's, too!!