Day 127, Year 1: Just Another Day in Paradise
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Weather: Bright, Sunny, and Warm
Air Temperature: 78 degrees F
Water Temperature: 76 degrees F
Location: Balboa Yacht Club, Balboa, Panama

It is late in the evening here, and I just checked the air temperature. It is currently 76 degrees F which matches the water temperature here. During the day, the temp rises to 78 degrees. But Mark swears the sun here is hotter than on the eastern side of the Panama Canal. Whether that is true or not, it is bright and sunny and warm here. Weather here is very different from weather to the east of the Panama Canal. Daytime temperatures here reach the upper 70’s and dip down to 74 degrees F in the evening. Days are sunny and we have had not rain on this side of the Canal. On the other side, we had daily rains in both the early morning hours and later in the afternoon. We are having a great time here and are really enjoying the weather.

Mark spent most of his day designing and sewing our new sun shades and copying pictures from our computer to discs as back-ups. We also helped Aqua Magic get their new dinghy motor aboard and I walked into Balboa with Margaret from Aqua Magic to help her get her documents faxed to the Galapagos to get a cruising permit there. Basically it was a typical cruiser’s day in port.

Early tomorrow morning I am going into Panama City with a woman named Barbara from Octagon. She and her husband Mike are from the UK and have lived here for about a year now. She is going to show me, Margaret from Aqua Magic, and Sylvia from Windcastle, the best fish, meat, and veggie markets in town. We will provision here with fresh meat and fish for the long trip across to the Marqueses. We will provision with fresh vegetables here only for the trip from here to the Galapagos. We are hoping we will be able to find fresh vegetables there for the ~25-day trip to the Marqueses.