With many thanks to Bob who sent me his journal of the trip:

After challenging flights to Panama City, Bob met John and Steve and the next day --April 29-- took the train at 7 am to Colon. The train goes all along the Panama canal to Colon. A taxi takes them to Fort Sherman and the Marina where Mike is waiting on Finishterre. The road crosses than Panama Canal at the end of the locks. As the locks swing shut, a steep bridge swings out. Bob says, "You can look up over the locks and see ships and you can look the other way and see the entrance to the canal. Incredible sight, big oilers and container ships going through. We almost have the feeling of going through ourselves."

"We meet up with Mike at the marina and go aboard Finisterre to stow our gear. I asked for and got the little captain's stateroom. Big mistake. There is no air movement to speak of in the room. Only lasted two nights then took other settee across from John. Mike puts us to work cleaning the boat. Dinner that nite at the marina restaurant."

April 30.. Caught the 8:15 shuttle bus to Colon to provision the boat. Spent $500 provisioning boat. Got lots of beer and wine. Some food, too. Store gives John and Steve a ride back to the Marina because we've purchased so many groceries. I ride back on the bus. Get to pass those amazing locks again. Back on the boat we store provisions, hank on main sail, then go for a beer and a swim. Hey, it's Panama and it's hot and muggy! Dinner in restaurant again. Might as well, who knows when we will get another chance.

May 1: Holiday today because of upcoming elections. Hard to find someone to clear us out of Panama. We hank on the jib and finally get clearance.

We're off! We head out of the marina and head down coast to Portobello. Lots of ships are at anchor waiting to go through the canal. We start hitting swells immediately and the first day turns into a rough sail! We close-reach into 5' to 8' seas. Several break the length of the boat. We reef the main and jib in 15-20 knots of wind. Finisterre is a quiet, smooth sailing boat, but there is still a lot of rocking and pitching in all directions. Very hard to move around. This lasts about 6 hours. We are glad to make port.

Received another location through the SPOT gps system and Finisterre is either right at Providencia Island, or very close by. On Google Earth, satelite view they are there! I found a few photos of the islands-- Providencia and San Andres which belong to Colombia. These will do until I get photos from Miike and his crew.

I imagine they are resting and getting ready to check in to the country -- the islands belong to Colombia. Their stay will be short, but they'll have time to go to the stores and internet and explore the island a bit. Then, it's off to the
Caymans.

Message from Mike by sailmail --email system that uses the radio on Finisterre--

We arrived at Chicime Island today,
and just getting settled in. Tomorrow we will go over to Gun Boat Island and see
our friends. Hope they appreciate the business cards. We then need to find a
needing Ula owner who needs a sail that we brought. John bought a mola, and we gave
some things to families at Chicime.

I found out that one of the safety systems that Mike has on board-- a thing called SPOT which has a gps and ways to using the satelite to connect to other's email and Google Earth works great. I have seen their location on Google Earth and there are also pictures at the site which I'll attempt to put here, too.

It's a great relief to know the parts we gathered up and sent with crew Steve and John are working and they're enjoying the San Blas!

Kay -- at home in Ukiah after last big chemo treatment and doing great!

On April 20, Mike flew to Panama City, took a taxi to Shelter Bay Marina in Colon, on the Caribbean side of the canal and re-united with Finisterre. The boat has been "on the hard" for almost a year since we weren't able to return for the Winter cruising season. As a result, she was extremely dirty outside, but surprisingly free of mildew inside. Mildew is the dredded plague for cruisers who have to leave their boats closed up during the rainy season! Mike also found out that some of the electronic equipment just refused to work after all that time. He urgently asked me to get regulators for the electrical systems and is still working on the email systems to get them up and running.

So, there will be parts ready to go to the boat with Mike's crew-- Steve and John who arrive in Panama next Tuesday. Bob, who is in Florida will also join the crew in Colon. So, with his 3 buddies, Mike will attempt to leave Panama by May 1st and his route should take him to the San Blas Islands, Panama-- Providencia, Colombia--Grand Caymans--Key West, Florida, up the East Coast of Florida to an anchorage or place "on the hard" in Georgia, S. Carolina or N. Carolina. The crew should be able to fly home around June 1 and Mike will be back in Ukiah around the 15th or so.

Watch for more news on the fast delivery of Finisterre!

There's a possibility we will get to Finisterre in late Spring this year. It all depends on how things go with my treatment for breast cancer. I've decided not to write here on the blog about it and am just looking forward to being healthy enough to be out on the bounding main again with my captain and our trusty Finisterre.