Panama Xmas

We arrived in Espiritu del Santo on the 23rd to join our friends Betsy and Richard on Qayaq and together with Aline and Bruce from Migration, the boat which had sailed with us from Ecuador celebrating our arrival with a mahi mahi dinner.
This was a lovely sheltered island with white sandy beaches and little rocky coves to kayak and snorkel around. It was nice to relax for a couple of days.
We spent Xmas eve on our boat with 18 other cruisers who were spending Xmas here watching “The Grinch Who Stole Xmas” using Bruce’s big screen (a white sheet) and his projector and sang carols. There were a couple of boats with kids which always adds to the Xmas flavour.
For Xmas Migration and Qayaq joined us for the turkey which I had bought in Bahia and pavlova made with the collection of the eggs we all had left. It was topped off with the passionfruit I had also bought in Bahia. It was a great day and Bruce had bought the words of the carols with him which made for songs which were able to go beyond the first verse.
On boxing day instead of going shopping to exchange gifts we addressed the rudder which had been very stiff all of the way from Ecuador—a result of sitting for 6 months there. After much advice from fellow cruisers—none of whom had anything to lose if it went wrong we decided to beach the boat at the high tide at 7am the next morning. We managed to beach it without incident the following morning even though it was pouring with rain which maybe made the helpers wonder if it was such a good idea. The weather cleared and with the help of several people we were able to get it out—it had a few minor spots of rust which we had ground and polished and had it all back in place in time to await the rising tide. Luckily the tide was 13feet 6inches high and was from dawn to dusk so gave us the perfect window. It went very smoothly and so was well worth the exercise. A little comic relief was offered when we suddenly noticed the boat of one of our helpers had swung into a sand bar and was gradually going onto its side. There was nothing to do other than wait it out till the tide came back in.
We then had a few more days there and celebrated both my birthday by snorkeling and hiking to a waterfall and New Years Eve with a party on the beach with a big bonfire.
Early the next morning left to go to Isla Chapera—“Survivor”--- was filmed here. It is a beautiful island with white sandy bays and we spent the day snorkeling and swimming before heading the 40 miles to Panama City the following day.
The winds had been forecasted to increase so we left at 6am and had a fast sail—9 knots a lot of the way. We set our anchor in Playita—an anchorage on the Pacific side of the canal where we will spend a few days repairing the fridge, I had inadvertently pierced the evaporator while trying to fast defrost—not a good idea!!! We will also go to the Atlantic side and meet up with Jack and Judy when they return to their boat in a few days.
From the anchorage where I write this before heading in it looks like a very large and modern city—you apparently can get all supplies you want so will be great to restock the fresh food which we have long since run out of.