Dad and Peter paddled our kayaks about a mile and a half across Canal de Bocas del Toro yesterday to Hospital Point on the western edge of Isla Solarte. So called because it used to site a hospital for quarantining yellow fever victims during the banana republic heydays of the past century. Bocas and the surrounding mainland areas around Almirante and Changuinola were popular plantation sites for the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita). Hospital now defunct and replaced by some nice private residences. We found a small private landing zone and went ashore for some attempted exploration, but too many fences in place (to keep out those pesky and nosey foreign explorers, no doubt).



Anyway, on shore we found some cool red tree frogs. I dared Pete to lick it first; he would not take the bait. I told him I would if he would...still no go. We could have had a very mellow afternoon, darn it.



The swells were a little higher on the way back...3-4 feet, confused seas and wind picked up a little. Made for good kayak surfing on the return, in full view of half-inebriated denizens of "The Pickled Parrot"...the name says it all. The judges scored Peter higher on his surfing than me; course I was upside down in the surf so they didn't really get a good look at my form.

We have been "Bourne again" the past 3 nights as we have watched all 3 Ludlum Bourne movies. We think we like this character even better than James Bond.



So, you heard about the "Peter Principle" yesterday...all of the Williams rise to their level of internal combustion competence (marginally, 4 wheeled vehicles), and then are promoted to a level of incompetence (2 wheeled vehicles) where they maintain a rather lackluster performance. Peter is just the latest, and stinkiest, iteration of that principle, having been previously mentored by Dad(motorcycle), mom ( at least 2 VW's that she has publically owned up to), Chris (4 vehicles including the Skillman's Volvo in the Church parking lot), Marc who invented the world's first amphibious Taurus, ? Annie ( of course she is adopted; come to think about it it did take her 3-4 times to pass her DMV test), and Cassandra (ah, what can we say about Cassandra; comparing the rest of us to Cassandra is like comparing my MagLite to the Sun). I simply can't wait to see what happens when we turn the Williams loose on a whole new class of carbon-emitters, marine diesel engines. Alright!



There is an open air, over-the-water bar that cranks up the woofers the later it gets. The bar is probably 1/4-1/2 mile away, but sound travels well over water. I have had to resort to Kathy's Soma and my IPod to sleep most nights till 3 AM. It's called Bar Hundido if anyone wants to call in a smart bomb for me.



Anyway, after our sewer-capades 2 days ago we had a great trip out to Bocas del Drago. We had the beach all to ourselves. Calm, warm water. Peter and I swam way out into the bahia. On the island we saw none of the fabled howler monkeys, but did see beautiful scenery.



We missed attending MMC's fabled annual Christmas Party last night, the first time in 9 years we have missed. I am sad about that. They seem to go nuts with Christmas decorations here. Feliz Navidad!

Bye, Keith