Bob, Linda, Val, Katlynn Xmas, San Jose del Cabo Val with Santa on Beach Sleigh, San Jose
We
spent the Christmas holiday in San Jose del Cabo, Baja, Mexico with Linda’s
niece Valerie and her daughter Katlynn.
We had a great time there, enjoying all the tourist activities and the
warm sunny weather.
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| Bob, Pam and Pat Tequilla Tasting, Todos Santos |
After Val and
Katlynn flew home, we drove our rental SUV 6 hours north to Loreto for a week
enjoying the remote parts of the Baja peninsula before heading back south to
Cabo San Lucas to spend a week with our friends Pat and Pam Cullen. We love the Baja and all it offers; Pat and
Bob caught enough fish offshore for two nice dinners at the condo.
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| Linda and Pam swim with Dolphins, Cabo San Lucas |
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Panama City Skyline from our 64th floor Penthouse
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After
a few weeks home enjoying our friends in St. Augustine, we flew to Panama City,
Panama and the San Blas Islands for 3 weeks.
We really got to know the city as “residents” (yes, we are now
officially Panamanian residents), and found that we enjoyed “high rise condo living”
in the urban environment a lot more than we thought. Panama City is a very
international city, with a population and skyline resembling Miami.
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| Tom and Linda at top of Hard Rock Cafe |
Our friend, Tom Hart, joined us for a couple
of weeks, so we enjoyed a lot of good wine and great food at some of the best
restaurants in Panama City. Linda cooked
several excellent seared ahi tuna dinners along with the tasty fresh ceviche we
obtained from the Mercado de Pescado (fish market), which was walking distance
from our Penthouse rental condo.
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| San Blas Islands,Panama |
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| Traditional Dress Kuna Woman in Dugout Canoe |
Our
trip to the San Blas Islands on the Panamanian Caribbean coast was
fabulous. We chartered a roomy (not so
fast but very comfortable) 52-ft ketch with a husband /wife crew; S/V Blue Sky. http://www.blueskysailingsanblas.com Breeze, the captain sailed between the
islands and used the motor only to anchor (Bob enjoyed tending sails only when
he wanted) and Debbie, the captain’s wife
and cook, was a former chef at the Captiva Yacht Club (FL) so the food was fantastic.
They worked very hard at getting fresh local seafood; they know all the local
Kuna Indian veggie boats to keep them supplied with fresh fruit and veggies.
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| Bob, Linda, Doug, Wendy on Kuna Island |
Our
friends, Wendy and Doug Pullen, joined us.
We had met them last year (they are Canadian citizens working in Panama
for 5 years) while we were at the Bahia, near Coronado, Panama, on the Pacific
coast. The San Blas Islands are
beautiful, with gorgeous crystal clear blue and aqua waters, idyllic islands,
fabulous snorkeling (diving not allowed by the indigenous Kuna Indians), and
interesting local villages on some of the larger islands. We ate lunch locally a couple of times; the
fresh seafood was delicious and the crevesas very cold. It reminded us of our cruising days in the
eastern Caribbean and our 4-day trip was over all too soon. We hated to leave
and would recommend the charter highly – 4 days is too few. We are up for going back if anyone wants to
go.
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| Marcello and Bob enjoying sail |
After
returning for a few more weeks in St. Augustine getting ready to depart on this
year’s motorhome trip, we headed out on March 31. Our first stop was to spend a weekend with
our good friends, Marina and Marcello Borzatta, in Destin FL. It’s always fun to spend time with them, and as
we normally do, we ended up spending the weekend on their 42 foot Beneteau
sloop sailboat out of Panama City Beach.
We sailed offshore Panama City Beach both days and enjoyed lunches
anchored in the Bay and grilled dinner at the dock. We always have a fabulous time being with
them.
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| Linda and Bob enjoying Sunset on Gulf Islands National Seashore |
Our
next stop was only a few miles west to Ft. Pickens Campground, Gulf Islands
National Seashore, near Pensacola. The
Gulf Islands are barrier reefs along the gulf coast, with beautiful WHITE, fine
grain beaches, dunes, and birds…lots of birds.
We enjoyed the park’s beaches and the historic forts, but also explored
Pensacola. We were able to see the Blue Angels
practice: they are stationed at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
Blue Angels Flyby over Pensacola Light
Blue Angels Overhead
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| Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola |
We spent a whole day at the Naval Aviation Museum, which is excellent - a must do for anyone. The museum is devoted to the history of naval aviation, including that of the US Navy, the US Marine Corps
and the US Coast Guard. It covers a full
range of aircraft and spacecraft representing the development, growth and
history of US Naval Aviation. In addition to the excellent exhibits in the
museum, there are almost 100 aircraft parked outside in the rear; however, the
back area was closed to visitors when we were there.
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| Bob in backseat of F4 Fighter Jet |
Bob
really enjoyed this museum; he was able to sit in the cockpit rear seat of an
F4B Phantom fighter jet like he had flown in while he was on the USS Kitty Hawk
in Vietnam. It brought back a lot of
memories. Bob
was also stationed in Pensacola while in flight school. We spent some time visiting his old “haunts”,
including the Officers Club (O Club), which is now an All Hands Club. We had a couple of drinks and a lunch there,
but we have found many of the O Clubs in various military bases to be only
shadows of their former selves. With the
crackdown on drinking and the political correctness in the military, the former
“hell-raising” days of the Navy are gone (too bad for the Navy – MHO). The clubs are mostly now open to everyone,
serving only lunch, and mostly only open for a not-so-happy hour on a Friday or
Saturday evening.
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| Linda enjoying raw oysters before our BBQ Shrimp |
We
left Pensacola and drove to an Elks Lodge in New Orleans. We left early enough to get there in time to
have one of our favorite dinners, BBQ shrimp, New Orleans style. It is not just shrimp cooked on the grill,
but the whole shrimp, including the head which adds flavor, sautéed and served
in a very spicy sauce (Worchester sauce, butter, garlic and lots of spices). It is one of our favorite dishes and worth a “small
detour” to New Orleans. We had planned
to go to Mr. B’s Bistro in the French Quarter, but we found out that there was
a seafood festival going on, and we decided to not have dinner with 60,000 of
our “closest friends”. So we decided to
try Pascal Manale’s, the original BBQ shrimp restaurant, which is not in the
quarter. It was excellent and a much better choice. Another favorite added to our list and a
great restaurant recommendation without the hassle of the Quarter.
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| RV on Galveston Ferry |
On
the way to Padre Island National Seashore on the Texas gulf coast, we parked
our motorhome on the street in front of our cruising friend’s, Judy and Bill
Rouse, house in Galveston, TX. We had met
them in the Caribbean when we started to cruise in 2005. We have stayed in touch with them as they
continued cruising and spent 11 years circumnavigating the world on their 53
foot Amel ketch, much of it with kids and grandkids, particularly in the south
Pacific and Mediterranean. They recently
sold their boat and moved to Galveston to be near their family. We had a fabulous stay with them, catching up
on all their cruising adventures including the week spent dodging and riding
out a typhoon (hurricane) in the Indian Ocean.
It is always a lot more fun to talk with people who have experienced
cruising, so they were happy to talk about their cruising and our boats in
detail with us. We enjoyed a great evening and had a delicious cioppino dinner
at their favorite Galveston restaurant within walking distance to their
house. Judy is an excellent cook (as we knew from eating
on their boat) and she cooked a wonderful breakfast before we headed south to see
the Padre Island National Seashore and to camp at the Corpus Christi Naval Air
Station.
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| Padre Island National Seashore, Corpus Christi |
Padre
Island National Seashore is a barrier island along the Texas coast. Our best (or worst) description is:
WINDY. The wind was incessant and
strong, so much so, that we could not put out the slide-outs on our motorhome. The dunes and grasslands have made a long
recovery from being overgrazed by cattle.
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| Caracara, Padre Island National Seashore |
The number and variety of bird species there are incredible. It is the first stop on the migration route
from the Yucatan Peninsula, with the birds flying over 800 miles over the
Caribbean before they hit land and head north.
We took a birding tour with a
park ranger and saw a lot of resident, but even more transient, birds. We are not birders, but it was still
interesting to see the variety. Our
biggest takeaway from this area is that it is very windy about half the
year….so much so that we would be uncomfortable doing stuff outside, but the
locals (and maybe crazy tourists) were on the beach. It is a great place if you are into wind
surfing, or kite surfing, particularly on the hypersaline Laguna Madre estuary
between the barrier island and the mainland.
Our
stays at Gulf Islands and Padre Island completed our visits to ALL the US
National Seashores and National Lakeshores.
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| The Alamo, San Antonio |
We
were glad to head back northwest to another of our favorite stops, San
Antonio. We wanted to spend enough time
to really enjoy the city. We did the
usual tourist things: the Riverwalk, the Alamo, and the San Antonio boat cruise
in the downtown area. But we also spent
enough time to go visit 3 other mission sites, the Tower of the Americas, and
the historic Spanish Governor’s palace.
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| Riverwalk Café, San Antonio |
Of course, we also had to have a few meals at the excellent restaurants
along Riverwalk before we left town.
We enjoyed our visits along the Gulf
Coast, and are now looking forward to going to west Texas and then on to New
Mexico. It is good to on the road again.
We continue to be blessed with a
great trip and safe travels. Feel free to pass the blog link on to anyone
who might be interested.
Best,
Linda and Bob
