The absolute worst things about living aboard and away from your family is that it is sometimes a year or more between seeing them.
We got lucky when Kyle and Leah decided to come and visit us.
Kyle and Leah just bought their own cruising boat a few months earlier, a Gulfstar 44 CC, and were excited to see what the cruising life was all about as grown ups.
When Kyle was 10-13, we cruised aboard with him and his brother Kris. This is a picture from when he was 12 and again when he considered buying that same original cruising boat back again and had a survey done on it, earlier in this year. ( He didn’t end up buying it for a few reasons) but that’s the boat he grew up on.
They flew from Canada into Panama City and we had our trusty Driver, Rogelio dela Hoyas, pick them up and deliver them to Turtle Cay Marina, about a two hour ride away, where we had arrived on NautiKel a few days before.
Its a small marina on a small outcropping, only about 35 nm from San Blas, a decent short day sail away. Its an absolute beautiful setting, in the middle of the Panama jungle.
We were just getting some stainless work done on the boat while we were there from a fellow in Linton Bay who is a diver and stainless welder. We needed some additional support on our davit system. He did a great job, hanging over the water with a 220Volt Welder.
A few days later we had a fantastic sail to San Blas with Kyle and Leah aboard, Leahs first real trip on the open ocean! She was a trooper and only got mildly sunburned while at the helm!
Enroute to San Blas 
Kyle and Leah on the Foredeck
We spent a lovely two weeks with them, sunbathing, swimming, island hopping, and snorkeling. We even introduced them to some lovely conch ceviche and lobster.
We all had an emotional moment together when we left Gary’s ashes on one of our favorite islands and said goodbye one last time. Gary was Kyles dog for 15 years when he passed away last year. Kyle originally got Gary in Panama when he was in the San Blas islands as a child, so it was fitting that we placed his ashes there below a palm tree. He loved the sunshine.
Two weeks went fast and we sent them back to Panama City in a lancha for the 1.5 hour trip thru the jungle road. Hopefully it wont be so long before we see them again.
