PLAGUES

On Tuesday I felt we were being punished for some unknown deed. I woke to a pounding rain. Upon checking everything outside was meant to get wet I discovered that are dinghy was filling with water at an incredible rate, so I got out the ¨Big Guns¨, the hand pump, and spent a good while getting most of the water out so the paddles would no longer be floating from within the boat!

Then I realized the cockpiut could use a good wash and took down all our rain protection as everyone waking up was putting up theirs. I spent the next while sliding around the cockpit soapy and soaked. The rain finally dissapated and the anchorage was a dead calm (which is a highly unusual event due to all the tanker traffic). It was quite pleasant until the second plague hit...

Swarming bugs! Mind you we are anchored out about a third of a mile from land, so my only thought was that somewhere along the way some insect had impregnated our boat with eggs. There was a nice swarm of of winged insects hovering aboud the stern of the boat. They appeared to die pretty quickly leaving their wings everwhere and ruining my clean cockpit, how dare they! Later we learned they were flying termites come all the way from land. Luckily our boat is not wood, but does have word trim and wood interior, so there was some cause for concern. It turns out they come out after the rain and enjoy the calm moments. Our friend Stephen thought them rather James Bond like. Coming from land, landing, dropping their wings, and setting themselves up. In the meantime we have killed a few more and it looks like things for now, are OK (knock on wood- as long as we still have some).

Our transit date is still May 3rd, but we shall see. Apparently if you look at the www.pancanal.com on May 4th in the afternoon you may be able to see some images of us transiting. We are the light blue hulled boat.