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Writer's pictureTom Johnson, PopieTom

Bella Donna (7) - April 18, 2007






No fish. We have both lines out today as we approach Panama Canal. We should arrive

somewhere outside Panama tomorrow morning about 8 in the morning. We are 140 miles out right now and we have slowed down so as to make landfall after it is light. Slowing down is good for the fishing too; please keep your fingers crossed for us. We had Mahi Mahi from the freezer last night, but freshly caught fish is best.


Our clocks are still on the time zone we departed from which is the same as Eastern

Daylight Standard Time because the Caribbean does not go on Daylight Savings Time. We have been in the Central Standard Time zone for days. We have noticed the sunsets getting much later as well as the sun rises much later as well. The canal is Central Standard Time so we will be changing our clocks as soon as we arrive. Panama does not go on Daylight Savings Time so our time then will be the same as Mountain Daylight Savings Time. This means we will be only one hour later than Pacific Daylight Savings Time. Aren't you glad to know this, TMI?


It is getting hot. It is 100 degrees with humidity. I had to bring my computer out in the cockpit to write this post because the cabin is too warm. We are not to the equator yet so it will even get hotter. John just measured the teak deck and it was 144 degrees Fahrenheit. During the 100 degree day in New York last summer the teak only measured 120 degrees. John offered to turn on the air conditioning, but I just found a comfortable place with a breeze. Hot weather near the equator is just a fact of life. Thank God we did turn our ice maker on. It is struggling to keep up with us. It cools off quickly every day about 5 PM though.


This morning on watch we spotted a floating bumper, a rather large one. There was a rope

tied to one end that went straight down in 2000 feet of water so it was not a pot or fish

trap. We decided not to stop and pick it up as it would surely awaken John and the captain

needs his sleep. We mused about what might be tied to the other end of the rope. We

decided that since we are so close to Columbia, it may be a drug shipment dropped at a GPS position to be picked up by a passing boat, or not. What ever, we just passed it by.

We had Deborah's shrimp fajitas today for lunch, yum, yum.


God Bless Bella Donna.

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