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If you can imagine Texans driving tiny cars
in a Figure-8 street stock race,
you have captured the essence of
city-driving in Panama.

Telltales, the Texas Yachting Magazine:

In its June 2008 issue of Telltales magazine, Joe and I settle in to marina life at the Bocas Del Toro Yacht Club and Marina in Panama. We escaped the heat with a roadtrip to the Panamanian highlands and enjoyed its tranquil beauty, then returned to the marina and went island-hopping so I could get my requisite Caribbean swimming and snorkeling in before returning to the U.S. These trips were accompanied by and often led by Paul and Mary Margaret of S.V AngelHeart.

I hope you will be interested in reading my Cruising the Western Caribbean essay: call 281-334-2202 or email the magazine at waterfrontpublishing@earthlink.net

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PANAMA 2008 !
This was our best sail ever, from Guatemala to Honduras, to tiny Columbian islands and then Panama. We bounced around in the Caribbean for three months, having a terrific time, but were quite eager to dock at Bocas Del Toro Yacht Club and Marina in Panama. We're looking forward to 2009 already!

S/V Rose of Sharon sailed from from Corpus Christi, Texas eastbound on the Intracoastal Waterway to Florida, then "jumped off" to the Dry Tortugas, Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. We were definitely Cruising in the Comfort Zone.

If you think ocean-sailing is the most exciting cruising ground, try Lake Michigan! Gary and Tonie Hanson are completed cruising America's Great Loop in their powerboat, Bear With Me. They made passage from Texas to Florida, up the east coast, into America's Heartland and now the ex-Hoosiers are "back home again" in Texas.

Honduras' Bay Islands are a terrific getaway goal for cruisers of the Western Caribbean! We found the same beauty that another Texan found many years ago. Writer O'Henry was "on the lam" and found sanctuary -- then later wrote about a mystical site that was very similar to -- Coxen's Hole, Roatan.

In 1540, explorer Hernando DeSoto's expedition followed the Tennessee River to what is now Guntersville, Alabama. The wooded hills that make up the shoreline of the Tennessee River in this area of Alabama provide a soothing backdrop to a day on the water. But Joe and I were not out for rest and relaxation, we were out to whoop it up on the River, joining other boaters in a boisterous poker run! We hope to return to Alabama someday, perhaps in our boat.