Ahoy Mate!

We are now in Central America.
On April 10 we took Fritz-the-Cat from Cartagena to the San Blas Islands of Panama. The trip was 5 days/4 nights and it was very eventful.
Our Captain, Fritz, is this 60 year old Austrian man with a mustache that makes him kind of resemble a walrus. Our boat had 17 passengers (4 Americans, 4 Austrailians, 4 Dutchies, 2 Brits, 2 Germans, 1 Swiss), Fritz, and his first-mate Luis but Fritz called him Louie. On the first day we set sail from Cartagena and about an hour later we could not see land and people began dropping like flies. Just around sunset I looked up and saw a dolphin spring from the water heading in the direction of our boat and then we looked down and there was pod of about 15 to 20 dolphins. It was really cool to look down and see them and since the water was so clear you could make out their eyeballs and markings. That same night...our rudder broke. On big boats the rudder is probably the most important part of the boat since it is the only method of steering. Since it was dark and a little rough Fritz coudn't do anything so we all went to bed and in the morning had drifted 10 miles back towards Cartagena. To fix the rudder, Fritz tried to creat drag with buckets...fail. Then we tied two lines to either side and developed this method of sailing where he sat and looked at the GPS and shouted commands such as "to the right" "to the left" "left" "right" "fahck." Eventually, we got the hang of steering and made it to San Blas by 3 am... 13 hours behind schedule. When we made it Fritz calmly exclaimed..."I can't believed that worked." Our delay scored us an extra day on the islands!
San Blas is really pretty, it looked like a picture book with just small sand islands with a few palm trees on them. The boys got really into hunting fish with spear guns and unfortunately killed some undersized fish and parrot fish which are really beautiful. On our first night at the islands the fishing line was sitting out while we were anchored and we caught a 5 foot nurse shark. Everyone on the boat was going crazy and Fritz...being the barbarian he was killed the shark and we ate it for 2 meals. Surprisingly, shark is pretty tastey. It is a light white meat without a fishy taste.
We also were able to go snorkeling and saw some neat wild life. Really huge brain coral, bright fish, and a sting ray! At our last stop, which seemed to the be the boating hub, there was a volleyball court and we all enjoyed the chance to get to exercise a little on dry land!
On the day we left, we had quite the chaotic adventure getting to mainland. On the Carribean side the Kuna is the indigenous tribe of the area and has a deal with the Panama government that no big ports could be developed in the national park. So we had to take a small boat from our boat where we were supposed to get into SUVs and go to Panama City. Unfortunately, the rain had raised the river and the trucks could not pass so we got into a slightly smaller boat to go up the river. Unfortunately, the rain did not raise the river high enough for the boat to pass so we swapped boats to an even smaller boat which with great struggles eventually go us to the place where the SUVs were waiting. The boat up the river was like a free jungle tour since we saw a ton of tropical birds and flora.
We spent one full day in Panama City, saw the Canal and are now in San Jose, Costa Rica! In Panama City I ran into a girl, Jesse, I knew from UNC in the hostel we were staying in. I knew that eventually I was going to run into somebody...small world!