Location: Shelter Bay Marina, Colón, Panama
The passage is over. Our seven-day journey has left us with many memories. We’ll all fondly remember staring at the stars at 3 AM, the countless tales told during watch, and all the music played – from the Mama Mia soundtrack to The Real Slim Shady. We’ll also remember, with mixed emotions, falling out of bed at 3 AM, the countless stumbles during clean-up, and all of the food randomly blown onto us during meals. But we made it! Panama is just as beautiful as any land would look after a week at sea. When I came out of the companionway this morning, I was greeted by what seemed to be a graveyard for cargo ships and oil tankers. We quickly made our way through the largest jetty I’ve ever seen and slowed to a crawl to get prepared for a port-to docking in Shelter Bay Marina, where we set up the last breakfast of boatmeal for a while.
Then came everyone’s favorite activity: Boat Appreciation! We grabbed our sponges, brushes, and spray bottles of bleach and got to work. As I moved through the boat, making our hallway look like that of Mr. Clean’s dreams, I found several of my shipmates sweeping places that I didn’t even know existed. The cleaning took us past a delicious pasta lunch beautifully orchestrated by Niko and into the early evening. Everyone then got showered in the heads cleaned just hours before by Renee and Natalie. A dinner of well-crafted cheeseburgers reminded everyone of home before their minds were challenged by my Albert Camus-inspired squeeze question. Camus is credited for saying, “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.” And I shall be credited for asking, “What do you want your struggle to be?
The evening is winding down, and Argo’s crew is heading to bed in anticipation for the best sleep in a long while — after, of course, a mandatory Mama Mia showing.
Pictured:
A pod of cargo ships
Our new home
Dishie squad getting some action
Our chefs grinding
Captain Tim doing something official
Bella scrubbing the fridge
Some good night smiles from Mac, Felipe, Sam, and Frankie