Well, after an extended period of time it appears that by the end of the day today, the Kimball family will be permanent residents of Panama (Boty of course doesn't need any papers - she is Panamanian by birth). This has been a long and drawn out process. We have crossed two different administrations during this process. We started with one firm on one type of visa only to start over several years later with our current counsel with our original plan. The laws have changed many times over. Each time the law changed it required us to provide incremental information. However, now we are at the precipice. We have been told that our application has been approved so we are on our way to the Immigration offices in Panama to get our permanent cards. It is a great day! Now we wait for the Viola's turn.

I am amazed that I need to write this post during the first week of March, but in all fairness to any interested parties it is necessary. What am I talking about? Well, for any of you who are considering a trip to Tranquilo Bay over the December holiday period, you need to take action. We are answering quite a few inquiries on a daily basis with regard to the holidays and the week before New Year's is down to just two cabanas. A trip down here is a great gift to both you and your family so if you are thinking about it - give us a call.

Tonight is the 9th Annual Beso Auction here in Bocas. For the third year in a row Tranquilo Bay has donated a stay with us on our Within the Reef package. Look here for more information about BESO and the auction. Big high! Your funds support children's education here in Bocas del Toro.

Here are just some of the photos Jim took on the little boy's first trip to Punta Valiente. It was Martin's first trip as well. They all enjoyed the body whomping as the kids call body surfing. The swell wasn't much to ride that day but everyone had fun. The kids made some new friends and everyone had a great experience.

January 2010 was one of the busiest months ever here at Tranquilo Bay. We had a large group that liked to get up with the sun and return at dark. We had many different couples coming to see what the Panamanian jungle had to offer. We had a few families onsite to see our beaches. We had an individual traveler who has become a pen pal to Tres and Scott since she left. It was a great month.

The months in the fourth quarter are usually a bit slower pace. The archipelago slows down until the USA Thanksgiving holidays begin. Things pick up a bit at that time. Come the December holidays things are going full pace yet again.



October 2009

We watch the orthoptera as they make their way out of the trees.



November 2009

Local children in school enjoy it when our visitors stop off at their classroom to learn a bit with them.



December 2009

Watching nature continue on its yearly course - the same as it ever was. December is a good month for most activities. The surf picks up again.

Friends, family, wildlife. We experience them all during the third quarter each year. Surfing is up during the summer months. Fishing starts again in September. All of the adventure activities are available throughout these months.



July 2009

Many of the beautiful natural attractions that can be found here in Bocas.



August 2009

Family adventures before the children return to school for the Fall.



September 2009

Quiet days with very few people on the islands. Hatching turtles.

Our second quarter usually includes a lot of fishing. This quarter was no exception. We caught a large number of fish. We saw sea turtles. And we did all the regular fun stuff.



April 2009

Life in paradise - just an example of what awaits.



May 2009

Fishing, turtles, all kinds of good stuff.



June 2009

Not many photos as we were closed for the first three weeks for our annual trips to the USA.

January 2009

All the usual things: beach combing, birding, hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, swimming. Surfing is typically good in January, but we didn't have any surfers this January.



February 2009

We had a celebration of the natural life around us. These are all of the photos from the blog posts that month.



March 2009

Spring Break for many different groups. These photos are also a combination of the blog posts for March.

People frequently ask us when they should come to visit us. It truly depends upon what you want to do and when you can get away. Our weather doesn't change very much throughout the year. Our temperatures remain the same. The biggest difference is between rainy season and dry season. However, even that is no longer dependable. Our weather patterns, just the same as everywhere else, are changing. Months that used to be rainy are not so much any more. One of the best suggestions I can make is that you take a look at the things you want to do and when you can get away.

We have month by month photo galleries beginning in July 2007. I try to take a good sample of what we did in those months to include in the gallery. Look at the month you think you can get away. Does it include the activities in which you want to partake? Yes, great. No, that doesn't mean that activity is unavailable in that month, it may mean that we didn't have anyone that month interested in the same activity. It may mean that the weather conditions didn't support it. It may mean we just didn't get any photos for one reason on another. So ask us about it.

I am going to review each of the quarters and months this week to give you an idea of what we did this past year. Let me know if you have any questions.

We have a good friend, Martin, who comes to stay with us each year. He is from South Texas, but he spends about 2 months each year in Bocas. During his Bocas time he comes out to stay with us at least once. This year he came out for a few days in December and then again in February. One of the annual highlights of his stays are the jam sessions. This year, Tres wrote a new song for the group. I didn't have my camera for each of the sessions, so these are an example from one of the short morning sessions. The last few nights of his stay, all of the kids, Jim and Martin were in on the session. Tres was on the drums. Scott was on the harmonica. Boty was playing guitar with Martin's help and Jim was also on guitar. There were other sessions when Boty was playing the harmonica (really well, actually). It was a lot of fun. So whenever you visit, take one of the guitars down and play a while.

My friend Chrystel is not going to return to Panama. Her body was positively identified yesterday afternoon in Haiti.

I can’t imagine what Eric, her fiancé, is going through and has been through these past few weeks. I can’t imagine what Chrystel went through immediately following the earthquake. I can’t imagine what all of her family and friends are going through around the globe.

I can tell you that it has been uncomfortable for me, but so what. I am a bystander to some extent and if I could do anything to take away any of their pain and suffering I would gladly do so.

Ironically, I only knew Chrystel for about a year. It was a very intense year, but still only a year. She came to Bocas del Toro to work on an USAID project designed to create and implement a destination management organization for the archipelago. She accomplished her goal. She met, fell in love, and was engaged to be married to Eric.

We were smitten with the idea of a destination management organization for Bocas so we began working with Chrystel early in the process. She ran into a fair amount of resistance and encountered more than a fair share of challenges, yet she proceeded. That is the kind of person she was. Dedicated. Stubborn. Giving. Complicated. Real.

She was in Haiti on a similar tourism project. It was just getting started, in fact I believe she had only arrived in Haiti the same day as the earthquake. It isn’t fair, but as we all know, life isn’t fair. She is only one of the people that this natural disaster has taken from us. There are many other people whose lives are forever changed based upon this earthquake.

So what do we do? We remember the lessons we learned from these people. We remember why they crossed our paths. We remember them. We do all of this in whatever way works for us.

Chrystel – I will miss you. I will remember you each year as I light my candle on my birthday cake - January 22 is our shared day. We would not have our fledgling organization (BSTA) if it wasn’t for you. Thank you for crossing my path. Thank you for pushing me to work on these issues. Thank you for being an example to us all.

So here is Tres' take on his session at OLS the other day. We will hopefully have Scott's take on it tomorrow.

So yesterday, Jim and Jay loaded up the boat with Scott and Tres, Stefanie and Patrick, some friends and a few surfboards and headed into town. We had a family to pick up in town later in the afternoon so they had enough time to get in a few hours with the boys at OLS. Stefanie, Patrick and Gina all went to town while the boys surfed. Boty and I enjoyed a few hours here at TB on our own. The boys had a marvelous surf session. It is so cool to see how they are growing stronger and picking up new skills. You can tell by the looks on their faces how much fun they are having. See for yourself!




Tres learning his style.



Brandon showing the little kids how to do it.



Scott on one of the many waves he rode standing tall.



Apparently having the tongue out of your mouth makes it easier.



Brandon again. Jim has learned a few new tricks in surf photography. I think I may need to buy him a helmet.



Almost up. Tres was standing up and then attempting to jump and do tricks just like he does on his surfing game on the iPod.



Scott taking a breather in between sets.



Pure determination.



No - they didn't have any fun.

There have been many times in my tenure here in Panama that I am thankful that we do not have cable television. With the recent earthquake in Haiti I am reminded of how good a decision it is for us. We can remain informed about what is going on in the world, but we must go looking for it. We choose the outlets and what we do or do not want to read or watch. One can do the same with cable television, but it is more difficult to screen what is presented to you. I am heartbroken by what the people of Haiti are dealing with right now. I am crushed by what Eric is facing throughout his trip to Haiti to find Chrystel. However, I am more able to continue to send positive thoughts, prayers and love since I am not faced with the photos and videos of what life in Haiti is like right now. It works for us. We were without the internet for almost 2 days due to power outages on Isla Colon. As soon as Jay restored the internet I went to my information sources to find the latest news. Unfortunately no miracle yet. Sometimes miracles take time. I will continue to put my efforts towards the possibility of a miracle. My friends and the people of Haiti deserve that from me.

Well, we are working on returning to normal around here. We had a really great large group with us here for almost two weeks. They were early risers. Wanting to get away from here at 6:00 am most mornings. They were offsite all day long. This meant that breakfast and lunch were sent on the road. They maximized every hour of sunlight available to them. This meant that they returned here to Tranquilo Bay at dark most days. We are especially grateful to our community here in Bocas. So many people pitched in to make it happen. Was it a lot of work? Yes. Was it a lot of fun? Yes. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat.

No photos to share at this point. We will do a whole series about the experience at a later date. It was wonderful for all of us – we melded together as a team. And this team worked really well together.

The past two weeks taught me that we are up for just about any challenge. Ask us if we can do it. If we can, we will let you know.

I am familiar with natural disasters yet I am not. Growing up in Houston, Texas and having relatives in Louisiana puts one in the path of a hurricane every now and then. They are scary events. Lives are turned upside down. Yet we move on.

Haiti is a developing country at best. Its infrastructure is limited and the resources it has to draw upon following this earthquake are generally not its own. Haiti and all of its people will rely on the kindness of strangers to help them make it through this round of problems.

I am torn throughout the day in trying to keep going on with my everyday life and trying to figure out what I can do for the people in Haiti. I have settled on a two-step process. For one, as my thoughts turn to the challenges facing the people in Haiti each hour, I stop and send positive thoughts, prayers and love to them. Then I go back to doing what I need to do. I do not want to be indifferent to their plight, but I also cannot be crippled by it.

Second, we are giving a small amount of money to a friend who is personally going to Haiti to try and find his girlfriend, my friend Chrystel. She is in Haiti to help the Haitians look into developing tourism as a market for their development as a nation. She has worked throughout the world on projects such as these. Eric will go to Haiti to find her and I am sure will help the Haitian people in the process.

I think that each of us has to find a way to deal with the troubles we are faced with each day. It is far easier to do so in a calm and rationale manner than to do so from a position of personal chaos. My hope is that each of you has or will do something yourself to send assistance to the people in Haiti. Assistance in the form of cash, positive thoughts, prayers or love - it doesn't matter. Whatever works for you.

While this post has nothing to do with Tranquilo Bay, it makes me stop and wonder how we would deal with a disaster of this magnitude here. And I hope we would be able to step back, take a deep breath, and move forward in a deliberate manner.

I can't believe we are already 10 days into 2010. As most of you know the holidays are a busy time here in Panama. So we gear up for it, enjoy it as it goes along and then relish the memories. This year we have been blessed with a second wave of super business. As such, ten days have passed without a post. We have taken many photos of the good times in the month of December, here are just a few. Happy New Year, a bit belated. May 2010 bring you peace, prosperity, and the chance to come visit us in Panama.