1) I transited the Panama Canal.
2) I made friends with someone who has a biography on Wikipedia.
Sitting to the left of me in this photo is Joanna 'Asia' Pajkowska. We met her, along with first mate, cook, and story teller Aleks in the San Blas islands off of Dog Cay. Asia (pronounced 'aasha') and Aleks were anchored next to us. While rowing by their boat, I noticed they were flying a Polish flag. Given my Polish heritage, I was excited to meet Polish cruisers.
These are no normal cruisers however. Both are very experienced sailors. Last year, Asia completed a solo nonstop circumnavigation in 198 days. She performed it on the same 28 ft Polish-built boat that she is sailing on now. For this feat, she was recently named 'Polish Sailor of the Year.' It was pure chance that she was flying to Poland to accept the award on the same day that I was returning to North Carolina. We traveled to the airport together and scheduled our transits in succession so that we could help each other through the canal.
On the 22nd, Alan and I traveled back to Colon to help Asia and Aleks transit. We had a great time and they were terrific hosts. This afternoon, after Alan gave them a weather report, they left Panama for the Galapagos Islands. Although their eventual destination is the Mediterranean, they are following the same route through the Pacific that we are.
Although Asia and Aleks are starting a week ahead of us, I hope that we'll get an opportunity to meet again.
