We arrive in Panama around 2030 in the evening and Richard is at the airport to collect us. He’s had a hire car and so it makes life easy as far as transfers to “Bananas” is concerned. He is easy to spot, no red carnation necessary, we just look for a British yachtie and there he is.

When we eventually get to the Marina – the journey back in the dark was a bit challenging – he cooks us up a little pasta and shows us our new home for the next month or so. We have the starboard hull (think east wing!) The boat is pretty solid if tired and pretty spacious inside.

For you guys not familiar with what a catamaran is, think two single hulls joined together by a cockpit at the back and some trampolines at the front. Any we’ve been in so far have tended to have two levels. The upper level (the join) being the living quarters with the galley (kitchen) and saloon (lounge) being inside and some kind of outdoor space/cockpit where you drive the boat from. Bananas has a huge outdoor seating area under canopy as well as an indoor saloon. Then you have a downstairs on both sides going into the hulls which typically hold the sleeping quarters and heads (toilets). As there are only going to be the three of us we have a hull (wing) each. The beauty of this is a wee bit more privacy but more importantly we all get to sleep at the rear of the boat which is generally considered better, less motion. Nice!