The iguanas and sea lions on the Galápagos Islands can be tripping hazards. On the taxi pier, they create a slalom course for visitors. Here, a head is lazily lifted; there, a flipper is waved. No wonder, in this heat. The only ones moving voluntarily are the tourists.

On the seventh day of our passage from Panama City to the Galápagos Islands, an official stamp drops into the water in Puerto Ayora. And it gives us quite a fright.

We saw far too little of Panama. That’s a real shame, because it’s beautiful. With white beaches, green jungle, cool mountains and Panama City, the country is bursting with possibilities.

The signs are there; the Panama Canal is getting closer. At sunset, the silhouettes of the freighters waiting for their transit stand out against the sky while AIS is flooded with signals.

Some lessons are hard and painful. The subject of antifouling is exactly that kind of lesson — one that cost us a good deal of nerve and some seriously sore muscles.

Guna Yala is a place full of peculiarities. As an autonomous territory on Panama’s Caribbean coast, it plays by its own rules. What makes it special above all are its several hundred islands.

Somewhere behind Cuba we’re crafting a flag. Jamaica was never our destination, and yet now we’re really looking forward to it.

Enjoying freedom and living in dreamlike places. That’s what life on a sailboat would be like, if reality didn’t sometimes throw well-made plans into disarray.

We completed the first whole year on the water. While we celebrated last New Year’s Eve in Barbados, this time we are starting the new year in the Bahamas.

Christmas away from home isn’t as bad as you might think. Instead of following the usual rhythm of events, obligations, and routines, we get to decide just how much Christmas spirit to embrace.