Christmas Day in Shelter Bay

All Christmas Eve the rain came down,

The keepers of the pig turned him round and round.

The coals stayed red hot and Mr Porker frizzled,

Definitely  one up on Aussie sausage sizzles!

The morning grey skies grumbled and drizzled

At  eleven am  the rain had  fizzled

A watery sun started peeping out

So  the yachties emerged for the Yuletide shout.

The  pig was removed all crackled and brown

From the spit and the coals, he was paraded up and down!

Rested in the kitchen so the flavour could ooze,

Tempting all who passed on their way to the booze.

It was a Christmas day with a difference at Shelter Bay, Panama! Santa’s sleigh became bogged in the muddy fields approaching the marina, so the children from local disadvantaged families (our  invited guests) waited in anxious anticipation until he appeared in a commandeered dinghy. Accompanied by cheers, Santa rowed  towards the shore, weighed down with his sacks of toys – the efforts of all the yachtsmen and women of the marina, most ably commanded by Chris, the manager of the hotel and restaurant

Santa  arrived at the dock and was swamped by the kids, each of whom had presents appropriate to their age and gender. Some little ones were a bit over-whelmed by such largesse!

I’ve got my present!

 For some it was a very new experience. And the mums and (few) dads there did not miss out either. It was salutary to reflect  on the haves and the have nots of the world; certainly these families were from the latter and for us there without families around us, it was a pleasure to be surrounded by happy children ripping open their presents, playing with new toys and generally having a good time!

Meanwhile the keepers of the pig set to with large knives and hacked into Mr Porky with its embodied turkeys . They produced a massive amount of meat for those of us salivating on the sidelines. What a feast,

Enter the Shelter Bay Olympics. First the watermelon relay! Two teams in the pool and the first to get the watermelon to their goal won the bottle of rum prize. It looked a bit like a wrestling match and Robin (who was nominated by the skipper to go for this), decided that age was agin him and wisely stayed out of the scrum. He did have a go at the frozen tee shirt competition. A quick dash to the kitchen in the hope that hot water would assist in the de-icing of the shirt – but all the hot was gone and by the time he untangled the mangle and got it on the young bucks had beaten him again. Oh well, no rum but a souvenir Shelter Bay Tee shirt instead!.

The final event. A huge sling shot was constructed to fire water-filled balloons high into the air; the aim was for the contestants to catch a balloon in a plastic bag without it bursting. More rum for the winner?  Alas the trajectories of said balloons were inconsistent and there were hectic scenes of frantic adults (?) trying to catch them – without much success! Worn out by their antics, the final treat was to cool down at the help-yourself ice-cream barrel; Robin thought he had gone to heaven.

It was a memorable and delightful Christmas, but as the day wore on, those familiar black clouds rolled in from the Caribbean, reminding us that we are not yet out of the clutches of the wet season!