BOATBUMMS LOG: Back to Panama

The weather was still unsettled and the winds came out of the West the direction we have to sail into. I guess we had a lucky break our weather advisor Chris told us go today or tomorrow after that there is no window for at least two weeks. Needless to say we pulled the anchor the very next morning. We were not even 20 minutes out of the Cholon Bay when I noticed steam coming out of the companion way. We shut the engine off immediately and Dr. Sid went to work to find out what the problem was. We were between Isla Grande, and Isla Peroquito with not a breath of wind anywhere just a light current was pushing us slowly towards the reef in front of the big island of the Rosarios. I wasn’t worried about it as I know Sid can fix pretty much anything and the current was very week. The thermostat gasket was broken and Sid even found some extra gaskets and within 30 minutes we headed out between the two islands towards Panama. Amazingly the wind filled in at the same time, we hoisted sail and motor sailed pretty much the entire trip to Panama, a 196 Mile trip. The sea was calm with gentle 2 foot swells on the beam.

30 miles out a gray heron joined us. I noticed him first on top of the solar panels. But then when he saw me he quickly jumped down on top of the dinghy tube and stayed there for almost the entire trip. 30 miles of the Panamanian shore he decided he could fly the rest. It was pretty cool at times he was just about 1 foot away from us and best of all he was a polite visitor and only left us a little surprise in the dinghy. Some Martins tried to hitch a ride too but not sure what the heron told them, they took off.

A true Patriot

It was a very calm trip and 33 three hours later we dropped the hook in Banadup. Early the next morning all our Kuna friends one by one came by to say hi, including fishermen selling us lobster and conch and to top the dinner we went to our secret beach and collected steamer clams, now top this dinner.

We spent two nights, enjoyed the quite and the occasional rain before we headed to Chichime.

What a surprise to find a wrecked sailboat on the reef. It landed high on top of the reef of Gaby Dup and we found out that this was the new owner’s maiden voyage and Chichime was going to be their first anchor drop. Why they entered this reef at two at in the morning is beyond us, but the result is obvious. Amazingly the boat was totally stripped in just the 2 weeks it’s been on the reef, the mast was even gone.

They sure did a good job

A message came through to us via SSB that Manatee had to leave Colombia and was going to be on the way to Panama soon. The Colombian authorities have gone after Manfred (one of the check in agents)and checked out all the boats he is the agent for and found Manatees paperwork screwed up and told Roberto he had to leave. So stay away from Manfred when checking into Cartagena (same for David).

We decided to head for Puerto Lindo the next day. The trip was great and it seemed we were chasing rainbows the whole entire way I have never seen so many as one thunder cloud after another dissolved in front of us, we never made it to any and all they left for us were beautiful rainbows. We arrived just on time to join all our friends in the Puerto Lindo for Pizza dinner and had fun the following day for the weekly Sunday Ping-Pong.

Two days later we moved into a cute little house on the beach with ramp for our dinghy. Paradise is resting on a mooring that comes with the house. We will be CLODs (Cruisers Living On Dirt) for a while, while doing some upgrades to Paradise. The project list is huge and it will make it so much easier not to live on the boat while especially varnishing the inside.

The second night in the house at 4 am the phone rang. Our boat neighbor had called one of our friends and said that Paradise was on the loose and rubbing against his boat and if we don’t show up immediately he’ll cut her loose. Nice guy. Adrenalin rush was on, got dressed and ran down the path to the dinghy. A good storm was blowing right into the bay. The dinghy was filled with water had to be bailed out first before we could drag it down the ramp and into the water. The waves were breaking over the reef and the broken pier where the cut is for us to exit into the anchorage, this was not going to be fun and it wasn’t. There was such a current from the waves the engine could not get us out of there in waste deep water we waded her across the turbulent water. When we tried to get the dinghy through the narrow cut between the reef and broken pier we had 6 foot waves break right over us, over and over again. We by now were in chest deep water and jumping into the wild dinghy was a challenge. The few minutes seemed like hours before we managed to get to Paradise but after a few scratches and bruises and stepping between coral heads and rocks we managed to head out into the rough bay and over to where Paradise was in absolute calm water (the mooring field is protected behind a reef). We found her sideways to the wind but still on the mooring, the mooring had dragged. After taking the sunshade down, we lowered the anchor into the dinghy set the anchor and pulled Paradise off the mooring and anchored further out away from all the moored boats. Luckily daylight was just coming up so it was easier to see where to anchor. Paradise then was sitting in 6 foot rollers almost all day long before the wind slowed down enough for us to attempt to re-anchor in a calmer environment. We anchored in the same spot as the mooring was with a stern anchor out and also stern tied to the mooring.

No damage was done to either boat and the friendly neighbor who threatened to cut Paradise loose admitted that the boats never met, but he blamed us for breaking his mooring chain. Sid went over to check it out and found his mooring 3/8 chain of so rusted out he actually could pull the chain apart with his bare hands and the guy lucky that we did break his mooring it was poorly maintained would have gone very soon. Sid lent him our anchor until our neighbor could fix it. Our mooring was re-set about a week later when the weather had calmed down and the water was clear enough to dive on the mooring.

Manatee showed up just three days after we did and it was a happy reunion. When we said goodbye in Cholon, Roberto and Sid both had tears in their eyes so we teased him enough that he really must have missed us to follow us within three days.

I took Carmen, Johnny and Patricio on sightseeing tours. The boys had never been outside of Colombia I just had to give them a tour.

Patricio and Johnny's first time ever at McDonalds

First we went shopping in Colon at the Quatro Alto Mall. At Novi we saw sunglasses UV protected for 3.99 and knowing neither one own a pair and neither one had any money in their pocket, I told them to choose a pair. Their eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and I tell you they sleep now with their sunglasses on. While at El Costo I handed each one a 20 dollar bill and told them to buy presents for their family. The El Costo store is awesome, all is very low priced you wouldn't believe how much these two could buy for the kids. In the next store I told them to buy a T-shirt for themselves, they both chose the same and when I saw the price of 2.99, ohgosh no way that can be an told them "otro" they misunderstood and put T-shirt back on the rack, I told them "no compro otro". With two T-shirts each and new shorts they were beaming. Also knowing that Patricio's daughter’s 15th BD coming up, which is a big deal in Latin countries, I bought a few presents for her from Dad and wrapped it all up in beautiful present paper and ribbons from him to his daughter’s special BD. The following day we drove to Panama, they can't possibly be in Panama without seeing the Panama Canal. First stop was the famous Gamboa Hotel, wow were they impressed, more so when they saw the big ships going through the canal and later on to stand in front of the tall high-rise buildings in Panama.

Panama Canal Train

But I think the highlight was when I drove them across the bridge of the Americas and they stepped foot on the North American Continent. We had a really good time.

First step onto North America

Wore Johnny out!

In the 8 days Manatee was in town we had several potlucks and happy hours on Manatee or dinners at the house or Pizza night out.

Roberto managed to get three backpackers and their motorcycles on Manatee and made his way back to Cartagena. Weather looked good and what he found 80 miles out was not showing on any weather chart. He said he had 16 foot seas, boat was tossed around like a toy. They all feared for their lives, Roberto said he was even praying. Autopilot went out, luckily only 7 miles out of Cartagena so no harm done there. Roberto said he is done with boating and that Manatee is for sale.

We for sure miss living aboard but we do enjoy being in the house, we can take hot showers at any time, do laundry at any time. But I tell you I run my butt off in the kitchen it's not like in my galley where I barely move my feet as everything is within reach, this kitchen is work LOL.

We moved most of our stuff into the house and are amazed that we filled up every cabinet and drawer to the rim, even under the bed, couch and on top of all the closets, there is no more room left for anything else.

Thanksgiving approached and I had the honor of organizing a Turkey Potluck at Binnie’s. We had 27 people, two turkeys a ham and everybody brought the most scrumptious dishes. Everybody was full and we had tons of leftovers especially desert.

It is still rainy season until at least the middle of December and it does rain every day at least once. Whenever the water clears up enough and Sid wants to dive on the mooring to add a swivel that we can finally get Paradise back on the mooring it starts raining again. We have such downpours that within minutes the bay turns into a brown mud hole.

The house is really cute and cozy. We have a big bath, bedroom, living room and big kitchen/dining room and a laundry room with dryer, what a treat. In the back of the house by the patio with BBQ is a small pond surrounded by bamboo and other lush tropical trees. The front of the house is covered with green grass, coconut trees, frangipani trees and all kinds of colored bushes with view over the water. The three bird feeders I put out attract the most colorful hummingbirds. When the sun goes down the frogs serenade us all evening and way into the night. Howler monkeys announce day break and occasionally we spot a wild sloth in the trees.

The wild life here is surely different and the two times I did Yoga with the girls at Binnie’s each time I found something interesting hanging in the net in the ceiling. First time I saw a dead humming bird sticking through the net, poor birdie and a beautiful green Praying Mantis. The second time laying on my back yogaing I opened my eyes and above in same spot was a looooooooooong green vine snake, wow what a beautiful animal. I could almost not concentrate anymore but not because I was afraid of the snake, far from it this snake was just so beautiful.

Sid saw a little rabbit in the yard told me about it and it must be someone’s pet as it was pretty tame. Doesn’t the rabbit know this is Christmas time and not Easter?!

Three days later it was in the garden again. It let me pick it up and poor thing was just skin and bones. I fed it with a fat carrot and some apple; it attacked it like it had never seen a carrot before. It was still there the next morning and later on that day our neighbors got my attention and told me that the teenaged girl next door was crying she lost her rabbit. She was happy to get her rabbit back but I told her to feed it better and gave her the left over apple and carrot. A couple of days later I brought her some rabbit food and invited her to bring the rabbit over to feed on the grass. She was so happy. Three days later she told me the rabbit had died, poor thing.

Oh and Dooger the sloth is my buddy, he’s the cutest thing and I get to pet sit him any time.

My kitchen help

How can you not fall in love with this smile

Christmas is approaching fast, my two Christmas trees are up and the house is surrounded by blinking white ice cycles. Next week the smell of baking Christmas cookies will fill the air and drive Sid nuts.