PARADISE ON THE HARD

Everybody is saying that they have never seen stronger Christmas Winds as this year. In deed the wind was blowing every day with gusts way over 20 knots. We were just hoping that the wind would behave when we had to sail to the Shelter Bay Marina. Our haul out date was on the 8^th of January. Wind Guru predicted winds of 10 knots with 15 gusts, just what we wanted to see. We left the mooring at 6:45 and headed on our 20 mile trip towards Colon. Our guess was to arrive around 11 am.

It was a huge relief heading into the bay to be greeted with gentle 3 to 4 foot seas and 10 knots of wind both from behind. About half way it changed in a snap, we all of a sudden experienced 35 knots and the gentle swells rose higher, we now had 8 foot seas, as we were in the clutches of a squall, no rain though. We expected it to get higher as we got closer to Colon. The 35 knot squall subsided but we still had a steady 25 knots with higher gusts. I was on the helm, Sid looked worried, I had no time to worry I was too busy steering and assessing the waves and how Paradise would react to each. Actually I have to admit I enjoyed it. But then the last 5 miles we started to encounter waves from 12 to 14 feet, luckily all behind us and Paradise on occasions surfed down the waves with speeds up to 10.6 knots (I think that’s when I had the most fun). Getting closer we received the backwash of the breakwater which was not so much fun anymore. We were overly happy when we finally left the confused sea behind and were inside the breakwater. I have to add the harbor opening is fairly narrow and gives you the willies with seas this high. We did record time and arrived at 9:15. The wind still blew 25 knots when we were tied safely in to our assigned slip so we decided that was a bit too much wind to get into a sling to be pulled out of the water. Paradise hasn’t been in a marina in years, it felt pretty good to be in a safe environment not having to watch the weather, wind and waves or dragging boats. Thinking back I would not want to do this trip again. 

It also was great to catch up with Debi and Reg who were eagerly catching our dock lines. Quite a while back Reg had shoulder surgery in the States and they are here in the marina for him to get therapy and recuperate.

We were scheduled to haul out the next day at noon. At 8am a knock on the boat and Victor (who we later found out hauled us in 2000 at the Panama Yacht club, best haul out ever) we scrambled to get ready in a hurry and 30 minutes later Paradise was pulled out of the water.

Deb and Reg making sure all is going well

 

And the chaos begins 

Where's Waldo replaced by Where's Manuela (sitting close to pee bucket)

Her view

Yard work is not fun, the boat feels different being on jack stands, can’t use the sink and have to pee in a bucket at night or climb the long ladder down in the dark. So first thing in the morning you see some sleepy faces walking their buckets, like others sleepy faces walk their dogs. Cooking on the hard is out as you can’t use the sink and the dirty dishes need to be hauled off the boat and washed outside. Debi was the best though and invited us pretty much daily for dinner whether it was her food or ours, mainly hers she threw a gourmet meal together. I owe her sooooo many dinner. Thank you Deb.

We had a few blisters to fix, Sid also added the new transducer for our new depth sounder , when checking the propeller he saw that the cutless bearing needed to be exchange which meant Sid had to take the propeller off, pull the shaft out and pounding the broken piece out. Luckily we had a replacement and this only delayed us for a day. The dinghy was in dire needs of patching then we painted the tubes again and also painted the bottom with anti fouling, so far the dinghy is holding the air like almost new. Sid worked hard on sanding the bottom and filling the blisters before we both finally could paint the bottom. 

Last touch up

Two weeks later Paradise was done with her bottom job and was hauled back to the water. As they put the sling back on the trailer the guy was tying the slings so they would not slip apart, he pulled so hard that the trailer moved back about 3 inches back from the 2x4 that was the parking brake and the trailer rolled back to the 2x4 then pulled again and the trailer moved about 10inches and rolled back toward  the 2x4 but this time the hard rubber wheels had enough momentum go right over the 2x4 . the trailer with the tractor(with no parking brake) and our boat rolled about 4ft back and partially in the sling also moving the lift. Sid ran to the tractor but someone else got there first to step on the brake. I think that’s as close to heart attack as it gets.

Talking about adrenalin rush, our hearts were pounding for a while this could have ended in a huge disaster.

Being in a marina is really a good feeling as we can safely leave the boat and travel. Our dentist Ida invited us for a New Year’s Party but because we were in Portobelo we could not go, we do not leave our boat alone in anchorages or moorings so she invited us while in the marina and together with Debi and Reg and Cindy and Reed and Jim and Melania we had a fun weekend at Ida’s beautiful house up in the mountains above Sabanitas and celebrated a mock New Year’s Party. It was huge fun and the BBQ wonderful with of course way too much food.

Happy Birthday Reed

Happy New Year !!!

Ida makes the best Ceviche

Debi cutting everybody's hair

On the second day sitting around the pool Ida’s made noticed a snake on the pools edge looking for frogs. It was a Parrot Snake (Leptophis ahaetulla), long and slender with a distinctive lime green color.

 
Native to South America, this snake is arboreal and spends most of its days in the trees looking for prey such as frogs, grasshoppers and birds. It can be very aggressive and will display dummy strikes if threatened to ward off predators. Though they are not venomous, but with the 36 teeth they can inflict a painful bite. They can grow 6 to 7 feet.

We watched the snake, the made did not like it as much as we did and shoed it away. We followed and as it saw a big toad it was very interested, cut I think the toad was a bit too big for it. There was a much smaller green tree frog that was in the vicinity as well, Sid picked it up and put it a bit closer to the snake then it was watching. I don’t think the snake saw it until the frog tried to hope away and snap. Wow it was an amazing speed the snaked snatched up the poor little frog. I felt bad for the little feller but I tell you it was worth it. I put a little film together for you to see.

And some bugs on the wall

The following weekend we celebrated Christmas as we all thought we would celebrate it in the San Blas together. We all had presents already bought but Christmas did not happen until that weekend. Debi cooked a turkey on the BBQ, yum that was good and the stuffing was the best I have ever had. And I really think my favorite of the Turkey dinner is the gravy. It was fun opening Christmas presents mid January.

Dessert

We still have several other repairs, varnish and other odds and ends to do we rented the slip for a month. On the 4^th we are helping Coza to get through the canal and decided since we are going to be leaving Coza in Panama City and Paradise is safely in Shelter Bay to hop on a bus to Costa Rica and visit our friends Kathy and Jeanette a long overdue visit.

So if you have nothing to do around 1pm on the 5^th bring up http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

And got to the Miraflores high resolution cam you might just see us.