Water bound

It was such a mad rush getting ourselves out of yard and Shelter Bay marina that we left the blog writing to be done back here in San Blas, allowing what stress was built up to flitter away with the tropical breezes. 

There were many times of discouragement in yard, feeling there is no end to the the repetitiveness  of the work.  But, with the great people we met and at times, the well needed happy hours we pushed on through.   Surprisingly, the two months went by fast.  We estimated that we did 200 Hours of grinding, 50 Hours of sanding ,25 gallons of primer, topside and bottome paint , felt like 25 Feet of rain ,120 hours of happy hour , 60 days of just beeing fed up ,excluding the time spent at the bar. But as all boat owners know, it is a necessary evil.

Usually the splashing process ( going back into the water) isn't so bad to watch.  However, because she is such a big girl who has a lot of jam in her jelly, they had to move one boat first so they could bring the fork lift around to tilt one side of her stern up and over a bit so they could get the boat trailer under her. And if it wasn't nerve wracking to see it once, they had to do it on the other side as well!

Once in the water, we commonly check all the sea cocks and bilges to make sure she is dry. I was about half way though my walk through when Cath yells down "um Maria, they're  pushing us out of the slings into the bay."  I ran up, gave Victor the lift operator a not so friendly look to which his look relayed " if you have problems I rather them happen out of my lifting dock."

We had decided earlier in the week that we would stay a few extra days in a slip to provision, load on new batteries, fill our water tanks and do some laundery before we headed out. 
Provisioning and batteries went well except hard on the wallet. But, we waited a little too long to do our water top up and laundry.   In typical Shelter Bay fashion, the water went out for 36 hours.  There was no time for waiting since we had guests coming on the 26. No worries, we had power and our watermaker so the guests slept in clean sheets.

We stocked the boat with orders from friends in San Blas, shanghaied a friend from another boat and loded up some precious cargo (Keith - our friend from the catermeran Kookaburra).   He is supposed to do a boat delivery but was delayed so he hitched a ride to surprise his wife in San Blas. 
It felt great to be underway again, even though it was a motor trip back in a rolly sea with no wind to stabilize us.  Two months in yard was showing its self as we had not done a great job of sea stowing the boat.  But, it kept us entertained, finding out what went bump, crash, boom in the night. 

All in all, our time at Shelter Bay went smoothly. As any one can expect with living in Central America, it took some creativity to get things done and find what you need. But, that's all part of the adventure we seek in this life of cruising now isn't it ? 




      Ready to be splashed                


                 Lifting her for the trailer                                                                 




Excited to be getting back in. 




Some of the gang we met 


Provisioning madness 

San Blas bound 


Ahhh.. San Blas finally 







Were not in Kansas any more.

Our days of yard work can be long and tiresome, so it has been quite the treat to have unlimited access to Panama at its best - jungle entertainment. 

Shelter Bay sits on a national park, once occupied by the American military. As with most of Panama, the signs of the American past are throughout the land near Shelter Bay.  Its surrounding jungle is inhabited by wild and crazy things including the random man-made armory bunkers, over grown with vines, slowly being engulfed by wild Panama.  At times it could be a scene out of Platoon.

Our morning coffee is accompanied with music of unidentified birds that make sounds that I never knew existed. White faced monkeys jump from tree to tree.  Howler monkeys roar so loud that if you weren't told what it was, you would think that you were hearing an ancient TRex.  The vocal power that comes out of these little creatures is amazing. It puts Rob Zombie to shame. 

Niko's list of odd things that a sailing dog gets to meet is forever growing here. The monkeys have now become her "land dolphons" and she is always on the look out.

As for us , it's nice to be able to wonder away from the pressures of yard and see and hear things that the ocean life lacks. Although, I also try to get Cath to take a left insted of a right and enjoy the walk down to the breakwater, just to get that nice salt air on my face again and see the hussle and bussle of the Panama Canal shipping life. 

Whatever direction we chose to take in the morning or evning, there is always something to look at if we choose to see it. 


Song of the Howler





Niko looking for the monkeys 

                                           


Jungel taking over 
     

Watch where you walk 
                                



Maria thinking she is sneaking up on the frog 
                                                

                                                 The bathroom watchman, Niko is not impressed 
                                                                                                                                                                           

                   Storm abrewing 

               

























Yard

Well the fun has started and we are officially land lubbers. We expect a month of work but as boats go, add a few weeks on to any plans. Our list seems to be forever growing. Soon I will have to start hiding all the pens and paper on the boat so Cath can't make  any more lists. First time in Joana's history of us owning her we have hired people to sand and paint. Quite the luxury for us. Well, we thought. 
So far it has taking two weeks to get the hull done. We had it set up with the yard, but of course there was some sort of problem, like waiting for the proper dust masks. Finally there was some activity after Cath had hit her patient threshhold.  Out came the bi$,& wings and off to talk with the yard. The next day we had two workers and most of the boat sanded. They did in the end have to pass the work on to a local contractor as their  priorities were obviously for the big super sailing cat down the way. 
Now that we have some decent workers we are just waiting for decent weather. Beautiful Panama is showing its true water colors. 
In betwean spurts of rain we have managed to get the hull and topsodes sanded, hawse pipe fixed, new bobstays on the bow sprit, all inside hull primed and painted,  aft deck demoed and redesigned and the digny preped for overhaul. 
There is much much more but I will bore you with that next time...


Our version of American Gothic


Our motivation 
        

Sole prepping 


Aft deck demoing

Bobstay change 


Boys sanding 










 






Shelter Bay

Well the time has come.  We made our way to Colon to stay the night in the Flats (anchoring area) before we were hauled out in the morning at Shelter Bay.
It is always an entertaining trip through the fleet of tankers moving in and out of the Panama Canal. It has been awhile being the small one in the harbor!  We played a bit of Frogger at the breakwater but anchored up nicely in the Flats, just in time for a pilot change which meant some nice wakes for about two hours. The next morning we gave the marina a call on the VHF, set our time and was off to haul  this old broad out. For a boat owner, especially one who has a 37 ton boat, hauling can be a nerve-racking exercise. 
All went smoothly and it was the first time I have seen a yard move their boats from a travel lift to a trailer. 
We assesed our new home for a month and then met some old friends who told us about the marina's happy hour.  We had to take the time to prep ourselves for the work after all.


Getting set on to the trailer 

Cath chasing after our new land yacht.

That is not fog. Our defense against the war of Panama bugs.

Eugene the man to know at happy hour. 





Portobelo

As our yard date got closer it was time to head to Portobello. We needed to do some hardware store runs and of course have one of Captan Jacks' good burgers and catch up on some stories.
Portobelo used to hold all of the gold for Spain on this side of the pond so it is covered with beautiful forts and ruins. And makes for some interesting characters in town!  


Harbor entrance with fort in the foreground.

Highest bunker 

Gold museum. 


Local church sporting the neon holiness 
Ok maybe we are the strange ones in town. Sporting the Grease hairdoos 

And then we found the guy with the really big bike.

Misty morning for our departure to Colon.








San Blas to Linton


It's low season in San Blas so it's time to spruce up the old girl. We are off to haul out at Shelter Bay in Colon, Panama. Our fist leg takes us to Linton, about 40 miles from San Blas. The sea state was about one and half meters with ten second swells. It looked like good weather to head over the banks for some fishing. Cath is not a fan of the washing machine effect that can happen over the banks, which meant the presure was on.  About five hours later and lots of course changes (the flippen' birds lie every time) we had ourselves a nice tunny. Sashimi and anchor wine... it was a great way to start our two days in Linton. 


Rickety old light tower in Isla Grande





We needed some Margaritas after that hike up the tower.
Well stocked reggae bar
Holy fishing. 
On our way to the French restaurant. Over the reefs and through the mangroves. 
Maria enjoying some water sports 
Panama transportation. 
On our way to get provisioning, and this isn't even a full bus.



















A look back at Sapzurro, Colombia

Sapzurro Colombia is one of those small, off the beaten path Colombian towns. Literally. 
You used to be able to fly into the neighboring town of Capurgana, but now the airport is shut down and its overgrown runway is being used to graze the only hard working thing in Colombia - donkeys...but that’s’ a whole other story.  So, the only way to get there is by boat or by foot.





Most of the southeast coast of Colombia is very mountainous with rocky shores.  With the Darian mountains as your backdrop, this part of Colombia has a more northern feel, for me anyway.  Some of the bays are small with narrow entrances, so coming into them during the windy season when the seas are big can be a bit hectic.  We have had our full of uncomfortable sailing so we try to select our cruising for optimal comfort.  In August, the sea state is down a bit from the normal 3-4 meters during the windy season, so we thought it would be a good time to explore this area.



Stern tied to tree
Most folks anchor just inside of the bay to port where you use the Mediterranean Mooring technique, meaning you anchor as usual then tie a stern line to shore, in this case, to a palm tree.  This allows your bow to comfortably accept the one to three foot swells that gently make their way into the anchorage.  You are welcome to just anchor and swing about but my guess is that you will get a bit peeved with the occasional bracing of things.  Luckily, Cathy and I had gotten a great deal on a big spool of one inch Samson Braid (we paid about $0.15 a foot from a shady guy, and no, we won’t tell you more on that one!)  It has come in quite handy, and we used about half of it to tie to the palm tree that was 250 feet from the stern.  


As we came ashore, an older lady comes over.  It is embarrassing that even after all this time our Spanish is still on the Kindergarten level.   But what we do get out of the conversation is which is the best tree to tie to and we think she also wants clothes.   With Joana squared away, we gather
Lush jungle backdrop
 some old t-shirts and shorts to give to the lady and dingy them in. She sort of gives us a funny look says “is that it?”   We say “uh, yeah” and hand over the small bag of clothes.  We are a bit turned off, thinking one can never give enough. 


Grumbling, we head back to the boat.  We sit back surrounded by beautiful lush green mountains
 with a cocktail in hand and enjoyed the evening sounds of howler monkeys, parrots, and local Colombian music. 




The morning brought that great deep earth smell a sailor misses at times.







Most of the local town docks along the coast are just dilapidated wood or bamboo but Sapzurro has a nice concrete peer, with the Colombian navy there to greet you with a smiling face and a “Buenos dias”. As we found out you, must take a fifteen minute launcha ride to Capurgana to stamp your passport.  There are no port captains this far south so you are only able to clear yourself in and wait to clear the boat in Cartagena.  If the sea state is up, the trip to Capurgana can be quite an entertaining ride.









Niko meets pig
As for Sapzurro, there are cute little paved streets, lots of restaurants and a few bars. Most of the bars and restaurants are the locals’ houses, but don't be put off by this, as you will find some of the best food and drink this way.  With wild chickens and pigs running freely (Niko found out which ones not to mess with) Sapzurro has all the charms of a great South American beach town. 










Going to La Miel
We asked one of the Colombian military where the trial is to La Miel, which is on the Panama side.   He was happy to be able to practice his English as he lead us to the trail head, telling us how much he loved Niko.   We made our way up the mountain, ok, “hill”.   Even if it was just a hill, we were spent. 











Passport Check
There were two palm huts at the top, one Colombian and the other Panamanian. What a site!   AK47’s leaning up against the bamboo and a guard reading a People magazine.  We walk up, hand over our passports, and with ease we are on our way down the mountain to Panama.   What we find is a great beach and a duty free store. Our bags were a bit heavier on the hike back with a lot of clanking to be heard. The guards didn't even bother with us this time around.  My guess is the 35 minute resting period last time due to the “mountain” gave us enough time to be remembered.  








Rest time at the top
On our way back, the evening showers decided to grace us. As we were enjoying the cool down we failed to realize that the trail had now become a river.  I swear I saw a family of working ants rafting down the hill on a large leaf.  It became the most challenging slip and slide ever.  Muddy and exhausted, we decided our next trip to La Miel would be by dingy.









Birthday hike
The next morning was my birthday so we planned a day of non-stop adventure. We started with a hike along the coast to the next bay. The views were absolutely beautiful overlooking the ocean.  With jagged rocks below and few spots where there seemed to be no path at all, the trail is for sure not for the weak of heart.  We trudged along, sometimes having to white-knuckle a thin rope tied to some questionable roots.  We were feeling proud that we made it down with no incident, when out of the woods up trots at least a 76 year old  little Colombian man, scampering up the ledge without even a grab to the rope.  With that, we humbly dusted ourselves off and kept on trucking.  As we continued, we found out there were quite a few folks living way out here…maybe due to the beautiful views, and prime drug running territory.  It’s okay - they say the FARC (aka bad people) haven’t been here since 1995, but we admit it’s hard not to think about if there is still FARC watching you.




We make our way back, stopping at the local waterfall, a beautiful spot to shower off after a long hike.  As we walk back to town, we pass by the back of the old lady’s house who we met when we first got here.  We could hear a laundry machine going and lots of clean cloths hanging.  Cath turns to me and at the same moment we both realize that the lady had been asking if we had any clothes that needed washing.  We weren't sure but we were feeling a bit sheepish. 




Beer Time!
We thought it best to make our way to town and relax with a cold beer outside a little blue house.  The owner had given us lawn chairs with the legs cut.  Now sporting the low rider style, we cracked our Aguilas and enjoyed the local happenings on the dock.  The trading boats were in, so time for the locals to shop.  After a while, we decided to go to the local restaurant for a birthday dinner.  We discovered that a bottle of wine must be a new thing for them since Cath had to demonstrate how to use a corkscrew.   Don’t let that deter you from eating out as we had the best fried red snapper ever. 







The next morning, coffee was accompanied by delightful jungle sounds and yes, as we feared, the local laundry lady was waving at us from the beach.  Even if we could we would have been too ashamed to tell her our story, so we swallowed our pride and paid our 1900  pesos (equivalent to $ 1.90). We headed back to Joana to finish our coffee and listened to the laundry lady shuffle her basket together and truck down the path with purpose,  yelling “venga,  venga” to her son who was stumbling at her heels trying ever so hard to keep her pace.   And as for our second hand clothes?   Well, they are clean and ready for the next in need. 


Beach time
Keeping the beach under control
Launcha to Capurgana

Checking out the surf
Jungle hike (in flip flops)
Hiking in the rain
Love duty-free
More wildlife