Crawling back to Bocas – 1

Leaving with a blast?

Dad had figured out the next full moon would be on September 17th and weather and waves pick up before and after the full moon. We didn’t feel like more lightening and from the beginning of September dad was watching the wind and getting impatient. With most of the electronics not working we had to think carefully about how to make the 70nm trip to Shelter Bay. We might stop over in Portobello or Linton Bay, depending on the conditions. We needed to get into the marina to replace the seals on the gearbox and to have stainless steel welding done. A few days before, the wind generator was not working well anymore and when mom and dad were testing it, the stainless steel arm on which it was mounted decided to fall off! 😞

On Thursday, dad and I cleaned the hull. Friday 6th of September we lifted the tender (and broke the pole). We were going to leave before dawn but there was no wind until 6am.

We tried to get as far as we could without motoring. Dad got us out of the corals of San Blas, then mom took over, and after that I also took the helm. We had to play autopilot the whole way.

Even Capo decided he wanted to be outside during the sailing and check out what was happening.

After 2 hours of sailing, the wind did not agree and we had to start motoring. After about an hour of motoring, dad noticed something else broke, the waterpump. So mom and dad had to refill the water by hand the whole time.

That was also the time where I started to feel nauseous and went for a snooze.

With very little wind and all our other worries, we did not want to try to get to Shelter Bay, but decided for the closer Linton Bay.

Linton Bay

The anchorage is very crowded and it seems we got the spot where no one cares about being seen naked.

The next day we put the tender in the water and drove to the marina, to check if we could do the work we had scheduled for Shelter Bay here. We spoke to a stainless steel person, a guy who overhauls gearboxes and a sails repair guy. We decided to do most of the repairs here.

Capo has been busy with his usual tricks. For this sailing trip we changed his litter sand to some shop litter we got that is lavender scented (not sure I really like it). It helps to obliviate the cat-pee smell but not so much the number-2 smell🤢.

The town is quiet and nice. It changed a lot since we were here last (3years ago). It’s even got a ZOO (wildlife Conservation project) and a decently stocked supermarket that has tools and boat repair things. But more interestingly, the supermarket has 2 kittens to hunt the mice and roaches. The one kitten is white with black spots, and is very shy, and the other one is white with brown and black spots (we are BFFs now I love him/her so much❣️).

On Monday dad took out the gear box and drove it to the gearbox repair guy. The next day dad put it back in.

Linton Bay Marina

We entered the marina on Wednesday. When we came in, some dockworkers helped us tie up. Then dad went off to check in and mom and me used some netting to cover the side of the boat that was next to the dock, so Capo can’t just run away. I mean, if he wanted to, he could jump over the railing but we just want to make it a bit more risky for him. Because I learnt ever since I got Capo never ever underestimate a cat and be prepared for the impossible from them. Whenever we go somewhere I always doublecheck where he is and what he’s been up to, as soon as we’re back.

Most of our time in themarina was spent working and waiting. Normally we were staying 1 week but we ended up staying 2 weeks. Dad collected a big box from Colon, full of the new stuff to replace the broken stuff. That sure kept him busy.

I used one of the boxes inside to create an amazing LOL doll house. I really love it. It is the 3rd successful doll house that I made myself. The first one I made was a mini toy doll house for my dolls. The second one was a playmobile house for a friend’s birthday. So yes, I am very proud of myself.

Dad had to go up the mast to install the new radio antenna. Our neighbours on Meshugga (they are South Africans) helped us, because between mom and me was too tricky to get dad up. We have the capstan, but mom doesn’t like working with it, and I didn’t feel like the best safety line person available. So Nicolas managed the capstan, mom the safety line, and I was messenger (eyes and ears). It all went smoothly.

Dad also organised for the stainless steel work and the Genoa repair to be done.

I am disappointed in the marina bathrooms because they don’t have warm water and the aircon is 23 degrees (cold, very cold🥶).

Every day here is blistering hot 🥵 and unlike Shelter Bay there isn’t a swimming pool to cool you down, so every day we all die from the heat.

The marina does have empanadas. Yum.

Bussing to busy Panama city

On Friday morning early (4:30 to be exact) we woke up to prep to go to Panama City. Capo couldn’t understand why we were up so early, why he got breakfast before dawn and then was locked inside. We walked up to the bus stop and after waiting a while, the bus came. It was a diabolo rojo and a true one at that. It was in full shine (literally). You could see the lights flickering on the jungle trees as we raced and roared through the pitch black roads.

When we arrived in Colon we had breakfast (boiled eggs and bread) in a little park close to the harbour. From there we got a taxi to take us to the “free zone” and to the DHL there. But DHL wasn’t open so we wandered around a bit until it was time for DHL to open. We sent off the broken Starlink and then got a taxi which took us to Cuatro Altos shopping centre. There we had to buy another new solar panel at the Casa de Baterías, as our second panel was not performing as it should. Luckily we arranged with the stainless steel guy from the marina to pick it up for us so we didn’t have to carry it around with us.

After that we caught the Express bus to Panama City. We had to stand as all the seats were taken. We got off at the San Miguelito metro stop and then went on the metro to Via Argentina. From there we went to Multi plaza to Decathlon because dad needed a new water-proof backpack (his old one was beyond repair). Then we wandered around stopping at Tech-shops in search of spares and cables, until mom spotted Claires (a jewelry shop).

There we got my ears pierced (wonderful experience), my birthday gift for my 12th birthday.

By that time we could check in at our hotel (they weren’t very prepared).

After sorting out our stuff in the hotel room we walked down to the nearest metro stop and got off at Allbrook. There we split up: me and mom went to Oca loca and Titan and dad went to look at more Tech shops. We were in a big rush with a shopping list to complete, but got most of it. Then we met up again at this sandwich place and had dinner (sandwiches). After that we went and got on the metro to the hotel. At the hotel we unpacked the stuff we bought (in my cases a new Barbie, which I love).

The next morning I was rudely woken up by whispering from my parents (when my dad whispers it sounds like a person talking normally), so I got up. And we all went for a very early breakfast at a chic coffee place (if you want to torture yourself. Everything looks good and is expensive). I had a hot chocolate, my dad a coffee and my mom an ice coffee. We shared a box of biscotti’s. When we were finished, we went back to the hotel and had a swim in the hotel pool. After that we showered, packed our stuff, checked out, walked down to the metro station and were off to Allbrook. There we split up again. Me and mom went to Titan and Oca Loca again (now a little more relaxed). By lunch time we went down to the bus stop. There was a bus going to “Colon” but all seats were taken (one guy was keeping some seats, and was being very annoying). Then we got the next bus (45min later) and we hopped off at Sabanitas to pick up my camping chair. From there we caught the next bus saying “Costa Arriba”.

The ride seemed to last forever. When we started moving away from the coast instead of hugging it, we realised we had a bus that goes to a different town “Nombre de Dios”. Moreover the driver said there were no more busses today, so we got off and started walking back to where we came from. In the mid day heat, with backpacks. The cross roads was still a while, so each time a car passed we tried to wave it down. Not much later a big car stopped and agreed to take us to the cross roads. There we wanted to wait for another bus, taxi or whatever. Again we got lucky, while mom and I were settling in the shade (dad was ‘refreshing’ himself behind a small building) another car offered to take us to Linton Bay. When we passed through the little town our driver closed the blackened windows and when we were through, he opened them again (strange🤔).

When we arrived at the marina, we immediately walked to the boat, fed the cat, and started unpacking. When we finished we went to pick up the Genoa (it had to be fixed. The solar protection was wearing away). Then we put it back up (what a job!)…

Dad also had to go up the mast again as the VHF was working well and AIS reception also, but AIS transmission was a problem. He soldered everything in neatly, but it didn’t resolve the problem.

By the end of the week, we started getting ready to go out of the marina and make our way back to Bocas, with a stopover in Escudo de Verrugas. In the afternoon we left, dad noticed that going backwards was so easy, (we had to do some hard manoeuvres because of all the boats and shallow spots). Then we slowly made our way through all the anchored yachts and anchored in the same spot we had before.

Grounded by a grinding gearbox

We decided that we would leave the next morning early. As we were making our way out of the bay, dad accelerated and mom and I heard a weird noise. Then dad also heard it (that tells you something). So he turned Exodus around and we went back into the bay. While all this happened Capo was meowing (irritating, can-not-be-ignored meowing). Afterwards we discovered he was just hungry 🙄. So we put down anchor and dad went to the engine and pulled out the gearbox (we already figured that the noise was coming from the gearbox).

Afterwards we discovered the guy who replaced the seals on the gearbox put the gearbox together the wrong way around (back is forward and forward is back) so now who knows how much damage there is.

The next day we went to the marina to see if they could help us find someone who specialises in gearboxes. We made a lot of calls to different mechanics that the manager, Brian, suggested. The following day dad left early in the morning to Colon to go to a mechanic that works on marine gearboxes, so we can find out how much damage had been done. Dad left the gearbox with that guy and then came back home. The next day the guy had just started when dad called him to ask for the list of stuff that needed to be bought 😠. So it looks like we will be stuck here for a while.