When It Rains It Pours

The Bay of Portobello

It’s in middle of April and I’m still in Panama, which is a beautiful place to be, but I’m not used to stay in one place for a longer time.

Before coming here, I use to hear that Panama is one of the places where dreams come to an end! Which meant that people sailed from around the world with the plan of transiting through the Canal and sail the Pacific Ocean, but many would settle here for a longer period of time.  Sailors would simply not feel ready to cross the big Pacific Ocean. Many would return to their home counties and leave their boats behind in Panama.

I’m not a superstitious person, but I think there is a unique energy in this geographical location!   

It took me three months to break off Turtle Cay Marina, which became my home and it was a little difficult to leave behind. I have to give credit and thank Yogi at Turtle Cay Marina for the reimbursement of my cost of hiring the crane.

My Turtle Cay adopted family aboard for dinner

When Earthling was splashed in water, the engine would't start, even though it started the day before on land. I took care of the starting issue, reconditioned the starter with new solenoid and so forth. Right after that I realized that the backstay terminal was cracked! With the help of friends I got a new backstay, one size bigger than the original. 
Before leaving the marina, I was confident that most things were in good shape. The engine was serviced, new belts, impeller, oil, filters, etc. But when I left the marina, right outside the channel, smoke started coming out of the engine room. For one second, I thought about returning, but then I acknowledged that I just escaped one place, so I shut the engine off, furled out the Genoa and sailed away. I checked the engine during the passage and realized that the new belt was loose, so I tied it up, but the belt was slightly damaged. At the mouth of the bay in Portobello, I started the engine and slowly motored into the anchorage, before I found a good place to anchor, the belt broke, so I anchored under sail.  

I was excited to row a shore with the brand new oars that I had made and varnished. The oars were strong and would not brake as the last one did. I rowed ashore and came back to the boat with a friend. After an hour, we noticed one oar was gone!

Once a new belt was in place, we went out for trial sail. As we were entering the anchorage to Playa Blanca, I recognized there was very little water coming out of the exhaust, the engine started overheating! Once again, we had to anchor under sail. 

Now, the belt issue is straightened out. I order a new oar from the same Indian gentleman. But I still got water circulation issues. This morning I realized there is water in the oil! For some reason the water is blocked in the system. I really hope I can repair everything sooner than later and get the engine going so I can sail away to new destinations.   

Playa Blanca

Dinner Party

 On April 1^st as everybody in the marina were celebrating a staff’s birthday, a boat got caught on fire. The celebration ended quickly with tragedy. The Catamaran was burning fast and there was nothing anybody could do. The fire distinguishers were not operating and the water pressure was too low to put out the fire. Everybody stood around and watched the French Catamaran burn till it sank. The owners were devastated! Luckily nobody got hurt!

Johannes's Birthday  

Sad Moment

     

Love from Panama

Three Full Moons are the Charm

Earthling Getting Launched

Finally Earthling got launched and it feels great to be floating. Last season she was launched in Grenada right before Christmas and this season launched a few days before the Persian New Year, “Norouz”. The fifth leg of this sailing adventure is about to start, although it's much later than previous years, but I’m still feeling fortunate to live and experience this lifestyle. The agenda for this leg is to sail Northbound. First to San Andres and Providencia, followed by the Islands off Honduras, then Rio Dulce in Guatemala, and then Belize. I have to be back to Chicago for summer and the Mackinac race in July and I would feel bad to store my boat on the hard somewhere in the tropics again! Boats stored unattended in the heat and rain simply can get destroyed. Therefore, if everything goes well, I am contemplating to sail back to the U.S. by end of this season. The previous legs are as following; the first leg started in Chicago and ended in Florida through various rivers and the intercostal waterway. Second leg started in Florida to the Virgin Islands through the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Third leg was from the Virgin Islands to Grenada through the Leeward and Windward nations/Islands. And the fourth one came true from Grenada to Panama through Trinidad, quaint Venezuelan Islands, Colombia, and the San Blas Islands. I would have liked to visit Bocas Del Toro Islands in Panama as well, but there is no more time left for Panama.  

I will always remember the stress and trouble I had to go through in this Marina to get my boat back in water. Yesterday was full moon and my third full moon here at Turtle Cay Marina; it took three of them to get Earthling in water! 
Turtle Cay Marina have charged boaters for haul out and launch, but they refused to launch the remaining boats. The boat owners had to pay from pocket and hire a private crane company to launch our boats. This marina is located in a very peaceful place but it’s lacking intelligent management system! Bathrooms are rarely running, Internet gets disconnected constantly, it doesn’t have laundry, and it’s far away from stores without a consistent reliable transportation. But it’s the closest marina to the San Blas (Kuna Yala) and it’s a great stop before hitting the Panama Canal. The only person that knows how to run this place is the harbor master, Yogi. He has been a cruiser for many years and is experienced and can assist you with your needs.

 

Illusion was the biggest boat to get launched first, without the input of her owners, I would have still been on land

Uli's boat almost took the new bathroom roof down, that would have been funny :-)

Celebrating the Diablo Festivities, Yogi in the center along with Uli and Toti

People perform in different Diablo costume

The music setup in Nombre De Dios

Diablos signify the Spaniards

Not sure about this one

Diablos whip people as if they were slaves

The Monkey Family at Turtle Cay Marina

The true settlers of Turtle Cay Marina park :-)

I’m floating but nothing is better than being on the hook. At anchor you are within harmony of nature. That’s the real cruising! 

Love from Panama

Living on the Hard

The first steps on a boat that has been sitting for six months could be chocking. Especially when you left your boat in the water and the marina hauled it out as one the first boats ever hauled out. When I returned to the marina, ten days ago, at 9:30pm, I stepped into a flooded cabin. The batteries were dried and shut, as a result, the bilge pump stop working and rainwater down the mast and other leaks flooded the inside of the boat. Luckily, the water was lower than the engine. I was pumping out water and cleaning till early morning hours.

Turtle Cay Boat Yard

The way it seems, Earthling will remain on land for at least 3 more weeks. Turtle Cay Marina has a beautiful boatlift, that is not working, it never has been working in this marina. They must order a crane to come in and put the boats in the water. This is a new marina, remote from anywhere. Closest village is down the curvy dirt road in the rainforest to the main road, and then another ten minutes drive to Nombre De Dios. The first big city, for provisioning and boat parts is Colon. You can take a chicken bus from Nombre De Dios to Colon, but you might sit next to passengers that are holding a chicken on their lap! It makes it all more adventures. Finding boat parts in Panama is not as easy as walking into a major chandlery in the U.S. Even though there are a few chandleries, but if they don’t carry what you looking for, you can’t really order it either! You have to search to find things! That requires going to Panama City, which is 2-3hrs drive from the marina. The best option for me was to rent a car from the airport and gather supplies and do a major provisioning. Otherwise, things would have taken much longer time. I purchased "Petit Trinidad" antifouling paint, but they didn’t have it in red so I had to buy it in black at the highest price ever. After a few days of searching, I found good deals on 4DM batteries, but I still haven’t been able to find fuel filters!

  

Settled Base 

There is a list of projects that I hope to accomplish before start cruising again. 

The list is long and it goes by priority. Before getting launched, everything below has to be done, such as getting the bottom ready for paint. Which includes scraping off the barnacle shells and lightly sand the hull. The keel has to be faired, since we hit reefs in Kuna Yala. A friend of mine lost his boat 3 weeks ago on a reef in San Blas. The Garmin charts are "off" in this area and sailors must keep a careful outlook. In our case we were lucky! Furthermore, two stern through-hulls leak and must be re-caulked. The propeller and shaft have to be cleaned and new zinc put on. Then everything is ready to apply the bottom paint. After that, the top of the hull needs to be polished and waxed. 

Priority number two is to service the engine, which includes changing fuel filters, oil filter, and oil. I must also take apart and clean the starter from rust debris. In addition, the starter solenoid must be replaced since we’ve experienced difficulties starting the engine before. Also, the auto syphon must be inspected since it sprays out too much water.

The next priority is to recaulk the stanchions and shroud fittings, a job that needs four hands! And then there are zillions of other small things to do. This part of "Cruising Life Style" is not as pretty as it looks on the pictures of white sandy beaches with palm trees. But I have to admit, this marina’s location is just like heaven, there are two long beautiful beaches just by here and there are monkey families living up the trees not far from the boat. It’s as isolated as it can get on a deserted Island. 

The tent is setup and utilized as storage area, last time we used it in Barbuda

Love from Turtle Cay Marina in Panama