That sinking feeling

Panama City, Panama

The big day finally arrived.  Our scheduled haul-out time, 1:30PM on Friday, April 25th, was here.  We could have handled it better, but we survived and the boat is now safely out of the water.

The day before, on Thursday, we took delivery of a new set of batteries for our house bank, a set of Trojan T125's.  After much procrastinating, I had to admit defeat with the batteries that we had purchased only last January in El Salvador - they were just not holding enough of a charge to allow us to go more than a day without running our Honda generator, even when we had decent solar power during the day (which is not all that common any more as the days are quite often overcast).  We found a company that was able to supply the batteries, give us a trade-in for the old batteries and deliver the new and haul off the old batteries via a panga, all for a fairly reasonable fee, which made the decision a lot easier - the prospect of hiring a taxi to take us around to the battery shops, negotiating a price for same, then somehow getting them to the boat in our small dinghy was not something we were looking forward to.

On Friday morning, we were in full panic mode, getting the motor off the dinghy and hauling the dinghy itself onto the deck, then doing a preliminary cleaning on the bottom of said dinghy - what a mess it was, after sitting in the water for almost a month.  This did cause some concern for what the big boat would look like, and just how fouled up our propeller would be when we tried to move around to the haul-out facility.

Travelift suitable for much larger boats than us

We had the anchor up (the windlass battery was now up to full charge again and working fine) by 12:30, and started motoring around Flamenco island to the marina on the other side.  The best speed we could get out of the boat was just over 2 knots, often much less with the mild currents swirling around this point of land at the end of the causeway.  It took us almost exactly 1/2 hour to navigate the short distance (less than a mile).  We had arranged with the marina to land at the fuel dock at 1PM, in hopes that we could scope out the travel lift, as well as take on some fuel and water.  However, due to some serious communication problems with our Spanglish, we ended up bobbing around outside of the breakwater until they were ready for us to head straight to the travel lift ramp.  The only communications we understood on the way through the marina were the words "Mas Rapido" (Go Faster!).  We tried to explain that we were going as fast as we could!

Once we reached the travel lift itself, we motored in and gave the gathered crowd a lot of entertainment as we tried to throw our too-short dock lines to the workers on the quays.  There is nothing like a throng of camera-toting tourists, watching your every move, to really make things run smoothly.  Eventually, all was OK and they took us off the boat in a panga before they hoisted Sine Timore out of the sea.

After that, it was all pretty tame.

One look at the bottom of the boat made it easy to understand why we had couldn't maintain any speed.  Most of this growth is the result of just one month at anchor in La Playita anchorage - man does stuff ever grow fast here!  The workers started knocking some of the crap off before putting the stands under the boat - it actually seems to come off pretty easily for the most part, but it will take a lot of labour to make it look really good again.

We had contracted a marine surveyor to look over the boat, and he was there as soon as we were out of the water, going around knocking on the hull and taking pictures, etc.  Hopefully his report will allow us to renew our insurance policy next year.  By the time we were able to get onto the boat, and he was able to have his look around inside, it was quiting time for the day.

Saturday, Kenny the mechanic and I spent almost the entire day trying to get the prop shaft disconnected from the transmission.  That was one stubborn shaft coupling that had to be removed before we could replace the stuffing box.  The shock of the day came when we finally got the old PSS shaft seal off and discovered what it was hose-clamped on to.  When Kenny pulled the shat seal off, I heard him exclaim "That's a sinker!" - not words I really needed to hear.  Indeed, the aluminum shaft that was inside the hose-clamped rubber tube had been rubbing on the propeller shaft and had been partially carved through - if this had continued much longer, it would have started letting seawater in, potentially flooding (and sinking) the boat.  This is just one more example to me as to why the PSS shaft seal was not a good solution for this boat - something that I take full blame for as it was all my idea back when we put it in 7 years ago.

Disaster in the making...

Today, Sunday, the yard is closed and we are all taking a day off.  We have a lovely air-conditioned room at a hotel not far from the marina and we are thoroughly enjoying the huge bed and endless supply of water for showers, etc.  Today, we took the bus to the mall to get a few bits of hardware for the boat and mostly just to act like tourists for a day.

Just part of the great bus system here in Panama

Tomorrow, the battle of the stuffing box continues...

What stressed out looks like!

Practicing patience in Panama

La Playita Anchorage, Panama City, Panama

As predicted, we have settled in for a long stay in Panama.  Yes, you can get anything you want in Panama, but that does not mean you can get it in a hurry.

Our much needed part, a new stuffing box for the propeller shaft, arrived on Tuesday (promised for the previous Thursday, but who's counting).  After much negotiating, mostly by us just looking very sad and desperate, we now have a haul-out date of Friday, April 25th (They originally wanted us to wait until March 6th).  That means we only have another week to sit here at anchor before we can finally get the boat out of the water.  As far as we are concerned, it cannot happen too soon - we are getting very tired of the rolly-polly anchorage here at La Playita.  Most of the boats with people we know have already moved onward to various destinations.

To keep ourselves busy, we have been exploring some of the city via the buses.  This is a great way to get around in Panama City.  The buses are clean, wonderfully modern, with splendid air conditioning, and the price is right at only 25 cents.  The only downside is that we have no idea what most of the routes are, although that is part of the fun.  They have just opened up the first leg of a new subway system as well, but we have not tried it yet.

Our one touristy outing last week was a day-trip to the Miraflores Locks, just a few kms out of town.  We watched some big boats passing through on their way to the Atlantic, along with a couple of sailboats - not anyone we happened to know.  There is a very nice museum at the site with lots of information about the history of the construction of the canal, with a notable emphasis on how well the Panamanian government is handling things, now that the USA is no longer involved.  From the observation decks at the locks, you can see the ongoing construction of the new, wider locks just a short distance away - as we understand it, they have run out of money, but work continues.

Sailboat between a rock and a hard place!

A note about the weather.  So far, we have found that it is a little cooler here in Panama than it was back in El Salvador, and especially Nicaragua.  The wind blows, from the north, a lot of the time at this time of year and, while this does cause some additional rocking and rolling for us in the anchorage, it makes the 30 to 35 degree temperatures much easier to take.  In addition, it is overcast a lot of the time, which helps keep the boat a bit cooler.  On those occasions when the wind dies and the sun comes out, it can still feel very hot.  Those are great days to take the bus to the big mall and browse the stores in air conditioned comfort.  Rumour has it that they are going to have to start shutting down the air conditioning during the day now, as the reservoirs that feed the hydro-electric power plants are experiencing a shortage of water - and the rainy season is still a couple of months off.  The sky often looks menacing, with big black clouds, but then nothing ever seems to come of it.  The view of downtown always looks hazy, whether from dust, pollution or just heat-haze is hard to say.

Every weekend, the area around our anchorage, at the end of the Amador causeway, is overrun with local tourists - the whole place becomes a bit of a zoo on Saturday and Sunday, and there is usually music to be heard late into the night on Friday and Saturday.  This weekend, Easter, is a particularly big deal here, and we expect the crowds to be even bigger than normal - we will  most likely just stay huddled up on the boat, watching movies and reading books.  As I am writing this, it has started to rain, which would be a good thing - the boat is a real mess and could use a good washing.  We have had only a couple of very short-lived sprinkles since we have been here - just enough to concentrate the dust and ash into clumps on the deck - never enough to actually wash it away.

Happy Easter from the crew of Sine Timore...

Beirut restaurant overlooking Flamenco marina and boatyard

Flamenco marina expansion - not in time to do us any good

Sunset in what looks to me like the wrong direction.

{GMST}08|54.322|N|79|31.392|W|Panama City, Panama|Panama City, Panama{GEND}

Tsunami and Embera Drua

Panama City, Panama

Busy week, little accomplished!

I don't know where the time is going.  We have been here over a week now and today was the first time I felt we made any progress on the needed boat work.  I finally managed to track down a source for a new stuffing box (packing gland) for our propeller shaft.  It has been ordered from a marine supply company in Miami and will hopefully be here in about a week - once I have that in hand I can try and schedule a haul-out for the boat - who knows how long a wait that will be!

Meanwhile, life has been interesting...

On Monday, the threatened closure of the dinghy dock did come about.  Rather than pull out and go somewhere else, as some of the boats did, we stuck it out, staying on the boat for the day, conducting business via the Internet.  By late afternoon, the marina had relented and reopened the dock.

Then, the panic over the tsunami.  On Tuesday night, Chile experience a major earthquake, just off shore and shallow, causing a big wave.  One of the diligent cruisers here in the anchorage caught the news and relayed it to the fleet on the VHF radio around 8PM.  Panama was under a "Tsunami Watch" - the wave would hit here around midnight.  An hour later the status changed to a "Warning", which is more severe - at that point many of the boats here at anchor started making preparations for leaving for deeper water, although I think only one boat actually pulled their anchor up.  The local canal authority was advising us to stay put - I don't think they wanted 50 to 100 small boats rushing around the anchored super-tankers in the dark.

We were panicking because we had had to re-anchor several times the day before and had killed our windlass battery, meaning I was having to bring in the rode by hand, which was a very slow and tiring process.  I brought in enough chain to get the "snubber" off and lessen the amount I would have to bring in if we decided to leave, then waited for updates from the NOAA Tsunami center.  Fortunately, around 10PM, the warning and watch was lifted completely for Panama and we were off the hook (not off the hook?).  Bullet dodged!

Because we have been waiting for people to get back to us regarding boat parts, we have not been able to venture far from the boat this week.

Susanne did get to the veggie and fruit market with a couple of women from other boats and we have made a couple of trips by bus to the big mall, mostly to smarten up my new "smart" phone.

We did manage to take a day off yesterday (Thursday) and took part in an adventure up the Chagris river.  In the company of about a dozen other cruisers, we travelled by hired bus to a national park where we met some local indigenous people who took us a long way up the river to their village, Embera Drua, where we were treated to a fish and plantain lunch and observed some local craft-making and dancing and a hike in the forest with the local medicine man, who showed us some of his secrets

The ride up the river was the highlight for me.  This is the dry season and the river is very shallow.  It was very exciting riding in motorized canoes with one guy standing on the bow to signal when to take the motor out of the water and help push us along with a long pole, against what was at times a very strong current.   The ride back down river was much quicker.

 

 

 

Along the way, we detoured for a hike to a small waterfall where we had a very refreshing swim.

We got back to the marina area just in time for the Thursday night pizza and cheap beer - so life is still good!

Checking out the boatyard on a windy day.