SV Sine Timore: 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...