Friday, January 13, 2012

Happy 2012

Okay, so I've had a few complaints and just looked at the date of my last post.  Guess it got away from me.  We're back in the San Blas, so there will be no photos added until we're back in the land of  real wifi, not a phone connection wifi.

Dennis finished his major sewing project of the dodger, bimini and side curtains.  I think that's the most frustrated I've ever seen him.  Well, maybe the motor mount job was up there.  He did an amazing job!  I know  I would never have the patience or skill to do what he did.

We spent our 24th wedding anniversary at The Dock Restaurant at Shelter Bay, enjoying a great night with Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle.  Spent our anniversary with them a couple of years ago in Aruba.  The food and company were wonderful!

Time to get ready to head out.  Took the bus into Panama City with Deb and Roger drove us around getting that all important provisioning done.  Paid a little bit more this year for wine and beer because we ordered it through the Dock Shoppe, just opened at Shelter Bay, but well worth the money.  Made life much easier. After  another run to the grocery store and finishing up the laundry, we were ready to leave on December 17th.  It's hard to cast off those dock lines and all the conveniences.

Had a good motorsail down to Portobelo.  Rained like I've not seen for awhile, so no one got off the boat on Sunday.  Monday looked like a good day to stage to Linton, but we were hoping to get Dennis' scuba tank refilled.  Well, with the holidays coming up, that didn't happen.  Left on Tuesday for Isla Grande, a nice 2 hour motorsail.  The winds and waves are supposed to pick up, so we'll be here for awhile, but it's a good place to be.  Nice resort place, we can swim and walk.  Plus, Sid and Manuela on Paradise are now renting a house in Linton, so we were able to catch up with them.  The best thing was that Manuela was going into Colon for groceries and took me with her for that last bit of fresh fruit and veggies.  While we did that, Dennis did a load of  laundry.  Thank you, thank you Sid and Manuela :)

Left on Thursday, the 29th of December for the San Blas.  The seas were supposed to be down to 4' by that time.  Yeah, right!  There were 8 to 10's out there easily, but luckily they were far apart and we were actually able to sail from the western edge of the Escribos Reef all the way into the East Lemmons.  Not a bad day.  Met Greg and Deb from Lion's Paw, Colorado, and spent some fun time with them.  Finally caught up with Frank and Gretchen on Infinity, which is always a good time.

Hung around the East Lemmons until after the new year, and then went into Porvenir to check in and have a better phone connection for wifi.  Cannot believe the number of boats on the reef in the last two years.  Lots of backpacker boats, but others as well.  Unbelievable.

We've had a lot of wind, and with this new wind generator, we have tons of power.  Have actually had some amazing sails since we haven't had to recharge the batteries with the engine.  Spent a couple of days in Salardup, then meeting up with Infinity again in Cambombia.  Gretchen borrowed Dennis' sewing machine and they discussed sewing projects, while Frank is trying to get rid of a bogus program I picked up which affected the running of my computer.

We're currently anchored in Esnasdup, waiting for the wind to die down so that we can snorkel, and hopefully avoid the huge croc that swims between here and Green Island.  Met  John and Gerry on Peking and Gary and Kaija on Kaija's Song and had a fun night with dinner aboard Peking.  Beautiful motorsailer.

Stay tuned     ~~~_/)~~~

Monday, November 28, 2011

Shelter Bay Marina - Sewing Projects and Thanksgiving

Busy cutting material
It's hard to believe we've only been back in Panama for 5 weeks.  It's seemed like never-ending work -- well, at least for Dennis!  He's in the process of making a new dodger, bimini  and side curtains and doing an amazing job, but been very frustrated at times.  And this from a man who has patience!  Unfortunately, with the work he's doing, and all the rain, I haven't been able to do any woodwork.  Guess that will be my project for the new year in the San Blas.  Having the common room upstairs, with air conditioning, has been great for Dennis and Deb, from Sea Cycle, while they've worked on their projects and kept each other company.
And sewing



I've been cleaning and resting, still recovering from my episode with pneumonia.  Very frustrating to be so tired all the time.  We've been able to get a bit of walking in, but not as much as I'd like, mostly because of the rain.




Steve from LiWard (white hat),
recruited Frank, the Dock Manager
to play guitar and entertain us
Dylan and Mauricio before the
craziness of Thanksgiving dinner


Chris, Dylan, Mauricio and Gina


There's new management in the marina and hotel/restaurant, and the difference is unbelievable!  Chris Young is the Manager for the restaurant/hotel, with Gina as his Assistant Manager. Customer service 
is amazing with the wait staff of Rosa, Mauricio and Dylan.  Dennis said the other night that we might be spending more money on meals and happy hour, but at least we're having a great time.  How true.  They put together a Thanksgiving dinner, where The Dock Restaurant supplied turkey, gravy and cranberries, and the rest was potluck.  There had to have been at least 60 people up for dinner, if not more, and the food was fantastic.  What a fun, fun night!  Then, the lunch special the next day was open faced turkey
sandwiches with gravy -- well, who could pass that up?  Certainly not us!!








I'll post more photos when Dennis finishes his project.    ~~~_/)~~~


Saturday, November 05, 2011

Back in Panama

Early morning flight, so up at 3 a.m., made sure the condo was all winterized and ready to go, and now we're back to the boat in Panama.  Flew home in July able to check 2 bags, and now American has changed their policy?  Had good flights, a short connection, and our driver picked us up and had us at Shelter Bay Marina by 5 p.m.


The Panama Canal entrance
We've booked the hotel room for a week so that we have an air conditioned place to collapse after cleaning, and Chris upgraded us to a marina view.  We're happy, especially after going down and looking inside the boat.  Well, the outside was pretty bad too.  We were supposed to be gone 5 weeks and ended up 3 months away.  Never left that long without an air conditioner in.  Green and white are lovely colors -- just not inside my boat.  Met up with Mark and Deb on Sea Cycle and Brian and Sue on Darramy for drinks and dinner.  Up early to clean!!!


It was a lot of work, but by the time we checked out of the hotel room, everything inside and outside was clean.  There are little things left to do inside, but they're things that can be done while we're on the boat.  Dennis has started his sewing project - a new dodger and bimini.  On top of this, we met up with Matt and Jean on SuperTed and told them we'd help out with their canal crossing if they needed us.  They did, so we got ourselves ready for a Saturday/Sunday crossing.


Ready to go!
Woke up Saturday with a bit of a cough, but it will go away.  Had to be out at the Flats for 1 p.m., which is frustrating, because the advisor kept changing the time he was coming out, and made it to the boat around 6:30, in the dark and the rain.  Supposedly we were to go through at 7:30, but it ended up being closer to 8:30 ... in the dark and the rain, behind a tug and a Navy boat puking diesel fumes!  My cough got worse!  Everything went great, although the advisor was not happy that Matt wanted to center tie instead of tie off to the Navy boat and let them do all the work.  Let's see ... newly painted 57' Beneteau next to a beat up Navy boat.  No brainer as far as we were concerned.  Finally tied up in Gatun Lake around 10:00 p.m., had one drink, and off to bed.


Jose, Jean and Matt
Crew underway (sorry Sue)
Well, on Sunday the advisor was there bright and early at 6:00 a.m. and we were underway.  It's at least 4 hours across the lake, so I went back down below to have a rest.  The cough kept me awake most of the night, and the slapping of the waves against the side, since we were side tied to the buoy.  Went through the Miraflores Lock around 12:30, and anchored in the Pacific Ocean by about 2:00 p.m.  That was cool.  Staying on SuperTed one more night since transportation is easier on Monday than it is on Sunday.  Jean kept telling us she couldn't cook, but that wasn't true.  We had some great meals.  Thanks Matt and Jean for the great adventure on SuperTed.  What a beautiful boat!

Jean on SuperTed
Matt dropped us off at the dinghy dock Monday morning and we walked over with Sue and Stefan, their other 'crew', to Abernathy's, and then a cab to Albrook Mall, look around and take the bus back.  Picked up some cough syrup at the Farmacia and that seemed to control the cough a bit.  Back at Quatro Altos in time to catch the 3:15 bus back to Shelter Bay.  Didn't go to happy hour because we were exhausted.  An early night.

Still feeling really bad, with my temp going as high as 101.8, so decided on Wednesday to head into the Emergency Room at the Hospital.  Blood tests, x-rays, and I have bronchial pneumonia in both lungs!  No wonder I felt so horrible.  Penicillin shots for 3 days, oral antibiotics, pain meds for the coughing and cough syrup -- hospital visit and all drugs, $150.00 U.S.  Guess I have no choice but to relax now!

I'll get photos of  Dennis' project for the next blog.


                                                              ~~~ _/) ~~~


Monday, October 17, 2011

Time To Head Back To Panama

Celebrating my birthday with
Kelly and Charlie

Apollo, the best dog ever
Well, it's been an eventful summer, what with buying a condo, gutting it, putting it back together and buying furniture, but it's time to head back to the boat and do all the cleaning and painting (woodwork) all over again.  Had a wonderful summer, and Kelly and Char,  Shaun and Kali were great for putting up with us for the two months until we got into the condo.

It was a ton of work, but we love our new place.  Got into our old condo complex, buying a ranch instead of a townhouse.  Let's eliminate all the stairs we can!  The basement is huge, and with all the kids bringing old toys over, we lose them down there and have peace and quiet on the main floor.  And, I have to say, I love my new queen size bed.  That's not to say we don't love the boat, but since we've been living aboard full-time since 2005, with only a few breaks, it's a nice change.  The boat is for sale, but we hope to get one more cruising season out of her.  If it doesn't sell, we'll sail back to the States in April, put her on the hard in Georgia, and winter in the Bahamas until she sells.  We've done that before and loved it.

Heading back to Panama in a couple of days, not too soon for Dennis who is craving the heat!

Up on a ladder - I hate that!

Cody, I thought you were working

The living room before

The living room after

Dennis scraping the kitchen vinyl

Relaxing in his new lazy boy
with the dining room in the background

The Murray family


The Piehler family
My birthday necklace with
all the grandkids

Brooklyn wasn't tired


Parker and Brooklyn
ready for school

Parker is in there somewhere

Brooklyn, Madison, Ryenn, Taylour, Parker and Emmy
with Avory in front