In Portabello

Well, it's been awhile, so time to get to another blog. As I said, pulled into Portabello in the rain, got a good hook and relaxed. When we were here in July there was a new youth hostel just getting started called Captain Jack. It's run by Jack and Dennis. They've done a great job. Painted the building, happy hour every night, wifi available, meals, laundry and trips into Colon and Panama City. All the prices are reasonable and they're making Portabello a place you want to be. On the weekends there's music and street vendors set up and the food you can buy is amazing! Bought the most delicious roasted chicken with plantains for $6. Enough for 2 meals!

Jack in the back, with Dennis, his wife Negrita and baby Jacqueline

I finally got my new phone hooked up to the internet and it works fantastic. Well, it did until I decided to go with the shorter cord, put the phone in the same place, and watched it drop right on the internet connection and break off. So, fantastic for 2 days! Can't live without it now, so I was heading into Panama City by myself to meet up with Roger and pick up a new phone. Randy on High States came over in the dinghy and said that Lynn would go with me if I wanted. Ooooh, yes, a girls day out! Took the bus from Portabello to downtown Colon to pick up the Panama City bus, had coffee, wandered around Albrook Mall and then Roger picked us up to take us to Eldorado Mall where they have the store that sells the unlocked Nokia phones. He then dropped us back at Albrook Mall, where we wandered around the shops, had lunch, and then headed back. Had a great day! Got off the bus at Sabanitas to catch the bus back to Portabello and saved ourselves an hour by not heading all the way back to Colon. Randy was already up at Captain Jack's, so we called Dennis on the radio to meet us up there. Just after we got up there, the sky opened up. Dennis was a tad wet by the time he got there. Fantastic lightening display -- scary!

Lots of socializing done in Portabello. Went up for happy hour a few times, and then on a Sunday they have Mexican Train dominoes and a potluck. Well, neither Dennis or I have the attention span for an afternoon of dominoes, so we just went for the potluck.

John (Dixie) Lynn and Randy (High States) and Jeannie (Island Dreamin')

The swell got kind of challenging at times in the anchorage. We were lucky to be tucked in enough to be out of the roll, but just getting into the dock was scary at times. Our last day there we couldn't tie up at the music school because of the swell (the water was over the dock), so headed into the town dock. Not really fond of that because if you lock up, you're locking up to a tire they can cut away. Just headed in to pick up some more wine, eggs, a case of beer for Infinity and some great french bread.

Back to the boat, prepared to leave. Quite the swell leaving and not real fun, but made it down to Isla Grande in a couple of hours. Tucked in, anchored, went for a swim and out the next morning for Chichime. ~~~_/)~~~

Rio Chagres

Everything done, and we finally left Shelter Bay Marina around noon. Again, with help from Lynn and Randy on High States. How would we leave the marina without them? Called Port Authority, told them we were leaving the area, and they told us to watch out for ships. Of course, right when we were leaving, there was a huge car carrier ship sounding its horn for us to get out of the way. Okay, you have priority!

Got out of the shipping area and actually had a great sail, all three sails up, for about half an hour. Then the wind died and we motored into the Chagres. Foreigner was already anchored there, so we motored down, around the corner, and had peace and quiet, and relaxed from all the marina time.

Spent a week in the Chagres (including my birthday), just hanging out, getting boat projects done and dinghy exploring. Finally saw a toucan, howler monkies and lizards.

The challenge was when we were leaving to head to Portabelo - a large trawler had gone aground and run lines across the whole river. Luckily, we saw that they were all the way across at the last minute. Oh, and this is the interesting part of the river to navigate. Forty minutes later, they had lines in and we sailed and motored down to Portabelo. Of course, just as we entered the bay, the sky opened up. Good thing is, we've been here before, know where to anchor, and the rain felt good!! :)

Shelter Bay

Amazing how there's always photos of the cool stuff we do, but none of the work. Guess that would be because we're so busy working, neither one of us thinks to haul the camera out.

Roger picked us up from the airport, and was probably pretty worried since we were almost the last ones out from the flight. They had to check our bag for the knee pads. Cannot find any in Panama, so brought them from home. Everything else checked out, and then we were on our way to El Tapiz to drop off our foam for our new cockpit cushions. Really, with material and labor at $100, how can you go wrong? Seems to be an issue picking up our EPIRB which was supposed to be getting a new battery. They thought it was just having a vacation from the boat and it wasn't done ... 6 weeks later! After a couple of trips, it was decided to leave the money with Roger to pick up and deliver to Shelter Bay when he was there next.

Collapsed at the Milan after a busy day of travelling and running around on errands, and then, once again, Roger picked us up in the morning to drive us to Shelter Bay. Way too much stuff to travel on the bus with! Got into the hotel room, dropped all of our luggage off, and off to the boat to start cleaning. YUK ... mold everywhere! So glad we have 5 days in the hotel. After long days on the boat, at least we can go back to air conditioning and collapse. Dennis worked on the boat Saturday while I took the morning bus in to pick up groceries. Everything went well. Cleaning everything, getting rid of extras! Dennis was able to take the cutlass bearing out without dropping the rudder, and had the new one in the next day in 20 minutes. My hero!

We had the yard work on blisters on the boat while we were gone, sanding and filling, so once they were done I started with the bottom paint. Another Bayfield, Windborne III, has sanded down their waterline, put a couple of coats of hard paint on the waterline and then the ablative. I did that and I really hope it works. I hate when the waterline looks horrible when the ablative wears off!

Spent an extra couple of days in the hotel while we continued to put the boat back together. Yes, expensive, but we're heading back to the San Blas where we won't spend any money! The only unhappy experience was when they were putting us back in the water, the truck operator backed up too fast and hit the jackstands at the front of the boat. That resulted in 2 big chunks out of my new bottom paint (right to the hull) and smudged where the 4 jackstands were. I was not happy! I complained (yeah, go figure on that one!) and so far we haven't been charged for some of the yard work. Stay tuned!

Audrey Paige ready to go in after the touch-up, and a couple of the big SMUDGES!


Frank and Gretchen on Infinity came back at the same time we did, so we had a great time with them again. A couple of dinners aboard Audrey Paige and Infinity where there was way too much wine consumed! We even did dog sitting for Loki (the best boat dog) one day. Headed in on the bus to Panama City, where Roger met us to pick up our cockpit cushions (I love them!!!), take us to Price Smart, Riba Smith, and all the little things we need that he knows where they are.

Really did enjoy our time in the marina, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Lynn and Randy on High States pulled in to re-provision (it's much easier from the marina), so we got to catch up with them again. Burt and Marie Elena from Not So Interim were there, and met Karen and Ralph on Five Islands. They are really trying new things at the marina. Tony, the restaurant manager, is doing a Saturday night movie night, with restaurant service upstairs, and he rents the movie for everyone to watch.

Back in the water, provisioning, and off to the Rio Chagres! ~~~_/)~~~

Family Weekend

Our family ... top row ... Char, Kelly, Brooklyn, MA, Shaun, Emmy, Cody, Allayne, Dennis, Rich, Tania, Taylour
bottom row ... Ryenn, Parker, Zachary, Jake, Avory and Madison

Busy, busy weekend. Shopped all day Thursday for our family weekend, then I headed off to Shaun's to spend the night and watch the girls on Friday. We did our usual, off to the park for an hour or so, and then fun stuff at home until Shaun got home from work. Back to Kelly's to prepare my stuff for Saturday, to find that Kelly (love her!) had already made up my brownie mixes! Really, such a little thing made a huge difference in my work that night!

Arranged for the bounce house with the slide again through Wacky Zone for our family weekend. It was supposed to be a pirate house, but they double booked and we ended up with a bigger bounce house with basketball hoops and punch bags for the same price. This time, everyone was able to make it, except for poor Chris, who has too few weekends off and is still trying to put up siding on the house. Dennis' friend, Jerry (his brother's friend from childhood) was able to make it, with his daughter and son-in-law, Amy and Dante, and their daughter and son. I'm terrible, I forget their names, but they were adorable. Amy's daughter was 6, as were our Avory and Mady, so the girls had a great time comparing notes and having fun. Nine grandkids stayed over, along with Parker's friend, Liam (Jake went home with MA). I suppose we could have done more with them the next day, but we were just too exhausted! The kids did get to play in the bounce house again, since they didn't pick it up till around 2 in the afternoon. Dennis took Cody and Zach out to get White Castle, and brought some back for Kelly and Taylour. Charlie was smart enough to head out at 7 in the morning to go golfing.

Grandpa with Avory, Ryenn and Emmy ... Char, Kelly, MA, Taylour, Tania and Rich. ... Amy in charge of lunch with the little ones

Uncle Rich and Emmy ...Taylour, Tania, Cody, Rich and Maddy ... Shaun with Ryenn, Emmy and Avory

Ma, Zach and Jake ... Char and Apollo ... Kelly and Brooklyn

It's so great to have everyone together!!!!

Where has the time gone? Dennis had hoped to take Cody and Zach out to the gun range for some shooting, but just ran out of time. Took Taylour, Cody and Maddy home to Windsor on Monday; haircuts, last minute shopping and packing Tuesday; dropped off the rental car Wednesday, and Kelly took us out to the airport hotel; back to Panama Thursday.

Where did those five weeks go?