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| Edi and Paige, evening beach walk |
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| Paige with the hermit crab she named "Herman" ! |
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| Danni |
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| Nic |
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| Nic and Scoop |
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| Last of all, US :o) |
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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Family Photo's
Friday, December 30, 2011
End of Another Year...
The weather is just amazing today, the rain seems long gone, and the sky is incredibly blue, but now the heat has taken over, and "Bloody Hell, it's HOT", no, that's not me complaining, I'll take this any day over the rain, I'm just grateful for the air conditioning on the boat.
Bob and I made the early morning bus trip into Colon today (always an adventure) to re-provision the boat, as we plan to spend the next 2 weeks back at the San Blas before he returns to work for a few weeks.
The supermarket was stocked with all the goodies and things I wanted to buy for Christmas, but couldn't because they were sold out, needless to say we arrived back at Daisy with a cart load of provisions and booze, but it made me really sad when I was putting it all away because my family are no longer here to share it with us.
Bob and I will eat, drink and be merry for the next few weeks, and then Bob's off for a while, but at least in Shelter Bay I have so many friends, I'm never really alone. I'm trying to convince him to let us stay here for New year, I really, really would like to spend it celebrating with all the friends I've made here, when Bob's gone, they're basically my family.
So, I'm about to serve curry for lunch, lovely on a 100 degree day :o). I have had all my laundry done, all 60 lbs of it, and the boat is clean, polished and stocked, so we're well ready for another trip, OH why can't I be more excited about it.
If we do happen to leave here in the morning, this will be my last chance to wish everyone who reads my blog a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR, and thank you so very much for your following and support.
Love Daisy xxx :o)
P.S. Danni, it's so hot my watch has totally filled up with condensation, I hope your new watch doesn't freeze over in Ohio.
Bob and I made the early morning bus trip into Colon today (always an adventure) to re-provision the boat, as we plan to spend the next 2 weeks back at the San Blas before he returns to work for a few weeks.
The supermarket was stocked with all the goodies and things I wanted to buy for Christmas, but couldn't because they were sold out, needless to say we arrived back at Daisy with a cart load of provisions and booze, but it made me really sad when I was putting it all away because my family are no longer here to share it with us.
Bob and I will eat, drink and be merry for the next few weeks, and then Bob's off for a while, but at least in Shelter Bay I have so many friends, I'm never really alone. I'm trying to convince him to let us stay here for New year, I really, really would like to spend it celebrating with all the friends I've made here, when Bob's gone, they're basically my family.
So, I'm about to serve curry for lunch, lovely on a 100 degree day :o). I have had all my laundry done, all 60 lbs of it, and the boat is clean, polished and stocked, so we're well ready for another trip, OH why can't I be more excited about it.
If we do happen to leave here in the morning, this will be my last chance to wish everyone who reads my blog a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR, and thank you so very much for your following and support.
Love Daisy xxx :o)
P.S. Danni, it's so hot my watch has totally filled up with condensation, I hope your new watch doesn't freeze over in Ohio.
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| Evening Beach Walk |
Thursday, December 29, 2011
The Joy of Christmas
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| Jumping for joy |
The weeks leading up to this Christmas, and my family arriving were full of anticipation, prayers and hope for a Christmas without disasters, we haven't had one of those in so many years. Christmas 2009 was possibly the worst, I actually cancelled Christmas it was all so horrific.
This year the weather had been truly dreadful for weeks, rain, rain and more rain, eventually becoming a monsoon before we left, I was in fear of a vacation spent locked below decks avoiding the downpour.
However, as it turned out this year I have no horror stories, the weather cleared the day we set sail, and stayed beautiful for the entire time we were away, I even enjoyed the 10 hour sail from Colon to the islands.
Our closest disaster was a little too much sun, and Bob's discovery the day we arrived in the San Blas, that I had forgotten to provision for toilet paper, we were down to our last 2 rolls, that near disaster was quickly averted by my discovery of three new rolls of kitchen paper ( happily we didn't need them). We also ran short of beer and water but not until the last day, so that really doesn't count as a disaster.
The San Blas islands were incredibly beautiful as always, and our time there was spent happily doing fun family vacation stuff, snorkling, swimming, exploring the islands, and generally lazying around being boatie, beach bums.
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| Family Christmas in the San Blas |
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| Beach walk |
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| Every beach needs a hammock |
Friday, December 16, 2011
Shopping For The Holidays!
The Morgan clan gathers for holiday season once again. Four of my family arrived yesterday, so now I'm just waiting for Edi and Paige on Sunday. Daisy is more than ready to go with her fully stocked freezer, both fridges, fruit and veggie baskets, and liquor cabinet, she's so full that she's actually sitting lower in the water, hopefully we'll stay afloat.
Doing the final provision yesterday, proved to be just another typical day in the life of a "live aboard". I left on the overloaded bus at 8am, as usual it was so full there was standing room only, I had to wonder where all the shopping was going to go on the return trip, I knew everyone had the same plan as me, 'stock up before heading out'.
The supermarket was fully stocked ready for the holidays, and as I awkwardly maneuvered my three tier cart around the store piling it high on all three levels with all the goodies I could lay my hands on, I wondered about transporting it from the supermarket to the bus, then from the bus to the boat, surprisingly that little chore requires quite a bit of effort. Most of my shopping appeared to be bottles (no surprise there then), so it was all really heavy.
I finished as quickly as possible, I couldn't wait to get out of the store, I had quite a headache from the horrible noise they call music!!! They play it so loudly, there's absolutely no melody, just screeching noise, like running nails down a blackboard, it was painful to listen to. "Why?" I kept asking myself, I couldn't believe anyone would actually enjoy it.
Once I had cleared the checkout I had to wheel the cart across the road to the bus, and crossing the road out here is really taking your life in your hands. The taxi drivers are like hit and run experts, and every other car is a taxi. Simply getting on the bus is not easy, as twenty plus other people are also loading their shopping. The bags and boxes gradually pile up in the space in the center of the bus, until it all spills over onto laps and floor space, then everyone attempts to find a seat, talk about "how many elephants you can get in a mini" I was squished at the back with my legs up around my shoulders as there was no space on the floor.
The ride back to the marina was long, hot and uncomfortable, between the craters (pot holes) in the road, and the driver swerving every few seconds to try and avoid them, the journey was not a pleasant one. Once back at the marina, the heavens opened (AGAIN) and down came torrential rain. We all struggled to get our bags out of the bus and into the carts to wheel to the boats. My cart was so heavy I could barely push it, and I was literally drowned, everything was soaking wet, it was like standing under a shower. My good friend Arel was there to help me load all my soaking wet shopping bags onto the boat, it was the one time I was grateful for plastic, at least some of the groceries stayed dry.
Back on board, I changed into dry clothes, wrapped a towel around my wet hair and set about finding space for all the food and drink, and then collapsed with a glass of wine. I have to tell you, shopping when you live on a boat is never easy.
Doing the final provision yesterday, proved to be just another typical day in the life of a "live aboard". I left on the overloaded bus at 8am, as usual it was so full there was standing room only, I had to wonder where all the shopping was going to go on the return trip, I knew everyone had the same plan as me, 'stock up before heading out'.
The supermarket was fully stocked ready for the holidays, and as I awkwardly maneuvered my three tier cart around the store piling it high on all three levels with all the goodies I could lay my hands on, I wondered about transporting it from the supermarket to the bus, then from the bus to the boat, surprisingly that little chore requires quite a bit of effort. Most of my shopping appeared to be bottles (no surprise there then), so it was all really heavy.
I finished as quickly as possible, I couldn't wait to get out of the store, I had quite a headache from the horrible noise they call music!!! They play it so loudly, there's absolutely no melody, just screeching noise, like running nails down a blackboard, it was painful to listen to. "Why?" I kept asking myself, I couldn't believe anyone would actually enjoy it.
Once I had cleared the checkout I had to wheel the cart across the road to the bus, and crossing the road out here is really taking your life in your hands. The taxi drivers are like hit and run experts, and every other car is a taxi. Simply getting on the bus is not easy, as twenty plus other people are also loading their shopping. The bags and boxes gradually pile up in the space in the center of the bus, until it all spills over onto laps and floor space, then everyone attempts to find a seat, talk about "how many elephants you can get in a mini" I was squished at the back with my legs up around my shoulders as there was no space on the floor.
The ride back to the marina was long, hot and uncomfortable, between the craters (pot holes) in the road, and the driver swerving every few seconds to try and avoid them, the journey was not a pleasant one. Once back at the marina, the heavens opened (AGAIN) and down came torrential rain. We all struggled to get our bags out of the bus and into the carts to wheel to the boats. My cart was so heavy I could barely push it, and I was literally drowned, everything was soaking wet, it was like standing under a shower. My good friend Arel was there to help me load all my soaking wet shopping bags onto the boat, it was the one time I was grateful for plastic, at least some of the groceries stayed dry.
Back on board, I changed into dry clothes, wrapped a towel around my wet hair and set about finding space for all the food and drink, and then collapsed with a glass of wine. I have to tell you, shopping when you live on a boat is never easy.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Mrs Bennett
I had a revelation the other day, which both shocked and dismayed me.
I was working in the Dock lounge, a lovely quiet, air conditioned lounge that overlooks the marina, it's a great place to go grab a book and relax on one of the comfy couches, or just sit quietly with a cup of coffee. I sometimes take my computer and sit at one of the desks and work on my book, I love the peaceful quiet atmosphere in the room. I was there the other day quietly working at the desk, another marina resident was also working on his computer, and a lady was sitting on the sofa reading. It was all very quiet and peaceful, and I was enjoying getting a lot of work done, when two women came in, and walked around the room chatting loudly, completely oblivious to the fact that people were reading quietly or working. I mumbled to myself, how rude and inconsiderate they were. I tried to ignore their loud chatter, but it was impossible, I reminded myself that the lounge was a common area after all, and just hoped they would go away. After about 10 minutes (I was in a really bad mood by now) one of them said "OH look a TV" I cursed under my breath, didn't these people have any consideration, the lady reading the book looked over at me raising her eyebrows and nodding in what appeared to be dismay at the two women's obvious lack of consideration. One of the women picked up the TV control and turned it on, but there was no sound, she fiddled around for a bit then asked me if I knew how it worked, "No idea, sorry" I said, "I come up here because it's quiet, there's a TV in the bar downstairs if you want to watch something." The woman looked at me with a frown, and then ignoring me turned and asked the lady who was reading. "No idea either" she said turning her attention back to her book.
You would think that they would have taken the hint, wrong! The woman then asked one of the marina staff, and everyone else that entered the room if they could get the sound to work, sadly for them, but happily for the rest of us, no one was able to get the sound working, so after about 30 minutes both women left. "Thank goodness for that" I said quietly, as they left the room, the other residents in the lounge chuckled, and the room returned once again to a peaceful retreat, where we could all return to what we had been doing before the rude interruption.
That night I was watching Pride & Prejudice, and laughing at Mrs Bennett who was doing her usual bitching and complaining about everyone and everything, when it suddenly hit me, "OH CRAP" that's me, that's who I am, that's what I do, I've become a Mrs bennett, a crabby, complaining, short tempered, old biddy! The realization of this was quite a slap in the face. I think I'm in need of some serious work on my tolerance, and forgiveness of others. The question is, if I stop bitching will people stop reading my blog? Nice is nice, but it's also boring, don't you think?
I was working in the Dock lounge, a lovely quiet, air conditioned lounge that overlooks the marina, it's a great place to go grab a book and relax on one of the comfy couches, or just sit quietly with a cup of coffee. I sometimes take my computer and sit at one of the desks and work on my book, I love the peaceful quiet atmosphere in the room. I was there the other day quietly working at the desk, another marina resident was also working on his computer, and a lady was sitting on the sofa reading. It was all very quiet and peaceful, and I was enjoying getting a lot of work done, when two women came in, and walked around the room chatting loudly, completely oblivious to the fact that people were reading quietly or working. I mumbled to myself, how rude and inconsiderate they were. I tried to ignore their loud chatter, but it was impossible, I reminded myself that the lounge was a common area after all, and just hoped they would go away. After about 10 minutes (I was in a really bad mood by now) one of them said "OH look a TV" I cursed under my breath, didn't these people have any consideration, the lady reading the book looked over at me raising her eyebrows and nodding in what appeared to be dismay at the two women's obvious lack of consideration. One of the women picked up the TV control and turned it on, but there was no sound, she fiddled around for a bit then asked me if I knew how it worked, "No idea, sorry" I said, "I come up here because it's quiet, there's a TV in the bar downstairs if you want to watch something." The woman looked at me with a frown, and then ignoring me turned and asked the lady who was reading. "No idea either" she said turning her attention back to her book.
You would think that they would have taken the hint, wrong! The woman then asked one of the marina staff, and everyone else that entered the room if they could get the sound to work, sadly for them, but happily for the rest of us, no one was able to get the sound working, so after about 30 minutes both women left. "Thank goodness for that" I said quietly, as they left the room, the other residents in the lounge chuckled, and the room returned once again to a peaceful retreat, where we could all return to what we had been doing before the rude interruption.
That night I was watching Pride & Prejudice, and laughing at Mrs Bennett who was doing her usual bitching and complaining about everyone and everything, when it suddenly hit me, "OH CRAP" that's me, that's who I am, that's what I do, I've become a Mrs bennett, a crabby, complaining, short tempered, old biddy! The realization of this was quite a slap in the face. I think I'm in need of some serious work on my tolerance, and forgiveness of others. The question is, if I stop bitching will people stop reading my blog? Nice is nice, but it's also boring, don't you think?
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Just Another Day in Panama...
Today I had to take a trip into Cristobel to see the head port Captain. The drive into Colon was something I thought I should write about.
We drove out from Shelter bay through another really heavy rain storm, all the streets in Colon were flooded so we had to keep taking alternate roads, water was pouring off the roof tops like waterfalls (no kidding), the water in the roads was so deep in places it was right up over the wheels of the cars, I wondered how long it would be before we broke down and I would have to swim to safety, my biggest concern (don't laugh) was that I had the ships papers with me, a truly valuable possession, and I would not have been popular (understatement) had I lost them.
All the roads were jammed with heavy traffic, and the drivers here have absoutely no manners, they spend their driving time seeing how close they can come to impact with other vehicles, and leaning on their horns, (CAR horns) no one follows the signs, and close calls occur about 60 times a minute. There are no rules of the road out here, and even if there were no one gives a rats ass!
My driver doesn't speak a word of english, and my back is killing me from the jarring of the pot holes we have been driving through, not to mention the seat that is probably still in the laid back position from Heaven only knows what it was used for the night before (you know what I mean) and I can't get the seat up, it's totally jammed in the "laid back" position! The area we drove through got poorer and poorer, even the driver locked his doors, I was not feeling comfortable at all.
I shouldn't really complain I was getting the ride into Colon for free, but somehow I just wanted to be back on the boat.
I was eventually dropped outside a building that looked as though it was probably still under construction. I followed direction and headed off across the road through the rain to the door that my driver pointed at. Inside there was a desk where a couple of guys stood around chatting and laughing and another guy sat behind the desk, as I ran in they all stopped laughing and turned to look at me. "Do any of you speak english" I asked. One of the guys came towards me and said "what do you want little one?" I was confused by the term little one, but chose to ignore the words and the creepy smile. "I need to see the Head port Captain, please" two of the men laughed, "I am the head port captain" one of them said with raucous laughter, a sudden chill ran down my spine as I suddenly pictured myself in a Panamanian Jail.
I won't go into all the details of the conversation that followed (it would bore and confuse you) just that I ended up climbing up two flights of stairs, and along creepy corridors to the top floor of a building without windows, and then opening a series of unmarked doors and peering into barely furnished rooms with random people, none of which spoke any english, eventually I came across a guard who had a few words of english and took me into another room where I was told to wait. My driver appeared a few minutes later and he and the guard exchanged a few words and laughter, accompanied by curious glances in my direction.
After a few minutes I was called into a large room by a guy that I assume was the Head port Captain, he motioned to a chair next to a desk and I sat down, and tried in very bad Spanish to explain what I needed.
About 30 minutes later, after our meeting, in which the Port Captain was very nice, and had tried his best to be very helpful, despite the language barrier, I left, we shook hands and then I looked for my driver, I went all over the building, in all the offices, upstairs, downstairs, eventually I found the guard that spoke a little english and he helped me look for him, we looked everywhere, even outside. I was beginning to get nervous, this was not a safe area for a woman alone. I asked one of the guards to please call me a cab, then just after he called, a couple of guys I recognized from the marina appeared, "are you going back to Shelter Bay?" I asked, "yes, in a bit we have some photocopies to get in town first, do you need a ride?" I was so relieved, and bless them they brought me safely back to the marina.
Oh the joys of boat life are truly never ending...
As long as we have Daisy, I know I'll never in my life be bored!
We drove out from Shelter bay through another really heavy rain storm, all the streets in Colon were flooded so we had to keep taking alternate roads, water was pouring off the roof tops like waterfalls (no kidding), the water in the roads was so deep in places it was right up over the wheels of the cars, I wondered how long it would be before we broke down and I would have to swim to safety, my biggest concern (don't laugh) was that I had the ships papers with me, a truly valuable possession, and I would not have been popular (understatement) had I lost them.
All the roads were jammed with heavy traffic, and the drivers here have absoutely no manners, they spend their driving time seeing how close they can come to impact with other vehicles, and leaning on their horns, (CAR horns) no one follows the signs, and close calls occur about 60 times a minute. There are no rules of the road out here, and even if there were no one gives a rats ass!
My driver doesn't speak a word of english, and my back is killing me from the jarring of the pot holes we have been driving through, not to mention the seat that is probably still in the laid back position from Heaven only knows what it was used for the night before (you know what I mean) and I can't get the seat up, it's totally jammed in the "laid back" position! The area we drove through got poorer and poorer, even the driver locked his doors, I was not feeling comfortable at all.
I shouldn't really complain I was getting the ride into Colon for free, but somehow I just wanted to be back on the boat.
I was eventually dropped outside a building that looked as though it was probably still under construction. I followed direction and headed off across the road through the rain to the door that my driver pointed at. Inside there was a desk where a couple of guys stood around chatting and laughing and another guy sat behind the desk, as I ran in they all stopped laughing and turned to look at me. "Do any of you speak english" I asked. One of the guys came towards me and said "what do you want little one?" I was confused by the term little one, but chose to ignore the words and the creepy smile. "I need to see the Head port Captain, please" two of the men laughed, "I am the head port captain" one of them said with raucous laughter, a sudden chill ran down my spine as I suddenly pictured myself in a Panamanian Jail.
I won't go into all the details of the conversation that followed (it would bore and confuse you) just that I ended up climbing up two flights of stairs, and along creepy corridors to the top floor of a building without windows, and then opening a series of unmarked doors and peering into barely furnished rooms with random people, none of which spoke any english, eventually I came across a guard who had a few words of english and took me into another room where I was told to wait. My driver appeared a few minutes later and he and the guard exchanged a few words and laughter, accompanied by curious glances in my direction.
After a few minutes I was called into a large room by a guy that I assume was the Head port Captain, he motioned to a chair next to a desk and I sat down, and tried in very bad Spanish to explain what I needed.
About 30 minutes later, after our meeting, in which the Port Captain was very nice, and had tried his best to be very helpful, despite the language barrier, I left, we shook hands and then I looked for my driver, I went all over the building, in all the offices, upstairs, downstairs, eventually I found the guard that spoke a little english and he helped me look for him, we looked everywhere, even outside. I was beginning to get nervous, this was not a safe area for a woman alone. I asked one of the guards to please call me a cab, then just after he called, a couple of guys I recognized from the marina appeared, "are you going back to Shelter Bay?" I asked, "yes, in a bit we have some photocopies to get in town first, do you need a ride?" I was so relieved, and bless them they brought me safely back to the marina.
Oh the joys of boat life are truly never ending...
As long as we have Daisy, I know I'll never in my life be bored!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Sunset
I feel the need to post something beautiful, as I'm quite fed up after yesterday, a day that started out so well, and became such a disappointment. So here are some lovely photographs from Bocas del Toro.
Enjoy :o)
Each night Bob and I would watch the Egrits gather in the tree at the end of the dock, there must have been about 200 or more by the time they had all arrived. By the way they make a huge din, and sound like a farmyard full of geese, but the were beautiful to watch.
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| Flocks of Egrits, gathering at sunset |
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| Amazing sunset in Bocas Del Toro over the marina |
Robbed...
I need to be careful about how I write this, as I'm currently in a country where its not wise to upset officials. But I just need to say something. It's an unfortunate fact in life that one has to learn through mistakes, and I made a big (expensive) mistake yesterday by trusting, or rather taking for granted that I could trust someone just because they were in a uniform, in a position of power, dealing with official business.
Perhaps its naive of me, but I have always trusted people like Police, and others in positions of power who demand your respect because of the very position they hold in society, a position that assures you they can be trusted, they have been awarded that power because they have earned it.
It's a sad state of affairs when that person abuses their power, to steal from the very people they should be protecting. And I will not easily trust or respect people in future just because their uniform tells me I should, or because they hold some particular position of power. I hate that this makes me so cynical and suspicious, and also, in all honesty, a bit of an idiot.
I wish I could go into more details of what happened to me, because it really was my own stupid fault for taking someones honesty for granted, being so trusting, and not being more guarded and careful, but I believe that while I am where I am right now, it would be very unwise of me to go into actual details.
I don't feel unsafe here in the marina, far from it, I'm surrounded by so many wonderful people, the marina is full of us crazy yachties/boat bums, and the security is really very good here, we even have armed guards on the gate. I genuinely like many of the people who work here, and my neighbors are within shouting distance, I'm probably a lot safer here than I would be in a city.
I need to learn to simply be more suspicious, and guarded in future, and remember that position and power does not go hand in hand with intelligence and integrity.
I just have to put this experience down to another lesson learned!
Perhaps its naive of me, but I have always trusted people like Police, and others in positions of power who demand your respect because of the very position they hold in society, a position that assures you they can be trusted, they have been awarded that power because they have earned it.
It's a sad state of affairs when that person abuses their power, to steal from the very people they should be protecting. And I will not easily trust or respect people in future just because their uniform tells me I should, or because they hold some particular position of power. I hate that this makes me so cynical and suspicious, and also, in all honesty, a bit of an idiot.
I wish I could go into more details of what happened to me, because it really was my own stupid fault for taking someones honesty for granted, being so trusting, and not being more guarded and careful, but I believe that while I am where I am right now, it would be very unwise of me to go into actual details.
I don't feel unsafe here in the marina, far from it, I'm surrounded by so many wonderful people, the marina is full of us crazy yachties/boat bums, and the security is really very good here, we even have armed guards on the gate. I genuinely like many of the people who work here, and my neighbors are within shouting distance, I'm probably a lot safer here than I would be in a city.
I need to learn to simply be more suspicious, and guarded in future, and remember that position and power does not go hand in hand with intelligence and integrity.
I just have to put this experience down to another lesson learned!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Happiness :o)
Most beautiful day so far, blue sky and sunshine and 88 degrees. Not a rain drop in sight, so instead of laying around and enjoying the weather, I smothered myself with sun tan lotion and set to work on the toe rail, I am, remember "the varnishing queen of the Caribbean". I'm so happy that I finished the sanding, washed the boat, and then managed to put a full coat of varnish on, and it still hasn't rained.
This afternoon I have the joyful job of cleaning out the bilge! So with that in mind I'm at the restaurant for lunch, and I'm having fish & chips, I think I deserve it after all the hard work and sweat this morning. My back is still sore, and I'm getting occasional twinges of pain, but not enough to stop me working, I'm pretty sure now that I didn't slip a disc, because I'm able to do so much already.
Bob is on his way back to the States for 10 days of work, and I have a long list of 'to do' jobs to complete before his return, but I've made a great start this morning, I just hope the weather stays like it's been today.
I love this marina so many people around, and all so friendly, good restaurant, and nice swimming pool.
Happy again
:o)
This afternoon I have the joyful job of cleaning out the bilge! So with that in mind I'm at the restaurant for lunch, and I'm having fish & chips, I think I deserve it after all the hard work and sweat this morning. My back is still sore, and I'm getting occasional twinges of pain, but not enough to stop me working, I'm pretty sure now that I didn't slip a disc, because I'm able to do so much already.
Bob is on his way back to the States for 10 days of work, and I have a long list of 'to do' jobs to complete before his return, but I've made a great start this morning, I just hope the weather stays like it's been today.
I love this marina so many people around, and all so friendly, good restaurant, and nice swimming pool.
Happy again
:o)
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Crippled in Colon!
Saturday December 3rd
Shelter bay Marina. Colon.
We had finally arrived in Colon, after a miserable week of weather and boat problems. It had taken us just 12 hours to do the 103 mile leg from the island of "Escudo de Veraguas" (which would normally be record time) sadly though, it had not been a pleasant sail, even though we were with the wind the whole way, and managed to average over 8 knots for the entire leg.
We made the leg from Laguna de Bluefield, to Escudo de Veraguas, on Thursday afternoon, just stopping at the very rolly island anchorage overnight, before continuing on at dawn the next day to Colon. Our overnight stop was not the best, with strong winds, and choppy seas making it a really rolly, and uncomfortable overnight anchorage...
We hadn't been able to wait any longer in Bluefield lagoon, time had been running out and we needed to get underway and get to Colon, no matter the weather. We had only planned on stopping overnight in Bluefield, but it had been 3 days, and we were way behind our planned schedule. So we made the 4 hour next leg to Escudo de Veraguas before carrying on to Colon.
When we left at dawn on Friday morning, we had high hopes for better weather, but no such luck. Predictably the weather did it's best to make the trip thoroughly miserable for us, huge sea's, drenching rain, and high winds (lovely!) I was sick, as I predicted, 6 times, all over the deck, fortunately (I suppose, depending upon how you look at it) we were sailing through storms, so the "stuff of my sickness" was quickly washed away leaving the decks clean.
We just went from one storm to the next, for the entire leg, we couldn't avoid them, some of the squalls were quite bad, with wind gusting at times to over 40 knots, and Daisy rocking violently from side to side, doing her "broken wheel on the big dipper at the fairground" imitation.
I was laying horizontal (as usual) in the cockpit, and Bob was at the helm, although thankfully due to all his efforts, the auto-pilot was now (finally) co-operating.
The sails were going up and down like yo-yo's, as we tried to sail rather than motor, (the sails would have stopped most of the rocking) but then suddenly the wind dropped from over 30 knots to 3 knots, and we found ourselves bobbing around like a cork, in sunshine (no less) for about 10 minutes!
The engine went on, the sails came down, the sails went up, and the engine switched off, and so on, and so on, and so on for 12 (long) hours...
Eventually we pulled exhausted into the bay at the entrance to the Panama canal, and motored to the anchorage, as it was now too late to get into the marina, and it was already starting to get dark.
I dropped anchor (again without incident, I'm obviously improving) and then went back to the cockpit to grab the stuff from the fridge to get dinner, we were both starving having had only chips and nuts since 5:30am that morning. Being a totally useless sailor, I just don't function in the galley while underway, so we all tend to just go hungry until we're able to drop anchor somewhere, and I can function normally again.
Bending over the fridge to gather my ingredients I was suddenly gripped by a sharp stabbing pain in my back. I whimpered like a kitten as Bob helped me below where I lay on the floor praying I hadn't popped a disc out of place, the pain was quite bad, and the slightest movement caused me to shout out.
Just when I thought I could celebrate our eventual (and miraculously safe) arrival at Colon, I was now immobilized like a cripple, stretched out on the floor, unable to move, once again leaving everything to Bob...
Again the joys of boat life abound!
Shelter bay Marina. Colon.
We had finally arrived in Colon, after a miserable week of weather and boat problems. It had taken us just 12 hours to do the 103 mile leg from the island of "Escudo de Veraguas" (which would normally be record time) sadly though, it had not been a pleasant sail, even though we were with the wind the whole way, and managed to average over 8 knots for the entire leg.
We made the leg from Laguna de Bluefield, to Escudo de Veraguas, on Thursday afternoon, just stopping at the very rolly island anchorage overnight, before continuing on at dawn the next day to Colon. Our overnight stop was not the best, with strong winds, and choppy seas making it a really rolly, and uncomfortable overnight anchorage...
We hadn't been able to wait any longer in Bluefield lagoon, time had been running out and we needed to get underway and get to Colon, no matter the weather. We had only planned on stopping overnight in Bluefield, but it had been 3 days, and we were way behind our planned schedule. So we made the 4 hour next leg to Escudo de Veraguas before carrying on to Colon.
When we left at dawn on Friday morning, we had high hopes for better weather, but no such luck. Predictably the weather did it's best to make the trip thoroughly miserable for us, huge sea's, drenching rain, and high winds (lovely!) I was sick, as I predicted, 6 times, all over the deck, fortunately (I suppose, depending upon how you look at it) we were sailing through storms, so the "stuff of my sickness" was quickly washed away leaving the decks clean.
We just went from one storm to the next, for the entire leg, we couldn't avoid them, some of the squalls were quite bad, with wind gusting at times to over 40 knots, and Daisy rocking violently from side to side, doing her "broken wheel on the big dipper at the fairground" imitation.
I was laying horizontal (as usual) in the cockpit, and Bob was at the helm, although thankfully due to all his efforts, the auto-pilot was now (finally) co-operating.
The sails were going up and down like yo-yo's, as we tried to sail rather than motor, (the sails would have stopped most of the rocking) but then suddenly the wind dropped from over 30 knots to 3 knots, and we found ourselves bobbing around like a cork, in sunshine (no less) for about 10 minutes!
The engine went on, the sails came down, the sails went up, and the engine switched off, and so on, and so on, and so on for 12 (long) hours...
Eventually we pulled exhausted into the bay at the entrance to the Panama canal, and motored to the anchorage, as it was now too late to get into the marina, and it was already starting to get dark.
I dropped anchor (again without incident, I'm obviously improving) and then went back to the cockpit to grab the stuff from the fridge to get dinner, we were both starving having had only chips and nuts since 5:30am that morning. Being a totally useless sailor, I just don't function in the galley while underway, so we all tend to just go hungry until we're able to drop anchor somewhere, and I can function normally again.
Bending over the fridge to gather my ingredients I was suddenly gripped by a sharp stabbing pain in my back. I whimpered like a kitten as Bob helped me below where I lay on the floor praying I hadn't popped a disc out of place, the pain was quite bad, and the slightest movement caused me to shout out.
Just when I thought I could celebrate our eventual (and miraculously safe) arrival at Colon, I was now immobilized like a cripple, stretched out on the floor, unable to move, once again leaving everything to Bob...
Again the joys of boat life abound!
Freeing The baby lobster, and other madness !
Laguna De Bluefield
Our first day in the bay. Bluefield was only meant to be an overnight stop! But things needed testing before we could depart. I was still in shock from nearly loosing our anchor last night. Bob had spent the night making adjustments (that’s about as technical as I get) and we were ready to do a sea trial, and set sail for Colon. I brought the anchor up (without incident) and we motored around the bay testing the autopilot. Sadly, there was still a problem, so we motored back to drop anchor again. Having secured the snubber, I noticed the water around Daisy looked very shallow, Bob had said we were in 20 feet of water, when we dropped anchor, but it looked a lot less than that to me now. He had already gone below to start work on the autopilot again. So I checked the instruments and saw that our depth meter read “0.00”. I called to Bob “is our depth meter working?” “Yes, why?” he replied. “Because if it is, we’re aground” I told him. I won’t go into the detail’s regarding in the panic that followed that statement, but lets just say that we moved the boat speedily to another location.
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| Two little local children, on their way to school in their dug out canoe |
Boatloads of Indian children visited all day, and I provided them each with paper and pens. A man came buy selling a freshly caught lobster, it was such a perfect, young, magnificent, little creature, I had no intention of killing it, but I didn’t want anyone else to either, so I paid him (more than he expected) and as soon as he was out of sight I returned the lobster to his rightful home, the ocean. Yes I realize this makes me a hypocrite, because I have eaten lobster in the past, and probably will again in the future, but this little guy was so perfect and obviously a young one, I had no other choice. At least I know Danni would approve of my actions.
The afternoon was spent tearing the boat apart, floorboards up, cupboards emptied, wires re routed, mess and stress everywhere. I constantly caught Bob scratching his head and frowning at the manuals… It had been a long, long day, and unknown to us was about to get longer…
After another failed sea trial at 5pm, (having waited out the storm,) Bob said he had no option other than to get everything out of the lazarette and get the floor up to get to the driver (or something). It was already starting to get dark and looked as though another storm was on the way. Together we moved all the contents of the lazarette into the cockpit, then Bob with trusty tool bag in hand, set about working in the cramped, confined space that is our lazarette.
Naturally it started to rain, so he was now in the dark, cramped, sweltering, soaked hole in the floor, doing contortions to reach and repair said stuff!
Many hours later, parts removed, re-wired and re-modeled, a very tired, wet, slightly stressed, but confident Bob, emerged from the hole looking like Lurch from the Adams family basement.
It’s now 4:30am, the storm is still blowing, and its continuous pouring rain, I’ve never known so much rain, and I lived in Wales for 7 year’s! I’m wondering whether we’ll ever get to Shelter Bay. If you’re reading this, then “yeah we made it” and if not, it may be at the bottom of the bay at Bluefield, and no one will ever know.
OH how I love Boat Life!
More Daisy Disasters!
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| Bye, Bye Bocas |
Wednesday 30th November 2011
It’s 2:30am, and I can’t sleep because the rain is lashing the side of the boat, the wind is blowing about 30 35 knots, and Daisy is swinging and pulling on her anchor like an unruly dog on a leash. My vivid imagination has kicked in and I’m just waiting for us to blow up onto the shore and be smashed to pieces, so I’m sitting here in bed writing because that’s what I do when I can’t sleep, and I’m so scared and sleepless right now. I can’t see a thing through my bedroom window, its so black here, there is no light, and I mean NO light, nothing from the land, the local indians don’t have electricity, and because of the storm there are no stars or moon, there’s nothing but dark, dark, blackness…
Bob is asleep in the master cabin, I slept in one of the front rooms tonight because I hurt my neck yesterday (another story) and was thrashing about unable to get comfortable, I didn’t want to disturb Bob’s sleep so I crept up here for the night.
We’re still in Bluefield lagoon, there’s not much here, just a couple of little Indian villages scattered around the edge of the lagoon. It would be quite picturesque if the place wasn’t currently under siege from Mother Nature.
I keep wishing we hadn’t left the safety of Bocas marina. But we have to get to Colon, because Bob fly’s out of Panama on Sunday, to work for a couple of weeks, then he fly’s back in to Panama with the family for Christmas, so Daisy has to be there.
This horrendous weather looks like it will be with us till the end of the week “OH joy”! We’re only 4 hours from Bocus, so I suppose we could go back, although Bob doesn’t usually do things like that, he’s Hell bent on getting to Colon, and that’s a good 20 hours sail away. As everyone knows I hate sailing, I don’t enjoy it much when the weather is lovely, but when it’s like this I find myself once again questioning my sanity in allowing myself to undertake another journey on Daisy, I really wasn’t cut out for this adventurous life, I’m so much more productive in a kitchen than I am on a boat.
Our trip didn’t start out too well; we left the marina after lunch on Monday, under a cerulean blue sky and bright sunshine, with 15 – 20 knots of wind, but only an hour into the leg Bob noticed our autopilot wasn’t working. Each time he put it on Daisy would swing wildly in a circle like a drunk. So I took the helm while Bob went below to look at the instruments, and see if he could discover the source of the problem. I noticed the icon on the chart plotter doing strange things too, it was showing that we were turning 360 degrees. Now everyone knows I’m a useless sailor, but even I know how to steer in a straight line. I manned the helm while Bob worked trying to sort the problem, when we approached the entrance of Bluefield Bob took over, to bring us in for the night.
Then we had another catastrophe to add to my collection of “Fabulously Frightening, First Mate blunders”; when I dropped the anchor I had forgotten to check that the windless was tightened, (despite being reminded by Bob earlier). I put down 150 feet of chain and as I turned to ask Bob if that was enough, the rest of the chain suddenly started flying out, I was helpless to stop it, and just had to stand and watch as all 300 feet of chain went hurtling out past my feet over the bow into the water.
Thankfully, Bob had tied the end of the chain into the anchor locker when he fitted the new chain last month. So, as the last of the chain left the locker, the piece of line holding it brought it to a sudden, jarring holt. I’m hugely embarrassed here to admit that this is not the first time I’ve done this, one really has to question Bob’s intelligence in wanting me on board.
The next panic was that the line would break under the pressure, so we grabbed the snubber, and the two of us struggled leaning over the bow of the boat to attach it, we had to try and pull up enough chain so that we could get it back around the windless and tighten it up, obviously we couldn’t pull it up without moving the boat forward, Daisy was pulling hard on the anchor, it was only a matter of time before the line would break. Bob motored forward slowly while I attempted to pull up the anchor (that’s how I injured my neck) I imagine the anchor chain weighs about 1000 pounds, but in 30 feet of water I was probably trying to pull up 200 pounds in weight, by the way, math’s was my worst subject in school, so don’t judge my mathematical calculation here, just know it was bloody heavy!
Obviously I couldn’t pull it up by myself, so having moved Daisy forward enough to take the pressure off the chain Bob rushed back up to help me, (he has 3 displaced disc’s in his back, so pulling a heavy chain, not the best idea,) but there was no way I could do it alone, we struggled again to pull the damn thing up, but bit by bit, holding the line around the windless to secure it and moving the snubber forward a few inches at a time, we eventually managed to secure it, and I was able to then bring in 150 feet of chain. I was in such a sweaty, panicky mess by this time, and not in the best of moods, but already the local Indians had started to arrive in their dug out canoe’s and were hanging onto the side of Daisy watching our struggles with obvious curiosity, we must have provided quite the entertainment.
I gave fishing line, hooks, pens and pencils. Having stayed in this bay before I knew what the locals needed, and had brought supplies with me.
By this time it was almost dark, so I made dinner and then relaxed with a large glass of wine, while Bob poured through the manuals looking for a solution to the autopilot problem.
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