Quite a Lot of Nonsense.

Friday 15th February, It’s a fabulous party atmosphere here in Shelter Bay, the Oyster people are really helpful, and the other owners and crew are really friendly. We’re like a big happy (very busy) family. Fortunately for Ed there are lots of young people among the other boats, so thankfully he isn’t trapped with a group of ‘oldies’, he’s able to hang out with his peers, or should I say “rum swilling buddies”. Yesterday was very busy with all the last minute preparations for transiting the canal on Saturday. We had to get as much done as possible as we knew we wouldn’t have any opportunity to do any work today because we have the “Fort Lorenzo Pirate Party” this afternoon. This is where all the Oyster owners and crew get to dress up like pirates, in some very silly costumes, then board our assigned busses for the 20 minutes drive out to Fort Lorenzo, where Chef Chris and staff were waiting with a delicious three course meal and unlimited wine and beer. The fort was in a breathtakingly beautiful location, and both Oyster and Chef Chris and his staff did us proud with the marquee and refreshments. We all ate well and drank far too much, explored the fort and took some stunning photographs, it was a wonderful afternoon filled with much merriment and nonsense. For some… the merriment continued into the night and early morning hours back at the marina. Meanwhile Bob and I returned to Daisy and spent the night working, we still had so much to do to get her ready for the canal transit on Saturday… PHOTOGRAPHS ON WEB SITE: www.daisyatsea.com

Wouldn't change much!

I do believe that my very first post (going back a few years now) on this blog, mentioned how we were planning an escape from all the pressures and trappings of "normal" life, selling our house and going to live on a boat would completely change our lives for the better!  hmmm let me think about that!

Basically life did change, and in so many ways,  obviously the Caribbean is much prettier than Ohio, but the pressures and time issues we're under, often seem the same, we're still trying to meet deadlines, always racing against the clock, trying to finish jobs, and make repairs, find spare parts etc, etc, and don't forget that dealing with anything in the Caribbean takes so much longer than doing the same thing on land.

Beautiful Bocas Marina

The traveling is an absolute nightmare, dealing with the airlines is enough to try anyone's patience, but then once we're on the boat and surrounded by the immense beauty of the islands, all the pressures seem to melt away, at least for a while, and when life gets really frustrating we just go for a swim, or take the dinghy around the island and admire the sights, so life really could be much worse.  If I could just eliminate all the mosquitoes and noseeums, life would be pretty good.

Right now we're under pressure to get all the jobs we're working on finished, so we can set sail down island back to Colon, Panama where the family is flying in for Christmas. Bob had plenty of time when he was here last month to finish all the jobs, but then had to leave the boat in a hurry when his Mum had her stroke, so now we're really up against the clock again, and the pressure is on (again). However, each job we start seems to lead to another, and another, it's never ending, we just can't seem to get out from under the pressure.  Everywhere we turn there's another bill to pay or problem to fix, much the same as it was before we moved onto the boat, in fact I think living on a boat is way more expensive than living in a house, but at least I'm never bored.

J.B's Restaurant at Bocas Marina

I'm grateful to be in such a beautiful part of the world, mosquitoes or no mosquitoes, problems or no problems...

NO Service!

Our opinion (that is, Frieda’s and mine) of the 4 star Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Panama City, is not a good one.

While the facilities were nice, the rooms clean, and the beds quite comfortable, we didn't find the staff at all friendly, getting blood from a stone would have been easier than a smile from some of the staff there.  

Our breakfast experience was a good example.  There was a choice again of an all you can eat buffet, or ordering from the menu.  The buffet was $18 per person, but it looked reasonable so we again opted to do the buffet, at least it would be quick, as we were keen to start our day.  Frieda asked for some water and it was another $1.50!

I choose a cooked breakfast, which was a mistake, the food was barely luke warm, and most of it over cooked. We were served only one cup of coffee, and a couple of times while we were eating the waitress came over to stand and stare at our plates, it felt as if we had taken something we shouldn’t.  A couple of times she asked for our room number, while we were in the middle of our meal, I was annoyed by her rudeness, then as we were leaving, having already signed the bill, she followed us out of the restaurant still asking whether we had already checked out, I had already told her several times we had, but that the hotel had my credit card so it wasn’t a problem, she wouldn’t let it go and kept asking me if I had checked out, so I just walked away assuming she was either simple or stupid, she was really beginning to get on my nerves.  As we walked out of the restaurant she followed shouting at us.  I ignored her and took the elevator up to the reception desk to complain, where I was met with a sarcastic smile and “I’m sorry you are not happy.”  It’s seemed very obvious to me that the staff here are not interested in their customers. I would not return to this hotel or recommend it to anyone.