The haul out saga

                                                                                      Nov 26 2013

Greetings,

          We are now tied to the wall by the boat yard we are going to “haul out” in. This yard was our second choice but the first choice was a small, family run operation, and we are at the top edge of what their travel lift can handle. When we got there this morning the lift operator took one look at Second Star and said he had to call the owner in, but he didn’t think we could do it. A father, son team owns/runs the yard. The younger Maurice came and talked to the lift operator. The operator showed Maurice and Capt. Johne a questionable shackle and a leak in the hydraulic pump on the lift and it was decided that it would be a bad idea to proceed. Maurice called a bigger yard and told them the problem and that they should give us a good price. He worked the deal for us for a little less than he had been going to charge us and he rode aboard Second Star to guide us to the other yard. I am very impressed with how much he put into good customer service when he lost a customer in the process and got nothing out of it, other than our appreciation and my recommendation that, if you have a boat smaller than Second Star and need a haul out in Cartagena see Maurice at Manzanillo Marina Club.

          Anyway, here we are at Todo Mar and we’ll haul out tomorrow morning. The next two weeks we’ll be working, working, working. The bottom will be sanded and repainted. The prop shaft seals will be resurfaced with fine sand paper and the props, shafts and struts polished and coated with “Lanacote”.  Hook needs a full going over including engine tune up, some fiberglass repair and paint.

          Last Sunday we picked Sharon up and had a go-have-fun-day. We took Second Star out of the harbor and around to the outside and anchored off the beach for the afternoon. It was better than our previous trip to the beach with all the pushy vendors and the constant “no gracias” but this time we were the big attraction for the Jet Ski tourists. They all had to come and make at least one close loop around us. We were the only boat anchored there and, I think we made a good obstacle as well as being something to look at. But it was really nice to be in the cleaner water and be able to go for a swim. We had a nice lunch and cocktails before heading back into the harbor. Just as we were coming in to anchor a squall came through so we motored around until it passed and the wind settled down again (maybe 30 minutes) then we got the anchor reset and had a lovely dinner on the aft deck before returning Sharon to Kokomo Kat.

                                                                             Nov 28 2013 1100 hrs

          Well, we’re still waiting to be hauled out. It’s going to happen this afternoon…no, really. It’s taken a while to get thought the red tape and bureaucracy, and the Latin American pace of doing things. But we have a signed contract with the yard and have paid the deposit, so I really believe we’ll get pulled today. And, if we do, I’ll definitely be giving thanks. Happy Thanksgiving to all from Second Star.

                                                                             Nov 29 2013 11045 hrs

          Okay, you were right. We’re still in the water. But they swear we’ll be pull today. I understand your skepticism. But I have to remain optimistic. After all, things do happen eventually in Latin America. I’m sure, at some point, we will be lifted.

          Last night we had a bit more frustration with communication. It’s my own fault for not being fluent in Spanish yet. We had the young man who is working for us (Ponciano) arrange for a taxi to take us into town for the cruiser pot luck. At 1705 when the taxi wasn’t here I called Ponciano (since I didn’t have the taxi’s phone number) to find out where he was. Ponciano called back a few minutes later to say the taxi was on the way. 15 Minutes later he called again to say the taxi was at the gate. But we were at the gate and there was no taxi. Now Ponciano doesn’t speak English so all of this is in my broken Spanish. It turned out the taxi had gone to a different “Todomar” not the yard where we were. I think Ponciano tried to get another taxi but with the sketchy communication my still not sure about that. After an hour we were going to be so late for the pot luck we just said never mind and came back aboard. I through a frozen smoked chicken in the microwave, made a quick rice pilaf and that, with the cranberry sauce and pumpkin and mince pies I’d made for the pot luck and a nice, dry white wine, was our Thanksgiving dinner. It was very tasty and we consider ourselves fortunate even when faced with such frustration.

                                                                                      1800 hrs

          Woohoo, we’re up. We’re on the blocks. We’ve scraped the THICK lair of barnacles off. Ponciano has raked them up and carted them off in the wheelbarrow, and now they are working on getting the power hocked up. We just had a beautiful sunset and I have a cold beer beside me. Now I just have to make dinner. Here’s to the end of a long stressful week. Cheers! 

A long month

                                                                             Nov 9 2013

Greetings,

          Well, here I am again, writing an update once a month, whether I need to or not. I’ve got a lot to share as it has been a very busy month (hence no updates). I’m going to start with where we are now and go back later to give the how-we-got-here parts.

  

        At the moment we are on anchor in the harbor in Cartagena Colombia. Cartagena is a big city with both modern high rises and an old colonial area. The harbor is well protected from the sea so most of the wave action comes from the boat traffic. So far, it’s very calm at night when the water taxis, jet skis and cigarette boats aren’t running around. We have a varied view around us. To the E is a container loading dock, which is interesting to watch in operation. Just N of that, a four masted, Chilean Naval training ship is docked. Every morning and evening their band plays the anthem while they raise or lower the colors (flags). Most of the anchorage and the marinas are to our N so lots of other boats to look at. The old colonial part of the city is to the NW and to the W are the high rises that line the beach. We arrived on the 5^th and have just begun exploring. It’s a tourist area so you have to “No, Gracias” constantly everywhere you go.  

          Our friends, Daryl and Marcy made the trip from Panama with us and the crossing was wonderful. We had great weather, clam seas and dolphins on at least two watches. (Johne and Marcy saw some at sun rise and I saw them on the first night with bio luminescent trails in the water behind them which was so cool.) We did have a minor problem. The starboard main engine raw water intake developed a leak, which Daryl saw on a regular engine room check and brought to the Captains attention. After shutting down that engine Johne set about seeing how bad the problem was. The strainer assembly, above where it was leaking/cracked, was wobbly when he touched it and it didn’t take much for it to break off the rest of the way. Johne had closed the inlet ball valve but it needs servicing and there was still water coming in. So we made a plastic-bag-and-gaffers-tap patch and got the water stopped. The bilge pumps stayed ahead of the whole thing and it should be a pretty easy repair. But it meant finishing the trip on one engine. Maneuvering in the anchorage was a little more challenging that way, but no big deal.

Canal: The sequel

          Backing up some more; before the trip from Panama to Colombia we had to get back through the canal. I was looking forward to making the transit again. Having done it once, I was much more confident that everything would go smoothly on the return. What I discovered was that, depending on the circumstances at any given moment (What other boats are going through at the same time, weather, currents, how the guys on the wall handle the lines, etc.) each lock is different and even if you think you’re ready, things change on the fly (in one lock a tug joined our group, which meant that instead of being tied to the big tourist boat as we had been for the previous locks, the big boat tied to the tug and we were on the wall behind them. And we didn’t find that out until we were at that lock).  

          The transit started early in the morning. We had Daryl and Marcy aboard already but, we had other friends coming along just for the experience (Ethan, Nancy and 8-year-old Zada who live and travel on their boat, and Kevin, a Brit who works for the embassy here in Colombia and his friend Vanessa). They all had to get to Second Star before 0700 when the canal adviser was supposed to arrive. Kevin and Vanessa arrived by water taxi just as we were getting under way to go to the coordinates where we would pick up the adviser. We had given Ethan that location and he had arranged with another cruiser for a dinghy ride to meet us. They were there when we arrived and, shortly after we’d gotten everyone aboard and situated, we got a call on the radio from the canal authorities saying the adviser was on the way. 45 minutes later he was aboard and we headed toward the canal. He said our first lock time was 0940 so we had plenty of time. Johne ask him when we could be expecting to arrive in Colon. He looked at his paper work and said we weren’t scheduled for the Gatun locks so we’d be staying in the lake overnight. What! That wasn’t in the plan. We had 9 people aboard not counting the adviser (who wouldn’t be staying overnight) and Kevin had plans the next day. Johne told the adviser that one of our passengers had a flight to catch in the morning and ask if there was any way to get us through. He said he’d try but he didn’t seem to think it was likely. Johne went and talked to Kevin about it and Kevin came and asked, if we couldn’t get through, if there was some place in the middle he could get off. Maybe where the tourist boat discharges passengers? Again Armado said he’d see what they could do. Kevin was working for the British embassy in Panama before he went to Colombia. He knows some high up people in the canal authority and asked Armado to say hi for him (a little name dropping never hurts, right?) After Armado had been on the radio with the canal authority trying to make the arrangements, he asked to see Kevin and Vanessa’s ID’s. When he saw Kevin’s diplomat ID the answers started to change. They had told us no on getting all the way through but, when he had talked to them some more he came and said there was good news and bad news. The bad news was they weren’t going to let Kevin and Vanessa get off at the tourist boat stop, but the good news was they were going to let us go all the way through as long as we could get to the lock in time. We weren’t going to have any trouble making the time slot so, with much relief, we cruised on though. So, I’ve decided that it’s good to have a diplomat handy when you need to stack the deck in your favor. I now refer to it as playing the Kevin card. Kevin says the K card doesn’t always work, but it certainly worked well that day.

          The weeks before the transit were a bit stressful. The boat on which Johne had gotten the welding job went out to the Perles and the Darien while the materials were being ordered and the first part of the framing was done. They had said they would be back by the 20^th which would have given Johne enough time, even with some rain delays, to finish the job before his Panama visa ran out. As it turned out, they didn’t get back until the 24^th, having misunderstood the time constraints. So then it was a huge push to get the job done in time. Johne worked long days, even welding until 9:45 one night. While all of that was going on I was trying to make sure everything was ready to go aboard Second Star. From restocking and stowing things aboard, to making sure all the paperwork was taken care of for checking out of the country. In the end it all got done but it was a push and it was good to start for Cartagena and have all that behind us.

Changes in plans

                                                                             Oct 4 2013

Greetings,

          So, last night we went into town to try to find a jazz club we’d heard about. Sharon was here with us and she has been wanting to get out to a jazz club for a while now, so off we went. The club we were headed for is in Casco Viejo. We had the cab drop us off at the national theater just a couple of blocks away from where the club was supposed to be. The front door of the theater was open and so we stopped to look inside (Johne and Sharon had gone to the ballet there while I was gone and they wanted me to see it) and to find out what was happening there that night. They were setting up the stage for an orchestra so on the way back out we asked the man at the door what time it would start and where to get tickets. None of us understand much Spanish, but we got that the show was supposed to start at 8:00 and we thought he might be telling us that it was free. It was before 6:00 at that point and we still wanted to find the jazz club and we needed to get some dinner. We walked past where we thought the club was supposed to be but didn’t see it. At a restaurant another block down the street we “donde esta”ed and they sent us back where we’d just been. There was a coffee shop right about where we thought the club should be so we went in there to “donde esta” again. As it turned out the club was right next door but closed for three weeks for a remodel. So we figured we were supposed to be going to the theater. We had a wonderful dinner at a lovely restaurant right across the plaza from the theater and had the waiter confirm that the show was free and didn’t require we have tickets. When we went into the theater at 8:00 we found out that it was the Central American Youth Orchestra that would be playing, a group made up of teenagers from all over Central America. We were excited until we sat though one speaker after another talking about what a great program it was, how important it was culturally and where else the kids would be traveling (which would have been boring even in English). At about 8:45 we were going to give up. We left our not-very-good seats on the side of the third balcony and headed down to the lobby. The man we’d talk to at the door earlier was there with programs and said they were finishing with the speeches and it sounded like they were wrapping it up, so we ducked in to the side of the orchestra seating and found much better seats than we’d had before. They started with Ride of the Valkyrie which was awesome. They did a wonderful job and I was so glad we’d stayed. Next they played “Pictures at an Exhibition”, which is a difficult and complex piece and they did a very good job of it. However, in my always humble opinion, it was an unfortunate choice of pieces because it’s unpleasant, discordant, disjointed and is way too long. It was also very cold in the theater, and getting late, so we left at intermission. I am always amazed how these opportunities seem to just appear before us. Even cold, long and discordant I’m glad we had the experience of hearing these very talented young musicians play.

In other news: Once again plans seem to be changing aboard Second Star. Nothing is for sure yet, but Johne just got a big welding job building a hard top on a big Catamaran. It will keep us here a bit longer and at this point we’re debating if we’re going to Ecuador at all. The cards don’t seem to want to stack in that direction. We’ll see how this next little bit plays out. Whichever way we go, I’m sure it will be good…

                                                                   Oct 12 2013

At this point the aluminum is ordered for the hard top job. We are now planning to head back through the Canal at the end of Oct when Johnes visa expires and then head on to Cartagena Colombia. We’ve made a good contact in Colombia and we think we’ll be able to get a lot done there, as well as seeing new territory.

The next couple of weeks will be a hard press to get this job done and be ready to go, but I’m looking forward to moving on and being someplace new and different again…

The latest from Second Star

                                                                             Oct 1 2013

Greetings,

          Wow, it’s been over a month since I’ve written anything. And it’s not been an uneventful month.

          I left for a trip to the States on the 4 of Sept. I spent 10 days in Ft Myers working and then 10 days at the beach in NC for my family reunion. It’s hard to be away from home for 3weeks but it was a good and productive trip. It is always god to have time with my family. I miss them very much being so far away.

          While I was gone, Johne did a bunch of work aboard Second Star. In our ongoing quest for less energy consumption, we decided to replace the fridge with a newer, more efficient model. So I came home to a new fridge and lots of pretty wood trim work that wasn’t here when I left (I’ll be cleaning saw dust out of the corners for months). Johne also got to go to the ballet while I was away. I was bummed to have to miss it but I was really glad he and Sharon and a couple of other cruisers got to go enjoy it.

          Now we’re starting to get ready to head to Ecuador. Johne has a little more work here, we have a party to go to this weekend and, of course, we’ll wait for good weather, but in the next couple of weeks we expect to be moving on. It’s good; I think we’ve been in Panama too long. Not that I haven’t enjoyed it here but it’s time for a change…

Perlas again

Aug 14 2013

Greetings,

We’re back out in the Perlas, anchored in a beautiful cove, on the NE side of Isla Pedro Gonzales, that is surrounded on one side by a sandy, palm tree lined beach, on another side by a jungley, rocky cliff, on the third by the open water, and the other side has a construction sight :(. They’re building a new resort here. There goes the neighborhood . 
In the middle of the cove there’s a small, rocky island that we snorkeled around yesterday. The water was a little murky so the visibility wasn’t great but we saw lots of fish and, again, some of them were new to me. I’m also proud of myself that my spotting ability is getting better. I spotted two octopuses which are incredibly good at camouflaging them selves. The first one was exactly the same color and texture as the rock it was on but it moved a little and caught my eye. It was hard to see even after I knew it was there but when I showed Sharon she got close enough to scare it and it moved quickly back into a hole. The second octopus had white patches and, when we first saw it, it was “standing up” a little way off the rock, which made it easier to see. Very cool.

Sharon and Johne have gone off fishing this morning. Right now we’re running the generator and water maker and I’m enjoying my coffee and the beauty around me. Life is good…

July 22 2013

I meant to get back to this sooner. I get caught up in living life, and don’t always get around to writing about it.

Back to where I left off…After Johne and Sharon got back (with one small fish) we ate the lunch I had waiting and then we all put on tanks to finish the bottom work. We got the hull in really good shape and, after clean up, we decided to try fishing again at a lower tide. 
When we first set out Johne saw a splash quite a way up ahead that we weren’t sure if it was a rock or a whale. As we got closer it became clear it was whales. A mama and baby, and the baby was frolicking and jumping and playing. It was fun to watch until they headed away. Then we fished until sunset, catching a couple more nice grouper, then headed back to Second Star. We had a wonderful dinner (hard to wrong with fresh fish) and turned in early to get an early start in the morning.

It was a lovely morning for the run back to the city. We had calm seas and more good wild life shows on the way, including dolphin and, the best part, another mama and baby whale, not far off, who both breached for us one right after the other. It was a great way to see the size difference. As big as the baby was, it looks small when the mama breaches right after it.

We got back to the anchorage and took Sharon in to shore to catch her ride back to Colon. Johne and I then had several days with just us in which we installed the new inverters. 

Now Johne is back in Colon working on finishing up Kokomo Kat. I think Sharon will be coming back over, one more time, for another run to the Perlas. I expect them back on Sunday. Until then I’m holding down the fort here and monitoring the new inverters. So far, so good… 

More work

Aug 9 2013

Greetings,

Well the more we make plans, the more they seem to change. Going to Ecuador has been put off until I return from the trip I will be making to the States in Sept. 

Work continues on Kokomo Kat. After my last entry, Johne and Sharon work for a week but had to wait for one more part to arrive so they came back here last Tuesday (July 30) and we went back to the Perlas for more relaxing, fishing and bottom scrubbing. It was a lovely few days. We anchored in a new spot and had no current to fight when we did the bottom work. The trips out and back were full of dolphin and whale sightings including some whales very close. The last pair we saw were coming toward us and, maybe 50-100 yards away, they surfaced, blew, then gave us great fluke before going down. It was awesome! They say we’re not supposed to get too close to them, but it seems to me that it’s up to them how close they get. I’m not chasing them but even if I was, they can swim faster than Second Star goes and they can dive deep. I can only get as close as they chose to come.

When we got back Sharon returned to Kokomo Kat. Capt. Johne stayed here for a few days, working on Second Star, until the part they were waiting for got here. It’s good he was here because, aside from missing him, we had a couple of leaks spring up. No, not the water maker. That’s still working great since we installed the new parts (knock wood). This time the fuel line on the generator had a small crack right by the hose clamp. It was an easy fix for him once he had found the problem but it squirted diesel fuel all over the engine room so it was a big clean up job. Also, the night before he was leaving to go back to Colon, at about 0200 hrs, the water pump started running. Johne got up to find that the pressure cylinder was spraying water into the bilge. This meant shutting down the water system, cutting the PVC pipe to the cylinder, adding a ball valve, draining the pressure from  the cylinder, sanding down the little hole, applying JB Weld ( two part epoxy) to the hole and going back to bed so it could set. The next morning He re-pressurized the cylinder and attached the PVC pipe coming out of it to the new ball valve. Over all not that bad a job if it hadn’t had to be done at 2AM. I’m a great “scrub nurse” for these jobs and, if I had to, I’ve learned enough I could take care of them. But I’m just as glad Johne was here for those events and I didn‘t have to deal with them without him.

Yesterday Johne returned to Shelter Bay to finish up on Kokomo Kat. I expect him back on Sunday or Monday, hopefully with Sharon, for another few days in the Perlas. After that, when one more part for our inverters arrives, Johne next project will be swapping out the inverters. No rest for the wicked…

Aug 10 2013

Foot note:

The news from Kokomo Kat is that the part that was sent was not the right one so another part will need to be shipped…more waiting and another trip to the Perlas will occur in the meantime.

Fun weekend

July 23 2013

Greetings,

We just got back yesterday from a lovely weekend in the Perlas, with Sharon. 

Last week Johne went back over to Colon to work a bit more on Kokomo Kat. There were some project he’d meant to get done for Sharon, but ran out of time before the transit. And a few more projects that she’d had come up later. So Johne drove over and spent Monday-Thursday working. While he was gone, I held down the fort on Second Star and got some procrastinated projects knocked out. Sharon and Johne came back over here for a long weekend with me.

We headed out on Friday afternoon after running a few errands (dropping off the part that needed bolts drilled out at the machine shop and picking up some awesome, fresh produce at the huge produce market) Friday morning. On the way out we saw a turtle, dolphin and more whales. This time I got to see one breach. Awesome!  
We got to Isla Mogo Mogo late in the afternoon. The visibility wasn’t great for anchoring and our first choice of places had a rocky bottom (not good holding) and a swell coming in from the South West, so we went around to the other side and anchored by Isla Chapera just to the North.  We seemed to get a good bite with the anchor and settled in for a nice dinner. We slept  well that  night and got up the next day ready for projects. Johne had brought some parts from Kokomo Kat that need welding so, while he worked on that, Sharon and I got in the nice, fresh water and gave Hook a long-over-do bottom scrubbing. 
After lunch, we all jumped in Hook and ran across to Mogo Mogo for a snorkel. It was very different for what I’m use to. With the large tidal variation and the rock (as opposed to sand or coral) bottom. Some of the fish I knew, some were new to me. The rocks were beautiful with lots of colors and interesting textures. It was fun to just relax and drift back and forth with the surge. When I did that, instead of swimming, the fish ignored me and didn’t swim away. 
That night a storm came through with lots of very close lightning and a good sized swell that was hitting us on the beam for quiet a while. None of us slept well, between the uncomfortable roll and frequent checks to make sure we weren’t dragging. When the storm passed we got a bit of sleep but, in the morning, we found we had swung around and drug a bit, and we were closer to the beach than was comfortable. We wanted to see some of the other islands anyway, so we pulled up the anchor and headed south to Isla Casaya. We again had a couple of spots we were thinking about anchoring. When we came around where we could see the first place, the two sport fishing boats with the bunch-of-kids and two jet skis that had been anchored by us the previous day, were anchor there so we went to the other spot which turned out great. We were in the channel between Casaya and Gibraleon. No one else was around (yea! No people) There was a good current but not much wind and we were pretty confident in the anchor holding. 
Johne took Hook out to do some fishing and came back, just when I’d finished getting lunch ready, with some nice snapper and grouper. There was enough for dinner that night and lunch the next day. Johne and Sharon decided they’d go out again in the morning before we headed back to town and get some more to bring back.
After lunch Sharon and I put on scuba gear and went down to scrub the running gear (props, shafts and struts). We  had intended to do it while the tide was slack but, after lunch and clean up and getting the gear ready to go the current had started to pick up again. When we first went in it wasn’t to bad but it kept increasing and, but the time we got done I felt like one of those cartoons of someone trying to hang on to a light post in a strong wind. It was a new experience for me and a heck of a work out.
Monday, after morning fishing and lunch, we headed back to town. As we left we saw a mama and baby whale right by the island. We got into the anchorage late, made a quick dinner and crashed.

This morning I took Johne and Sharon into the dock to go pick up the parts and head back to Colon to finish up the work on Kokomo Kat. So for the rest of the week I’m batching it again. When Johne gets back we’ll be installing the new inverters and getting ready to move on…

Time in Panama

July 9 2013

Greetings,

I was just looking over the last update and I realized I hadn’t described the anchorage here in the bay of Panama. Panama City is to the North, the Amador causeway is to the west and the islands at the end of the causeway are to the south. It’s open to the east. The skyline of the city is quite impressive, and beautiful if you like that kind of thing. It’s a very modern city with lots of skyscrapers that have interesting architecture. The bay is not clean water with the runoff from the city so no swimming here. There are lots of schools of very small bait (not bate, right Daddy?;) fish and loads of pelicans. The pelicans are fun to watch but hard to keep off the bow which makes for extra cleaning. There are lots of other boats here but we’ve barely  met anyone in the cruising community yet. It’s a nuisance and expensive to get into town. We wouldn’t want to be here too long. 

Now, on with the latest. Phil has gone home and we aren’t expecting more guests until Bob comes down in Oct, so now it’s time to get Second Star in ship shape for sea while we do a bit more exploring around this area. 

We didn’t get out to Las Perlas while Phil was here. We went to Taboga which is an island about 10 miles out from Panama City. It’s very pretty and quiet during the week. We got there on Thursday afternoon and enjoyed being in cleaner water with few other people around. We got the waterline scrubbed and enjoyed a quiet afternoon. The next day we went into the little town on the island for lunch and a walk. It’s a quant town built on the hill. It was good exercise exploring up one side and down the other. 
On Saturday we had decided we’d go on out to Isla Otoque, which is another 11 miles from the city, and meet up with Saverio who was planning to be out there fishing on Sunday. As it turned out that was a great plan for several reasons. First, Taboga gets very busy on the weekends. By the time we pulled the anchor up, just after lunch, there were many other boats in the little cove, all with lots of people and loud music. It was a good time to get out of there. 
On the way to Otoque, Capt Johne spotted whales (humpbacks) in the distance. At first it was difficult to see more than that there was something surfacing, flashing in the sun, making a splash. But they got a little closer and I could see there backs when they came up. It was my first time seeing whales in the wild and Johne expected more excitement from me, but since I couldn’t see them well, it was hard to get super excited. 
The cove at Otoque was quite with only one tiny local fishing boat tied up. It was deep and not very wide, so we had to anchor right in the middle so if the wind shifted we wouldn’t be in the rocks. It was a very pretty jungle all around and we were glad we’d gone there even though it would mean a little less sleep for anchor checks over night. 
The anchor held, and in the morning, after the rain passed Johne and Phil took Hook out to try a bit of fishing. They didn’t catch anything but said the ride around the island was beautiful. Saverio, Rosanna and their guest came by after their morning of fishing and we all had lunch aboard Second Star. 
After that it was time to head back to town so we could do some errands the next day before Phil had to leave. On the way back to town we saw more whales and this time it was close enough that I could see them blow when they came up, and clearly see the flukes (tail) before they went down. And got to see them several times. Now Johne got the excitement he was looking for from me. I jumped up and down and clapped my hands. I’m told it’s whale season here so I’m hoping to get to see lots more over the next few weeks.

Projects are going well. Johne has done some work to improve the exhausts on the main engines and is about to do the same on the generator. We’re going to pick up our new (upgrade) inverters, which should improve our battery performance. After which we will be about ready to make the next big trip. Ecuador here we come…But not for a couple more weeks.

Trip through the canal

June 27 2013

Greetings,

This morning we took Kay to the dock to head home so we’re back to just the two of us until Wednesday when our next company arrives. We’ll have enough time to get Second Star all tidied up and do some maintenance projects before Phil gets here and we head out to do a little exploring of the Archipielago de las Perlas. 

So, I suppose you want to hear about the canal transit now. Okay, so I left off when we were going to the marina to get ready. Our agent had told us the lines and tires would be delivered to Second Star on the 21st at 1100 hrs and that we were to be in the F anchorage (refered to as the “flats”) by 1300 hrs to pick up our adviser. The next we heard from him, he said we didn’t have to be to the flats until 1400 hrs. At about 1100 we found out that our lines and tires had been delivered to another boat, on the other side of the marina, the day before. And, that we had to be in the fates by 1230. While Johne dealt with the Authorities for our paperwork, our friends Harry and Matilthe, who were going with us on the transit, got a marina cart and moved the 12 tires and 4 very large lines over to Second Star and we hurried to get going. We were told to call the canal authorities on the radio to confirm we would be in the flats at the appointed time, so, as soon as we were underway headed over there, we called and were told that our adviser would be there at 1300 hrs. We got to the flats, tied to a mooring, and, while I made sandwiches, the guys got the tires hung on the sides of the boat. We ate and waited for the adviser to come. There were two other boats, both small sail boats, that were also there getting ready to go through. At about 1340 we saw the pilot boat coming to bring the advisers out. They went to the sail boats first then came to us. Two guys came aboard and we were told we had an adviser and an adviser-in-training. We set off toward the locks and they told us how we’d be rafting with the sail boats. The advisers were nice but we found when we got to the locks that they were either giving too much advice (how to steer the boat) or not enough information (how the lines needed to be prepped before they were tied to the messenger to be pulled up to the wall). Once we had gotten through the first lock, and we understood what needed to happen, the next two locks went very smoothly and the advisers said we did a great job. I responded that if you tell us what we need to do, we had a good crew and we could do it.
The little boats being tied to us made a little extra challenge. It changed the  steering dynamics, especially when they were trying to “help” steer so I was fighting their rudders. But Second Star is strong enough to do the job.
After we got though the locks it was a short trip to the mooring  in lake Gatun where we would spend the night. We got tied up, sent the advisers on there way and had an awesome lobster dinner to celebrate the solstice and to thank our crew for there hard work in getting that far. We talked over dinner about the next day and our plan for the rest of the trip. 
The day would start early. The adviser(s) would be coming at about 0600. It is 28 miles from the mooring to the next lock, and since we cruise so much faster than the sail boats, we thought it would make sense to let them get a head start and have a bit more leisurely morning. 
We saw the pilot boat coming at 0615 but after they drop off the advisers on the sail boats, they came and told us our adviser would be there soon. No problem. As I said, we wanted to leave later anyway. At about 0630 we saw another pilot boat coming. Again, we got two advisers. The not-in-training adviser said we should get underway. We explained our thinking as far as catching up with the sail boats. He said we were supposed to be at the locks by 1000 and we should go. Johne ask if we were going though with the sail boats because they wouldn’t be there by 1000. The adviser said he wasn’t sure if we’d have to wait for them or not, and we should go ahead. So, we fired up the engines and headed out. After a little more than an hour, we passed the sail boats and Johne reiterated that if we would be waiting for them, we’d need a place to tie up so we weren’t idling in circles for an hour. So when we got to the lock, sure enough, we were going to have to wait for a tourist cruise boat and our little parasites (as we were affectionately calling them). We tied to the wall and shut down our engines to wait. After about an hour the tourist boat got there and the advisers said the little boats would be there soon. So we went to fire up the mains, but our port main starter motor gremlin, which hadn’t reared its ugly head in nine months, pick that moment to return. Sometimes when the starter is hot it simply won’t start. So now we’re going to have to do this on only the starboard engine. More challenging and stressful, but not impossible. We pull into the lock and along side the big tourist boat and they tied us to their port side. The little boats (when they get there) are rafted to each other and on their own. That went very smoothly and we pulled out of that lock with no problems. After that, there’s a small lake to cross before the last two locks. That part was easy. Along the way Johne kept trying the port engine to see if it would catch. No joy. In the last two locks they decided to put us on the wall. So I pull along the wall, into the first lock. The guy on the wall takes the bow line and Johne lassos the stern bollard. We ride down as the water flows out. No problems. Only one more lock to go. I get the boat moving down the wall into the last lock. We’re almost in place. But there’s nobody on the wall to receive the lines. By this point we are very impressed (not in a good way) by the communication among the Panama canal crews. Our bow starts to drift toward the wall. Harry’s fending off. The stern is drifting out. With only the starboard engine, engaging in either forward or reverse will only exacerbate the problem. The wall guys finally get there and take the lines. We get turned and secured to the wall with only a minor scrap on the rub rail (which is what it’s there for). Whew! The water goes out. We pull out of the lock and right after the boat comes to pick up the advisers, the port engine fires up like nothing was ever wrong (we’ve replaced that starter now). 
Returning the tires and lines and getting to the anchorage went without a hitch. We tried the first anchorage on the south side of the causeway, but it was a bit rough, with the angle of the wave set and the traffic from the canal, so we moved to the main anchorage around the north east side. 

We’ve now been here a week. A gale came through and we didn’t drag so we‘re gaining some confidence that our anchor is well stuck, but we have to be careful here because the wind does come up pretty fast and, even if we don‘t drag, others have been. 

This week we’ve been getting our supplies restocked. Once we head for Ecuador it will be more difficult to get a lot of things...

Getting ready for the Canal

June 13 2013
0900 hrs
Greetings,

The sun came out this morning. It’s been dreary and rainy for the last several days which hasn’t made dealing with this shipment issue any easier. And it’s still going on. After having spent two and a half days trying to deal with the port only to be told at every turn, “You can’t do this. Where is your Delvi (the company that did the shipping) agent? You don’t have the right paper work. They need to be here to handle this.”  And many phone calls back and forth with Port officials talking to people at Delvi and getting nowhere, yesterday, Johne emailed the person at Delvi in Miami who was our initial contact person on April 23 when all this started. He sent Maria a timeline referring to all our email and phone requests for information over the pas six weeks, told her we had run up against a wall and asked for her help in resolving this and getting our stuff aboard the boat. At this point, She has sent the woman who told us we were responsible for dealing with the port from Panama City to take care of this and we are hoping the cargo will be delivered this morning…

June 14 2013
2300 hrs
Well, the cargo did get aboard yesterday but not until 1600 hrs. After all the headaches and hassles of dealing with this shipment at least, in the end, Delvi made it right. I’m very glad to be done with that saga and moving on.  

Today we were back to the water maker saga. We had sent the problem part to the machine shop to get replacements made in stainless steel. They were supposed to be done on Monday but weren‘t back to Colon until Wednesday night. And with the Delvi crap yesterday we couldn’t get in to check them until this morning. Par for the course, when Johne check the new parts with the micrometer there were several problems. So back to the shop in Panama City they went. Johne spent the whole day with our new Panamanian friends, two sisters, one of whom had arranged for the work, getting the parts fixed. First thing in the morning we’ll put the water maker back together and see if (fingers crossed) this is the cure…  

June 15 2013
1100 hrs

No joy with the new parts. They are just slightly too big so they have to go back to the shop to get small enough to fit inside the tubes. That probably can’t happen until Monday or Tuesday. We’ll be going into the city on Tuesday anyway to pick up our friend Kay who will be making the transit with us. We’ll see how is best to coordinate it.

June 20 2013
1030 hrs

Well, everything is going great right now. Tuesday, we took the water maker parts, and the tube they had to fit with, back to the shop, and they took just enough off of them to make them fit. We got some shopping done and picked Kay up at the airport and got back to Colon before dark. We got Kay situated aboard and had a lovely visit over dinner, and then we were off to bed. 
Wednesday morning we put the water maker back together, crossed our fingers and held our breath. IT’S WORKING! YEA! So far we’ve run it 3 times for more than 2 hours each and it seems to be doing great. No leaks so far.
Wednesday afternoon we left the anchorage by the port and came back to the Chagres river. Last night and this morning we’ve been enjoying the peace and calm and all the jungle noises and sights here.
In just a little while we’re going to go to the marina where we will do the last prep work for the transit though the canal. Tomorrow we’ll be picking up the lines and tire/fenders and our friends who will be our line handlers. And then, at about noon we’ll be headed back to F anchorage to wait for the adviser to come aboard. At that point it’s just waiting for our turn. The first part of the transit will be made Friday afternoon. We’ll go through the first set of locks and to a mooring in the lake. Saturday morning we’ll finish the crossing. I’ll be leaving a SPOT trail, not every 2 hours like usual but as often as seems best to make a good track all the way through. If you want to follow the trip, click on “where is Second Star to the right of the Blog page.
Next entry will be from the Pacific side…

Bocas to Colon and then some

June 4 2013

Greetings,

We’re on anchor at Escudo de Veraguas, a lovely little island about 50 miles east of Bocas. The trip here yesterday was very pleasant. We had a 3 foot rolling sea. Not choppy at all. Second Star ran well and, with her bottom freshly scrubbed, slid through the water beautifully. When we got here and had the anchor set, we swam to shore or a walk on the beach. There are a few small thatched roof shelters but we didn’t see any people. This morning two local guys in a boat come by trying to sell fish. But they left and it’s just us again.

The wind shifted a lot during the night so we were up lots on anchor watch. The anchor held fine but it wasn’t the best nights sleep. When Capt Johne got up this morning I went back to sleep to try to catch up a bit. We’re planning on spending the day here. Hopefully enjoy some snorkeling or diving later, and do an overnight trip to Colon…

June 5 2013

We’ve made it to the anchorage at Colon where you get measured to go through the canal. We had a very nice passage last night which, for me, included an awesome shooting star, and dolphin in the bow wake illuminated by the bio luminescent (WOW!). We got into the Rio Chagres at 0715 and anchored for the morning surrounded by the lush jungle, and the sounds of many birds and howler monkeys. It was a lovely morning followed by lunch, a nap and then the short trip here. 

When we left the river the scenery changed from jungle to a sea of tanker and container ships. Johne counted 37 big ships anchored on the outside of the “break water” and he doesn’t think he got them all. Plus, there were more anchored on the inside. All awaiting their turn to go through the Canal.

Yesterday, before we left Escudo, we did get a snorkel in. We saw a school of  Palometa which I had never seen before. They are silvery and pearly  in the sun light. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to stopping there again the next time we’re passing that way…

June 8 2013

The last three days have been very productive. Thursday we got admeasured and they give us our transit date, June 21st; Friday Capt Johne met our agent, completed our paper work and paid the transit fees; today we met the ladies who are taking care of the machine work for the water maker and they helped us with where to find other things we need in town. 

We’ve had some things shipped down here from the states and the communication with the freight expediter has been frustrating at best. We’ve been try for weeks to get info on exactly where and how we are supposed to get our stuff. The last we were told was it will be coming to the Cristobal Port, a huge commercial container port. Now, we can’t just pull Second Star into the port and say “where’s our stuff” so this morning Sharon and I dropped Johne off on a dock at the port and went into town to do some errands. About an hour later I got a phone call from the head of port security saying he had my Captain, that he wasn’t supposed to be there and that they couldn’t let him leave through the gate. In the end, we just had to come back and pick him up where we’d dropped him off so they didn’t have to admit that he’d gotten where he shouldn’t have been without them catching it (too much paper work involved with that). He could have been in big trouble, especially when he found that he’d forgotten to put the copy of his passport back in his wallet and he had no ID except a PriceSmart card. But all’s well that  ends well. He didn’t get arrested and it gave Port Security something out of the ordinary to entertain them. And, now we know the next step to picking up our shipment which will arrive here on Monday….

Getting ready to move

June 1 2013

Greetings,

I got back to Bocas about a week ago. The trip to FL was productive. I worked, spent time with friends and family (Mom, my sister, nieces and nephew drove down for the last weekend I was there), and, as always on these trips, picked up a bunch more stuff for the boat.

Now we are getting ready to leave Bocas to head for Colon and the beginning of our Canal transit adventure. Today we took Second Star to Almirante to fuel up. We spent most of yesterday scrubbing the bottom and polishing the props. We’re going to take three days, going in tandem with our friend Sharon aboard Ko Komo Kat, to get to Colon. We stop on the way to fish and dive and we’ll anchor over night. So it should be an easy and fun passage. We’ll be sending out SPOT tracking while underway so if you want to follow the trip click on the “Where is Second Star” link to the right of the blog page. We’re planning on leaving Monday morning at about 0730 or 0800 CDT, and we’ll be getting into Colon sometime Wednesday afternoon.

There’s more getting ready to do so, with a promise to post more soon, I’ll get back to work…

April in a nutshell

Apr 29 2013

Greetings,

April has been a good month. Capt Johne has been getting a lot of work and keeping very busy. We had our friends Victor and Natasha, who we hadn’t seen for a very long time, aboard for a week. And we’ve just celebrated Johnes 66th birthday.

Right now I’m on a plane from San Jose Costa Rica, to FL for a few weeks of work. 
"Costa Rica? Weren’t you in Panama?" You ask.
Well, Johne need a new Panama visa, and it was cheaper for me to fly from San Jose, so we made a weekend of it. The trip up on the bus started out fun. When we got to the border it wasn’t clear that there were two steps to the check out. So after we pay our exit tax, we walked over the old rail road trellis bridge to the Costa Rica side. When we went to check in there we found out we missed a step, so back across the bridge for one more stamp. Then across again once we had gotten it. After getting done with  check in on the Costa Rica side we got settled back on the bus and were looking forward to the scenery on the ride. But about half an hour after we got rolling again, an oncoming SUV lost control, swerved into our lane, and hit the bus head on. No one on the bus was injured except the driver who bruised his knee. But the SUV was crushed and three of the six people in it were killed. It was a sobering experience and definitely put a damper on the rest of the day. 
When we finally got into San Jose, we got together with Linethe, a Costa Rican friend we hadn’t seen in years. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and catching up before heading back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.
The next day, (yesterday) we went out walking to explore San Jose. The central part of town has a couple of old theatres, museums and a big cathedral on the central park. We decided to go to the national museum and were pleasantly surprised when we got to find that they were having a Europe day event that included a small symphony concert. Just by chance, we arrived right before they started. They played music from all over Europe. It was a wonderful treat. 
After the concert, we walked around the museum and then went looking for lunch. As we were looking for a good place to eat, we went by the national theatre. I love theatres and Johne ask if I wanted to walk in and see it. I thought we should find food first but we went ahead and checked it out. It had a beautiful lobby with marble statues and an elaborately painted ceiling. And just off the lobby was a charming café that had crapes and sandwiches. It was just what we were looking for and we enjoyed our lunch there very much.
Later that evening we found an Argentinean restaurant and had a wonderful dinner. Over all, it was a great day.

This morning Johne got on the bus to head back to Panama and I was off to the airport. I’ll be headed back to Panama the third week in May and then we’ll start getting ready to make the transit through the canal. We expect to be going though about the third week in June…

Movie part 2

      Mar 27 ‘13 0730hrs

Greetings,

Well, we didn’t end up being a filming platform this weekend. The movie people are very disorganized and, after we told them we couldn’t prep Second Star for the trip until we had a commitment in writing, and we needed at least two day to prep, they finally emailed us an agreement on Wednesday. We read it over, made a few small changes, and sent it back. A few hours later they called to say they had to cancel for Saturday. (We heard later that the guy they had called in to be the surf double for the scene couldn’t surf). 
The next day we got a call asking if we would do a trip on Sunday for a few of the top people to have a fun day off. We told them we could but again we said we’d need an agreement in writing by the next day to be ready for Sunday. By Friday afternoon they said that they wanted to do it and so we reworded the original agreement and sent it over. It was 8:00 in the evening before we got the call that they wanted us to come to the office to sign the agreement. By 9:30 Friday night we were done with the preliminary stuff and we were ready to start prepping the boat for up to 14 people to be aboard on Sunday. 
We had asked our friends, Shay and Jessie, who are professional yacht crew people, to come help crew for the trip. They came Saturday morning and cleaned the boat while Capt Johne and I went into town to get provisions (what a shopping trip). We spent Saturday evening prepping food for up-to-14. 
They had said they would call with a final head count and time of arrival (they had left it vague somewhere between 1000 and noon). Late Saturday evening the call came, 7-10 people arriving at 12:00. Good for us. Over prepped is better than under prepped.
Sunday morning Shay and Jessie got here early to help finish getting everything ready for the guests. At noon we all in uniform waiting to greet our guests. We got a call a few minutes later to say they were on their way. 4 guests would be arriving in about 10 minutes. (ONLY 4. WOW! This should be easy.)
It was easy. The people who came were the producer, his wife and two of the actors (the younger of the two male stars and a young French woman).  They were all very down-to-earth, polite and friendly. We took them on a beautiful cruise through the archipelago, fed them lots, anchored so they could enjoy a snorkel and showed them a very good time finishing with a lovely sunset. It was a gorgeous day and I think they had a wonderful time. (Yea! Success!) 

It was a long couple of days but it turned out very well and I’m glad we got this opportunity and experience…