In St Thomas

                                                                   April 4 2014

Greetings,

          We arrived in St Thomas a week ago. We pulled into the harbor at 0630 on the 28^th. Sharon and Kokomo Kat didn’t get in until about midnight. The passage was pretty rough some of the time, and none of it was calm. Second Star had some leaks and, when bigger waves came over the bow we were taking water in, so there’s been a lot of cleaning and damage assessment since we got here.

 The anchorage here is pretty well protected. We get a little roll when the waves are come in the channel but it’s not bad. We’ve seen rays and turtles in here, and the sea planes take off and land right behind us, which is very entertaining to me for now, but they are loud and watching them may lose its charm after a while.

Johne’s daughter Jeni, Grandson Carson and Jeni’s boyfriend Bill had booked tickets to come here and see us six months ago when we thought we’d be here by Feb. We made it in time to spend the last 2 days of their trip with them. It was great seeing them. Carson is 17 now and has grown a lot in the last couple of years. His Grandpa hadn’t seen him for almost 4 years so the change was shocking.

Going back a bit; our time in Curacao was very pleasant. Except the part when we took the starboard engine apart to take the head to the shop for re-facing. And the putting it back together twice because we had the wrong head gasket. But other than that we enjoyed it there. With the engine work and trying to get up here ASAP we didn’t do and see a lot while we were there. It’s a beautiful island with a great anchorage and we’re looking forward to spending more time there the next time we’re down that way.

As for an update on my health issues; shortly after we got here I need to refill one of my meds. I took my prescription to the pharmacy and was told that I needed to get a US licensed doctor to sign off on it. They couldn’t fill a prescription from a Colombian doctor. I went to a walk in clinic the pharmacist directed me to and, not only could Dr. Flowers help me with the prescriptions, but when I ask where I could get the blood work I was going to be needing done, she said “here”. So they drew blood and she went over my history with me. She recommended I see an Ophthalmologist because she was concerned that my eye hasn’t made better progress on the steroids. The ophthalmologist did an exam and went over my case history and he said there’s not damage to the eye or the optic nerve so we’re still focused on getting the over active muscle, that’s limiting the range of motion, to relax. I’m still waiting for the results of the latest blood tests. When I have those, and we see what changes the meds have made in my thyroid output, we will determine what the next step should be.

Johne’s brother Bob will be coming down in a couple of weeks for a long-past-due visit. We’re looking forward to having him aboard again. In the meantime, work on Second Star, Kokomo Kat and Sharon’s house will be the order of the day.

Moving again

                                                                  March 24 2014

Greetings,

          This is just a quick update. I’ll try to post more detail in the next couple of weeks.

          We’ve been in Curacao for almost two weeks now. In that time we’ve taken the head off the starboard engine, taken it to the machine shop, (one valve was “chuffing”) had it resurfaced, and put it back together (twice since we had the wrong head gasket the first time). We’ve also been waiting for the weather again.

          Now the engine is functional and the wind is slowing down so, first thing in the morning, we’re pulling out to cross the Caribbean expecting to arrive in St Thomas first thing Friday morning. The weather is still a “sporty” (as our friend Judy says) but it should be doable.

          After we’re settled in to St Thomas I’ll write a good update on our time here and the trip. In the meantime, if you’re so inclined, you can follow the trip on our SPOT share page to the right of the blog. 

Leaving Colombia

                                                                      March 7 2014

Greetings,

          Well, the weather looks like it’s going to start cooperating. We are now checked out of Colombia and will be pulling anchor tomorrow morning to head for Curacao and then on to St Thomas. We may be in Curacao for a little while but don’t plan to stay long.

          Our time in Colombia has had its up’s and down’s. But, overall, I’ve been very impressed with the people here and it’s a very beautiful country. The medical care I’ve received here has been excellent and (for any cruisers who are thinking of passing this way) Dino, the agent in Santa Marta, is the best agent we’ve dealt with in Colombia and one of the best in the best we’ve dealt with the whole time we’ve been cruising. We had a delightful lunch at his house today. He and his wife are charming, wonderful people. He’s also very honorable. One of the employees in the port captain’s office was looking for a little extra money for himself to do our paperwork. Dino could have just told us there was an extra fee and probably made some for himself. But instead he told the guy he wasn’t going to ask us because he didn’t want us to think it was for him. He had the guy come meet us, and when Johne said he’d be happy to pay our fees, all he needed was an official receipt from the port captain’s office, It didn’t take to long for the guy to back down. In the end, we gave him 5000 pesos (about $2.50) which only covered half of his taxi to come meet us. Dino is hoping this will discourage him from asking for money he’s not entitled to.

          In health news, I’ve been on the first med for two weeks. The Doc said I should be seeing improvement in my eye within three weeks. No improvement yet but I’m still hopeful. If I don’t start seeing progress in another week I’m supposed to start taking a steroid to reduce the inflammation. I’m hoping to avoid that but I really want my eye to be working right again.

          That’s about it for now. We should be in Curacao by Tues night. If you want to follow the trip, we’ll be sending out the SPOT’s so if you click on “Where’s Second Star” on the right side of the blog page. Next update from Curacao or St T. 

Things are looking up

                                                                              Feb 22 2014

Greetings,

          Well, after all the tests and waiting, and more tests and more waiting, the results are in. The diagnosis of Hyperthyroid has been confirmed and I have started on a treatment program. Dr Consuegra said I should start seeing improvement within three weeks. From the numbers on the free T4 blood test, I think, I’m just into the range of being hyperthyroid so hopefully it won’t take much to get it back under control. I’ve been given a hall pass to continue with my life. Dr Consuegra said I should see an endocrinologist in six weeks to check my progress, but until then, take my pills and go about my business. The only restrictions he gave were no alcohol or smoking or stress. I don’t smoke so I only have to stop drinking and stressing. No problem :)

          It also looks like the weather may be starting to calm down. Mid next week the winds look like they’ll be down from 30-40kts to 15-20kts. And the seas will be calming in turn. Our travel buddy Sharon, on Kokomo Kat, has crew coming to join her for the next leg so it all seems to be coming together. We have a little work to do on the boats to be ready to go but mostly just the usual pre-passage-prep stuff.

          The next update should be to say we’re headed for the islands. No more medical crap. Although, I’d like to say thank you one more time for all the supportive email, advice and love I have received though out this “adventure”. It’s been a bit tough at times and having a big network of family and friends’ boosting me from behind has really helped so;

 Thank you all. And a big group hug.

Still in Taganga

                                                                             Feb 16 2014

Greetings,

          We’re still sitting in Bahia Taganga Colombia. It’s still blowin’ a gale. I’m still getting tests and waiting for results and more doctor visits.

          We made three trips back and forth to Barranquilla this past week. When all the test results come back later this week we’ll be headed back over there to see Dr Consuegra again and start a treatment plan.

          We’re planning to do a little site seeing in the next few days while I’m on hold medically speaking. There is a museum/park here that is where Simon Bolivar died. It’s supposed to be interesting and educational.

          Not much more to report right now. Hopefully, in a couple more weeks, I’ll be reporting on good heath, a good weather window and pending passage making.

Trip from Cartagena to Santa Marta

                                                                             Jan 31 2014

Greetings,

          We are now sitting at anchor in Taganga Colombia. And, for a couple of reasons, it looks like we’ll be here for a bit. The first reason is the weather. We left Cartagena on the evening of the 21^st. The weather had improved but still wasn’t great. We got as far as the river at Barranquilla but, we were buddy boating with Kokomo Kat and she had a fuel issue and lost one engine. So we decided to go back to Puerto Vallero which was down wind and has good anchoring. With a change of filters and then running long enough to get the air out of the lines she was ready to move on. But, again we had to wait a couple of days for the waves to lie down.

The wind was strong, and even in the bay there was about a two foot chop. The water was stirred up and murky. Not good for swimming. There were no water taxis so it was still better than the roll in the anchorage in Cartagena. But not somewhere we wanted to spend much time. On the 25^th it calmed down a bit again so we headed out to make the next leg around the point at Barranquilla and over to Santa Marta.

It was rough but not too bad across the river but, as night fell and the wind pick up, it got a lot rougher. We were taking waves down the deck and heavy spray on the bridge. It made Johne say “why do we need to keep reminding ourselves we don’t want to do this?” It was much better when we got in close to the lee shore, but not a fun trip all-in-all.

We pulled into the bay at Santa Marta but it’s not a great anchorage so we came around the corner to Taganga which is a much nicer, calmer, prettier bay to anchor in. The water here is much clearer. It’s surrounded by hills that look very much like the Baja Peninsula. They are very dry with big cacti. It’s windy here too but the bay is better protected so the waves aren’t so big. It’s a much nicer place to be stuck for a bit.

Which brings us to the other reason for staying longer.  As many of you know I’m having an issue with my right eye. Right before we left Puerto Vallero I emailed a friend who is an Ophthalmologist to ask her advice. She was concerned from the symptoms I described (Dropping eye lid, limited and decreasing range of motion in the upward direction) that I may have something (a tumor or aneurysm) pressing on the optic nerve. She and another Dr. friend I had consulted recommended getting an MRI and other tests to rule out things that could be an immediate danger. She didn’t think it was a good idea to wait until I got back to the states (maybe a month or more). So, when we got here, we ask Kevin to find out where I could get the tests done. He got the info for us and we’ve started down the path of trying to find the problem.

So far I have had an MRI and an initial consultation with a neurosurgeon. He has ordered more tests so we will be back at the Clinica Mar Caribe tomorrow. Going in to this I was worried about the language barrier. It has been challenging but I have to say, the staff have bent over backward to help us. I have received so much personal care and attention from everyone. From the ladies at the front decks who used the translate program in the computer to figure out what I needed, to the Tech who gave me the MRI and reassured me that it was “easy” and told me “Just Don’t Move” the rest was in Spanish but that much he made sure he got to me in English. He has also spent quite a bit of time talking to us about the other tests. And the Dr. who spent 45 min with me this morning, gave us him phone number and said to call him as soon as we had the next round of tests. On top of all that the cost here is a small fraction of what it would be in the states. The MRI was 700,000 Colombian pesos which is about $350. And the appointment with the Dr. was 35,500 pesos. I feel very good about the quality of the care I’m getting and would recommend it to anyone who needed medical care.

I will continue to post updates as I know more about my prognosis. I have received lots of support from family and friends for which I am very grateful. Thanks. It helps in trying times to know I’m that loved. 

Amendment to last post

It has been pointed out to me that my comments on the man who was asleep in the launch were un-compassionate. I'm am righting now to apologize to the less fortunate people of the world and everyone I may have offended with what I wrote. I didn't mean to be cold and uncaring. I'm sorry.

Dominos

                                                                                       Jan 19 2014

Greetings,

          I can now call myself a cruiser. Today I had my first Mexican train dominos experience. As we have been cruising, we have heard people talking on the VHF cruiser nets about getting together for Mexican train dominos. It’s a popular social activity in the cruising world. But, before today, we had not participated. Well, now we’ve been properly integrated into the social world of cruisers. I won’t go into the details of how the game is played here, but it was lots of fun and I’m sure we will join again at some point.

          When we left the game we had another first. A bum was sleeping in Hook when we got back to the dock to head back out to Second Star. We head actually seen him the night before. When we’d gone to the store he had told us he would watch the boat while we were gone and then held his hand out for money. Johne said when we got back. If he’d been there when we got back Johne was going to give him a little something but he wasn’t. So, after we woke him up and told him it was time to get off, he got his stuff together (a backpack and the cardboard boxes he’d been sleeping under), climb off the boat and held his hand out for money. Johne told him he was lucky we didn’t call the police. I thought it was pretty ballsy to try to charge us for sleeping in the launch. I thought maybe we should have asked him for rent.

          In other news, it does look like we’re going to be departing Cartagena this week. The weather is calming enough that we’re going to go for it. It’s not going to be as calm as I’d prefer, but to wait for that we’d probably be here until April. Right now the plan is to head out Tuesday evening. There is a big river that flows out by Santa Marta and, we’ve heard, you want to cross it in good light to avoid all the debris that flows down river. We’ll time it to get there in the morning on Wednesday. There are some bays on the north side of Colombia that we can stop in if it gets too rough or we want to rest, but we’ll head for Curacao as quickly as we can safely go. I’m looking forward to getting there. It looks like a really neat place. 

Waiting for a weather window

                                                                             Jan 12 2014

Greetings,

          Cruisers spend much of their time waiting for a “weather window”. This is what we are doing right now. For the past several weeks the trade winds have been blowing and the Caribbean Sea has been stirred up. With winds to 35 knots, the waves off shore have been running 8-15 feet. And, we want to head east, which is the way they are coming from. Which boils down to; we’re stuck in Cartagena, waiting. It makes me a bit antsy. We have company coming to see us in St Thomas in March. Even though that’s still two months away, it’s out there.

I know I don’t want to be out in the current conditions. It’s hard on the boat, it’s hard on the cat and it’s hard on us. But it’s also hard to sit here and check the weather, day after day, with no real change. It’s not that we don’t have stuff to do. There are always projects on a boat. And there are some fun people here to socialize with. We have enjoyed many things about Cartagena, but it’s time to be done here and move on. The tricky part at this point is not to let the “antsy” get the better of me. We’ll just have to wait until the weather decides to cooperate and stay put until then.

One thing we’re not enjoying here is the traffic in the harbor. Since a week or so before Christmas, the boat traffic has increased substantially. The high speed, twin and triple engine, boats come flying though the anchorage at warp speed. They go every-which-direction which turns the harbor into a washing machine with big wakes coming from everywhere. Sometimes it makes us feel like, even though it’s rough off shore, it’s uncomfortable in here too, so maybe we should just go. We know better. Even when it’s bad in here, it’s way worse out there.

So, here we sit. I’ll let you know when it looks like that will change. And in the meantime I’ll try to embrace being here…

Another long update

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Jan 3 2014

Greetings,

          Well, once again I’ve put off writing for too long so I will do this update in sections. First the time in the yard; second our trip to Bogota; and then the Holidays.

The yard:

We didn’t get everything we’d hoped done while we were hauled out. But the most important jobs (The bottom sanded and painted, the prop shaft seals replaced, thru hulls cleaned out and ball valves serviced, anchor chain remarked every 25 feet…) got done. We launched on the 16^th and headed back to the anchorage. With the bottom and running gear clean and barnacle free we slid through the water with ease. Going into the yard we were going 5.6 knots @ 800 rpm, burning about 4 gph. Coming out we were doing 8 knots @ 800 rpm, burning about 2.5 gph. So much better.  And our dripless shaft seals are dripless again. Yea!

An amusing anecdote from our yard time is; the first evening we were there the guard came by and told me something in Spanish. I knew it was something about a dog but I wasn’t getting it. I told him in Spanish I was sorry but I didn’t understand. He kept trying. Whatever he was saying was obviously important. So I kept trying to get it. They were looking for a dog? Had I seen the dog? No, that wasn’t it. Then I started to catch on. I was aware that there were guard dogs in the yard at night (the first night we were tied to the wall, before we were lifted one of them had been barking at a fishing boat for half the night). What he was telling me was not to come down off the boat after 9:00 at night until 5:00AM because they let the dogs loose in the yard and it was dangerous. I was so proud of myself when I figured it out and the guard seemed very relieved. My Spanish still sucks, but I’m making progress.

Bogota:

          We left the boat for five days while it was out of the water to go up to Bogota, visit Kevin and see the sights. Bogota is in the mountains at 8500 feet. It sits in a basin surrounded by higher mountains. Being so close to the equator, the temperature there stays between about 50 and 70 degrees all the time. We have been in the tropics for long enough now that, for us, that’s cold. We’d brought jackets and jeans but we were still chilly most of the time we were there.

          Bogota is a beautiful city. It’s the capital of Colombia and houses many government buildings, the presidential palace, many universities, museums, historical churches, etc. We stayed with Kevin and he was a wonderful host. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we drove up to a quant village on a lake. It was a historical village that had been moved and restored when they built the dam and flooded its location creating the lake. We had dinner on the way back down at a restaurant on the side of the mountain with a great view of the city below. Monday we went into downtown. We were planning to go to the Museo Del Oro (gold museum) first but it was closed on Mondays. So we walked around exploring. We went by the presidential palace, which had guards in fancy uniforms like Buckingham Palace, on the way to the Botero art museum. Botero is a famous Colombian artist and they had a lot of his work but they also had Monet, Picasso, Degas, Renoir, Toulouse- Lautrec, Pissarro, Manet…it was an amazing collection. We were going to go back to the gold museum another day but the Mayor of the city was fired that day and for the next several days there were protests in that area and the streets were closed.

          Kevin took us to an older part of town where we had dinner and a lovely stroll in a plaza that was all decorated and had entertainment for the holidays. We also took the cable car ride up to Monseratte, the church on the mountain overlooking the city. The view from there was spectacular. We got there late in the afternoon and enjoyed the sunset with a good cup of coffee (or hot chocolate for Johne) then had dinner looking over the lights of the city (extra lit for Christmas). It was a very good trip and I’m really glad we got to go.

The Holidays:

          We celebrated the solstice in our usual style with a cocktail party aboard Second Star. We had a fun group of cruisers come and one “repeat”. It was for our solstice party last year that we first met Sharon, so it was also the first anniversary of a great friendship.

          Daryl and Marcy arrived back on Christmas Eve to spend another week aboard. We did the potluck with the other cruisers for dinner that night. For Christmas dinner Sharon joined us here. We did a non-traditional steak and lobster with garlic/herb mashed potatoes and salad. The food was awesome and the company even better.

          Over the weekend we all went to the Fort for the tour and to the beach on the other side of Boca Grande. Daryl and Marcy had to leave on Monday, so for New Year’s Eve Sharon came and we had dinner and managed to stay up long enough to watch the great fireworks displays going off around half of the harbor.

          Now we are in prep-to-move-on mode. When we get a good weather window, we’ll be headed along the north side of Colombia and over to Curacao. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but if I did, mine would be to write as things happen and update the blog much more often. We’ll see if I manage to do it.

          Happy New Year!

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…