It seems to be calm when we wake up so Mike decides that he will go up the mast to fix the navigation lights so that we don’t have to have the ones on the bow which are too bright when you are navigating at night.
He rigs up a bucket and fills it with all his tools and bits and bobs that he might need for the job along with the stirrups to hoist him up in a standing position.
Mike gets into his giant nappy and up he goes, bucket trailing behind him, all the way to the top. He fits a new light bulb but when he goes to test the wiring, he discovers he needs three hands and gives up – one hand is needed to clasp the mast itself! Eventually, checking all the fittings on the mast as he comes down, we lower him back to the deck. Crazy Horse has been waiting to leave but we are positioned quite near their anchor so they have been waiting for Mike to finish before they pull it up in case they disturb the water and make him wobble so they leave immediately they see Mike come down.
Mike decides to leave today and head for Colon rather than do any more work that could hurt his hands, so we pull the anchor up and head out, motoring with the genoa out and I put a loaf of bread on to cook. Although the sea is quite calm and the winds are light, I am not keen on the motion of the sea and take a sea sick pill just in case. Unable to get comfortable in the cockpit, I head back to my bed and just lie there, drifting in and out of a light sleep.
Eventually I surface, and coming out into the cockpit I can see we are arriving at Colon, and one end of the Panama Canal. The sea is like a car park but for huge tankers – I can count 13 anchored outside the breakwater.
Colon is not a pretty sight from the sea, not helped by the fact that it is a grey and dismal day, trying to rain but not succeeding, and just staying revoltingly humid in the very light breeze. The sea is a murky greyish green and the skyline is filled with huge cranes. But this is the first real ‘industrial’ scene I have viewed since leaving the UK and it’s pretty weird.
Photos: Approaching Colon, the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal
Mike calls the port authority for permission to cross the channel to get to Shelter Bay Marina and is allowed through after two ships leave. The second one looks like a block of flats and all but blocks our light out – it is absolutely enormous. I hope we don’t get stuck behind something like that in the canal! Inside the breakwater there are even more huge ships at anchor.
Photo: Huge container ships wait, most half empty or empty
We motor across the channel and enter the marina where Suzanna and Paul are waiting to take out lines and tell us where everything is.
We get the boat hooked up to shore power as soon as we can and switch the air conditioning on – bliss – then I start to strip the beds and gather the laundry together as there is a self service laundrette here – double bliss – clean sheets and towels – how happy am I (and how sad is that!).
I cook bacon sandwiches for lunch and we have just finished eating when we see Skylark coming in to moor up in front of us with no one to take their lines, so I jump off the boat and go to help. The crew look quite surprised to see someone in a bikini and Marks and Spencer apron flying along the pontoon but are glad of the help where ever it comes from!
Photo: Bikini and M & S cooks’ apron – fashion statement?
A little while later, Noeluna arrives and gets rafted up alongside us as the marina has no where to put them until tomorrow. Marguerite is eager to invite me aboard and show me around then I invite her and her mum, Marie-Anne, over to see Jeannius. They are very envious of our air conditioning and breadmaker, and especially my hair dryer!
Mike and Jim set about cleaning the valve which turns the toilet pipes from emptying overboard to emptying into the holding tank. Mike is only going to do this for the two aft heads and is leaving the forward heads as they are. It’s only for two days so we should be able to cope.
It’s a messy, smelly job and takes longer than last time. I decide this is the time to do the laundry and leave just as it gets unpleasant. I spot Judith at the bar and stop to chat as she has just flown in from Florida to join Brown Eyed Girl. When I get eventually get back, Mike and Jim are celebrating getting the muck off the valve although the salon still has a rather noxious smell, and they demand a dark and stormy each. Later, Mike is disappointed when he realises that the work he did this morning up the mast was for nothing as when he switches on the lights to check them it’s obvious that they are not working. He goes back to dealing with the pipework, putting it all back together and flushing them out, while I update the last two weeks’ of blog with its pictures, a job which takes hours! It’s about 9.30 when Jim eventually cooks dinner and we go to bed straight after – how healthy!
Our midday position is: 9 deg 22 min N, 79 deg 57 min W
Distance so far: 1177 nautical miles
Hot mama in the pink bikini and apron!!!
ReplyDeleteYou could put any 30 yr. old to shame.