A Day of Waiting.
26 February 2011 | San Blas Islands, Panama
Mark
Dave & Lisa's flight was @ 6:45 so I made coffee the night before and just had to switch it on when the alarm went off @ 6:00. We had the dinghy loaded and ferried them over to the air strip by 6:30. We checked in with the agent who arrived around 7:00 and I gave him the letter with my credit card in it to send to Panama City, and then we waited. And waited. Approaching 7:30 a fellow from another boat came to the air strip to inform us that he had people arriving on the flight and that it had taken off on schedule but had returned to Albrook with engine problems and was still on the ground. I went back tot he boat, set Deb up to do laundry, got coffee and Kuna bread and returned to wait with Dave & Lisa. Lisa called Air Panama who confirmed there was a problem and offered that she could call back in an hour to see where things were at. So we waited. And an hour later she called and they (eventually) said that the plane should land in 10 minutes. Which of course it did NOT. By 9:30 another dinghy arrived dropping off a passenger for the 9:40 flight. That turned out to be moderately adequate and by 10:00, a totally unmarked and very small plane arrived and took several, but not all, of the passengers aboard. Fortunately, Dave & Lisa made it. It flew off promising to return about 12:00 for the rest. Immediately upon return to the boat, I called Yacht Services to inform them that the credit card was on its way and that there was a 12:00 flight that they could send the watermaker on. Of course, Thomas was not there, but he will call you. So I waited. And waited. By the time the 12:00 flight landed, I called back and was informed that the messenger was on his way to the airport to pick u p the credit card. They would call when they got it and were ready to send the ETD. I waited. By 3:00 I called again, finally looking up Thomas' cell phone (the number given in his email was no longer in service). I had his actual phone number on my Movistar SIM card, but since Movistar doesn't work in San Blas, we had the Digicel card in the phone. So I removed, it replaced the Movistar card, looked up the number, removed the Movistar card, replaced the Digicel card, and called Thomas. He assured me that the messenger was at the airport sending us the ETD and he would call back when he knew what flight it would be on. I waited. About 4:00 je called to say that it would be on the 11:00 Am flight tomorrow. We will wait and see. While all this was going on, I went to Federico to get the water I had ordered for today. (Deb emptied the tanks doing laundry.) He asked how much we needed and promised, Manana. Maybe some today. Wait and he will bring it. We waited. He came by, asked again how much we needed, and again promised it Manana. None today. I went in to Nargana to see if I could use internet. (They have internet @ the school, but you have to find the person to let you in and set it up.) After asking several people, I learned No, Lunes (Monday). At least I did find some TINY limes @ $0.25. (Big limes in Bocas are $0.05-0.10). Back at the boat Deb had a gin & tonic and I had a mojito as a prelude to a nice evening after a day of waiting. Perhaps tomorrow, something will happen.