Always & All Ways Spring Haul-out Voyage We had been planning on a haul-out in early-mid March with a leisurely cruise to get to Colon, but as the time approached, problems arose. The first was not hearing back from Shelter Bay Marina about the date for the haul-out and work to be done. That was very frustrating. And then I realized that the time we were going to leave was 'Carnival' which is a big deal in Bocas. Everything shuts down from Friday afternoon through the next Wednesday. And we didn't have a Zarpe yet. Oops. I went in to the Port Captain's office Saturday AM hoping he might be open (the bank was open until noon). He wasn't. I wondered what would happen if we were to show up in Colon without a Zarpe? After all, we were Panamanian residents, we had a valid cruising permit, it was just going from port to port. But then again Panamanians can be rather finicky about regulations, especially if it means collecting a fine (which usually goes in their pocket,)

Monday, 3 March. Miracles of miracles, the Port Captain was in his office! But, he informed me, it WAS a holiday and so I would have to pay 'overtime' - $53.70 for the Zarpe that cost $1.50! (And I only got the receipt for $1.50) Well, at least we were legal to leave in the morning. Ed at Shelter Bay could not be reached by phone of email, so I guess we will just go and hope to contact him along the way. We finished our provisioning and began packing.

Tuesday, 4 March. Usually when we head East, we try to leave about noon and spend the night anchored by the Zapatilla Cays. Deb is often sea sick there, however, and asked if we could do anything different. I checked our charts and decided that if we traveled to Bocas town today, we could leave early in the morning and make Escuda de Veraguas before dark. With that plan in mind, we took a bit longer to pack, but finally got off the dock by 2:00 PM. En route to Bocas, we (finally) calibrated our 'new' autopilot that we got nearly a year ago. It now works great. We anchored in the North anchorage of Bocas not as far from the noise of town as we would have liked, but secure. We went to dinner at El Ultimo Refugio with Bryan & Janna and then walked through town to experience 'Carnival'. Mostly it was bad music too loud and drunks. Maybe I'm getting old.

Wednesday, 5 March. I had hoped to leave @ 6:00 AM, but it was still very black when I woke up @ 5:30, so we waited. By 6:30, it was very adequately light and we got underway. It was very calm conditions and we motored the whole way with a little help from sails for a while near a rain squall (which we managed to miss!) We anchored very comfortably in 13' of water off the beautiful shore. Shortly thereafter, some fishermen came by offering lobster and fish. Initially they said $20 for one large lobster, but we agreed on $20 for four medium ones. Then I gave them 3 cervesas and we chatted while they drank them. At that point they gave me two small mackerel and we bid �"Hasta la vista.�" The mackerel was great for dinner.