04/12/2009, Carribean, North of Panama
The first 24 hours we'd gone a wapping 60 miles. Jim got only 3 hours of sleep off & on during the night. At dawn he started to get a closer look at the main sail & noticed that much of the stitching was coming undone. Fixable yes, even under way w/ repair tape & needle & sail thread. But at 8:30 in the morning, w/ out having said much at all for quite some time, sitting next to me on the starboard side bench while I'm steering, he said to me, "Amy." I look at him, and he says, " I want you to listen to me before you say anything." I stare at him & nod. He says, " I think we should turn back." "With the sails, & no auto steering & I'm thinking we're heading into a Nor'wester, I think that would be the prudent thing to do." I am shocked, to a certain degree. We talk some more, as I turn the boat around. It was a quiet ride back, and after about a couple hours he started rethinking his original statement. We had our larger gib up, and it seemed as soon as we turned around the wind was straight out of the East, perfecto! So that was another reason Jim was second guessing. But we kept heading back South, and arrived back to Shelter Bay Marina in less than half the time that it took us to get out there since we were going with the waves & had better wind & who knows why else.
Monday morning Jim went to start the engine so we could move in to the marina- we anchored outside the marina entrance since it was late when we arrived, and it wouldn't start. We were simply beside ourselves. What else could go wrong?, and what if we kept going North, pulled in some island to rest, and went to start the engine & THEN it wouldn't start? Jim called Shelter Bay & asked if a launcha, small boat, could come out to get him so he could take a taxi to get parts for our motor. Once he got back to SB, our sweet friends on Claire de Lune were still here & George helped Jim with some phone calls to find a place to take Sunshine to. Our first choice, Panamarina, does not have any availabilities. There are 2 marinas in the Bocas del Torro area, a full days sail- nearly 24 hours, away to the West. But they are expensive & we'd have to take a small plane ride from there to Panama City to get a flight back to Houston. Then, there is right here where we are, Shelter Bay, and it's twice the cost of the Bocas Marinas. There is a sailmaker/repairman nearby, plus Colon if need to go there or a bus that goes to Panama City. But we only need a couple weeks, for after a lot of talk, ideas, discussions, some not so pleasant, about what to do from here with Sunshine, we made a mutual decision. We either have to get her to Florida, she cannot stay here another rainy season, all the work we've put in to her would be undone and more, or we have to sell her. So for the next week, we are going to try as best we can to locate 2-3 people who would like to deliver Sunshine to Florida for us. After all the blood, sweat & tears-literally- we've put in to this boat, we just can't bear the idea of letting her go now. We just simply ran out of time for us to finish this part of the trip. The worst is behind us, she is a great boat that needs mostly cosmetic work now. If you know of anyone who can stear a boat, keep a watch, raise a sail; any or all of the above and would love a cheap weeks vacation through the Carribean & the Eastern Gulf of Mexico sailing on a boat, please get them in touch with us. Even someone who's a quick learner and would love to have this experience in their "resume" as crew assisting an experienced captain, to be able to do other crewing on other boats, but needs to get started. We will pay for all expenses for the boat, fuel, etc., there's some food already on the boat that they would be welcome to have, would need some fresh produce before setting sail, but we would love to talk to anyone who might consider taking this trip. Flights are cheap right now, or at least they were when we booked them, and we can negotiate on that. They would need to be available for about 10 days, w/in the next month, no later. IF no one surfaces to make the delivery within the next 2 weeks, Sunshine will go up for sale on Ebay. That will kill Jim. For in all this talk about what to do from here, I learned more about his desire for this than I ever had known. I've explained this in more detail in the post following Tuesday's.
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04/11/2009, Carribean, North of Panama
We were pulling out the break wall around 6:30 a.m., cloudy, but clearing skies. We weren't anticipating the large choppy waves as we departed the breakwall area, but had we thought it through in advance, we would of realized it. As the large rollers come in the much shallower waters, they create a slushing back & forth & much choppiness to them. We dealt with this for about 30 minutes until we got into 150' plus depth of water. Then it was more rolly than choppy. Although still not what we're used to. With very little wind, and mostly on the nose the entire trip from ES to Panama last year, it was very gently & comfortable. This was not. We also noticed the much deeper color of the water, a cobalt or midnight blue, versus the aquamarine of the Pacific. At about 8, we raised the main & put up the smaller gib sail & were cruising along at 5+ knts. Not bad, okay, wind was out of the north- ne. We would prefer a more easterly. At about 5:45 p.m., while I was on watch, Jim was sleeping, we hear a loud crash, like something fell in the wheelhouse or cockpit. Jim awakes & we look around, not until I look up when I'm standing on the port cockpit do I see our boom has released off to the port side. Jim quickly starts to lash it back down, and as he's doing so, our headsail gets caught on the lower port spreader & all the sudden we hear, zzzzzziiiiiiiip! It splits in 2! Not long after that, while Jim is still taking care of the boom & sail, the auto pilot quits working. We motor, hand steering the entire night, doing only 3-3.5 knots. This is NOT getting me home quickly to my family!
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04/10/2009, Shelter Bay Marina, Panama
The photo is of our first Carribean sunset. Taken at "the Flats"anchorage area.
We were awakened to rain shortly after 5 a.m. Once we closed up hatches, which then the rain stopped just as soon as it started almost, we decided since it's so close to dawn, & we're able to start to see light, to get ready to pull up anchor & head to Shelter Bay Marina only about an hour away, to drop off our crew, top off our diesel & water & be on our way. Shouldn't take more than an hour right? We'll be heading out into the Carribean by 9 a.m. Wrong! Way wrong! It's Good Friday, so no diesel at the fuel barge in SB today. I just hung my head when Jesus, the Marina manager told us that. We are SO CLOSE! The Carribean outside the breakwalls is RIGHT THERE! Going home is just right over there to the E. of us! Had we had any idea we wouldn't be arriving here until today, we would have gotten diesel back on the other side, but we had never heard of any other yachts having to wait so long in the day on the second day of the transit to go through the final locks. But!, there is always an upside. When Jim went to check in at the office, Jorge, one of the SB employees said he would be hauling the trash away at noon and would take our jugs for us & return @ 2 w/ fuel for us! Thank God! So that just gives us more time to get some projects done. We topped off our water, put our hailing port letters, "Traverse City MI" finally on the stern, Jim worked on the cable for the backstay that he started y-day before Jose' came, got the mast for our wind generator installed, and a few other odds & ends. The fuel was returned at 2:45, by the time we filled our tank & returned the 2 borrowed diesel jugs to Claire de Lune so we could leave w/ all ours filled, then continued to pick up our projects, we didn't pull out of the marina until about 5:45, giving us only 45 minutes to clear through the break wall & stay out of the shipping traffic in daylight. As we left the marina, & headed down the channel toward the break wall, there were ominous rainy clouds all around us. This was not projected on the weather we just checked on earlier that afternoon. Now what?! Another delay! Surprised by this time? No. Upset? Yes! I want to get home to my kids!
So we think the better of it and pull off and anchor, wait out the rain, go to bed early & decide when we wake, we leave, providing the weather looks good.
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04/10/2009, 9.3691,-79.9503
Everything here is fine. Here is where we are, check it out! All our Love!!
ESN:0-7481291
Latitude:9.3691
Longitude:-79.9503
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:04/10/2009 12:44:55 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9.3691,-79.9503&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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04/10/2009, 9.3797,-79.9345
Everything here is fine. Here is where we are, check it out! All our Love!!
ESN:0-7481291
Latitude:9.3797
Longitude:-79.9345
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:04/10/2009 12:21:34 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9.3797,-79.9345&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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04/09/2009, Lake Gatun, Panama
WOW! Sleep! What a concept! We both slept like babies, and didn't get up 'til way after sun up! Basically hung around and visited w/ George & Janet, George's brother Ted, & his 2 young adult children who are visiting & going through the canal w/ them. Super nice family! Even though we had wanted to go through the canal several days ago, we are so very glad we were able to buddy boat w/ Claire de Lune. It's times like this that I feel things happen for a reason & we don't always know what's best, that God does & he is working for us in all things. The boat Sheli, chose to anchor off the moorings a bit ways off from us. About 11, since our advisors we're not arriving yet, and we saw no signs of them, Jim radioed for an update. "Your advisor will be arriving at 14:15 and you have a 15:15 lock time". Ya know, I really hate being out of control!!! At the hands & mercy of others! But it's not like we can call the ACP & tell them, "No, sorry, that's not acceptable, we're going through now, like it or not!" So we sit, we wait, & I try real hard to stay positive. I am all for when I get a setback, to try to believe, everything happens for a reason, & is for the best, and maybe this will just give us a better start wind or something. Just something to help me be able to "let it go". But I still really hate being in no control of things!
At 1:00, so an hour & ½ EARLY, our advisor, Jose', arrives. Jim is right in the middle of a project replacing our back forestay cable. When Jose' arrives though, he tells us that we are not transiting through the remaining canal until 4:15, then a while later, it's pushed back again to 4:50. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit w/ Jose' for the remainder of the afternoon, talking about everything from Religion- yes, he's Catholic, politics, recreation, the canal, etc. But we're still wanting to get going. Once we get through the canal we need to drop off Steve, Thomas & Olga & give them $ for taxi & bus ride back to Panama. The last bus to Panama City is at 9, so it appears they will be staying w/ us one more night, and we'll be getting refueled and more water in the morning.
This time it was just Claire de Lune & us, the other boat we were w/ y-day was able to leave an hour before us. We got through going down w/ no problems. Our sister boat though, had a bit of an issue this time. As we were getting in to the first lock, the aft line thrown to the canal line handler didn't quite get to the line handler. Ted on Claire de Lune missed twice and for some unknown reason the canal line handler on shore didn't throw his line to Ted to help pull their stern around & Claire de Lunes anchor hit & scraped the wall of the lock twice. Thankfully no damage was done, but it was scary nonetheless. Other than that, which was enough, thank you very much, our transit went well & after going down the 3 sets of locks, we were in the Carribean! We drove the 5 miles to the flats where we anchored for the night at about 7:45 p.m.
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