04/14/2009, Shelter Bay Marina, Panama
What another day! This story keeps having it's twists & turns, and that's an understatement! We woke this morning and got ready to head into Shelter Bay Marina to get a slip for 2 weeks. Easy enough, or at least is should be. On our way in to side tie up to the dock, when Jim put the throttle in to reverse to back up from the dock & slow down, he hears squeaking coming from the engine room & she won't go in to reverse full power. We ram the dock, I jump off the front of the starboard ama onto the concrete dock & try to push Sunshine away from the dock. Thankfully we only hit once. Then we manually pulled Sunshine up to the dock. Jim tells me the shaft coupling was not tight and was slipping on the shaft even though he tightened it last night. The damage was minimul to the bow, but still not a pleasant thing to go through. After getting Sunshine tied up to the dock, he also noticed a rather large patch of fiberglass hanging off the front center hull. Even though we had her beached & gave her a complete once over only 2 weeks ago, all the force from the water pushing against it must of made it come loose. He sits on the end of the dock for quite some time, then goes up to the office to get definite pricing on getting her hauled out here. Although we would really prefer Bob & Annie's in Ft. Myers, the reality is, it needs done now, not after a week or so of being constantly underway. At B& A's they have a marine railway, here it's a boat lift w/ straps going under the hulls. And Fl. would just be closer, obviously. But here we are, and that's the big story for today. Imagine having your "home" lifted off it's foundation & moved. Even though we didn't do much physically today, emotionally we are drained. The workers did a good job, but it was nerve racking, and nail biting nonetheless. We will have the bottom from the water line down, completely sanded, new bottom paint applied, repair the only spot that needs some new wood on the main hull about a foot long, repair the owie from today, fix the bottom of the keel that is rotten, & install a new prop shaft. Russ, one of the owners of SB, & his guy in charge of the job, both said she's not in that bad of shape. Honestly, Jim & I expected worse, but were pleasantly surprised.
After the incident this morning, I still keep asking myself, "how much more is Jim willing to take?" But after our discussion yesterday morning, I really don't need to ask that anymore.
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Comments [1]
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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