Black Dog II

We left the boat at the Bocas del Toro yacht club in May and flew back to Seattle via Fort Lauderdale. We spent most of April sanding and varnishing the bright work which will need two more coats of varnish when we return in November. We will also have to repaint the cabin tops.

Last season was very wet in Panama so we did not go very far. We visited Portabello and Isla Linton again before we turned west and headed for Bocas del Toro. We spent four days at anchor in the Bluefields lagoon area which was beautiful. We cruised to the west side of Bastimento and dropped the hook there for a night and then moved on to the Bocas marina.

Bocas del Toro and isla Colon are lovely. We enjoyed being there and we are looking forward to our return. Meanwhile, Roger is working at Fisheries Supply in Seattle loading up with more gear for the boat!

We are still in Shelter Bay working on the boat. Our shipment arrived and we have installed the new GPS/chartplotter. I am anxious to use it. We also "remarried" the Tacktic wind indicator on the mast with the display unit in the cockpit. It is blowing out there! We are waiting for the weather window so that we can move on to the San Blas islands. Panama has experienced record rain this season. December is the start of the dry season and the north trade winds. The trades seem to be returning so hopefully we will only have the short rain squall.

Black Dog II has been in the water for almost four weeks and we are still working on electrical problems. We have new batteries and the starter motor has been repaired. We are waiting for a shipment from Miami that contains my new refrigerator and a generator. In addition, a new battery charger will be brought down to us by a friend.

The weather is warm with rain showers in the late afternoon. November is the wettest month of the year in Panama. It is still interesting to watch the ships loading into the Gatun locks or unloading while we wait to drive across the little one-lane bridge at the entrance to the two locks. We also see the new canal sections under construction along the road to Colon. I would like to be in Panama when the new canal opens in 2012.

Although I am anxious to get to the San Blas islands, we probably won't leave here until early December. Still, this is a lovely place to wait, listening to the birds and the howler monkeys.

We are planning to return to Shelter Bay Marina in Panama on October 22. We hope to splash the boat within a day or two. We have given Black Dog II a paint job and had a few minor repairs made while we spent the summer in Seattle.

Our plans include visiting the San Blas islands and possibly cruising to Cartagena if we have a good weather window. We also hope to visit Bocas del Toro which is in the other direction!

We spent five months in Panama beginning in December of 2009. The country is beautiful and we would like to see more of it.