Meandering Nina

28 May 2017 | Shelter Bay Marina, Panama
06 January 2017 | Portobello Panama
05 January 2017 | San Blas Islands
05 January 2017 | Cartagena Colombia
07 December 2016 | Cartagena Colombia
07 December 2016 | Cartagena Colombia
27 November 2016
18 September 2016 | Boston MA

January 16, 2017 (almost sunset)

28 May 2017 | Shelter Bay Marina, Panama
pesya
Shelter Bay Marina, Panama

Portobello Panama

06 January 2017 | Portobello Panama
pesya
“Portobello? What a shity place”, said the South African man that lives now in Florida! “Portobello? A wonderful place!” said Mark, the Canadian man we met in Cartagena.
…and then, we arrived to Portobello on the morning of January 4th.
Portobello is a small city with with a rich history, a big church with a statue of a black Jesus, 2 fortresses, few mini markets, a small hotel, a friendly hostel, a good bakery with fresh juices and wifi, a residential neighborhood with narrow streets and colorful decorated houses, and a museum.
Portobello? a nice friendly Panamanian city with good anchorage.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristo_Negro_(Portobelo)

Panama-San Blas Islands

05 January 2017 | San Blas Islands
pesya
Panama
We reached San Blas Islands after two nights and a day of fast sailing. In fact, so fast, that we had to wait for the day light before entering our first charmed bay of the Hollandaise island group. San Blas consist on about 400 little Islands scattered on large area of reefs. Our bay is sheltered from the Atlantic swell, but not the wind, by 2 miles wide reef and 2 Islands, non longer than an 100 meters each. On one island live two families of the Kuna native tribe. On the other, lives only one family. We had meals on both islands. They consisted on rice cooked in sea water and fried fish, delicious! We drank a coconut a-la natural. Our younger crew went to explore the reef and reported about all kind of underwater life.
We are avoiding more populous islands because we are delaying the official entry to Panama.

Departure X2 / 5 on the boat!

05 January 2017 | Cartagena Colombia
pesya
Who is on the Nina for Leg#1? Alexei, Peter wally, Zvi and me, Pesya
Alexi, talented high-tech guy in his 30th. lives in San Francisco. Peter, an Hungarian man, with a great sense of humor, in his 40th , lives in Brazil. Wally, an experienced sea man, in his 60th from Maine.
Today, Dec 23rd, we left Marina Manzanillo and Colombia with the first light of the day. Two hours later the cooling water pump stopped us. We sail to an anchorage and for two hours hunted for parts to repair our pump. It took us several hours to repair it. In few hours we will try again. We will be sailing for about 40 hours and intend to reach the San Blas Islands.

First Days in Cartagena Colombia

07 December 2016 | Cartagena Colombia
On Monday, Dec 5th, before sunrise we left our home and traveled to Colombia. Cartagena welcomed us with a heavy rain, high humidity, and muddy streets. Mauricio, the manager of the marina told us that they got an unusual amount of rain this season and some hurricanes. In the marina, Nina was waiting for us, safe on the hard. With 2 begs and 3 suitcases full of necessity for 5 months, climbing a narrow wiggly ladder up to the boat, seemed like an impossible task at first.
The second day progressed much better. The marina’s office produces nice cups of excellent Colombian coffee and immediately became my favorite spot. We got a small room on top of the marina’s office with a shower and air condition… We are very happy to escape from the heat to the room after lunch.

Our first meal in a local restaurant was a fish soup with two islands of potatoes, a main dish that was fried fish with salad, rice, plantain and a good cuban beer. The cook was a young woman dressed in white with a beautiful smile. A great contrast to the dusty roads and the semi industrial rundown landscape around us.

Back to the boat: the engine-work looks well done, but we have to try it before going off shore. The refrigerator works better, but will have to prove itself in the near future. We put up the Bimini and the Dogger. We met with the carpenter, mechanic and the electronic guy that will help us install the new automatic pilot.
Tomorrow the day is going to start, we hope, with the Canvas Woman.

First Days in Cartagena Colombia

07 December 2016 | Cartagena Colombia
pesya
On Monday, Dec 5th, before sunrise we left our home and traveled to Colombia. Cartagena welcomed us with a heavy rain, high humidity, and muddy streets. Mauricio, the manager of the marina told us that they got an unusual amount of rain this season and some hurricanes. In the marina, Nina was waiting for us, safe on the hard. With 2 begs and 3 suitcases full of necessity for 5 months, climbing a narrow wiggly ladder up to the boat, seemed like an impossible task at first.
The second day progressed much better. The marina’s office produces nice cups of excellent Colombian coffee and immediately became my favorite spot. We got a small room on top of the marina’s office with a shower and air condition… We are very happy to escape from the heat to the room after lunch.

Our first meal in a local restaurant was a fish soup with two islands of potatoes, a main dish that was fried fish with salad, rice, plantain and a good cuban beer. The cook was a young woman dressed in white with a beautiful smile. A great contrast to the dusty roads and the semi industrial rundown landscape around us.

Back to the boat: the engine-work looks well done, but we have to try it before going off shore. The refrigerator works better, but will have to prove itself in the near future. We put up the Bimini and the Dogger. We met with the carpenter, mechanic and the electronic guy that will help us install the new automatic pilot.
Tomorrow the day is going to start, we hope, with the Canvas Woman.
Vessel Name: Nina
Vessel Make/Model: Waquiez AMPHITRTE 43 ketch
Hailing Port: Boston MA
Crew: Zvi Richard Dor-Ner, Pesya Altman