After the Easter holidays, we paid a visit to Suminapa for an update on our Victron batteries. Originally, they were expected to be delivered within 2 to 3 weeks of ordering on the 13th March. Since then, we had spent 3 1/2 weeks in San Blas, 5 nights at anchor in Linton and 9 nights in the marina. However, at the point of ordering, the batteries were out of stock in Miami and so didn't make the ship to Panama. Today, there was good news; the batteries were in Panama and would be picked up on Friday, so that Alex could start the installation on Monday 28th April. Annabelle would confirm to us on Friday that everything was going to plan. Friday came and around 3pm we went to the shop. Annabelle and Alex had been halfway to Panama City to collect the batteries and other imports when they had received a call to say the goods could not be collected today; it would be Monday morning. That would delay Alex by half a day. On Monday, we went back to the shop after lunch. Alex was there and said that Annabelle was still on her way back from Panama City, as there had been more delays. There had been a lot of rain and storms and some roads were compromised. At least she had our batteries and other pieces of equipment, so Alex would be with us before 10am on Tuesday morning. At 1140 hours on Tuesday, we went to the shop in search of Alex, who had not turned up at the boat. There was a problem. The battery management system (BSM) that had been sent with the Victron NG batteries was not compatible. Alex had been calling Victron and suppliers for solutions. There was only one compatible BSM anywhere in the US, because they are made in China and imports had been suspended as a result of Trump's tariff wars. The available item could be sent priority airmail, a cost which Suminapa would cover but the price of the unit had increased to US$1000, which was ridiculous. Our other option was to have Redodo batteries, which have a built-in BMS. They are much cheaper than Victron but are also bigger. We went away to measure our battery space and ensure they would fit, as this was our preferred option, as there would be no further delay and we would save at least US$1500. The option was viable, although Pete needed to build a shelf for the second battery. Alex and his apprentice arrived after lunch to commence with the installation. The irony is that if we had chosen Redodo in the first place, the batteries could have been installed as soon as we arrived back in Linton. Alex worked until 6pm and we plugged the fridge directly into shore power, as we had no battery power on board. We used the solar powered Luci light in the cabin. It was unbearably hot overnight without the fans though. During the night, during wind and rain, the wind controller lit up and then started emitting noise, as it was receiving energy from the wind turbine but was not connected to the batteries, so we shut it off. The overnight rain filled a bucket. By the end of the next day, we were drowning in wet oilskins and wet towels, with nowhere to get them dry. The howler monkeys were going bananas at the rain too and could be heard, howling loudly all around the bay. Alex continued to work on the battery installation, fitting the charger, the DC to DC and the inverter. Everything was extremely neat, with new bus bars; positive connections on the left, negative connections on the right. There was an issue with the inverter over-charging, which Alex thought might be the cable, which was perhaps 110 volt instead of 220. A fix would be needed tomorrow. Thursday 1st May was a public holiday in Panama, so Alex wasn't with us for long. He fixed the issue with the inverter by changing the charger, which was faulty and left the batteries to fully charge from shore power and the fridge plugged into the inverter. We had a better night with the fans on and we were up before 7am, on Friday. Alex returned and found an issue with the engine battery overcharging. After some investigation, he removed the old VSR, which balances the charge between the engine and house bank and that resolved the issue. Now we just had to monitor and test the batteries. We unplugged from shore power so the batteries were fully reliant on wind and solar, not that there was any wind and none forecast for the foreseeable future. Everything seemed to be working fine and the batteries held sufficient charge through the night, with both fridges and the fans running. We continued to test and monitor over the weekend, with a plan to depart the marina on Tuesday, allowing us to provision on Monday.
Meantime, we had eventually managed to get our Bocas Marina booking and haul out confirmed by email, which allowed us to make our homebound travel arrangements. After researching options, we decided on a KLM flight from Panama Tocumen International to Amsterdam, with a connection to Manchester, leaving on the 29th May. There was a connection available to Leeds Bradford, which would have been more convenient but cost £100 more per person. Liz at Bocas Marina, then booked us internal flights from Boca del Toro to Panama City for the day before. I booked a hotel near Tocumen airport for the night in between. We will need a taxi to transfer from the Bocas flight, as it lands at a smaller airport on the opposite side of Panama City. Our lift out was scheduled for the 26th May, so I also booked us into a small hotel on Colon Island, close to the airport in Bocas, for two nights. The lift out is actually on the mainland, so we would need a water taxi from Almirante, back to Colon Island. The last step was to book a train from Manchester to Selby for the Friday evening and that's where everything fell down. An off-peak single ticket was £92.60 per person, as was the cheapest advance single. I checked Saturday and the price was the same. To top it all, there will be engineering works, so the trains are either replaced by a bus or you have to make 3 changes and go via Manchester Victoria. It turns out that a taxi back to Selby is a cheaper option. Getting home from Panama has turned out to be very expensive, so I am glad we saved money on the batteries.
While in the marina, we did make new friends. Mitch, a US citizen who has lived in Japan for many years, was great company and his big cat was very comfortable, especially with the aircon on. Phil and Trini, Restless Spirit, from Australia, pulled into the berth beside us and we had drinks a couple of times. They were next in line for lithium batteries, after us. Mike and Fae arrived to do some work on Selkie, a lovely boat a few spaces down from us. They actually live in Bocas now, so we would hopefully see them again once we had made the passage west. On the Monday, we said our goodbyes to everyone and ended up with a later night than we had intended, given our planned early start the next day.