Moon Dancer on the move??? NOT
12 October 2014
Nellie Kellett / Finally a calm day after a week of bumpy seas at anchor
Hello again,
Its been a while and honestly I would rather live my life than write about it and it seems every time I sit down to write, something needs doing NOW or its all of a sudden dinner time and I have not planned ahead..Oops..
That having been said to explain my long absence here we go.
We enjoyed a wonderful Panama Canal crossing after several weeks in Shelter Bay Marina. We were joined by our close friends from home and sailing buddies from the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. Our advisor was the best. He and the crew bonded immediately when the advisor turned out being a golfer. Normally you change advisors after you land in Gatun Lake but our advisor decided to stay with us and guide us all the way. It was great to see comerardery and great joy. I made sure each of our friends got to drive the Dancer through the canal locks. They loved it. Our evening and morning on Gatun Lake was filled with good food, good friends. The next day was special because our advisor provided us with local information thereby enhancing an already wonderful experience.
My step daughter was able to capture a photo of Moon Dancer transiting the canal at the Mira Flores lock.. We are the dark blue boat on the right.
On the Pacific side we are anchored at the La Playita anchorage.
The La Playita people are super helpful and rent out a well maintained (the ONLY safe) and safe dinghy dock that costs about 35 dollars a week.. A small price to pay for safety and if you saw the alternative on the Las Brisas side of this area you would be shocked.
SO,, here we are and here we seem to remain.............so much for cruising.
We are making great progress on the boat but its taking a long time. I ordered a two drawer refrigerator/freezer that I planned to plug into the existing slot after months of rotting food and an inadequate system. They delivered a double freezer! STUCK. It was delivered to the anchorage, loaded with four guys and a halyard and no way to know it was not a refrigerator until I emailed asking where the thermostat was. Oops, they said. They did however offer an amazing deal on a double drawer matching refrigerator if I agreed to keep the freezer.. So a quick "plug in" job turned into a tear the galley apart, remove the old 110 freezer and tons of flammable sprayed in and old foam and a mess beyond imagination, not to mention the freezer is too big and now I lost more than half of the little bit of galley counter space.. ARRRRRRRRRRRR!
Ok,, the silver lining is that I now have a very functional refrigerator and freezer with great access and capacity and all of it 12 volt..All it took was a significantly over budget project (oh yes,, I forgot to mention all the new tools my husband now needed to complete this job ;-) , a totally trashed boat for more than a week, and me, trying to work out how to make this new galley configuration a workable space while picking sawdust off my eyelashes.
Now the fun part is that we have all 12 volt systems only to find out that our new LifeLine battery bank ( thousands of dollars paid just 10 months ago) is failing!!! Yes Failing.. We are trying to get Lifeline to replace them but I am thinking LifeLine AGM was the wrong choice for a live aboard cruiser environment. They require full charging each time you use them and an 8-10 hour conditioning charge once a month.. if not they fail in one to two years...UN FREAKING BELIEVABLE!
How about some good news,, you are thinking by now.. OK here it is.
We finished the construction of the new Freezer space with the help of a retired cruiser living in Contadora Island in Las Perlas of Panama. It was whale mating season and we were entertained almost daily by breaching Humpbacks that were often so close to the boat the splash could be felt on board.. One night I was lifting the dinghy when I heard the Humpback blow in the dark and could hear its path in the night sea. It was wonderful. I closed my eyes and knew exactly where it was and which way it was heading. That was magical and I will always feel that connection to the whale.
Contadora Island is a friendly, safe and beautiful place. I was at peace there. Here is a photo of us at anchor in Las Perlas..Nirvana...
My new refrigerator is wonderful.. We no longer have to eat all the veggies asap to avoid major spoilage and I don't have to brave the shopping mania of Panama City and the rip off artist taxi drivers and the horrid grid lock that is Panama City.. I can shop once a week for whatever is missing and still make fresh and wonderful meals with unspoiled food.. Also we are saving $ as the waste is next to nothing..Yea!!!
My husband built a new shelf system in the forward shower which we were using for storage. We were just piling "stuff" in there but now we can use the entire shower and access everything safely..He did a great job and its beautiful.. Did I mention the new table saw and work bench he needed for this work? Yes indeed, everything comes at a price and my entire boat was covered with mountains of saw dust, but if it makes him happy, I'm OK with that.
We had great slip covers made of bed sheet fabric to protect our new upholstery in the salon and I found a canvas guy who is refurbishing our canvas which was on its last leg.. We can now put the covers in the washer when they are dirty and also get a few more years out of our canvas. All good.
I learned how to repair our Bow Thruster and all about electrical engine repair..To this day my husband is surprised that its still working perfectly. This was after three "qualified" mechanics spent hours and cost plenty trying to get this working. Frankly, after the last mechanic said he had not read the schematic data I email him, I just got pissed! No way he was more competent than I so I attacked the job. I now know that all it takes is perseverance and reading and a commitment to quality installation of every component. It took me 4 hours in a hot, hot bow locker to re-do all the loose connections with double water repellant insulation, attach loose parts, test, replace as needed specific parts and clean all connections..
While waiting to transit the canal we ordered a new main sail and had all the salon and main cabin upholstery redone with custom pillows and all .. The main is fantastic and the boat interior is much nicer..
At the end of the day the delays are excessive but the improvements are significant, I have learned allot and we will benefit from all our accomplishments for years. I am posting a photo of Moon Dancer in the Panama Canal (dark blue sailboat) and hopefully, if the band width allows, the video of the whale show off my beam in Las Perlas (forgive the potty language on the video, we were so excited!)