SERENITY NOW

  Took a stroll away from the boat to explore a little of the jungle surrounding us - what an amazing sight: monkeys frolicking in the trees above us, overgrown American army bases, now resembling temples from a lost empire - possibly a correct description. Richardo, the service manager at the marina, good to his word, completed the rudder fibreglassing repair, and I spent yesterday successfully refitting it. It now really does seem like we’re back on track to cross into the Pacific tomorrow… Erick, our agent then emails us to advise that we’ll be starting at 4am instead of the previously advised 4pm.. All good. This just meant a bit of a rush around day cleaning up. Chez cooked up some big batches of food for our line handlers, and as I write this the evening before our early start in the morning, I think we’re pretty much ready to go! The alarm has us out of bed at 3am. The beeps weren’t really necessary though, as the wind had been keeping us awake. It’s been worryingly howling ...

  We’re back tied to the dock at Shelter Bay marina. Landlubbing once again.. though not through choice. This morning I shaved four and half days off my previous record… managing to drop the rudder with the boat still in the water in under 2 1/2hrs. Not bad considering my previous best was 5 long days back in Crete. The damage from our recent encounter with a submerged rock, doesn’t look all that terrible now that I have the rudder on the dock; only a small section at the base of the rudder has been shredded. More goodish news followed when I swam down to look at the keel - other than a few scuffs to the base it’s all good down there. No water coming in. Considering the hammering the boat sustained, this isn’t a bad outcome. The rudder will need to be repaired here before we go on, and fibreglassing isn’t a skill I possess just yet. More record breaking followed the next day: I fixed the outboard, dropping and refitting the lower leg in 2 hours, vs 2 days previously. That turned ou...

We left Shelter Bay marina this afternoon, having spent 5 days tied to a dock - that’s enough landlubbing for us. As it had been for our arrival, it was once again windy as we departed. This made for a fraught 5 minutes as we exited the marina’s tight entrance. We anchored just outside, in view of the busy transit lanes for the canal. It’s nice to be back at anchor with the gentle rocking and all the familiar noises of the boat. Went to bed and slept soundly. Well.. we did until 3am. That’s when the anchor alarm had us jumping from our bed. Sure enough, we’ve dragged. The wind has picked up to a howl and we spend an uncomfortable hour trying to reset the anchor into the margarine like clay/mud mixture below us. It’s not much fun. It’s now 5am, we seem to be well set again, so might try and get some more shuteye before the sun comes up. On the good news front - the bank emailed me overnight, they’re now willing to settle for a selfie with my passport next to my face to prove that I’m m...

  I found out today that during the War of Jenkins Ear (yes…it’s a real thing!), Portobelo was attacked by the British.. and the song ‘Rule Brittania’ was supposedly written to celebrate the victory. Well I never! There’s a lot more fascinating history to that place, worth a Google at some stage if you’re interested. Upped anchor and left there, making our way the 20 miles or so to the canal entrance under sail. Sea was a bit sloppy on the way, but nothing that we’re not used to by now. There’s large freight ships galore milling around the entrance. We wiggle our way through - sailing all the way - and radio in to Shelter Bay Marina. It’s a little windy as Chez steers us in to our marina berth… something which we’ve avoided for the last year, preferring to stay on anchor. As marinas go, it’s not a bad one: free local bus to supermarkets, a swimming pool, helpful smiling staff and a half decent restaurant. We dine there on our first night, gorging ourselves on a selection of deep f...

  Since arriving in the San Blas islands, strong winds have kept us safely anchored in the same spot. Those conditions calmed a bit today as they had been forecast to do. We’re both very glad that we weren’t further delayed in Cartagena for another day or so. Our journey here would have been a very different story. This morning we took the dinghy over to a little uninhabited island about 200m from where we’re anchored. That island might be called Niatupo, but the maps we have for here are a bit confusing. I can say with some certainty that it’s in the ‘Limon Cayes’ group of islands.. but beyond that, details are sketchy! Tied the dinghy to a palm tree on shore then went exploring. The shoreline tells a sad sorry: at the pristine sand’s edge, a man made line of plastic litter rims the island. The majority of this detritus consists of plastic bottles, closely followed (somewhat bizarrely) by an inordinate number of used plastic ‘Crocs’ shoes in all shapes, colours and sizes. Despite...