OK, what I really mean is I am not in El Salvador anymore. Not even San Salvador. Panama City is a real city. Big skyscrapers, everything you can think of (except of course specialized marine products) available. No need to spend $100 to spend an entire day driving just to grocery shop. I was in the biggest mall I have ever been in the other day! We were able to replace our broken camera (with an upgrade, no less!), found the brand of outdoor clothing we like, found new shoes (Keens) for Mike, found the new feather bed we need to replace the old one that started sending feathers loose throughout the boat, you name it. Amazing!!!!!
And another great thing about this place - as I sit here anchored in La Playita, just off Panama City, a mere 20-30 miles away are the Las Perlas Islands, which are beautiful, with clear water and white sands. A mere day sail away, depending on winds. We can go there an anchor until we run out of beer and vegetables, then go back, reprovision, and go again.
Of course we can't go there until we get the depth sounder fixed, or at least find a functional alternative. It would be foolish to try and anchor without being able to determine your depth. Here, there are plenty of boats, so you know exactly where to go, and there are other people within yards of your boat who can tell you what is underneath your hull. SO no islands until we get this fixed. I find it highly suspicious that BOTH the depth sounder and the AIS (our ship tracking gizmo) would go out at the same time, but Mike insists there are no connections between them that would cause them, and only them, to go our together. I believe that these things are some sort of somewhat integrated system, nor do I believe in mechanical coincidences. My unprofessional, but firm opinion is that this was all caused by a direct lightning strike to a boat very close to us. We know it happened to them (we were on an overnight to San Salvador) and we were only about 25 yards away from them. When we got back, the display on our inverter (the device that shows what power is coming and and what is going out) was acting haywire, flashing random letters and numbers, until Mike reset it and then it was fine. No reason for it to do that. But back to the depth sounder and AIS - I do not know if Mike is going to try to repair them or if he is just going to replace them.
There are a lot of other boats here, from all over the world. It is not just US and Canada anymore, but people from all over. There are a lot of European boats here that have come through the canal, and other boats waiting to go through. I thought I was pretty used to dealing with big ships since I learned to sail with the Navy ships in San Diego, but for sheer numbers, Panama has got San Diego beat. There are always huge ships coming and going from the canal, and many boats anchored awaiting their turns. When I first got out of college, I had a job working for a container leasing company in San Francisco. That was a long time ago, and seeing the names of these companies - NedLloyd, Hapag Lloyd, Maersk, Sealand - it brought me back.
We are not taking Magda Jean through the canal, but we are going through with some friends of ours on their boat as line handlers. I am really excited about doing it - and it will be more fun on someone else's boat because it is less stressful. (My big fear is always damage and the ensuing costs, not drowning.) It should be a lot of fun and really interesting.
Anyway, I need to get going and make brunch for us (too late to be called breakfast). I told Mike I am in no hurry to leave here.
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." (Marthe Troly-Curtin)
No comments:
Post a Comment