Which is where we are until we can get this boat hauled out and determine the amount of damage she has actually suffered. The skeg itself can likely be a pretty easy fix IF we can find someone here in Panama who does fiberglass work and that should be pretty easy. Our concern is that the skeg is really strong and the force it took to break it off may have damaged the integrity of the hull itself. The best way to explain it would be as of there had been an earthquake that did some noticeable damage, but in actuality damaged the foundations as well. And the purpose of the skeg is to protect the rudder itself from damage, and it did it's job there, but now that is partly missing, the rudder is no longer protected. So that is where we are and what we are waiting for.
We are still in these gorgeous islands, swimming, beach combing, and trying to catch some fish, although my fishing luck this year has been terrible. I will keep trying. Tomorrow we leave for Panama City, as our crew member, Anya, is leaving the boat and I will miss her. We had a lot of fun together, and I loved having another woman around. I have learned that having crew changes the dynamic of the boat. It has been interesting.
Two days ago the three of us boarded a friend's boat, and the five of us sailed off to another island for the day. This island has a store on it (albeit with a very limited, expensive selection)and all of us were able to obtain more beer, eggs, and produce. We also got some frozen pork chops! It was great fun to sail on someone else's boat. In fact, I love riding on a boat when I am not responsible for it. Being a passenger is great fun. It is also very interesting and educational to see how different types of boats sail. This particular boat seemed very easy to sail, or maybe it was because our friend is so skilled at handling it. It was a ketch, with a center cockpit. I liked it.
There really isn't anything more to report, news-wise. We are fine and healthy. Lots of our time right now is spent trying to plan for each and every scenario that could arise depending on what happens with the boat. To top that off, we were, even before the damage was discovered, thinking about selling this boat and getting a different one. Things are up in the air, and that is exciting but also stress inducing. It is really hard and uncomfortable for me to have to just sit and wait and let things unfold. I want to come up with a solution NOW!!! But I can't and I just have to deal with that, and not get crabby about it.
Since it is close to my birthday, I always use this time of year to reflect on me and what I want for my life. I know that sounds self centered, and I even sort of cringe when I read it. But it is my life, and while I do not ignore the needs of the other people in my life, I need to know what I want for myself. I do feel that everyone has a basic right to consider their own wants as long as the needs of others are not trampled on. I know I seem to be the sort of person who has no problem standing up for myself, but in truth I am full of hot air and not nearly as together as I present myself. (Of course, there is always a good chance that I am way off base and everyone knows what a wimp I am.) But as I get older, and realize that I have outlived my mom and will have outlived my dad in seven years, it is starting to occur to me that I really only have a certain amount of time left. I do not want to waste it, and part of not wanting to waste it is realizing that I better think about what I want so I do not waste the time I have left thinking no problem, maybe some other time. There is no "some other time". There is only now. So I need to step up and take care of my own needs and wants. Nobody is going to read my mind and drop something into my lap, so to speak.
Anyway, enough of that sort of nonsense. I am here in these beautiful islands and I will enjoy them while I am here. I will also enjoy what Panama City has to offer me, and I do not hate cities like Mike does. To compare the islands and the cities is the height of apples and oranges and I will not do so. I like them both. So on I go.
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Monday, February 23, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Celestial Navigation
I know it is surprising, two posts in such a short time period, but I am trying to get better, so this is a good start.
We are still at anchor in the Perlas Islands, and now there are a total of five boats in our anchorage, and all of them are Canadian. We are calling it Little Canada and there has already been a Prime Minister elected. Alas, since we are not Canadian, the best I think we can hope for here on Magda Jean is refugee status. Anyway, one of the other boats is having a birthday today (Feb 11) so we are having a party on the beach and then drinks and stuff on their boat. It will also be a good time to get acquainted with the boats we have not met yet, as two of them just came in yesterday and I have only talked to them on the radio. I am now doing one day a week as a Net Controller for the Panama Pacific Net, but one day a week is all I will do - I did it alone for several months, and had only one or two other Controllers for many months when we were here before. I love doing it, but not all the time.
The other exciting news is that we (yes, WE, I am actually learning something myself) are learning celestial navigation. We each have our own sextants. I have only just begun to actually use mine, and have to practice it a lot more, just learning how to get the shots lined up before we ever start trying to make real plots. Oops, it is time to try it again, I will be right back!
I am back now, and it only took me two minutes to go up on deck and get the sun in focus and lined up with the horizon. So now I have to get accurate. The math involved is not hard, just basic arithmetic, but the concepts are hard for me to get my head around. It is all geometry, lines and arcs and angles and points and I was never really good at that, but I do finally understand the concept of everything being measured in degrees and minutes, and these degrees can correlate with time and distance and all sorts of things. Luckily, most of the really complicated computations are contained in these almanacs, so you look up your numbers and find what you need to determine where you really are. It seems like (at this early stage) that the almanacs assume certain things, and you have to do the math that makes your numbers translate to the numbers in the almanacs. Something like that. I guess if I can't explain it, I have a lot more work to do.
It is HOT out here, and the humidity is pretty high. At least we have the whole ocean to swim in and cool down. The fishing has been terrible - in fact, I was reduced to buying fish from a local who brought his panga aside with a nice selection. I could not help but notice that most of the fish were reef fish, rather than the migrating ones that we usually catch. The more I fish, and the more I learn about fish, in some ways I don't want to catch them anymore. But I know that would be hypocritical, since I have no plans to stop eating them.
Otherwise, there is really no news to report. We plan to stay out here through the month if we can, but our stores are running low. The locals have plenty of beer and stuff like that, but the tiny village never has produce (other than potatoes and onions if we get there on a good day)or eggs for sale. We did get some papaya and some wonderful limes, but that is all. When mangoes are ready, we will be able to get plenty of those and there are a lot of mango trees on these islands. Mango season is not quite here yet, too bad for us. Oh I forgot - we did get some plantains, and Mike fried up some patacones, which are little plantain rounds. They taste a lot like potatoes when they are green like the ones we have. As they get riper, they get a bit sweeter, but never as sweet as a banana, and you always want to cook them. Anyway, with the stores running low and the fishing pretty bad, we have been reduced to going through what we have and trying to conjure up decent meals out of our meager produce and meat rations and canned stuff. So far it has gone pretty well. Mike made a dish with that colored pasta shaped like corkscrews with canned diced tomatoes, fresh onions and garlic, and spam (of all things). I was highly skeptical to say the least, but it was really quite good. We also found that a can of chopped up spam will flavor split pea or bean soup quite well when there is nothing else available. Who knew?
So anyway, that is it for now, and I am going to go up and take another sun shot, see how it matches with the other ones. I feel like Captain Cook!
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We are still at anchor in the Perlas Islands, and now there are a total of five boats in our anchorage, and all of them are Canadian. We are calling it Little Canada and there has already been a Prime Minister elected. Alas, since we are not Canadian, the best I think we can hope for here on Magda Jean is refugee status. Anyway, one of the other boats is having a birthday today (Feb 11) so we are having a party on the beach and then drinks and stuff on their boat. It will also be a good time to get acquainted with the boats we have not met yet, as two of them just came in yesterday and I have only talked to them on the radio. I am now doing one day a week as a Net Controller for the Panama Pacific Net, but one day a week is all I will do - I did it alone for several months, and had only one or two other Controllers for many months when we were here before. I love doing it, but not all the time.
The other exciting news is that we (yes, WE, I am actually learning something myself) are learning celestial navigation. We each have our own sextants. I have only just begun to actually use mine, and have to practice it a lot more, just learning how to get the shots lined up before we ever start trying to make real plots. Oops, it is time to try it again, I will be right back!
I am back now, and it only took me two minutes to go up on deck and get the sun in focus and lined up with the horizon. So now I have to get accurate. The math involved is not hard, just basic arithmetic, but the concepts are hard for me to get my head around. It is all geometry, lines and arcs and angles and points and I was never really good at that, but I do finally understand the concept of everything being measured in degrees and minutes, and these degrees can correlate with time and distance and all sorts of things. Luckily, most of the really complicated computations are contained in these almanacs, so you look up your numbers and find what you need to determine where you really are. It seems like (at this early stage) that the almanacs assume certain things, and you have to do the math that makes your numbers translate to the numbers in the almanacs. Something like that. I guess if I can't explain it, I have a lot more work to do.
It is HOT out here, and the humidity is pretty high. At least we have the whole ocean to swim in and cool down. The fishing has been terrible - in fact, I was reduced to buying fish from a local who brought his panga aside with a nice selection. I could not help but notice that most of the fish were reef fish, rather than the migrating ones that we usually catch. The more I fish, and the more I learn about fish, in some ways I don't want to catch them anymore. But I know that would be hypocritical, since I have no plans to stop eating them.
Otherwise, there is really no news to report. We plan to stay out here through the month if we can, but our stores are running low. The locals have plenty of beer and stuff like that, but the tiny village never has produce (other than potatoes and onions if we get there on a good day)or eggs for sale. We did get some papaya and some wonderful limes, but that is all. When mangoes are ready, we will be able to get plenty of those and there are a lot of mango trees on these islands. Mango season is not quite here yet, too bad for us. Oh I forgot - we did get some plantains, and Mike fried up some patacones, which are little plantain rounds. They taste a lot like potatoes when they are green like the ones we have. As they get riper, they get a bit sweeter, but never as sweet as a banana, and you always want to cook them. Anyway, with the stores running low and the fishing pretty bad, we have been reduced to going through what we have and trying to conjure up decent meals out of our meager produce and meat rations and canned stuff. So far it has gone pretty well. Mike made a dish with that colored pasta shaped like corkscrews with canned diced tomatoes, fresh onions and garlic, and spam (of all things). I was highly skeptical to say the least, but it was really quite good. We also found that a can of chopped up spam will flavor split pea or bean soup quite well when there is nothing else available. Who knew?
So anyway, that is it for now, and I am going to go up and take another sun shot, see how it matches with the other ones. I feel like Captain Cook!
----------
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Monday, February 9, 2015
Recap
Ok, Ok, I am really sorry that I let this go so long. I really have no excuse other than my normal ones of laziness and some technical issues. But we are well and happy and doing fine. Since I do not have internet access where I am, this is being posted via SSB radio, and that means I can't check to see where I was the last time I wrote. I am pretty sure I reported that we had completed our land trip to Bolivia and Peru, and returned to Ecuador. This all happened in early November.
Anyway, both Bolivia and Peru were amazing beyond belief. Peru gets a lot more visitors (because of Machu Picchu) than Bolivia, so their tourist structure is better. But the Bolivians are wonderful, gracious hosts. When we were in La Paz, we ate lunch at this little place that catered to locals, but the food was cheap and plentiful, so we started going there. Every time we came, the staff all came to welcome us, and other customers would come to our table, introduce themselves, and shake our hands while asking where we were from. And even though our government is not a big fan of the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, (and vice verse) the people are happy to meet Americans and ask questions about us. It was a wonderful experience. Peru was the same way, although to a lesser extent since they are used to tourists. Being in Lima was like being in a cold, cloudy, LA. La Paz is very different, definitely a developing nations type place. (By the way, I have learned that nobody uses the phrase "third world" any more. The proper phrase is "developing nation". And if they are coming out of a big civil war, like poor El Salvador, the proper phrase is "post conflict developing nation.") The smaller towns in Peru were more like Bolivia, with out the sophistication of Lima or the Machu Picchu staging areas.
So anyway, we got back to Ecuador and everything was fine, except we were missing a really nice (and fairly expensive) ratcheting winch handle. We use it to help winch the sails in, and while we do have other handles, this one was the one I preferred. We had left it in the cockpit, so I suppose we should have known better. But that was all, and the work we had contracted to have done was done very well. There were no real problems with the boat that we did not know about before we left, which was good. One of the problems with a boat is that when they sit around for awhile, they tend to have things just stop working for a myriad of reasons. We knew that the alternator was not working properly, and we did not have the fridge working, because we had to replace the evaporator. So Mike got all that done, and did a fine job. We had an engine pro come in and look at the alternator situation (because it kept not working right after a fix) and he figured out what the problem was and fixed it, so we are now in real good shape. And Mike got the evaporator changed and the fridge fixed; so we are happy about that.
We had also made plans for some friends we met while traveling in Bolivia to come and meet us in Ecuador and sail with us back to Panama. But because of that, we were going to have visa trouble - so without going into all the boring details of how visas work in Bolivia, the easiest way to solve the problem was to leave the country for a couple of weeks. We ended up hopping on the bus and going to Colombia for two weeks. This time we headed north out of Ecuador and went through Quito, which is a really interesting mix of old and new. It was one of the first cities in Latin America to be declared a World Heritage Site. Then we ended up spending two weeks in southern Colombia, in a really rural area full of coffee fincas, forests, jungles, rivers, and lots of waterfalls. We fell in love with it and I really thought Mike might buy a coffee finca. It was tempting. We learned how to make maracunya (passion fruit) juice. I have now eaten cuy (guinea pig), goat, llama, alpaca, at least as far as I know. All were really good, with the alpaca being my least favorite although I think what I ate was just not prepared very well (it was really tough and a bit gamey). So now we can hardly wait to get back to Colombia and see more of it. I want to go to Cartagena.
When we got back to Ecuador, our friends showed up, and we all took off for Panama. Our friends (an Australian and a Newfoundlander)
were real troopers and handled the trip well. One of them had sailing experience, for the Newfie, well, it was his first time in a sailboat. This is not a really fun trip or a nice sail. The water tends to be rough and somewhat disorganized, so the boat rolls around a lot. The current is against you coming this direction, as was the wind. Because these guys had to be in Panama by dates certain to get back to their jobs and whatnot, we ended up having to motor a lot rather than try and tack down sailing into the winds. The engine is loud, so it is hard to sleep. But they claimed to enjoy themselves, and asked to return again some time. I reassured the Newfie that this was NOT an example of a fine sail. If the conditions were always like that, no one would ever do it. Another wonderful thing was that our Newfie friend bought us a present - a bottle of Scotch (Macallan or Macallen) that cost SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS. It was not nearly as horrible as other Scotches I have tasted, but Mike appreciated it more than I did. Still, it was impressive. I felt sort of sorry for the bottle - I bet it planned to live out its days in a fine oak cabinet with leaded crystal panes. Now it lives above our stove, living next to a bottle of cheap local rum and a can of Crisco.
After we returned to Panama, we re-provisioned, took care of some chores, and set off for the Perlas Islands, where we spent a number of months in 2013, and a bit of 2014. That is where we are now, and have been out here for over a month. We don't have internet out here. We also have a crew member, a woman from Oklahoma we met in Panama City. She will be with us until we get back to Panama City (in a couple of weeks) and then we have boat stuff to do.
Now the kind of crappy stuff. While we were in Colombia, our boat was broken into and burglarized. They took four computers (two of which were old and did not work well, one that was totally broken, and one really cheap one that did work. Luckily, they left one (A good one) and we had our newest one with us. They also stole a bottle of hot sauce (which made Mike furious). The hatch over the vee berth is broken now. The area was supposed to be patrolled, but there have been a number of break-ins there, and it really seems like the people running the place do not give a shit. It is all really sad. And then - but a bit of background is necessary. This anchorage is in an estuary, and you need a local pilot on board to guide you through the entry, as it is very shallow other than a narrow channel. You also have to go over a surf break. AND it is very important that you go through on the high tide, not before and not after. So our pilot was late, and while he was directing us we ran aground about four times. The pilot looked totally clueless, and really had no idea which way we needed to go to unground ourselves. Mike finally got us going again, and while we sailed on to Panama, we did not notice any problems with navigation or how the boat performed. But when we got to the islands, Mike and I dove under the boat and noticed (to our horror) that about a third of the skeg (a part of the boat that hangs down in front of the rudder to protect it) was torn away. We seem to be sailing okay without it, but it is very important to have. And the fact that it broke right off might indicate some serious problems with overall hull security. It could be like the beginnings of a cracked foundation on a house. So we are hauling the boat out and will have to get a surveyor out to assess the damage. We are going to call our insurer once we get back and find out how they want us to handle it, as the damages might be high. I am hoping they have a local agent (and in Panama that is a real possibility) that can help shepherd us through this. SO keep good thoughts for us that all works out well. We had to have the boat hauled anyway for its yearly bottom painting, so we will have to see. We should know in about a month - that is how long it will take us to decide to leave the islands and head for Panama City (about 45 miles from where we are anchored) and get our haul out scheduled. It is a total bummer, but we will just have to wait and see what happens with it.
That brings us up to date here. I apologise to anyone who was worried about us, but remember that no news is usually good news here.
We have a lot of safety stuff including emergency GPS beacons that can be set off if we are in trouble, and any ship that is close will come and rescue us. We always have people know where we are going and when we can expect to get there, and other cruisers watch out for each other and keep in touch while traveling via the SSB radio. So again, all is well, sailing is great, and the beaches and
warm water cannot be beat! (P.S. As an added safety feature, we are studying celestial navigation.)
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Anyway, both Bolivia and Peru were amazing beyond belief. Peru gets a lot more visitors (because of Machu Picchu) than Bolivia, so their tourist structure is better. But the Bolivians are wonderful, gracious hosts. When we were in La Paz, we ate lunch at this little place that catered to locals, but the food was cheap and plentiful, so we started going there. Every time we came, the staff all came to welcome us, and other customers would come to our table, introduce themselves, and shake our hands while asking where we were from. And even though our government is not a big fan of the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, (and vice verse) the people are happy to meet Americans and ask questions about us. It was a wonderful experience. Peru was the same way, although to a lesser extent since they are used to tourists. Being in Lima was like being in a cold, cloudy, LA. La Paz is very different, definitely a developing nations type place. (By the way, I have learned that nobody uses the phrase "third world" any more. The proper phrase is "developing nation". And if they are coming out of a big civil war, like poor El Salvador, the proper phrase is "post conflict developing nation.") The smaller towns in Peru were more like Bolivia, with out the sophistication of Lima or the Machu Picchu staging areas.
So anyway, we got back to Ecuador and everything was fine, except we were missing a really nice (and fairly expensive) ratcheting winch handle. We use it to help winch the sails in, and while we do have other handles, this one was the one I preferred. We had left it in the cockpit, so I suppose we should have known better. But that was all, and the work we had contracted to have done was done very well. There were no real problems with the boat that we did not know about before we left, which was good. One of the problems with a boat is that when they sit around for awhile, they tend to have things just stop working for a myriad of reasons. We knew that the alternator was not working properly, and we did not have the fridge working, because we had to replace the evaporator. So Mike got all that done, and did a fine job. We had an engine pro come in and look at the alternator situation (because it kept not working right after a fix) and he figured out what the problem was and fixed it, so we are now in real good shape. And Mike got the evaporator changed and the fridge fixed; so we are happy about that.
We had also made plans for some friends we met while traveling in Bolivia to come and meet us in Ecuador and sail with us back to Panama. But because of that, we were going to have visa trouble - so without going into all the boring details of how visas work in Bolivia, the easiest way to solve the problem was to leave the country for a couple of weeks. We ended up hopping on the bus and going to Colombia for two weeks. This time we headed north out of Ecuador and went through Quito, which is a really interesting mix of old and new. It was one of the first cities in Latin America to be declared a World Heritage Site. Then we ended up spending two weeks in southern Colombia, in a really rural area full of coffee fincas, forests, jungles, rivers, and lots of waterfalls. We fell in love with it and I really thought Mike might buy a coffee finca. It was tempting. We learned how to make maracunya (passion fruit) juice. I have now eaten cuy (guinea pig), goat, llama, alpaca, at least as far as I know. All were really good, with the alpaca being my least favorite although I think what I ate was just not prepared very well (it was really tough and a bit gamey). So now we can hardly wait to get back to Colombia and see more of it. I want to go to Cartagena.
When we got back to Ecuador, our friends showed up, and we all took off for Panama. Our friends (an Australian and a Newfoundlander)
were real troopers and handled the trip well. One of them had sailing experience, for the Newfie, well, it was his first time in a sailboat. This is not a really fun trip or a nice sail. The water tends to be rough and somewhat disorganized, so the boat rolls around a lot. The current is against you coming this direction, as was the wind. Because these guys had to be in Panama by dates certain to get back to their jobs and whatnot, we ended up having to motor a lot rather than try and tack down sailing into the winds. The engine is loud, so it is hard to sleep. But they claimed to enjoy themselves, and asked to return again some time. I reassured the Newfie that this was NOT an example of a fine sail. If the conditions were always like that, no one would ever do it. Another wonderful thing was that our Newfie friend bought us a present - a bottle of Scotch (Macallan or Macallen) that cost SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS. It was not nearly as horrible as other Scotches I have tasted, but Mike appreciated it more than I did. Still, it was impressive. I felt sort of sorry for the bottle - I bet it planned to live out its days in a fine oak cabinet with leaded crystal panes. Now it lives above our stove, living next to a bottle of cheap local rum and a can of Crisco.
After we returned to Panama, we re-provisioned, took care of some chores, and set off for the Perlas Islands, where we spent a number of months in 2013, and a bit of 2014. That is where we are now, and have been out here for over a month. We don't have internet out here. We also have a crew member, a woman from Oklahoma we met in Panama City. She will be with us until we get back to Panama City (in a couple of weeks) and then we have boat stuff to do.
Now the kind of crappy stuff. While we were in Colombia, our boat was broken into and burglarized. They took four computers (two of which were old and did not work well, one that was totally broken, and one really cheap one that did work. Luckily, they left one (A good one) and we had our newest one with us. They also stole a bottle of hot sauce (which made Mike furious). The hatch over the vee berth is broken now. The area was supposed to be patrolled, but there have been a number of break-ins there, and it really seems like the people running the place do not give a shit. It is all really sad. And then - but a bit of background is necessary. This anchorage is in an estuary, and you need a local pilot on board to guide you through the entry, as it is very shallow other than a narrow channel. You also have to go over a surf break. AND it is very important that you go through on the high tide, not before and not after. So our pilot was late, and while he was directing us we ran aground about four times. The pilot looked totally clueless, and really had no idea which way we needed to go to unground ourselves. Mike finally got us going again, and while we sailed on to Panama, we did not notice any problems with navigation or how the boat performed. But when we got to the islands, Mike and I dove under the boat and noticed (to our horror) that about a third of the skeg (a part of the boat that hangs down in front of the rudder to protect it) was torn away. We seem to be sailing okay without it, but it is very important to have. And the fact that it broke right off might indicate some serious problems with overall hull security. It could be like the beginnings of a cracked foundation on a house. So we are hauling the boat out and will have to get a surveyor out to assess the damage. We are going to call our insurer once we get back and find out how they want us to handle it, as the damages might be high. I am hoping they have a local agent (and in Panama that is a real possibility) that can help shepherd us through this. SO keep good thoughts for us that all works out well. We had to have the boat hauled anyway for its yearly bottom painting, so we will have to see. We should know in about a month - that is how long it will take us to decide to leave the islands and head for Panama City (about 45 miles from where we are anchored) and get our haul out scheduled. It is a total bummer, but we will just have to wait and see what happens with it.
That brings us up to date here. I apologise to anyone who was worried about us, but remember that no news is usually good news here.
We have a lot of safety stuff including emergency GPS beacons that can be set off if we are in trouble, and any ship that is close will come and rescue us. We always have people know where we are going and when we can expect to get there, and other cruisers watch out for each other and keep in touch while traveling via the SSB radio. So again, all is well, sailing is great, and the beaches and
warm water cannot be beat! (P.S. As an added safety feature, we are studying celestial navigation.)
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
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