One of the interesting things about being in Panama is that it really is the crossroads of the world, as I have probably said before as I know I tend to be repetitive. The only common language is that which belongs to neither of us. When I meet a French boat, they often speak little to no English and I speak no French. But we both speak Spanish. We have met boats from all over, and the only one I did not like was a Russian who was one of the rudest people I have ever met in my entire life.
It has been really windy here at Isla Espiritu Santo for the past couple of days now, and yesterday saw rough seas as well. Today is still really windy - after watching a panga struggle against the wind and the still active seas, we decided not to go fishing today. Yesterday our friends (who arrived in the anchorage a couple of days ago), treated us to a complete American/Canadian turkey dinner with all the trimmings, as they say. (Who are they anyway and why do we keep repeating the things they say?) There was even apple pie! I ate so much I was almost sick. And then today they gave us half the turkey carcass and I made some wonderful soup. I do think Mike and I have become really good soup makers. Mike has been perfecting different bean soups, which suits me just fine because I love bean soup. Anyway, these people have become great friends, and we will miss them when we head off to Ecuador. They are braving the lightning and staying here for the rainy season. They were in Ecuador this past season, and from everything they tell me, I am going to love it. It is not hot like here, though, so I may have to buy some jeans when I come back to the states. All the women down here tend to wear those skin tight leggings like jeans, and heaven knows that would not be a good idea for me. We might actually have to use a blanket at night - or at least a cover sheet.
We just found out that some friends of ours that we met in El Salvador are selling their boat and moving to land. They plan to live somewhere down here, I am not sure where, and do volunteer work. I feel kind of bad about it, but also kind of not, since I know things were difficult for the woman. It was not her milieu, the boat was small and did not have refrigeration and some of the electronics that we have that make things easier for us. And she also never got over being seasick often. That is not any fun, and I do know others that have had to give up the sailing life because of seasickness that does not respond to the various medications. Many people are sick at times, myself included, but only under unusual conditions, and it does respond to medications. I have some from Mexico that is amazing. So if there is anyone out there who wants to come and see us but is worried about seasickness, worry no more, that medication will fix you up just fine. So I will miss these people, but where ever they are going to be living, I hope I can visit them. That is one thing about this life - just when you get to know someone and really start to like them, one of you leaves for somewhere else. But there is also the thrill of running into old friends in new, strange places. That is the good part.
I have been reading the Lonely Planet guide for Ecuador, and am more excited than ever to go there. It seems like we could spend years there and not see everything. There are so many things about South America that fill me with excitement, and I feel like I used to feel when my dad took me to the fair as a kid. I looked forward to it all summer and I was never disappointed.
Ok, I am starting to ramble on, like it's the first time that ever happened, ha ha ha. Mike has gone to bed, and I am going to read for awhile before I join him. The moon is waning hard, and it is a really really dark, windy night. I love it like this.
"Time is what we want most, but what we use worst." (William Penn)
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Friday, March 21, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
And Yet More Fish Tales
The fish gods have not been kind to us since we got back here. Although we finally had a fish dinner, it was not without great difficulty. Day 1: No fish. Just a couple of bites, but each time the fish threw the hook. Day 2: More promising bites, and two fish caught. Unfortunately, they had to be thrown back as they were too small. Day 3: Just bites, and one that took a lot of line out before it threw the hook (almost hitting Mike in the face). By this time, we are getting very unhappy. I can't figure out why I am not catching anything. I am feeling as though I have lost my touch. I am using a new rod, and it is stiffer than my old one, but that doesn't explain it. By the way, during this whole time we are switching up lures, all sorts of things. So Day 4: Finally I catch a nice grouper. It will make a delicious pan fish for the two of us. We will gut it (of course) and cut only the head and tail off (so it will fit in the pan) but otherwise cook it whole, Salvadoran style. So back to the boat we go, and Mike decides to clean it in the dinghy, since it has to be scaled and the scales fly around all over the plan and make a mess on the deck. He cleans the fish, and then - here is where it gets sad - when he leans down to swish the fish in the water to do a final rinse, he drops it!!!! I would have dove in after it except I knew it would sink faster than I could dive. We fished some more that day, but of course nothing. Anyway, Day 5: I catch a nice large sierra. As I am reeling it in and getting it into the boat, Mike knocks it off the hook and again, it is gone! We keep fishing, and finally I catch another sierra, about a third of the size of the first one, but we get it into the boat safely, Mike cleans it safely, and I cooked it and we ate it. I hope the curse is broken.
Today we made water for the first time in a couple of weeks. We filled both tanks, and I did two loads of laundry. I have two more to go. Since I do it in a five gallon bucket, the loads are small. (By the way, I only do laundry like this when we are out in the middle of nowhere. In port, I have it done or find a Laundromat. I prefer the former, naturally.) Sheets take two loads - a sheet and pillowcase in each load. They dry fast, though. Now that the humidity is down, the laundry dries in a couple of hours.
It has been wonderful here. We still have the place to ourselves, and since the last post, there have only been pangas coming through. Last night we were sleeping and I woke up about midnight, because I thought I heard a voice calling out. Mike woke up too, and when he looked outside, there was a panga out there. The guys were out of gas, so Mike gave them a gallon, and they went on their way. That is far from being the first time we have helped these guys out with gas, but it IS the first time it happened in the middle of the night. We sometimes have them stop and ask for water, too. When it is really dark and the moon is all gone, the fish have been putting on a real fancy show with all the bio-lum. It is amazing, like a fireworks show in the water. The water is filled with flashes of light that appear and disappear all around the boat. I love watching it, and never get tired of it. When a school of hundreds of tiny little fish all suddenly group together and jump out of the water and then back in and scatter, it is truly a sight to behold and I wish I had better words to describe it. We also saw a new kind of fish today - we saw four of them, ranging from one half inch to about two inches. I saw the first one and thought it was a leaf floating on the water until all of a sudden it darted (no other word for it, "swam very fast" does not describe it at all) about a foot through the water and then stopped. Now leaves float along, but they do not dart. So I watched it for awhile, and realized it was a fish. It could spread its dorsal fins and its tail until it looked like a butterfly in the water. When it was furled up, it looked like a leaf. It seemed to be eating plankton or some such stuff in the water. The water was not super clear at that point - we have currents that run through that bring debris with them, stuff that has come out of the rivers and creeks in these islands. The fish came with that, but this is the first time I have ever seen them. If one is really careful out here, it is probably possible to see something new almost every day.
Well, that is enough for now. We are just hanging out, enjoying being. That's it.
"In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them." (Aldo Leopold)
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Today we made water for the first time in a couple of weeks. We filled both tanks, and I did two loads of laundry. I have two more to go. Since I do it in a five gallon bucket, the loads are small. (By the way, I only do laundry like this when we are out in the middle of nowhere. In port, I have it done or find a Laundromat. I prefer the former, naturally.) Sheets take two loads - a sheet and pillowcase in each load. They dry fast, though. Now that the humidity is down, the laundry dries in a couple of hours.
It has been wonderful here. We still have the place to ourselves, and since the last post, there have only been pangas coming through. Last night we were sleeping and I woke up about midnight, because I thought I heard a voice calling out. Mike woke up too, and when he looked outside, there was a panga out there. The guys were out of gas, so Mike gave them a gallon, and they went on their way. That is far from being the first time we have helped these guys out with gas, but it IS the first time it happened in the middle of the night. We sometimes have them stop and ask for water, too. When it is really dark and the moon is all gone, the fish have been putting on a real fancy show with all the bio-lum. It is amazing, like a fireworks show in the water. The water is filled with flashes of light that appear and disappear all around the boat. I love watching it, and never get tired of it. When a school of hundreds of tiny little fish all suddenly group together and jump out of the water and then back in and scatter, it is truly a sight to behold and I wish I had better words to describe it. We also saw a new kind of fish today - we saw four of them, ranging from one half inch to about two inches. I saw the first one and thought it was a leaf floating on the water until all of a sudden it darted (no other word for it, "swam very fast" does not describe it at all) about a foot through the water and then stopped. Now leaves float along, but they do not dart. So I watched it for awhile, and realized it was a fish. It could spread its dorsal fins and its tail until it looked like a butterfly in the water. When it was furled up, it looked like a leaf. It seemed to be eating plankton or some such stuff in the water. The water was not super clear at that point - we have currents that run through that bring debris with them, stuff that has come out of the rivers and creeks in these islands. The fish came with that, but this is the first time I have ever seen them. If one is really careful out here, it is probably possible to see something new almost every day.
Well, that is enough for now. We are just hanging out, enjoying being. That's it.
"In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them." (Aldo Leopold)
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Saturday, March 8, 2014
In the Moment
In the last post, I didn't talk much about the trips between Panama City and Isla Contadora, and then Isla Contadora and Isla Espiritu Santo. Both of those trips were incredible sails, making me remember what it is like to really SAIL. Most of the summer when we were here (and I use the term "summer" to indicate which months we were here. Technically, there are only two seasons here - dry and rainy. The dry is Dec to May, and rainy is May through Nov. The rainy season is considered winter here, and the dry season is considered summer.) We had to motor between the islands because of either no wind or more likely, light winds from the wrong direction. And because of all the detritus in the water due to emptying rivers, there are lots of big logs floating around so we won't sail through here at night. But these days, since with the change of seasons there has been a change in general wind direction, we can sail. The first trip we hustled along at 5-6 knots on average, and it was fabulous to sit there on the bow and feel the wind and see the water disappearing under the bow. There is no noise from the engine, and because there is no heat coming from it, it is cooler downstairs. The heel was not too bad - and I am used to that now, pretty much anyway.
When we sailed from Contadora to Espiritu Santo we went slower, because we wanted to trail a fishing line. So we tried to keep the speed under 4 knots, which is a perfect trolling speed for a rod(we got skunked. The boat was almost perfectly balanced, it was a beautiful day, and I even took a nap right there in the cockpit. Again, I was reminded why I wanted to do my world travel by sea, at least as much as I can. It was a feeling like no other - the boat moving along propelled only by nature, and the absolute sensual delight (no other word for it) of the sun and wind on your skin, the sound of the wind in your ears, the sea birds circling, wheeling, sometimes diving hard. (Side note: We have to keep an eye on our fishing lure because if it is close enough to the surface, the boobies will dive for it and if they get caught, it is hard to free then without at least one of you getting hurt.) Oh there is nothing like this feeling - you feel as if it will go on forever, and at the same time, like there is really nothing you can't handle, nothing that you can't figure out a way to accomplish. It's like taking a bath in every good feeling you ever had, all at once, but in a calm way. I am so glad I have experienced this.
We have this anchorage completely to ourselves, at least we have had for the past couple of days. No one except the occasional panga stopping ashore to get water from the fresh water stream that empties across from where Magda Jean is anchored. We also see the panga with the guys who hunt iguana with dogs. Two guys and their dogs are dropped off and then picked up at the end of the day. Sometimes they have iguanas and sometimes they don't. I have never tried it - they eat it in El Salvador but it is not the sort of thing you find on a menu. I guess I would try it if I had a chance, depending on how it was prepared. Funny, I am like a four year old about food - I won't touch cheese or sour cream, don't like mushrooms, and so on, but I will happily try this strange stuff. I never claimed to be consistent. Anyway, at the risk of TMI, when you have an anchorage to yourself, you don't have to get dressed, even in your bathing suit. There are only two things send us in search of sartorial splendor is the sound of an approaching panga or the fear of sunburn. The only tan line I will have left is where my ankle bracelet is! HA HA HA!!!
I shall leave you all with that visual. The Las Perlas Islands are heaven on earth. The proof is in us risking lightning strikes to spend more time here.
"Out truest life si when we are in dreams awake." (Henry David Thoreau)
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When we sailed from Contadora to Espiritu Santo we went slower, because we wanted to trail a fishing line. So we tried to keep the speed under 4 knots, which is a perfect trolling speed for a rod(we got skunked. The boat was almost perfectly balanced, it was a beautiful day, and I even took a nap right there in the cockpit. Again, I was reminded why I wanted to do my world travel by sea, at least as much as I can. It was a feeling like no other - the boat moving along propelled only by nature, and the absolute sensual delight (no other word for it) of the sun and wind on your skin, the sound of the wind in your ears, the sea birds circling, wheeling, sometimes diving hard. (Side note: We have to keep an eye on our fishing lure because if it is close enough to the surface, the boobies will dive for it and if they get caught, it is hard to free then without at least one of you getting hurt.) Oh there is nothing like this feeling - you feel as if it will go on forever, and at the same time, like there is really nothing you can't handle, nothing that you can't figure out a way to accomplish. It's like taking a bath in every good feeling you ever had, all at once, but in a calm way. I am so glad I have experienced this.
We have this anchorage completely to ourselves, at least we have had for the past couple of days. No one except the occasional panga stopping ashore to get water from the fresh water stream that empties across from where Magda Jean is anchored. We also see the panga with the guys who hunt iguana with dogs. Two guys and their dogs are dropped off and then picked up at the end of the day. Sometimes they have iguanas and sometimes they don't. I have never tried it - they eat it in El Salvador but it is not the sort of thing you find on a menu. I guess I would try it if I had a chance, depending on how it was prepared. Funny, I am like a four year old about food - I won't touch cheese or sour cream, don't like mushrooms, and so on, but I will happily try this strange stuff. I never claimed to be consistent. Anyway, at the risk of TMI, when you have an anchorage to yourself, you don't have to get dressed, even in your bathing suit. There are only two things send us in search of sartorial splendor is the sound of an approaching panga or the fear of sunburn. The only tan line I will have left is where my ankle bracelet is! HA HA HA!!!
I shall leave you all with that visual. The Las Perlas Islands are heaven on earth. The proof is in us risking lightning strikes to spend more time here.
"Out truest life si when we are in dreams awake." (Henry David Thoreau)
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Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Not Dead, Just Lazy
I have been in Panama City for about two months now, and am now back in the islands. Actually, I just checked the ships log, and apparently I arrived in Panama City this time on Jan 20. So. Here I am.
I just got lazy while we were sitting in PC and didn't write anything. No excuse at all, just lazy. I am sorry if anyone worried about me. We are fine and happy.
While in PC, we got a new alternator and two new fiberglass propane tanks. The old tanks were made of steel or aluminum, and we simply couldn't keep the salt water out of the container, and they rusted on the bottom. This will not happen with the new ones. We bought the new ones right after we filled the old ones, so at this point we have a ton of propane on board. I can bake my heart out if I want to - and it is a good time of year because it is not so god awful hot and humid. And when it does get real hot, at least it is pretty dry. On some days, I can wash my hair and it is dry in 20 minutes. Usually it is still damp the next day. Speaking of hair, mine is down to my waist now. I suppose that is pretty stupid. I can't even really manage it - just braid it or roll it up on top of my head. Yet I cannot bring myself to cut it. Having a short haircut is out of the question - my hair grows so fast I would have to get it cut again every six weeks at an absolute minimum, or it will be falling in my eyes and I can't stand it. So I leave it long enough to pull back or put it up. But this is sort of ridiculous. I don't think it even looks that good this long. And I know I am way too old for this. I just can't do it yet. I can't.
The alternator. After the other one stopped working, Mike out in an old one, and we got to PC and had the original one rebuilt. Mike then put it in. We ordered a new one, and when it came, Mike took out the rebuild and put the new one in. So now we have a brand new one and a good rebuild. When we started sailing this trip, we noticed that all of a sudden the engine was revving and slowing on its own, which is never a good sign. In addition, the display indicating the exchange of power was also going haywire, jumping from one number or another. Mike went into the engine room, and immediately discovered it was a wire that had come loose. So I took the helm while he crawled into the engine room with a soldering iron and fixed it. So we were back underway and everything was fine.
Panama City, and Panama in general, is a really interesting place. It is literally the cross road of the world, because almost everything comes through the canal. We could just sit at anchor and watch the huge ships coming in and out, leaving huge bow waves that make every boat in the anchorage rock up and down, back and forth, sometimes strong enough to knock things over. Everyone has a story. There are a lot of people who wandered down from Canada and the US, just wandering south until they come here. Then they stay. Did you know it is impossible to drive from Panama down into South America? It is true, there are no roads at all through the jungle. You have to fly or take a boat. There are cruisers who earn money ferrying backpackers to Colombia and Ecuador. Or people hang around the yacht clubs looking to be taken on as crew to South America. I was flabbergasted to discover there are no roads. I guess the jungle is too thick and swampy to make a road through. And then there are always problems at the Panama-Colombia border, and Panama is always worried about Colombians sneaking in and causing trouble.
My birthday was last month, and for a celebration, we got off the boat and spent two days in a hotel. Unlimited hot water! Shower as long as you want to! Unlimited TV! A huge bed where we can both spread out! No rocking (actually, I missed that part). But it was a lot of fun. We stayed in the old part of Panama City, and our hotel is in an old colonial building that has been restored. They are restoring as many of the old buildings as they can. This part of the city looks out over the ruins that are all that is left of the original Panama City, before it was sacked and burned by the pirate Henry Morgan.
We did some great eating while we were there. On the first night, we wandered around drinking beer in a micro brewery, and of course by the time we got to the restaurant, we had too much to drink and needed to eat. Unfortunately the hostess told us there would be a forty five minute wait for a table, and we were welcome to wait in the bar. Now I knew this was a bad idea. While forty five minutes is not that long, it means we would have even more to drink and by the time we were served, we wouldn't be able to even taste our food. So we moved on. At the next place, the hostess started to tell me which parts of the restaurant were full, like the outside tables. I told her (in Spanish) that we did not care where we sat, and we were really hungry. So she looks around and then takes us (ahead of others it seemed) to a really nice inside table. IT was when we sat down and took the menus in hand that we realized the problem, and it was a bad one. Neither of us had brought reading glasses. We could not read the menu to save our lives. It was in small, stylized printing, in tan ink on ecru paper. And it was dark. So I told the waitress the problem, and asked her to please read the menu to us. Mike then declared he wanted a steak. So I told her this, and she said, well, we do have a chateaubriand. I knew that was beef so I said "Bring two!" It seemed easier to do it that way, because I could imagine myself saying "Go back to the pork. What was on it again? And lets hear about the chicken again, does it have cheese on it?" I did not think that was a good idea, especially since all these conversations have to be conducted in Spanish. However, when we got our chateaubriand, it was probably the best steak I have ever had in my life. Better than the Kobe beef in Asia, maybe even better than what we had in Nebraska. It was incredible. And I bet if we had not forgotten our glasses, we wouldn't have ordered it. I have seen it on the menu lots of times and never had it before. Unbelievable. And the next day we had a big lunch at another place - I had a sort of mixed fried rice that again was to die for, and so by dinner time we were not starving, but wanted to eat. So we went to a place that specialized in tapas, and ordered about four different dishes and they were all wonderful. I ate well on my birthday weekend and was very satisfied. We do not give each other presents on Christmas and our birthdays - for a long time now if we want something, we buy it or determine we either do not really want it or can't afford it. So there is rarely anything out there I am coveting. I don't need a nice wardrobe anymore, nor do I need anymore jewelry that I don't wear. I am really looking forward to visiting the US this May and June - since I am going to a wedding, I will be dressing up really nicely. I may even get someone to make me a fancy hairdo for the day.
What else is new here? We are back in the islands, and plan to stay out here until the end of March, at which time we will return to Panama City to pick up some electrical things we have on order, reprovision yet again, check out of the country, and head for Ecuador in early April. Our visas and cruising permit expire in early April, and I do not want to be an illegal alien again. So this time we really are leaving. There are a number of boats that we know who will be there at the same time, and several of them are interested in continuing on to Chile. I am interested as well, so we will be exploring that possibility as well. I have wanted to go to Chile as long as I can remember. I saw it on a map as a little kid, and it looked so cool, long and skinny, all coast line. When I was in third or fourth grade, my parents gave me a globe for Christmas. I used to just look at it and think about all the places I was going to go as soon as I got old enough. I knew from a very young age that Eau Claire was not the place for me. IN fact, I had no fears or worries at all when my mom told us we were moving to California. California! Even the name sounded good to me. I thought, here is a place where I can live and be whatever I want to, and people will no longer remind me that I used to eat paste in kindergarten (I still remember eating it, it was sort of sweet). I could re-invent myself if plans for a new me fell through. Then later I realized that I wanted to travel, to just keep moving. So now I am doing that, and it is going on four years now with no end in sight. Every now and then we talk about getting a new boat, but I am convinced that is just talk. Magda Jean is going to take us where ever we need to go.
Anyway, I have rambled on long enough, babbling about nonsense. I have to remember this is a blog, not a diary. Yet being me, I am sure I will continue to blur that line, and spill my guts all over the page.
"It is better to travel well than to arrive." (Buddha)
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I just got lazy while we were sitting in PC and didn't write anything. No excuse at all, just lazy. I am sorry if anyone worried about me. We are fine and happy.
While in PC, we got a new alternator and two new fiberglass propane tanks. The old tanks were made of steel or aluminum, and we simply couldn't keep the salt water out of the container, and they rusted on the bottom. This will not happen with the new ones. We bought the new ones right after we filled the old ones, so at this point we have a ton of propane on board. I can bake my heart out if I want to - and it is a good time of year because it is not so god awful hot and humid. And when it does get real hot, at least it is pretty dry. On some days, I can wash my hair and it is dry in 20 minutes. Usually it is still damp the next day. Speaking of hair, mine is down to my waist now. I suppose that is pretty stupid. I can't even really manage it - just braid it or roll it up on top of my head. Yet I cannot bring myself to cut it. Having a short haircut is out of the question - my hair grows so fast I would have to get it cut again every six weeks at an absolute minimum, or it will be falling in my eyes and I can't stand it. So I leave it long enough to pull back or put it up. But this is sort of ridiculous. I don't think it even looks that good this long. And I know I am way too old for this. I just can't do it yet. I can't.
The alternator. After the other one stopped working, Mike out in an old one, and we got to PC and had the original one rebuilt. Mike then put it in. We ordered a new one, and when it came, Mike took out the rebuild and put the new one in. So now we have a brand new one and a good rebuild. When we started sailing this trip, we noticed that all of a sudden the engine was revving and slowing on its own, which is never a good sign. In addition, the display indicating the exchange of power was also going haywire, jumping from one number or another. Mike went into the engine room, and immediately discovered it was a wire that had come loose. So I took the helm while he crawled into the engine room with a soldering iron and fixed it. So we were back underway and everything was fine.
Panama City, and Panama in general, is a really interesting place. It is literally the cross road of the world, because almost everything comes through the canal. We could just sit at anchor and watch the huge ships coming in and out, leaving huge bow waves that make every boat in the anchorage rock up and down, back and forth, sometimes strong enough to knock things over. Everyone has a story. There are a lot of people who wandered down from Canada and the US, just wandering south until they come here. Then they stay. Did you know it is impossible to drive from Panama down into South America? It is true, there are no roads at all through the jungle. You have to fly or take a boat. There are cruisers who earn money ferrying backpackers to Colombia and Ecuador. Or people hang around the yacht clubs looking to be taken on as crew to South America. I was flabbergasted to discover there are no roads. I guess the jungle is too thick and swampy to make a road through. And then there are always problems at the Panama-Colombia border, and Panama is always worried about Colombians sneaking in and causing trouble.
My birthday was last month, and for a celebration, we got off the boat and spent two days in a hotel. Unlimited hot water! Shower as long as you want to! Unlimited TV! A huge bed where we can both spread out! No rocking (actually, I missed that part). But it was a lot of fun. We stayed in the old part of Panama City, and our hotel is in an old colonial building that has been restored. They are restoring as many of the old buildings as they can. This part of the city looks out over the ruins that are all that is left of the original Panama City, before it was sacked and burned by the pirate Henry Morgan.
We did some great eating while we were there. On the first night, we wandered around drinking beer in a micro brewery, and of course by the time we got to the restaurant, we had too much to drink and needed to eat. Unfortunately the hostess told us there would be a forty five minute wait for a table, and we were welcome to wait in the bar. Now I knew this was a bad idea. While forty five minutes is not that long, it means we would have even more to drink and by the time we were served, we wouldn't be able to even taste our food. So we moved on. At the next place, the hostess started to tell me which parts of the restaurant were full, like the outside tables. I told her (in Spanish) that we did not care where we sat, and we were really hungry. So she looks around and then takes us (ahead of others it seemed) to a really nice inside table. IT was when we sat down and took the menus in hand that we realized the problem, and it was a bad one. Neither of us had brought reading glasses. We could not read the menu to save our lives. It was in small, stylized printing, in tan ink on ecru paper. And it was dark. So I told the waitress the problem, and asked her to please read the menu to us. Mike then declared he wanted a steak. So I told her this, and she said, well, we do have a chateaubriand. I knew that was beef so I said "Bring two!" It seemed easier to do it that way, because I could imagine myself saying "Go back to the pork. What was on it again? And lets hear about the chicken again, does it have cheese on it?" I did not think that was a good idea, especially since all these conversations have to be conducted in Spanish. However, when we got our chateaubriand, it was probably the best steak I have ever had in my life. Better than the Kobe beef in Asia, maybe even better than what we had in Nebraska. It was incredible. And I bet if we had not forgotten our glasses, we wouldn't have ordered it. I have seen it on the menu lots of times and never had it before. Unbelievable. And the next day we had a big lunch at another place - I had a sort of mixed fried rice that again was to die for, and so by dinner time we were not starving, but wanted to eat. So we went to a place that specialized in tapas, and ordered about four different dishes and they were all wonderful. I ate well on my birthday weekend and was very satisfied. We do not give each other presents on Christmas and our birthdays - for a long time now if we want something, we buy it or determine we either do not really want it or can't afford it. So there is rarely anything out there I am coveting. I don't need a nice wardrobe anymore, nor do I need anymore jewelry that I don't wear. I am really looking forward to visiting the US this May and June - since I am going to a wedding, I will be dressing up really nicely. I may even get someone to make me a fancy hairdo for the day.
What else is new here? We are back in the islands, and plan to stay out here until the end of March, at which time we will return to Panama City to pick up some electrical things we have on order, reprovision yet again, check out of the country, and head for Ecuador in early April. Our visas and cruising permit expire in early April, and I do not want to be an illegal alien again. So this time we really are leaving. There are a number of boats that we know who will be there at the same time, and several of them are interested in continuing on to Chile. I am interested as well, so we will be exploring that possibility as well. I have wanted to go to Chile as long as I can remember. I saw it on a map as a little kid, and it looked so cool, long and skinny, all coast line. When I was in third or fourth grade, my parents gave me a globe for Christmas. I used to just look at it and think about all the places I was going to go as soon as I got old enough. I knew from a very young age that Eau Claire was not the place for me. IN fact, I had no fears or worries at all when my mom told us we were moving to California. California! Even the name sounded good to me. I thought, here is a place where I can live and be whatever I want to, and people will no longer remind me that I used to eat paste in kindergarten (I still remember eating it, it was sort of sweet). I could re-invent myself if plans for a new me fell through. Then later I realized that I wanted to travel, to just keep moving. So now I am doing that, and it is going on four years now with no end in sight. Every now and then we talk about getting a new boat, but I am convinced that is just talk. Magda Jean is going to take us where ever we need to go.
Anyway, I have rambled on long enough, babbling about nonsense. I have to remember this is a blog, not a diary. Yet being me, I am sure I will continue to blur that line, and spill my guts all over the page.
"It is better to travel well than to arrive." (Buddha)
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Saturday, January 18, 2014
Isla Chapera
We left Isla Espiritu Santo day before yesterday and sailed here to Chapera - which is right across from Isla Mogo Mogo. We have been here before, and often stay here on our way to and from Panama City. It is close to the city, which means that since it is a weekend, there are a lot of local boats out here having fun over the weekend. Lots of small sport fishing boats, nice motor yachts, and the like. They are all loaded with water toys like jet skis and that sort of thing. It is a lot of fun to watch other people having fun, in fact, it is almost as much fun as doing it oneself. I love to see people when they are having a great time. It makes me feel good.
We sailed all the way here - the winds were certainly strong enough, but not too strong. Of course they were going sort of the wrong direction, so we had to "beat" our way there. A "beat" is when you are sailing to windward and the waves and/or the current is going the wrong way as well. It is not impossible, and our boat does a great job sailing to wind, but it is never really comfortable. I thought we did a good job, and I will never fail to be amazed at sailing itself - the way a boat weighing over a ton or more can be moved only by the wind, with no motor or anything like that. We were doing up to almost seven knots at times, which is almost our hull speed. (Hull speed is the speed at which a boat reaches it's top potential speed. It is determined by a calculation I do not understand, but which considers the hull length as part of the equation.) It was a lot of fun. When we got here, we were granted the most amazing sunset ever - I have seen plenty with more dramatic colors, but this was a huge coral colored sun ball, just hovering above the horizon, then dropping down.
Last night we had dinner on our friends' boat, and then spent the evening telling stories and getting to know each other better. One of the beat parts of living like this has been the people we have met along the way. Everyone has a story, and each story is different. It seems like most of us who make the decision to live like this have spent a lot of time thinking and acting outside the box for most of their lives. (For the record, I hate the phrases "thinking outside the box" and "coloring outside the lines." They do, however, illustrate what I mean and I can't think of anything better right now.)
Right now I am experiencing the down side of the weekenders - they drive their dinghies and jet skis at breakneck speeds through the anchorage and cause all the anchored boats to roll around. It has taken me three times as long as it should to type this sentence, as I keep making typos as I rock around all over the seat here at the nav station.
I am reading a really really good, but heartbreaking book. It is called "Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital" by Shari Fink. It is about the problems at a New Orleans hospital during and after Hurricane Katrina. I hope I am never in a situation like that one, that is all I can say. It is so easy to sit back after something like that and Monday morning quarterback the whole thing. I don't know what kinds of decisions I would have made. It seems like (at this point in the book) that the people who ended up in trouble were the only ones who were willing to hang on and try to deal with things while others ran away for their own safety, and the big bosses (who of course are never on site when everything goes to hell, and in the Tom Clancy novels they are referred to as "REMFS", which stands for "rear echelon motherfuckers." It fits quite well, I think.) did nothing except to dodge the issue when things were acute, and then blamed the foot soldiers for everything that went wrong. I have cried just reading sections out loud to Mike, and I remember being so sad when it all happened, watching all that Katrina coverage on CNN, and just thinking that it seemed as though I was living in a third world country that could not take care of itself. I don't ever remember feeling as bad as that over something that didn't really touch me, it to me was sadder and harder to deal with than was 9-11. Anyway, I highly recommend the book. You will not be able to put it down, and it will change you in some way.
OK, enough. I am still happily living in paradise here in Panama, with clear water, lots of great fish, birds, bugs, and fish eating bats that fly around the boat at night. Until I got to Central America, I had no idea there was such a creature as a fish eating bat, but I now see them every night. I like bats anyway, and these are especially interesting. We will be here for another day or so, then into Panama City to take care of some things and to re-provision. We are out of beer (gasp!) and most of our fresh veggies, with only root veggies and onions remaining. It is Saturday today, and I suppose we will leave here Monday, weather permitting.
So this is it for now. My plan for the rest of the day (it is just after noon) is to take a swim, do some straightening up in the cabin, and plan a nice dinner. Do you think I can handle it? I think so!
"DOn't find fault, find a remedy." (Henry Ford)
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We sailed all the way here - the winds were certainly strong enough, but not too strong. Of course they were going sort of the wrong direction, so we had to "beat" our way there. A "beat" is when you are sailing to windward and the waves and/or the current is going the wrong way as well. It is not impossible, and our boat does a great job sailing to wind, but it is never really comfortable. I thought we did a good job, and I will never fail to be amazed at sailing itself - the way a boat weighing over a ton or more can be moved only by the wind, with no motor or anything like that. We were doing up to almost seven knots at times, which is almost our hull speed. (Hull speed is the speed at which a boat reaches it's top potential speed. It is determined by a calculation I do not understand, but which considers the hull length as part of the equation.) It was a lot of fun. When we got here, we were granted the most amazing sunset ever - I have seen plenty with more dramatic colors, but this was a huge coral colored sun ball, just hovering above the horizon, then dropping down.
Last night we had dinner on our friends' boat, and then spent the evening telling stories and getting to know each other better. One of the beat parts of living like this has been the people we have met along the way. Everyone has a story, and each story is different. It seems like most of us who make the decision to live like this have spent a lot of time thinking and acting outside the box for most of their lives. (For the record, I hate the phrases "thinking outside the box" and "coloring outside the lines." They do, however, illustrate what I mean and I can't think of anything better right now.)
Right now I am experiencing the down side of the weekenders - they drive their dinghies and jet skis at breakneck speeds through the anchorage and cause all the anchored boats to roll around. It has taken me three times as long as it should to type this sentence, as I keep making typos as I rock around all over the seat here at the nav station.
I am reading a really really good, but heartbreaking book. It is called "Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital" by Shari Fink. It is about the problems at a New Orleans hospital during and after Hurricane Katrina. I hope I am never in a situation like that one, that is all I can say. It is so easy to sit back after something like that and Monday morning quarterback the whole thing. I don't know what kinds of decisions I would have made. It seems like (at this point in the book) that the people who ended up in trouble were the only ones who were willing to hang on and try to deal with things while others ran away for their own safety, and the big bosses (who of course are never on site when everything goes to hell, and in the Tom Clancy novels they are referred to as "REMFS", which stands for "rear echelon motherfuckers." It fits quite well, I think.) did nothing except to dodge the issue when things were acute, and then blamed the foot soldiers for everything that went wrong. I have cried just reading sections out loud to Mike, and I remember being so sad when it all happened, watching all that Katrina coverage on CNN, and just thinking that it seemed as though I was living in a third world country that could not take care of itself. I don't ever remember feeling as bad as that over something that didn't really touch me, it to me was sadder and harder to deal with than was 9-11. Anyway, I highly recommend the book. You will not be able to put it down, and it will change you in some way.
OK, enough. I am still happily living in paradise here in Panama, with clear water, lots of great fish, birds, bugs, and fish eating bats that fly around the boat at night. Until I got to Central America, I had no idea there was such a creature as a fish eating bat, but I now see them every night. I like bats anyway, and these are especially interesting. We will be here for another day or so, then into Panama City to take care of some things and to re-provision. We are out of beer (gasp!) and most of our fresh veggies, with only root veggies and onions remaining. It is Saturday today, and I suppose we will leave here Monday, weather permitting.
So this is it for now. My plan for the rest of the day (it is just after noon) is to take a swim, do some straightening up in the cabin, and plan a nice dinner. Do you think I can handle it? I think so!
"DOn't find fault, find a remedy." (Henry Ford)
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Thursday, January 16, 2014
More Fish
Ok, it was only one more fish, but it was a 35 pound white sea bass. It fought hard, but I brought it in. I could have fed the anchorage once it was cleaned, but Mike refused to share it, stating it was too good. I know it is good. We caught an even bigger one in Mazatlan, and that one fed five boats plus us, as well as giving half of it pre-cleaned)to the guys on the dock. The only reason Mike was willing to give it away that time was because we were leaving in two days for the US and could not possibly eat it all. So now we have five meals of fabulous fillets, at least 2 and maybe 3 meals of fried fish fingers, all in the freezer, as well as three more meals from the back of the fish, which are in the fridge. After we (Mike) filleted it, we discovered that the back had a lot of meat on it. So we kept it, cut it into four frying pan sized pieces, and last night we cooked one. I fried it in olive oil with onions and garlic. We just put it on a plate and picked all the meat off the bones and it was delicious.
Today we are not going to fish because it is too windy and the water is too rough. Tomorrow we are supposed to move to a new anchorage - not new, actually, as we have been there before, but different. A boat that is becoming a friend is there, and has invited us to join them. I like it there, and it has the added advantage of having internet access, as the signal from a tower on a populated island is not blocked by hills, as it is here. Of course the downside to having internet access is that we have to actually take care of business. If this wind keeps up, we should be able to not only sail all the way, but to sail pretty darn fast.
Otherwise (as usual) there is not a lot of real news to report. We are both fine and doing well, no health problems. I am having continuing problems with a tooth, and since I have already been to one dentist twice with no permanent relief, I may have to find another one. I think I need a root canal. It started acting up really bad while we were in the jungle, and it hurt so much I had a hard time keeping Mike from finding out. I knew he would want to leave right away and head for the city and dental treatment, but I had been there before and figured I could keep it at least to a tolerable level until we were ready to leave anyway. It was turning into a real bummer - taking aspirin a million times a day, but finally I found some antibiotics that had not expired, and started taking those, as well as some 800 mg ibuprophen that had expired but oh well. Within about four days I was pain free, and Mike still does not know anything went wrong. But I can't count on that again, so I need it taken care of. We plan to make a city visit in a week or so, and that will be fine. I am rather proud of myself for handling it so well.
I was thinking the other day that we are beginning our fourth year out here - we left San Diego in late November 2010. I have been places and done things I never thought I would (or could, for that matter) do. While it has not all been paradise (the constant breakdowns start to wear on even the hardiest soul) I would not trade this experience for anything. And there is so much more to come! I have been dreaming of South America ever since I was a little girl. When I was in high school, we had an exchange student from Argentina. I was dying to talk to him, but he was super cute and I was way too intimidated by his good looks to say anything to him. I don't even remember his name. There was another kid in high school who was also interested in Latin America. I had a crush on him too, but as usual at that age I said nothing. (Him I might have had a chance with, too bad.) He was spending a lot of time trying to reconcile Catholicism with Marxism, which he believed was the only real answer for Latin America. I think that is now called Liberation Theology. Anyway, I wonder what became of him. When you have a lot of time on your hands, like I do now, you think of all sorts of random things. Luckily for me, I can amuse myself for hours just thinking about things. Maybe that is why I do well with night watches.
So that will be it for today. I am considering making brownies as a treat for Mike, especially since I have all the stuff, including walnuts. Why not? It is not as though it will cut into my busy schedule!
"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams." (Oprah Winfrey)
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Today we are not going to fish because it is too windy and the water is too rough. Tomorrow we are supposed to move to a new anchorage - not new, actually, as we have been there before, but different. A boat that is becoming a friend is there, and has invited us to join them. I like it there, and it has the added advantage of having internet access, as the signal from a tower on a populated island is not blocked by hills, as it is here. Of course the downside to having internet access is that we have to actually take care of business. If this wind keeps up, we should be able to not only sail all the way, but to sail pretty darn fast.
Otherwise (as usual) there is not a lot of real news to report. We are both fine and doing well, no health problems. I am having continuing problems with a tooth, and since I have already been to one dentist twice with no permanent relief, I may have to find another one. I think I need a root canal. It started acting up really bad while we were in the jungle, and it hurt so much I had a hard time keeping Mike from finding out. I knew he would want to leave right away and head for the city and dental treatment, but I had been there before and figured I could keep it at least to a tolerable level until we were ready to leave anyway. It was turning into a real bummer - taking aspirin a million times a day, but finally I found some antibiotics that had not expired, and started taking those, as well as some 800 mg ibuprophen that had expired but oh well. Within about four days I was pain free, and Mike still does not know anything went wrong. But I can't count on that again, so I need it taken care of. We plan to make a city visit in a week or so, and that will be fine. I am rather proud of myself for handling it so well.
I was thinking the other day that we are beginning our fourth year out here - we left San Diego in late November 2010. I have been places and done things I never thought I would (or could, for that matter) do. While it has not all been paradise (the constant breakdowns start to wear on even the hardiest soul) I would not trade this experience for anything. And there is so much more to come! I have been dreaming of South America ever since I was a little girl. When I was in high school, we had an exchange student from Argentina. I was dying to talk to him, but he was super cute and I was way too intimidated by his good looks to say anything to him. I don't even remember his name. There was another kid in high school who was also interested in Latin America. I had a crush on him too, but as usual at that age I said nothing. (Him I might have had a chance with, too bad.) He was spending a lot of time trying to reconcile Catholicism with Marxism, which he believed was the only real answer for Latin America. I think that is now called Liberation Theology. Anyway, I wonder what became of him. When you have a lot of time on your hands, like I do now, you think of all sorts of random things. Luckily for me, I can amuse myself for hours just thinking about things. Maybe that is why I do well with night watches.
So that will be it for today. I am considering making brownies as a treat for Mike, especially since I have all the stuff, including walnuts. Why not? It is not as though it will cut into my busy schedule!
"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams." (Oprah Winfrey)
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Sunday, January 12, 2014
No news is good news
And I have no news. Things around the anchorage here in Isla Espiritu Santo are just fine. We are considering moving to a new location, just for a change, but need to wait here as another boat is coming with some things for us, like limes and beer. The important stuff.
For some reason, the anchorage is especially rolly today. We are stuck in the trough, which means we rock from side to side, and at times, sort of swirl around. It is not a problem, but a bit uncomfortable and you have to be careful where you set things down if you do not want them rolling around. I just had to get up from here and rearrange two coconuts that were threatening to come loose and roll around the counter. By the way, fresh coconuts are a lot of work but they are worth it. I have become addicted to fresh coconut water. Not to be confused with coconut milk, which is an infusion of hot water and shredded coconut, then pressed. Coconut cream is what rises to the top of chilled coconut milk, and you can make butter from the cream, all the same as with milk. I have not done anything except make the milk, which I used to make coconut rice. I was disappointed, because you could not taste the coconut, and it took me a couple hours to make all that milk. But I am going to keep working on it, because I love coconut rice.
Yesterday I did four loads of laundry in my little five gallon bucket - two sets of sheets. You can only wash one sheet and one pillowcase at a time, or nothing gets clean. I did all these clothes the other day, so it has really been a laundry week. I have three sets of sheets - a red set, a purple set, and a green set. I washed the purple and the green, and when I had them attached to the sail sheets drying in the wind, it looked like I was flying a spinnaker. Speaking of which, when we headed to the Rio Sambu from this anchorage, we were in a flotilla of five boats, and at one point, we were all flying our spinnakers and we looked fabulous. I wanted to take pictures, but the boats were too far apart to get any good effect. Ours is not a true spinnaker, but rather what is called a cruiser, or a drifter, or an asymmetrical spinnaker. It is easier to use and more versatile than a true spinnaker.
Otherwise, like I said, there is nothing going on here. The cormerants are migrating, and there are literally hundreds of them hanging around, and flying in large groups through the area. A bunch of them roosted in a tree near us, and we discovered they have really low voices, croaking like bull frogs. They are fantastic divers, and it is amazing to watch them go. They stay underwater for much longer than the other birds do.
The boat is messy and desperately needs to be straightened up, but I don't feel like doing it. I have never been good at "a place for everything and everything in its place" although I do try. When you live in less that forty feet, you can't let things get out of hand, and we never do. It is always very clean (I will never again live through another roach invasion, and although I know they were not there because the boat was dirty, it makes me feel better to think there are no snacks left for them), but sometimes we start leaving things out and it gets cluttered looking really fast. We did buy some beautiful basketry from the Embera, and we have mounted them on the walls and it looks great.
Today the plan is to maybe do some fishing if the waves calm down, and to visit the people on another boat here, one of the boats at the river with us. I need to make some tortillas, as we are out of the store bought version. Mine are better anyway. So I guess I should get started on that!
"I have learned that to be with those I like is enough." (Walt Whitman)
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For some reason, the anchorage is especially rolly today. We are stuck in the trough, which means we rock from side to side, and at times, sort of swirl around. It is not a problem, but a bit uncomfortable and you have to be careful where you set things down if you do not want them rolling around. I just had to get up from here and rearrange two coconuts that were threatening to come loose and roll around the counter. By the way, fresh coconuts are a lot of work but they are worth it. I have become addicted to fresh coconut water. Not to be confused with coconut milk, which is an infusion of hot water and shredded coconut, then pressed. Coconut cream is what rises to the top of chilled coconut milk, and you can make butter from the cream, all the same as with milk. I have not done anything except make the milk, which I used to make coconut rice. I was disappointed, because you could not taste the coconut, and it took me a couple hours to make all that milk. But I am going to keep working on it, because I love coconut rice.
Yesterday I did four loads of laundry in my little five gallon bucket - two sets of sheets. You can only wash one sheet and one pillowcase at a time, or nothing gets clean. I did all these clothes the other day, so it has really been a laundry week. I have three sets of sheets - a red set, a purple set, and a green set. I washed the purple and the green, and when I had them attached to the sail sheets drying in the wind, it looked like I was flying a spinnaker. Speaking of which, when we headed to the Rio Sambu from this anchorage, we were in a flotilla of five boats, and at one point, we were all flying our spinnakers and we looked fabulous. I wanted to take pictures, but the boats were too far apart to get any good effect. Ours is not a true spinnaker, but rather what is called a cruiser, or a drifter, or an asymmetrical spinnaker. It is easier to use and more versatile than a true spinnaker.
Otherwise, like I said, there is nothing going on here. The cormerants are migrating, and there are literally hundreds of them hanging around, and flying in large groups through the area. A bunch of them roosted in a tree near us, and we discovered they have really low voices, croaking like bull frogs. They are fantastic divers, and it is amazing to watch them go. They stay underwater for much longer than the other birds do.
The boat is messy and desperately needs to be straightened up, but I don't feel like doing it. I have never been good at "a place for everything and everything in its place" although I do try. When you live in less that forty feet, you can't let things get out of hand, and we never do. It is always very clean (I will never again live through another roach invasion, and although I know they were not there because the boat was dirty, it makes me feel better to think there are no snacks left for them), but sometimes we start leaving things out and it gets cluttered looking really fast. We did buy some beautiful basketry from the Embera, and we have mounted them on the walls and it looks great.
Today the plan is to maybe do some fishing if the waves calm down, and to visit the people on another boat here, one of the boats at the river with us. I need to make some tortillas, as we are out of the store bought version. Mine are better anyway. So I guess I should get started on that!
"I have learned that to be with those I like is enough." (Walt Whitman)
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