May, 2009

San Blas, Panama

We just heard this morning that the candidate that appears to have the highest ratings just had shots fired on him in Panama City.   A very competitive campaign.

This afternoon, we all dinghied over to a nearby island, Dog Island, and snorkeled a shipwreck.  Then we went to a sand spit near the outside reef.   Pat and Kay stayed on the island with the dinghy while Jim and Sonny snorkeled around the reef.   Sonny spotted a huge grouper, who was in company with a huge shark.   So, he did not bother him.

Then, at 5 p.m. most of the boats in the anchorage met on the beach for a potluck dinner.  The guys built a fire for grilling meat.  

There are several boats in the anchorage with children now.  They are having so much fun playing together and playing on the island.

We dinghied up the river until we reached the Kuna cemetery.   At that point, we were advised from a local Kuna to turn around or he would contact the police.   He did not want us taking any pictures of the cemetery.  So, we did as he said.  We towed some locals in their ulu out of the river and back to the island.   They were piled high with "roofing materials".

We sure have enjoyed our two months with them.   They are very good people and very good friends.   We wish them the best in their retirement together, whatever they choose to do and look forward to meeting again.

When we dinghied back to Valentina, about five minutes later, it started raining and we collected about 25 gallons of water.  So thankful as we have been very low on water with four people on board.  We do not make water in the anchorage in Carti, as it is downwind from the over-crowded island.

Sonny checked the oil in the engine, as we previously had noticed some oil in the water when we ran the engine.   Sure enough, it was almost empty.  The sending unit on the engine was not working and dripping about one drop of oil per second when the engine is running.

We needed to get to the West Lemmons (about an hour's motor away), where we can get boat parts delivered from Panama City and an anchorage where we can make water.  We wanted to sail, but, of course the wind died, so we slowly motored for two hours from the village island Carti.

We arrived without losing too much oil and ordered a new sending unit.  When it arrives will be anyone's guess.

Today we checked the water level in the batteries.  Sounds easy?  I know....but for us, we have to empty our garage in our quarter berth as the batteries are located underneath the quarter berth.

We put our awning up over our forward hatch so we can leave the hatch up while it rains.  But, first, we had to replace two PVC pipes in the awning, as the old ones had broken due to high wind.

We took pictures of food items and printed them out, and gave a "wish list" to Alberto here in the West Lemmons.  He has someone in Panama City purchase your items, then either put them on a plane or a van to ship them to you.  So, again, we will see what we end up with.  Our thought is....anything is better than nothing.   In San Blas, you have the veggie boat come around with fruit and vegetables, but not a store to shop at.  There are very small tiendas on a few of the islands with only the staple food for the locals.    You would not starve here, but are very limited on supplies.  It makes for some creative cooking.

Hiraldo, the veggie boat man, said he would also check on the part and let us know on Monday when we brings veggies.

Kay made some pecan pies and tonight we took one over to Paul and Mary Margaret's on S/V Angel Heart.  Paul prepared some of his delicious gumbo for everyone.  Sandy and Cheri (S/V Namaste) and Joe and Sharon (S/V Rose of Sharon) also came.   It is so good to have Paul and Mary Margaret in San Blas.

This morning, Dean from S/V Blue Fox came over to assist with our broken sending unit.   He had a plug, hoping it would fit, but it did not.  So, Sonny took some epoxy and put on the sending unit, hoping it would seal.  We will wait until morning to start the engine to try it out.

We washed clothes today.   Our boat has flags flying all over, towels, shirts, shorts, dish towels. etc.   We strung a clothes line from our arch to our standing rigging and hang out as many clothes as we can fit.   It has been a while since we washed clothes.

What a cute little girl on the island. She went to get her parrot so I could take a picture of her with her parrot.

I received emails from all our kids and are so thankful to be able to be the mother to five such wonderful kids.   I have truly been blessed.

We have Happy Mother's Day wishes to:

	Inez Our 90 year old beautiful mother-in-law
	Gina   Mother to our granddaughters Kalei and Ashley and grandson Kawika
	Stacie Mother to our granddaughter Claire and grandson Chase
	Kodi Mother to our granddaughters Riley and Shea
	Madonna Mother to our granddaughter Kylie
	Jennifer Mother to our granddaughter Bailee Jennifer's 1st Mother's Day

We are so thankful....proud....and....blessed.

Alberto has our groceries at his island, so we went in to pick it all up.  He did very well getting what we had requested.   There were a few items that he could not find, but we are thankful for what we have.

We started the engine this afternoon to check it for oil leaks from the sending unit, and, sure enough......it is leaking.

We just stayed on the boat today, did not even get our dinghy down.  We played farkle in the cockpit this evening.

We dinghied around to the nearby islands and met the locals who live there.   They are glad to have visitors.   This tiny island had the shelter built on it and we met the mother, daughter, and her two sons.   The husband was out fishing.   They had a small area where they smoke the fish he catches so they do not need refrigeration.   They live here 3 months before returning to their home island of Carti.

Then we dinghied over to another nearby island and met the family there.  They had a six month baby boy who we enjoyed holding.

Happy Birthday today to Chase, our seven year old Grandson. We wish you a fun day and a lot of bicycle time this year.

At 5 p.m. we met on the island with our friends in the anchorage.  George, of S/V Geisha, had just returned to our anchorage and explained the horrible accident that happened three days ago here in the islands.

A Belgium family on a Catamaran was anchored at the East Coco Bandero Cays and snorkeling on the reef.  One of the sons, probably around 12 years old, was snorkeling with his spear gun.   He saw a nurse shark sleeping on the sand, so he decided to poke him with his spear gun.   He turned the gun around and poked the shark with the butt end of the gun.   Somehow, the spear gun went off, and shot the boy.  The spear went completely through him, under the rib cage and through one of his lungs.

The family got on the radio calling for help.  A nearby nurse practitioner on a sailboat went to their aid.   They managed to get the boy in the dinghy, back to their sailboat, and motored an hour away to the nearest clinic in Nargana.   Another cruiser had called the Air Panama in Panama City and requested a plane to transport the boy approximately 75 miles to a hospital in Panama City.

The good news.....within 3 1/2 hours of the accident, the young boy was in surgery, had the spear removed and is recovering well.   He will stay in the hospital for two weeks, but expects a complete recovery.

Whew!   We are so thankful he is going to be OK.  The cruising community is a close knit group.

I cut Sonny's first, then he cut mine.   And, we were still talking afterwards.   Just think how much money you save by doing each other's haircuts.

When we arrived at Porvenir at 8 a.m., we were met on the dock by Alexis, the Port Captain.  He was getting into a launcha to go to Panama City for 5 days. We will have to return again on Tuesday to do our paperwork, but was promised there would not be a late fee.

Then we dinghied over to Wichubhuala to reprovision some cokes, cookies, and crackers. 

After we took our groceries back to the boat, Aaron on Blow Me Away called us on the VHF asking if we would pick them up some phone cards, so we dropped the dinghy again and Sonny went back in.  As he was leaving Wichubhuala, a man on the dock asked him if he would take him to the nearby island of Nalunega.  Being the good guy he is, Sonny agreed.  After he let him off at Nalunega, another local called him.   He asked Sonny what is the name of our boat.   Sonny said, "Valentina".  The local excitedly said, "Valentina.....uno momento, machina, machina!" and he started digging in his bag for something.

After a few moments, he pulled out a sending unit for our engine.  He works with Hiraldo, the veggie boat man who told us on May 8th he would look for the part for our Yanmar engine.  When he was at our boat previously, he took a piece of cardboard and cut a notch into it.  It was his pattern for the size of our sending unit.  He must have done that before because it sure looks like it may work.

Who would have thought?  It looks like it may be used, but sure worth a try.   In a place where there are no grocery stores, banks, internet, or boat stores, we had a part for our engine delivered.   Sonny tried it, and it fits perfectly...no oil leaks!

And, our repaired one is working good, after two coats of epoxy.  No leaks. We now have a spare.  We are thankful!

Then, we motored over to the East Lemons for the Cajun Festival tomorrow night.  S/V Southern Belle is cooking a pot of gumbo for Mr. G and the charge will be $5 per person.  We are looking forward to it.

We went snorkeling with Aaron and Lyla (Blow Me Away) along the reef surrounding the island.  Nice coral, lots of reef fish, but we did not see eating fish.

While snorkeling, we met Neil and Kathy on S/V Attitude.  We have heard each other on the radio nets for 3 years and never made it to the same anchorage.   What a pleasure to finally meet them.

After the 5 p.m. get together on the island, we invited them over to Valentina.  Such a neat couple.  We really enjoyed them.

We have some bad spots on our cap rail, so Kay sanded and put a coat of varnish on it.

About 3:30 p.m. we went ashore for the Cajun Fest where about 35 cruisers met for gumbo.

At 5:30 p.m. we all met on the island for a game of Bache ball.   It was our first time to play and was a lot of fun.   Except, the guys beat the girls (and....pretty bad).

Panama is such a hassle for paperwork.   But, it is such a beautiful place, it is worth it.

We went from Porvenir to Green Island.   We had never been there before.   It was about a 3 hour motorboat ride.

It is a very nice anchorage, however, when the breeze stopped during the morning, the no-see-ums appeared.

We were unsuccessful in our attempt to update the website.   We tried for several hours, but no luck.

Nargana is not a good anchorage, so we left at 3:30 p.m. and motored to the East Coco Banderas.  S/V Respite and S/V Deux Pieds are here and leaving tomorrow for Colon.

While here, we snorkeled a lot, fished a lot, washed clothes, and totally enjoyed the beauty of this place.

Sonny assisted one boat to get off the reef during a blow and we watched another huge schooner get blown near the island in the middle of the night.  Time to re-anchor.

A cruiser's sister decided to get married in San Blas, so they had the traditional Kuna wedding.   They began the festivities with Kuna dancers for an hour, playing their wooden flutes and hopping around.  When the wedding ceremony began, a group of Kuna men went to the prospective groom and picked him up and carried him to the hammock.   Then the men went to the bride, who was adorn in a Kuna blouse and skirt and took her to the same hammock.

They repeated this two times.    Then the ceremony was over.   A little different culture than in the states, but sure makes the planning and cost a whole lot better.  

The Los Gringos band, comprised of Steve (S/V LiWard) Hutch (S/V Sand Castle), and Jeff (S/V Dragonfly) played music during the evening.   Sonny had his harmonicas and joined them.

It was a very fun evening.

We motored around the shallow banks near the Hollandaise while a squall approached.  Fishing was slow for an hour or two, then the skies cleared a bit and the fish decided they were hungry.   We caught so many nice fish and had a blast.  It was time for a delicious fried fish dinner.

They had also invited Breeze and Debbie (S/V Blue Sky) over for dinner.  A very nice evening after a very good day.

At about 2 p.m., Dave Greene on High Spirits called us on the VHF.   He is five miles out.   He made the trip from Kemah in April and is arriving in San Blas.   He picked up two female backpackers, Meg and Valerie, in Isla Mujeres, Mexico and they have assisted him in his trip here.  Meg is from New Zealand and Valerie is from Belgium.

It is the rainy time of year here, which means......lightning and lots of it.    During the evening, you can always see flashes across the sky.   Most of the time it is far away.   The ITCZ is in this area this time of year, which means unstable weather.

Today, we finally got some rain, so our water tanks are full for the first time in almost 3 months.   We have not had enough rain to gather water, but now we do.

This afternoon, it was a cloudy, overcast day, and the girls on High Spirits were having fun swimming in the water.  No thunder, just clouds.   When all of a sudden, there was the loudest clap of lightning I have ever heard.   No warning, just loud and scary.   I just knew we had gotten hit, but we are good.

The girls hurried out of the water and safely on their boat nearby.

This afternoon, I called the boats in the anchorage to see if they wanted to have a pot luck on the island tonight.  I will fry the fish and they can bring a dish.  We will enjoy the meal, in between rain showers.   Welcome to the rainy season in San Blas, Panama.