Well the webcam was a bit of a fizzer but we’ve made it to the other side with only a bent stanchion and a bit of a scratch on the hull. We had the Canals’ BEST advisor with us and while it was a long day I have to admit I do feel like we’ve done something pretty cool! Photos to follow.
Has anyone ever done Bikram Yoga? Right now I feel like I’m living in a Bikram Yoga studio- ‘Bikram Living’ I like to call it. My eyelids are sweating it’s so hot. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this continuously sweaty in my entire life. It’s not the satisfying sweat of a good workout I might add- you are just dripping constantly. Daily tasks of which there never seems to be an end, result in an all over body glow that tends to go hand in hand with irritation, frustration and ultimately a heat rash somewhere- generally on an inconvenient location like your gluteal fold! I’ve escaped to the Cruisers lounge which feels refrigerated where I can only stay a short time or run the risk of suffering hypothermia, the temperature difference is so great.
There’s my rant for now. We are back at Shelter Bay Marina after spending nearly 10 days in the San Blas Islands. We got our transit date- May 18th!!!! This information changed things quite considerably so we decided to see our fair share of this absolutely stunning location. Then, as things tend to go, last Sunday night, (April 23rd),we received updated information that our transit had been moved forward 20 days, scheduled for Friday the 28th- tomorrow. We decided to head back to the marina Monday night, arriving Tuesday morning and giving us 3 full days to prepare for what we are about to do- Travel through the Panama Canal to… the other side! Pacific here we come.
The preparation side of things really never seems to end. Apparently what we are doing is ‘cruising’ but really it should be ‘maintaining, repairing, provisioning, washing, cleaning, teaching, feeding, swearing, lamenting, adjudicating, separating, MRPWCTFSLAS!!!! I’m sure there’s an acronym in there, shame I don’t have the patience to work it out right now!
A tradition followed by cruisers when making a significant passage, is to paint or draw a symbol of themselves and their boat on a wall somewhere. We didn’t get a chance to do it on the rock wall in Las Palmas and another boat suggested it to us yesterday. Here at the marina there’s a sail loft that was once the military base cinema. There’s plenty of wall space, although a lot of it is already decorated. Anyway, I thought it would be a fun thing for the kids, (predominantly) and I to do together- cue negative buzzer noise now! It didn’t go exactly as planned with one child unable to control himself with a spray can, (I’ll just press it here) and the other child in frustrated tears at the outcome of their work. It all turned out ok in the end but man, talk about a palaver! I should just add that the laundry is quite close to the location of this work of art and lets just say there was some multi-tasking going on!
There’s so much more I could post but I’m super short on time, (ha ha ha cruising yeah right!), so I’ll just put some highlights from the last few weeks.
The San Blas were the highlight, but while we were there we;
Snorkeled in crystal clear water and saw incredible wildlife- thankfully NO crocodiles, although I was pretty paranoid every time I donned my mask and flippers.
I had a dolphin come up almost directly under me while I was on the paddle board. Again, I had a small heart attack until I realised what it was and then I was kind of euphoric!
We walked though a rain forest with a local Kuna Yala guide and saw a toucan, a tiny scorpion and a swam in a waterfall. We also visited his village and saw his people living, (almost) as they have for centuries!
We caught another fish- Seb was again traumatised but we turned it into a fish curry, which most of us enjoyed and who he belligerently refused to eat. When we caught another huge fish that got away both he and Lilly chanted for 5 minutes, “he got off, he got off!”
We swam with a Spotted Eagle Ray- one of the coolest beasts in the sea. When you see this underwater world you really can understand how they made Finding Nemo!
We met up with another kid boat called Milou and spent some wonderful time, (albeit very short, an afternoon and morning due to our new schedule) swimming, exploring a magic little place called BBQ Island and enjoying a lovely lunch together.
Oh and as we snorkeled on the reef one morning a largish grey many toothed fish cruised right past- we think it was a Caribbean Reef Shark but aren’t 100% sure. It wasn’t interested in us at all. I did however, and this is the amazing bit, stay totally calm, just tapping Lilly on the arm, pointing to it and calmly swimming back to the dinghy to let Mike, Seb and Murray know. So there you go nothing’s quite so bad as fear itself!
Other than that we’ve been experiencing some pretty interesting behaviour from our children. I have, in desperation resorted to reading one of the child rearing books I thought I’d have plenty of time to read, but haven’t touched till now- “Of course I love you, now go to your room lives on Debs and Rach!!! Attitude with a capital A, bickering with a capital B and rudeness with a big fat R are driving me crazy- the heat and pressure cooker we reside in adding to this very tumultuous ‘phase’. The joys of early puberty and a younger brother!!!
Hey ho, I don’t expect any sympathy. Just telling it like it is…for now.
Time to head to bed, we’ll be up at around 3.30 tomorrow morning to start the transit process. IF anyone is interested, apparently the locks have surveillance cameras and you can watch us go through. The website is http://www.pancanal.com. Click on to Multimedia and there should be a LIVE CAMERAS link. We arrive at Gatun Lock at 07.00, (22.00 AUS time, 14.00 Spanish time, 13.00UKtime) and clear the lock at 08.20, completing our transit at 15.31, so likely to be at Miraflores lock around 2.30ish. This is all Panama time- Aussie time is 15 hours ahead and European time is 7hours ahead/6 UK time.
Sending everyone love and best wishes- SOL out!
Flexible- able to be easily modified to respond to altered circumstances:
-(of a person) ready and able to change so as to adapt to different circumstances
Oxford English Dictionary- Kindle addition
and so flexible we must be! We’ve arrived in Panama, (foregoing the San Blas Islands for the time being after learning that due to a shortage of ‘advisors’- (a person that takes you through the canal), there is an approximate 27 day delay on transit time once you get your approximate date of passage-you’ve got to be measured first and jump through a few other hoops before this happens). We’re using the services of an agent, in the hope of, and with a fair degree of optimistic positivity that we might get through a bit faster… and we still might. Time will tell. Mind you, the agent was supposed to arrive yesterday at 3pm and showed up at 6pm and the measurer who was coming between 9.30 am and 1.30 pm didn’t show up at all- the agent let us know at 2.30pm. Flexible- that’s the key!
Our previous ‘plan’ saw us in Tahiti by June, Mike flying out from there back to Bermuda to compete in a regatta. We’d be arriving in Tahiti AFTER having visited the Galapagos and the Marquesas. Considering that the trip across the Pacific is another THREE WEEK PASSAGE!!!!, it was always ambitious- now that plan is impossible. Why the rush? Well, it’s all driven by the dream of getting into the Pacific. Get there, then slow down and enjoy it. Sounds crackers, even to me. There are so many variables that need to line up and anything can happen along the way…The trip to the supermarket for example, read more below, oh and Lilly saw a crocodile in the marina today! I should just clarify that you don’t swim in the marina- she was in the pool at the time.
So hopefully we’ll see more of Panama.
I mentioned the trip to the supermarket… The marina provides a free shuttle bus- think Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone-
“Is this the bus to Cartegena?”
“Que”,
“I need to get to Cartegena”
“Que”
“Is this the bus to CartegeEEENNNAHHHHH!
Well not quite but I had a good chuckle a few times along the way. The trip can take and generally does take up to an hour. You have to drive through the jungle, (we saw monkeys run across the road), the bus then gets on a ferry across the entrance to the canal, (we sat behind a truck with some cows and several hands of bananas- sometimes you have to wait for a ship to enter or exit, once on the other side, you might get stopped by the cargo train loaded with shipping containers, (once or twice) and then on arrival to the shopping mall, you’ve got about 45 minutes to get into the supermarket and back out to the bus before the driver leaves, at exactly 14.45 to head back to the marina! Now I don’t know about you, but foreign supermarkets are a place of wonder! The first visit involves a lot of, ‘Hmmm I wonder where so and so is, or I wonder if they have x, y or z. 45 minutes is simply not enough time to wonder about much. So, yesterday, (yep I went yesterday and the day before) Seb and I caught a cab back instead- time for flexibility and wonder!!!!
The measurer showed up yesterday and in a few days, we’ll have an approximate transit date- so new plans are being formulated, including going back to the San Blas Islands for a few days, today- F.L.E.X.I.B.L.E!
The trip across from St. Martin was quite good- we left on a Tuesday night and arrived the following Tuesday morning- 6 days 7 nights. A few times along the way I may have pondered the fact that we’ll soon be doing it all again but times 3!!!! The boat rolls and rolls and while I’m still trying to be one with the boat… some days it drives me nuts.
Meals were generally better received than during the Atlantic crossing. We didn’t have the routine debrief after every meal, discussing how ‘WE’ could spice it up or pad it out or improve it in some way. There was a bit more of that wonderful line from The Castle- “What do you call this love.”
Murray, (the person I mentioned last post) is a wonderful asset to the boat. His easy manner, good humour and wealth of sailing knowledge make him an absolute delight to have with us. We’ve given him a few opportunities to change his mind, (you sure Muzz) but he seems happy to stay with us for awhile.
The highlight was Seb’s stitches removal day! No shortage of dramatic entertainment on the mighty Slice of Life! He was very brave I have to say and very interested to see his new scar.
As in keeping with the theme of this post, the auto-pilot decided to stop working on the Monday night so it was hand steering for the next 36+ hours. The conditions were very pleasant and we generally rotated every 1.5 hours. We had an incredible moon the entire way, making me feel like it was daytime. Seeing the moon still up and the sun rising was pretty special. We had a few dolphins join us for short periods and lots and lots of flying fish. One morning we found 18 on the deck- their plans certainly changed that evening and sadly they can’t be too flexible once out of the water!
I’ll leave it there for now- we hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. As always we are thinking of our friends and family across the seas.
Slice of Life standing by!
If there’s a paradise in this world then we’ve just been there.
Imagine if you will, a glossy leaflet depicting the bluest of blue, shades of turquoise that would put the gemstone to shame and the whitest, finest most luxurious sand imaginable- you can photo-shop for all you’re worth- this place exists and goes by the name, Barbuda!
Jump forward a few days and we’re sitting in a hospital in Saint Martin, waiting to see how many stitches Seb needs in his big toe after an unfortunate accident with what we think was a can in the garbage. Our garbage, left in the dinghy, ready to take ashore and overlooked by two excited little boys jumping into the turquoise blue water mentioned earlier!
So describes the highs and lows of cruising.
There’s a lot that’s gone on since last post, and we are currently preparing the boat and ourselves to head into the Southern Hemisphere! If all goes to plan, we’ll be heading off today on an approximately 7-day passage to Panama. The San Blas Islands will be our first stop and then we need to wait until we can find our ‘slot’ through the canal. Next post should be interesting…
I’ve had a bit of a humour failure for the last few days, which tends to happen twice a month for about a week. It’s not until it passes that I realize I was in ‘that’ phase and that my special little dark cloud has lifted for the time being- THANK GOODNESS! It’s moving time again, which I always find a bit tricky to deal with, that and 24/7 with my two gorgeous kids who have Mum on tap and don’t realize the tap needs to be turned off every now and then!
Hey ho- so describes the highs and lows of living full time on a boat!
Mike worked most of March, the kids and I staying in Antigua while he spent more time messing about on boats-(big ones this time). We had a great time, hanging out with other boat families, doing schoolwork, exploring the island and the highlight- sailing lessons for the kids. Not having grown up sailing dinghy’s I was blown away (positively) that by lesson 3 they were off and skimming across the water solo. They were in a Laser Pico and took turns helming and controlling the main sheet. Whilst WE are sailing vast distances, they’re learning a degree of seamanship rather than actual sailing ability. In a dinghy, you learn really quickly or you end up capsizing, which they loved doing- running in to see me at the end of each lesson holding up a hand to indicate how many times they’d been in the water! Finally a fun learning experience for them! They were so enthusiastic about it I mentioned it to our Danish and English friends whose kids also took lessons. It was wonderful to see all of these children suddenly very enthusiastic and positive about the sailing aspect…perhaps a few adult classes would have been a good idea.
There were several reminders that no matter how tricky a day you might be having there is always someone out there doing it a lot tougher than you are- we met a pair of Atlantic Rowers who’d not long finished their 75 day journey across the Ocean Blue. We spoke at length to their Dad- a prouder man you’d be hard pressed to meet. The pair were very accommodating, letting the kids hop onto their boat, hold the oars and even try their food. They gave out autographs and took photos with them, answering the plethora of questions thrown at them by our small people.
The South African, Chris Bertish, completed his 93 day solo SUP, (yes that is short for Stand Up Paddleboard) Atlantic Crossing while we were in the marina. What an amazing achievement and how incredible it was to witness his arrival.
Two more rowers arrived while we were there- One guy had lost his rudder, his journey taking him 94 days. I take my hat off, I have complete admiration towards all of these people but it’s not something I feel I need to add to my bucket list- a sentiment I know at least one friend feels towards our travels.
All of the above plus sleepovers, birthday parties, a charity day at the sailing academy to support local kids with disabilities, regular trips to the beach, ice-cream Friday, walks to different parts of the island, history right at our doorstep in Nelson’s Dockyard and time spent with wonderful people, kept us all busy. Our time in Antigua was complete before we knew it.
A huge thank you to Helen and Kevin and Eli, who went out of their way to help us and show us around during our time there.
As mentioned earlier, Barbuda was our next stop. We spent our first night in Spanish Point, some reef navigation ensuring a calm and quiet anchorage in perhaps the clearest water we’ve seen to date. The next day we moved around to Coco Point to find an expansive beach which I happily walked along for as far as I could go one way, to as far as I could go the other. One end of the beach sports an exclusive resort that has it’s own little airport for guests to fly directly into. Apparently yachties are not at all welcome! At 2000 US dollars a night I guess guests don’t want to share the bar with just anyone!
A derelict resort takes up a fair share of the other end, boarded up bungalows almost blending into the palm tree lined beach. Princess Diana was once a guest here and Robert De Niro and Packer, (I assume James but possibly Kerry was the instigator) under a group called Paradise Found, own this space with plans to restore it to its former glory.
Barbuda has the largest colony of Frigatebirds in the Eastern Caribbean, larger than the colony in the Galapagos and incredibly accessible with the assistance of a guide. George Jefferies was our choice, the most experienced of guides and recommended to us by our friends who’d done the tour a few days before. He is a wealth of knowledge about the colony and his country and very entertaining in a Morgan Freeman kind of way. Sebastian was particularly impressed by his 60-horse power engine, that sped us across the lagoon quickly and comfortably!
We left for Saint Martin the same evening and had a lovely sail across in 15 knot winds under a wide expanse of stars- YES, you did just read correctly- I wrote lovely and sail in the same sentence!
And so here we are, prepping the boat for the journey ahead. I’m using free wifi in the local laundry and laughing while I type this- how things change. My previous aversion to going and doing the laundry being replaced by the realization that I’m on my own for a few hours with only the need to change clothes from washing machine to dryer as interruption! There’s the buzzer now!
Until Panama… this is Slice of Life standing by.
From Vacillation to Infinity-A Slice of Life 