Karen left to go to the US mostly to get boat parts and supplies we have been having delivered there and bring them back to Panama. The plan was that she would return Wednesday, but she found out her father was ill so she delayed her stay by two days and will return now on Friday.
After we dropped Karen off at the airport on Sunday, I thought it would be a good day to do more leisurely like activities. Seeing as how Jason and Lara love sailing, I suggested we go for a sail. But, first we needed to try out the Tahina Crew Review Checklist. This is the checklist I’ve been creating to show new crew all the important systems before they start crewing. We spent a little time before and after lunch. Jason and Lara asked lots of good questions, and we managed to add a few more items to the list in the process.
It was not windy in the early part of the day, and it was hot. So, we paid a few dollars to swim at a hotel pool nearby. The wind started picking up, so we went back to Tahina for a late afternoon sail. We motored out to the last set of channel markers and raised the sails and headed across the bay away from the ships. We were soon sailing at 9-10 knots which put some smiles on the crew’s faces. We then tacked back the other way. I discovered one of the pumps had a problem and we would probably need yet another new spare pump.
We were starting to head back when a coast guard vessel approached us. They came along side and asked us to “stop engines”. We were under sail so I said – in order to stop we will have to drop sails. They said: “stop your engines”, we need to inspect you. So, we started our engines and dropped our sails (yes, it was kind of amusing – but, we didn’t laugh at the time. They had guns.). They then came along side and asked for my passport. They explained we were supposed to call the canal signal station on channel 12 before manuveuring in the channel area. This makes really good sense, I just wasn’t aware of it. I apologized and explained we had come through the canal and weren’t aware of the rule and we were just going back to the anchorage. They told us to please call the signal station and apologize, so we did and headed back to anchorage at sunset.
On Monday we started paperwork for getting the new crew on our crew list and clearing out of Panama. Jason and Lara spent all day performing maintenance on our winches. This is a messy job involving cleaning and degreasing and then putting new grease on all the gears. I spent time looking for the pump in local chandleries and ended up buying a new on in the states and having it overnighted to Karen.
We have been using a taxi driver named Frederico to help run the errands. On Tuesday he met me at 8 AM to run several tasks. I needed to go to the French embassy to see about extending our stay in French Polynesia if needed. After waiting 30 minutes, they told me it would take many days. Next we went to the American Embassy. I needed to have some papers notarized for house stuff in the US. They charged $50 to notarize two documents. What a racket! Then I had to have the documents mailed back to the US. While out, I purchased or searched for several other items needed for the boat. One important item was a chart for the Galapagos. Jason and Lara worked more on the boat doing maintenance on the windlass, stripping some caulking, cleaning rust on thru-hull fittings, etc. (I’m really glad to have such a hard working crew!) Later in the day I found out about Karen needing to stay two extra days. We decided we would have to do the big provisioning run ourselves on Thursday.
On Wednesday we first went to the local chandlery – they had a 30% discount day. We all had a number of purchases to make in boat parts, sunglasses, scuba and snorkeling equipment, and fishing gear. Mid-morning, Jason and Lara left by taxi to do some sightseeing and shopping. I went to get on the Internet and ordered another part we need, then got gas for the dinghy via taxi. After some lunch I got another taxi and went into town to find more boat stuff and in particular to look for barbed wire. Turns out sea lions in the Galapagos can easily get on top of a catamaran like Tahina unless you block the aft stairs. Unfortunately, no one would sell a small section of barbed wire. Will have to come up with another plan.
Lara had discovered the gated beach area we had been walking by every day was home to a Smithsonian museum. We each paid $2 and went to have a look. The first thing we saw was three sloths in the trees and they were awake and active! We took some pictures and video clips. We also saw several varieties of birds and a humming bird. We then saw their small, but colorful and interesting acquariums. They also had some tidal pool exhibits with sample marine life, turtles, and sharks. It was well worth a short visit and there are some great views of the water area and the anchorage.
Here are some photos from the anchorage, some of the work Jason and Lara were doing, pictures of the sloth, the museum, sunsets, and the pizza party we went to on Tuesday night:
View full-sized slideshow
We had suggested the museum to the family on another catamaran called Stealaway. They are from South Africa. I invited them to come over to Tahina. The father was asking for some help with his computer, and I thought the kids might like to play on our Wii. It gave us the excuse to clean up Tahina, and things are much tidier now. It was a good end to a busy day.
We still have much to do this week. Unfortunately for us, this is easter weekend and many places are closing. We found out the local fuel dock ran out of fuel yesterday and won’t have more until next week. This could be a problem if we can’t find it somewhere else. The forecast isn’t looking good for sailing to the Galapagos at the moment (very little wind or in the right direction). We are still going to try and head out this weekend if at all possible.
