Sailing Trance

Tuesday January 21

Today is the day we’re on our way! After saying goodbye to our new friends, we departed Shelter Bay Marina at noon, only to spend 2 hours at the gas dock waiting to fill up. There was another sailboat there pumping over 1000 gallons of diesel! And what did Dan do? Yes. He gets on the gas barge to help speed up the process.

We anchored outside of the Marina in the designated area, waiting for our advisor to board our boat. Miguel was in charge of our transit through the Gatun(Gah-toon) locks. Inside the locks the water bubbled up from beneath us as we rose 30 feet.

After exiting the third lock we headed for a mooring area where we spent the night.

Monday January 20

Sue and Al arrived last night, they along with Stacey will help us as line handlers as we go through the canal tomorrow. This morning we took the nature walk with them. Our afternoon was spent relaxing by the pool, we had dinner at the restaurant here, we all had the delicious special of grilled salmon over risotto. Back at the boat we played a card game I can’t spell it but sounds like “you nieve” (we learned fro Kari and Nico).

Sunday January 19

Dan did this, while I was sleeping. Out with the old, and in with the new… he replaced the inverter. An easy job, right? Not so when the old inverter was mounted in a cabinet behind an air conditioning unit.

I spent most of day sleeping. Our friends Sue and Al arrived around 5pm, we all joined the cruisers pot luck dinner, grilled chicken, watched a bit of football then went back to bed.

Saturday January 18

Another trip into Colon to Reys to pick up provisions for the week including our transit through the Panama Canal.

Saturday night was music night, the usuals performed with new place playlists.

Saturday night I had a migraine, the first one probs more than a decade. Not a fun night😩

Friday January 17

We never really like the orange Cetol color on the teak wood, had often talked about stripping it off adding teak oil or a sealer. Today was day, it started with the bow, well, that’s actually the only part that was done. Anyway the wood grain looks awesome oiled, the rest will come slowly.

We settled on house of 30 years today. It is very bitter sweet, loads of memories, friendships and great neighbors.

So this is our home for the next couple of years as we travel and sail around the world. #retirementgoals

Thursday January 16

We all took a long nature walk today, in search of monkeys. This area of the marina used to be occupied by the US Military. There are several abandoned buildings and structures here.

Wednesday January 15

Always a boat project to be done! On our sail here to Panama, the last day the weather was pretty rough, and the seams came open on the sunbrella sacrificial cover on the staysail. After further review, the decision was made not to replace all sunbrella on the Staysail (Staceysail), instead we removed deteriorated threads and re-sewed the sunbrella. This was a three person job! #sewingonaboat

Danielle’s friend Stacey arrived last night, she’s going through the canal with us next week.

Tuesday January 14

Dan and I took the bus into Colon to get a few food items at Reys nand check out the hardware store for teak sealer. We had take a taxi back to the marina as the bus was going on to Panama City.

Dan and Danielle replaced the insulation in the engine compartment, they cut out a section of wood above the exhaust elbow, screwed in a fireproof piece above. There is now a 3/4” clearance, where as before the elbow was rubbing against the insulation scorching it as well as the original wood, which was a fire hazard.

Monday January 13

The day started with a group nature walk. We saw several species of birds, heard the monkeys, but didn’t see them.

Returning to the boat, Dan and Danielle replaced all the insulation in the engine room.

Had some pool time, then dinner.

Had dinner with great people who knocked at our boat by accident, they were looking for a different Island Packet. It turned out great, lots of laughs, great time!

Sunday January 12

Did I mention how hot it is here? Dan finished sanding the wood on the bow. We walked around the marina looking at other Island Packets to see what they used on the wood, varnish, oil or a combo of both. We decided on the combo, it’s a product called Semco now the hard part is finding a distributor who will ship to Panama. Will need to make a few calls tomorrow.

Tonight was cruisers BBQ in the Palapa. Bring your own meat to grill and a dish to pass.

The majority of new friends are from Canada and other countries.