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Starblazer - 01/02/2014 - Finally we escape Panama



We have not had the best experience of the delights of Panama because we
have been delayed all week, awaiting parts for the generator. I have not
written a log since Sunday because it would have just been a tale of woe!

First thing Monday morning John phoned Fischer Panda in the UK, spoke to the
very helpful Service Manager. He went ashore to telephone Venezuela, which
was the nearest agent for Farymann, the German makers of the diesel engine
in the generator and to get internet access. Having also tried Miami,
Germany (closed at 1600 UT) and two stockists in the USA he found the parts
we needed in South Carolina. Ordered, paid for and shipped that afternoon,
we paid for a FedEx next day delivery. It was almost a ‘next week’ delivery
and cost us significantly more to finally get the bits back to the boat. I’ll
gloss over the frustrations, suffice to say customs took over 36 hours to
determine we needed to pay just over $6. Easy: just go into the National
Bank close to the cargo handling area of the airport, hand them a green
docket, they look up your account on the computer, take your money, stamp
the docket, you return to customs, they release the package. NOT!
Eventually at 1430 yesterday (Thursday) John was told the computer was still
down, come back tomorrow. It was still down today. Eventually the very
helpful FedEx customs agent managed to broker an arrangement which cost us
another $12.50 on top of the $6 plus $80 to be escorted back to the
anchorage, then the clock ticked past 1600 so he had to pay $15 overtime at
two separate custom’s offices. On top of all that he racked up about $150
in taxi fares. We have the package, we didn’t hang around and pulled the
anchor up at 1800.

I was exceedingly glad to get away from La Playita. It could be a pleasant
anchorage but is spoilt by the constant traffic going out to the anchored
ships. For some reason they have to travel at speed, weaving between the
anchored yachts and ignoring the fairway, setting up an horrendous wake
which felt as though it was going to rip off our bathing platform. At least
we have been spared a second weekend of manic fishing boats (large, private
motor boats) also speeding through the anchorage. Sadly this week has
rather dulled my thinking about Panama, we didn’t manage to get to the Las
Perlas islands which are supposed to be beautiful, we missed out on all the
socialising and both the boat and dinghy are filthy. The new, white shade I
made for the front of the cockpit is black just from the air, probably
something to do with the workboat which sounds as if it has no silencer!

On a more positive note, we are on our way only 7 hours after the rest of
the fleet started from Las Perlas, there is wind (unexpectedly) and we are
sailing , making 6.5 knots with a knot of helpful current. Dinner was
comfort food: ham, eggs, chips and baked beans! I’d bought some inexpensive
packets of a flavoured maize product, not knowing what it was supposed to
make. I think it is used as a thickened drink for breakfast (?) however I
decided to make it up like custard. It nearly set and was very tasty
however I also made a stunning discovery as a result of a messy mishap. I’d
placed the ramekins on top of the ice box, not expecting enough wind to
cause us to heel. On starboard tack the door flap on the icebox fell open,
one ramekin slipped off, decanting half its contents on the door and inside
the icebox. Messy, but the frozen desert in the icebox was just a delicious
icecream!

I forgot to mention something else we missed out on, the prize giving on
Thursday evening. We came second in our division on corrected time, a
stunning result for an overloaded cruising boat with a fairly lazy
short-handed crew! Actually the secret to our success was ignorance. John
bought some wind instrument displays second hand and fitted them. We began
to suspect they were reading a little low, just not as low as they were.
The calibration had been set at 65% so the constant 20 – 25 knots was more
like 30, the gusts of 28 – 30… Better not to know. We usually had both
genoas fully out!

Joyce








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