SUNSHINE!

Welcome to our Blog. Our latest entry always comes up first... 
Click this link if you want to start at the beginning:
FIRST BLOG ENTRY
If you want to start at the beginning of our trip:
START OF TRIP
If you want to see the story of our trip from South Carolina
(where we bought the boat)
 to Lake Ontario Click this link:
  SOUTH CAROLINA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After what seems like weeks of rain, we have just enjoyed 2 glorious days of sunshine!  With rainy season here in Panama, they seem to measure rainfall in feet instead of inches...  We made a water collection system with our new to us awning (thanks again Stan & Joanna) and a small collector on the front area of the boat which we bought for $10 at the last swap meet.

There is a collector hose on each side. When we expect rain,
we lower the support poles and the water collects on each side.

A "pantyhose" filter

It is very simple but very effective.

Here is the front collection system. In sunny weather it acts as a shade for the bow area.

Last week we had another great week.  Last Sunday we enjoyed another breakfast with a bunch of ex-pats.  Great people!  And thank you to Mary, who drives us everywhere in their really fast Panga.

On Thursday we dodged the rain and Carl and Mary took a bunch of us to town to buy provisions. By "provisions" sailors usually mean beer, wine and booze, and sometimes a little food.  Anyway, when it came time to come back to Dolphin Bay we filled the Panga up!

On Thursday evening we were invited to Juanna's house for cocktails (Mary & Carl's next door neighbor).  Juanna is from Columbia and one of the most generous and kind people we have met here in Panama.  While her husband, Dave works in Afghanistan, she is single handedly building their dream world property. Another evening of great fun and friends...

Julie, Joanne, Bill, Carl, Juanna and Dave (from Four Coconuts)

On Friday morning we took Four Coconuts with us for a walk through the Smithsonian property,  We just can't seem to get enough of this great place.  As I mentioned it has really been raining this week, so some of the trails were a MESS!

We cut palm branches to keep from sinking in the mud.

No matter how many time we come here we always find new and wonderful thinks to look at and eat...

A BLUE frog!

We decorated the band saw at the abandoned sawmill.

Another mystery fruit...

The halfway break....

The poison Green frog.

On Friday afternoon we headed to Starfish Beach for the weekend.  We also started scuba lessons for our friends on Four Coconuts. What a great place to play in the water...

Our "DIVE BOAT"

Does it get better than this?

Tyler on shore duty...

Maya's FIRST DIVE!

What a GREAT dive platform!

Dave & Maya

Dave, Maya, Toutou and me...

This morning we were motoring back from Starfish Beach to Dolphin Bay when one of the "v" belts on the engine gave out.  Within seconds, there was smoke (later we knew it was steam) billowing out of every vent in the pilothouse, The engine alarm was going off so we immediately shut down the engine and shutdown the electrical system.  After getting into the engine room we saw the problem.  To make sure we hadn't seized the engine, we turned it over and all was OK.  Fortunately, we were about a mile from shore in 75' of water.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a lick of wind.  I put up the main anyway, and we called our friends on s/v Four Coconuts, who where behind us a few miles.  They came and stayed with us until I got the spare belt installed and the coolant re-filled.  After about a half hour, we were back in business.  To be safe, we turned on the engine room camera which displays on both our helm displays.  The temp stayed in normal range and there doesn't seem to be any lasting effects...

Just another day in our cruising life.... Cheers!