svbeachhouse

Category: Voyages

  • Panama Canal – Caribbean Side – Colon, Panama – Shelter Bay Marina…..

    January 15th – March 2nd, 2016 (-5 on UTC)

    Dear Friends and Family,

    We left Portobelo in the rain and squalls for the short journey to the north entrance of the Panama Canal. As we were only 17 miles away, we started seeing AIS targets on our chart plotter immediately – eventually counting up to 99 large commercial vessels – mostly at anchor.
    For those who don\’t recall, AIS is our automatic identification system which shows up vessels who have it on our chart plotter. It\’s much like a transponder in an airplane. All commercial vessels over a certain size are required to have this device. Small boats like us can have it voluntarily.

    Note all the LARGE RED ICONS on the left screen. They\’re all the \”Heavy Metal\” we had to watch out for.  The Red graphics on the right are the numerous rain squalls that were upon us which we can see on our radar.  The X is the entrance, the line to it\’s left is the East Breakwater.

    \"Between
    Between the Rain and Fog and over 100 large Ships, entering the narrow entrance to the Panama Canal would be exciting! Note the narrow entrance of the breakwater on our bow as we approach. Shelter Bay is at the top on the end of the peninsula.

    As we approached the fairly narrow entrance to the North side breakwater, we were in essentially rain/fog conditions. As such, I turned on our lights and sound signals for limited visibility. As soon as we entered the breakwater, we made a right turn and paralleled the wall till we came to Shelter Bay about 1/2 mile inside. There\’s a few reefs to avoid, but as you can imagine, the navigation aids here are in perfect shape. Shelter Bay was originally a U.S. Military base (Fort Sherman) during WW1 through the time the US turned the Canal Zone back over to the Panamanian Government in the late 1970\’s.

    \"Nikki
    Nikki on watch while we were dodging the rain squalls. For awhile, we had all Fog Signals and Lights on as we couldn\’t see the entrance to the Panama Canal.
    \"Finally
    Finally, the rain and fog cleared and you can see what we had to watch out for. Thank goodness for modern electronics.

    We wanted to make sure we were able to get a good slip at Shelter Bay Marina and to do so, we had to beat in the \”World ARC\”.
    The World ARC is an 18 month, round the world rally which usually gets about 30-35 boats (to start) and invades anywhere they arrive.
    This would be the third time I\’ll be lapped by the rally. The first time was in 2010, with Cindy in French Polynesia. Then Nikki and I met them in Cocos and Christmas Islands off the Northwest coast of Australia in the Indian Ocean in 2012. Here in 2016, would be the third time at Shelter Bay. To see more on the World ARC, click this link: World ARC Rally

    \"Shelter
    Shelter from the Storm – Shelter Bay, Fort Sherman – Colon, Panama Canal on the North (Caribbean) side. Beach House – awnings up on the left of the photo.

    We were lucky and got a slip right in the center of the action in front of the main facility and restaurant. The docks are in excellent shape, the electricity is good and we\’re able to run our air conditioning in the 90-95 degree heat! As many of you know who have been following us this season, Miss Piggy (aka: Beach House) has had quite a few things go awry. While here, we need to get both water makers up to speed (yet again), both engines will get new rings and bearings and too many little details to list. In fact, it got to be so much in terms of parts, that Nikki took a quick trip back to Florida for a week to pick up 140 pounds worth of boat parts and take care of lots of little things for us back in the US. Mike and Beth would still be bringing another entire suit case when they arrive in March.

    We met with Greg Van Wyck, a Canadian ex-pat and retired Aircraft Mechanic/Engineer. Greg goes by \”The Engine Whisperer\” and it is a well deserved moniker. He has literally taken both our engines apart and is changing the rings and bearings. Apparently, I babied the engines a bit too much and used synthetic oil on them too soon. As such, the rings never \”broke in\” and we\’ve been getting unburned fuel and some oil burning (blow by). When Greg took the engines apart, he said they looked brand new and told me that for the next 500 hours I\’m to use standard 15W-40 diesel engine oil. Duly noted….:-)

    \"We
    We had leaky rings and low compression. Why? Because apparently I babied the engines too much when they were new. The insides looked new according to our brilliant mechanic Greg Van Wyck. Once rebuilt, they purred perfect and no more oil leaks!
    \"Engine
    Engine \”Head\”. After a bit of clean up from the unburnt fuel (low compression), all was put back in order.
    \"Of
    Of course, Captain Boat Boy had to get into the action as well. Here I\’m fixing the smaller of our two water makers in the starboard forward locker.
    \"Speaking
    Speaking of water….Do you think we cut it a bit close on our arrival from the San Blas Islands? That\’s QUARTS by the way (actually liters), not Gallons!

    Our generator was also \”dead\”. Turns out we had three separate issues, none to do with the engine itself. Two broken cables, a bad exhaust temperature probe and some capacitor issues which effected our voltage.

    On my birthday, January 25th, Nikki took me to Panama City for a few days. We went via the Panama Canal Railway which more or less parallels the canal. The ride was a little over an hour from Colon, but it takes that long to get into town as most trips require us to wait for the ships to enter or exit the locks. We then drive over a lowered bridge. The wait is typically 20 minutes to an hour. The traffic is backed up for a mile as here, ships have the right of way!  The canal operates 24/7/365 and takes in 5 million US Dollars per day. Nice if you can get the work.
    We\’d up spending 7 very busy weeks on this side of the Canal and have made a \”recky\” into Panama City as well.

    \"Ah, Ah, it rolls around again. This would be number 62 for me. Nikki made a great Cheesecake (my favorite). YUM!

    As we write, it\’s now the 3rd week of February and we\’re awaiting friends Mike and Beth Lonnes who will be here within the next few weeks to transit the canal. If it all works out well, I\’ll be able to email everyone the approximate time and weblink to the Miraflores Locks and for those of you with an interest, can watch us in real time transit the canal sometime between on the 8th of March. We\’ll definitely update you for that event. In addition, if you\’ve a keen interest in the building of the Panama Canal and it\’s history, check out this book, \”Path Between the Seas\” by David McCullough – click Amazon link here: \”The Path Between the Seas\” by David McCullough

    I leave you with some shots of the Panama Canal in action!

    \""Miss

    \"Doors
    Doors to Gatun Lake. This is the original canal built 102 years ago!. There are two sets of doors side by side.
    \"New
    These are the \”New Canal\” Doors looking north toward the Caribbean Sea. The NEW canal will take SUPER TANKERS up to 125 feet in width. These doors slide in from the side and are much more efficient. Despite the statements about, \”We\’ll be open in a few more months\”. Think at least two more years. Gatun Lake is behind me in this photo and they haven\’t broken into the lake as yet.
    \"The
    The NEW canal looking toward Gatun Lake. Despite the perspective, it\’s quite a bit wider than the original canal.
    \"New
    New LOCK PONDS. These will fill and un-fill with water when the lock is opening and filling. These ponds are designed to be environmentally more friendly as it will keep more fresh water in the lake and let in less salt water. The actual canal is parallel and to the left in this photo.

    For my birthday, Nikki took me on the train to Panama City for the weekend and we got a tasty tour of what was to come.  The difference between the two sides of the canal is as different as the two seas!  The Pacific side is much more metropolitan and looks like a mini Miami Beach.

    \"Arriving
    Arriving in Panama City by the train. These tracks also bring containers back and forth to save money for the smaller vessels.

    Get this!  The average container ship is charged 150,000.00 to 350,000.00 US Dollars per transit!!!

    Passenger Ships are charged up to 500.000.00 US Dollars per trip!  YIKES!  Our fees all up are $2,125.00.  Glad we aren\’t that big.

    I leave you with a photo of the modern Panama City and we\’ll tell you all about it in a future Ship\’s Blog.

    \"Yep,
    Yep, that shiny building on the far right is where we stayed. The Trump Ocean Club. Make no assumptions. It\’s just a very nice hotel.

    Our friends Mike and Beth Lonnes are \”in country\” and will be here on the 5th of March. We\’ll be doing the \”Pacific Puddle Jump Party\” on the 6th and transit the canal to the Pacific Ocean on the 7th of March into Gatun Lake through the Gatun Locks. We\’ll stay the night and finish our transit on the 8th of March going through in quick succession; the Pedro Miguel and finally Miraflores Locks.  We hope to \”live blog\” while going through the canal and when we get to the final Miraflores Locks, let all who are interested link in to see us as we transit to the Pacific Ocean for the first time in 4 years on the LIVE WEBCAM….. We\’ll send a web post out trying to give you as solid a time as we can when we make the jump.

    Stand by and KIT,
    Scott and Nikki – Shelter Bay Marina, North(Caribbean)side of the Panama Canal.

  • Charles F. Hathaway Long Distance Cruising Award…..

    January 11th, 2016 (-5 on UTC)

    Dear Friends and Family,

    I was very pleased to wake up the other day and receive an email that I have been awarded the \”Charles F. Hathaway Long Distance Cruising Trophy\” for 2015 from the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, California.

    The Charles F Hathaway Long Distance Cruising Trophy may be awarded annually by the California Yacht Club to one of its members in recognition of the skill and courageous act that an individual or couple accomplished while deep water cruising. This award is in honor of late Honorary Commodore Charles F Hathaway who kept the vision of the Club on track while also crossing oceans, racing and cruising for many years. This trophy is not intended as a mileage award, but more for recognizing California Yacht Club owners/skippers for their adventuring spirit that personifies the California Yacht Club mission of excellence in boating activities.

    This year, the award is to Dr. Scott Stolnitz, D.D.S.,(Staff Fleet Surgeon, CYC), member since 1975, cruising around the world on his Switch 51 Catamaran, \”Beach House\”.

    \"Hathaway
     The Trophy held by (r-l) Mrs. Charles F Hathaway (Patty), Steve and Stephanie Hathaway.

    Congratulations on an amazing voyage. Best wishes for a successful conclusion.

    Regards – Commodore Richard F. Hamlin – California Yacht Club

    Next update very soon from the Panama Canal.

    Scott & Nikki

  • POSITION REPORT – Beach House – Shelter Bay Marina, North end of the Panama Canal….

    TIME: 2016/01/15 21:10
    LATITUDE: 09-22.08N
    LONGITUDE: 079-57.08W
    COMMENT: Beach House – DOCKED – Shelter Bay Marina, North entrance to the Panama Canal…..

    We arrived from Portobelo in the rain. Shelter Bay will be our home for about 4-6 weeks while we fix all the
    teething issues and get ready to cross the Pacific to Australia!

    Friends Mike and Beth Lonnes will join us for the 24 hour transit of the canal! (It only takes about 6 hours, but we stay
    in Gatun Lake overnight as all the small boats do.

    Stand by, blogs soon.
    Scott and Nikki

  • Portobello, Panama…..

    January 14th, 2016   (-5 on UTC)

    Dear F&F,

    We wish we had more time and not so many boat teething issues, as clearly staying in the San Blas Islands would be good for the soul!

    With all the various little problems discovered in our 1000 mile (can you believe it?) shakedown cruise and no water maker for the moment, we decided to head toward Shelter Bay and the Panama Canal.  A nice stop off en route would be the old port city of Portobelo about 50 miles to our west.  What a history this place has.

    \"Looking
    Looking northeast to main town of Portobello from the southern fortress. Beach House is in the center of the photo, just above the palm tree.

    This city was straight out of the “Pirates of the Caribbean”.  Portobelo became a very important port on the \”Spanish Main\” (see link here: Spanish Main) and sailors from Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake and Henry Morgan all were here.  Francis Drake was buried in a lead coffin just outside the harbor – exact location unknown!  Most of the Spanish gold and silver that came from South and southern Central America passed through Portobello.  To find more about Portobelo, click on the following link:  Portobello, Colon – Panama

    \"Drakes
    Drakes Rock – This is the entrance to Portobello and named for where it is believed Sir Francis Drake was buried at sea in a lead coffin.

    Once the Panama Canal was built in 1904, the city of Portobelo lost its’ economic importance. Despite being only 20 miles from Colon (Columbus) on the north shore of the canal and its’ status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it’s well off the beaten path. Today only a population of around 4,000 people live here.

    The people are mostly locals with a smattering of ex-pats, all of who remind you of escapists from a Jimmy Buffet song. We had plenty of room to anchor and were in the company of around 40 boats, many of which looked like they were semi-permanent residents.  The city is in general disrepair, built amongst the ruins of the old fort.

    \""Captain
    \”Captain Jack\’s will get you high tonight\” – Billy Joel. This was THE local hangout. Jack is an American ex-pat who just sort of threw out his anchor here after sailing around the world.

    The natural harbor is quite large and has two walled fortifications on each side. The entrance is fairly narrow and should have been easy for the defenders to protect. Despite this natural advantage, many Pirates were able to take over and sack the city on multiple occasions.  See link to Captain Morgan’s sack of Portobelo here:  Captain Morgan\’s sack of Portobelo

    The Battle of Portobello – click link here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Porto_Bello

    \"Looking
    Looking toward the entrance to the northwest. Drake\’s rock would be just outside to the right. You can see how narrow the bay is and how easy it should have been to protect the town. But alas, that\’s what makes history. 
    \"The
     The canon and fortifications of the southern fortress looking toward town and the northern fortress.  

    We also visited a famous local Church of the Black Christ, which on October 21st every year, swells the cities population into the 10’s of thousands.  This statue is famous because of the mystery it’s shrouded in. It is perhaps the most important Christian shrine in Panama. The statue, found by fisherman was created in Spain and washed ashore around 1658 – presumably from a lost ship at sea.

    \"The
    The legendary wood statue of the \”Black Christ\” – Cristo de Negro. To see more about the statue and its’ legend, click on the links below:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristo_Negro_(Portobelo) 

    Church of the Black Christ

    With one night in the anchorage and anxious to get settled into Shelter Bay, we’d go the final 20 miles tomorrow and get down to the serious “fixits” Miss Piggy (aka: Beach House) would require.  The list just keeps getting bigger and we’ve a very long way to go!

    \"Nikki
    Nikki just loves a canoe. This was the place we tied the dinghy up to wander the ruins of the old southern fortress.

    We’ll next write you from the north side of the Panama Canal – Shelter Bay Marina.

    Scott and Nikki

  • POSITION REPORT – Beach House – Portobello, Panama…..

    TIME: 2016/01/14 21:53
    LATITUDE: 09-33.46N
    LONGITUDE: 079-39.56W
    COMMENT: Beach House – ANCHORED – Portobelo, Panama…..

    The home of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Much of the Gold and Silver that made it\’s way to Europe, passed through here.
    Sir Francis Drake was buried at sea, just outside this beautiful natural harbor.

    We\’ll do a bit of exploring the old Spanish Forts and check out the earthy local scene.

  • San Blas Islands, Panama – The land of the Guna Yala…..

    January 14th, 2016     (-5 on UTC)

    Dear Friends & Family,

    We last left you in Isla Providencia, Columbia as we were about to set sail for the San Blas Islands of Panama.

    No matter how we timed our departure, it would be a two day, two night sail to Isla Povenier in San Blas. The first 6 hours were a bit too close to the wind, but finally, the wind backed and we sailed pretty much the rest of the way. One of the things we would have to watch out for, was the possibility of heavy ship traffic heading into and out of the Panama Canal. We were surprised at how little we actually saw.

    We arrived at first light and anchored off the small airstrip, which could handle nothing bigger than a large Cessna. We watched the local flight use every bit of the runway to land and most of it to take off!

    Our first discovery was that there was no way to get any cash in the San Blas and as such we couldn’t check in with Customs and Immigration at the airfield. Panama is quite pricey at $365.00 USD for two people, the boat and the small local Guna Yala Council fee.  Given our water shortage due to both water makers being out of service, we would have to make our stay in the San Blas shorter than we would have liked. Many cruisers spend weeks or even months in this 40 mile by 15 mile area with hundreds of small islands.

    \"The
    A local \”Ula\”. The Guna Yala\’s main method of inter-island transportation. Note the colorful \”Mola\” blouses worn by the locals..

    The people of the San Blas are known as the Guna Yala (also: Kuna Yala). They are truly an anachronism to the modern world. They are one of the few peoples of Central America who staunchly refused Christianity. They have a very interesting language. Their society is based on a matriarchal structure. The Guna Yala\’s religious beliefs include village Shamans and they are known for being very superstitious. There are three male chiefs of various geographical areas and one Big Chief for the entire people, but home life is ruled by the women.

    Few speak English and few even speak Spanish. There are about 50,000 Guna Yalan people in Eastern Panama. Their Grandparents fought against the Panamanian government and were declared an independent autonomous region in 1925. They seem to have a high natural resistance to disease and are known for extremely long lives. In the jungles of Panama, which were heavily subject to Malaria and Yellow Fever – killing tens of thousands of Westerners – the Guna Yala have evolved to stand up to much of what the ancient tropical jungles could throw at them.

    To see more on the Guna Yalan People, click this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guna_Yala

    When the Christian Missionary’s arrived, they taught the Guna Yala the art of applique. The Guna didn’t adapt to Christianity but really adapted to the art of making Mola cloth. See the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mola_(art_form)

    In the boating crowd, it’s an absolute must to buy some Mola Cloth from the Guna Yala. Two of the most famous Mola artists are “Lisa” who is a transvestite and Venancio who is a “Master Mola Maker”.

    We didn’t meet Lisa, but she is not unusual amongst the Guna Yala. In many cultures (Tonga comes to mind), if there are too many male children, one is chosen to help in traditional female roles. Amongst the Guna Yala, a matriarchal society, there is no stigma to sexual orientation.

    \"It\'s
    It\’s actually unusual for men to make Mola cloth, but Venancio has been doing so for 35 years.

    \"Nikki Nikki and I chose this one after looking at several dozen. It\’s quite intricate and has several layers of hand stitched appliqué

    As we were low on cash, we opted to buy an expensive Mola, but were limited to one!

    The Islands of the San Blas are very much like the Tuamotus of the South Pacific. Everything here is owned by someone. This includes all the land and ocean surrounding the islands. This includes the fish, the lobster, the conch and the coconuts. As such, technically we need permission to go ashore, but we actually saw few people to on shore to ask. The one small island we did go ashore at was called “Otub” and it’s tiny little neighbor “Little Otub”. There was a sign welcoming visitors in English and French. Quite interestingly, not in Spanish.

    \"Welcome
    Welcome to Ortub Island. There was no one here till the evening when we saw lights from the locals.
    \"Nikki
    Nikki taking in the Palm Tree seat. We\’re on the northeast side of Ortub Island. Little Ortub is on the left.
    \"Here
    Here we are on \”Ortub Island\” in the San Blas. Beach House is anchored just in the lee of \”Little Ortub\”

    .

    We took some photos, investigated what were clearly transient huts (not permanent homes) where we imagine the owners come to tend their coconuts and perhaps fish. Lobster and Conch abound in the region. At night, we did see what appeared to be Guna Yala ashore. Interestingly, it is not allowed for non Guna Yalan’s to be ashore at night. As well, they strongly discourage intermarriage and any outside influence on their culture.

    \"There
    There were two different huts on the island. Both in great disrepair. Despite this, they seemed to both be used at night.
    \"You
    \”Little Ortub\” Island. You could walk across this little piece of heaven in about 10 seconds in one direction and 15 seconds in the other. A classic little oasis in the San Blas Islands of Panama

    Water was getting low and knowing we had lots of boat projects to work on, we headed toward our next destination – Portbelo and on to the Panama Canal.

    That will be our next update…..stand by!

    Scott and Nikki

  • POSITION REPORT – Beach House – ANCHORED – San Blas Islands, Coco Banderos Cays, Panama….

    TIME: 2016/01/13 18:37
    LATITUDE: 09-31.13N
    LONGITUDE: 078-38.86W
    MARINE: NO
    WIND_SPEED: 12
    WIND_DIR: NE
    CLOUDS: 50%
    VISIBILITY: 12
    BARO: 1025.1
    TREND: 1
    AIR_TEMP: 31.7C
    COMMENT: Beach House – ANCHORED – San Blas Islands – Coco Banderos Cays, Panama

    Reminds us of the Southern Grenadines in the Eastern Caribbean. A bit crowded don\’t ya\’ know!

  • POSITION REPORT – Beach House – Anchored Isla Povenier, San Blas – Panama

    TIME: 2016/01/12 12:25
    LATITUDE: 09-33.38N
    LONGITUDE: 078-56.81W
    COURSE: 146T
    SPEED: 8.0
    MARINE: NO
    WIND_SPEED: 12
    WIND_DIR: N
    CLOUDS: 70%
    VISIBILITY: 10
    BARO: 1024.1
    TREND: 1
    AIR_TEMP: 28.3C
    COMMENT: Beach House – ANCHORED – Isla Povenier, San Blas Islands, Panama

     

  • POSITION REPORT – Beach House – Providencia to San Blas, Panama…..

    AIRMAIL YOTREPS
    IDENT: N6ABC
    TIME: 2016/01/11 11:32
    LATITUDE: 11-28.47N
    LONGITUDE: 079-58.57W
    COURSE: 140T
    SPEED: 6.8
    MARINE: YES
    WIND_SPEED: 12
    WIND_DIR: NE
    WAVE_HT: 0.2M
    WAVE_PER: 6
    SWELL_DIR: E
    SWELL_HT: 1.5M
    SWELL_PER: 6
    CLOUDS: 30%
    VISIBILITY: 15
    BARO: 1025.1
    TREND: 1
    AIR_TEMP: 27.8C
    COMMENT: Beach House – EN Route – Isla Providencia to San Blas Islands, Panama

    HOUSE KEEPING NOTE:
    As yet, Ken our web guru hasn\’t had time to figure out how to send only the \”Ship\’s Blog\” to the website for general distribution.
    The original purpose of sending this mini blog along with the \”Ship\’s Position Reports\” was to give those interested the more detailed look inside the voyage and for some of you to always know where we are for safety.

    What I\’m going to to for now, is NOT post these directly to the site to avoid overloading those who just want the \”Ship\’s Blog\”. They will still be picked up by Ship Trak and Yotreps and our position Icon will be seen on the top tab of the website under \”Track Me\”.
    We\’re still having a bit of an issue with the \”Winlink\” tracking system, but expect to have that bug out before we leave Panama.
    When I get to the next \”internet cafe\”, I\’ll post them directly and they will not be resent to you via FaceBook or Email.

    ***BTW, all the funny numbers and brackets you see in the subject line above tell me how to post this to what sections automatically via remote email. Just ignore it

    Mini Update:
    We left Providencia yesterday morning after having left the day before! The winds were not right, so we turned around and waited a day enjoying a leisurely motor inside the reef back to Santa Catalina Harbor.

    We motored the first 6 hours of our 265 nm trip to the SEast toward San Blas. This puts us a bit into the sea and not as comfy as we\’d like,
    but the sea is fairly calm and the winds on the beam, so not too bad. We\’re about 1/2 way now and expect landfall on the morning of the
    12th (tomorrow). Our one (of 3) charging sources is working to keep the house batteries up – thank goodness for triple redundancy.
    I\’ll keep this one short and let you all know when we\’re anchored up tomorrow.

    Starting to see lots of Panama Canal traffic. The radar and AIS (automatic identification system) equipment are more than helpful!
    KIT,
    Scott and Nikki

     

  • Isla Providencia, Columbia…..

    January 9th, 2016 (-5 on UTC)

    Dear Friends and Family,

    FIRST A HOUSEKEEPING NOTE: Apparently I\’ve been inadvertently sending all my position reports to you all and that may be a bit overwhelming in terms of how many blog/notices you\’re getting. I\’ll turn that off so you\’ll only get the more infrequent blogs like this one.
    If you want to receive the position reports, drop me an email and I\’ll add you to that list (if you\’re not already on it). The rest of you will only get the \”Ship\’s Blog\”.

    We arrived here three days ago to the very lovely anchorage of Santa Catalina. The anchorage is quite shallow, very well protected
    and has the small Santa Catalina Island adjacent to the main Island of Providencia. The entrance is well marked and could even be done at night. When we first arrived, we were the third boat, eventually we became nine. About 200 boats a year visit the island.

    As we approached the island from the Northeast, we hailed, \”Mr. Bush\” on channel 16 to find out about checking into the island and all details. Mr. Bush is the local agent that handles small craft. He quite famous in the cruising community in this area and gives a whole new concept to \”ADD\”…:-)

    Mr. Bush (no relation to the other Bush) is a descendant of the British maritime history of this island and of course there are a lot of \”Bush\’s\” in town. Everything from Former Slaves, Spaniards, and Pirates are all in the mix here. Henry Morgan, the famous Buccaneer sought refuge here from the various Navy\’s that were chasing him before he became \”respectable\”. There is an interesting geologic formation as you enter the harbor. It\’s a split in the mountain and it\’s officially known as \”Split Hill\” but locally known as \”Morgan\’s Arse\”….:-)

    For the most part, the people here speak Creole English which means if they don\’t want you to understand them – you won\’t. Many of the older folks speak \”The Kings English\” but the younger kids speak more Spanish. Their parents really encourage them to speak English as they see our native tongue as the future here. There are lots of young kids here on the island of about 6000+/-.

    We have been having more than the usual beginning of the season \”teething\” issues and are a bit overwhelmed by it. Panama will be where we really need to get it all fixed before the long Pacific Crossings. Mike and Beth Lonnes are currently trying to plan to visit for our transit of the Panama Canal which should be near the end of February.

    Currently, our generator is out, one water maker is out, our port engine has two broken bracket bolts holding the front right motor mount (which means we can\’t use the big alternator to charge the batteries on that engine – I had to take it out of service). As such, our normally triple redundant battery charging system is down to only one way to charge the batteries.

    We\’ve still got a bit of oil burning going on – worse on port than starboard. The starboard fuel tank has \”bug\” and fortunately is getting cleaner at the cost of many fuel filters. The new fuel polishing system was not plumbed properly (it is now) and wasn\’t doing the job.

    We have a few electronic gremlins and a water system gremlin going on, but other than that, everything more or less works fine….:-)))
    The dinghy battery was dead and we had a blown fuse as it had an internal short and melted itself. New battery and fuse, we\’re back in the dinghy business.

    We\’ll sort it all out in Panama – we hope!

    Yesterday, we met a young video production local named Joel. He was at the statue of the the Virgin Mary which is right above our boat over looking the harbor at this gorgeous bay. He was flying his drone and taking lots of video and stills and we hope to eventually get a copy and if so, we\’ll post it on the website. It was really beautiful. We also rented an ATV and went round the island which is 6 miles or so north to south and 3 miles or so east to west. It took about 2 hours with all our stops. The diving here is apparently excellent and the Columbian mainlanders do indeed use this as a tropical vacation get away. Joel, our young videographer is a local who helps produce tourism videos to market the island\’s tourism industry.

    Some of the reefs are lovely and you can motor around the island in plenty of water INSIDE the reef which is a real plus. The main town of Isabel can be walked in about 10 minutes. A supply ship comes from the sister Island of San Andreas (40 miles to the south-southwest) where there are 40,000 people (it\’s quite a bit larger and much more commercial).

    We have sort of a \”host\” here. Manfred is his name and he\’s huge! He calls me \”Cap\”. A great guy, helped us with the diesel (took on 100 gallons) and getting the mechanic here to sort the dinghy. Manfred is a fisherman by trade and lives on Santa Catalina. He told us that water and medical issues are the two really stressful things about the island which he otherwise refers to a \”Heaven\” or just plain old \”Paradise\”.

    They actually have water, but the pumping of it to people is the big issue. They have only fresh out of medical school M.D.\’s and if anything serious occurs, they need to fly to San Andreas or sometimes even Columbia itself. This can be very expensive for the locals.
    A young girl broke her arm right after we had this conversation and she had to wait overnight to be flown to San Andreas on the daily commercial flight to see the trained M.D\’s who live there. The irony is, they have a hospital, x-ray and everything they need – just no one with enough experience to do the Medical work. I do teeth, not broken arms! Bill and Jo Strassberg from \”Visions of Johanna\” would have been heroes here. They apparently do have a Dentist btw.

    Manfred (whose Christian full name is Webster Archibald) is a descendant from African escaped slaves or slaves of the Pirates who were left here to guard the island. It\’s possible that \”Archibald\” was his great-great-great grandfathers owner. He\’s not sure, but it\’s all quite fascinating. Manfred joined the local politics and became a council member to get a walkway built, a park built and the foot bridge improved to Santa Catalina (it\’s 100 yds. long). He also helped the fisherman with some local issues.

    Once he\’d accomplished his mission, he quit the council saying that all the local politicians were corrupt and he didn\’t want anything to do with them. What else is new?….:-) He\’s charming, very muscular, entrepreneurial and hunky handsome. He\’s married to a gal from Nicaragua and turns all the young women\’s heads. He also runs a \”round the island tour boat\”, it seemed to be packed full of young girls…go figure..:-)

    Nikki forgot to forward her emails to the boat, so we\’ll try and get some internet for her today. If not, none of you should be concerned she\’s not writing. She just doesn\’t have her email onboard right now.

    We tried to leave this morning but when we got just south of the island we realized we\’d jumped the weather window by a day and took a leisurely motor up the coast to see the pretty sights and returned to safe harbor here in Santa Catalina. The weather looks excellent for a departure tomorrow morning for the two day, two night trip to El Povenir in the San Blas Islands of Panama.

    Stand by for more along the way and I promise I\’ll turn off the position reports as to not overwhelm your inbox\’s with \”Beach House\” stuff.
    Cheers and KIT (keep in touch),
    Scott and Nikki – Santa Catalina Harbor, Isla Providencia – Columbia.