Trying to keep my karma intact is a delicate balance.
I try not to think hateful thoughts of others
(sometimes I am unsuccessful) and I attempt to avoid thinking that bad things
will happen, in case my thoughts make it so.
Playing these little mind games is probably an exercise in futility, but
on days that my thoughts are the only things that keep me occupied, (like during
passages) it seems inevitable.
This last
trip, making our repeat journey back to Ecuador from Panama was very smooth,
and seemed to go quickly.
When there is
nothing else to worry about, those lurking and black expectations can become a
self-fulfilling prophesy; this time however, we seemed to be able to quickly
handle the stuff that inevitably goes wrong on any 6 day trip, in a sailboat or
otherwise.
Once again we saw the blackening of the skies over Panama
City as we sat in the bumpy La Playita anchorage. With each passing day, we could feel the
humidity increase and air tingle with the anticipated lightning and thunder
show that would be descending on the hapless boats still foolish enough to
continue to delay their departure to points south and west. As per usual, I was anxious, but Ron still
had a few more things to purchase prior to our “getting out of dodge.” The last item on our list proved to be
problematic, which obviously was the reason it was the last item on our
list. Our new-to-us generator still
needed 15 feet of marine-quality exhaust hose (marine-quality…….I’m sure the
definition of this is “overpriced, and sure to fail at the most inopportune
moment”). After several days of running
around town, combined with the inevitable haggling and overcharging of the taxi
fares, we finally located a store that had the stuff, but not before we were
assured, in no uncertain terms that they didn’t have any. ???
Thankfully, a woman swung by, and in rapid Spanish told the 7 men
standing around sorrowfully scratching their heads while looking at the
computer, that of course they had the hose.
We could only assume this was the madam-jefe, (ladyboss) – she needs to
be cloned and distributed around ALL the shops of Panama City, or Latin America
for that matter.
Preparations done, a “fraught with angst” trip to the La
Playita dock for fuel and water, and we again escaped the treacherous grip of
the lightning capitol of Central America.
Sunday – With just
our jib up, we headed for Punta Mala (bad point) which would see us exiting the
Bay of Panama. All good….sun shining,
wind blowing 8-10 knots.
Monday – Jib still up, and a steady northwest wind blowing,
we were happy making 3-4 knots in our floating home.
Tuesday – Arrival at the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence
Zone, which as it implies, is the area where the south and the north weather
meet up) and it’s a “hang onto our hats” kind of day. Overcast and threatening, we knew this area
just needed to be gotten through. My
mind briefly turned to the ill-fated Rebel Heart of 2 months ago, and their
unfortunate meeting of this zone. I said
a silent prayer for our own home, and hung on.
Torrential tropical rains most of the day, winds gusting to 35 knots,
seas freshening to 6-8 feet, lightning and thunder, the dreaded accompaniments
to this area…..the worst part is not knowing how long it will last. Our radar display showed the weather that,
despite course shifts of 30-50 degrees, we just couldn’t seem to shake. In addition, after furling our jib, we
noticed that the tack had come apart from the inner forestay (in normal speak,
the bottom of the jib, where it attaches to the wire going up the mast, had its
shackle pin come out, and as such was no longer attached at the bottom). When we changed out our sails from the new
ones to the old ones, we had neglected to wire up the pin so it couldn’t back
down. Now with all the rolling and
bouncing, we needed to wait until it was safe for Ron to go forward to pull the
sail back down and put the pin back in, but only after I had unfurled the sail. Head down…..
Wednesday – Through the zone, the day dawned bright and sunny. We dried out, but the winds had also taken a
turn for the worse, and were now from the south. Bummer.
Motor on, staysail and main up.
Thursday – Cloudy.
Lumpy. 20-30 knots of wind on the
nose. More motoring. Only positive thing about conditions like
this is that your abs get a workout.
Friday – A beautiful day dawned. Wind on our beam at 15 – 20 knots,
bliss. Today, our last day out, with
perfect conditions, we gave our new Monitor windvane a try. It took some time to get the lines sorted,
but with a bit of tweaking one thing and another, we had that baby dialed
in. Never before had it ever been so
silent. When an electronic autopilot is being
used, you still hear a faint whirring when there are course corrections…..this
was utterly without sound. Lying in our
aft berth, there wasn’t a whisper of noise coming from our old pilot, located
just under the mattress. We knew we had
made the right decision in purchasing this important piece of kit.
Mid-afternoon, Ron
noticed some water leaking across our galley floor. After a search under the sink, we discovered
that the elbow fitting on the drain had broken, it being the highest quality
plastic that a $2.99 Panamanian part could provide. This is not a tragedy; HOWEVER, the other end
of the hose was below the waterline. If
you know anything about physics, this COULD be a tragedy, because if we didn’t
do something, we were going to swamp our own boat. With rapid fire timing, we tied off the hose
upright, and shoved in one of our thruhull wooden cones, stopping the offending
intrusion. Problem solved.
We arrived at the “waiting room” at Bahia de Caraquez an
hour prior to high tide, and after a half hour of frantic VHF radio calls, we
got confirmation that Pedro, the Piloto, was on his way out to guide us through
the “very thin water” of mouth of the Rio Chone, which was to be our home for
the next 6 months. The familiar sights
of the bridge to San Vicente, the high-rise condos at the end of the peninsula,
the murky brown water, the decreased humidity, the decrease in
temperature…..all made us feel welcomed.
Hellloooooo, Ecuador.
