Picking up where I left off, we spent another week or so in the San Blas Islands. A few more days in the Robesons with a cocktail / dinner party on each boat the next three nights after the floating cocktail party. We were all procrastinating moving on because the wind was a fairly steady 15-20, gusting higher, and anywhere you go from the Robesons is upwind and into significant swell. We took a great river trip in the dinghies, winding up a small river into the jungle and even visited a Kuna cemetery. The birds and monkeys along the river were pretty interesting as we moved through the very quiet water with a heavy jungle canopy above us. Definitely the highlight of the stay in the Robesons. But after another three nights of partying and too much fun with Kookla and Blow Me Away, it was time to go, wind and swells or not.
Our plan was to check out, spend a night at Chichime, then move on to Linton and Portobello. But there wasn't much cooperation on that plan. First, when we attempted to checkout on Saturday morning we were informed the port captain was gone for the weekend. They're supposed to be open 7 days / week, but…
So we moved to Chichime and figured we'd check out on Monday morning and shorten our stay in Portobello. But on Monday morning our voltage regulator, which had been barely limping along for the last month, only charging at full blast (i.e., no regulation), died entirely (the two other spares had failed in short order a month before). That led to five hours of fiddling with the alternator wiring, taking measurements and talking with Electrodyne who made our alternators. Finally, after five hours, they concluded that they had given me incorrect information for the last three weeks regarding how to "full field" the alternator. I made a simple change to the wiring and we had power immediately. I was the regulator for the rest of the trip, sticking my head into the 120F engine room to change the wiring as needed when the battery voltage got too high. So that was Monday.
We finally got away on Tuesday, but since we were due in Shelter Bay on Wednesday we had to skip our stop in Portobello. With only 3-4 knots of wind from well aft we had to motor the entire way to Linton. We made a stop for a sleepless night rolling around in Linton, then moved on to Shelter Bay and tied up on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday we met with a service person from Lyman Morse, then Andy - our excellent mechanic working on the autopilot, and finally Ramone who is helping with the solar panel replacement. It was a busy day.
Friday morning was up and off to Panama City (or just Panama as it is known locally) with Brad and Gloria from Kindred Spirit. We spent a few hours running errands around Panama, then checked into the Decapolis and enjoyed air conditioning and a nice dinner. With a good internet connection we each downloaded about a thousand email messages (no exaggeration) and spent a little time on the web.
Saturday was the Pacific Puddle Jump seminar at the Balboa Yacht Club. The presentation was a little light on hard content, in part because much of the material had been emailed out earlier, though we had not received it because we were not registered on the correct list. None the less there were free cocktails and an opportunity to meet a number of people on other boats who will be making the crossing to French Polynesia in the same general time frame, and at least one boat that will be stored in October in the same marina where we plan to store New Morning. All mixed in with the usual telling of cruising tales, discussion of the inability to obtain badly needed repair parts and cruising plans.
Sunday was spent mostly on the internet catching up on a wide range of tasks. Then on Monday Fay flew to San Diego and I returned to Shelter Bay. I'll continue to develop my boat mechanic skills this week while Fay shops for more parts in San Diego and catches up with family.
We're scheduled to transit the canal on the 27th!
