" A LADY TRIP" Sailing around the World and avioding the shite at home. ( Las Perlas Islands, Panama)

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sun 7 Feb 2010 13:30
SATURDAY   6th   FEBRUARY   2010
Crew :- S  and A  Hyde, D Mc Clemant, & K Dwyer.
 
07.00hrs  Woke up to lots of birds chattering on the adjacent island,
We had a light breckfast and some went for a swim , the water here is much more cloudy than we are used to in the Atlantic.
However this might be as a result of the strong tides in the area.
We ran the generator for a while and found it difficult to shut down. this is a worrowing bleedin thing as a problem with the generator
would be a major problem,
We will have to look into this later.
 
09.00hrs we weighed anchor and nibbled our way south through the very narrow and shallow channels at this place,
We then tried to unfurl the Mainsail and it just would not work, not a gig, Feck, what next !
For at least 2 hours we were convinced that we had a burst Hydrolic pipe and in the middle of trying to locate the problem
the Skipper dropped or knocked the air cleaner into the Bilge, which is at least 5feet down and difficult ot get at ...Ohhhhhhh what next.
 
11.00nrs Things started to improve, Kevins phone was back to normal with all functions working,( so Aileens Prayers did work after all,)
              Then we discover that the Mainsail was rolled up the wrong way ( we wont mention WHO did that , but they are not in the skinny devision)
               Whew ! at least things are beggining to work again and with a little confidence returning to the ship we decide to R.T.F.M. on the Generator.
              ( R.T,F.M. =   Read The Friggin Manual )  Its amazing what we learnt, simple stupid, why dident we do this before we left Cork,
              So next time we used the generator, we shut it down in accordance with the manual, amazing ! it seemed to work perfectly.
 
13.00hrsWe dropped anchor at the Island of " San Jose" as we were on a mission here, We had a few bags of food and provisions for
an elderly German lady, living alone on the Island.
When we eventually found her in her tin shed overlooking the bay, it turned out that she ran away from her husband and kids 26years ago and sailed from Germany to here in a 24foot sail boat with her lover and dropped anchor, then went ashore and built the tin shed home and survived on
sheep, hens and fruit that they looked after......( mind you, the local Crockadiles do well on her chickens )
They lived happily ever afterwards, that is untill her lover died 12 months ago, so she is now very lonely, but there is hope on the horizon,
one of her daughters ( who lives in a castle in Frankfurt ) is coming to visit next her next month and it seems she will take " Gerda" back to Germany.
So alls well that should end well.  ( Its kinda funny, writers do books on this sort of storey and they become best sellers)
 
16.00 hrs we departed " Gerda's " place and went to the local Bamboo Hotel called " Hacienda del Mar ", It was beautifull and well maintained
and even had a huge goldfish pond, along with " Peacocks" strutting all over the grounds.
We met fellow world A.R.C. sailors from the yacht " Eowyn"   ( british chaps , Graham, John and Micheal ) and had a pina colada 
with them at the hotel.
17.00hrs We arrieved back at " A  LADY" and the skipper did the dinner....A goolash ande rice,, Yum Yum
The thing took 3 hours to prepare and cook, but it tasted real yummy.
Later we watched a D.V.D.  called " crimson tide " A real boys film about Submarines and full of action,,
Poor Aileen had to go to the Master Cabin and watch some " Girly" thing on her own , Awwwwww
 
Later we sat out in the cockpit and admired the Magnificant starrey sky, so vivid , one felt you could put up your hand and touch them.
And then of course  " Fats" pointed out the southern cross and lots of other constellations,
The end.....
 
Signed   Stephen Hyde ( skipper)