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So here we are in Bocas Del Toro for the laying up. Over the next week, we have to strip and clean the boat and stow everything away. It’s so annoying, I have to work below decks and the weather has been hitting 41˚s. But that’s not the annoying part. No, what really ‘grinds my gears’ is that I sweat buckets, much, much more than I would in a sauna. As if that wasn’t bad enough, unlike jockeys, who use the sauna to sweat and lose weight before a race, I don’t lose anything!!!!! Surely with the gallons of water I am losing I should lose something???

I have to clean all the floors, ceilings walls and lockers and then wash down with a solution of water, vinegar and lavender oil, in order to keep the mildew at bay. I then have to pack everything and I mean everything, into Ziplock bags. Roger has to take down all the lines, sheets and halyards and stow them. He has to service the engine change oil, filters, fan belts, clean the sumps, cover the prop, etc etc, the list goes on and on. It is really a hard slog, we work non stop from early morning until late evening.

But it hasn’t all been hard slog as we have had some lovely evenings ashore. Our friends Georg and Suzie arrived the day after we did and of course it meant dinner and drinks. Then on Friday night and Sunday lunch, Josef and Maria open their restaurant and all the local expats, come over to socialise. It made a nice change from all the hard work. It also meant I didn’t have to cook!!! which is just as well, as we have almost no fresh or frozen food left on board; part of the preparation for leaving Beaujolais is to run our supplies down to nil.

I have enjoyed spending time ashore. Maria has lots of ducks with lots of ducklings. 

There are the most beautiful iridescent blue butterflies in Marias’ garden. They are huge, but I cannot capture them on camera I am afraid. I also have yet to see, let alone photograph, a blue frog.

They also have sheep, one of which gave birth to a baby lamb 2 days ago.

So in 2 days time we start our landside journey home. We first have to take a boat to Bocas, catch a plane to Panama, then another to Ft Lauderdale, where we hire a car and drive up to Jacksonville to see our friends Darryl and Lynne and hopefully our friends at the Friday Afternoon Club. Then I have to book our flights to the UK and then on to OZ while Roger goes in search of parts and spares for the boat,

I guess this is the penultimate blog entry for this trip, It has, as usual, been fun doing it, but it has also been more difficult because of the remoteness of many of our anchorages. It has made me realise that it is going to be even more difficult next season, when we travel across the Pacific to Australia. I have been told that as we transit the Canal, you can see us on the canal webcams, so you can transit with us from the comfort of your chair. If the San Blas, or Kuna Yala, are anything to go by, then the Pacific leg of our journey should be amazing and after 3 years sailing, I think I am ready for it, I feel much more confident and capable than I did 3 years ago. So come December we will be ready, or at least we will be when Roger has replaced the chainplates!!!!