The Final Push to Panama
Coolrunnins
Sun 7 Nov 2010 03:08
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Leaving Sat or Sun AM for the 400 plus miles to
Panama.
Its been raining for a week now, non stop. Heavy,
torrential, light, a drizzle, a sprinkle, a spattering, a short shower, followed
by a heavy shower, followed by......more rain. 24 hours a day. Mushrooms are
growing, clothes are wet and mildew is our friend. The decks are green as
opposed to white, and the dinghy has to be hauled up, so as not to
sink.
The generator got a new water pump from Fort
lauderdale which lasted 4 hours before it imploded. This is now the third pump
in 2 months, at $200 a piece.
Then the pulley wheel flew off, taking the belt
with it. 4 hours upside down in the lazarette trying to refit in a space made
for troll. Bleeding hands and bloodier language. We now have a broken generator
again, and are trying to get a washing machine pump to fit using a collection of
hoses and assorted wheels and pulleys. Our Generator and outboard engine have
boosted the pockets of mechanics and local economies for 200o miles of coast,
and are still a mystery deeper than the sphynx.
Fisher Panda generators suck!
Golfito has been a great little anchorage. The
shops are reminiscent of a Cuban supermarket, so rice beens and more rice
and beans. Weather is due to clear tomorrrow and 6/7ft seas should start to
settle down for our trip south.
Got to run and empty the buckets!
9PM Saturday
Stop Press, Fri/Saturday, Port Closed, no exit
paperwork being issued as all movement is halted, and country on code
red, whetever that means. 80% roads and bridges closed, and twenty dead through
landslides. Rain stopped today finally after 10 staright days. We now have
exit papers for tomorrow for a 5am departure all being well. Fuelled, watered,
and loaded with rice and beans. Adios Costa Rica, Hola Panama, for a 53 mile
coasthuggging run to Puerto Balsa, just round the headlamd of Punta Burrico, and
into Panama. Dodgy anchorage apparently so may have to carry on through Sunday
night.....
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