In the Beginning

Five Islands
John & Sue
Wed 10 Aug 2011 16:50
Thought it was time to do a brief history as to how we came to be floating around on a catamaran on the Atlantic side of Panama. Our goal was always to retire early while we were still fit enough to enjoy it (some days i think we should have done this 10 years ago). "IT" 3 to 4 years ago was to do the "Grey Nomad" bit, buy the 4x4 Camper and head to the nether reaches of Australia. John had always talked about doing the northern parts of Oz by boat first, and i must admit that for many years this didn't appeal too much, being from a family of power boaters, sailing was something i didn't feel i would enjoy. Well a girl can change her mind, and about 3 years ago we decided that purchasing a cat (boat variety not furry creature) and cruising up the Queensland coast for a few years would be a good start to our retirement. Only trouble was not enough money, so we made up the list of what we needed to do before we could set forth & proceeded to work through it. We were based in Perth at the time with John working in Malawi (Africa) and doing 8 weeks there and 4 weeks at home. We found after several months of research on the internet, that the prices for catamarans in Australia was almost double what you could purchase a boat for overseas. John, after many hours research (what else do you do in your time off on a remote mine site in the middle of Africa) identified the Lagoon TPI as the type of cat we should try and purchase, only trouble was these were for sale overseas, not in Australia. The plan then evolved to purchasing overseas and sailing it back to Oz. This was a fairly major step to be working toward as neither of us have any real sailing experience (we had sailed a 14ft hobie cat at Brampton Island 15 years ago & John did own a wind surfer when he was younger). Mind you we had owned our 19ft motor boat for 15 years so felt we understood a bit about boating. It's interesting how ignorance makes you brave. We did however do meteorology & navigation courses, a sailing course in Bunbury for a week & chartered at cat in the Whitsunday's for 8 days. The Lagoon TPI's have 2 models, the 37ft & the 42ft and although we would have liked a 42, available funds restricted us to a 37. We happened across a blog of a cat named "Five Islands" which had just been put on the market by the Canadian owners. We emailed back and forth for several months. We made the major decision to resign from our jobs and stopped working in Feb 2011. There were several "OMG what are we doing" moments but you need to put yourself out there sometimes to experience life. Our friends and family were supportive and happy for us, although there were a few "OMG you're going to what" when we first told them. We travelled from WA to Qld in the trusty little Astra, visiting family on the way. The hardest thing about this whole adventure is saying goodbye to everyone, especially the kids and leaving Rhodes (our gorgeous mutt) with his now second family. We left Australia on 19th April and after 2 days of travelling reached Panama. We met up with Brad, an American who owns a Lagoon 37 TPI & who we had asked to advise us on the condition of Five Islands before we proceeded with the purchase, and we all travelled to Shelter Bay Marina on the other side of the country (about 2 hours from Panama City & 30 mins from Colon). We had the boat hauled out and surveyed & negotiated the purchase on the 30 April 2011. We now owned a 37ft catamaran docked in a marina on the East coast of Panama - this was a very big OMG moment. We spent the next month learning about our new purchase in the safety of the marina and under the guidance of Terry & Elaine (2 aussies from Byron Bay who have sailed around the world for the past 12 years on their 40ft monohull - Virgo's Child) and mechanical experience of Greg (Canadian - Dutch Dreamer). We also did our first Panama Canal crossing when we acted as line handlers on a Seawind cat named "Telos". After doing a few repairs, maintenance & our first provisioning we set forth on our maiden voyage with Nigel (Sth African yacht master). We ventured to the San Blas Islands travelling with Virgo's Child (Terry & Laine) and returned to the marina at the end of June for another month. More maintenance and improving of the systems including the BBQ mounted under the solar panels on the stern, a mounting for the outboard whilst travelling, bilge pump alarm, remote anchor switch & setting up of the satellite phone. Terry, Laine, John and I did another Canal crossing, this time with Andrew & Daniel on Mojo2, a FP Lipari catamaran. Andrew & Daniel are from Albany in WA. One thing that has really struck us here is the amount of Australians who are either sailing their own boats or delivering boats back to Australia for either new owners or to sell them. We headed out of Shelter Bay Marina on 19th July, this time on our own, spending a night anchored off Naranjo Arriba Island, then to Portobelo and now here at Puerto Linton. We have fallen into the cruising lifestyle fairly easily, cruising being the operative word, as we have motored predominately, as there is very little wind. Lots of things have happened in the 3 months we have been here, good & not so good, but it is proving to be a wonderful adventure. We have met some wonderful people from lots of different countries and find Panama an interesting and beautiful place (photo opportunities everywhere). The next major task is to learn a bit more Spanish. Although there are many things I haven't included regarding our journey to this point, at least this gives a bit of a background.
John & Sue

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