Saturday 21 - I had the rust ground off the second anchor, they only get rusty when put away, not when left out.  I also had some additional metal welded onto the connection point, probably there was plenty left, but no point keeping and anchor if it isn’t up to the job.  I rust treated this anchor and the 3rd anchor and its 10’ of old chain and on Sunday painted them with galvanized paint and they look ok.  It is as much to keep the rust stains off the deck as anything else.  I have another anchor, but that should be ok; let’s hope I never need to use 4 anchors!

Monday I went to town and booked the coach ticket to Guatamala City for Sunday 29th and then visited Moco Point Marina.

Songbird, Gambit II are there and met up again with Dixie, previously in Portobello 2010, or was it 2011 as well?

Thursday I went to Trivia Night at Los Mexicanos which is a long way out and they picked us up in a launch.  Our team came last with 1 point, we bet all the rest of our points on the last question and got it wrong, not that we were ever in contention to win.  We had 2 Canadians on our team recovering from serious head injuries, not exactly a winning tactic, but I don’t think the uninjured among us were much better.

The young man who joined our team had met the woman working there 10 years ago in Mexico and lost her details. He thought of her every day since and a month ago her email address fell out of an old wallet and he got in touch.  They were going to meet up in Mexico for a day, which turned into 8 days.  He had come down to Guatamala for a week and is trying to get a visa to take her back to Canada – Love Story, aaah.

This is my last week on the boat, along with lots of other cruisers here putting their boats to bed, so many of us here early and leaving soon.

Les managed to find time to measure up for my bimini, which is now going to be a light duty arch.  This will fit above the steering position and then there will have to be an adaptation to get shade over the seat at the back; complicated by the room needed for the windvane in operation.

I will then have a couple of detachable poles to the sprayhood and that will give me cover in the cockpit, which is very much needed and very overdue.

I am having the 1” stainless steel that has come off Songbird as they are having a solid top.

Wednesday I went to Dinner & a Movie at Mar Marine.  Sojourn and Big Fun gave up waiting for the launch, so I went alone.  There were 4 films to choose from, but we were told everybody was voting for number 1, so I don’t know what the others were - how democratic was that?  The film was Haywire and I don’t think many people understood or enjoyed it.  There was a gekko wandering over the screen, which gave a diversion.  I did Google the film on the internet and it got a good review (!), but I confirmed that I had got the plot.  I sat with Island Dreamin’ which gave us a chance to catch up from Bocas.

Thursday we did Trivia again and we were in the lead, until the last question.  Commander was Magellen and they brought back Spices were correct, but we put Portuguese, which he was, but the expedition was done under a Spanish flag – one team got all 3, so we had points deducted and lost.

The ride back was wet as a huge spray was thrown up from a fender left over the side, but it is fresh water now, so much nicer than salt water.

On Friday I went with Tom and Rose on Sojourn to Marios Marina and we saw a pod of 4 or 5 manatees on the way there and back, which was rather special.  They are very slow animals and have to be careful with the fast boat traffic and the big outboards.

Finished everything I could do on the boat on Saturday and Jewel came in next to me, a new neighbour.  There wasn’t room for me and the other boats coming in, so they are building a new dock. 

Sunday – said goodbye to everyone and got on the 7.30 launch to town.  The 8.00 bus was late and some people put their luggage aboard thinking it was the 9.00, so we were a bit later while they took it off again.  It was a 6 hour bus ride to Guatamala City, with a 15 minute break.  The roads were generally good, with a lot of repair work.  Guatamala is a very mountainous country which makes travel a long experience.

Tom and Rose had come with me and they checked into their hotel and then we went for a walk round.

When they were going to dinner I got a taxi to the airport, where I was going to spend the night.  The airport was clean and safe, but had no comfortable chairs or sofas, which can usually be found in other airports, thanks to Costa Coffee and similar places. 

Monday – went through to Departures at 4am and still more plastic chairs.  8.25 flight to Dallas, arrived at 13.30 and gained an hour on the way.

I did not have to re-check my bags as I didn’t bring any.  16.00 I heard my name over the tannoy, that is a first.  They wanted to check my documents before boarding, so I had to go all the way to the departure gate and this is a big airport.

I have to board for London in an hour or so and should arrive at Heathrow tomorrow morning.  That will mean I have been up for 2 days, it seems more tiring than single handing the boat for that kind of time.  Perhaps it’s because I don’t get to drive.

I will post this now and that should be it until I return the boat, currently booked for early July.