Bocas del Toro 9:21N 82:14W

MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Fri 4 Mar 2011 20:02
Alright, alright..........alright!!. We are not lost or killed. I know its been over a year since our last blog but cut us some slack please.
 
Everyone else has been having fun filled adventures while Jo & I have been winning the shopper of the year award at B&Q. Clearly, we must be major shareholders in England's grimmest DIY Superstore. We have spent a fortune on paint. I am becoming all overcome with emulsion just thinking about it.
 
We have been renovating not one or two but three friggin' houses in an attempt to get our finances back on track. Its fair to say that we will be quite happy if we don't see a paint brush for a while. But, I am pleased to report, things appear sorted atleast for a while anyway.
 
Of course our friends have been scoffing from a completely different trough. Roger & Vicki (S/Y El Vagabond) have been conquering the Southern Oceans, Adrian & Jan (S/Y Squander) have been buying mega yachts and half of Nova Scotia, Brian & Sue (S/Y Darramy) have rediscovered the Antarctic and Nepal, and Neil & Tracy (S/Y Adonde) are probably running a Roti Bar in Grenada.
 
So there you have it,... the reason for being completely off the radar for the last year. Basically, I couldn't bring myself to write about our crap when everyone else was having such a great time. Sad I know. But it wasn't all bad. It was great to spend some time with family & friends but most of all it was great being back in England.
 
England can be a miserable place especially when you haven't got any money and the weather is crap. But we had forgotten how achingly gorgeous it is, particularly the New Forest. And how wonderful the pub culture can be with the best beer on the planet and with great British banter taboot....oh, how I missed that.
 
During a brief break between fixing No2 & No3 properties, we took some time out, borrowed a dog and walked the forest and drank beer in pub gardens. And while supping on my 3rd pint of Ringwood's Best Bitter in the garden of the Sir Walter Tyrell, I looked at Jo watching a mare and foal sheltering from the sun under a tree. At that point I was going to hang up my sailing wellies and bury the anchor for good. The life of a landlubber was for me, you know, walking the hound and telling salty seadog yarns down the Yacht Club with all the other armchair Admirals. A bit soppy, I know, but clearly we were both in need of 'land time'.
 
With the cash from the sale of Winsor Cottage burning a big hole in our pockets, we got very close to buying a farmhouse in France. But as it happened, our offer of the full asking price was turned down.......The muppet changed his mind and decided not to sell. He was probably persuaded by his neighbours not to sell to another bloody Englishman. They have finally sussed out that the Brits are invading France by stealth. We are buying up the place. While we have been away cruising, everyone's house in the UK is now worth over a £million. And thanks mostly to His Royal Tonyness Blair, we are now all filthy rich land owners, the very people the Labour Party despises.......funny how things work out.
 
Anyway, enough of that old tosh, we finally came to our senses when we learned how Britain has become a sanctuary for Foxes and Muslims. We cant hunt foxes anymore and we cant even celebrate Christmas incase we offend our new British residents. So we are out of there again. Escaped once more from the UK in the hope that the new Conservative government brings the country back to its senses, before it is brought to its knees by the politically correct, wingeing & wining Janet Street Porter lefty types. After all, we will be returning one fine day to enjoy our official retirement and our government pension, which no doubt, will probably be just enough cash to buy a Kebab and a prayer mat. 
 
So here we are in Bocas del Toro, Panama.
 
Its great here, probably our favourite place since arriving in the Caribbean. Its even better than the San Blas. Not because its prettier or has nicer beaches or any other of the normal attributes of Caribbean archipelagos, but because it has a bar and/or restaurant in every lagoon or only a short dinghy ride away. It is not so isolated but not overcrowded. It has more sheltered anchorages and is easier to navigate. It reminds me of Turkey but with one downside. In one week, during the wet season, there will be enough rainfall to irrigate the whole of the Sahara. Cripes it can rain here. We haven't even bothered commissioning our watermaker because we can collect more water than we need. The upside however, is that everything is lush and the sloth's, monkeys, parrots, red frogs and crocodiles seem to relish in it.
 
  
 
We have missed alot of stuff out due to fear of boring you further, including affairs post lightening strike in Cartegena, further excursions through the San Blas islands & the crocodile infested waters of the Chagres River. And, last but not least, a 6 week trip to the USA staying with friends Alan & Laura (S/Y Moonsong). But it would be almost rude not to mention our trip through the Panama Canal in November 2009.
 
Pals Roger & Vicki (El Vagabond) invited us along to help them through the canal. Their other crew member, PK, arrived from the UK and we picked up the first 'Panama Canal Advisor' at the flats anchorage at 3.00pm and then we were ready for the first lock in. It should be said at this point that the canal is well organised and run very professionally. The advisor helped to dispel any fears about going through the locks. Just aswell really, as Jo was quite anxious about the whole affair, mostly due to the horror stories she had heard or read. Her fears were completely unfounded because the whole thing was a doddle.
 
   
 
The Panama Canal is a very impressive structure and is testimony to mans ingenuity and determination. The cost in monetary terms was huge for the day (Victorian times) and was even larger in terms of the loss of life (over 20,000). There are 3 locks upto the Gatun Lake and 3 locks down to the Pacific.
Roger had asked for centre chamber which was clearly the right move. We had 2 line handlers each side of the lock that walked our lines with us through the complete series of locks. All went supremely well and were through by lunch the next day after a nights stop over in the Gatun Lake. It was a great crack, and of course the whole affair was suitably celebrated on arrival at the Pacific Ocean with the canal and bridge 'America' safely behind us.
 
We said goodbye to Roger & Vicki and wished them well. We hoped to see them in some far flung place across the other side of the planet in the not too distant future. We are to transit the canal later this year for Malarkey's cicumsiscion of the world part 3.