Disaster at Sea..........well allmost
MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Wed 23 Mar 2011 21:06
|
Panamarina 9:36.5N 79:36.5W
Me again. Sorry. Just like buses, you don't
get a blog for ages then they all come at once. I'm going to try to
keep my blog up to date for a while, well, at least until I get bored
or you do.
We were well nervous about what we would find when
we got back to the boat. It has been over a year since we left Malarkey ashore
at Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama. This area is renowned for rain of biblical
proportions during the wet season and the occasional earthquake. Throw in a
plague of locusts and you will have a perfect location for
a Steven Spielberg movie. But no, instead of finding a soggy heap of
crumpled French plastic, there was Malarkey in all her glory looking just as
good as we left her, bar half a ton of jungle debris on the deck. So with a
bucket & broom and.......a few dollars to pay a local to give
her a wash n brush up, we were all ship shape and Bristol fashion in no
time.
So, now we are in the oggin again, where do we go?
We hadn't given much consideration to a cruising plan as we were half
expecting to find the boat in such a mess and were quite prepared to get the
next flight home. We figured we had better do a shake down sail of some
sort to make sure things were working ok. Sounded like a plan but we met
some great people (Mike & Catherine S/Y FALBALA c) who
promptly threw that simple plan into disarray.
 Mike & Catherine.
They were heading through the canal and then west,
all pronto-like, planning to get to New Zealand in time for the rugby
world cup. What a great plan and we seriously considered joining them. The
thought of beating the 'All Blacks' on there own turf in the World
Cup.........sweet, very tempting. But we bottled it. We really didn't think we
were ready. Just bad timing. We had just got our bottom wet and they were
all provisioned ready to go. So good luck to them and we hope to meet them again
down under soon to celebrate England's great victory!!!.
So off to Bocas del Toro, a hundred and fifty miles
or so up the road a bit,..... a great little shake down cruise. I know I have
covered Bocas alittle in the previous blog but there is some stuff well
worth a mention.
Firstly, the place really is gorgeous.
   Bit 'arty', I know, but not untypical of
Bocas.
Malarkey & Darramy at Rana
Azul. Well, what can I
say. And no we are not being attacked by a giant banana
Clearly Bocas is 'nice' with mucho quiet and
protected anchorages. But the great bonus here is that there is always a
bar/restaurant near by or a party going on. A fine example of this was the Red
Frog Marina Bash.
A free berth for the weekend,...... a very good
start, and free drinks & BBQ food,.... splendid.
We had met Matt & Jean (S/Y Superted), sailing
pals from ye old Marchwood Yacht Club days of yore, in the previous anchorage
and this Red Frog party was a great opportunity to chew the fat and catch up
with the latest goss. But what I hadn't counted on was being a chauffeur
for the weekend.
 Necesita una taxista senor
Matt had knackered his back, probably by
lifting a large bottle of gin from his extensive drinks cabinet. It surely
could not have been caused by working around his new 55 foot Superted, 'cos
everything is either electric or pneumatic, on this super swanky
5 star Beneteau. But clearly he was in mucho pain, or so he said.
But you judge for yourself........is that a smirk on his face or a grimace of
pain?
Anyway, clearly he had convinced me and besides, it
was the first for me.......stuffing someone in a wheelbarrow on the
way to a party!!!
Much fun was had by all at the boozy BBQ and
the many other functions on offer during the weekend. Jo even went on a 'Jungle
Canopy' tour with Jean & Brian. This canopy tour is all about swinging
like an ape, with the apes, high up in the jungle tree tops. Now me, known to
suffer badly with vertigo, would rather eat my own liver than be more than
jumping distance from terra firma, and that clearly demonstrates the coward that
I am. This was nicely accentuated by Jean, who also suffers from Vertigo, who
braved the experience and loved it. Nice one Jean.
    Jean
screaming.
Jean holding on super
tight.
monkey-man,
Brian.
a red frog, but green.
So off to another bash with Darramy to Rana Azul
where they serve the best pizza's in the archipelago. A lovely spot. We climbed
the hill behind through the jungle and found a local tribe of Indians
nesting in a house-ish unit on top of the hill. Great view, a bit remote
but they seemed happy enough and didn't mind us taking a few snaps.
   Room with a
view
where's
Dad? surely
not, but he is a cool dude
So bearing in mind our tight social calendar, we
scooted back to Bocas Town for the Carnival. Now, I do love a good
Carnival.......lots of colourful costumes, madi gras and processions. Well there
was none of that. Just a bunch of locals doing a 'jump up' to awful
music at an ear-splitting volume being hosed down by the local drunks on a water
tanker.
 Not quite what we hoped for but was kind of
expected.
We had organised to have some much needed canvas
work done while back at Colon. And it was time to head back East. We were not
looking forward to the trip. It is notoriously crap sail and it didn't
disappoint.
We stopped over night in Escudo, a little island
just east of the archipelago. And guess who was in the anchorage,....yes
Superted. They had started heading east a couple of days earlier with the view
to meet some pals freshly married out from the UK. So we sailed back to Colon in
company. We both moaned about the sloppy crossing the whole way. We were
convinced there was a gaggle of geese squawking away on
board somewhere. The rig was making such a racket, sailing into a biggish
swell with a light following breeze......not the best combination!. But we
plodded on and made the best of the situation until we were within shouting
distance of Colon and the motor went on. Jo then promptly said hello to 'Hughie
& Ralph' puked over the side. The combination of the motion and the diesel
fumes was too much for such a delicate tum.
I know this is going on a bit, so I will come to
the DISASTER AT SEA..........well almost, bit. We were beating into a F4/5
wind and a lively sea sailing towards Portobello. It was a
cracking sail, just like the old days, bashing up the Western Solent with
Superted on a breezy day. Then poo and double poo. The bilge alarm went off and
yes, we were taking on water big time. The water level was already above the
floor boards in the forward cabin. Jo immediately jumped into action and started
pulling up floor boards and bailing by hand. Cripes, she can shift some
water with a bucket when she has to..........nice to know.
Anyway, after a bit of searching, Jo found the
cause. The fitting under the holding tank parted and the contents of the holding
tank, yes an ominous brown liquid consisting of mainly Jo's poo, dumped itself
into the bilge. Water was also flooding the boat through the 40 mm dia hose
which was now below the water-line. Once we had found where the water
ingress was coming from, it was quickly arrested but the biggest
problem had yet to be faced, 1. The clean up & 2. The fact that I tasted it
to confirm that it was seawater. I nearly vomited at the thought. I'd just drank
Jo's liquid poo!!!
  Matt and Jean were standing by suitably
attired with protective equipment ready to help with the clean up operation if
required. But, bless her cotton socks, Jo had already done most of the work
(well, it was her poo after all). The boat smelt like a public lavatory.......ya
know, stale piss and dettol, marvellous. At least we were dry &
safely anchored in Portobello and we avoided another disaster at
sea.........well, almost.
Post Script from Jo. 'This is a slight exaggeration, as luckily the holding tank was mostly
empty and had not been used in a while, so it was mainly sea water in the
bilge'.
|