Panama to Australia - The Pacific leg
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October 2012
We start this journal whilst we are still in our home in Australia; it’s a busy time seeing family and friends, carrying out house maintenance, and doing all the usual research for next year’s cruising.
Our friendly Kookaburras come to say goodbye
The
prospect of our cruising in 2013 is a bit daunting; how to choose which islands
groups to visit, which route to take and how long to allocate for each area??
And like most sailors, our plans are written in sand at low water, to be washed
over and modified as the weather or social scene dictates. True Blue 1 is far away, sitting patiently on the hard in Shelter Bay Marina, Panama. This is the longest we have been away from our yacht in 10 years and she has had to endure testing weather in hot, muggy Panama. We wonder nervously how the rain and humidity have affected her, especially the latter which we have tried to overcome by the use of a dehumidifier. As always we have a long list of “to do's” when we return, including replacing the fridge and anti-fouling the bottom; hopefully we’ll get everything done in time to visit the San Blas islands for Xmas and New Year festivities. Then we’ll whizz back to Shelter Bay, transit the canal, and set sail across 9,000 miles of ocean for home…..said quickly it’s just a sneeze!! True Blue 1 on the calm waters of the Mediterranean
20 October 2012, 2 days before silver bird departure from Oz
There is a heady mix of excitement, apprehension and eagerness in the
air as we try and fit 82 kilos of luggage into two bags each of 23 kilos
capacity each (go figure!). A futile attempt to reduce the volume has resulted
in the puny removal of 200 Earl Gray tea bags (taking 800), 1 large Vegemite jar
(taking 3), 1 kilo of glucosamine (taking 4 kilos, ouch), 1 pilot book (taking
16 books plus about 80 charts), 5 packets of baby wipes (we MUST be able to get
them in Panama), .....But we still have a huge box of essential books and charts
in our ‘stash' in the UK (Suzie's mother Biddy has a good attic in her
house!).
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