Diary 26th January - USA

26th January 2012

Posn: 26deg06'.30N  80deg07'.62W

Fort Lauderdale, Florida


We had a wonderful visit to the UK, spending  (as they say) quality time with family and friends.  Daughter Julia and boyfriend Tim kept us entertained in Southampton at the start and finish of our trip, and Julia joined us at daughter Anna's and husband Neil's for Christmas where we did all the right things: Nine Lessons and Carols at Beverley Minster on Christmas Eve,  Neil and Phil to the pub while the women prepared Christmas dinner.  

Visits to Phil's family were overshadowed by the sudden illness and then death of his brother-in-law, Robert.  A great sadness for Phil's sister Jacqueline and family.

New Year was spent in Northern Ireland where we caught up with Norma's family and our many good friends, who lavished hospitality on us at lunches and dinners - a serious food rationing regime has been instituted since we returned to Florida on 16th January.  Unfortunately the temperature is in the mid-20s so it's been necessary to quench our thirsts with lots of cold beers.

We collected Minnie B from her berth at the house dock of Kim and Cathy (very many thanks - and thanks to Pam Wall of the OCC who organised it for us) on 17th January and went back to Las Olas Marina for two nights where we concentrated on five weeks of accumulated grime on the exterior of the boat and prepared for our haul out and anti-fouling at the DIY yard of Playboy Marine in Dania, about 5nm south of Las Olas.

Playboy Marine was an interesting experience as we stayed on Minnie B, but were locked in the yard at dusk.  Not that it mattered much as we worked from 0730 until after 1800 and there were no bars or restaurants in walking distance.  There was one industrial grade toilet and shower for men and a slightly better one for women.  The wash facilities do not sell Playboy Marine.  The yard people were nice and friendly but it was necessary to be very precise about placing plastic sheets on the boat stands and on the slings for the travel hoist otherwise they would not have bothered.  All in all it went well and we have restored Minnie B to her original white bottom paint.  She looks well.

We did lots of other jobs too like making and fitting a cradle for our new hard bottom dinghy so that it can sit transversely on the coachroof.
Then back to Las Olas and we had a bit of retail therapy at Galleria Mall just north of here.   We have been getting Minnie B ready for the arrival of Des and Alma on Friday 27th January and our cruise down the Florida Keys and to Cuba.

The planning for this got us thinking that apart from two brief trips back to the UK we have been in the USA and Canada since 19th May last year - fantastic.  So we also thought we needed to set out our top ten USA experiences and our top ten Canada experiences, so here they are in chronological order for each country, rather than a ranking - too difficult. The trip has been simply wonderful.

USA Top 10
1. New York City for the arrival from Bermuda and sailing past Liberty and seeing Manhattan through the fog; for the Lincoln Centre and seeing War Horse (on stage) and the Barber of Seville; for the arrival from Long Island Sound through Hell Gate and the East River; for 79th St Boat Basin being so convenient (but not for the facilities).
2. Hudson River for the lovely cruise north to Nyack, Croton on Hudson, Bear Mountain and Catskill; for the lighthouses; for the glassy river as the sun rose.
3. Boston for the history as the cradle of the American Rebellion and the fascinating walking tour round the Treason Trail.
4. Cape Cod, Rhode Island and Long Island Sound for the mighty craic with Greg and Carol over two weeks; for the architecture; for the boats of every shape and size; for the anchorages; for a lovely weekend with Richard and Rosanna.
5. Vermont road trip for what it must be like when the cloud and rain lift and the autumn colours abound; for the charming old hotel in Manchester, the very friendly restaurant and breakfast diner; for the vision of the artists displaying at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
6. Washington DC for it all:  White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery; for the tour of the Capitol and the access to the Senate and House of Representatives; for the Library of Congress; for the cheap public transport from Annapolis.
7. The Dismal Swamp Canal for the colours and the countryside, but most for the great craic with Anthony from 'Wild Fox'.
8. Charleston for our first glimpse of the Old South; for the architecture; for the shrimp and grits (once is actually enough);  for the warm welcome from Emmett Johnson (OCC  Port Officer) and all his friends at Charleston YC.
9. Savannah for the Live Oaks and Spanish Moss; for walking the 22 squares; for the design and the beauty; for bringing alive John Berendt's "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"; for General Sherman having spared the city in the Civil War; for Norma Gump.
10. Cape Canaveral for being hove-to watching the Mars Rover rocket launch.
11. Fort Lauderdale for being warm and sunny after trying to stay ahead of winter; for meeting up with Sally; for making new friends in David and Ken and Joni; for the great party at Winterfest; for providing Minnie B with some TLC; for it really being Fort Lingerdale.

OK, we said Top 10 but couldn't leave any out.

CANADA Top 10
1. Niagara Falls for the spectacle of the water flow; for the trip on the 'Maid of the Mist'; for not being overwhelmed by the funfair s and sideshows.
2. The Thousand Islands for being so pretty; for welcoming towns such as Gananoque; for the Indian attack at Ile St Regis.
3. Montreal for Royal St Lawrence YC and the assistance of Pierre Desjardins (OCC Port Officer) and the work of Olympic Silver medallist and  brilliant rigger, Evert Bastet; for the Jazz Festival; for the Nelson's Column; for the unexpected warmth, welcome and hospitality from Peter, Murielle and the boys.
4. Ottawa for a superb tour of the city and the countryside with Judy; for the buildings reminiscent of London.
5. Quebec for more mighty craic with Norma's cousin Stephen and his wife Kathy; for Prince William and Kate joining us for the weekend; for the Citadelle and The Royal 22nd Regiment; for General Wolfe having defeated Montcalm and Canada becoming British; for the French architecture; but not for the absence of a statue to General Wolfe.
6. Saguenay Fjord for the Beluga Whales; for the anchorage at Baie Eternite; for the walk to Cap Trinite in the rain.
7. St Anne des Monts and Mont Jacques Cartier for the Parc Gaspésie; for the views over the start of the Appalachian Mountains; for the Caribou.
8. Perce Rock and L'Anse a Beaufils for the hole in the cliff; for the pretty harbour; for the warm welcome for the Harbourmaster; for the pub and gallery; for the micro-brewery.
9. Bras d'Or Lakes for the tremendous fun with David and Jacquie; for the scenery; for the Bald Eagles; for Alexander Graham Bell at Baddeck and the museum showing his many and varied inventions and ideas.
10. Cape Breton for two fantastic days of driving the mountains of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and to Sydney and Louisburg; for the motorbikes (to keep David happy - only looking though).
11. Nova Scotia Coast south of Halifax for Peggy's Cove, St Margaret's Bay and Chester in Mahone Bay; for Lunenburg the home of Bluenose II; for lots of wooden ship/boatbuilding going on; for bright, pastel-coloured houses; for an excellent  Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic; for hearing  'Danny Boy' on the organ at the 1754 St John's Anglican church.

Well that's another Top 11 then.

We have been so privileged to be able to do this and so lucky with mostly glorious weather, having friends to join us and making new and interesting friendships.  It's very good dontcha know.

So, ever onward, eh?

11th February 2012

Posn: 23deg05'.30N  82deg29'.92W

Hemingway Marina, Havana, Cuba

We have just had a fabulous two weeks with Des and Alma and we are sorry to have seen them head back to NI.  They arrived at Las Olas Marina on Friday 27th January and immediately got into the mood - expecting them to be tired and jaded we had anticipated them just settling in to Minnie B the first night, but oh no.  Straight out to the strip at the beach for enormous drinks and soaking up the atmosphere.  We should have known this was a sign of things to come.

After a trip to Publix supermarket to stock up, a bus to Downtown Ft. Lauderdale and a stroll along the river walk, with drinks at an Irish bar and dinner at Coconut restaurant  on Saturday 28th, we left on Sunday for Coconut Grove just south of Miami in Biscayne Bay (Posn: 25deg43'.22N  80deg13'.78N).  We sailed - good.  It rained - bad.  There are two opening bridges to make when leaving Las Olas and only 15 minutes to get between the two - about 3nm - and we only just made the second bridge, having been asked to slow down (doing 6.5kts!!!) by some uniformed and (importantly) armed person on a boat with blue flashing lights.

Biscayne Bay is quite shallow and there is a tricky entrance - for all its might and technology, and American is Best, the USA is pretty rubbish at maintaining channel marks, so we were on high alert.  We picked up a mooring at Dinner Quay Marina and dinghied ashore for dinner.

We spent the next day exploring Coconut Grove(forecast of >25kts wind so we delayed our departure ) - a pleasant Miami dormitory town with some tourism.  The highlight was visiting the Barnacle Historic State Park - it was the home of Ralph Munroe, built at the end of the 19th Century, and comprises a boathouse and a main house with avocado trees and other sub-tropical flora. Ralph was a boat designer and builder as well as being deeply concerned to preserve the ecology of the area.  An all-round good guy.

We decided on an overnight sail to Key West as we really wanted to get to Cuba, and left Coconut Grove at 1215 and dropped the hook at key West at 1005 the following morning, having done the 148nm in just under  22 hours.  We had Easterly winds of 15-18kts and it was a great sail.  We were just outside the reef fringing the Keys rather than in the Hawk Channel as it is very narrow in places.  We thought we were sacrificing counter-current to be hot by opposing Gulf Stream but no, we actually had 1.5 to 2kts of counter-current helping us along for about 60nm.  We kept our 4 hours on/4 hours off watch system and Des joined Norma on her watches.  Alma slept … quite right too.

Key West then.  Quirky, oddballs, laid back, different.  Well, maybe and possibly true 20-30 years ago.  The giveaway?  Two large cruise ships at the dock.  They change everything, so Duval Street and Mallory Square where it's all supposed to happen are well, just touristy shops and overpriced bars and restaurants.  It can grow on you as the waterfront is dotted with bars and therefore it is easy to hang out, but it's still a tourist magnet.

We met up with Hjalmar and Britt-Marie from 'Flying Penguin' and some Swedish friends of theirs Helena and Brusse from 'SeaQwest' and had a taster meal at a Cuban restaurant.  It turned out that the food in Cuba is better. We stayed two nights - the last in the marina at Key West Bight.  Expensive, but then you are charged $6 per day to come ashore with the dinghy.  Then it was THE BIG DAY - leaving the USA, having arrived in May last year.  We were ready though.

We chose Varadero and the Marina Darsena Acua as our Port of Entry to Cuba as it meant we were using the Gulf Stream to help us with an easterly course, and then we would have current with us along the coast as we headed for Havana to the west.  We hung on in the marina until 1415 (departure time is 1200) and set off with a forecast of 20-25kts Easterly - lumpy in the Gulf Stream then.  Once clear of the reefs we ended up putting three reefs in the main and just a scrap of headsail because at >7kts SOG we were going to be far too early as we wanted a daylight arrival.

The forecast was right but we also had a couple of squalls with over 30kts wind and we arrived off Varadero  at 0930 about two miles to the west of the entrance as the wind had swung SE and we were not able to make the course close hauled.  We motored in and were helped by Debbie, a Canadian live-aboard, who is the marina godmother.  Then we had the officials: Doctor, Veterinary, Agriculture person, Custom, Immigration, Coastguard, and Marina manager.  They were all very professional, very polite and given the amount of paperwork, quick.  We had been in touch with Jose Escrich, the OCC Port Officer at Marina Hemingway, and he had e-mailed Marina Darsena so they knew we were coming and apparently thought we were very important people … but then we are, aren't we?   We moved from the Clearance Dock to a slip (Posn:  23deg07'.85N  81deg17'.96W) and were made very welcome by all the Canadians who were there.

We changed money (having cash £ sterling is good),visited a local market in Santa Marta and decided to hire a car to visit Cienfuegos.  The car hire is not cheap but the very nice lady let us take it at 1600 for a 2000 return the next day.  A bonus, so we went to Matanzas.  Varadero is one of the main tourist places with fine beaches, lots of hotels and restaurants and souvenir shops.  Matanzas is a port and much more typical with a gridded layout and beautiful old building with ornate plaster and detail … except that it's all crumbling.  We had a drink in a bar and then tried to find our way back - first encounter with very little lighting and no direction signs.  We were on the wrong road but eventually found the right one.

This pattern was repeated the next day when we visited Cardenas (we asked when did the shelling and bombing stop - the place is literally falling down); on to Colon where we had a look around the square and had coffee at a stall on the street when the lady invited us into her house (Yamilet Martinez Fonalledo is her name), which was spotlessly clean and well maintained … inside.  Then on to Cienfuegos, a UN heritage site and being restored.  There are pedestrianized streets and magnificent baroque buildings.  A very nice place, albeit the marina looks to be quite a hike out of town.  We set off back to Varadero and having found that the road entering a town does not carry straight on through to the other side but makes various right angle turns through the grid, we became expert at asking for directions.  We thought we were in good shape reaching Matanzas but we ended up on some roads near a military installation that just were not on the map.  In the end we gave a lift to a hitch-hiking soldier in return for direction to Varadero.  The car was returned muddy but unharmed and Phil and Des got a lift back to the marina in a horse-drawn taxi.

Wednesday 8th February had us leaving Varadero by 0615 for the 70nm to Marina Hemingway.  The Coastguard and Marina people were great and had our clearance out papers ready at 0600.  We motor-sailed in a light NE wind all the way, passing Havana and arriving at the Clearance Dock at 1630.  Then we had the officials: no doctor, vet or agriculture person, but we had a sniffer dog, customs, immigration and coastguard.  They inventoried and took away our flares, they wanted to seal up our hand-held VHFs and GPSs and asked for a plastic bag.  Then discovering that they had no tape they just tied a knot in the bag.  That'll be secure then.  Again they were very proper, apart from the Marina guy who gave us a sob-story about his pay and delayed retirement and how some cruisers give him tips - we listened politely and said we would see him in a few days.  Nada.

There are guys around the marina with cars who will act as taxi drivers and we have taken up with Jorge who drove us in to Havana where we stayed one night at a Casa Particular: Juanita's Place, Neptuno 256, apto 1, entre Aguila y Amistad, tel (537)860-3969.  We had two double rooms a well-equipped bathroom and a lounge/dining room.  With breakfast it was CUC 29 (that's tourist convertible pesos; roughly 1 CUC = 1 US$, or 66 pence).  Juanita wasn't there but her sister Jo made us very welcome and the breakfast was good with omelette, fruit, bread and honey.

So, Havana.  Viva La Revolucion, Viva Cuba, Viva Fidel, Viva Raul, Viva Camillo, Viva Che … er … no … not quite right as Camillo Cienfuegos died 50 years ago in a plane crash and Che Guevara was killed by the CIA and Bolivian army when trying to ignite a Bolivian revolution.  However, Camillo and Che are revered and there are lots of depictions of Fidel with the two of them - that'll be a heroic image but also safe since dead men pose no threat.  It is complex, fascinating, modern, archaic, chaotic, well-ordered, restored, decayed, crumbling, and maintained.  The people are just great - very helpful, eager to please, well-mannered and welcoming.  We understand why people come back time and again.

One of the highlights of our Havana trip was the Casa de la Musica - great band and the salsa dancing was magnificent.  Apparently most Cuban children can salsa by the time they are 2-3 years old.  We did the Cuban thing of buying a bottle of rum with mixers.  The session was over by 2100 so off for dinner and then the irrepressible Des and Alma were up for another go and so to the Piano Bar on Neptuno (just a couple of blocks from our casa particular) for more music and dancing.  We fell into bed about 0100 - that's really late when Cruisers' Midnight is 2100.  But what a joy.

We strolled Calle Obispo and Calle Mercaderes, visited the Cathedral, Iglesia y Convento San Francisco, Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, Plaza de Armas, Plaza Vieja, Museo de la Revolucion, the Capitolio and took a horse-drawn taxi to have mojitos and pina coladas at the Hotel Nacional (the former Mafia-run place).

It is so different from the USA - very few signs on buildings and very little advertising.  There are no 48 sheet hoardings, for example.
So, what next?  We head for the opera to-day (Sunday): La Traviata at the Grand Teatro by a Korean company singing an Italian opera in Spanish. Hm.  We will take a trip to Pinar del Rio and Vinales in the mountains to the west.  Then we have 350nm to Cayo Largo, our jumping off point for  Grand Cayman and Panama.

We feel a great affinity with Castro and the revolutionaries as we have much in common:  they arrived in 1956 on a boat called 'Granma'.  We arrived in 2012 on a boat called after our Granmas.  So there you have it.

We do not have access to the internet so cannot post photos at the moment.

23rd February 2012

Posn: 19deg18'.28N  81deg23'.21W

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

We arrived in the Cayman Islands yesterday morning at 0645 - the first of seven boats.  We, of course are just two people, but the other six disgorged 12,000 - yes, it's cruise ship heaven … or is that hell?

What a contrast with Cuba and it does make you wonder how the Cubans can manage the transition so that they protect their health and education system, increase freedom and economic well-being without just being a holiday destination for Americans with all the familiar Burger Kings, jewellery shops etc etc.
Well, to recap the Cuban experience , we did enjoy the opera in Havana - it wasn't the Korean performers and it was sung in Italian - so much for the rubbish information we received.  However, it was great and we had front row stalls middle: the best seats in the faded and crumbling Grand Teatro.  The costumes were a bit threadbare but the singing and the orchestra were excellent.  Cast of about 50 and a similar number of musicians.
There is a photo in the Havana sequences of an Iyawo, an aspiring Santero - Santeria is an African religion that has synchronised with Catholicism, so that the Orishas (deities) align with Catholic Saints.  Iyawos wear white for a year before undergoing an acceptance ceremony.  See Wikipedia or  website on Cuba for more info.

We got Jorge to take us in his 40 years old Lada to the Valle de Vinales, where there is fantastic limestone scenery and caves.  We had lunch at a Palador, which is a private restaurant.  Enormous amounts of food, including lobster and red snapper at a very reasonable price.  We were able to stock up on fruit and vegetables for next to nothing at various stalls around the town of Vinales.

27th February 2012, 0215 UTC

Posn: 16deg41'.73N  80deg10'.32W

North East of Rosalind Bank

This has been some of the hardest sailing we have done.  Normally there is wind and the sails are set for the speed and direction, the Windpilot tuned and we settle down to reading, Sudoku, eating, sleeping and keeping a good look out.  This has been reefs out, reefs in, sails in, sails out, Windpilot constantly tuned and to top it off we have only done 177nm in 36 hours which is an average speed of 4.9kts.  So what's been up, you'll be thinking.  Well the forecast was for 12-13kts on the first two days then increasing to 15-20+ kts.  All pretty much from the East.  Oh and a few rain squalls later on.  Did we get this? No.  The wind went light shortly after clearing Grand Cayman and then the 0.5kt north-westerly current we were expecting became 1.5-2.0kts.  Then we had a couple of squalls where the wind crested 32kts so this cruising lark is very hard work, dontcha know.

Anyways, we appear to have left behind most of the current for now and we are doing a respectable 5.5-6.0kts SOG in about 15-18kts wind.  Morale is high (fabulous food by Norma) and our ETA Panama is now sometime during Friday.

Colon-Cienfuegas

Havana

Havana

Varadero~Santa

Jorge told us that a 30-40 years old Lada would cost the equivalent of £10,000 and a pre-1959 US car in excellent condition could be as much as £25,000.  Staggering.

We got a very good connection (no names) whilst at Marina Hemingway who produced diesel at 20% lower price than available to us and 25 Cohiba Esplendidos (Fidel's favourite cigar) for £30 instead of the £300 in the tourist shops. Hm.
We decided to get on with the Pacific adventure and so cut short our visit to Cuba - we felt we had a very good taste of it and enjoyed most.  We encountered some very professional officials who were friendly and courteous, but we also encountered some who were seeking gifts - we declined to provide them.  We were not sorry to see the back of the latter experience.  Our view is that if you deliver then you set expectations regarding the cruisers who come after us.  We don't like to join in petty corruption ... yeah, we know, but isn't the Black Market something different????  It is clear though that the people are encouraged by the freedoms to trade that were introduced by the government in 2011, but they want more.  They also see what the tourists have and want more material goods - one official wanted us to give him one of our mobile phones, although many Cubans have them.
Before departing Marina Hemingway we did our first 'Minnie B' boat painting on the dock.  We were quite pleased with it.

On 16th February we motored 60nm along the north coast, to a small beach resort called Cayo Levisa (Posn:  22deg52'.87N  83deg31'.38W), where we anchored for one night, and then sailed overnight to  Los Morros (Posn:  21deg54'.08N  84deg54'.44W), on the south-west tip of Cuba, which just had a dock (big enough for a local tourist catamaran and two visiting boats on the west side before having to raft up or take a pounding from the prevailing easterlies of the east side), a "marina" office with toilets and showers, and a bar/restaurant and small shop.  We sailed the 108nm in 19hours, motoring for 10 hours and being on a broad reach for the rest of the time.  Los Morros is a port of entry/exit, so we were able to clear out of there, as Customs and Immigration officials were on site. As with Varadero, these officials were very pleasant and easy to deal with. We enjoyed a meal of shrimps at the small restaurant on arrival and spent our last Cuban pesos on rum and whiskey (bottle of Jameson's  for £12 - not bad eh?)

We left Los Morros on Monday morning for the 260nm sail to Grand Cayman.  The expected 12 -15kts North-Easterly was with us until we rounded Cabo San Antonio and then it just died.  Hm.  We had to motor until 0140 when we had 8kts for the East and we were able to sail close-hauled on our course of 130degM.  The Gulf Stream kicked in around 0700 on 21st February at about 20deg35'N 83deg10'W and we could no longer steer the rhumb line, being about 15-20 degrees off course.  But the wind backed and the westerly current eased by 2200 and we were back on course.  We were going a little bit too fast for a daylight arrival and so we slowed down, doing 4.5-5kts.   Port Security picked us up on the AIS when we were about 3nm out and gave us the position for our mooring buoy.  There is no anchoring to protect the reefs but the moorings are free.  Great.

While we waited for the Customs and Immigration people to come out to 'Minnie B' to clear us in, we watched as thousands of people went ashore from the cruise ships.  After we'd been cleared in (by friendly and helpful officials - they were a bit unsure whether to take all our wine and spirits into bond ashore for the duration of our stay, but we convinced them we would not land any and left it all alone).  However, we did not know it was Ash Wednesday and a public holiday so we got whammoed by Customs for US$90 overtime.  Ouch .  Still, there were Mardi Gras celebrations ashore with bands playing in the street, and stalls selling food and drink - all very jolly. But Georgetown is not at all pretty - the buildings are modern (probably older ones having been flattened by hurricanes over the years), and mainly consists of offices for financial/banking firms, and malls with expensive shops, designed to part cruise ship passengers from their money! However, there is a big supermarket so we will be able to replenish our food supplies.  This is a major point of

difference with Cuba, where food shopping was difficult - the "supermarket" in Marina Hemingway, for example, just sold alcohol, dry and tinned goods, and frozen meat, while fruit and vegetables were only available in local markets and street stalls.  So, here in Grand Cayman we can stock up for the next leg of our trip and everything you can imagine is for sale.

We think we will stay here until Saturday or Sunday, then sail to Panama. The trip to Panama is around 600nm and will take four or five days. Once in Panama, we will get ready to go through the canal, but this will take some time and we may be there for a few weeks, as we also want to visit the San Blas Islands.  

So, that's still alright then.

16th April 2012

Posn:  09deg22'.11N  79deg57'.04W

Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama

So, the good news: we returned to the UK in the middle of March, having postponed our Canal transit, as Phil's 96 years old mother's health deteriorated quite quickly, but she has stabilised and having lived on her own up until this year, has now moved to a nursing home where she is quite comfortable, relatively content and close to a large number of family members.

So, we came back to Panama on 12th April, relaunched Minnie B and today we transit the Canal.  We overnight in Gatun Lake and reach the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday 17th April - all being well.

We last posted when we were on passage to Panama.  Briefly, for the rest of the trip we had easterly winds 15-20kts, occasionally 25kts and did the last 460nm 72 hours.  The current stopped being a pain around 15deg30'N and with two reefs in the main and two in the genoa we bowled along quite nicely, arriving at Colon around 2100 and anchoring for the night at the Flats.  We then went into Shelter Bay Marina on 2nd March.

The Marina is excellent, run by John, the Manager, Dave the Yard Manager, and Frank the Dockmaster.  There is a bar, restaurant, small convenience store, small chandlery, gym, swimming pool and a crocodile that swims by around 1700 each day.  There were three other OCC boats in when we arrived and we acted as Line Handlers on 'Twice Eleven'  for Tamsin and David - so we got to do a transit despite our postponement.  

Before we returned to the UK, we spent some very happy evenings with our friends Remy and Jo on 'X-trem'.  They had been sailing in company with Jose and Maitie on 'Jomay', but Jomay had transited the Canal and Remy and Jo were to head back to Guatemala

We had stocked up ready for our transit and passages to Galapagos and French Polynesia when a flurry of e-mails, texts and phone conversations led to our flight back to the UK.  Anyway, we now have:

Not sure we have enough of everything and we still need fresh food - the bilges are full though.

When we arrived back our friend Frank on 'African Seawing' was in the marina, preparing to sail back to Europe as he was having difficulty finding suitable crew.  He had a bad experience at anchor in Colon - see here

Shelter Bay has excellent security and care will be taken at the anchorage on the Pacific side.  We will leave for Galapagos as soon as we can finish provisioning.