SHELTER BAY MARINA
When you are cruising never have a time scale!! We still haven’t transited the canal because we found some water in one of the sail drives and we need to lift the boat out to hopefully repair it. The plan is to have it lifted, fix the problem and then back in the water in the same day. Wishful thinking!!!
We decided it was better to do it in Shelter Bay than on the other side where the marina is a lot more expensive.
We haven’t had a very good run lately with mechanical problems on the boat. First the starboard alternator stopped working, and then the high pressure pump on the water maker broke, quickly followed with an oil leak in the windless and now the saildrive. Fortunately we found an ex yachty mechanic living in Linton who was a wiz at fixing everything, a very rare find indeed!
The latest delay enabled me to go through the canal as a line handler for ‘Aurora B’, (42ft Halberg Rassy,) and experience first hand the transit. It was well worth doing and it should take a lot of the stress away when we go through on Saturday.
When Aurora B arrived on the Pacific side, Penny and I and Peter and Nani (Joule) decided to have a bit of a holiday away from the boats. We stayed in one of the good hotels in Panama City for a night. It just happened to be carnival time, not that we saw very much of the street celebrations – I think it was too many cocktails around the pool
