Panama - Linton Bay Marina - 1 year on the Hard 😳

It’s been over 5 months since I posted an update.

In May, Nicholas approached the critical 180 day Panama visa restriction period which included his 90 day overstay, and had to leave Panama for a Visa Renewal Run. I, having gone to South Africa in January was well within my 180 days, but Nicholas did not want to travel alone, so I made arrangements for us to do a little Vacation to Columbia, our destination the historic town of Santa Marta.

Santa Marta sits on the northern coastline of Columbia and is recognized as the oldest settled area in South America by Europeans. I booked us an Ocean View room with a Balcony at Hotel Bonita, in the Old Historic District of Santa Marta, and the hotel arranged Taxi pickup at Airport Santa Marta a 30 minute drive away, so we did not have to deal with the pushy vendors charging Gringo prices.

Hotel Bonita

Our room was lovely, with cool air conditioning, heavy curtaining to cut out the afternoon sun, and double glazing to cut out the noise of the Boulevard which comes alive with Locals and Tourists every evening to watch the amazing Sunsets. Santa Marta is located in a bay, with excellent protection from the prevailing winds - which is the major reason Santa Marta was settled.

Our Balcony and view

Amazing sunsets

Our location, in the center front of the Santa Marta Historic District

For 5 days we roamed the streets, took in the sights, museums and historic buildings, retuning to our hotel room every afternoon to escape the intense heat. After watching the amazing Sunset from our Balcony we’d go out to one of the Local restaurants in the Historic area and experience the street night life in the Historic District.

Not all buildings have been renovated

Wall Art

IGY Santa Marta Marina

Fresh Mango Juices

One road outside of the Historic District is chaos with numerous motorbikes and street vendors

Evening wandering, looking for some place for dinner. This ‘hole in the wall bar’ made the Best Margaritas

Live bands perform in the Parks in the evening

By then we’d done and seen it all, time to leave and no need to travel here ever again. Been there, done that.

Back at Meshugga, I was extremely relieved to find that this time she was intact, and we had not been robbed (like when we went to Chicago in November last). Prior to leaving I had been ultra careful, ensuring every cockpit and fly bridge locker was padlocked. Every hatch, doorway securely locked, and jammed wood into the sliders to prevent intruders from forcing the locks, and sliding doors open. We told no one at the Marina, the security staff or any Cruiser that we were leaving the boat unattended.

The weeks and months since have rolled into each other. Work is slow. Getting materials, equipment, spares takes time. Workers are slow. The weather is Hot, Humid and Summer is the Rainy Season. Nights bring heavy Rain, Thunder and Lightning. Scary sometimes and I worry we’ll get hit again.

Life on the hard is frustrating and exasperating. Every task which should take 2-3 hours takes days.

Looking through my photos, I see that I have stopped taking photos of ‘boat work’. It’s all just too much.

Panama - Linton Bay Marina , 7 months ‘On the Hard’

We’ve been ‘On the Hard’ now for 7 months at Linton Bay Marina in Panama on the Atlantic Ocean side. It’s continually hot and humid. The rainy season, which runs from June to November ended late and we only started seeing dry days towards the end of January. Now end April, it has already started raining most nights. 

Our numerous jobs of Repair, Replacement, Upgrading is taking FAR longer than we anticipated, partly due to the inclement weather for so many months, but also because workers here are largely unreliable and slow, and Nicholas constantly checks that each step of a job as been properly done. Further, as we ‘take the boat apart’ we have found leaks we did not know about, and add extra upgrades or replacements to items that weren’t on our original list.

The Bulkhead repair that I wrote about in my previous Blog is fully complete, but the Port Cabin Bulkhead, which we decided to beef-up has not been done, as Panama has run out of stock of the necessary 2-part Epoxy Resin for the past 3 months. So it’s the major job we have to do before we get Splashed (back into the water). I contact the importer every week to check whether supplies have arrived in the country, and think I might look at USA to see if I can Ocean Freight it in (no Air Freight as it’s a hazardous material).

We made a wonderful visit to Chicago to see Kieran, Katie and our Granddaughter Arden. Katie is 7 months pregnant, and they’ve just moved into a new home, So Nicholas and I helped with unpacking boxes and Nicholas installing shelving in the Garages, Workshop and Storeroom.

Garage shelving going up

Fitting bicycle supports to hang bikes

I made Biltong for Kieran

Erecting a House Double Bunk with slide for Arden

Back at Meshugga, Taping up to spray-paint a dinged area

Removing and reseating All our hatches as well as our Stanchions and Pulpit 

Sanding an area that has been spray-painted - an errant run.

Ally, Matt and crew Kian ready to depart from Linton Bay Marina. Riley the dog.

SV Dulcinea, in the travel lift, ready to be splashed (Matt & Ally’s boat)

Christmas Time, so Fruit Mince Pies 

Christmas Cake 

 

Cut into thirds - easier to keep and fit into my Tupperwares. Should last a few months

English Pork Pies

Was fun to meet up with Doug and Carolyn of SV Viento, on their brief visit to Linton Bay Marina

Dinghy floor and rear being spray painted, before new flooring goes in

Riley, who belong to Luis the Welder (his business is next to Meshugga), loves to sleep in the shade under Meshugga

Some of our workers. Jose, Russel and Johnny 

New Zojorushi Breadmaker is the charm, making Huge loaves every time

Every Tuesday and Friday, Joel the Fruit and Veg man arrives with Fresh Produce from the Colon Markets

Balboa Panamanian Beer @ Nancy’s Blue House 

Nancy’s excellent Pizza

Removing and re-seating all our rear windows and sliding doors, both port and starboard

Rear windows taped up overnight, as it’s more than a one-day job to do eight windows

Working between rain showers

Ceiling and side panels all need to be removed to access holes for stanchion bolts and nuts

Christmas Eve I had unsettling news that my Mum Genevieve had multiple Strokes and was in a serious condition. I waited til early January, and the prognosis was not good, so I made the long haul from Panama via Florida USA to Pretoria South Africa.

Interesting view flying over the Florida Keys

Having visited my Mum - by this time she was in a Hospice Facility and I said my Goodbyes, (my brother Mark and sister Tania also came during this time). Mum unfortunately did not regain consciousness after the strokes, was severely brain damaged and totally unresponsive. There was no hope of improvement, and we hoped her final few days would be peaceful and painless. 

I flew to Durban to visit family. Thanks Tania and Edward for hosting me. ❤️❤️

Nephew Warren, Kylie his wife and little William with my sister Tania (Warrens mum)

Niece Lauren, Leonard her husband, kids Abigail, Zach and Danny, with my sister Tania and Edward her husband. (Lauren is their daughter)

Coffee with my nephew Theo, (Marks son)

Then another flight, this time to Cape Town, my home town.

Dinner with my bestie Melissa

Time get my Cancer screens done

Mammogram 

 

Bone Density

MRI, Brain and Full Body

No Photo of the PET scan machine ( I forgot)

Results came back Good, ie: no increase in Tumor Growth since previous scans of 18 months go.

Bone Density not so good - will have to try address that.

Beautiful Cape Town’s 12 Apostles 

Dinner with Penny and Mike (Sister-in-law, and Brother-in-law). Thank you SO much for letting me stay with you ❤️❤️

Niece Mandy, with her husband Chris and kids Cameron and Logan

Girls weekend with my sisters-in-law Penny and Jenny (Nicholas’s sisters). Thank you Jenny for hosting us at your century old home in Caledonia❤️❤️

Iconic Table Mountain

Lunch with another bestie Liezel

Fun event at Royal Cape Yacht Club with good friends Jeanne and John Martin

Event was the visitation of Princess Anne, renewing our Clubs Royal status, seen here with our General Manager Toni Maniprise. Alan Hafela our Commodore behind them.

Sadly, but expected, my Mum passed away and I returned to Pretoria for her funeral.

My brother Mark and sister Tania (he changed his shirt and jacket for the photo) 🤣

The flight back to Panama was a long flight, and 56 hours later I arrived back at Meshugga.

Beautiful Tall Ship in the bay

Early February, the 6th, Kieran and Katie had a little boy, Ronan. All well and healthy with both Katie and Ronan. (Regret no photos, they do not want their kids on any Social Media platforms).

I’ve managed to find an easy, relatively cheap way to get Packages from the USA to Meshugga. And approximately every 2 weeks we get a delivery.

Local bus from Linton Bay Marina

Happy Valentines Day ❤️ from Nicholas

We have an unwelcome visitor aboard Meshugga. A Rat!

It has caused chaos munching on food in packets, plastic bottles, and biting at my Tupperware containers which contain food.

I laid two types of Rat poison laid in various locations around the boat where the rat has left droppings or eaten

Next morning, I had luck with it/they having eaten on two locations

All food is now in these plastic containers, or in the fridge, freezer

Or Dishwasher 😂

Concerned that the Rat/s might die somewhere inaccessible in the bilges or passages where wiring run, I bought Rat Traps, and baited them. It/they have set one off, unfortunately not successfully, and now are shy of the Traps. I suppose time will tell if the rat/s die from the ingested poison - by smell I suppose 🤷‍♀️

I have these traps in 4 locations

I note whilst doing this Blog, that I’ve not taken many photos of all the Work being done on Meshugga. I’ll try remedy that going forward.