Panama - Linton Bay Marina - 2 weeks on the Hard

So it’s been two weeks since we Hauled out. News is that my toe is definitely broken…. Treatment remains the same - RICE. I limp around and go/do things more slowly, but that’s okay. My toe is well strapped to the toes on either side.

Saturday was Ally’s birthday, but due to boat stuff, both Dulcinea and Meshugga decided it’ll be better to celebrate on Sunday, so we all piled into our rental vehicle and set off for El Castillo Restuarant about a 40 min drive away.

Not as though we don’t see the sea every day…. Just saying….

Nicholas has selected a Contractor (he had three quotes). Our Contractor works with two chaps, so it a party of three. They have cordoned off the Starboard Front Cabin with heavy duty plastic and duct tape, and enter the cabin via the forward Heads (bathroom) hatch (ceiling window), with a ladder to get down. Inside the cabin there is a huge extractor and an air conditioner. The contractors work in full suits (like Hazmat) and with full face covers with breathers, so that they don’t breathe in fiberglass or get itchy. It’s been a very noisy two weeks with the Contractors cutting out the Tabs and all areas where the fiberglass has ‘let go’ and where we have tears in the bulkheads.

By end of day, I need a few Tylenol due to headaches from the constant grinding noise and vacuum cleaner and extractor fan going flat out.

Nicholas is taking photographs and I’ll get those from him in due course and post a blog on the repairs.

Here at Linton Bay Marina we are about 3 miles away from a small convenience / hardware store which stocks basic stuff. However, the vege man, Charlie who I met two years ago, and who used to come to the Marina with his truck with fruits and vegetables each day, now has a store on the grounds which is a Refrigerated Container with loads of fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses and dairy products, and a few freezers with meats. In addition, another weekly truck arrives with great fresh produce as well as coolers with prawns/shrimp and fish on ice. I look out for him as he does not seem to come on the same day each week, and I buy 2-3 pounds of Camorones (prawns/shrimp) for a pig-out.

Camorones sauted in butter, garlic, chillie and ginger with brown rice.

Thankfully we have Aircon running 24/7 inside Meshugga as outside temps are 35 Deg with 80% humidity. It’s great to be able to sleep in relative (to us) coolth - as our Aircon only gets the temperature inside down to 25-27 deg C. At night (for us) it gets positively chilly inside with the Aircon running and the nighttime drop in heat, and in the early hours we need a light blanket over our top sheet :-) Nicholas has linked up drainage hoses to lead out from our kitchen sink as well as our shower and basins -  so we live aboard comfortably.