On Sunday, February 1, we were extremely jet lagged and moved slowly all day. Since we were out of perishable food, we wanted to take the marina bus to town to go to the grocery store. While we were in San Diego, a rally of boats arrived that had crossed the Atlantic together. Between the rally boats, the Ocean Posse boats congregating here, and the boats that still hadn’t been able to leave due to continuing adverse weather, the marina was jam packed. The bus didn’t run on Sundays, and was already full for Monday. Sign-ups hadn’t started yet for Tuesday.  

We could have taken a taxi to town, but it cost $20 each way, and didn’t seem worth the cost since the marina had a tiny market where we were able to purchase enough basics, such as eggs and bread, to get by. The market did have some produce, but it didn’t look all that great (except for the tomatoes). 

Keith played D & D with his friends. A little French girl had arrived while we were in San Diego who wanted to play, but she didn’t speak English, so Keith utilized his French to teach her how to play and help her make a character.  

Christi and Eric only did the most urgent chores (such as laundry). In the evening, there was a cruiser potluck that Eric went to, but Christi was feeling too tired to be social. 

On Monday morning, Eric rinsed the boat down while Christi and Keith did school. He hung the doormats over the edge of the railing, and the wind blew them into the water. He seriously debated getting in the water to retrieve them, but ultimately decided that two $30 mats probably weren’t worth the risk of being eaten by a crocodile.

Not long after he’d finished rinsing Kosmos down, he went to fill the water tank and saw that the water wasn’t working. Eric was confused because the water was clearly working at the marina, which was literally a few feet away from us. 

The dockmaster told us that the docks are tied to the municipal water system, and that the City of Colon had a main pipe break. The whole city was without water. The marina had its own separate water cistern as a back-up, which was why they still had water. The pipe was supposed to be repaired soon, so we didn’t curb our water usage by all that much. 

Aside from the water issues, it was another quiet day. In the afternoon, Keith again played D&D with his friends. Eric and Christi did chores around the boat. 

On Tuesday, the water was still not working, so we had to restrict water usage onboard even more. We were also unable to get on the bus again. But not going to town worked out okay, because on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, a produce vendor sets up a stall just outside the marina gate. We were pleased to see that they had beautiful produce and stocked up. 

On Tuesday afternoon, Eric led another D&D session with the kids. In the evening, we had dinner with our friends on Basik. It was lovely to catch up with them. 

After dinner, Keith and Eric played a video game called Civilization online with some of the other Ocean Posse members here in the marina. They had a blast.

Honestly, it has been nice to be able to lay low and relax for the last few days. Our plan upon returning to Panama had been to get Kosmos ready for another passage, then leave as soon as we had a weather window. However, since the forecast for the next two weeks was high winds and big waves, we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. That meant that there was no pressure to get stuff done right NOW. 

We’ve been going pretty much non-stop since December 1, and this down time was a much needed break.