This morning Eric checked with Victor. No paperwork yet on us. He said he’d check again in a few hours and get in touch with us when he knew something.
We pulled out of our slip and ventured over to the edge of the fairway that leads into Bahia Limon. As promised, a big tug boat was waiting for us amongst the bushes just inside the fairway, along the peninsula that separates the marina from the bay.
We didn’t need any fuel at the moment, but Continue reading
Continued from yesterday — Needless to say, from when we first saw the cruise ship, it was only a few more twists and turns in the road before the jungle abruptly ended and there was a massive concrete structure in front of our face. The light was red for us, so we stopped at the intersection. On our right, the cruise ship in the canal was creeping towards us ever so slowly, until it came to the barrier marking the edge of the lock and stopped. The portion of the canal the ship was about to be lowered into was directly in front of us, but the buildings and bridge blocked any view of the waterway we may have had. We wondered if a ship was in there right now, having just been lowered. Probable, considering we were stopped.
The light turned green and we moved forward onto the bridge, a little awed by how absolutely massive the lock is. The walls and gate are enormous. And we were even more awed by Continue reading
This morning Victor knocked on our door at 0730 to let us know the measurer was in the marina. Our boat was third in line, so he would definitely be to Kosmos before noon. Victor told us to be ready to go to town with him at 1300. Eric’s toe was throbbing. We suppose yesterday’s long walk wasn’t such a good idea with a broken toe.
The measurer arrived at 0945. His name is Carlos and he is a nice guy. He measured the Continue reading
Today we waited around for the boat measurer. Christi continued cleaning. Eric spent most of the day socializing, and Christi would join in now and again during cleaning breaks. At 1400, Victor told us if the measurer hadn’t come by now, he wasn’t coming today. Good, at least we could do something fun this afternoon.
At 1530, we went for a walk in the jungle surrounding the marina with Tom and Susan on the Nordhavn 40 from San Diego. Tom and Susan explained that the marina is situated in what used to be an American Navy base, Fort Sherman. The base was constructed in 1911 to protect the unfinished canal. It was abandoned in December 1999 along with all the other American military bases in Panama. The majority of the land that the base encompassed is undeveloped jungle, and it is was one of the primary military training centers for jungle combat training, particularly during the Vietnam era. When the Panamanians took over the land, they turned it into a nature preserve. Tom and Susan walk through the preserve often, and have sometimes seen Panamanian troops doing training exercises in the preserve.
We followed a walking trail behind the marina into the jungle. The trail runs up a gently sloping hill. The path is obviously frequently used, but it doesn’t look like anyone formally maintains it. On both sides of the path the plants tall, thick and dense.
As we were walking along, we were mesmerized by the giant leaf cutter ants. There are zillions of them marching in perfect lines around the trail, most carrying big pieces of leaves much larger than they are. These ants are actually farmers. They cultivate a Continue reading
Eric let Victor know we would use him as our agent as soon Victor’s work day started and gave him all the necessary paperwork. In the afternoon Victor showed up at the boat with 4 super long lines and 20 tires. The tires are used and cost $3.00 USD each to buy. The lines cost $100 USD each to rent, which we thought was a lot of money for a rental.
Victor said our measuring appointment was Continue reading