Getting things done
I slept in till 5:45am! I almost felt guilty for being so lazy.
There was the possibility that the starter would be repaired by today, so I took the 9:30am panga in to Bocas to check. Rico the parrot joined us on our ride. When I finally caught up with the mechanic, he told me that he wasn’t able to find new brushes for it in Changanola, and is now waiting for them to be brought from David – which is a bit farther away than Changanola. This means that tomorrow when we head into Bocas bright and early to get our shipment that has arrived from the mainland, I’ll need to practice my non existent ninja captaining skills and dock the boat with only a starboard engine. No problem….I’ll pretend my handsome husband has my hands in his and is guiding me 🙂
While in Bocas I ran a bunch of errands, including going to the bank, the mail stop, the fruit stand and grocery store. I even found a little store called Hawaii.
At one point I was walking on one of the back roads, and I saw an older, extremely obese man standing with several black garbage bags that were filled to the brim with empty cans. He was trying to empty all the contents of one into a different bag, and somehow ended up with a couple hundred cans all over the road. I quickly put my bags down and gathered up all the cans while he held the bag open, and the entire time he was thanking me over and over again each time I dumped more cans in. When I was done he was all teary eyed and in broken English said ‘thank you senora, but why did you help me?’ I gave him a big hug and said, ‘because I love you.’ He buried his face in his hands and cried. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to help him.
I sat on a bench in the park for a while afterward, to enjoy the breeze and people watch – one of my favorite things I love doing with my Dad. A little girl sat singing at the top of her lungs as her mother worked close by selling beaded bracelets.
A group of school girls, all in uniform, sat in a circle giggling and whispering. Several men stood together and chatted loudly, laughing hard periodically, and a policeman stood talking with some young boys by his cruiser. (4 wheeler) I love these Panamanian people. They don’t have much concerning worldly goods, but they are happy, compassionate and humble. What a great combination of characteristics, which we can all learn from.
Debbie called me when I was in town with an update on Steve. She was very teary with worry and sounded exhausted, but she’s ok. At first the doctor thought he had for sure had a stoke but after running tests, they found that Steve has an enlarged heart, and crazy high blood pressure. The doc said that when we saw him stumbling with stroke like symptoms, because we immediately lay him down, his blood pressure was able to lower enough to not go into a stroke, then when he walked from the golf cart to the water taxi and showed stroke like symptoms again, it’s because he was once again headed for a stroke but then we sat him in the water taxi and calmed him down and he didn’t end up having a stroke, but is on the verge. They want to keep him there tonight again to keep monitoring his blood pressure, and then hopefully send him back home here tomorrow.
Libby is missing her mom and dad but she’s doing fine. She receives lots of love and attention with us, and periodically sits on the starboard stern and looks down the dock to see if they are coming.
Danny’s hotel is in a great location in Paris, allowing him to explore the city and admire the beautiful sights. I hope he doesn’t decide to stay!
I’m pretty tired tonight so I think I’ll get some sleep so I’m prepared for our early morning start into Bocas with Tanda Malaika, and the creatures are watching a Starwars movie. I am so grateful for this beautiful world, and the people in it with whom I am blessed to rub shoulders.
Adventures of a Tribe 
July 28, 2015 at 6:38 am
This is going to be a bit trickier than just locking off the wheel and using the twin engines for normal docking. You will need to use prop walk and rudders. If the port side engine is the one that has no starter……Visualize docking Imagine (all sails down) and how we use the port prop walk to pick up the mooring ball and then the rudder to back her in straight………You will have an easier time using your reverse prop walk then trying to dock in forward. Get as close as you can alongside your dock using forward. Tanda Malaika should have port prop walk on her stbd engine so you can prop walk the port side stern in by turning the wheel hard over to port and with throttle in reverse slowly back the stern in, then get a line secure onto the stern dock cleat. After the stern is secure…..let the water settle a bit. No hurry. If possible have one of the kids step off the stern pulpit onto the dock. Then keep the wheel hard over to port, throttle forward slowly and bring in the bow by “springing” off the secured stern dock line. Make sure you have all available crew’s hands holding fenders at all contact points to keep you from rubbing the corner or side on the dock. When you have the bow close enough to the dock toss the bow line to your crew on shore or toss it around the cleat and pull her in. Also….remember to use the wind as your aid. Make sure you are aware of what the wind will be doing to her. If you can get windward of the dock and alongside….the wind will push you in. If you are leeward….it will be a bit trickier. It helps to let your neighbors know you are coming in on one engine so you can toss the dock lines to them for some assistance. If your stbd engine is the one that won’t start you will need to do the same procedure but the opposite side….stbd side toward dock and wheel hard over to stbd. Stern in (port engine in reverse) then secure to dock and spring off stern line to bring bow in. Give me a jingle if you need to….no mattah what time it is okay?? Worst case scenario is……use your dinghy and bring her in with that. you can push whatever quadrant of Tanda Malaika you need to by using the dinghy…… Usually stbd engine walks to port and port engine walks to stbd when in reverse. However….you may need to double check!!…….She is a South African Boat and you know how wild and crazy those South African’s are!!!!
LUVYA LARGE!!
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