Sept. 23, 2009

We moved to a mooring at the Balboa Yacht Club after one night at the anchorage, where we dragged in a squall. Michael was not feeling well, and Sue was going to be in FL for a week....hence the move to a 'new' place for us. The mooring field is close to the Bridge of the America's and about a couple of hundred yards off the canal. The shipping traffic is constant, as are the work/ACP pilot boats. Not the most calm place, but convenient to taxi or bus to town. They don't have a dinghy dock, but provide a launcha service to pick up or drop you off at your boat. Sue went to Miami to pick up our extended stay visas for French Polynesia, but being so close to kids, made a trip to Orlando and New Port Richey. Michael tackled a list of projects....even completing a few! We've met more expats who are willing to share local knowledge and show us around....time is flying by.
(Infini is by the stern of the freighter)
For info on BYC: http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Panama/Balboa

Sept. 10 Back to Amadore Las Brisas

Wow, a week at Espiritu Santo went fast. After getting the engine running again, we tackled the sewing project of a rain 'window' to go between our dodger and bimini. So far so good for amateurs; we fit the complex compound curved piece with zippers (above)and twisties (into the hard dodger). Now just the 'window' part needs to be cut out. It was the first time we used the hand crank option on our Sailrite machine. The stitches look better than if we used the 110!
We enjoyed celebrating Wolfgang's (Lumme) birthday aboard Sea Fury, with a pizza party, and homemade cakes by Ute. Too much food! Grace and BatWing were also there. Dominoes and farkel were played. We left the next day for our 12mi. run to Contadora, then on to the mainland, a 35 mile run. We'll have to pickle our water maker again, as the water isn't clean enough to run it. We've been enjoying fresh fish, as our luck has changed and we've caught a few. We won't talk about the ones that got away!..The whale watching is also a good time passer, and the books we exchange are getting read.
The picture was taken at one of our 'trash burns' on the beach....'hanging out'
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Espiritu Santo Sept. 4

After spending 3 days trying to fix an engine problem at Isla de Cana, (a beautiful protected bay with a waterfall...a great place to celebrate Sue's birthday, but a serious encounter with no see ums!), we got towed about four miles to this beautiful island by Roger & Norma on Sea Fury. They and few other cruisers helped us trouble shoot why we had no salt water flow; and after removing literally every hose from the seacock onwards, removing the oil cooler and heat exchanger to clean them out, changing the alternator belt, removing, inspecting and changing the impeller in the salt water pump...still no flow! Hmmm. As it turns out, Infini has a bypass valve allowing salt water to circulate thru the condenser for the engine driven refrigeration system. We turned the valve, allowing water to flow directly from the salt water pump to the oil cooler, thereby bypassing the condenser, and all's well. It took days to figure all that out! Cleaning out the obstruction in the condenser will be left for another time, as we have a 12 volt reefer unit to cool the boxes we use daily, and don't use the engine driven system that often anyway. At any rate, there are about 5 other cruising boats here, and the fish are abundant. We now appreciate why this is one of the 'favorite' anchorages in the Perlas Islands. Whale sightings continue, and the daily squalls are allowing our water tanks to stay topped off. N08deg25min, W078deg51min