Back in Panama

Yesterday, the day after my mother’s 85th birthday, Marion and I flew to Panama. Good flight with KLM, nice service and, if anything, almost too much food. We had a big box with us containing a new Watt&Sea, which still made it through customs and odd-sized luggage without any trouble, and luckily the man from Hertz kindly helped carry it to the counter. Worth a tip! You don’t see that very often around here; Panamanians have roughly the same service mentality as the Dutch. In other words, none… Anyway, within an hour of landing we were driving our perfectly decent SUV to Shelter Bay Marina, where we arrived about 2 hours later. Straight to the boat: is everything OK? Yes, it is. Except I’d forgotten to clear out the last bits in the fridge, so it was covered in mould and stank. So, a quick beer ashore and at nine o’clock (four in the morning back in the Netherlands) off to bed.

This morning we were of course up early, and we quickly decided not to do too much today.

Marion’s activities today consist of stocking up on breakfast supplies and taking naps. Well deserved! I started by scrubbing out the fridge and putting its shelves and drawers in the dishwasher, which could do with a run anyway. Digging out the fenders. Unpacking the stuff we brought. Testing the new B&G gear. Downloading Pacific charts. A swim and then lunch. Sorting things out with the accountant. In short, keeping busy. My nap is getting a bit squeezed out.

Tomorrow we go shopping and Rudolf arrives; he’s coming with us to Hawaii. On Thursday Arnold arrives too, and then the crew is complete. We’re hoping to leave around the 6th. Marion will wave us off and then stay on for a bit to explore Panama City.