Are We Ever Getting Out of Here?

It appears that Neptune, God of the Sea, has other plans for us. We arrived at Chichime, our planned first stop in the San Blas Islands after spending the night in Linton Bay. We anchored late in the afternoon, so we spent the rest of the day on the boat.

The next morning, we launched the dinghy to check out the island. When got about 100 yards from the boat, the check engine light came on and the engine went into limp home mode. Back to the big boat we go and time for some diagnostic work on the outboard. After about an hour of looking, checking and cursing, we determined repairs were beyond our scope. Decisions to make. 1: hang out with a busted dinghy 2: head back to the marina and see if we can get it fixed. If number 2 is selected, do we make a long 75 nm run for it now as bad weather is moving in or wait it out and delay things further.

We made a run for it. The weather moved in faster than expected, the 20-30 knot winds were manageable but the waves were steep and close together and it made for a ruckus ride back. To date we have never lost anything off a countertop. This trip things moved that have never moved before. The lid popped of a canister of flour when it landed upside down on the cabin floor and a 5-gallon jerry can, full of diesel, washed off the deck. We made it back to Shelter Bay at 10:30 PM and anchored outside the marina to wait for daylight, clean up and lick our wounds.

The mechanics at the marina spent two days working on the engine and determined it was likely a salt build up in the water-cooling jacket that was blocking the flow of water. Unfortunately, they do not do this kind of repair here. They gave us the contact for the Suzuki Dealer in Panama City who could help.

We contacted them and to our surprise they agreed to come and look at the engine on a Sunday morning and if they could not do anything with it at the marina, they would take it back to their shop. As expected, nothing could be done at the marina, so we waved goodbye to the outboard as they drove off with it. The wrinkle, its Carnival time in Panama and all the businesses are closed for a few days, so the engine is not going to get worked on for a bit.

What to do if we can’t go boating? We took Carlos’s 2 ½ hour guided tour of the jungle.  Shelter Bay Marina was originally part of Fort Sherman which was the US Military Base to protect the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. In more recent years, Fort Sherman was used as the Jungle Warfare Training base for Navy Seals. Carlos was a wealth of information. He told us about the history of the area and he had personal memories from when he was a child. He showed us many of the plants, trees and we even saw a dozen or so Howler Monkeys. We toured through the old Army bunker too, it was a little spooky but very interesting! Barb was happy only seeing a few bats and no snakes.

Next up. Road Trip! As Canadians we are allowed in Panama for 180 days but only able to rent a car in the first 90 days. The thought being that after 90 days we should be looking at getting permanent residency and a Panamanian Driver’s License. We had to wait for Carnival to end before a car was available and then headed to San Lorenzo and the Anton Valley or El Valle as it is known here.

El Castillo de San Lorenzo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It sits high on the bluff overlooking the Chagres River, only 8 miles from the Marina. Prior to the Canal, the Chagres was the main part of the trade route across Panama. As such the Spanish, in 1595, built a fort high on the bluff in order to protect the route. Over the next couple hundred years that fort would be captured and destroyed 3 times. They are now working to preserve and restore what is left.

The Chagres River is still very important to world trade. It was dammed to form Lake Gatun which is the center part of the Panama Canal. The river also supplies the water to run the locks in the canal and provides drinking water for the local area.

The Anton Vally is a 3.5-hour drive from Colon back towards Panama City then up the coast before turning back east and inland. The town is located within the crater of an extinct volcano. The largest such town in the world. The dramatic rise of the crater’s edge from within is quite stunning. As is the view from the top down.

We stayed at a quaint hotel. After arriving we discovered that there was some literary licence taken when they wrote the description for the web. While the pool and grounds were nice there was no mention of the broken panels in or the gap around the room door.  All part of the adventure.

We were in regular contact with the shop working on the outboard and had some positive news that indicated we could probably pick up the engine on our way back from the Anton Valley. That hope was dashed when we received word while enroute that the engine was still acting up and would not be ready as hoped. So, we are back to the boat but still without a dinghy engine. They hope to have it back to us in a couple of days, we shall see, fingers crossed. We’ll miss the weather window early this week but are hopeful that one will open up later in the week. A lot of hurry up and wait happening here aboard Stray Cat. Things happen in 3’s, right? This season we’ve had protest road blockages, prostate blockages and now engine blockages. We should be good after this !!??