Plodding on with our days….
Great news is that our brand new dinghy has finally arrived and it’s great. The pleasure to step in and out of a rubber boat that is rigid and doesn’t sink like sack of jelly around your legs is a bliss….
She is white, she was clean for a nano second and now looking to get a dinghy cover made.
Also our new batteries arrived and installed so holding charge is so much better. Inverter stopped working so Chris had to pull out everything from every single cupboard and get under floors, beds and walls to trace this cable that connects the inverter to the control panel. Pull it out and take it to this German electronic guy who luckily said it’s the cable, fixed it and all back in place again. Phew, could have been an expensive job! Although he also found a burnt out cable under the floor…..so tracing that one at the moment
The start was a while ago, actually in San blas for the moment but let’s trace back…..
The burnt out cable had something to do with the non working generator……
We were also itching to get a move on. But had a minor problem with two passports. Needed renewing, not a problem. Do it online! What a palaver that became. As we haven’t got a permanent address abroad the passport office has gone ape about everything. Prove this and prove that….for example
Prove of address- don’t have one
Prove of utility bills- got none
Letter from school- none, we home school
Pay slip from work-don’t work
Bank statement- yes, got those
And on it went….we phoned them, spoke to million different people and so on. Time to leave which has left us sitting for the moment here in San blas with one child without passport…..
Left for Tintipan island in St.. Bernardo island groups. Beautiful place. Isla islote, next island is the most densely populated island in the world, 1240 people in 94 houses on the size of a postage stamp. Stayed for two nights and off to Isla Fuerte.
Isla Fuerte was a great island although the anchorage was not great. Stayed for two nights and off we went again. A great sail, 24h to get to San blas. But we got trouble……a military plane buzzed us, no big deal, they do it all the time, looking for drugs and people smugglers but what got us alerted was the armada national boat behind us….hmmm.
We were nearly in the international waters, 12 miles off shore so what now? They wanted to board. What a pain, sails down, slow down and two guys jumped on. Checking papers….one dived down stairs and straight to the front cabin and pulling things out….me growling behind him. And then they wanted us to turn around. WHAT? You got be joking. Oh no, turn around. I said no way. My language in the end went totally foul, effing and swearing in all languages known to me. I told Chris not to turn. They didn’t say why so we had to give in. I couldn’t believe it…..
One of them. No humour. Offered them water, they declined. It could have been poisoned…..
We sailed back the slowest we could, the two guys sweating in the sun. One wanted to go back down, I said no way and shut the hatch. Charlie is crying. We worrying, what’s going on. What if they planted something down stairs, that happens. I could picture us in custody, jailed and so on it went……
5 miles from Isla Fuerte they got phone signal back, told us all good and left. Just like that. No explanation, no nothing! Anyway, we quickly turned around and got the hell out of there. Phew.
Arrived to snug harbour, a deep and sheltered anchorage. Swimming and buying lobsters for $5 a piece. Heaven. Dinghied to Playon Chico to stock up on few things. Lovely people.
From there we went to our favourite island, or it was until a week after we left a crocodile attacked a English woman snorkelling. Right there where we were swimming……she survived but badly injured face and bite marks on arms and legs. We know crocodiles and alligators exits here but they don’t usually attack.
Off to east lemmons cays to wait for my mum and auntie to come. On my birthday. Happy days. The two weeks flew by, showing them these beautiful islands, meeting the kunas and having fun.
So now we are in Nargana getting water, saving money for a new generator and moving on again so patchy internet.
Click on the pics to see the gallery below:
moodyfinn 