Tusitala

It’s a busy morning for Al. He is the dj, on the VFH radio, to walk through the daily cruiser net broadcast. It is the second time this week (I missed the first). I try to stay out of his hair as he hurriedly pulls his notes together and grapples with the complexities of the…

There is a radio broadcast each morning at 7.30am which amongst many other things reminds us of the cruiser’s social program in Shelter bay. Tuesday is the weekly nature ramble led by our guide Vicky. We meet in the shady “Palapa” at 8am. Armed with Luan’s binoculars and my Tilley hat I don’t look out…

Ventured out for a morning jog/walk this morning and had some interesting company Al met with the yard boss Edwin this morning who agreed he had been let down by them. Edwin would see if he could arrange assistance with some ex-Volvo diesel mechanics he had outsourced specialist work to before. Al made arrangements to…

As promised Billy and chum arrive at 10am to fit the new glowplugs to the engine. It’s a hot in the cabin and a 2 man job. The fitting takes about an hour and we hold our breath as the engine turns over again and again but doesn’t fire. Al calls time to shutdown rightly…

Sat 05/03/2022 Al was away early with Billy the yard mech to get the glow plugs for the engine. After a false start that saw them waiting in different places they finally meet up and depart. I am assigned the task of cleaning the stainless on the boat to remove any rust stains. I decide…

A fitful night’s sleep being woken by the noise and motion of the boat plus the odd rain shower requiring the hatches to be closed. I had heard Al moving around the cabin in the night and could only hope it wasn’t my snoring. When I got up Al was nowhere to be seen. Showing…

Smooth taxi journey to Shelter Bay. Not much traffic on the road and my driver was disappointingly in no hurry to get there. I spent the hour working out how to use my new gadgets. A warm greeting was awaiting me on dock f40 in the marina. I had arrived and there was an immediate…

A comfortable but fitful nights sleep. My room is rustic to say the least and clearly no-one in panama uses spirit levels but it has a certain charm. Woke up before 5am and still have severe brain fog / jet lag. V glad I restricted myself to 2 beers last night (probably the waiters poor…

Got up at an ungodly hour and raced to Glasgow airport arriving stressed out at 3.30am to find out checkin doesn’t open until 2 hrs before flight. Not amused. Great flight to Amsterdam with KLM. Arrived to beautiful sunny day at Schiphol airport. It is one of the world’s biggest airports and I feel like…