Isobel and Chris were picked up by their birding guide at 7am. I had to be up too as I had to catch the marina bus into Colon, to do a hardware purchase for Rowan and to do some provisioning at the supermarket. John the handyman is back on the boat fixing various things and he gave me strict instructions to follow. I had to ask the bus driver as a special request to get off at the Hardware shop, once I had got the required plug I had to get to the supermarket for the bus pick up. I had to cross over the motorway on the red pedestrian bridge, once over I had to turn right and go through a hole in the fence, cross a railway line, and if a train is coming cross quickly as the trains are slow and take about half an hour to pass! I had to find the concrete path and follow it to the road where I would be able to see the supermarket. It all sounded rather alarming but turned out to be very good instructions and easy to follow.
I did a massive big shop, mainly of fresh stuff, I was absolutely laden, and had a packer help me outside. Luckily there I met a lady from the marina and she said a truck from the supermarket had been arranged to take shopping back to the marina. What a relief as I would never have managed on the bus. I also got a lift back on the truck, it could take 4 of us.
Back at the marina it was a flurry of activity as we had an Arc inspection and failed on a few things including all the gas canisters in our expensive life jackets that had corroded terribly. It was a good session reminding us to recheck our grab bag etc
Rowan also managed to lower the daggerboard and found that if he stood on it he could push it right down and managed to dislodge the offending object. He discovered that it was a rivet shell from the mast, we had found loads in the first 6 months of owning the boat, this one must have pinged in. What a relief to get it out, but in the meantime we dropped a rubber door wedge and a crochet hook down the gap! It has gouged out a huge groove into the daggerboard which the fibreglass guys will be filling in.
We had a briefing from the Arc Yellow shirts, welcoming us on board and going over the itinerary. We were pretty exhausted, so couldn’t wait to go to bed. We had confirmation that my sister Widge and her husband Edmund had landed successfully after a very long trip from South Africa. We also heard that Isobel and Chris were having an extremely good time seeing loads of unusual creatures and birds.
Found this in the marina lounge
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