Commodore
January 27, 2023

Friday 27 January – The Hattinghs arrive after a very long trip from South Africa

It was a busy morning with the boats from the Arc fleet slowly filling up the marina, I think there are about 26 boats in total, and a big mix of nationalities. Great fun meeting everyone and hearing all the different stories.

We had a manic morning getting loads of things sorted on the boat, bilges to clean before they come and repair damage from our dagger board hitting the coral, getting the other dagger board fibre glassed where it had been so badly gouged by the rivet shell, and endless other bits and pieces on Rowan’s never ending list of things to get done. I had to do some tidying, cleaning and laundry to get the cabin ready for our new guests.

We had a few calls from my sister Widge(Bridget!) who was struggling to get her Uber working, so they just got a normal taxi which worked out just fine. We got their Esim working so they were able to communicate with us and they were with us by early afternoon. So great to finally have them on board and start our Pacific adventure with them. Sadly my sister in her frantic departure from the farm (the farm manager’s dog bit Edmund just before they left for Joburg!), she left her one backpack behind, which contained her precious binocs, and all the biscotti, rusks and marmalade she had made for us! Luckily for us, she had made rusks for her daughter in law who they were staying with in Joburg, and they were kindly donated to us! They also managed to sneak in a lot of biltong and droewors (Rowan’s favourite S African dried meats) which was hugely appreciated. Otherwise they have had an incredibly smooth trip with a 6 hour layover in Paris, making it a very long journey. Their night in the Panama hotel suggested by Isobel and Chris, was a huge success, they managed to get in a good dose of birdwatching and a good walk around the neighbourhood.

In the afternoon we went for a walk into the old overgrown military base, where we saw loads of birds, a brief sighting of a toucan and a big troupe of the Capuchin monkeys with their little quizzical white faces. Rowan was at an Arc briefing being given the low down on how we have to raft up into nests of 3 boats to proceed through the canal. We will be the middle boat powering the raft through, with a monohull on either side. Loads of info to digest. We just had to turn up at 5pm to practice line throwing. Each boat has to have 4 line handlers, from having an overbooked passage with friends and family we have now managed to land up short. So we have to take another person on board. Tim one of the Yellow shirt officials from the Arc will be our 4th, which is great news and reassuring to have someone very competent on board.

Widge and Edmund coped amazingly with their jet lag, we managed a quick supper at the marina restaurant (ok food, certainly not the greatest, but the only option) and headed for an earlyish night.