Yesterday we said goodbye to Annie and Sam. We all went ashore in the launch and walked to the main road. Normally we can’t go too far without a taxi driver hailing us but this time we were able to reach the main road without any approaching us. We eventually hailed a cab – perhaps the most run down one we have seen. Nevertheless it was good to go to the airport. We had our hugs and said our goodbyes. After nearly a month it was hard to part but life must move on. Sam is our youngest and hence the one we worry the most about.<\/p>\n

Before our goodbyes I’d been ashore to drop off two propane tanks to be refilled. On the way back I paid up for our mooring at the Balboa Yacht Club so we could move on later in the day. While I was in the office the UPS guy came, this time with our package. At least things seemed to be working out. Only when I opened the package I discovered the couple of breakers I’d ordered as spares had the wrong posts on them. More chasing to do.<\/p>\n

Once we’d said our goodbyes to Annie and Sam we waited for the laundry to finish. I called the taxi handling the propane to find out how long he’d be. I think he said he’d be back by 11:30 so I agreed to wait. Helen and John went back to the boat to sort things out and make her ready to leave. The taxi didn’t come until about 1pm.<\/p>\n

Back on the boat with our propane we were soon off to anchor at and anchorage towards the end of the causeway. This was to save on the mooring fees as well as to get away from the shaking around from the tug boats and motor boats. Unfortunately, here in the anchorage we have very poor and sporadic internet and we have more movement on the boat although less of the violent kind.<\/p>\n

Today we’ll move the boat within the anchorage to see if we can improve matters. I need to inspect the bottom of the boat and maybe clean it. I want to do an inventory of our key spares to make sure we have what we need so that tomorrow we can run around and close any gaps.<\/p>\n

Now that we’re down to three thoughts are focussing on the next few months. We have a rendezvous with John’s girlfriend in Costa Rica late February. Giving ourselves a week’s contingency at the end that gives us around four more weeks in Panama. We’ll split that evenly between Las Perlas islands and the trip\/stopovers to the border.<\/p>\n