Almost On the Move

I haven’t blogged for awhile because I just didn’t think there was anything more to write about after the sloth sighting and photos. We are getting ready to head north out of Panama on Tuesday. Our friend Bill is coming to help us, he’s from San Francisco and should be showing up tomorrow (Sunday). Then on Monday morning we will start the dance to check out at the Port Captains office. Load up on groceries in the afternoon and be ready to leave on Tuesday morning. The plan is to sail straight for Grand Cayman Island. We’ll spend a few days there, then either sail to Isla Mujeres in Mexico, or if the weather is decent, straight around the west end of Cuba, across the Gulf of Mexico and onto the Dry Tortugas. These are about 60 miles west of Key West. I’ve always wanted to go check out Fort Jefferson, a Civil War era fort that is on the islands. Then we’ll head into Key West to check into the US of A. Head up to Fort Lauderdale to see my Dad. Then off to Jacksonville to check in with our sister-in-law Mary. Then to Charleston or there abouts to see John and Lisa. Then off to Annapolis.
OK so why the big haul up the East Coast of the US? The plan is to do some cosmetics on Jeorgia and then put her up for sale. She’ll make a great boat for someone on the east coast, she has a shoal draft keel and is really fun to sail in the light airs they have. In the mean time we will be looking seriously for a bigger boat that we can continue cruising in. We’ve identified a couple that would work out well. Jeorgia has been a great boat for us. Fun to sail, easy to handle in heavy weather. What she lacks is easy access storage for long term living and a good sized galley. Since we no longer own a house and we plan to be cruising for the next 6 or 8 years, plus I plan to stay married, we decided to bite the bullet and spend our children's inheritance on a boat to live on. We’ll blog about the boat hunting experience when the dust settles.
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We are done with the medical world of Panama for awhile. In the end Chris’ anemia was due to a lack of vitamin B-12. Despite extensive testing, the reason for the lack of B-12 is still in the unknown category. Now you might think B-12 deficiency is some super-star disease de jour created in Hollywood. Turns out it has been around for a long time and has some nasty side effects, like nerve damage and death. The good news is that monthly shots of B-12 solve the problem.
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The picture at the top of the page is the fuel certificate and the fuel sample bottle we received after taking on a whopping 30 gallons of diesel from the fuel barge Panama Star. The Panama Star is tied up at a pier inside Shelter Bay and carries 64,000 gallons of fuel onboard. When the big guys fuel up with thousands of gallons, they always get a sample bottle that they save onboard to use in case there are any issues with the fuel. We poured ours into the tank.
Paul