Week 73: Las Perlas to Vista Mar (56nm)

After a long sail to the only affordable marina in the area, we settled in for the week and made excellent use of our shore access in working through the remaining preparations for the Pacific. Laura focussed her organisational efforts towards the monumental task of provisioning, whilst I attempted to raise my quality threshold as I pushed on through the boat jobs list (both of us ably supported by Daniel and Camille).

Captain’s log

Sun 19th Jan: Seeing as the wind was forecast to die later in the day, Laura and I got Serenity on her way around 05:30 in order to give us the best chance of sailing the whole 56nm passage to Vista Mar Marina. We were helped round the bottom of Isla San Jose by some favourable current, and also managed to catch two Spanish Mackerel within an hour of the lines going out (although one was returned to the sea as it was quite small). However, despite getting a couple more bites, including a sizeable Mahi Mahi, we were unable to land anything else and I decided I needed to review my fishing book for some tips to reduce the number of break offs we were getting. The positive news was that we averaged over 6.5 knots and we had wind almost the whole way there and arrived in Vista Mar around 14:30, which gave us plenty of time to get Serenity settled and check out our new spot before rewarding ourselves with a tasty meal at the marina grill.

Mon 20th Jan: A quiet morning as everyone used the time to reestablish some contact with the outside world. We then got stuck into a few boat jobs in the afternoon and the ‘achieved’ list of jobs (repaired rod kicker, renovated lightning protection, replaced failed dinghy patch and restored broken toerail and fairlead) gave everyone a sense of satisfaction. We spent the late afternoon meeting some of the cruisers in the marina (Dave and Stella from S/V Morning Star who both studied at Cambridge and then taught there and at MIT) and helping catch lines for Midnight Breeze during a windy park (Richard and Caroline, who we’d met briefly in Panama City, but Richard had made this sail on his own).

Tue 21st Jan: Laura and Daniel rented a car to give us a bit more mobility, and then Laura and Camille went on an all day recce (time spent on reconnaissance is rarely wasted) of supermarkets to work out the strategy for Pacific provisioning. Meanwhile Daniel and I got stuck into some boat projects (replaced two of the remaining three port lights, started to move the big watermaker motor, serviced all the safety gear, decorroded the nav connections), before meeting a few more cruisers around the marina (including Marco and Terry on the wonderfully named Yum Yum).

Wed 22nd Jan: Laura spent a few hours up the mast this morning lacing up our fancy new spreader boots, which we had made from some of her spare leather, to protect the sail from chafe where it rests against the wires that hold the mast up – she commented that it was a bit like making a shoe, but not a like for like swap. Alongside this, we repainted our main watermaker pump to protect it from rust and serviced a few other pumps around the boat to make sure we were ahead of all our preventative maintenance. In the evening, I found a new recipe for coconut baked fish to use with some of the Spanish Mackerel that we had caught, and it was super tasty and immediately added to Laura’s mega provisioning list.

Thu 23rd Jan: Laura and Camille took the lead in inspecting all of our sails and repairing any of the broken stitches, whilst Daniel and I finished off replacing the last port light (now we know for sure we won’t have any more nasty surprises like on the way to Trinidad) and ticked off some other odd jobs around the boat. We then spent the evening debating the meal and snack choices for our bulk provisioning that we wanted to last us at least three months and nearly came to blows over the critical decision of the volume of peanut butter that would be required – thankfully cooler heads remembered that you can never have too much peanut butter and peace was restored.

Fri 24th Jan: We scampered up on deck at first light as the wind had dropped off enough for us to re-raise all of our sails, and for the first time get two headsails hoisted on our track ahead of our upcoming pre-Pacific tests (turns out this makes hoisting the sails twice as hard…go figure :)!). Laura and Camille then headed off to Pricesmart (the Costco of Central America), whilst Daniel and I tried to finish off a good chunk of the remaining maintenance, including a full equalisation of our wet-cell batteries (that nearly ended up in a thermal runaway situation, which is about as scary as it sounds). Jobs just about done, the ladies returned with a car sitting low on its suspension, and we spent the next couple of hours unpacking, organising and deciding where we were going to stow all this food.

Sat 25th Jan: Moving Day, or at least it was for where Laura and I would be sleeping as we had decided to switch from our customary berth at the front of Serenity to the other aft cabin, to give ourselves an easier ride during the Pacific crossing. Seeing as Serenity was now starting to fill up with food and other long-term stores, we decided it would be easier to change cabin now than wait until later, but it was still a tricky game of tetris as we worked on transitioning the two rooms across each other. Alongside this, we gave the bilges a final clean (they would soon be a key food store) and optimised a couple of other storage areas to get the most bang for their buck – we won’t be running out of food for lack of trying

Story of the week

As you can tell by the Captain’s log above, it has been a week of a lot of jobs and work and no real stand out stories. So to avoid boring you with the specifics of any one job, I thought it would probably be more interesting to share some thoughts around how we have approached getting Serenity First ready for this crossing and how it differs from our Atlantic preparation.

The first key difference is that we’ve given ourselves more time and flexibility in the lead up to the crossing so that we can work through all of the key boat systems with a fine tooth comb and repair anything that is showing signs of wear to a ‘no bodge-jobs’ standard. We had a number of weeks in Gibraltar and the Canaries before the Atlantic, which allowed us to perform a similar range of checks; however, we often didn’t have the time, skills or parts to properly address all of the wear points, and so were forced to prioritise on what was critical and what we could manage without for a few weeks until the well stocked Caribbean marine facilities were reached. As such, whilst I’m still very comfortable with where Serenity was for the Atlantic crossing, there was still a naggingly long jobs list that was difficult to put out of my mind. By contrast, this crossing involves an uninterrupted sail of double the length of the Atlantic one, and even once we reach the other side there are very limited options for getting services or parts in many of the areas that we will be spending time in. My response has therefore been to attempt to bring Serenity First up to the best standard she has ever been in before we leave, and then trust that this preventative approach will result in a lower stress crossing, and more time on the other side to explore these remote islands instead of waiting for parts and trying to effect difficult repairs. Of course, we will never know what the counter factual would be like if we hadn’t been taking this approach, but the last few years of cruising suggest that Boy Scouts do best.

We’ve also had to dedicate additional space to sourcing and storing the spare parts and repair materials that we are most likely to need out there, as even if you can find a chandlery odds are that prices for even the most basic supplies (e.g. tubes of sealant / caulk and duck tape) will be astronomical. Thankfully, our cruising experience to this point has been the perfect education and our ‘never throw things away’ policy has given us a good head start in this area.

So, what are some examples of how this all translates to our activities in the last week?:

• Sails – rather than waiting for chafe or seams to come apart, Laura has preemptively gone over the all three sails and repaired broken stitches and patched all signs of wear, on top of which we’ve added protection to the most likely chafe points in the rig
• Watermaker – we noticed some corrosion on the motor and instead of just cleaning it off, we also repainted the entire surface with anti-corrosion paint
• Port lights – Daniel and I forcibly removed the remaining three portlights and resealed them with all manner of sealant to reassure us there would be no more terrifying holes close to the waterline

This has been a really interesting experience for me, as normally I favour efficiency, the 80/20 rule and ‘good-enough for government work’ in everything I do, where as Laura is the voice of perfection. Whilst it was obvious that a change in mindset was required, I still found myself continually considering corners that could be cut. Fortunately I was able to lean on Laura’s higher standards and self-enforce a no-dissent rule that has yielded amazing results that we can take a great deal of pride and comfort in.

Video interlude

The next installment of Daniel & Camille’s Youtube Vlog is now up so please give it a watch if you are interested. It aligns with Laura’s previous post (because video editing takes longer than text blogs), but has some incredible footage that really adds some helpful context. We are lucky to be benefiting from all their efforts.

Parting thoughts

Whilst we have found a few marinas on our travels that had good facilities and didn’t cost the earth, they are more often cheap for a reason and Vista Mar certainly fit the bill. Stories abounded amongst other cruisers there about the chaotic management style, changing rates mid-stay, overcharging for electricity, dropping boats that were being hauled out and rarely following through on commitments. On top of this, the design of the breakwaters isn’t good enough to deal with the swell from the north, leading to a very uncomfortable bouncing motion a lot of the time that makes it tough to sleep and wears through your docklines if you aren’t very careful in protecting them.

Unfortunately, this is one of those times where there aren’t good alternatives – the marinas in Panama City are extortionately expensive and trying to get the jobs done and provisions aboard whilst at anchor didn’t seem like a sensible idea. I suppose the only silver lining is that the prices at Vista Mar are as low as they are, as the facilities there would be even tougher to accept if you were paying any more for them. Life back on the hook will be welcomed with open arms by the entire Serenity First crew once the last jobs are checked off!