We reach Linton Bay in early February – we have no idea that we will be stranded here for much longer. But staying in one place for longer also has its advantages. You get to know the people on the boats and on land. These people and their stories are particularly interesting in Linton Bay – and in many cases also quite weird.
Continue reading →
Last summer, a story went through the world press: «Klimawandel: Bewohner verlassen Insel in Panama», was the headline on ARD and «Gardi Sugdub: The Americas’ disappearing island» was the headline on the BBC. A sinking island is forcing its inhabitants to look for a new home on land. The island is called Gardi Sugdub and is located in San Blas, the autonomous territory of the Gunas, in Panama. An island paradise of more than 350 islands. Is Gardi Sugdub, the crab island, now deserted? Perhaps it has already sunk, we ask ourselves and set course for the island.
Continue reading →
2024 is the year when everything changes again. It is also the year of a boat timeout. When we arrive in San Blas in Panama in January, we think we’ll be sailing through the canal and across the Pacific with our friends from SV My Motu shortly afterwards – but we don’t. Alex has nightmares for nights on end and constantly dreams of our rig failing. We listened to his gut feeling and stayed on the Caribbean side – as it turned out later: with good reason. Here is our review of 2024.
Continue reading →
Our 2024 sailing season ends earlier than expected because Mabul breaks down every time we try to leave Panama. Well, I had put the Panama Canal on ice, but when trying to sail to the Bahamas, Mabul just soaked up the water in the anchor locker until it sloshed into the cabin. After I had repaired the damage in Cayos Albuquerque, I went straight back to the dry dock in Panama because of another problem, only to discover after four weeks of intensive work that the rudder bearing had significant play. Colombia? Nice try… Mabul wants to go back to dry dock. So she stays in Panama and I get to work on the boat projects for the hurricane season 2024.
Continue reading →
From Providencia, we’re cruising 270 nautical miles to San Blas, Panama. The archipelago consists of over 350 islands and islets and is governed by the indigenous Guna people, who call it Guna Yala. We clear into Panama on the main island, El Porvenir, and pay our contribution to the autonomous Guna authority. Porvenir is tiny, with little more than an airstrip and a few houses. While clearing in, one officer is mowing the grass while the other stamps our passports. Here, everyone does a bit of everything.
Continue reading →
On the nautical chart, you’ll only see Providencia if you zoom in very closely; that’s how tiny and charming the cocaine island is. Although Providencia belongs to Colombia, it’s much closer to Nicaragua. Here, traditions are upheld, and mass tourism is nonexistent. In 2020, a hurricane nearly devastated the island’s infrastructure, yet the islanders didn’t complain; instead, they considered the hurricane a blessing.
Continue reading →
After four and a half months at the shipyard in Guatemala, we leave. We are relieved and sad at the same time. Relieved that we can leave the heat, the endless boat problems, all the work and the shipyard behind us; sad because we are leaving our friends Riki and Martin and their daughters Naia and Kira, as well as single-handed sailor Thomas, behind and probably won’t see them again for a long time. Again and again we have to say goodbye, but then we actually are sailing from Guatemala to Providencia.
Continue reading →
It’s finally time to reassemble and the screws are turned clockwise. However, there are still many jobs to be done. The entire deck has to be sprayed with gelcoat and anti-slip coating, the now completely ruined hull has to be completely repainted and the teak in the cockpit has to be regrouted and sanded.We clean the boat and the sofa cushions, bring food and books from the bungalow back on board and Esmen installs the generator. Then it’s time to say goodbye to the Rio Dulce, to Martin and Rikki, Kira, Naia and Thomas, to the boatyard, to Guatemala and our temporary life on land. Although we are still moored at the jetty, we sleep on board again, then it’s off down the river to Livingston, where we clear out. Our next destination is Providencia, a small Colombian island 600 nautical miles away. The trip is the first general test after the refit on the Rio Dulce. We still don’t know when the sailboat refit in Guatemala will be completed, when we will be able to re-inhabit Mabul and when she will be swimming in the waters of the Rio Dulce again.
Continue reading →
For more than four months, from August to early December 2023, Guatemala is our chosen home. This is where we spend the hurricane season and where we get our Mabul ready for the upcoming sailing legs. There is a lot to do, the list is long and never stops growing. I put many projects on hold for weeks and months, “You can do it all in Guatemala during the sailboat refit”, I said to myself. At the time I was still thinking that three months should be enough if you just get down to work… I still had no idea how exhausting and chaotic everything would become.
Continue reading →
When a year comes to an end, we celebrate with fireworks and champagne. If a sailing season comes to an end, that’s also a reason to celebrate. After all, our boat is still afloat and neither Alex threw me nor I him overboard, even if we sometimes came close. We want to spend the rest of the hurricane season in the Rio Dulce, and so we are sailing from Mexico to Guatemala. However, we don’t feel like celebrating during the last days of our first sailing season. The blame lies with a sandbar, a tiny creature called Cyclospora cayetan, and our drone. In other words, our season is coming to an end with a crisis in several acts. To anticipate: We survived, so did Mabul, only the drone, it’s dead.
Continue reading →
