Marina

30
Jul
2025
Winter Storage

Winter Storage

Freshly rested and full of new energy, we return to Mabul from our vacation in Colombia. But in addition to beautiful memories, we also bring back a far-reaching decision: after three intense, exciting, and at the same time exhausting years, we need a longer break from life at sea to finally find peace again. So the Pacific Ocean and the Panama Canal will have to wait another six months until we and Mabul are ready for the next adventure. To prevent further mishaps, we decide to park Mabul in the dry dock of the Panamarina during hurricane season – at least there she can’t sink herself. The coming weeks will therefore be dominated by a special task: putting our sailboat into winter storage in the tropics.

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27
Dec
2024
A rearranged triangle relationship

A rearranged triangle relationship

Back on Mabul! Time for a brief review.

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.

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15
Dec
2024
Boatjobs on the hard

Boatjobs on the hard

Boat projects hurricane season 2024 part 2

I have spent six weeks on home leave – time with family and friends in my home country of Bavaria and in Switzerland. After such a long time, I was particularly pleased to see Karin again. For weeks it was just phone calls and messages, and now we’re finally in the same room again. No screen, no time difference. Simply real. But I’m also experiencing absolute culture shock at being back in Western society after such a long time at sea. I can’t really cope. Reintegration? Not so much. I haven’t been to Germany in any significant way for over five years, so I see everything from a new, unfamiliar perspective. Above all, the nature with mountains, mixed forest, lakes and rivers is simply incredibly fascinating. Then, after beautiful and exhausting weeks, it’s time to say goodbye again. We part ways again and I return to Panama, to Mabul, to start the dry dock projects in the hurricane season 2024.

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13
Oct
2024
Jungle Boatjobs

Jungle Boatjobs

Boat projects hurricane season 2024 part 1

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.

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19
Apr
2024
Gallery – Panama

Gallery – Panama

There are different places one can go cruising in Panama. We visit San Blas and Portobelo and dock Mabul in the marinas of Linton Bay and Turtle Cay. Preparations for the Pacific are in full swing. Together with the crew of SV My Motu we rent a car to make various trips to Colon. In Shelter Bay Marina I pick up our new anchor chain, deliver lithium batteries from sailors in San Blas and in return get Canadian passports for people in San Blas. We buy food and alcohol in the Zona Libre, I get our liferaft serviced and pick up packages from the US. Before the second San Blas round with Georges, we visit Portobelo, a small town with a great history, and after transiting the canal on My Motu, we explore Panama City while Mabul lies patiently waiting for us in the Turtle Cay Marina.

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