Saturday, October 24, 2020

Going in Circles

 Sometimes in life you just feel like you are going in circles. And sometimes that can actually be a good thing. It certainly was today. In order to calibrate our new autopilot we had to take Rhapsody out of the marina and drive her in circles. 


View of the Panama sign from the water

Round and around to the right and then round and around to the left. The important thing in this is -  Rhapsody left the marina! Even though it was only temporary, it was one of the final steps in our lightning strike repairs.


Eight o'clock in the morning and we are at the fuel dock topping off the tanks. Gaston, our technician, and Jean, his boss and our interpreter, joined us for the seatrial. It felt so good to have Rhapsody out on the water, reinforcing, once again, that this is what we want to do. A beautiful sunny day, calm seas and knowledgeable help to get us back out on the ocean.



Lines of pelicans waiting near the fishing boat. Later we saw them flying. Skimming low across the water, still in a line, wings barely flapping. So graceful, so beautiful with their bodies reflecting in the ocean.



Of course, as everything has been going with this repair, it took longer than expected. More circles, more zig zags, (FYI Zig zag is the same in English and Spanish) more frustration, more trips into the lazarette, more restarting and factory resets than expected, but in the end, it was successful.


We have returned to the marina for finishing touches, as well as to provision for a few weeks in Las Perlas, the group of islands 40 miles offshore from Panama City. We left there in June, hoping for a quick turnaround for supplies and back to the beauty and isolation of Las Perlas. Nature had other plans for us. Now, 4 months later we are returning. Our hope is to test our new instruments, our new sail, and figure out what our next adventure will be!

What a relief.


We love to hear your comments.

Andrew Holyoke said...

It’s good to hear that you’ve been out of the harbor! I’m reminded of John Lennons line, Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.

Sarah said...

Thanks Andy. Good quote.

Greg said...

Whew! Glad to hear things are improving and moving in the right direction. How does one prevent a recurrence of this? I enjoy following your adventures!

Sarah said...

Greg, so glad you are following along with us. Unfortunately there really is no way to avoid a repeat occurrence, other than to stay away from lightning prone areas!