Time for a bottom job.

We had arranged with the marina to have the boat hauled in order to give her a new coat of anti fouling paint. They ordered the paint and told us it would be an overnight job. Because of the oppressive heat and humidity we decided to get a room in the hotel for the night as we would not be able to run the air conditioning while not in the water. First world problems.

On Tuesday afternoon the boat came out of the water without incident and the workers immediately set about pressure cleaning and then scraping the bottom. By the end of the day, the hull was almost ready for paint. The following day, Wednesday, they finalized the sanding with sanding machines. Come Thursday, nobody was able to get to work due to ongoing protest action taking place country wide in Panama. One day wasted. Friday, it rained most of the day. Another day wasted. Saturday, it rained almost all day. Another day wasted. Monday, it was not raining and all workers were present in the yard, but nobody was working on Kariwa… until Captain Frank started shouting, albeit via WhatsApp. The marina manager, the yard manager, the boat services supervisor, they all heard from him. By knock off time at 5pm, the bottom was fully painted. Tuesday they lifted the boat and painted the keel where it had been resting and an hour later we were back in the water. Yay! Finally! Over a week later! Not quite the overnight we were hoping for. The bottom was red before, it is now black. I think it looks pretty good.

Being in the hotel room was no fun, it is small and there is only one chair so the other has to sit, or lie on the bed all the time. There is no “free wifi”, instead you have to pay for it and it is just not the same (read SLOW) as having StarLink on board. The boat is hot and stuffy, so also not ideal for spending days, but at least the wifi is good and we can have tea or any other food whenever we want. Swings and roundabouts as they say.

After we launched, as soon as we docked, I loaded up the washing machine, and then went about cleaning the inside. It is amazing how dust settles when nobody is on board. We also went to the shops the next day, to resupply the food stores a bit. And bought a pressure cleaner. Now, 3 days later, I have to admit, its nice to be back on board. The pressure cleaner sure makes cleaning the decks outside a lot easier, I need to bring it inside and try it in the showers. I hate cleaning those areas.