I guess I have my dad to blame for getting me hooked on boats early on. He had me at the helm of his 18' Lonestar Cabin Cruiser by age 5....maybe younger. It was the movie Father Goose with Cary Grant that planted the seed in my head that I wanted a bigger boat....one you could live on when the women folk kicked you out of the house. Fortunately I haven't gotten kicked out, although Belinda does appreciate an occasional break from me and time to herself in Boquete. Fortunately, about every other trip, she likes to accompany me to the Hatteras to enjoy the water and so it was on our most recent six day Caribbean excursion. The food is much better when Belinda is on board and I truly enjoy her company. Plus, this time some of her friend girls came out to join us for a couple of days before moving on to a resort in Dolphin Bay.
After entertaining our friends with a Sunday trip to Rana Azul, the popular Pizza Place in the ''Darklands'' the remainder of my days on the Hatteras were dedicated to broken shit. The vessel is 36 years old and shit breaks....even the fairly new 12 volt refrigerator that had been running for 3 years without a problem. A smart neighbor brought his multi-meter over and helped me diagnose the problem. It needs a new $258 part from the states. Already bought and shipped....just need someone to bring it down to Panama. The 19 gallon water heater quit working a while back and was leaking....filling the bildge with water. Jose, my helper, and I removed it. I think it is rusted beyond the possiblity of repair, so will look for a replacement. It had some terrible looking sludge in it that didn't look to healty....and that is where the hot water came from that we used to get our dishes really clean...yuk. I also had to repair one of the vac-u-flush heads and fortunately had the parts on board. That is a job that only Jose would help me with. Poo-poo water involved.
Every trip to the boat involves general maintenence on a variety of systems to keep us dry, in lights and with plenty of fresh water. We are far from any marina so we have to make our own electricty and water. I leave the 110 inverter on 24/7 so the locals will have some place to charge their cell phones. There is no electrical grid on this island nor on the nearby mainland
At night neighbors came over for drinks and dinners. One night we had steak and lobster. The lobster was fresh. A BIG salad, Ken Chester's homemade bread, brots, three bottles of wine filled us up Tuesday night, along with White Russians for after dinner. Nice.
We arrived back in Boquete yesterday ready for some cool mountain weather. Next planned trip back to the Hatteras will be the end of this month. I'll be taking 12 6-volt batteries to change out in the solar system. There is always something that needs to be repaired or needs maintenence on a boat, but for me that is the fun of owning one.
