Isla Linton and Portobelo

After the San Blas, we had a very unpleasant sail over to Isla Linton. The winds were still high and the seas were filled with 10-foot swells. We caught a mahi but Matt got seasick (for the first time on this boat) when he tried to fillet it on the side deck because the seas were too big to have him on the transom. Apparently the combination of the leftover head cold and having his head sideways was too much.

Unfortunately, the anchorage in Isla Linton was full of swells. We visited Isla Linton to see the monkeys, but looked at them from the safety of our dinghy. We were very cautious after our friend's hand got chomped by an overly aggressive ape. She had to go get a bunch of stitches and a heavy-duty antibiotic.

We visited Portobelo by bus. It is an interesting town with a lot of history and a diverse population. There is a festival each year celebrating the Black Jesus. While were there we witnessed children walking around in black-face (even though they were already black) for the Congo festival, seeking donations. It is sort of like Halloween in the weeks leading up Mardi Gras.

 

We want to get some boat parts while we're in the area. Our freezer broke on our way to Isla Linton. We have replaced the Danfoss black box controller multiple times and luckily had another spare, but we need to get more since we seem to go through them every few months. Indel-Webasto, the maker of our freezer, basically blamed everything from our wiring (our fridge system uses the same wiring and has no problems) to the placement of the unit in the galley (where else would you put a freezer control unit?). That was during the 2-year warranty period when they were still talking to us.

 

We also started running our water maker because we have had so little rainfall to fill our tanks and we wanted to make sure it would work for the Pacific crossing. Although it ran fine, the booster pump kept blowing fuses and probably needs to be replaced. It's been awhile since anything major has broken, so we have gotten a little bit complacent.

 



In the meantime, we need to get measured for the canal and arrange for line handlers, fenders, and dock lines.