The Waiting Game

Have you ever just wanted to leave a place as fast as your slow, little boat can carry you? That's how we are feeling about Panama City these days. And it's not PC's fault, really. We can't complain about the town. It's invigorating. There are tons of things to do, and we were even able to find a wedding dress here. (BTW, Vlad makes an excellent maid of honor. He helped me pick out dresses all while terrifying the store owners by carrying around our filthy, busted high pressure hose for the watermaker.)

But we are sooooo ready to leave. Our shopping is done, and all that's left is to top off our water tanks before we head to the Perlas Islands. To make matters more pressing, the anchorage that we are in - La Playita - is a small slice of hell. Pilot boats and ferries careen through the middle of the anchorage, tossing wake around like it's no thing but a chicken wing. Every hour or so, depending on the time of day, our boat quickly rolls from one side to the other, the mast swaying wildly in the sky. Definitely not my favorite way to wake up.

Not only is the anchorage rolly with a capital "ROLL" from boat wake, but the marina also makes you pay $38 bucks a week to use their dinghy dock. Plus, it's very expensive/time consuming to get into the city from either anchorage. Las Brisas, the other anchorage in PC, has its own downsides - poor holding, more theft and a dinghy dock that leaves everything to be desired when you're trying to provision - and we can't move over there anyway until we get our alternator back because our engine doesn't work without it. Of course, as soon as we get the alternator back, we are leaving PC period.

But until that beautiful day (please, please let it be today) here we sit - waiting.