November began with a visit from our friend Neil. We spent a couple days in the Rio Chargers and then started to head back to the San Blas Islands here in Panama...only to have our engine transmission go out! It's the first time we have had major engine trouble. The transmission was slipping and would not work at all in "forward". The transmission still worked in "reverse", but driving a boat around backwards is not real practical! It happened at a terrible time because we had friends on board and it's their vacation. But it happened in a really good place just a couple miles outside of the huge Panama Canal harbor of Colon. Because of all the boats there we knew we could get parts and a mechanics. It would have been really hard to find these services on some deserted island. Course the bad or scary part of it happening just outside of Colon was we had to sail in really light wind the last couple miles dodging huge ships. We got inside the harbor wall and threw down an anchor to check everything out only to have the harbor patrol come to kick us out. This is after all one of the busiest shipping ports in the world! We told the harbor patrol we had a big problem and would have to sail to the designated anchorage area. They must have decided it would be to hard to route the big ships with us sailing around in the harbor so they proceeded to tow us the last couple miles into the anchorage! Luck was with us, between the shops in town and another boat we got all the spare parts we needed for the transmission. Another cruiser on the boat right next to where we anchored was a transmission mechanic, within 24 hours he had ours completely rebuilt! So with only a couple days delay we were back on our way. Which was great! Especially since we have heard of people being stuck for weeks or even months waiting to get the spare parts they need!
With the transmission just bolted back together we headed out at sunset for a nice night sail to the San Blas. Well it was a good thing the transmission was working we didn't have a bit of wind so had to motor all night to get to the San Blas.
We enjoyed the rest of the week in the San Blas with Neil and his friend snorkeling and playing dice. The Kuna Indians kept us eating well selling us lobsters, crabs and conch. They brought us the largest lobster we have ever seen it feed all 4 of us! It had to be 6 or 7 pound and only $5! The conches are a trip. Good eating...but quite a messy process to prepare. First you got to get the little bugger out of their shell (no easy task), then you have to skin them, deslime them, slice them and then beat the heck out of them to tenderize them. But they are worth all the work, quite yummy! We said our good-byes to Neil and waited for a good weather window for the crossing Cartagena.
The sail to Cartagena is a long 200-mile run with the wind and current against you. It took us several days. The first day was a long wet beat in 15 to 20 knots of wind. The second day was much nicer the winds clocked around to help us so we were able to make much better progress. It gave us a little taste of what our crossing and the beat we would have to the Virgin Islands is going to be like. The Virgins are approximately 900 miles against the wind and current! We hope by coming east these 200 miles to Cartagena it will help the angle on our Caribbean crossing and make it a little easier.
We had heard Cartagena was a beautiful city and that is definitely true! This place is gorgeous. The city is on a large nature bay, so we are anchored right in the middle of the city, walking distance to everything. Cartagena is almost 500 years old. It was one of the very first cities in the "New World". It was the center/capital of the Spanish Empire. All the gold and silver from throughout Central and South America passed through Cartagena. The old colonial city is surrounded by walls and protected by many forts. The old Forts and Churches are amazing. The old town has been beautiful maintained and restored. It is a very clean city (no trash!) which is a very nice change from most towns we have seen. The buildings in Cartagena are of course an Old Spanish style; colorful, with wooden balconies, full of flowers and red tile roofs. The city has a lot of charm. It has the look and feel of what I would expect a city on the Mediterranean Sea in Spain. Very classy. Much, much nicer than any city we have seen in Mexico or Central America.
We spent Thanksgiving in Cartagena, Columbia! Never thought we would spend a Thanksgiving in South America! For Thanksgiving dinner we joined several other cruisers we met and had a wonderful dinner in a great Italian Restaurant in the old colonial part of town. Not quite the traditional Turkey and fixings, but nice. Sure miss all our family!! Just doesn't seem quite right without the family around for the holiday!
The day after Thanksgiving we left Cartagena to begin our Caribbean crossing. We had to turn back several miles out because we had a problem with our transmission AGAIN! So we spent another week in Cartagena having our Transmission REBUILT AGAIN! This time getting the part and the rebuild took 4 days! Still not to bad. But the problem with the transmission was the exact same problem as last time a "Thrust Washer". We think the linkage was out of adjustment. Instead of going completely into forward or completely into neutral when you shifted the linkage, it stayed in between forward and neutral causing it to keep slipping and ground itself up. We spent a bunch of time adjusting the linkage so this should be the last transmission repair for a long time! You would think the mechanics working with us on rebuilding the transmission (both times!) would have known this! We are beginning to believe we have to do everything ourselves to know it's done correct! Cruising does have its bad days also!
While we were stuck in Cartagena without a transmission. Sharon got invited to join several of the ladies we had met at Thanksgiving to go on a "Ladies" outing. One of gals had organized a Ladies Trip to a mud bath outside of Cartagena, four of us went, and we had a ball. The mud baths were a real trip! The mud bath was this volcanic cinder cone several hundred feet high. You climb up the stair and at the very top of this mud cone was an oozy, gozzy pool of mud about 15ft x 15ft. You got into the mud and it was like chocolate pudding, slippery and gooey. It was so thick you kind of just floated suspended in it. There was no bottom to the pool it was suppose to be "bottomless" oozing up from way deep in the earth! Wild! The mud is suppose to be great for your skin..."make you look years younger"! Anyway while you laid suspended in this ooze, a Colombian guy gave you this great massage. It was quite the picture! All four of us Ladies lying in mud with 4 guys (also in the mud) giving us massages. Because you are suspended in this stuff you can be massaged on the front and the back at the same time! Wild! One of those "you got to do once in your life experiences". We laughed until our cheeks hurt! After an hour massage in the mud! You go down the mud cone to a fresh water lake. Then Columbian ladies take you into the lake and wash all the mud off! All this "pampering" for the cost of $1.00!!!!! We gave each of our massagers several dollar tip and everybody was happy! (Sure a lot cheaper than the Calistoga Mud Baths in California!)
With the transmission back together we got a good weather window and prepared again to start across the Caribbean on December 1st!