La Playita, Panama 2-20-10

We have been anchored in La Playita (the small beach) for 2 weeks now. It is very
rolly as located 200 yards off of the channel to the canal. It is not uncommom
to be waked up 3 times a night from the waves of passing ships. We are one of
possibly 50 boats in the anchorage stacked up like cord wood on top of one another.
One fellow dragged the first day we were here; he was in too shallow water by the
causeway, so he picked up his anchor and moved directly in front of us with his big
red steel boat and dropped anchor. Ha! If you check into this side of Panama they
charge you $3.00 a day to anchor; luckily our zarpe states we are going to the
Galapagos so we are excluded from the charge. We are charged however, the $30 per week for the dingy dock and garbage disposal. We all tie up to one giant bollard so you can imagine the horror if you are one of the first to tie up when you return and try and seek out your line at the bottom. Then you get to jump down off the dock which
gets very high with the 7' tide and pass through dingys 5 deep to get to yours; all
the while carrying your goods. Unbelievable! Photo of this disaster to follow!
We have had problems with our generator and had to have part fedex'd from States.
We received it yesterday and was installed and working again by 9pm last night. Yea!
There is a cruisers net on each morning at 8am and it has been very helpful in finding
places to provision on this side. The Blue Water Rally boats are still here and plan
to leave next Tuesday for Las Perlas. There is 29 of them so the anchorage will feel
empty but unfortunately we will follow them shortly after and have the same problem
of too many boats in one anchorage again. We have many friends in the anchorage.
Cruisers we have known from San Blas and Shelter Bay Marina. The causeway right off
of La Playita is filled with shops and restaurants which all have internet service.
Just purchase a beer and plug in! We have been provisioning for the past week and
the water line on the boat is slowly disappearing. It is a sight to see us as we
dingy out to the boat barely afloat from the weight of the beer, wine, and some food!
Everyone tells us we must provision for months ahead as everything is so expensive
in the French Islands yet if you have anything left over going into New Zealand they
make you throw it all away. One of my friends says she hopes they are behind us as
we leave for NZ so she can pick up all the discarded goods! I know she's right, it
will look like a firehouse sale as we depart from Tonga the last Island before arriving
to New Zealand. Chow!