Nic, Author at Sailing Rua Hatu

November 10, 2023November 12, 2023

Worlds Apart – Summer 2023 in Panama

two pieces of a small boat are arranged in a makeshift workshop covered by a shade sail beneath palm trees

Greetings from sleepy Turtle Cay Marina during the peak of summer and the Atlantic hurricane season. While Janine visited Europe, I spent my days working on various boat projects, hiking with Kiwi and enjoying the remote Caribbean coastline. Take a look at what happened while the storms raged offshore.

July 21, 2023June 23, 2024

A Quiet Paradise Named Turtle Cay

After two short sails from Shelter Bay, we arrived in Turtle Cay Marina. There we settled in and got to work ordering parts, upgrading our plumbing and generally enjoying this remote marina on Panama’s Caribbean coast.

June 23, 2023September 3, 2023

Arriving in the Caribbean (Part 2)

The pace at which we made our way from the Pacific and through the first set of locks on the Panama Canal was astonishing! But after an early morning start and a long day of motoring, a series of delays kept us moored on Gatun lake for two nights, only a stones-throw from the Atlantic Ocean and our new sailing grounds in the Caribbean. After several false starts and a lot of time on the phone, we finally made our way down the last set of locks and into Shelter Bay Marina.

June 3, 2023September 3, 2023

Playing Catch-Up

Since much of our time in Panama had been spent building our new dinghy, we took the last few weeks to catch up on some much needed boat maintenance as we get ready to depart for South America. We headed back to Las Perlas to get back to work and enjoy some empty anchorages.

April 14, 2023September 3, 2023

Boatyard on the Beach

Since moving onboard, we’ve struggled to find the right dinghy to meet our daily driving needs. Thus far we’ve worn through two inflatable dinghies, repaired (and re-repaired, and re-re-repaired) our aging inflatable SUP, and nearly sunk ourselves on multiple occasions in the tiny sailing dinghy that came with Rua Hatu. So after surveying all of our options, we chose to build something that would more closely match our needs for a stowable, durable and fun dinghy. And what better place to build a boat than a beautiful, uninhabited island in the Gulf of Panama! Read on to see how we turned a pile of plywood, fiberglass and epoxy into quite possibly the coolest new dinghy we could have ever hoped for!