Enjoying Bocas Del Toro, the Zapordillas, Playa Azul and more

LINK TO THE PHOTO ALBUM—>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/AFX9GUCsgruSaoQCA

Walks, dogs, dinners, friends…..

Back from Ecuador we set about our regular routine of getting out for a walk in the morning, seeing what’s around, chatting with our neighbours, residents and marina guests alike.

We quite regularly enjoy our walks with boat dog owners. In the marina there are a number of folks that have dogs living aboard. Yvette with Jungla are our usual, walking companions. When there is thunder heard even in the far distance Jungla gets very upset.

She clings to Yvette and refuses to walk any further. Usually we manage to convince her to move along. She is a delightful, happy little dog. Another day we were asked to take Lola for her morning walk because her owners Liz and Humberto had to go to the hospital, (poor Humberto had something in his eye).

The walk with Lola was fun, she has an orange frisbee which goes everywhere with her. Our walks usually are under as much shade as possible as the sunny skies are intensely hot. Temperatures in the 90s, have been a daily occurrence.

These walks take us up the hills, down the other side, around and back to the marina. We enjoy watching the monkeys, if Jungla is with us she see them 1st. The monkeys shake the branches, bare their teeth and prance along the limbs trying to scare her away.

When it is cloudy we walk the beaches, however in the last month or more these beach walks have been rare due to the constant blazing sun. The sea has been unusually calm, with little wave action, no surfers.

We have enjoyed fun evenings with friends at the newly opened Point restaurant. This restaurant was a favorite with everyone and then abandoned after covid. Gary, the IT guy here at Red Frog decided to reopen it and make it popular again. We sort of started a marina “tradition” by which every other Friday we meet at the Point for drinks and dinner.

Usually there’s most of the marina folks and some of the residents too. The sunsets there looking out at Red Frog beach are beautiful. Our friends take their dogs, some like Lennie sit at the table, others enjoy playing on the beach.

Jobs completed,

We both have been plugging away at boat jobs. Some were very necessary like the bilge pumps. John installed a whole new pump, alarm system and electrical system. This took quite a bit of time and was really awkward due to the location being down in the bilge.

Next big upgrade was installing a Starlink.

The set up, was relatively easy, but then the wiring it in was a pain as it meant getting wires through impossible spaces. So again John was busy in awkward spaces.However we now have Starlink and WOW being online is 100% improved.

Meanwhile lots of cleaning was necessary, basically every 6 months I see what can be off loaded. We tend to accumulate stuff, I get fed up with the stuff and have a big clean out. Then there were the sewing repairs to get done, nothing dramatic just simple repairs.

John re-screened the instruments. They had lost their polarization so that reading them in the daytime was not easy. We ordered polarizing plastic screen which John used. He found this really quite difficult. However the screens are better.

Our boat windows had also lost their polarization, they were supposed to have a dark film so as to stop the sun’s glare, but magically this had disappeared. I’m guessing it was burned away by the sun. We ordered another type of plastic covered in anti glare. Now, this project was really tricky.

I make “molds” which John used to cut the plastic out using special tools, next we both fitted the new polarized plastic on. Every step was challenging, but the windows look 100% better. (And it took time as our 1st order of plastic arrived and was damaged).

No power

After one thunder lightening event during the night we found there was no power. The marina and all the facilities at the reception and the shop were out as well.

The supposed experts were called. We assumed that these were men from the mainland, but found out later that just the local maintenance crew were asked to diagnose and fix the problem. These fellows decided that a cable running between 2 transformers was the problem. That water had cause the cable to “short” out. So, they dug a huge trench between the transformers.

Ordered more cable, apparently to the cost of $17,000 and then set about laying the cable, covering it with a layer of dirt and connecting the ends. The result was …… Still no power!! By then we had been without power for 10 days, no shop, no laundry, no water and having to rely on our generator to boost our power.

Plus having to put up with the fumes from our generator plus the noise and fumes from our neighbours. Everyone in the marina was really fed up. We would have gone to anchor, but it coincided with a time John was having to overhaul the bilges, so we were stuck.

Finally they called in the real experts, the men that actually work for the power company. They arrived after a few days and within hours they knew that water had gotten into a part of one transformer and shorted it out. They very skillfully fixed the transformer cables and finally after 17 days we had power.

Zapordillas and Playa Azul

We did spend some time out at anchor, exploring and swimming every day. First visiting Saigon Bay, to restock. Next we headed out and ended up at the Zapadillas.

These islands fall inside of the Isla Bastimentos National Marine Park. Plus are also essential ecological sites for the critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtles that nest on their shores. The local legend say that the Zapatillas, (or slipper), Cays were created by the feet of God as they touched down from the heavens. Other stories tell of pirates hiding their treasures here.

We anchored off of the western Zaporilla island and enjoyed a wonderful evening. The next day we went ashore to the beautiful beach and had a walk. You cannot walk too high up the beach because of the turtle nests.

These are marked by stick standing up around the nests. Off, we went in the dinghy all around the perimeter of the island. The water was just beautiful, the colours amazing!

Just as we were ready to head off we saw the park rangers coming to collect their $50. However, they went to the beach, maybe to check the turtle nests. Anyway we left and never had to pay.

Playa Azul was our next destination, we had never been there before. This area is just across from the Zaporillas. Again it is a very scenic location, there is a long, beautiful, beach with just a few rustic, homes behind.

Nearby there is a local village too. We enjoyed taking the dinghy along the shoreline all the way to the distant point and back.

After which we followed the water way into the mangroves along canals to where the village was located.

If you were just to look at the shoreline where the entrance is found you would never guess there was a village located there. Traveling through the mangroves is a real treat.

The shady canals are enhanced with the reflections of all the foliage. It is also peaceful, just the sounds of the birds singing and the swish of the water. It is totally peaceful.

We had a wonderfully peaceful time at anchor, but once again we needed to head back to Red Frog.

Chico news:

Chico’s news is that he has made some very good fans/friends at the marina. Every few night we get anchovies or fly that are chased by the dolphin or other. In their haste to escape they jump, some land on the dock. Well Chico just adores those dead fish, even if they are sun baked. His friends, Bud and Abel pick up these fish and bring them to Chico. Now all Chico has to hear is either of them coming along the dock and he scrambles to get his hand delivered fish treat.