goodbye Panama City.....again!

You will be forgiven for being a little confused after my previous update with plans to set sail. The oil pressure prob turned out to be more than just a day’s work. Bobby spent the week getting up close & personal with his engine, covered in oil & $ signs flashing before his eyes. He worked hard, stayed calm & positive, & has been lucky. The problem was a connection to the oil pump, there is no damage to either the engine, or the oil pump. Its all fixed & better than ever. The mechanic, Joe is a god & to the fellow cruisers who generously gave their assistance, a huge thank you.
We are finally out of here! Only six weeks behind the original plans & over a week behind our previous schedule! Topping & tailing engine bits, visiting the veg market for all our fresh provisions, last minute laundry, filling tanks with gas (petrol for us Brits!) & water plus we needed to zarpay again (check out with port captain & immigration) were our tasks today as well as another 100 tasks. Its been a shattering day & I’m looking forward to climbing into bed.
During all the engine dismantling, I took myself off to Isla Taboga, an hour from Panama City for a few days. I needed some long overdue Suzi time on the beach with a good book & my ipod. Taboga is a small quaint island village. I slummed it in the hostel & splashed out for breakfast at the islands only hotel, on a gorgeous balcony over looking the sea – very picturesque if you didn’t look at the huge fishing boats & container ships in the far distance! It was a well needed break to recharge my batteries & find some positive thinking – I was beginning to feel like a resident of Panama City after being here for so long!!
Although we are looking forward to saying goodbye I’ll sure it won’t be long before we are missing the things that have been on tap here & dreaming of the cinema with the latest movies, ice cream, fresh fruit & veg & restaurants!
I have enjoyed my time here, it’s been hard work & non stop, we’ve had some fun times but I'm looking forward to the reward.... learning how to sail & of course the beaches!!!