Moving on again..

We've spent a week here in Curaçao mostly just working on the boat, but today we leave. Heading for Snug Harbour in the San Blas islands, should take 5 days, then on to Colon to organise the Panama canal transit. Here is what they say about Colon;

Colon is Panama's second largest city and the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. From the Lonely Planet Guide: "Colon is a dangerous slum, and if you don't have a pressing reason to come here, do yourself a favour and bypass it. Crime is a serious problem. It is not only possible but likely that you will get mugged, even in broad daylight, and even if you take precaution. If you have to go somewhere in Colón, take a taxi; don't walk."

NICE!!

The week has seen a few breakthroughs. We finally have the HF radio working properly. The ground AND the antenna were both kaput. Ground system we fixed in Martinique and I built a new antenna here. Just a length of plastic coated stainless safety rail, Marcel shot up the mast again and tied it on. Simple, cheap and it WORKS! Now we can get weather fax and email at sea... we hope.
Also did a bush mechanic job on the wind-vane self steering and have it mounted back on it's rudder, so that's another thing to play with. Hope to get it functioning for the long Pacific crossing. Spent a few days inside the engine room looking for gen-set faults, don't think I found one. Marcel moved the nav lights so we won't have bright reflections from the stays in our eyes.
So we're leaving with a happy boat!