Sunday 15 July 2012

Rana Azul


 Rana Azul
Dave and Elizabeth rocking it out!

I enjoyed one of the best sundays in a very long time.... sorry Jesus. Red Frog decided to take one of their marina panagas to Rana Azul this sunday. Rana Azul is a small restaurant run by Joseph and Maria, they are European (help me out here if you know more), and put on an amazing time. They serve a couple dishes and the best pizza in Bocas. Fire roasted with an impeccable crust. They both dress up in traditional Bavarian get ups, at least Joseph has his lederhosen on and Maria wears a hat. Dave from Red Frog was playing music and another guy started playing some blues..in French. Joseph and Maria were running around serving about 100 people who all show up to their place about 9 miles from Bocas. I have no idea how they kept track. Rana Azul only serves food on friday nights and sunday afternoons, but it is good. Homemade schnitzel and roasted pork, a salad bar, and excellent Pizza. I had one of their mojitos made from local spirits, mmmmm. After everyone has eaten they bring out home made lemonchelo shots.... Black out.... 

 Getting ready to leave the dock
 A visit from the dolphins (they were heading towards Rana Azul, a good omen)
 A local Kid in his Cayuko
Oh no! The Drama Club!

It was an awesome time and I look forward to taking the boat down for a weekend when Jennie gets back. 

We will leave Dex on the boat as they have these two dogs, who are friendly, but probably not with other dogs.

On another note, there was this english couple, who were about our age and had sailed across the Atlantic....by hand. I was talking to the girl and I told her we were planning on crossing the Pacific next year... Possible buddy boat? Absolutely not!!!! They had hand steered across the atlantic, and I asked if they had an autopilot. She said "Yes, but would you trust your life to a computer?"

"Yes, I do all the time! Ever been to a hospital?" 
She asked "Well what do you do if the auto pilot breaks?"

Answer: "Hand Steer." I think she might have felt a bit dumb about that one, but who knows. 

I asked if it was a power issue, but she replied that they were real sailors and that's why they did it.

I asked her husband a few minutes later, and he said it was a power issue.

The girl asked what I would do if I wasn't steering. I started listing off things like: sleeping, reading, looking out for boats, fixing things, making the boat rock. I was getting the sense that she though she was special for crossing an ocean. She wanted to leave, because of my stubborn autopilot ways..... What a fool I am to think that hand steering for a month across the Pacific is lunacy, I guess I'm not much of a sailor. I must admit it is impressive to hand steer for a month, but if you don't have to, why?

I did notice when she started arguing with me about how hand steering across oceans is the best way to sail, everyone started slinking away. Eventually she was so repulsed by my lack of seamanship that she pulled the "honey didn't we need to say something to so and so?" and pulled her husband/boyfriend/chaperone away. I almost laughed out load. 

I will run it by Jennie, if we want to be real sailors we better start hand steering. Man it makes me exhausted thinking about it.

 One of the Lads
 A well manicured yard
 A packed dock

 Mojito!
This is where the magic happens

2 comments:

Larry Jenkins said...

Hi Dave, I am enjoying reading your blog. I was wondering what you do with D whenever you want to travel home? We will be cruising with our golden retriever and will want to fly home occasionally to visit family. I don't really like the idea of putting him in the cargo area on a plane. Do you have any other ideas?
Thanks,
Larry Jenkins

Unknown said...

Well it was an issue. Jennie went back alone because we couldn't fly dexter out of Panama. It depends on the flight and the airline. We can't get Dex back to Canada, so we had to figure out whether he would rather go cargo, and not see us for 8 months and stay with a friend, and feel abandoned again; or take him across the Pacific where he will be stuck on the boat. We are taking him with us. The likelihood that there will not be places to take him ashore is pretty far fetched. Even in Jamaica the locals showed us places to take the dog ashore, and they have the same rules. We will do our best to not break the rules, but if there is an abandoned atoll in the tuamotus, we will probably let him run on the beach. Look into the airlines that fly out of the destinations before you go, but having a dog on your boat is the best defence system money can buy down here. Even if the dog is nice and friendly, the locals are very scared of dogs.