S/V L'ORIENT

A video game ? No- L'ORIENT (top right) dodging 153 freighters in the canal zone Today L’ORIENT returned to the normal world, leaving the San Blas Islands and the Guna Indians behind. Kind of a jolt, seeing roads, cars, and (pleasantly) restaurants and grocery stores again. But duty was calling. Time for our annual haul-out and bottom job activities.....about a week of hot, humid, hard work in toxic conditions........the price we pay for the other 51 weeks of bliss we enjoy. Departing San Blas.....sniff, sniff.....if only for a few weeks The advantage of Guna travel.......bottom job every 1,000 years; trees float no matter what The week of backbreaking work begins with our home being lifted out of the water. Gulp. A year's worth of barnacles and growth on the bottom need to be dealt with, as well as service to our propeller, bow thruster, electronics, etc. But this initial moment is always the scariest. Boats are routinely dropped by careless boatyards.........