Returned from Cartagena yesterday and have now the permission to stay another 3 month in Panama. Next time I’ll sail from San Blas Archipelago to Santa Marta.

I had to bake bread and get some vegetables and fruits from the lady who sells most days a week her produce in the marina. And then a bunch of small tasks.

Good news – Wikus, the technician, came shortly before noon to start working on MaRe. Things got started. He makes a pretty professional impression.

Bad news – the fishing line, which got caught in the PRT side propeller, did damage more than expected. First I thought that only the the shaft sealings of the propeller shaft need to be replaced.
When opening the saildrive, we saw that also 2 bearings need to be replaced. They got rusty from the entering seawater at the leaking shaft sealing. When removing the sail drive it was to be seen that the rubber of the rubber wheel at the engine exit side was broken as well. The part of the fishing line, which got deeper inside the saildrive, caused a to high load. I was just lucky that I could maneuver MaRe into the channel of the travel lift. As bad as this is, the good thing is that it is discovered, thus it can be repaired.

Tomorrow, Wikus will look for the needed spare parts.

I hope the “privado”-work doing guys will come tomorrow and prime the few spots, which need to be primed before the coppercoat patching can be done.