[PUP] Alanui, moored at the Flaminco Yacht club in Balboa Panama!

[Georgs Kolesnikovs]

Posted on behalf of Scott Bulger:

From: Scott E. Bulger [mailto:scottebulger at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 3:47 PM
To: 'scottebulger at gmail.com'
Subject: Greetings from ALANUI, moored at the Flaminco Yacht club in 
Balboa Panama!

Alanui arrived at the Flaminco YC two days ago, but we were so busy 
this is the first chance we have had to drop everyone a note saying:

WE MADE IT TO THE PANAMA CANAL!!!!!!!!!!!

We are waiting to be measured and then we will be scheduled for 
transit, perhaps in 4 or 5 days.  To focus on this accomplishment, 
here are some facts and statistics:

a.        Marian and Scott are still happily married and plan to 
continue on (marriage and trip).  We feel the most exciting part of 
the journey is still to come!
b.      Alanui traveled 4,875.5 nautical miles from Port Angeles Wa 
to Balboa Panama.  This is equivalent to driving 5,601 statute or 
"car" miles.
c.       We stopped at 55 different locations along the way.  Many 
times we just stopped for the night, and at several locations we 
spent a week.  The longest we stayed anyplace was 10 days.
d.      We anchored out at 27 of these locations, the longest of 
which was Zihuatanejo for 6 days.
e.      In addition to visiting Washington, Oregon and California, we 
visited Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
f.        We have been living on Alanui for 9 months and voyaging for 
about 8 months.
g.       We performed 4 oil changes and filled the boat up 4 times, 
spending about $3,500 on fuel.  We experienced only minor equipment 
failures, a testament to the quality yacht produced by PAE.
h.      In all of this time there was only one really scary event 
when we broached (turned sideways) in the boat trying to enter a 
harbor in Nicaragua.
i.         With that exception the majority of the weather has been 
spectacular.  The largest, or roughest, seas we experienced were 
about 6 to 8 feet tall, nothing the boat and its occupants couldn't 
handle.  Prior to arriving in Costa Rica we had only seen rain on 2 
occasions, and then just a slight drizzle.  The rainy season is 
approaching Central America and we anticipate leaving before it gets 
going strong.

We actually arrived at the canal with a sailboat in tow!  We had some 
dear friends that experienced an equipment failure and we ended up 
towing them right across the traffic lanes in the midst of dozens of 
supertankers and cruise ships!  What an exciting way to end this 
phase of the journey, giving back to others, keeping the system of 
checks and balances in check!

So, from here it's through the canal, Marian will fly home to visit 
the kids and a good friend from Seattle will fly down and help me 
bring the boat from Panama to Florida, where Marian will re-join me. 
Then we go up the East Coast for the Fall Colors.  We are really 
excited.  I'm sorry our web site hasn't been more up to date, but we 
hope to remedy that soon.  So hugs to you all, keep us in your 
thoughts and prayers.

Scott and Marian,  aboard Alanui, a Nordhavn 40 moored in Balboa Panama