My People - Dean

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks. When we bought Kirin, the owner offered to cover half of a much-needed bottom paint job. We ordered paint from the US as well as a new head (toilet for you landlubbers). The paint is a special composite that is infused with copper and slowly wears away. This supposed to help keep things from growing on the bottom of the boat since you are sitting still most of the time. This is especially true in the very calm waters of a marina. We got on the schedule with the marina to have the boat hauled out of the water over at the boat yard in Almirante, about 10 nautical miles away.

Fun facts - A nautical mile is equal to 1.15 land based miles. It is the equivalent of traveling 1 minute of Latitude on the open sea. Drop a pin on Google maps and you will get degrees, minutes, and seconds for your latitude and longitude. Travel one nautical mile in an hour and you are moving at 1 knot.

We gathered our things that we would need for a week and moved to a rental unit in town. If you’ve read the last post, you know that we had some engine trouble on Kirin’s first voyage. We made some minor repairs after that and were very diligent about starting and running the motor every couple of days.

We took off from the marina about 8:30 AM and were moving at the astonishing pace of 2.7 knots (3.1 mph if you didn’t want to do the math) About an hour into our trip, the engine alarm went off. With Alex’s voice (the marina guru) echoing in our head, we immediately shut the engine down. We checked the usual suspects and found nothing wrong. We tried to restart the motor, but it wouldn’t turn over. Now we were adrift in the shipping lane. Luckily there wasn’t any wind to speak of and no ferries were in sight. There are 3 ferries that travel to and from Almirante to Bocas, 2-3 times a day. We called the marina and they sent someone out to tow us back in. Ironically, we were moving much faster being towed than under our own power. Embarrassing on a couple of levels.

Alex came on board and could find nothing wrong. The engine started right up. Kind of like when you take your car to the dealership. We let it run under load for about an hour, while drinking a cool beer. No problems, see you tomorrow.

Take 2 - If you’re ready for anything, nothing will happen. Very uneventful trip. It took us over 3 hours to get there. Getting passed by ferries, pangas, and butterflies, it seemed like forever. Jodi had a great app that showed us waypoints and when to change headings. It was like, “ok, get ready, you’re going to change course.” Wait 10 minutes. “Ok, almost …” Another couple minutes. Turn the wheel ¼ turn. Wait a minute, straighten out again. Next waypoint, 35 minutes.

Taking the boat out of the water is a fascinating process if you’ve never seen it. I’ve attached a time lapse video of it happening. Beware, it’s a little shaky. I’ve compressed a 7-minute video into 34 seconds. Basically, you have a hoist on 3ft wheels driven by a v8 diesel motor that lowers straps and then slowly lifts it up and drives it to a parking spot. We caught a shuttle service back to town and our rental apartment for the next week.

Kirin haul out

With Monday and Tuesday all but taken up, we had one day to get ready for the burn, which meant getting costumes and tools out of storage, buying drinks, food, and packing all of it up for a boat ride.

A group of burners here in Bocas were doing the second annual Burn Bocas Burn, an official Burning Man regional burn. Jodi and I jumped at the chance to be in on the ground floor of this fledgling gathering.

If you know us very well, you know that we have been attending Burning Man events for years. I’ve been going to the big burn in NV, off and on, since 1998. Soon after she and I were dating, I took Jodi to a regional burn in MI called Lakes of Fire. It was a kind of litmus test of our relationship and if she could embrace the culture that I knew and loved. It really wasn’t a question; it was more of a confirmation that we were supposed to be together.

When we were looking for our place to call home in the Caribbean, I had told her that I wanted somewhere that made me feel like I was at Burning Man all year; that I could employ the 10 principles all the time, not just a few weeks a year. Bocas del Toro was that place and now, we had burners to make it even more special.

Al Natural resort - home to Burn Bocas Burn 2024

We met a couple times over the last few weeks and formed subgroups in charge of workshops/art, food, and construction. The location was a rustic resort way out on the far end of Bastimentos, just before the ocean. The property was stunning. We rented a cabana so we could take Shady, and she could have a chill out space when she needed it. She ended up loving the free run of the property and tried to make friends with the other dogs, but they weren’t really interested.

Shady looking at Jodi

We went with the first wave of folks to get things set up Thursday morning. There’s a saying in the burner community, “Welcome Home” and that is exactly what we felt from that first moment on the property. Jodi made bracelets for all the attendees (all 30 of us) with hemp, seashells, and small hand cut wood disks that she branded with a custom iron she ordered. I cooked a communal lunch on Friday, and we helped as crew for other meals. I honestly have to say that we ate the best I’ve ever eaten at any burn. No spam and noodles for this group. Gigi is a master at using every part of the ingredients and making vegan/vegetarian dishes. I helped her make nachos for a last lunch using banana peels as the main “meat” component. Amazing!

Thursday was also Jodi’s birthday. “Best birthday ever” I believe was a direct quote from her. We had a cacao ceremony around a fire during the full moon, and then sang happy birthday to her with muffins to share with the group. We then danced until we couldn’t stand up anymore.

Thursday night 7pm

Jodi and I also put together a welcome station on the dock so we could greet new attendees that had never been to a burn and indoctrinate them properly into the cult. The man was built using bamboo, palm and coconut bits, and twine, floating on a homemade raft of banana plant trunks. Wind and rain threatened the burn on Saturday night, but it is the tropics, so it wasn’t a surprise. After things calmed down, the effigy was set alight and burned for about 15 min before tumbling into the sea.

Floating man

Burning the Man

Such a wonderful weekend filled with amazing people. My People. It’s made us toss around the idea of joining up with some of these same people and going to the big burn next year.

Lunch!

Tuesday, we went back to Almirante and picked up Kirin. She had a nice new coat of bottom paint and a polished propeller. On the trip back to the marina, we averaged 4.8 knots! Almost double what we had done on the way there. Crazy what a clean bottom will do for you. I even managed to get her back into our slip with only a 5 point turn and some minor fending off by a friendly worker on the dock.

That’s all for now!

Buenos Dias