It was another trip-ending in Carti’ without a hitch. Carti’ is actually a group of four village islands that are close the mainland in San Blas. It serves as an effective thoroughfare in and out of San Blas due to the fact that the only road into San Blas from Panama’s InterAmericana highway ends there. It also has an airport, which is the other reason it’s such a key access spot for tourists and Kuna alike.
Andiamo typically starts and finishes its trips in Carti’, making use of this good access. It’s also a great place to leave Andiamo there when I head to the city in between trips. Dino, my faithful kuna guy takes care of Andiamo while I’m gone and gets her ready for the next trip. He also makes sure that Lucy stays alive, fed, and at least somewhat entertained.
This particular time around, the anchorage was rather crowded with quite a few other boats. I decided to anchor Andiamo in a spot that lies closer between the islands in a protected channel. This is usually a safe place, because the boat is protected on all sides except for some slight exposure to the north. On the southern end of this same channel, there is a 3-inch PVC pipe that delivers fresh water from the Carti’ River on the mainland via a neighboring island. It sits along the bottom in about 25 feet of water. On most days you can see it in plain sight through the clear water. Most of the boaters in the area know to anchor well away from it, as I do.
I anchored up the channel at least 100 meters from the pipe, which was good, because Andiamo was the only boat in the area. After confirmation from Dino that Andiamo was a good safe distance from the waterpipe, I secured the anchor. Leaving the boat here was actually good for Dino. He had to row out to Andiamo on a daily basis in his cayuco to check on her and Lucy. This spot meant Andiamo was much closer for him to get to Andiamo from his village.
I went to the city to go pick up some needed parts, supplies and groceries for my next trip. I was only planning on staying for three days, but ended up having to stay longer on account of needing to wait until Monday to receive some parts I had ordered. Dino called me on the sunday before I was planning on leaving to tell me that they had a pretty hellacious storm the night before. Huge swells came through the channel, and dragged Andiamo back a good distance down the channel. I then felt major dread go through my body thinking that Andiamo’s anchor had plowed right through the waterpipe. There’s also quite a lot reef around that area, so it’s a wonder that Andiamo didn’t smack up any reefs while it was getting moved by the big waves. Dino said he saw the anchor and it looked like it reset fine and that it didn’t damage the waterpipe. I was relieved to hear that, and told him that hopefully the boat will be fine until I’m back aboard the next day. The boat was in good depth, seems to have set, so I saw no reason to be concerned.
Later that afternoon, I’m at the mall with Stuart, an Aussie who owns a hostel in Panama City. We had lunch that afternoon, and decided to make a run to the mall because he wanted to get an Itouch. My cel rings, and it’s Dino again. He now tells me that the anchor did break through the waterpipe after all. They noticed the break later in the day after the waters calmed down. Great. That’s just great.
Now what? Well, the first thing I ask Dino is if the village has what they need to repair the pipe there. Because if not, I can get the pieces they need while I was in the city. He says that they have what they need, but they need a bit more PVC cement. I ask him three times if he’s sure that there is nothing else I can get for the repair project, and he says no. But I will have to talk to the chief when I get back there. That doesn’t sound good. I knew the chief, and he seemed like a nice guy, but I didn’t like the idea of having to “meet” with him. That usually meant that some kind of fine was going to be levied. I told him I’d be back in San Blas the next afternoon after I picked up my parts.
The next afternoon, I’m back in San Blas, and aboard Andiamo. Dino is waiting for me aboard, and after some general small talk, he cuts right to it. The whole village is pissed, the chief is pissed, and they are talking about me paying for the whole repair, and of course some kind of fine. The chief says he wants to see me right away. I tell him I’m ready anytime. He calls in and the chief says he will come out to the boat that afternoon. After waiting for about an hour, he calls again to find out the status, and now the chief says he will come in the morning. I tell Dino that I want to get this rectified as soon as possible, and that I am sure I can help complete this repair, since I had a lot of the necessary materials and “vast” plumbing experience (I may have been laying it on a little thick. But after my house rehab project back in LA, I do consider myself a worthy plumber. I’m also a deadly tiler).
Dino says he’s going to paddle in to find out what the deal is. He calls me shortly after and tells me that they will be doing a detail to repair the waterpipe the next day at 1:00 pm, and they want to know if I’ll be there. I tell them of course. The next day at one o’clock “en punto”, we grab some snorkeling gear and head out to the repair site via Dino’s cayuco. There are at least 10 cayucos and a couple of larger lanchas already on the scene. They have both halves of the waterpipe out of the water and have already been attempting the repair.
After watching the Kuna basically step over each other and have shouting matches over how they would actually do the repair, I stepped in and essentially took over the project. It seemed to me that this would be the only real way it would get done in a timely manner. This situation called for nothing more than some marine epoxy and a little chutzpah. Luckily, I had both. After making a run back to Andiamo for the epoxy, I basically explain to them how we’re going to connect the pipe UNDER water. Because it’s waterproof epoxy, it can be done, no problem. It will then set and cure in a matter of hours. The Kunas had trouble understanding that something can work underwater. But I think later, when they saw how hard it was to get the epoxy off their skin with the water, it became more clear to them.
With my direction, we have the pipe reconnected within 20 minutes. Problem solved. Except for one thing, the other end of the pipe section that we had just reunited had a crack in its connection, and was leaking. We can tell it was leaking because air bubbles were coming out of it. Ok, I can fix that too. We pull that section up, and I find where the leak’s coming from. It’s basically from a gap between the male and female ends of the pipe sections because the female end was a makeshift one that had been systematically “cracked” in order to be able to take in the other pipe’s male end. In other words, it was a typical Panamanian-style hack job.
Ok, so I figure the solution is to fill the gap with something soft and pliable to stop the leak. Then, I’ll coat the outside with the epoxy to seal the repair. Lacking any real options while floating in the channel with nothing more than pair of surf shorts on, I decide to use the rubber glove that I had been using to apply the epoxy as the “filler”. Which I thought was a great little “McGyver-esque” moment. I even started humming the theme song. Too bad the Kunas didn’t appreciate it like I did.
So, I’m breaking off pieces from the glove and jamming them into the gaps of the pipe to effectively stop the leaks. Once I do that, I stick my head out of the water to call Dino over for the epoxy, which was in his cayuco. The next second, I feel the pipe get taken out from my hands. I turn around to look at what is going on, and before I can say “Alto!”, the pipe is back on its way down to the bottom of the channel. I turn to the Kuna guy who was next to me and just a minute ago was helping me hold the pipe, and tell him I wasn’t done yet. I needed to put the epoxy on the outside of the repair to seal it. He just nods his head and smiles, saying “estamos completo, estamos completo”. I’m like “but… but…” and don’t know what else to say, so I just shrug. On the way back to the cayuco, I effectively announce at least three times that they have to wait no less than SIX HOURS for the epoxy to set before they can try to use the pipe. “Seis horas!”. I thought I was pretty clear on that.
We head back to Andiamo and I tell Dino that I didn’t think that the second repair would hold very long without the epoxy sealing the outside, but they would find that out soon enough. I also told him to make sure that they didn’t try to run any water through the pipe for at least six hours. Dino said he would go check on it, and let me know what happens. I find myself hoping that the ordeal is over. I now take on the task cleaning all the epoxy off of me with denatured alcohol. It’s nasty stuff.
About an hour later, I go on deck to check on something, and what do I see? They’re all out there AGAIN, and the waterpipe is out of the water AGAIN, and APART again. I see Dino out there, and call him over to find out what the hell is going on with the pipe. He tells me that the pipe came apart again. I tell him I bet they tried to run water through it before the epoxy had set. He nods his head with embarrassment. Oy…
I jump into his cayuco and head back on the scene. Now, they are trying to connect the two ends back togther with a new section of pipe. I didn’t quite understand why they thought the needed the new section of pipe, so I ask them to explain why they were putting it in. One of them says that they think it will help the pipe sink better because it will have more weight. I tell him that the reason the pipe was floating is because it was full of air. Once the water pushes the air out, the pipe will sink fine. They didn’t need another section. But they end up insisting they do, so I help them connect the section to the pipe. One end of the old pipe is rather ragged, so I trim it down a bit so it will slide nicely into the other pipe.
After about 10 minutes of whittling, it mates up fine. This time they used PVC cement instead of my epoxy, which was fine, I guess. Except for the fact that they were trying to use the PVC cement to patch the leak I just repaired with the rubber glove, but didn’t get to finish. I tell them that it’s not going to work, that part had to be done with epoxy. A couple of the kuna guys just start really laughing at me, almost mocking me, as if I didn’t know what I was talking about. And down goes the pipe again… with me shaking my head in utter frustration.
On the way back I told Dino again that the second repair is not going to work, and they are going to have massive salt water intrusion into the fresh water. I tell him not to be surprised. But nonetheless he should reiterate to them to STILL not try to use the pipe within at least six hours. Dino goes home for the night, and I proceed with dinner and getting some rest after what was a very physically and mentally draining afternoon.
My next trip was scheduled to start on the next day, and I’m waiting to hear from the driver that the passengers had been picked up at the airport and were on their way to Carti’. While I’m waiting, Dino shows up to tell me that the water was just as I said it would be. Very salty. He also told me that nobody bothered to wait even a couple of hours after the repair to run water through it. Geez… why was I not surprised?
Then he tells me that they’re now having trouble connecting the pipes together because they don’t have enough male-female connectors, and their efforts to connect to male ends went fruitless. Which I said of course, you can’t do it. He then tells me that someone from the village was going to get the right pieces so they can finish the repair the next day. While I found this encouraging, I remained skeptical.
The guests show up very late, and we barely make it out of Carti in time for sunset in the Cayos Limon. I go off on the trip hoping that things would be back to normal with the waterpipe by the time I got back.
It was not to be. To be continued…
What a drama! I hope they didn’t use that salty water to make coffee……..!