A Sailing We Will Go

After 3 weeks of waiting in Panama the day to set sail had finally arrived. So with an early rise of 6 am a few of us from the hostel headed out to the pier 100kms away to meet up with the ship and remaining bikers taking the voyage to Colombia.

As with all days you need to expect the unexpected and this day was no different. We were to be at the pier for a 9am loading and all was looking good until about 25km away where we ran into a protest.

Forward movement was not possible as the road was blocked and would remain blocked until the protesters had their say. They would not be opening the road until the media came and their plight was heard.

This is where we ran into fellow bikers trying to get to the ship. At least now we new the boat was going to have to wait since we were all in the same boat (no pun intended).

The abandoned Carti Airpot where we are to load our bikes aboard the ship was also the cause of much nervousness for each biker. Our bikes are our babies and we each stood around and listened with apprehension as we were explained the boarding process. Somehow we are going to crane 13 motorcycles from the pier onto the boat using only a few pieces of regular rope attached to a boom on the boat. You’ve got to be serious!

Here we go! All 13 motorcycles queued up with rope haphazardly attached waiting for lift off. I really should have taken pictures of each individuals face as their bike was being lifted. The expressions were priceless as each was thinking the worst. Would the rope break and their bike fall into the ocean.

Fred getting ready for lift off.

Breath deep Ryan breath deep..........

Welcome to the Stahlratte our home on the sea for the next five days. It was a fishing boat back in 1903 and is now owned by a German co-operative and is non profit.