I battling with a few titles to my book, but the one that seems to be in the lead is “Autonomy at Sea, a guide to living free and sailing the worlds oceans” I’m hoping to have it available for download just after the new year.
I live a very free life and I don’t know that I could ever go back to anything less. If I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow I’d be okay with it and die with a smile on my face. What a ride I’ve had the last 10 years, priceless!
My backpack and I waited for a bus that never came early Wednesday morning. I heard voices in a house, walked up, knocked on the door, and asked why the bus never came? I was greeted by a young woman breast feeding and was informed that it was national holiday and only the major bus lines were running. All women breast feed here. There are usually 3
or more on the bus at any given time.
The locals here live really simple, this was quite the house as it had electricity and and satellite television. The deck is bigger than the living quarters, i thought it was kind of cute.
I needed to get to Sabenats and started hitch-hiking. I kind of laugh to myself when people say hitch-hiking is dangerous, and in many places it’s true, just not here. The people here are simple, poor, generous, and proud. I have made many friends over half the world with nothing but my thumb and a smile.
What a wonderful morning it was! The problem was no cars were passing as it was quite early. I strolled down the long road listening to the jungle. Howler monkeys were howling, Parrots squawking, and there were another million sounds emanating from the jungle on either side of the road. Where the jungle is not thick, it is farm land.
The cows here are quite strange looking, eah?
I spent over an hour walking before a car came by. It was a pickup truck with a young man driving, has was slowing to stop and ask if I needed a ride before my thumb came out. The cab was filled with things and I jumped in the back, he took me about 15 miles of my journey to Panama City. I had to get to Panama City as I had an early doctors appointment the following day.
I walked another half hour or so before some friends drove by in another pick up. They had rented it for the day to provision as they were sailing for Cartagena the following morning.
Again I was in the back of a pick up truck with the wind blowing through my hair and an endless smile on my face, 
freedom is nice!
Sabanetas was a complete madhouse. half of the road was closed as a parade was forming. Police were directing a very slow moving flow of traffic and I had to wait an hour and a half for a bus to Panama City, and once I got the bus I was standing up for the whole trip :(
I didn’t arrive in the city until well after noon. Traffic was horrendous and all the stores were closed. I hung out walking around the mall for a few hours, had lunch and met my friend Roger and his wife Gladys. I was excited to arrive at his apartment as he was holding an important package for me, my second hand macbook, thanks Paul.
I’ve only had a mac for a few days now and I’m hooked, it is such a superior product to the windows platform. Why does Windows control the market and not Apple?
I’m still trying to figure out how to live in a mac os environment but I’m sure I’ll have it all figured out in the next week. I’m excited to be able to edit video once again.
The following day I had to bring one of my alternators to the alternator shop, see the Doctor, and return home. I did some food shopping in Sabenats and when I was waiting for the bus I had other friends drive by in the same blue pickup and drive me back to Splendid. There is a lady in town who rents her car for $30.00 for the day, and $60.00 for 24 hours.
I have an expired California license but I’m sure it doesn’t matter. At some point I’m going to want to rent it for the day and make a trip to the “MEGA- DEPOT” in Panama City, it’s like a Sam’s club or Costco, but cheeper :) I’m sure I could find another cruiser around here to split the cost of the rental with me.
Anyway, I’m off to fit the alternator on the little Kubota. I’m looking forward to playing with my mac tonight and try to load some video in her from my Flip camera.
Life is good.
Sail far and live slowly.
Alex
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Published in Alex Dorsey
Glad to see you have converted from the dark side and got a Mac. $micro$oft controls the market because there are fools aplenty in the world. Now you should try loading Ubuntu Linux as a second OS and try editing with that.
Total Loss,
I had ubuntu loaded on my last PC, but truthfully I have a lot of other things do do then messing about on the computer all the time, too much of a learning curve for me.When I retire one day I’m going to get rid of all the computers & cameras phones and crap and just sail. I’m a purest at heart but it is impossible trying to maintain a big website. I’m converting to a “Mac” guy fast. The other problem is most navagation software, softeware for the sat phone and so on is all designed for a windows enviornment. :(
Alex, take a look at OpenCPM for navigation opencpn.org/download It is free open source
Barry
Alex,
Check iNavix for iPhone and Mac ENC. I have had both for years and love them. Great addition to your new Mac. Both programs will interface and communicate data…really cool
Mike
Microsoft controls the market because they are affordable, not because there are fools aplenty in the world.
I’m surprised you didn’t know about Macs. Even in the dark years of the 90’s they were still the preferred platform for graphics professionals. Macs made desktop publishing a reality. Best news. Macs are better than ever, and cooler. No system is perfect, but as you are learning, some are better than others. In a nutshell, Bill Gates, in collusion with PC makers, flooded the market with cheaper packages. Despite countless compatability issues, and bring the target for every virus, worm, and Trojan horse out there, the gamble paid off. Apple has always maintained a deathgrip on their systems, and they sign off on everything, which is why things tend to work much better. Since Steve Jobs got back into the company, Apple’s market share and cool factor, not to mention their profit margins, have steadily grown. Anyway,”You’ve taken your first step into a larger world.” Welcome. :-)
Alex wrote:
“When I retire one day …”
What do you mean “When” you retire? Would that imply that what you’re doing now constitutes “work”? If so, you might want to let your readers know where they can apply for a job like yours. :-)
Welcome to the Mac world.
-Steve
Steve,
are you implying I don’t work? If you want my job sell your car buy a cheap boat and take off. You could easily make more money then me going around the anchorage cleaning bottoms. If you think living this kind of life for around 5k a year is easy, think again. I work my ass off and have no money to show for it and I wouldn’t have it any other way ;)
Colombia is one of the few countries I will eat beef besides the USA. The cows and also the horses in Colombia look great. The horses are a bit small but well loved. You would think they would look the same in Panama being next door. That Panama cow is ugly. One thing I will never forget is the pineapple I ate in Bocas del Toro Panama. Very sweet./
A couple of weeks ago on TV they did a story on an America who was killing people near and on Bocas then saying they sold out to him and moved away./
I’ll be in Santa Marta for Christmas./
I’m not selling out anytime soon and buying a boat. I want some kind of steady income before I try something like you are doing. I like money to much. /
I feel your pain!! We just got a mini mac for the sailboat and am surprised and amazed at the ease which they are to use. the video editing is a dream……..makes me wonder why I stayed with PC for so long.(besides for navigation) .My wife just got the iPhone as well and there is a app for that for $50.00 complete with charts….bottom paint down..Cindy and Darren
Alex,
I didn’t say you don’t work and I didn’t say what you do is easy. I also have no car and bought a cheap boat that my wife and I spent countless hours and dollars fixing up. Even though I am ‘officially” retired and so, don’t have to sweat the income as much, I still work. But this work is so far removed from the “get up every morning to an alarm clock to drag yourself in to a job that you don’t really care about, while putting up with the silly politics that accompanies most jobs, only to know you have to get up tomorrow and do it all over again” kind of work as to not even be comparable. I know because that’s what I did for 35 years so that I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from now.
Sorry if I hit a nerve. It’s very hard to show intent in an e-mail, which is why I added the emoticon. If we’d been sitting across the table from you in some bar in Panama, sipping a cold cerveza in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, and you had said, “Someday, when I retire…” You would have seen the beer shoot out my nose as I guffawed and said “What the hell do you mean, ‘WHEN you retire’?” As we both then looked around at all the poor working stiffs, I think you would have seen the humor.
Anyway, time for me to get back to “work” (wink, wink, snicker, snicker).
-Steve
Steve,
No worries mate, you didn’t really hit much of a nerve. I have been aggravated by my little kubota, I cant get the alternator to put out more than 13.4 volts. I’ve also been writing 10 hours a day and in a different world. The book has turned out to be reality good introspective therapy for me.
Jason…,
Funny, you use the term “selling out” in the exact opposite context as I do, perspective eah? The beef in Colombia is good, here not so good, but I don’t eat too much of it anyway so it doesn’t matter to me. I dont think the cow is ugly, just a bit strange looking. The horses are small and rugged looking.
Tim,
I used to edit back in the 90’s on Avid (film composer) editing a mac with a p1latforms. They were basicalluy macs with a $120,000 software dongle on them. I didnt get into the system much, if something wasn’t working I just called Avid and they sent a tech out ASAP.
Back to the mac for writing :)
Barry,
I’ll take a look at it as soon as I get a connection fast enough to download something.
I’ve seen the inavx stuff in the app store just too pricy for me to download. I also have the 2G iphone which dosent have a GPS in it.
Cheers.
I remember vividly sitting in the panamanian jungle as a young Army medic and having a young panamanian woman take here shirt down in front of me and breast feed. I was in complete shock. Was she flirting with me? I was completely panicked. I then realized that they didn’t even know what formula was. It was 1991 and we were deep in the jungle. Awakening experience for me. How shocking it was for me to realize that those boobies were made for feeding in other places in the world and not the bible belt taboo I had learned growing up in Arkansas. Funny now but it seeded the drive in me today to visit the rest of the world and experience all it has to offer. Thanks for the story, brought back wonderful memories for me.
Jeff,
lots of breast feeding boobies around :) women aren’t even shy about it here. Man is it raining again! I allmost had a major tragity today. I slipped into the lazerette on some oil while the kubota was running, my foot
bounced off of the flywheel. if it was a few inches lower I could have lost my foot :( I need to build a guard for that thing!
Hello Alex,
I’m a long time lurker and have both of your movies. My question is on healthcare. I relaize tha if you cut your hand, need some dental work it’s there and available. What about the annual checkups, the quality of those checkups that sort of thing? Where would you go to get followup testing?
Thanks
Dave
Dave,
health care here is affordable. My doctor charges 20 bucks a visit, or I could go to a clinic for free. I just saw a uroligest which cost me 70 bucks. I need to get a colonoscopy which will cost about 500, I’m waiting on that one. I don’t think I have ever been in a country that would deny me care if I needed it. If you travel internationally buy health insurance, and exclude coverage in the USA and you will be amazed how affordable it is.
Dave,
Also a dentist is about $20.00 for a filling and $350 for a root canal. I would say the quality of care is excellant. There is also a Johns Hopkins in Panama City. My doctor is also a friend and takes very good care of me. he and his family will be joining me in the San Blas after the new year.
My specialist was expensive, usually a specialist is $50-60, i allways get hooked up with meds for free by the doctors here. Also medication is much cheaper here. I onlu pay $9.00 for a large inhailer for my asthma.
Hello Alex,
Thanks for the response finding quality healthcare at your huricane hole and or identifying health facilities during your travels.
Have you thought about making a video “book”?
Thanks
Dave
Dave
I don’t know what a video book is but I will be releasing an ebook soon if I can get my hands on a copy of acrobat 9 pro I can put video in my book but it is really pricy :)
cheers,
alex thats a brahman bull , they are quite common here in texas , they take angus cows and brahmans and make brangus . anyways very common beef producer ,not for milking