Marina Madness

It seems that most of the foreigners who come to settle in Bocas del Toro are extremely independent , as well as adventurous and self-reliant. That’s a good thing, because you would never survive here for more than a vacation without those attributes. Now, if you also arrived here by guiding your boat over the ocean by yourself, you probably feel pretty capable and like you want to call your own shots. Many boaters who live in this off- the- beaten path paradise, on islands off of islands, also have a little bit of a crazy streak. This can mean lovable eccentricity, creativity and generosity, and it can also venture into the realm of varying levels of social dysfunction.

Well, there are a few residents here at our marina that have been skating along the line between independence and the above mentioned dysfunction (no, not THAT kind).  The marina, now 20 months old, recently enacted some rules to make it a more consistently pleasing place to live for all of the marina residents. These are kindergarten -type rules such as: keep your pet on a leash and under control at all times, clean up after your pet, no storing of personal belongings in common areas, no solicitation on the docks, etc. Seems pretty simple, but there are a few of the more than 50 residents that disagree with the rules and have been expressing their way- past- adolescence angst loudly  over the past several weeks.  They insist that these rules infringe on their ability to have an open, warm and welcoming community.   

The rule that they really hate is that you have to keep your pet on leash at happy hour. Seriously!!  They feel they should be able to have their pets wandering freely at happy hour, nuzzling and licking whoever they want to. Sorry, to me this is just gross. I don’t want to wonder what that warm wet thing between my knees is while I am sipping drinks with pieces of fruit and little paper umbrellas in them.  What if they slobber on my hand as I am about to grab a chip with salsa? Will the owner have some hand sanitizer at the ready so I can continue to shove food in my mouth with abandon?

To protest the rules, one of these dissenters is having his dog leave piles in the middle of the dock and lift his leg on the utility poles.  Another resident moved his meat smoker so that it blocks easy passage down the dock. Then there is the couple that is broadcasting on VHF that this marina is a terrible place and who would want to live here, blah blah blah—but, of course, they don’t leave because really it’s the best marina in the province. These are, I hate to say, old hippies and they look like old hippies.

Now, I love old hippies- in fact, I am married to one. However, lots of old hippies have aged into mellowness and wisdom rather than approaching the world with a chip on the shoulder and a semi-paranoid belief that all authority is suspect, except your own. They seem to want to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and new dock, but they want it their way, with no regard for the facts that they do not own the marina, they did not create it, they don’t have to maintain it, others live there, too, and they do have a choice to stay or to leave.  They seem to be choosing to stay and to make others want to leave. 

Well, leave they will--verbal warning, written warning, then out of here—that’s the sequence of events in the real world.  So hopefully they will move on to other places to try to make their lives work better than they did here. Who knows? Maybe they will find a little marina without rules and live happily ever after. I hope so. Meanwhile, I am sick and tired of the whining and (yes) name calling. Come on!! Most of us left junior high at least half a century ago!