Arrival in Colon, Panama

The "Black Christ" in Portobelo

Remains of a Spanish Fort at Portobelo Harbour

Ships at anchor off Colon breakwater waiting to transit the canal

Providing water to a local Kuna family

Arrival in Colon

Feb.9 2015

It is very exciting to finally be in Colon, close to the canal. On Fri we had a great sail from San Blas to Portobelo (as it is spelled locally). We had been planning a preliminary stop because the lack of wind and a counter current against you is sometimes an issue. But we were making such good time we stopped at this old Spanish harbour only 20 miles from Colon. On the trip we read some more about other places in San Blas. That’s not as good as a visit but the time was short. I think we will always be wishing that we had more time. Before we left the San Blas Islands we were able to provide some fresh water that we had made to a local Kuna family.

Portobelo used to be a major port for the Spanish when they were taking gold and silver from South America back to Spain. There are old fort ruins on both sides of the harbour to explore. There is a statue of a “black Christ” in the local church which is a pilgrimage spot for many. Sat was a quiet day in town but Sunday it was packed with local tourists. The restaurant, Captain Jack’s, had wonderful food as well as a welcome good internet signal. It was so great to get our emails. Most of the computer time was spent getting caught up on the app upgrades that pour in. It looks like on this trip that our sailmail email address will reach us sooner if the message is time sensitive.

CFN4748@sailmail.com

When the time came Sun to get here we did have the “no wind” day so spent 3 hours motoring on flat seas. Not hard work, anyway, and there is fuel here. We were amazed as we got closer to Colon, where the breakwater to the canal is, at how many boats were anchored outside. I counted about 40 freighters anchored in a wide area in about 100 feet of water. Quite the site!

We are staying in Shelter Bay Marina just inside the breakwater and on the opposite side to the town of Colon. It is next to the former US military reserve and we have seen a helicopter land. The rest of the area around the marina is a national park in rain forest. At dawn this morning you could hear the monkeys making a racket. There are a few services but they offer a shuttle bus both am and pm into town for shopping. It has been a treat to have a freshwater swimming pool especially as the temperatures are rising and the winds diminishing.

Eleven boats are here now and Jimmy Cornell arrived by plane last night. His boat is currently in the Florida boat show and he will catch up with us by Tahiti. We had a short briefing this morning but details of the week and canal crossing won’t be made until later today after we have all been inspected and measured. The plan is to have a tour of the new locks that are almost completed and a tour in Panama, as well as a major provisioning trip. It will be April before we have access again to anything other than the basics in food and repairs. More to come on the Panama Canal in the next blog.