Change of Scenery

San Blas to Shelter Bay

Friday, February 9-14

Sadly, we wave farewell to the San Blas Islands and sail a beautiful beam to broad reach to Portobelo, Panama. The loud whirrr of the fishing reel was the single break in the sailing, and we had to furl the Yankee and rev up the engine in order to slow down the boat and bring in the catch.  A bonito!  The distinctive strips of shiny silver and black swirls ran along the dorsal fin on each side. Really unusual markings.  He was small, so we released him.

Portobelo is a cross between a sleepy, little bayside town steeped in history and a weird vibe of city-cheesiness.  Wildly painted school buses adorned with giant shiny chrome exhaust pipes extending above the roofline of the rear of the bus chug past the ruins of an ancient fort.  An old white and purple stucco Catholic Church houses the famous black Jesus(really- look it up).The occasional odd character dressed in military fatigues, face painted black and head topped with a shiny, plastic, gold, bejeweled crown marches down the street blowing a whistle. Ellie and I were strolling along when he came up behind us and demanded she take his arm.  Being the polite Brit that she is, she complied and marched down the street with him as he blew his whistle, nervously looking back at me from time to time, while I maintained a not-very-heroic distance. She later said she was worried she was very slowly being kidnapped.  Turned out, he simply wanted her to take his photo on a bench of his choosing. A town of characters.

The human craziness aside, the most striking memory of Portobelo for me is the Howler monkeys that live in the wooded hills around the bay.  The jungle forest is so tall and dense, you cannot see the monkeys, but you can definitely hear them!  The sound is eerie - a cross between hurricane force winds and the screeching of train brakes in the distance. Then the sound sweeps across the hillside. One can envision the monkeys swinging through the canopies of the trees, howling.

The next morning(Sunday, February 11th), we found ourselves approaching Colon and the huge piles of concrete that make the breakwater to get into the  bay that leads to the Panama Canal.  Surrounded by massive, precariously loaded cargo vessels. COSCO towered in the distance.  There’s no question China Ocean Shipping Company wants you to know that’s their vessel!  The port area is equipped with massive cranes jutting high into the sky, too numerous to count .  All of this is quite intimidating for our toy boat and its crew.  After many calls with the port authority, awaiting instructions and the eventual okay to proceed, we made our way across the bay leading into the canal and into Shelter Bay Marina.  Directed to the end of C Dock, we set up on the starboard side and docked for a long week.  As of now, we’re scheduled to traverse the canal on Monday the 19th.

The marina is more sophisticated than expected.  A sharp contrast from San Blas Islands and Portebelo. Equipped with a spacious, air conditioned restaurant, pool, small grocery store and chandlery, we’ll do okay here for the week. Literally, across the asphalt road behind the marina building is the jungle.  Periodically, we hear the call of howler monkeys.  It entices you to venture in and see what wildlife may be discovered….

We’re on our fifth day at the dock.  Not much to report.  Everyone’s diligently polishing gel coat, newer boats dealing with warranty issues, laundry, prep cooking for the Pacific, etc.  Altaia (boat from Germany - lovely couple, Martina and Carsten and their son, Cedric) had to pull their boat onto the hard to paint the bottom with anti foul in preparation for Galapagos. Busy, but all waiting, waiting…. And hoping our transits through the Panama Canal will be uneventful.  Each day a couple boats apprehensively depart, some for same day transit and others for 2-day transit, mooring in Lake Gatun before passing through the second portion of the canal. The apprehension primarily stems from the experience of the first yacht, Babe.  Our crew, Calvin and Ellie, generously volunteered to assist Paul and Trish, Babe’s owners, with lines - 5 people are needed on each vessel  to help out in whatever role is necessary. Their planned single day transit turned into two days, and they were placed against the rough, cement wall, which means they had to use every fender possible and tend them to prevent damaging her hull.  The force of the water into the lock to raise or lower the water level can be significant, creating a very stressful situation. Fortunately, they did make it through with only minimal damage.

We’ve been coached by Allie, our Oyster go-to person,  to not give the Canal authority a hard time or they may bump us to the back of the line, meaning 6 more weeks waiting at Shelter Bay Marina.  Rob’s working on his, “Yes, Sirs and Ma’ams.”

Highlights of the week….  Spending time with the other sailors on the trip.  Out of the 23 boats, only 2 are American so many different cultures, but all really wonderful people.  (The beautiful flowing British accents remind us we “speak American,” as Ricky Bobby would say.) We are grateful we delayed our voyage from 2022 to 2024.  Hard to believe there would have been this much camaraderie this early in the game.  Oyster has organized activities - Embera jungle cruise, BBQs, French Polynesia Briefing, Rum and Mimosa tasting and more - which have been a wonderful way to build our friendships.

The call of the jungle behind the marina has lulled us into many walks along the roads and pathways through the woods. How to describe this forest?  I’ve taken many photos and none do it justice.  Like photos of mountains - seems to lack the capacity to capture the grandeur of vast nature scenes. The canopy of the skyscraper treetops umbrellas the mid sized trees and undergrowth.  Palm trees are intermixed and massive with smooth gray trunks that transition into a fresh seamless green before blossoming into lush, large palm fronds. The fronds are very full - similar to a fox tail palm only much larger. Our first few forays into the forest were unsuccessful spotting any wildlife except marching rows of leaf cutter ants. Too many of us obliviously gabbing away, spooked everything except insects. However, when Rob and I ventured in alone, we were rewarded with a troop of monkeys running, jumping and cavorting through the high tree tops!! Rob did a ridiculous monkey call, which I was certain would spook every creature within ear shot.  However, these particular monkeys, obviously recognizing the source of a good laugh, had to check us out. This troop of white-faced capuchin monkeys consolidated from two opposite directions in the high trees above us and looked down.  What were they thinking? Apparently, we weren’t of much interest because they quickly swooped off into the camouflage of the jungle.

Worth mentioning, are the abandoned US Naval structures in the jungle.  They were built back when we controlled the Panama Canal.  Not sure when we abandoned them - whether it was the 70s when Jimmy Carter turned over the canal or 1999 when we withdrew all military forces. There’s no road in place at this point that leads to them.  You just come across them as you’re hiking down a little jungle path.  Heavy duty cement (easily 3-4 feet thick) walls that extend deep into the hillside.  Some areas appear to be a prison, with cell numbers and iron bars.  All overgrown by the jungle, hidden by it.  Meant to be hidden, only one story tall above ground and then most hidden deep into the hillside, underground - so dark and creepy, we couldn’t bring ourselves to go in.  The perfect menacing movie set for something super scary. Walking, we came across what appeared to be extensive chain link fencing for dog kennels. We were happy to make our way out and search for more monkeys. htg