A Dangerous Incident
Portobelo, Playa Blanca and Linton October 8-11, 2009
We untied the lines and left the dock at Shelter Bay Marina in route for the old colonial Spanish fort town of Portobelo. This small community 11miles from Colon is reputed to have held so much gold in the storehouse at one time that the silver ingots had to be left in the streets. That led to great interest and taking of the fort by the pirates Drake and later Morgan.
Currently, the town is sleepy and quite economically depressed. It has certainly grown since we were there in 1998. From the boat we could see the colorful Colon busses that now pass through more regularly and other commercial and tourist traffic.
At Portobelo we decided to stay on the boat and actually go under it to remove the barnacle growth acquired at Shelter Bay. Water temperatures are very warm, high 80's to 90's and the growth had been significant. Navy Blue offered their hookah rig. A hookah is a compression motor with attached diving regulator so instead of bobbing up and down by snorkel, a very strenuous task on the hull of a 45 ft. boat, Dan could stay under the water on this hookah for one. I worked on the first four feet down while he scraped the propeller, shaft and underwater mechanical gear and removed the huge barnacles that drag the speed of the boat down-a huge job but made easier by the use of the breathing device. Thanks Ed and Valma!
The next morning we moved on to a lovely little cove area named Playa Blanca only 2.5 miles from Portobelo. It was a place with moderately good snorkeling along the sides and with a short swim from the boat, we could walk awhile on the beach. The anchor held well in the white sand and we felt quite safe tucked in behind the two small islands. The wind and swell were not a problem for us.
The next morning we moved on to Linton, another area Dan and I remembered from our last trip. There were many more boats than there were previously, easily fifty. Many were boats seemingly anchored and unoccupied but many were probably people, cruisers, who now live in the Linton area. We ate at the restaurant on shore and it was very good. We took a dinghy ride to check the facilities at Panamarina, and found they were absolutely full through January. They had a restaurant, too. After two days there we got our weather window and chose to move on to the San Blas, as we have quite a few days before we are due back at Shelter Bay to leave our boat and our time in the San Blas may be limited by the weather, the winter storms, when we return to Panama after our visit to MA and are waiting to move toward Columbia.
The following is a personal view of a terrible incident-my facts are the best I can recall at this writing:
While we were anchored at Linton, our good friends on the 38 ft. Island Packet, Navy Blue unfortunately were singled out for a robbery. The cruisers in the know describe what happened as an act of piracy, and it certainly has shaken up a complacent cruising community. Navy Blue was anchored in the center of the fleet, with boats surrounding all sides. Sea Star was 150 ft. from Navy Blue on the same line, both smack in the center!
The boat was boarded from the side late at night. Ed was still up at his computer and in seconds he was immobilized by one of the invaders with a machete at his neck! His frantic spouse did whatever she could to get them the hell off the boat. Unfortunately for other cruisers in the future, they extracted a large amount of money, passports and other valuables and left in a speeding Ponga. At that point Valma went into action blowing the horn and yelling that they had been robbed. Another cruiser further toward Isla Grande and in the direction the Ponga was going, gave chase in a 15HP dinghy, but to no avail.
The authorities in Isla Grande were summoned to the boat and interviewed Valma and Ed during the night. They took the basic information and left. Valma, unlike many of us cruisers, does speak Spanish but they were really not given any help in how to proceed to have the crime solved or deal with the resulting loss of crucial paperwork. On the VHF and HAM nets the discussion the next few days was how the police and others always seem unconcerned, and locals who often know the perpetrators and are fearful of reprisal aren't cooperative. The cruising community is angry feeling the police must be strongly encouraged by any means to be more involved! Rumors (apparently not true) started about a subject being handcuffed and arrested.
Meanwhile our friends, whom we had to leave behind, had to start the processes of healing, never easy in a foreign country, of replacing passports, boat papers and documents while quietly wondering , "Why was I singled out? What did I do wrong ?", and the terror of the moments of the attack will be with them forever.
Already they have had to worry again about being off the boat and at anchor for days at a time while they made the necessary trips first to Portobello authorities who sent them on to Colon authorities and all by bus or expensive taxi to "report" the incident. They had a hard time even getting a police report which they felt having would help in the replacement of documents, cards, and licenses. In the States we'd be looking at a home invasion situation with the expectation of severe penalty for the perpetrators.
Because of the seriousness of this crime followed by grapevine information and no/slow resolution, another rift in trust and relations between people who have moved fully to Panama, cruisers passing through who may need and want contact with the local populations and services and the local peoples just trying to live decent lives has occurred. The phrase the long term cruisers use is "What can you expect? This is Panama.", when one official tells you one thing and another negates it and sends you on to a third with his/her own idea-but it always costs more money.
Whatever the eventual outcome, the whole incident will be a major headache and major expense for the boaters involved.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Birding from Shelter Bay Marina September26 and October 3, 2009
Two Days of Birding in Panama
Birding from Shelter Bay Marina September26 and October 3, 2009
Still no sailing. We are still planning to move on toward the San Blas but have recently found out that classes Dan needed to take in MA to update his licenses were full on the date he had signed up for. We have delayed our trip home to MA until November 5th , which leaves us more traveling time now, but less later when we return. With our extra time now we have pursued our hobby of birdwatching and Panama is a wonderful place to find many species.
Previously we have had some opportunity to travel by renting a car and driving around for needed items and to Reba Smith, a great grocery store and meat market in Panama City.In the city we took a walk in the Metropolitan Park, an oasis in the middle of a thriving city. The view of the city was fantastic but it is a wild enough place that birds and animals can be seen. While we had the rental car we drove onto some of the back woods birding roads, visited Summit Park on the road to Gamboa, where we were able to see a captive Harpy Eagle very close up. I took a picture with my camera of the photos I bought in the gift shop, as this was the one day I did not carry my camera, gurrr.
She was offered food, a large chunk of raw beef, on a table in her cage. If she had taken the food that day we would have seen her from a distance of six feet! She did not swoop down for the food but this magnificent creature; large comb of feathers surrounding her head dark, preening after a drenching rain, penetrating, intelligent eyes and a six foot wing span -was still a sight to see. This species of eagle are endangered and only a few remain in the open in Panama. They eat sloths from the trees, monkeys, and barring those foods, small domestic goats and sheep. No wonder a still slab of meat didn't entice her to come and grab it, although she has been in captivity her whole life. At Summit Park there were three species of Mackaw, jaguars and other cats and monkeys (though we didn't see them).
The highlights of our birding in Panama has been at Finca Leirida where we saw the Three Wattled Bell bird and male quetzal- see Boquete entry) and the two birding trips with Jacobo Ortega. His company is birding in panama.com.
How else would you meet a great birder with an excellent scientific background but in the woods? Dan and I had our rental car and were on a road mentioned in Ridgely, the Old Pipeline Rd. We drove up the road as far as we could until a fence blocked the way. Just as we parked in a clearing a small white van parked also. We started to talk as the young man started to show us what we could not see ourselves, all the while talking about how ANCON and the Smithsonian allow limited access to that road since Ridgely wrote about it and he told us how he was a professional bird guide.
We were in awe of his ability to identify birds by their songs, find them and help us to see them, and amazingly imitate a few so as to call them nearer. On that day he pointed out a Purple Throated Fruitcrow, a Masked Tityra and Black Capped Pygmy- Tyrant- a tiny, canopy bird, and didn't even have his binoculars out. Dan was determined to hire him to guide us.
On a Saturday early Jacob arrived at Shelter Bay with his 12 year old daughter and took us to a place called Achiote Road, where we had a great day. Along with his other birding skills he could adjust his birding scope faster than we had ever seen anyone do. That day we were lucky enough to see a White Hawk, a Grey Hawk and lots of Tucans, Arricari, White tailed Trogan, a gorgeous iridescent green Honeycreeper and a female Blue Cotinga among many others. Upon returning to the marina Jacob and has daughter visited our boat for a few minutes before the two hour trip back to Panama City, were he lives.
We recruited Alison and Randall from Tregoning and Susan and Tom from Limmerick and hired another trip with Jacob the following weekend. He was busy but rearranged his schedule to accommodate us. This time out the list of birds and animals was longer despite an hour and a half of rain while we had lunch. What we saw was varied although we went to the same road. The male Blue Cotinga was seen and it was spectacular; a brilliant blue bird set off with black wingtips. We saw a jaguarondi in a tree as we drove out on Achiote and Tamarins and monkeys off the road in the trees. All the birders had good looks at new life birds.
Susan from Limmerick made a list of our birds seen that day and it was extensive. She has her ways of finding and learning the birds, too. She records the call, if possible, then dictates what she sees as she has her binoculars on the bird. Sometimes her husband, Tom, can photograph the bird at the same time, then when they come out of the woods, they study the identification book.
While walking along Achiote Rd. we had a long look at a Savanna Hawk sitting on a tall, dead tree out in a pasture, saw two species of orioles, Orchard and Northern, two species of Euphonia, Fulvous vented and Thick billed, many Tanagers including the Red Throated Ant Tanager, and Red Breasted Blackbird. (and many others) We spent some time on the way back to the marina in a quest for a Pygmy Kingfisher that Jacob knew he had seen perched above a stream in the mangroves on that road. We were in the van again and driving when Jacob heard the call of a bird and dashed along the side of the road carrying his scope, motioning to us to follow. After a few minutes of looking and listening while Jacob clapped to mimic the sound of the bird, the bird approached and we all were provided a great scope view of the "bird of the day", the Green and Rufus Kingfisher. Jacob was excited to have found a bird he
doesn't see too often.
Obviously Dan and I recommend him highly. Check out his website at birdinginpanama.com or google Jacobo Ortega. If you are in Panama, or planning a trip and have the interest, he organizes trips all over Panama, especially the highlands and Chiriqui regions and has a comfortable van that seats eight people.
If anyone would like a more extensive list of our sightings, write to the blog. Some photos were taken through the scope by my Cannon 850 point and shoot camera by Jacob.
Pictures to follow when I have internet again
Birding from Shelter Bay Marina September26 and October 3, 2009
Still no sailing. We are still planning to move on toward the San Blas but have recently found out that classes Dan needed to take in MA to update his licenses were full on the date he had signed up for. We have delayed our trip home to MA until November 5th , which leaves us more traveling time now, but less later when we return. With our extra time now we have pursued our hobby of birdwatching and Panama is a wonderful place to find many species.
Previously we have had some opportunity to travel by renting a car and driving around for needed items and to Reba Smith, a great grocery store and meat market in Panama City.In the city we took a walk in the Metropolitan Park, an oasis in the middle of a thriving city. The view of the city was fantastic but it is a wild enough place that birds and animals can be seen. While we had the rental car we drove onto some of the back woods birding roads, visited Summit Park on the road to Gamboa, where we were able to see a captive Harpy Eagle very close up. I took a picture with my camera of the photos I bought in the gift shop, as this was the one day I did not carry my camera, gurrr.
She was offered food, a large chunk of raw beef, on a table in her cage. If she had taken the food that day we would have seen her from a distance of six feet! She did not swoop down for the food but this magnificent creature; large comb of feathers surrounding her head dark, preening after a drenching rain, penetrating, intelligent eyes and a six foot wing span -was still a sight to see. This species of eagle are endangered and only a few remain in the open in Panama. They eat sloths from the trees, monkeys, and barring those foods, small domestic goats and sheep. No wonder a still slab of meat didn't entice her to come and grab it, although she has been in captivity her whole life. At Summit Park there were three species of Mackaw, jaguars and other cats and monkeys (though we didn't see them).
The highlights of our birding in Panama has been at Finca Leirida where we saw the Three Wattled Bell bird and male quetzal- see Boquete entry) and the two birding trips with Jacobo Ortega. His company is birding in panama.com.
How else would you meet a great birder with an excellent scientific background but in the woods? Dan and I had our rental car and were on a road mentioned in Ridgely, the Old Pipeline Rd. We drove up the road as far as we could until a fence blocked the way. Just as we parked in a clearing a small white van parked also. We started to talk as the young man started to show us what we could not see ourselves, all the while talking about how ANCON and the Smithsonian allow limited access to that road since Ridgely wrote about it and he told us how he was a professional bird guide.
We were in awe of his ability to identify birds by their songs, find them and help us to see them, and amazingly imitate a few so as to call them nearer. On that day he pointed out a Purple Throated Fruitcrow, a Masked Tityra and Black Capped Pygmy- Tyrant- a tiny, canopy bird, and didn't even have his binoculars out. Dan was determined to hire him to guide us.
On a Saturday early Jacob arrived at Shelter Bay with his 12 year old daughter and took us to a place called Achiote Road, where we had a great day. Along with his other birding skills he could adjust his birding scope faster than we had ever seen anyone do. That day we were lucky enough to see a White Hawk, a Grey Hawk and lots of Tucans, Arricari, White tailed Trogan, a gorgeous iridescent green Honeycreeper and a female Blue Cotinga among many others. Upon returning to the marina Jacob and has daughter visited our boat for a few minutes before the two hour trip back to Panama City, were he lives.
We recruited Alison and Randall from Tregoning and Susan and Tom from Limmerick and hired another trip with Jacob the following weekend. He was busy but rearranged his schedule to accommodate us. This time out the list of birds and animals was longer despite an hour and a half of rain while we had lunch. What we saw was varied although we went to the same road. The male Blue Cotinga was seen and it was spectacular; a brilliant blue bird set off with black wingtips. We saw a jaguarondi in a tree as we drove out on Achiote and Tamarins and monkeys off the road in the trees. All the birders had good looks at new life birds.
Susan from Limmerick made a list of our birds seen that day and it was extensive. She has her ways of finding and learning the birds, too. She records the call, if possible, then dictates what she sees as she has her binoculars on the bird. Sometimes her husband, Tom, can photograph the bird at the same time, then when they come out of the woods, they study the identification book.
While walking along Achiote Rd. we had a long look at a Savanna Hawk sitting on a tall, dead tree out in a pasture, saw two species of orioles, Orchard and Northern, two species of Euphonia, Fulvous vented and Thick billed, many Tanagers including the Red Throated Ant Tanager, and Red Breasted Blackbird. (and many others) We spent some time on the way back to the marina in a quest for a Pygmy Kingfisher that Jacob knew he had seen perched above a stream in the mangroves on that road. We were in the van again and driving when Jacob heard the call of a bird and dashed along the side of the road carrying his scope, motioning to us to follow. After a few minutes of looking and listening while Jacob clapped to mimic the sound of the bird, the bird approached and we all were provided a great scope view of the "bird of the day", the Green and Rufus Kingfisher. Jacob was excited to have found a bird he
doesn't see too often.
 |
| Birding trip |
Obviously Dan and I recommend him highly. Check out his website at birdinginpanama.com or google Jacobo Ortega. If you are in Panama, or planning a trip and have the interest, he organizes trips all over Panama, especially the highlands and Chiriqui regions and has a comfortable van that seats eight people.
If anyone would like a more extensive list of our sightings, write to the blog. Some photos were taken through the scope by my Cannon 850 point and shoot camera by Jacob.
Pictures to follow when I have internet again
Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama October 1, 2009
What does a cruiser do in a marina ?
Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama October 1, 2009
So the sailing vessel Sea Star remains tied to the sturdy, concrete finger piers at Shelter Bay Marina. What does a cruiser do in a marina for over a month? (Well, not now- now we have moved on so that Oct. 11, 2009 we arrived in the San Blas)
Since there are few worries once all the boat projects are done or planned- you can just hang around your boat and watch the comings and goings. Here at Shelter Bay there is a regular stream of cruisers planning to go through the canal to the Pacific, waiting for the measure of their yacht to prepare to move through the canal or arriving at Shelter Bay Marina the day of transiting the canal from the Pacific to Atlantic Ocean. The sailors and motor yachts are from all countries and they all have had adventures so it is a lively group.
Many cruisers run, jog and work out on a regular basis. For Sea Star and a group of cruisers who are heading toward the San Blas and eventually Columbia, the location of the marina near to the San Lorenzo National Park offers some great exploration opportunities while hiking, jogging or just walking and gawking. It's beautiful exploring the quiet, green and majestic canopied walking paths and roads. The roads were built back long before 1999 when the park and the Panama Canal were returned to the Panamanian Government by the United States military who used to jungle-train here in Panama. There are open fields, some with bunkers or homes that have now been allowed to return to jungle.
We Cruisers have been thrilled to see and hear mammals such as white-faced capuchin monkeys and the larger howlers cavorting in the treetops. Occasionally cats such as the Jaguarondi, anteaters, coatimondi, a long-tailed raccoon-like animal, agouti, a fat rodent with little tiny round ears and an few solitary crocodiles and caiman around the dock areas where there are mangroves have been seen. The paths are alive with a large variety of singing, whistling, colorful, noisy or squawking birds flitting around flowered branches, munching on fruits, ants or catching insects in flight, or just quietly sitting in foliage. Our Ridgely bird identification book has had a workout.
For us, mornings can be very leisurely. We get up, have great Panamanian coffee(we finally invested in a whole bean grinder when we visited Bouquete) and check out the news on the internet if the network is working that day, or read a book for awhile before breakfast. Sometimes Dan and I take an early morning walk carrying our binoculars and often discover new (to us) birds. But sometimes as needs arise for groceries and boat parts, we must gear up early to hurry to the Shelter Bay 8:00AM free bus with our canvas boat bags and backpacks and take the hour long trip to the city of Colon to a specified mall to shop.
Colon, we are warned in writing from the marina managers and from other cruisers, is not a safe place for gringos to walk around town. The crime rate is high as there is extreme poverty and petty thievery and worse is rampant. Shelter Bay must pick up some of its employees in Colon and so a bus is available to bring cruisers to the necessities of life. The Shelter Bay shopping bus arrives at the Rey Market where the majority of the people get off to grocery shop. Other cruisers pile out of the bus, some into other taxis to go to deal with boat papers or be driven to hardware stores, machine shops, the downtown vegetable market, or to Budget Rent-a-Car. Most will race back to rejoin the group for the bus at 11:15 on the trip back over the Gatun locks and back to the marina, the groceries, purchased gas tanks, water bottles, propane bottles etc. now stuffed onto the crowded bus, on all the seats, up near the driver and resting on the floor slipping and sliding on the 45 minute return trip over the bumpy and twisting roads, over the Gatun Lock with perhaps a 45 minute wait for a cargo ship or tanker to clear the locks, (makes for great scenery) through the gate into the military drill base (now Panamanian) and back into the gated marina. After disengaging ourselves one couple at a time from the mountain of purchases, we return to our boats and the intense heat and humidity of a day in Panama, exhausted.
But now we must store the purchases. The mantra is "there is nothing available in the San Blas". The refrigerator and freezer are solidly packed as we wash and repackage grocery items. Any cardboard possible to remove is removed to avoid contamination of the boat by cockroach eggs said to lurk in the glue of any cardboard. The aft cabin is stuffed with canvas bags containing the vegetables that won't fit in the refrigerator and any other large item that needs to be dealt with later. We collapse in a heap, turn on the boat air conditioners and try to recover from the marathon of shopping, packing, lugging, washing, cleaning and storing.
Other cruiser activities can fill our time, too, beside working on the boat and just waiting for the frequent rainstorms to subside so laundry can be brought to the three machines where you wait your turn in the 90 boat marina. The summer camp for adults atmosphere is noted at the swimming pool and hot tub. ). The restaurant has AC and provides some relief from the heat generated when cooking on the boat) although the food is not great. The restaurant has a large screen satellite TV playing ESPN or the occasional movie (in Spanish). On opening day of American football the bar threw an NFL party (sparcely attended however). Seems like we just finish one meal, barely get the dishes done (do you remember life without a dishwasher?) and it's time to start the next! Add the requirement to bring something out to the dock for happy hour and you are planning food all day. Some of the boaters have both cruisers who love to cook and have become sought after for the weekly pot luck dinners.
There is an "everyone is welcome" daily volleyball game organized by Suzi and John on m/v Cabaret for exercise and sociability and an evening gathering on the dock to hash over the events of the day, see who has arrived or left, who is waiting for what parts shipment, what cost three or more times what was expected and general meet and great gathering of the cruisers.
Specifically for Dan and I in our time at Shelter Bay some time has been spent in procuring a get-home to MA ticket for our boat cat, Maggie. This required driving her to the vet in Colon and to an agent in Panama City so she could be flown to Boston then driven to Greenfield to rejoin our son, Steven, at his home. We were able to fly her for more money than tickets for the two of us will cost- in Continental Cargo $346.00, and we met some nice people that helped through the red tape. The veterinaria in Colon, Omar Lorenzo at Silver City was excellent and helpful. $15 for the health certificate proving her rabies vaccine was current and $45 for a new cage for her transportation. He was able to certify that Maggie was healthy and could travel. In Panama City we usedmovetopanama.com for $551.00. Mario and Karina's service was appreciated as they took care of her to be sure she would be on the plane on time. We miss Maggie as she was great company on the boat, playful and uncomplaining, unless we were traveling for days, but we felt she would be happier on land with space to walk and exercise. The days were brutally hot in the boat when it had to be closed for the day.
Happily, our friends on Tregoning have traveled to the Rio Chagres and it may work out that Tregoning, Navy Blue, Cabaret, Whane and Sea Star as well as many other boats from Shelter Bay or Bocas Del Toro may move on to the San Blas soon. We heard from Jamie by email, now returned to his science teaching job in Canada and off of Wind Song for ten months. He is slowly acclimating to the differences in culture on land and he and his cat Spot, miss their sailing days. Well, actually Spot is fine. We miss you, Jamie! I guess it's up to you to teach the youth the basis for your values and the importance of conservation principles to the natural world.
Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama October 1, 2009
So the sailing vessel Sea Star remains tied to the sturdy, concrete finger piers at Shelter Bay Marina. What does a cruiser do in a marina for over a month? (Well, not now- now we have moved on so that Oct. 11, 2009 we arrived in the San Blas)
Since there are few worries once all the boat projects are done or planned- you can just hang around your boat and watch the comings and goings. Here at Shelter Bay there is a regular stream of cruisers planning to go through the canal to the Pacific, waiting for the measure of their yacht to prepare to move through the canal or arriving at Shelter Bay Marina the day of transiting the canal from the Pacific to Atlantic Ocean. The sailors and motor yachts are from all countries and they all have had adventures so it is a lively group.
Many cruisers run, jog and work out on a regular basis. For Sea Star and a group of cruisers who are heading toward the San Blas and eventually Columbia, the location of the marina near to the San Lorenzo National Park offers some great exploration opportunities while hiking, jogging or just walking and gawking. It's beautiful exploring the quiet, green and majestic canopied walking paths and roads. The roads were built back long before 1999 when the park and the Panama Canal were returned to the Panamanian Government by the United States military who used to jungle-train here in Panama. There are open fields, some with bunkers or homes that have now been allowed to return to jungle.
We Cruisers have been thrilled to see and hear mammals such as white-faced capuchin monkeys and the larger howlers cavorting in the treetops. Occasionally cats such as the Jaguarondi, anteaters, coatimondi, a long-tailed raccoon-like animal, agouti, a fat rodent with little tiny round ears and an few solitary crocodiles and caiman around the dock areas where there are mangroves have been seen. The paths are alive with a large variety of singing, whistling, colorful, noisy or squawking birds flitting around flowered branches, munching on fruits, ants or catching insects in flight, or just quietly sitting in foliage. Our Ridgely bird identification book has had a workout.
For us, mornings can be very leisurely. We get up, have great Panamanian coffee(we finally invested in a whole bean grinder when we visited Bouquete) and check out the news on the internet if the network is working that day, or read a book for awhile before breakfast. Sometimes Dan and I take an early morning walk carrying our binoculars and often discover new (to us) birds. But sometimes as needs arise for groceries and boat parts, we must gear up early to hurry to the Shelter Bay 8:00AM free bus with our canvas boat bags and backpacks and take the hour long trip to the city of Colon to a specified mall to shop.
Colon, we are warned in writing from the marina managers and from other cruisers, is not a safe place for gringos to walk around town. The crime rate is high as there is extreme poverty and petty thievery and worse is rampant. Shelter Bay must pick up some of its employees in Colon and so a bus is available to bring cruisers to the necessities of life. The Shelter Bay shopping bus arrives at the Rey Market where the majority of the people get off to grocery shop. Other cruisers pile out of the bus, some into other taxis to go to deal with boat papers or be driven to hardware stores, machine shops, the downtown vegetable market, or to Budget Rent-a-Car. Most will race back to rejoin the group for the bus at 11:15 on the trip back over the Gatun locks and back to the marina, the groceries, purchased gas tanks, water bottles, propane bottles etc. now stuffed onto the crowded bus, on all the seats, up near the driver and resting on the floor slipping and sliding on the 45 minute return trip over the bumpy and twisting roads, over the Gatun Lock with perhaps a 45 minute wait for a cargo ship or tanker to clear the locks, (makes for great scenery) through the gate into the military drill base (now Panamanian) and back into the gated marina. After disengaging ourselves one couple at a time from the mountain of purchases, we return to our boats and the intense heat and humidity of a day in Panama, exhausted.
But now we must store the purchases. The mantra is "there is nothing available in the San Blas". The refrigerator and freezer are solidly packed as we wash and repackage grocery items. Any cardboard possible to remove is removed to avoid contamination of the boat by cockroach eggs said to lurk in the glue of any cardboard. The aft cabin is stuffed with canvas bags containing the vegetables that won't fit in the refrigerator and any other large item that needs to be dealt with later. We collapse in a heap, turn on the boat air conditioners and try to recover from the marathon of shopping, packing, lugging, washing, cleaning and storing.
Other cruiser activities can fill our time, too, beside working on the boat and just waiting for the frequent rainstorms to subside so laundry can be brought to the three machines where you wait your turn in the 90 boat marina. The summer camp for adults atmosphere is noted at the swimming pool and hot tub. ). The restaurant has AC and provides some relief from the heat generated when cooking on the boat) although the food is not great. The restaurant has a large screen satellite TV playing ESPN or the occasional movie (in Spanish). On opening day of American football the bar threw an NFL party (sparcely attended however). Seems like we just finish one meal, barely get the dishes done (do you remember life without a dishwasher?) and it's time to start the next! Add the requirement to bring something out to the dock for happy hour and you are planning food all day. Some of the boaters have both cruisers who love to cook and have become sought after for the weekly pot luck dinners.
There is an "everyone is welcome" daily volleyball game organized by Suzi and John on m/v Cabaret for exercise and sociability and an evening gathering on the dock to hash over the events of the day, see who has arrived or left, who is waiting for what parts shipment, what cost three or more times what was expected and general meet and great gathering of the cruisers.
Specifically for Dan and I in our time at Shelter Bay some time has been spent in procuring a get-home to MA ticket for our boat cat, Maggie. This required driving her to the vet in Colon and to an agent in Panama City so she could be flown to Boston then driven to Greenfield to rejoin our son, Steven, at his home. We were able to fly her for more money than tickets for the two of us will cost- in Continental Cargo $346.00, and we met some nice people that helped through the red tape. The veterinaria in Colon, Omar Lorenzo at Silver City was excellent and helpful. $15 for the health certificate proving her rabies vaccine was current and $45 for a new cage for her transportation. He was able to certify that Maggie was healthy and could travel. In Panama City we usedmovetopanama.com for $551.00. Mario and Karina's service was appreciated as they took care of her to be sure she would be on the plane on time. We miss Maggie as she was great company on the boat, playful and uncomplaining, unless we were traveling for days, but we felt she would be happier on land with space to walk and exercise. The days were brutally hot in the boat when it had to be closed for the day.
Happily, our friends on Tregoning have traveled to the Rio Chagres and it may work out that Tregoning, Navy Blue, Cabaret, Whane and Sea Star as well as many other boats from Shelter Bay or Bocas Del Toro may move on to the San Blas soon. We heard from Jamie by email, now returned to his science teaching job in Canada and off of Wind Song for ten months. He is slowly acclimating to the differences in culture on land and he and his cat Spot, miss their sailing days. Well, actually Spot is fine. We miss you, Jamie! I guess it's up to you to teach the youth the basis for your values and the importance of conservation principles to the natural world.
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