10:30 AM Diesel full (35 gallons) water full (60 Gallons) engine idle for 30 minute while pulling up anchor
11AM underway leaving Colon Panama motoring 5.5kts to breakwater.
12:00 Sailing Genoa only 4.5kts
14:00 becalmed, motoring 4kts at 2200 RPM
14:30 motor off, sailing again Genoa only 3.5kts.
15:00 2.5kts, making noodles, approaching Portobello
16:30 Anchor down Portobello.

I haven’t been doing a good job of keeping a log and have never posted it so I’ll give it a shot and try to stick with it for a while. Left Colon this morning fully provisioned food, water, and fuel. The water shouldn’t matter since it has been raining like crazy for the last month. I haven’t tried the water collection system that James and I installed yet but I have a feeling I will be in a day or two if I want to keep my solar-shower (bag of water with a nozzle that I hang on the mast to shower) going daily.

Was a rather nice and uneventful sail I think it was only about 15 or 20 miles total. First thing I noticed when I got in here is man this place is quiet compared to the industrial hum of colon where I was trapped (sorta) for about three and a half months. There is the occasional bus or car, a few roosters, and plenty of dogs, oh yeah, I even heard howler monkeys before going to bed. I’ll add some Portobello photos with this blog hopefully so you can see what I mean. I haven’t even put the dinghy back in the water and won’t go ashore till tomorrow since it is now 6:15, I’m showered, beered, and going to read a bit.

Portobello, word has it that some people rave about this very quaint little town only about 15 miles east of Colon others have reported it as a decent anchorage but a bore. Personally I don’t think it has much to offer beyond a day trip or an overnight stop. A friend of mine explored the town and said it’s a good HALF a day trip, that’s literally all it takes to see the entire town. You can basically walk every street in 30 minutes. According to my Panama Cruising Guide (Eric Bauhaus), The bay of Portobello was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502 during his fourth major trip. The city of “San Felipe de Portobello” was officially founded in 1597. Between 1574 and 1702 Forty-five fleets of Galleons were sent forth, none of which carried less than thirty million Pesos of riches from South and Central American to the Spanish empire. The ruins of the fortification are obvious and were worth the time to briefly explore. The funniest part of it is that the town is built right up to and probably ON the ruins themselves! Houses (nearly shacks) are back to back with the walls of the old Spanish forts, still containing the cannons as you can see in the pictures I took. In fact the local kids pretty much use the forts as their play ground and you can find soccer goals set up right next to 400 year old cannons right inside the old fortification, pretty cool.

I took a little stroll through the town, checked out the forts and the church, then bought a loaf of bread, a few cookies and a pastry for breakfast totaling $1.90. ( I try to by a beer at every port even if I don’t buy a meal) On the way back to the dinghy dock I stopped at a restaurant that was completely surrounded by ruins, cannons, etc, and to my surprise found the first American beer offered since I’ve been in Panama, not that I’ve really been looking the local brews are just fine. So I went for a Budweiser expecting to pay a premium for the “import” beer, and when I asked how much, they said Seventy-five cents. So I drank it and had one more :-). After rowing back to the boat I decided to keep rowing (didn’t feel like digging out the outboard engine and strapping it on in this tiney port). I found a little cove behind the port that led to a few small mangrove lined rivers, several locals in their dugout canoes were paddeling around, some trolling, some throw-netting, and some jigging lines over the side pulling out several small fish. I also checked out a sunken ship (from the surface) and the listing grounded aparantly abandoned sailboat in the pictures. By the time I got back to Salsa after an hour or two of rowing I was nearly tired, made dinner of fried potatoes, onions, garlic, and went to bed. The next morning I would sail to Isla Linton, only about another 15 miles east again, making my way to San Blas and eventually Cartagena at a very nice liesurly pace.

OK, you may have to wait on the pictures, currently in a small restaraunt in the jungle with a sketchy satalite connection! (Near Isla linton, dinghy ride through mangroves to “panamarina”) but still staying on the boat in Isla Linton.

Filed under: sailing • Trip

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