Portobelo, Panama

Chris was right on with his weather again, we had a great sail for about 4 hours then the wind shut down and the iron jib had to be turned on. We had a quiet and calm night and both of us had restful sleep. After the sun came up she immediately was blocked out by dark clouds which grew darker and darker and the one behind us following us started to throw darts out of the sky into the water, one after another. We checked on the radar if there was a way to outrun it but it was heading our direction slowly. Luckily it changed course a bit and the lightning part missed us, we did get some hefty rain that seemed to last 2 hours. We had another two squalls approaching but all missed and were treated with a fun pod of dolphins playing in the bow wake while at the same time a Bird of Paradise flew over us in calm seas. We arrived in Portobelo early enough to relax for a while before enjoying the sunset. Checking in is a breeze here but I was told I had to go into Colon to get a cruising permit, which now costs 180 dollars and is good for one year. The following day I took or was going to take the local bus into Colon but the friendly lady that was waiting for the bus with me gave me a ride with her friend that drove buy and offered us both a ride. While at the office to get our permit papers I was told that I needed two copies of all our paperwork which I didn’t have, oh well. I immediately hopped into a bus to Panama City to get my passports renewed. It’s a hour and a half ride in very well air-conditioned bus, the AC has two settings: OFF and FREEZING. While freezing your butt off you watch a movie, it’s actually a pretty cool ride for $2.75. Back in Colon I took the local chicken bus for 1.75 and it took almost 2 hours to get back to Portobello. This bus stops at every corner and fills the bus up to the brim so that people hang outside the door. It’s fun though to travel as the locals do. While I was in town Portobelo had such a downpour of rain that the 70 foot boat in front of us created such an eddy to suck Paradise right into it. Luckily Sid saw what was going on, turned the engine on and drove out of the eddy.

Our third day in Portobelo we met with our friends Cindy and Reed who used to sail Sea Fever. We had met them first in Colon at the Panama Yacht Club then in Cartagena and now here, wonderful people. Both picked us up and we had a fun day catching up and we had the most wonderful Osso bucco at the Panamarina  Yacht Club. 

Cindy knew I was going to pick up my cousin Gaby at the airport and offered to take me into town to show me the ropes again where all the good stores were. We had a blast and it was Merry Christmas all over again in every store we went. They had goodies in there I haven’t seen in years. She dropped me off close to the airport at a fun mall. I tell you Panama is the place it to buy clothing, I found beautiful tops from 2.99 to 14.99, I don’t think any cloths cost more than that.

Finally went to the airport to pick up Gaby and meet her after 35 years, that was exciting. She likes roughing it so I took her back on the chicken bus and man did they pack it full again, but she survived and loved it.

In the mean time Gaby and I are having a wonderful time catching up and especially talking about our childhood, so many things we forgot have come in to our minds again. It’s really good to have her here. 

Fun Chicken Bus

Beautiful but always rainy Portobelo

Gaby and Sid

Gaby

Famous Fort in Portobelo

Paradise in background

Oh, did I mention that it rained here every single day ever since we arrived, except for today. I guess Gaby was right when she said she will keep the bad weather away from us!