Portobelo, Panama

From Porvenir we needed to stop over at Isla Linton then completing the trip to Portobelo the next morning. Portobelo is a sleepy little town with a lot of history. This and Colon were the two main ports for trade on the Atlantic side of panama from the 16th to the 18th century. In 1668 Captain Henry Morgan captured and plundered the city. The fort ruins were fascinating to wander around. Panama has a great bus system and is very cheep. We took the bus to the outskirts of Colon to a great grocery store. We were due for a good stocking up so in the end we had to take a cab back to the boats with the cab filled with bags on every ones laps. We took a road trip across to Panama city to see the Miraflores locks. This was a very interesting tour and we also got to see how the new locks are going to look when completed. The bus ride across Panama was $4.00 each. Our cab through the city was more than that. We were able to cross both ways do the tour and be back to the boat by 5:00. Portobelo had the Panama Independence celebrations while we were here. People from all around come the this little town and it was packed. They had a parade of school kids from very young to collage age and the schools would all compete to be the best in dance and music. Water is never a problem for us in this country as it rains all the time. The lightning makes us nervous but we have not seen many ground strikes.

Isla Linton 44NM motor sailed, Portobelo 10NM motored.

Kuna Yala,Panama

We had light winds on our way to Obaldia Panama. Being this far south we are below the trade winds and see light and variable winds with frequent rain. We are at 8 deg 39.8 north which puts us a little over 500 miles from the equator. Puerto Obaldia is just a tiny town, more of a military outpost than a village. On our way to check in we were greeted at the dock by army solders. This is on the border with Columbia where the FARK still rebel. Also known as the San Blas, this is the land of the Kuna Indian tribes. Most live a traditional life style, fishing in dugout canoes and living in thatched roof huts. The woman make and sell beautiful molas and dress in a traditional style. They were very welcoming to outsiders wanting to visit their villages. They seem to inhabit the small islands instead of the mainland, some barley above the high tide water line. One island we saw water in the streets at high tide. We often had lobster and crab which we bought from the fishermen for $2 to $3 dollars each. To take pictures of the woman they wish to be paid a dollar each. At some of the western islands we had the women coming out to the boat in dugouts to sell there molas. It was cute at first but soon got annoying. We had all the molas we wanted and they didn't take no for an answer very well. This area is only charted in a guide book that we used to avoid the shoals. We had no real charts that showed this area in detail. The guide book was very good though. We spent 3 weeks traveling the islands that stretch approximately 200 miles along the southeastern Panama coast. We enjoyed the eastern communities more as they were less visited by outsiders and less focused on selling to tourists. Rain and lightning are regular events here. We have a light show every night and plenty of clean rain water to fill our tanks. There are quite a few boats that seem to have claimed one or two islands here and only leave to go to Cartagena or Colon to provision. We visited Puerto Escoses,Suledup,Isla Pinos, Usrupu, Aridup among others finally clearing out of Kuna Yala at Isla Porvenir.

A lot of motoring as there is not much wind down here.

Cartagena,Columbia

Columbia is a place that has had a lot of problems in the past but we found the coast very safe. Getting here was quite the ride from Radadero. This coast is known for its fierce conditions and we are here at the best time of year for moderate conditions. We left Radadero at 1:00 am and had a great downwind run to Punta Morro Hermosa . For this area we were seeing winds of 25 knots or so but the seas were running around 3 meters. We tucked in for a night of rest before motor sailing over to Cartagena. The city could be seen from a long ways off with all the high rise buildings along the water front. We anchored up by Club Nautico where an agent would be to assist (mandatory) us in clearing in. He spoke English very well and we had no problem understanding each other. There is not much to look at in the new city the real place of interest in the old city. The short walk there was quite nice also. The old city is very well preserved/ restored and takes several trips to see it all. 4 couples went out for dinner one night and had a pleasant walk back after dark. The old city really lights up at night and was quite a sight. The amount of vendors is hard to adjust to. They approach you everywhere, even when you are sitting in the cafes. They will line up and politely take a turn at you to try to sell you there wares. You get used to saying no real fast. Things are very inexpensive and most all you might want you can find here. Many boaters get work done here because of the cheep labor. With all the high rises we had expected a bright skyline, instead there were very few lights in these buildings. Made the city seem deserted. The harbor water was rather nasty and very warm at 90 deg. Growth on the bottom and ground tackle is incredible. Radadero 15NM sailed,
61 NM fast sail 9 3/4 hours to Punta Morro Hermosa, 52 NM to Cartagena 11 hours, sailed 3.

5 bays, Columbia

This has got to be one of the most magnificent anchorages we have been in and no other cruisers. The bay we anchored in is Ancon Nenguange. We had intended on joining Serene on more bay over but we encountered a series of problems, one the wind continuing the build on the nose ,two, water in the fuel, again. We had a very easy sail the first day and had to motor sail through the night then by morning the wind started to shift and build. We kept going slower and slower. We were running out of daylight so we decided to tuck in one bay early. Wow, what a sight with the mountains coming right down to the water. Serene joined us here while i drained more water from the fuel tank again. We found out this is a day park that the Colombians travel to from the city for the day to hang out at the beaches and snorkel and lay in the sun. Even with these people here we hardly noticed they were there.

84NM to Cabo De La Vela 22 hours sailed, 125NM 30 hours the last 5 were painfully slow, sailed 12.

Monjes Del Sur, Venezuela

We had heard about this little island and thought it would be interesting to see it ourselves. It has no vegetation and the only people on it are around 20 guys from the Venezuelan navy. It was once 2 islands that they joined together with rock and gravel then they ran a rope from one shore to the other in the small bay where visiting boats tie up to. We arrived at dusk on a Saturday and thought we would clear in in the morning. The navy wanted to do it then so we had to go ashore to get them as they did not have a boat to come out to us. Yep, a navy with no boat,something for Hugo Chavez to work on. They were very friendly and we got through the paperwork in a short time. In the morning i got the radar down and installed the new motor and belt that Trudy brought back from home. We were hailed from shore and invited to join the guys for breakfast drinks and then lunch. The guys had been up all night playing cards and drinking, (ya, service men, the same all over) and wanted to show us around there rock. They are stationed on the island for 45 days at a time and it has to be extremely boring as not many boats come through here. We got to go up in the lighthouse and get some great aerial shots of the island. They served us lunch and we played a quick game of domino's before saying so long and heading for Columbia.

55NM sailed in 13 hours

Oranjestad,Aruba

This was more of a necessary stop as there were people flying in and out. Serene's crew, Tony was going home and Trudy had to go home to visit to see her sister Bertha who was very ill with cancer for some time who passed  away during her visit. Her return was hard as she continued to morn her loss. 

Aruba's clearance procedure is rather difficult as there is a different place for yachts than there is for cruise ships. The island has no real culture, its just a island dourest destination for Americans. While Trudy was away i pretty much just sat on the boat and took care of things on board. When she returned i was more than ready to get going. Unless its casinos and bars there's not much to do here.

84NM sailed in 15 hours

Spaanse Water,Curacao

We had not even dropped our anchor before the coast guard boarded us to begin clearing us in. Seems to be the practice here as we seen them doing it to each boat that came in the harbor. This is not the same clearance procedure to clear us into the country just coast guard clearance. We still needed to go across the island to the port captain, immigration, and customs, all in different locations spread out all over town. Town is very cool, very Dutch in the architecture. We stocked up on some great cheeses here and in general restocked the groceries.

36NM sailed in 6 hours