Friday, May 28, 2010 - Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama

At 8 am, Dracula was at the marina with two taxis he had arranged for us for the day to take us on a tour of Colon. The city itself covers a small area but is home to many thousands of residents. Colon has a reputation for being a dangerous and dirty place and it was recommended that taxis be used rather than walking around unescorted. The state/province/principality of Colon is very large; in fact, our driver told us that you could drive for five hours in one direction and one or more hours in the other direction without leaving the state.

Shelter Bay Marina is located on an old U.S. military base that was given to Panama in 1999 when the US turned the Canal Zone over to the Panamanian government. At that time, all the buildings were in good repair, freshly painted, furnished and ready for use. Panama did nothing with the property and over the next five or six years, it was looted and vandalized so that no windows, doors, air conditioners or furniture remained. It wasn’t until around 2005 that armed guards were placed at the entrance to the grounds to keep unauthorized individuals out.

The first part of our drive from the marina to the city was through several miles of jungle. It was very green, lush and beautiful scenery. Our first stop of the day was the Colon Free Trade Zone where passports are necessary for entry and only non-residents of Panama are allowed to purchase merchandise. It was an amazing

gathering of over 1900 international companies from around the world with a combined trade volume of over $10 billion. The streets and sidewalks in the zone were old and not well maintained, but we covered quite a bit of area and poked our noses into several stores in the two hours we spent there. There weren’t any bargains here unless you were buying large quantities and could get the wholesale prices.

At 11 am, we found our taxis waiting at the entrance to the Free Zone ready to continue our tour. They drove us through the streets of downtown Colon and pointed out several highlights. We learned that education and health care in Panama were top notch but the roads were a “national disaster.”

Upon leaving Colon, we headed for Portobello, a small village over an hour east of the town of Colon. We were out in “the country” and saw many large ranches where cows and horses ranged for many miles. By 1 pm we were all getting very hungry and thirsty – none of us had really taken time for breakfast – and we were rewarded with

a cozy restaurant, Las Anclas, located on the outskirts of Portobello where we tasted some of the local fare. We tried the seafood and vegetable stew as well as an entrée of fresh fish.

The Bay of Portobello was discovered by Christopher Columbus on November 2, 1502 during his fourth trip to the new world and it wasn’t long before it became a very important port for the Spanish Empire. Today, Portobello is a sleepy little town whose present day claim to fame is the Black Christ of Portobello, a wooden statue of Jesus of Nazareth that is considered holy and worshipped because of the miracles attributed to it. Every October 21st people wearing purple vestments walk on their knees from as far away as Costa Rica to pay their respects. We lit a candle, said a prayer and took a few pictures of the shrine in the Church of San Felipe de Portobello.

Outside the church, there was a small market with locals selling their wares. We picked up a few souvenirs and trinkets. We also visited the Fort of San Fernando where we could see many old cannons that had been placed there to defend the port.








We left Portobello for a pleasant drive back to Colon Town and stopped at a very busy modern supermarket. We picked up provisions for the next four weeks and our drivers had us back at the marina at 6:30 pm. Each driver was paid $140 for an entire day of sightseeing.

After putting groceries away, we snacked on cheese and crackers instead of making a full meal. Gale and Maureen each took a glass of wine to the pool and enjoyed a romantic swim and a little time in the hot tub all by the light of a full moon.

Thursday, May 27, 2010 - Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama

Gale and Maureen were both up at 5:30 am for Gale’s shift. We could see land, lights and many large ships waiting at anchor for their turn through the canal. We arrived outside the harbor about 6:30 am and were allowed immediate passage through the breakwater and into the Shelter Bay Marina at Ft. Sherman Point where we tied up to the dock at 8 am. Our agent, Tina McBride, had made arrangements to have Dracula, her representative, meet us at the dock. Yes, “Dracula” is the name he answers to – his given name is Hensley.

We had a little trouble raising anyone at the marina, but eventually someone came by and we were given a slip assignment. Before settling into the slip, Gale maneuvered the boat over to the fuel barge to “top off” the tanks with over 600 gallons of diesel. After fueling, he did an expert job of backing the boat up into the slip.


The day was sunny and hot – we were all sweating pretty good by the time we had the boat secured, the power connected and the water lines hooked up. It wasn’t long before an official from the canal came aboard. Since Adventure had already been through the canal once before, the measurements were all on record and our passage could be officially scheduled.


We relaxed with lunch at the marina restaurant and then decided to put on our swimming suits for a refreshing dip in the pool.

It was nearly sunset when Dracula returned with our Customs and Immigration clearances. He stayed to share a couple of cocktails with us and then promised to return in the morning at 8 am to take us sightseeing for the day. Gale, Maureen, Mark and Diane enjoyed dinner on the boat, danced to music from our iPods and brought out the “band in a box” before retiring for the night.

Monday, May 24 to Thursday, May 27, 2010 – At Sea

Since all the systems had been checked early Monday, we were ready to depart very quickly and had the anchor up by 2:45 pm. Several of the locals waved and hollered farewell to us as we motored out of the harbor at the beginning of a very long journey.



The passage to Panama was approximately 580 nautical miles or about 670 statute miles. We had a delightful start to the run with fairly calm seas and a warm breeze. The mountains of Jamaica made a beautiful backdrop. And, just as the sun was setting, we snagged a fish on one of the trolling lines. Mark reeled it in to find a barracuda, so the line was cut and we let it go. Just as we were getting settled in again, there was another fish on the line. This time Gale reeled in a big dolphin fish (mahi mahi). We were all very excited to have fresh fish again.



The journey was long and, at times, very rough. No one got sick to their stomachs along the way; however, we did “lie low,” for the most part, unless we were at the helm. The captains rotated with 3-hour shifts throughout the 65-hour passage. Gale had the first shift as we left Jamaica and the last shift as we entered Panama.

The last photo is of a flying fish. On Thursday morning we woke to find two of these unfortunate creatures who had misjudged their landing!!

Monday, May 24, 2010 - Port Antonio, Jamaica

We awoke to a sunnier day than the last two. There was a lot of activity at the marina dock as the 60-foot sailboats made their preparations to begin the final leg of their race around the world. About 8:30 am, Gale, Maureen and Big Lucy (we call her ‘Big L’ now) went out for a dinghy ride to explore a little bit more of the harbor. We also wanted to let Lucy swim for awhile to burn off some of her excess energy after being cooped up in the boat for so many days.

Just before 10 am, we went back to pick up Little Lucy and then motored out into the harbor again to take pictures of the sailboats as they left the dock. The ten clippers left one at a time which provided ample photo opportunities. The plan was




to rendezvous outside the harbor and then spend a few hours getting used to the boats and getting ready for the 2 pm race start. As mentioned in a previous entry, there are seven legs to this race and the seventh and final leg began in Port Antonio. Sailors sign up for one or more legs at a personal cost of $12,000 per person, per leg. The race will end in New York.

After the boats were out of the harbor, we splashed both dinghies and set out to find the “famous” Blue Lagoon where the movie of the same name was filmed many years ago. Brooke Shields was the female lead in that movie and she was a young teen at the time. We stopped two or three times to find out if we were on the right track to the lagoon and heard more than once, “it’s just around the next point.” After a few such points, we were finally rewarded in our search and came upon the lovely setting. There were a couple of entrepreneurs there with their bamboo rafts taking people for romantic rides around the lagoon. We stayed in our own boats and explored the small area on our own.






Fletcher, a guy at the Blue Lagoon who was building a floating bamboo barge, told us that if we wanted to take the dogs to a nice beach, we should continue on “around the next point.” We followed his directions and found an abandoned resort with a nice beach. Evidently, this was not the beach he referred us to since the security guard said it was closed and we were not allowed ashore. We asked about a beach and she directed us “around the next point” where we did find a public beach and a spot to let the dogs run for a few minutes.

Back aboard the dinghies, we decided it was time to head back to the harbor – the only problem? – the 16-foot dinghy wouldn’t crank over! We had experienced problems starting the dinghy several times since leaving Stuart, but had always been able to get it going again. No worries, Mon, we simply towed the big dinghy behind the little dinghy and set out. Away from the shoreline, we could see that the race had not yet started and the boats were circling around all vying to be in the best starting position when the gun went off. When we were about halfway back, Mark and Jim hollered to let us know that they got their dinghy started. Gale and Maureen untied the towing line and both the small boats went back under their own power.


By 2:15 pm we were safely aboard Adventure where we racked the dinghies and prepared to leave for Jamaica.

Sunday, May 23, 2010 - Port Antonio, Jamaica

The morning was spent on the internet taking care of business and catching up on the blog. For lunch, we stopped at the Russian restaurant on the marina grounds where Gale and Maureen shared a lamb kebob and a bowl of borscht – both were excellent.






After lunch, George, the marina dockmaster, had arranged for a driver to take us to Somerset Falls. We had seen pictures of people sliding down waterfalls at Reach Falls but since that particular attraction was about an hour away and Somerset Falls was only about a fifteen minute drive, we opted for the latter. We were a bit disappointed with Somerset Falls – it was very commercialized and not something you could actually slide down. We were taken to the falls in a little plastic boat even though we could see it fairly well without the boat ride. We took a few pictures and left about 20 minutes later.

Our driver, Harry, offered to take us to one of his favorite local bars. There we met the mayor of Port Antonio, ordered four drinks and talked to a few of the locals. The cost for two beers, one mixed drink and one flavored water was only $7 – the same order at the marina would probably have been closer to $20!



We didn’t linger long at the bar as we had to get back to the boat for dinner. We had a date with Donovan, the man who took us through the fresh produce market and the supermarket on Friday. He had offered to cook us a nice dinner on the boat. He brought saltfish, pumpkin and akee’n (a kind of fruit) which he made up for us in the Jamaican style. Diane also put on some rice and vegetables while Gale cooked some of the mahi mahi on the grill. We enjoyed a late meal out on the upper aft deck.



Following dinner, Mark brought out the “Band in a Box” and the party continued.

Saturday, May 22, 2010 - Port Antonio, Jamaica

At 10 am we were at the marina office awaiting our ride to the Rio Grande for our “must do” rafting excursion on the river. Albert, who was recommended to us by George, the dockmaster, arrived with his van and a driver to take us up the mountain to his raft. The skies were overcast and the temperature in the mid 80’s – a very pleasant start for the day.

The ride up the mountain was an adventure in itself! In Jamaica, the cars drive on the left side of the road – add to that a very narrow and curvy mountain road with homes and businesses only a few feet away, people, bicycles, goats, dogs and parked








cars on the edges of the road and oncoming traffic driving fast! We were all very glad we wouldn’t have to make that trek again. At the launching site, we were directed to the stairs that would take us down to the river and the raft. Some of us were feeling a little nervous and a bit vulnerable as we looked around; but it wasn’t long before we oriented ourselves to how the excursion was to work. We waited a few minutes for the second raft and its captain to arrive. In the meantime, we took a few pictures as a light rain began to fall.

Gale, Maureen and Jim were seated on Albert’s raft while Mark and Diane rode with Reed on his raft. Even though it rained the entire time, it was a warm rain and we loved the leisurely trip down the river. The scenery was spectacular with the high bluffs, lush rain forest and clean water. The only wilidlife we saw were a few shore birds. The river was very shallow – sometimes only 3 or 4 inches deep – exactly what the rafts were built for. Each raft was made of several 20-foot lengths of bamboo with a bamboo chair big enough for two people. Albert’s raft even had two cupholders!

After more than an hour into our ride, Albert and Reed beached the rafts and encouraged us to go to shore. We found two ladies cooking up a wonderful riverside Jamaican lunch. We enjoyed chicken, crayfish, dumplings, rice and beans, bok choy and roasted breadfruit with the local beer, Red Stripe, for a beverage or soda in 7 ounce bottles. If a visitor was looking for a little something to smoke after lunch, the local “tobacco” was also available. One of the ladies had Jamaican made crafts for sale and we picked up a few of her items as souvenirs including necklaces, a set of coasters and wooden mortar and pestles.

After lunch, we hopped back on the rafts and Albert and Reed took us down river another hour or so before they dropped us off at the end of the line where our driver was waiting to take us back to town.

Gale and Maureen were in bed very early that evening. The rest of the crew went to shore and enjoyed a little of the night life.

Friday, May 21, 2010 - Port Antonio, Jamaica

The first thing we had to do today was clear Immigration. Captains Mark and Jim went in to the marina office to take care of this process while Diane, Gale and Maureen remained on the boat. Also, remaining on the boat were the two Lucys – they were not allowed to go to shore in Jamaica for any reason. The Dept of Health official had told us that if we were caught with the dogs on shore, they would be taken from us and put to sleep!

When Mark and Jim returned, it was time to move the boat over to the fuel dock and take on nearly 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel. We were sure we had enough fuel to get to Panama, but it is always a good idea to take on clean fuel whenever the opportunity arises.




After fueling, we took the dinghies to the marina dock where Donovan, one of the locals we had met yesterday, met us and escorted us to the market. It was a short walk, but we entered an entirely different world reminiscent of many Third World markets found in Thailand, Mexico and other places around the globe. Donovan took us to his favorite vendors to buy fresh produce and coffee and then guided us to the “Supermarket” where we were able to pick up milk, cheese, wine and a few other items for the pantry. We were glad we had someone to take us through the maze of people, goods and traffic.

Speaking of traffic – we were glad we weren’t driving anywhere!! The streets were narrow, crowded with people and vehicles and everyone was driving fast, honking their horns with speakers blaring. Not very serene, to say the least!

Donovan led us back to the marina and promised to find us some Jamaican jerk chicken for our evening meal. True to his word, in another hour or so, Donovan had paddled out to Adventure with a whole chicken that was hot and ready to eat. Along with the jerk chicken, Diane had prepared shrimp stir fry – it was a very tasty meal.

After dinner, we got “dressed up” and headed back to the marina for a party given for the sailors. There was an open bar, banquet tables filled with food and sweets and people from all over the world we found very interesting to visit with.