Much preparation goes into getting ready for an offshore voyage. After having experienced a week of relaxation and exploration in the Turks and Caicos, we were checking the weather window (yet again), sending last minute e-mails and managing the extensive departure checklists, including safety, rigging, communications, navigation, provisioning and mechanical items.

Setting sail for Panama

Finally, it was time to leave the beautiful islands behind and set off for Panama, some 900 miles and eight days away! We assume “watch mode” with two teams alternating three hours on and off at night and four hours on and off during the day. The “off” watch tries to sleep in the heat and constant movement, while the “on” watch scans visually and by Radar and AIS for other boats (ships). Days come and go, books are read and movies watched, food is shared and sunset dinners become the gathering time for the crew. The motion is constant, the wind sometimes fluky and when necessary the engine is run all day and night.

We were passing through the well-known Windward Passage, heading from the outer islands of the Caribbean to the inner Caribbean Sea and Panama. A sharp lookout was necessary for ships, fishing boats and navigation in the strong currents. Favoring the Haiti side of the 50-mile-wide passage, we kept far off the Cuban coast and could just make out Cuba in the distance. We navigated past the offshore Cays of Jamaica and blasted toward Panama and the canal entrance. Ships appear, all converging on the Canal and Colon, Panama. We finally sight land, the mountains of Darien, and finally – we’ve arrived, a little soggy and tired, but satisfied and proud of our accomplishment.

Dodging freighters and sunken boats

We pass through the giant breakwaters that protect the entrance to the canal and Puerto Cristobal and hug the breakwater, traversing the bay into Shelter Bay Marina while dodging freighter ships and sunken boats.

Our new home is Shelter Bay Marina (some 20 miles out of Colon), a full service marina enabling check-in to Panama and preparation for the canal transit. It has a lot to offer and is a necessary stop for yachties. Shelter Bay boasts a good restaurant, happy hour with $1.51 “Panama” beers, a pool, laundry, hot showers, a shuttle bus to Colon for provisioning and parts, a great crew and full service boatyard.

Shelter Bay Marina a contrast to Colon

We took a day trip on the Shelter Bay bus to seek provisions in Colon and were aghast at the state of the city and overall aggressiveness of the vendors and drivers. In the large public outdoor market we were set up by a team of pick pockets (one the diversion and the other the thief) – we luckily realized what was happening and they quickly disappeared into the bustling crowd. Every bank had a body armored, shotgun-toting security guard and every other corner had a para-military police team with uzis on motorcycles!

Back in the marina, we accomplished most of the items on our to-do list and had submitted all of our Canal paperwork (complete with payments) for our canal transit in six weeks time.

Now it was time to leave the security of Shelter Bay and head down the eastern coast of Panama towards the San Blas Islands (called Kuna Yala or Guna Yala by the indigenous natives), with over 360 remote islands that have been inhabited since the 1500s.

The Adventure Begins

Suddenly we’re back in the Atlantic Ocean, with light winds and large swells rolling us uncomfortably as we motor sail into the dying breeze. Our first stop is the ancient harbor of Portobello, a deep, safe harbor discovered by Columbus in 1502 with the ruins of several old Spanish forts around its perimeter. This was the harbor through which tons of Spanish gold and silver flowed to the Spanish Empire and Seville.

On one side of the harbor is a rather poor village with a handful of small bars, a restaurant or two and a nightclub playing popular music in Spanish at a very high volume. We found a very small family-owned waterfront restaurant where the food was quite good and we were able to tie up the dinghy.

The next day we explored the ancient ruins of the forts and hiked around an exclusive vacation compound with a beautiful lake.  The inland hike was through a truly impressive rainforest.

As beautiful as Portobello was, we knew that another day of sailing down the Panamanian coast would bring us to the beautiful San Blas Islands, where we would be introduced to the friendly Kuna natives… and so the adventure continues.

Rick Delfosse and Candy Wood
SV Independence

• Diary of a Circumnavigation – 1. Leaving Home
• Diary of a Circumnavigation – 2. The Caribbean
• See more Insights here.

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