We enter through the break water into Colon Harbour and make our way to Shelter Bay Marina.
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| Shelter Bay Marina |
Shelter Bay is located at the very end of a peninsular that used to be inhabited by the US military until they left Panama in 1999. The marina seems to be the only thing on the peninsular, other than the buildings abandoned by the US. Where the peninsular meets the mainland, there are gates patrolled by guards armed with a hand gun, shot gun and, as if that wasn't enough, an AK47 machine gun. We ask a taxi driver whether these guards are military. He tells us that when the US left, they disassembled all Panama military and only allowed them to have police (which the guards I referred to are). The "police" dress in full military gear, train as if they are military, carry arms as if they are military, but only call themselves "police". But, he tells us, the current president has formed his own army. How does he know this? According to said taxi driver, at the Panama Independence Day last November, the President paraded his army around, giving the message that he should not be messed with, should he forcibly hold his post as president when the position comes up for grabs next election. Whether any of this is true, I have no idea. Perhaps I have got the inside scoop.
Shelter Bay Marina is well set up. When we arrive, we are guided to customs and immigration who have their own office on site. Within 10 minutes, we are checked in and are asked for no fee at all. The port authority officer personally guides us to a canal agent, who happens to be at the marina. Within an hour of arriving we are signed up with the agent and he has arranged for our boat to be officially measured by canal authorities the following day. For a small payment, the port authority officer also arranges our cruising permit, that requires a trip to the other side of the Isthmus for him the following day. He knocks on our boat late the following afternoon with our completed cruising permit. The whole process was just too easy.
We get ourselves a job as line handlers for a boat going through the canal a couple of days later. Each boat requires four line handlers for each "corner" of the boat. The line handlers' job is to feed the lines to the shore, and to pull or ease the ropes when the water goes up or down in the locks. Boats going through the canal generally get other cruisers to fill these positions, being free and having lots of boat knowledge. The other option is the "professional" line handlers who are locals that the agent has sourced for the job. While I'm sure many of these handlers are great, we have heard many horror stories of handlers not knowing anything about boats and making expensive mistakes. Cruisers are also keen to go through the canal to see how the process works before their turn to go through. For this reason, we sign up on a near new 40ft catamaran called Lupa.
The day after Toodles is measured, we get the word from our agent that we are booked in to transit the canal on 13 February, but he will be on the look out for any earlier vacancies. With that date in mind, we consider spending a few days in Panama City after transiting on Lupa so that we can do some tourist activities as well as checking out the marine stores. We pack amply and head over to Lupa after lunch in anticipation of an evening transit.
The transit with Lupa takes just over 24 hours, spending the night in the Gatun Lake.
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| Lupa's Captain Martin at the helm with Advisor Ferdinand |
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| Martin cooking our dinner of lentils and pasta |
We are dropped off at Balboa Yacht Club in Panama City mid afternoon on Friday. We decide to stop for lunch there and check our emails. The first email that pops up on our screen is from our agent "Get ready" he tells us "You are going through the Canal on Monday". We gobble down lunch as fast as possible, scrap our idea to stay in Panama City, and head for the bus station.
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