Portobelo

Portobelo from Captain Jack's bar

Sara Jane from the fort

Having planned to be in Portobelo for 3 weeks to be able to go online and to find somewhere to watch the Olympics, we ended up being there for over 10 weeks.  The main reason we were there so long was that after a couple of weeks John needed some dental work done.  He was recommended a dentist in Colon, about 90 minute bus ride away, and the whole thing took weeks to achieve, including 2 visits where equipment was broken so nothing could be done, which was frustrating.  The end result is excellent, so it was worth it.

 The remains of the forts are incorporated in the town walls and being taken over by the jungle

A lot of boats anchor in the bay for months on end as it is a safe anchorage.  The village of Portobelo has some small Chinese stores, a bakery, buses to town and a few bars.  Some boat people are working ashore and others are running a business from their boat.  It was like moving into a floating village with a daily radio-net to keep everyone in touch, including ‘treasures from the bilge’ where items can be bought, sold or bartered.  

We had haircuts from Hillu on yacht Destiny, some stainless steel welding done by Ray on Elsa, electrical advice from Dave on Anna-Sue and delicious curries from India on Kismet.

The customs house from which the gold and silver poured into the streets

During the frequent big storms lots of silt is washed down the rivers, turning the water brown and bringing other things too.  One boat called up to say they had found a snake in their bunk, and a couple of weeks later another found a ring-tailed civet on board!  Animals floating past grab onto an anchor chain and climb up – we met one boat who had returned to find a sloth hanging from the rails of their boat.  All were safely caught and taken on a dinghy ride back to the forest.  We only have an ant invasion to contend with, and the occasional crab coming up the scupper pipes, not quite as exciting as a snake.

The tree swallows kept trying to roost on our rails!

We spent a lot of time at the El Castille bar during the Olympics as the landlords, Les and Leah were showing them on a big screen – what an amazing event that was.  The bar is over-hanging the reef at the entrance to the bay, and they serve tasty tamales, made in the village, which are cornmeal dough wrapped around a spicy, meat filling, then wrapped in banana leaf and steamed. 

Harry liked to visit Pirate’s Cove to go online while relaxing in a hammock, and we all got to meet new people, which was great.  We had daily swims around the boat often stopping to scrub weed off the hull, did school, caught rainwater (months now without needing to find somewhere to get water) and did lots of boat maintenance. We got used to the rolling, rumbling roars of the howler monkeys in the jungle around the fort, waking us at dawn each day, but we never managed to see them even when they got really close. 

We did do a fascinating kayaking trip up the river with Jason, a great guide, and his dog Jumba.  We got  really close to a large group of Capuchin monkeys jumping through the mangroves.  Jason told us that they are usually further upriver in the tall trees so we were very lucky to get so close.  They were very curious, popping out to look at us then racing back into the undergrowth accompanied by crashing sounds as the branches gave way.  Harry took lots of photos.

When we eventually heard we had a berth in a new marina, Turtle Cay near Nombre de Dios bay, we had to get back into sailing mode.  The day before we left I spent 2 hours scrubbing, chipping and scraping the thick covering of barnacles, weed and tiny scallops off the anchor chain.  We must have had about 100 crabs scuttling around the deck as they fell off the chain – Harry was kept busy washing  them overboard. 

The anchor chain

We sailed early in the morning on a beautiful day and went back to the clear waters (and sandy bottom) of Isla Grande so that John could swim under the boat to replace the anode on the propeller.  He needed the shallow, clear water so if anything was dropped it could be rescued, and as the old anode had almost disappeared we needed a new one to protect the propeller before going into the marina.

We came into the grandly named' Turtle Cay marina, resort, hotel' on Friday12th October and tied alongside the marina office which is a small caravan, to find that the caravan is the sum total of the facilities & the resort & hotel are nowhere to be seen!  We do have mains water & it is such luxury to be able to get off the boat whenever we like but as the 'marina' has been built in an area hacked out of jungle and swamp the insect wildlife is voracious.