Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Before leaving Portobelo we once more dinghied ashore for ice and fresh bread. That being done we headed off to Isla Grande. There was practically no wind to speak of so we motored the entire way there not even bothering to raise the sails.

We found a nice spot with a postcard view of the island and beach on it’s western end. We dropped the hook and waited out the middle of the day before going ashore to explore and get some exercise.

We tied off at the dock and took a look at the beach. It was fairly pretty although a lot of it was fenced off presumably being private property. There was a beach bar selling drinks and food.

We then walked along the palm lined shore into the ‘town’ past a few more restaurants, bars and some very nice accommodations. Isla Grande is a holiday spot favoured by folks from Panama City. Having failed to find an open restaurant in Portobelo we were looking out for somewhere to eat Friday evening. One place, Congos, looked very attractive being built out over the water. We went in to take a closer look. The chairs and tables looked a bit rough but the place looked nice. We couldn’t decipher the menu but it looked as though we had a lot of choice. There we bumped into Ian and Eugene from Malika. I’d met Ian at the dock in Shelter Bay and we’d seen them arrive with us at Portobelo although they’d left there a day before us. After a brief chat we agreed to meet up later at the restaurant.

Helen and I continued east, past a photo shoot of bikini clad girls, to and beyond the surfing beach. We found a path up the hill and vaguely remembering there was a path up to the lighthouse we started climbing. We made it to the top enjoying a little nature along the way. We came upon a very busy line of leaf cutting ants, an abundance of butterflies and a whopping great spider.

We then retraced our back to the boat to rest and recuperate. Later we dinghied around to the restaurant with our Spanish book and began the task of translating the menu. It took us a while to even figure out the appetizers. I ordered shrimp soup and Helen ordered something stuffed. We couldn’t find the word representing ‘something’ so we took a gamble. It turned out to be garlic shrimps stuffed into a pastry cases – very nice.

For the main course we ordered a ‘grande’ snapper between us with fries and salad on the side. While eating Ian and Eugene showed up. We finished our meals about the same time and shared a few beers. We eventually parted company with us wishing them a safe passage as they were off to Jamaica in the morning.

We’re very pleased we chose Isla Grande (on the recommendation from Louis/Sympatica) as the first stop for the kids. We may not stay for more than one evening but it will quickly kick start them into vacation mode.

Totally forgot to include our river trip in the afternoon. Having seen a sign showing a commercial trip up a nearby river I figured we could do the same in our dinghy. The attraction was the possibility of seeing birds and maybe even some crocodiles. I used my charting software to create a route up the correct river and uploaded that to my GPS. We hopped in the dinghy and headed up the river. We grounded in mud a few times but never got stuck. We saw a few birds (wrong time of day) and no crocodiles. Still, it killed some time and it was fun speeding back along the route we knew to be safe.

As a result of Portobelo being Spain’s hub of their plundering it became a target of folks like Drake, Morgan and Vernon. The bay was therefore fortified against attack from the sea. Yesterday morning we explored the remains of these forts. Our first stop was on the north side of the bay. The fort comprised a lower section and a smaller section higher up the hill. Plenty of canon remain as does the general shape of the place. We had the place to ourselves which was nice. On the way back down the hill we encountered a 3ft lizard in our path which refused to budge. I prodded it with a twig a few times but it just sat there breathing. We left it and the fort and headed over to the south side where there was some more fortifications and the town of Portobelo.

The fortifications were similar to the north side although the higher section was more run down and not accessible. Walking into town we could see the place was pretty poor but some efforts have been made to preserve and present the historical aspects of the town. Around the center is the old customs house and museum which looked interesting. A sign outside stated that for one whole century a third of the worlds gold went through this one building. Nearby were a few tourist stands selling handmade items. One stand had a couple of small monkeys which instantly went for our pockets as soon as we passed near.

The church in Portobelo is noted for it’s black Christ. We were able to enter the church and see this. The layout of the church was the familiar catholic theme we saw in Cartagena.

Outside the church were a few small restaurants and some small stores. We bought a few more things that we’d forgotten before.

We rested the afternoon before returning to the town to eat out. None of the restaurants were open so either they don’t open in the evenings or we were there too early. Either way we headed back to the boat to eat. While cooking a solo sailor, Norman from Pawnee, who we’d talked to on the radio the previous evening popped by and we chatted for a while.

Today we’ll pick up some ice from the stores before heading out. We’ve decided to head straight for Isla Grande where we’ll rendezvous with the family on Sunday. It allows us time to settle in, do some exploring ourselves and be ready for the family when they arrive.

The last morning in Shelter Bay was again busy. I ran the generator for a few hours to both condition the batteries and to make sure it was absolutely running smoothly. Normally I feel comfortable with the possibility of a generator failure as we usually maintain a high level of charge on the drive banks and therefore have some motoring reserve in addition to wind power. Enough to get us to safety if not into port. With the canal transit looming I wanted the satisfaction of a few hours running. It’s a little paranoid because we’ve had no issues and we motored ok to and from the Rosarios recently. We’d also come into the dock bow to on the advice of the dock master (given the tight squeeze I wouldn’t have want to come in stern to) which meant our power cable didn’t reach the outlet. The generator running allowed us some conditioning time on both the drive and house banks.

While doing this we managed a final wash, I sorted out the sail cloth from Florida, sorted out our credit cards which had both been blocked, sorted out Sam’s health insurance, paid the marina bill, cleaned the speed log, hoisted the Panama flag and performed a number of minor checks that had become due. The boat was in fine working order. The only item on my list of things to do that I did not accomplish was communicating with the Balboa Yacht club on the south (Pacific) side of the canal to learn about their slip/mooring availability and costs for our arrival.

Just before noon, after an early lunch, we left the marina. The wind had eased a little but was still blowing 10-15 knots. Fortunately it had shifted a little to the north but was still coming from the direction we wanted to travel.

For a while we were sailing on a decent tack around 6 knots. When it came to tack into wind I decided to motor about an hour out to sea to improve our angle and then sail the rest of the way to Portobello. By the time we again turned the wind had dropped some more and shifted back against us. Helen wasn’t pleased by this as she was feeling a little queasy so after plodding along for a while we again fired up the genset and motor-sailed the rest of the way.

Portobello was discovered by Colombus on his fourth and final trip to the Americas (the one which he returned to Spain in chains). Due to it being an excellent anchorage and having good access across the peninsular it was chosen to be the Caribbean end of the route the Spaniards hauled their South American plunder of silver and gold. We could see a number of old fortifications around us from the boat as dusk fell. We will explore these today.