Portobelo
From Colombia we had a 48hr sail to our next destination, Portobelo in Panama.
We anchored off the UNESCO World Heritage 17th-century fortifications, surrounded by dense jungle inhabited by a community of especially vocal howler monkeys.
In the past, Portobelo was the target of many pirate and privateer attacks and is the final resting place of Sir Frances Drake who was buried at sea here in 1596 after he contracted dysentery.
We completed our immigration and customs obligations and then took a memorable ride on a decrepit bus into Colon to apply for our cruising permit. Colon is a sad, decaying, and impoverished city. Upon leaving our bus, we were immediately stopped by two police officers and warned that we were not safe to walk the streets there. When I was in Colon 21 years ago, I had a near identical experience – it’s depressing that nothing has improved for the residents of Colon in the intervening years.
Chagres River
Chagres River, possibly my favourite anchorage of our voyage so far.
Just 6nm Southwest of the Colon breakwater, we carefully negotiated the Lajas Reef, past San Lorenzo Fort, to enter the river. We were immediately surrounded either side by dense virgin rainforests. The only sounds were those of the howler monkeys, frogs and from parrots shrieking.
We spent five glorious nights here, anchored alone, enjoying the tranquillity, the incredible wildlife and the untouched beauty of the jungle. By day we explored the many tributaries of the river by dinghy, sometime cutting the engine to row or just drift, trying to take in the magnificence of it all. Howler monkeys would start their shrieking at dawn and we could watch as they crashed through the jungle canopy, only a few meters from Mowzer. We also shared our anchorage with spider monkeys, capuchins, hundreds of pairs of Amazonian parrots, kingfishers, herons, egrets, bats and some very vocal frogs. We were also fortunate to have two pairs of toucans nesting just next to where we were anchored. At night, we took out the dinghy and shone our torches around the shoreline and could spot several pairs of glowing red eye looking back at us – caiman (we didn’t ever see any of their larger relatives, though crocodiles are known to live here).
From Mowzer, we were able to dinghy to Gatun Dam and hike to Gatun Lake and the locks to watch as enormous cargo ships passed through the canal.
A truly magical place that we will never forget and that we feel very privileged to have experienced.
Panama Canal
Mowzer arrives in the Pacific Ocean!
On 9th February we transited the Panama Canal, (watch the video here) the man-made waterway that connects the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. With a 5am start from The Flats anchorage, we were joined by our ACP Advisor Edward and rafted up with catamaran Katinka. We successfully navigated the 50 mile canal and the six enormous locks in 12 hours, thankfully without any drama. Many thanks to our awesome volunteer line handlers, Chris, Laura & Bryce.
Las Perlas Islands
Once recovered from the excitement of our canal transit, we turned our focus to the tedious task of reprovisioning for our upcoming Pacific Ocean crossing. This involved innumerable, sweaty taxi rides to clear out local supermarkets of their tinned goods then negotiating the treacherous dinghy dock and 5+m tidal range at La Playita anchorage.
In between supermarket runs, we made time to explore the Old City, and to visit the gorgeous Las Perlas Islands.
Sailing Mowzer 