In Shelter Bay Marina, we bid Christophe farewell, and welcome Sarah and Steve on board.
It takes a couple of days to get the paperwork to go through the canal. We have engaged an agent who takes care of getting us through immigration, obtaining our cruising permit so we are allowed in the canal, and engages a boat measurer to ensure that we really are the size we say we are. After a couple of days of waiting the measurer turns up, and finds that we are 47 foot (inexplicable growth – we’re only supposed to be 46, but it doesn’t make any difference as long as we’re below 50), and we are given a transit date of 21st of February.
There is plenty to do while we’re waiting. Like shower – I cannot describe how incredible a hot shower is after three months on a limited water supply on a boat. We wash and wash and wash, and when I comb my hair a whole handful comes out. I’m hoping that will help with the frizz, but unfortunately there is still plenty left.
Next to the marina there is a bit of jungle, which hides a dilapidated old military fortress (Fuerte Sherman) built by the Americans in 1911 to help them defend the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. The site was later used to train American troops for jungle warfare in preparation for the Vietnam War. It is an eerie place: deserted military buildings, including what looks like prison cells, overgrown by lush green jungle about five stories high, vines crawling up the walls, bats residing in the long dark corridors inside, spiders adorning every nook and cranny. It is like a scene out of Lost, set to the soundtrack of frustrated howler monkeys who groan, shout and moan like a zombie army. In the jungle we go hunting for sloths and find some monkeys and a toucan, the latter emitting an unusual sound that I guess I from now on will know what is. There are also flocks of birds of prey, gliding overhead looking for easy prey, eyeing up Lukie as he crawls up the overgrown steps of the ruins, marvelling as he is at the beautiful black and green butterflies, as well as armies of leafcutter ants, slogging uphill with their loot all day.
In the marina we meet Alex, who is six and has lived on a boat for a while. He and his family are heading to Australia, so we’re likely to meet up again and again on the way across the long Pacific. His first words to us are ‘I’ve got Lego Starwars’, and as a result he is enthusiastically welcomed on board by the boys. Soon he, Lukie and Matias are inseparable. They play in the pool, on the dock, on each other’s boats. On Matias’ birthday Alex comes over for cake and then comes on a trip to Fuerte San Lorenzo, a World Heritage Site built in 1595 when the Spanish wanted to protect their Caribbean coastline against the onslaught of pirates. The Fuerte is a picturesque site, situated on the steep banks of the Rio Chagres, overlooking the entrance of this strategically important river to the Caribbean Sea. The fort was the site of many a battle and was frequently conquered by the English: in 1596 Francis Drake seized the fort, and Henry Morgan took it in 1671 on his way to burn down Panama. The Fuerte is in the Parque Nacional San Lorenzo, a beautiful national park with lots of wildlife.
Matias has a good birthday. He gets lots of books and art supplies for presents, as well as a large Lego Polar Explorer with polar bears and huskies pulling a sled. We bought it for the wildlife and the huge icebreaker, and are embarrassed to discover that the purpose of the expedition seems to be polar mining! So we chat a bit about how some places are best left wild, and Matias sets about adding more lights to the icebreaker so that displays the correct lighting for a vessel of its size… He is stoked to have new books and new Lego and keeps telling us how pleased he is with all his presents, saying that he is almost jealous of himself!
Once we have the date for the canal crossing, we decide to go for a quick trip to San Blas to have one last swim before the canal crossing and the long ocean passages thereafter. It has been nice to be at Shelter Bay marina – it is the first time we’ve been in a marina, and it has been great to meet other cruisers and get to know more people. There are lots of families with children of all ages here, and it is great to talk to people who are in the same situation as us. We discuss homeschooling, safety on board, nutrition on passages, and share tips, charts and books. Some of the children have been living most of their life on boats – they’re the ones you can find crawling up the mast at 7 am in the morning, or speardiving for crays on anchorage. They are all great kids, and it is lovely to meet them and their parents – so many exciting, alternative lives, so many stories…
SV Bob The Cat 