Portobello was discovered by Christopher Columbus, in 1502 during his 4th trip to the new world. Because of the perfect harbour and location, it was chosen as the shipment center for the riches coming from Central and  South America. From this port, large quantities of  gold and silver were shipped back to Seville, the capital of the Spanish Empire. Between 1574 and 1702 forty five fleets of galleons, each carrying no less than 30 million pesos made the trip.  

In 1668, Henry Morgan, who worked the Spanish Main came calling. With an assault troop of 40 men he managed to take the town, the small troop of defenders put up little resistance and were overcome. Morgan demanded 100,000 pesos in order not to destroy the population.

The Customs House, built in 1630, attacked in 1644, reconstructed in 1760, only to be damaged by a strong earthquake in 1882.  It is so nice to see this beautiful renaissance building, which was formally the Governors’ office and merchandise warehouse being restored.

The hills on the north side of the road, hold more parts of this fort system, hidden by the vegetation.

Church of San Felipe de Portobello

The church is located on the site of an older church built in 1814. A wooden statue of Jesus of Nazareth makes this church home. The statue has become holy and worshipped because miracles attributed to it. Every October 21st, the “Festival of the Black Christ of Portobello”, is celebrated. This local saint is worshipped by followers throughout Latin America. People walk on their knees from as far away as Costa Rica to pay their respects.

Lead around the small island we were anchored behind , then through the narrow channel between, Nester our Kuna guide led us and 4 other boats to open water. We had asked him to assist, as an additional crew member to travel with us to Linton Bay Marina. There we hoped to find a mechanic to solve our engine problems. When we started out, it was a bit unnerving when Nester asked us what the chartplotter was, our navigation system. He only knew how to travel amongst these islands by memory. He pointed out landmarks along the way, we double checked on the charts, he was correct every time.

We had to pump water out of the bilge as we went along at a rate of about 50 gallons every 15 minutes, while our helper steered the boat. There were large swells, but we rode them well, and had a comfortable ride the whole way. While not doing his helm duties, Nester chose to relax on deck. ***click photo on right***

After, around six hours, we rounded Isla Linton and made our way to the marina. Glad to have safely arrived, we could now get repairs done. Linton Bay Marina, will be our home for the next little while. Travelling by bus, which runs every two hours, we can get to the city to shop, or pick up parts  only a two hour ride Trucks stop by the marina loaded with cases of wine, today a great deal,   6 bottles for $30, or smaller vegetable trucks show up often. A 1/2 of Squash, Oranges, Cucumber, Plantains, Lemons, Limes, and a Papaya……..$6 bucks. You can see why, many cruisers have stayed for a while here. At sunset a guy even set up his mat and performed Tai Chi, I chose to relax on the bench watching.

Never thought I would be spending my retirement……waiting for a bus. These music blaring, colourful, racing vehicles, actually, old school buses, will take you to where ever you need to go. For just 3 dollars they will get you to Colon, what a great deal.

Who would have thought a Sloth could swim?????

Why does everything happen at night?   Like captain Ron said “If it’s going to happen boss, it’s going to happen out there”.  We are thankful it happened while we were at anchor. there are so may reefs in San Blas you need a working  engine.

. WE HAD SEA WATER COMING IN !!!!!,  and that is never good. The previous day while sailing along our high water bilge alarm went off. It was a new item, I had bought that was actually made to sound a loud alarm when water is detected in houses. It is usually behind washing machines, dishwashers, under sinks or bathtubs or water heaters. Luckily I bought one to back up our onboard system. This water alarm made in Brampton On. by www.waterlineproducts.com saved us from sinking.

We had finished dinner, the sun had set and it was getting dark fast. On hearing the alarm, I lifted the floorboards. to look in the bilge, I was surprised to see how much water we already had in the boat. I turned on the pump….. no sound,…. panic starting to set in,…. Breath,.. calm down,… think this through. The reason I can’t hear the pump is because it is 2 1/2 ft. under water. After checking the outflow I could see that water was indeed being pumped out. I opened the motor cover and could clearly see that we were taking on water through the heat exchanger. A boat does not have a radiator like a car, but instead uses seawater to cool a tank, filled with coolant to keep the motor at the correct operation temperature. This unit is called a heat exchanger, right now it was pumping in sea water into the boat. We tried many things in a short time but could not stop the leak. That’s when I heard the solution “shut off the intake valve” coming from Muriel. Sometimes in panic situations we don’t think of the most common sense solutions. Once I shut off the valve I started to  think about our predicament.

We are in the middle of nowhere anchored behind an island the nearest town sixty miles away. Marine dealers in Panama city, more than 5 hours away. All we would have to do, is flag down a passing fast boat, then travel 2 1/2 hrs. to Carti, a busy harbour with a direct road to the city, We could hire a jeep to take us over 2 hrs. through the jungle on the road to Panama City, which means at least one over night. One of us staying on the  boat alone, “out of the question” . We talked to the man in Cambombia  and he agreed to watch Mistress as long as we returned with Coke a Cola. We set out extra anchor chain, shut off through hulls, and boarded a fast boat to Carti at 5 am to, make the connection with the jeeps to Panama city. The only other passengers were lobsters being delivered to market. Small ones in a cooler, large ones walking around the boat.

Fast boat = Large canoe with big engine

Slow boat = Large canoe with paddles

We were loaded into a SUV, 4 wheel drive type vehicle, their all called Jeeps, to travel through the jungle of Kuna Yala,  which is very rough. They even have a border of sorts, between native territory and mainland Panama almost a 1/4 of the total land area.

The flag of Kuna Yala has a large swastika, but has no political connection to the Nazi symbol.  It was first used in a rebellion in February, 1925.

Our driver took us to a hotel he recommended in the downtown area with access to the Metro so we could easily travel anywhere in the city to find new parts all I can say about Panama city is we will return, right now we want to de-stress and find the part needed to fix our problem. .We will cover Panama City in a future blog post..

When we visited the Yanmar dealer, the maker of our engine, we were told the parts we required had been discontinued,.The only option for us was to seal the leak, and get to a place where a mechanic could have a look at it. No mechanic was going to come to us. Giving up on marine stores and listening to our son Jonny, “Dad real mechanics can fix anything with zip ties and silicone”. So we loaded up with both epoxy and high temp silicone.

The following morning we checked out at 5 am to start our long journey back to Mistress. We took more than a week of applying a layer,… then drying 18 hrs., …turn on the water, checking for leaks,…. re-applying, till no leaks appeared. When we turned on the engine, it was  still leaking but it was just a trickle, we had to get to a marina. Light wind so the motor needed to be used.

Here we go next stop Porvenir !!!!!!