Friday, 12 February

The alarm went off far too early after our late night on CD. Too early is 6.30am with the sun only just over the horizon. Usually we have a cup of tea as we do the final prep to lift the anchor, this was a two cup morning.
Three were flat seas and light winds for the short crossing and then I (Jacqui) helmed Jackster in through the entrance in the break water, and down the main shipping channel to the small boat anchorage. The alarm on the AIS (ID of large ships) was bleeping continuously to say we were in imminent danger of being run over by a tanker anchored a mile away. We switched the alarm off and returned to traditional ship ID, eyesight and watching the screen for ships on the move. In fact we can report Cristobal / Colon harbour is less busy than Southampton docks. For fact hounds, Cristobal Colon is the adopted Spanish name of the Italian Cristofor Colombo.
The small boat anchorage is huge, quiet and pretty if you look south or west towards the trees and fields. To the north is the port of Colon and there are docks to the east. Our Canal agent, Tito, come out in a water taxi to take us to the port and our waiting taxis. We'd heard the stories about Colon being a bad place and very run down but we were still shocked. It is a grid of slum buildings, mostly early to mid 20th century that have been left to rot. Some have part roofs, crumbling balconies, through open doors you glimpse rubbish piled in the ground floor rooms. And people live here. It is so bad that the last James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, used it to represent the capital of Haiti. Apparently the children are feral and will steal anything. Adults are less of a threat as they can be sent to prison.
As long as we travelled by taxi between the maritime offices and shopped in the out of town shopping centres we would be OK. It's just the port area of Colon that's bad.
We cleared customs, got a cruising permit for Panama and registered with the Canal authorities in three different locations in less then 20 minutes leaving an hour for the supermarket and home in time for sundowners.