Are we nearly there yet?: 14 January Port Linton and Portobello

With no Port Captain in Porvenir we were required to go to Port Linton to clear in to Panama. From Chichime island it was an easy six hour run with the wind just after the beam. We anchored to the east of Port Linton marina in 12m at 09°36.99N 079°34.73W and took the dinghy in to the dock.

The Port Captain's Portacabin is a short walk across the car park adjacent to the gate out on to the road. A lovely man who welcomed us with a smile, filled out multiple pages and issued our impressive, embossed one year cruising permit. It almost justified the $185 charge. At least visiting on a weekday avoided the $20 overtime fee.

Next requirement was immigration who won't stamp a passport without seeing the cruising permit. Their office is a short bus ride away in Portobello. The 9.40am bus to Colon via Portobello arrived at 10.20am, but it's only thirty minutes' ride away and we weren't in a hurry.

The bus dropped in the centre of town. We'd been told Immigration was close to a pharmacy. We found the pharmacy and inside a fellow cruiser who could show us where to go – come out of pharmacy, turn right, 20m downhill and turn left with the old Custom House on your right, third building on our left.

ATM at colourful bank

colourful cafe for lunch

I handed over the cruising permit, boat papers, crew list and passports. The lady filled in some forms, handed it all back to me and asked us to retrace our steps to the pharmacy to make photocopies of the documents. Total cost for copies was about a dollar. Then back to Immigration for stamps in the passports and we were done. No charge apart fro the photocopies.

We, and Jackster, were now legally cleared in to the country and free to roam. We roamed 100m to a cafe bakery for lunch and fresh baked bread, stopped at the ATM across the road for a top up of US dollars, yes the ATM's have greenbacks even though the national currency is Balboas. Exchange rate 1 to 1.

We explored some of the ruined forts on the shore front. Portobello is famous for being a place Christopher Columbus brought his fleet and it was from here that most the south American Mayan gold was shipped to Europe. Francis Drake attacked the forts. Pirates attacked and hung out here. Now the pirates have taken a modern view of stealing from the rich. Last night a gang of seven locals in a panga boarded a charter catamaran and relieved the twelve backpackers of money, phones, cameras and computers at gunpoint. The same gang had also tried a cruising yacht but the owner and his dog shooed them away.

waterfront fort

sentinel of the harbour

the black Christ

From forts we turned to the purple painted church with its famous black Christ. On the day we were here there was a church youth rally from Germany visiting. The Pope is due here in four days so we were pleased to have got in before him. Government offices took had a two day holiday while he was in Panama City.