We spend two weeks in Panama City clearing into Panama, provisioning, and getting all the parts and pieces we need to build our new dinghy.
During our approach to the anchorage near Amador, called Las Brisas, we sailed past our friends on Anila who were headed to Costa Rica. Of course we used the opportunity to take many photos of each other.
Hello Panama City!
We dropped anchor on Saturday, December 31, 2022 and were hoping to clear into Panama that day. Unfortunately the Port Captain’s office was closed and the staff at the Immigration office wished us a Happy New Year and asked us to return on Monday. That evening we witnessed a great show of fireworks along the Amador Causeway. We had first row seats and enjoyed the show.
Monday turned out to be a holiday, but Reynaldo at the Port Captain’s office was nice enough to clear us in so we could finally go into town for groceries. Clearing in was a breeze, as we described here. However, due to disrupted internet at the Port Captain’s office, we couldn’t pick up our Navigation Permit for Panama until a week later.
As in every new place we arrive, we have to scope out the available grocery stores and took full advantage of the large selection to provision for the next month. We also had the goal to gather all parts and supplies we needed for building our new hard sailing dinghy. We hired a nice taxi driver, Fernando, with a pick-up that drove us patiently around town to procure plywood, epoxy, thickeners, and all the things required to build the dinghy while we are anchored in the islands where we can set up shop on a beach.
Getting all the supplies to the dinghy dock was the easy part. We convinced the Navy officer on duty at the dock to keep an eye on our plywood and we loaded the dinghy with everything else and shuttled it in about 18 knots of wind and splashing seas to Rua Hatu. Second trip with the dinghy we laid the plywood sheets on top and I lied on top of them to prevent them from flying away. And back through the gusts and spray to Rua Hatu. Success, we managed to stash everything on and below deck and departed Panama City for Islas Perlas again.
Old town San Felipe
During our stay in Panama City and while we waited for our Navigation Permit, we also explored the old parts of Panama City. After years in the western United States without any significantly old buildings, I was excited to explore the old town of San Felipe which has by now been swallowed by the metropolis Panama City but maintained it’s old town charm.
The good, the bad, the ugly
Being in a big anchorage like Las Brisas, you see many things, good, bad, and strange. Not many (active) cruisers were currently anchored there but two boats stood out. At the dinghy dock we heard them say that they were preparing to depart for the Galapagos Islands soon and were provisioning and working on their boats. I was unable to determine how many people were on each of the roughly 45 foot vessels, but it was many. Both boats had lots of 5 gallon diesel jugs on their decks. After a few days we arrived at the dinghy dock and saw some of those people cleaning said diesel tanks with water and soap, emptying the slurry into the gulf. There was a big slick on the water surface and the entire anchorage smelled like diesel. These cruisers are unfortunately bad representatives of the cruising (motoring rather than sailing) lifestyle…
