Sailing the world presents many challenges - plotting appropriate courses to take advantage of weather conditions and currents, researching anchorages, learning about local cultures, knowing all the varied currencies and coinage plus exchange rates and dealing with the full spectrum of bureaucracy as you enter and leave your chosen countries. For our non cruising friends, unlike arriving at airports and mostly getting stamped in automatically, we sailors have to abide by mostly antiquated Customs, Immigration and Quarantine laws. Upon entering a countries designated waters, we need to raise a yellow "Q" flag - a required process that dates back to the 14th Century. We sometimes need to raise a courtesy flag (ie the flag of the country we are visiting, which is flown from midships to starboard) as we arrive, sometimes after being checked in, but always whilst we are actively living onboard as a mark of respect to the nation whose hospitality we are enjoying. We need to present ourselves to various officials - Customs, Immigration, Port Captain and Health or Quarantine- and we occasionally need to obtain special permits to cruise the local waters of our chosen destination. Sometimes it is a simple and easy process - in Port Antonio Jamaica, the Errol Flynn Marina has a fantastic relationship with the local officials who all come to your boat and complete formalities onboard; it was our best experience ever of arriving and departing a country and the Jamaican authorities should be incredibly proud of their wonderful service to the sailing community.

Colon, Panama however is at the opposite end of the spectrum - WORST.CHECK IN.EVER. We have spent the best part of two and a half days trying to comply with required processes and are completely disappointed in the lack of client service and even the basic level of understanding of their own procedures demonstrated by all agencies. Shelter Bay Marina advertises the availability of a Port Captain representative - fantastic, but according to dockside rumour the guy apparently also moonlights as a cab driver, is unreliable and often missing in action. He certainly wasn't there when both ourselves and a Norwegian vessel arrived this week, meaning that we were forced to head into Colon to ensure we were compliant with CIQ. We've been subsequently shunted from office to office - Servico Nacional de Migracion (Immigration) Central, Autoridad Maritima De Panama (Port Captain) Panama Port, Immigration Panama Port, back to Immigration in central Colon, on to the Port Captain in central Colon, with our last call to again be Central Immigration to finally receive a 3 month Marinos Visa. We've been hit up for USD25 gratuities from the Port Captains office at Panama Port - reason being cruiser check ins are not part of their usual workload function and the official was doing us a favour (hard to take given their actual designated officer is a regular no show at the marina).

As I write this, we are waiting in the office of Autoridad Maritima in central Colon whilst our cruising permit is slowly being completed. Yesterday, we arrived here at 11.45 to be informed that there would not be enough time to process our request - the lady team member going into great detail about her needing to 'Soon drink coffee, make some lunch, and take a rest break". Apparently when she then returned at 14.30 there would not be time to complete our documentation and we would need to come back after 1000 today - "mañana ..... It will be ready in the morning". So here we are, patiently waiting since arriving at 0950 after a 90 minute bus trip and a taxi ride. We've seen the staff playing on their phones, casually chatting, applying makeup, having a team meeting and generally doing F... ALL since we sat down. The staff member from yesterday, who was going to have our document ready this morning will not make eye contact as she obviously hasn't made any effort to deliver on her commitment. To say we are frustrated is an understatement, however we are visitors to their country and will continue to be patient and polite.

The only saving grace in this experience has been meeting a delightful taxi driver called Williams. He has been incredibly helpful, interpreting as needed in each of various offices we've been dealing with, driving us around from location to location and where possible, minimising us paying extra gratuities. It's essential to travel by cab in the city - despite being the gateway to the Panama Canal, Colon is a very rundown, very impoverished city and "Gringos" are easy targets for muggers and bag snatchers. If you're a cruiser reading this, we highly recommend his services - you can contact him locally at 6544-9161. Of course, if you're a cruiser reading this, we suggest that you head to any other official port to check in ... Colon clearly functions primarily for commercial shipping and we simply don't rate in anyone's eyes in this town! And if you're not a cruiser and reading this, be grateful for all the easy CIQ processes when you hit the tarmac!