Logistics
30 December 2013 | Colon, Shelter Bay Marina
Randy
I’m at Shelter Bay Marina in Panama. It is beside the Canal entrance, on the Caribbean side, in the old US Military Base, Fort Sherman. The jungle is overtaking Fort Sherman except for the area used by the Panamanian Police Force as their training area. Since Noriega’s military government was over thrown Panama doesn’t have a military which could organize a Coup, but their police force goes through military training and wears military clothes and carry military weapons. You can see their presence on foot in the cities everywhere, or paired up riding large off road motorcycles with their rifles sticking out.
Shelter Bay Marina’s area of Fort Sherman has been developed into a first class marina. Forty minutes from Colon, across the Canal’s one lane swing bridge, along winding jungle roads, and through the guarded base gate it is very safe and secure. Being remote does make it difficult to get into Colon for supplies though. The Marina offers a free twenty two passenger bus service to Colon, stopping at two plazas and the main bus terminal. The morning run leaves the marina at 0800 hr. and the plaza at 1115 hr. The afternoon bus at 1300 hr. and 1515 hr. The easy part is the schedule. The logistics are a little more difficult. The blank first come first on list for the bus gets posted a few days ahead but fills up quickly; you have to plan your trips ahead of time. Not easy if you are working on a project and find you need something. The two and one half hours you have in Colon goes fast if you have more than one stop, such as the grocery store and the hardware store which are in different plazas you have to taxi between. Most boaters split the stores with their partners, blue and pink. Those of us on our own do the hardware store first then taxi back to the grocery store where the bus departs for the return from. That’s OK if your hardware haul fits in your back pack; you take it grocery shopping with you. With a few cans of paint, lacquer thinner and lumber, the decisions get tough. Do you get materials today and go back tomorrow for food? That makes two exhausting half days to and from town. But why go hungry if you don’t need the materials if you are shopping instead of working on projects? The return trip to the marina isn’t easy. Breakfast was a long time ago, you are hot, weary and want to start drinking the beer supply you bought but there isn’t a toilet break and likely you can’t get to your beer. There are twenty two seats with people who just bought a weeks’ worth of groceries each, jammed into every space on a bus bouncing over rough roads with the driver’s favorite radio station playing music you can’t figure the words to. But, I’m not working or shoveling snow! I’m where I want to be.