05/05/2010, Panama Canal
Peter was helping friends from Australia on SV "Caballito de Mar" to transit the Panama Canal and had a great time.
They spend the night at the mooring at the Gatun Lake (N 09 15.636 / W 79 54.220).
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Fort San Fernando, Portobelo
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Columbus called this bay Portobelo when he stumbled in with his ships in November 1502.
70 years later Francis Drake used this port as a base to rob Spanish merchantmen.
The warehouses of Portobelo were filled with gold and silver coming from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast by mule trains and then sailed off to Spain.
No wonder the place attracted constant raids by buccaneers, including Henry Morgan in 1668.
The british Admiral Vernon destroyed the Portobelo forts in 1739 and the great commercial fair never returned.
Today Portobelo is a small little town with a smooth anchorage under the remains of Fort San Fernando.
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After 10 days in Port Antonio we prepared ourself for the 600 NM haul across the Caribbean Sea to Panama.
Our handycap was a broken Autopilot so we needed to steer by hand for the next 5 days.
This time the weather was kind to us with light winds and almost flat sea. We arrived Portobelo just SW of Colon in the morning.
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Tucked away in the northeast corner of the island just of the Windward Passage is the beautiful and protected lagoon of Port Antonio.
Inside the West lagoon is the Errol Flynn Marina with
32 slips for yachts up to 350 feet LOA and a maximum draft of 17 feet. Amenities: pumpouts at each berth, cable TV hookup, single- and three-phase electricity, fueling.
There's Internet including Wifi for the anchorage. A bar and a swimming pool, shops, a restaurant .....
Checking in and out of Jamaica is easy and free. The Marina will contact customs and immigration.
The Marina has 10 moorings you can use or you anchor out. The price is US$12/day either way. That includes the use of Dinghy dock, hot showers, Wifi and everything else the Marina has to offer.
The Marina also has a shipyard across the bay with a 100 to travellift (26ft. wide)
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We left Luperon in the afternoon on 03/31/2010. The weather forecast "promised" good weather with 15-20 Kn of wind for our passage to Jamaica.
The Windward Passage greeted us with 30 kn and 12 ft. following sea. Getting closer to Jamaica the wind calmed down and after 350 NM we arrived at Port Antonio in Jamaica.
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