Panama – Caribbean Side

What a difference since 1999, when we had been staying in Colon for a year. The marina on the Caribbean side, Shelter Bay Marina is a well run marina with friendly dockmasters where you can do boat work and be hauled out if needed.

The marina has a free shuttle twice a day to take you to Colon supermarket & mall. When in the marina, do not miss a guided hike (Jungle Tour) to see nature by Carlos (Ph:+507-6449-4056 – donations accepted). Colon seems to be over all less seedy than it was before with modern supermarkets and malls. A visit to the Miraflores Locks is quite interesting as you can now see the new Panamax canal. We organized a visit to the Embera Village tribe, a kuna tribe, that found a new place to establish their community.

The Grand Large Yachting World Odyssey 500 fleet (GLYWO500) was given the chance to have special locking so our 24 vessels would not add to delays for all other sailors on a waiting list. Roy Bravo, the agent we hired,  (Ph: +507-6678-6820) was very personable and efficient in getting all the paperwork done right, as well as providing fenders, lines and transportation for line handlers. Cruisers in the second group acted as line handlers for the first group & vice-versa. No matter how you are rafted, side-to, or three vessels together, each vessel still has to have one skipper plus four line handlers.

Taking inexperienced line handlers increases the risk of poor line handling and crashing into the lock walls! As the usual with small craft, you spend a night on Gatun Lake where swimming is strictly prohibited or you risk a heavy fine or being attacked by a croc! Don’t forget to have your boat fumigated if you plan on stopping in the Galapagos (Daniel 507-6786-4032) . Propane tanks can be refilled (all types of bottles) on both side of the canal but it is much closer to the Caribbean side so you might have Shelter Bay marina do it for you cheaper than having a taxi driver do it for you from the Pacific side.

Panama – Pacific Side

Our fleet berthed at La Playita Marina who were also very accommodating to everyone! Amaryllis at the office was very nice. You could also go in Flamenco Marina or anchor outside of these marinas. I was happy to meet my friends Ali & Gertie from s/v Genesis who we met in the Caribbean & Panama in the ’90s. Their son, Eric Bauhaus, is the author of the famous and amazing Panama Guide (a must if you plan to explore the San Blas, Panama & Las Perlas). The narrow peninsula of La Playita is a new and well-kept sea front promenade where locals come in the evenings and during weekends.

We had two big canal crossing parties at a local brewery restaurant – La Fabrica, where for a very reasonable price we got drinks and tapas galore! For provisioning, we hired a bus to go to Panama City nearby where our shoppers were delighted to shop at Pricemart and at the Multi-Plaza Mall. A visit to the old town is also a must as it is being gentrified and restored to its original architectural grandeur. Still be aware of taxis late at night that take advantage of sleepy and inebriated customers by overcharging or running away with your wallet/phone/bags … As a group, we were disappointed in the dinner/show at Sabroso Panama, over-priced and food just ok.

Galapagos – San Cristobal

Our agent, Antonio Moreano (Sea Masters Group-Galapagos www.seamastersgalapagos.com Cell: +593 999 11 6066), took good care of the entry paperwork and officials came all together on board each vessel to cross-check physical paperwork with what was sent earlier online.

Since we knew that the Galapagos are very strict in vessels having very clean bottoms with no barnacles at all, some of our boats hauled out in Panama earlier to have new antifouling applied, while new boats still had their original antifouling in great shape. Some had a professional diver clean their bottom in La Playita. So everyone should be fine then, right?

NO! One of our vessels apparently had either an imperfect bottom cleaning job or had not much anti-fouling left that it fouled in just two weeks?? So when the Marine Park diver reported barnacles and algies, the vessel was given two choices: either leave within 24 hours, go out 60nm at sea and clean or have their bottom cleaned by a Galapagos professional diver and sail back for another inspection!

So, be sure your bottom is well void of any fouling. My recommendation is to check your bottom in the Perlas, clean it really well, in all nook & crannies and inspect it just to be sure shortly before you anchor in the Galapagos!

San Cristobal seafront is ruled by the seals … they lounge on public benches, walk around the seafront and I even saw one getting into my hotel lobby! They love to lay in your dinghy or to crawl onto your boat via your swim platform. Multi-hulls are at a disadvantage here! It was very amusing to see our crew coming with all kinds of inventive palisades of fenders, boogie boards, surfing board blocking access to their stern. Still, one couple in bed heard a sniffling noise over their head through their open hatch and had just time to close the hatch before having a huge slimy guest in their bed. Menage-a-trois of a different kind, ah ah!

As a result of seals invasion of dinghies (and their visit’s left overs), most cruisers use the water-taxis, with sometimes long waiting time, which was annoying. Inexpensive meals can be had at small street eateries around town. You can order fuel and have it delivered by jugs to your boat with an electric pump to pump from the jugs to your tanks. We had nice dinners at a restaurant highly recommended by locals, the Descanso Marinero, where the nautical décor is already worth the visit. Some of us dove the well-known “Kicker Rock“ where we were lucky to see some hammerhead sharks. But poor visibility and cold water makes diving the Galapagos less inviting. The scarcity of coral reefs and colorful fish life is only forgotten in the excitement to see big pelagics!

Galapagos – Isabela Island

From the three islands visited by yachts, this is the most laid-back island. Internet was still ok, what a nice surprise. No big town here, only one ATM (bring cash with you as the ATM might be out-of-service and most businesses prefer cash anyway), plenty of small restaurants with slow service (beware of arriving in big groups!). If you are looking for a quiet place to sit, have a drink or meal, check Casa de Marita, a classy small resort that we visited in 1999, when they were one of the only resort on the island. Nice to meet Marita after so long and to have small groups of cruisers enjoying the hospitality!

If you like lively exuberant tour guides, meet Claudia, who loves to help visiting cruisers in Isabella for 20 years. She organizes volcano tours, either walking or on horse-back and knows everyone in town so she can steer you for the best “los tunneles” tour operators and other activities. Many cruisers find the Pink Elephant, her son’s bar, a perfect place to watch sunset with a cool drink, having a BBQ and music evening. On Isabela, there are many walks or bike rides you can do: to the famous “Wall of tears”, viewpoints on the way, beaches, the turtle center and more. We also did some scuba diving with Harry around Tortuga Island where manta rays sighting was the best part.

Galapagos – Santa Cruz Island

Back to civilization again with a new sea-front touristic feel! What a change from 1999! I could not recognize the place. The hospital is bigger here, more stores and more tourists.  We had a half-day tour to visit the turtles, volcano tunnels and old caldera and had a nice visit and great lunch at the Ranch. As a farewell dinner to the Galapagos, we had a private evening at Angermeyer Point with a great dancing performance and a very nice dinner. This was a perfect event before the 3,000NM sail to the Marquesas. More on French Polynesia in my next instalment.

Luc Callebaut
SV Sloepmouche

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About the Author

Luc with his partner Jackie, have been exploring the warm waters of the world since 1992 on board their 42 -year old, 46ft Norman Cross trimaran. For the last 30 years they have lived and worked in the Caribbean, Pacific and now SE Asia.

Luc worked as a regional editor for Noonsite for many years and has assisted Jimmy Cornell with a number of his round-the-world rallies. When Jimmy asked him to act as Event Manager for the GLYWO 500, he accepted without hesitation. “I do my best to assist Victor Taburiaux, also an experienced rally event manager, during stop-overs to make the GLYWO 500 rally a success by taking care of all red tape and insuring the participants have a safe and fun event. While it is true that going around the world in just three years is fast, you can see a lot if you are well prepared and waste no time. And you can always go around slowly a second time, revisiting your favorite places and visiting the places you missed the first time.”

Find out more about Luc and Jackie here [https://cornellsailing.com/archives/past-rallies/the-team/#LucJackie]

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About Grand Large Yachting World Odyssey 500 (2021-2024)

This round-the-world rally has been organized by the French Grand Large Yachting group of companies, to celebrate their 20th anniversary, which also coincides with the 500th anniversary of the first round the world voyage between 1519 and 1522. It is a world rally exclusively for owners of Allures, Outremer, Garcia, RN and Gunboat yachts. The event started in the Fall of 2021 from Seville, Spain, with more than 30 vessels taking part.

Find out more at https://gly-world-odyssey.com/

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising.