Back in Panama

We are now out of the hurricane box - at least the "official" hurricane zone and back in Panama. After a 71 hour trip from Providencia, we entered the harbour at Porto Bello at daybreak. It was fun and challenging avoiding all the ship traffic during the last 15 hours of the trip as we neared the Panama Canal area. Lots of big ships heading to the Canal and from the Canal were on the horizon throughout the night. The AIS system (an identification system for all big ships that provides detailed info on each vessel) was very handy. We had to do a few avoidance moves - but all went smoothly. The most we saw at once was 9 ships on the 12 mile radar radius. As we got closer to the Panama coastline, the squalls also picked up. We got some rain - but nothing traumatic in terms of big winds. It was a pleasant trip and we sailed as much as we could - though we wished we sailed even more. Nice to have flat seas for the entire trip.

We are now anchored in Porto Bello. This is a historic town with several forts overlooking the harbour. It was a spot where pirates commonly raided as the Spanish used it as a port from which they stored and shipped much of their ill-gotten gold and jewels. Thus the pirate attacks. We've not been here before (other than a drive by on the local "chicken busses" to and from Linton) so it will be fun to explore. Saturday was a lazy day catching up on sleep and organizing the boat after passage. We then went with several other cruisers to a Happy Hour/Pizza Night/Movie night at a local bar/hostel. Happy hour beers were fifty cents (a buck otherwise) and the pizza was tasty (all of $6.50 for a 12 inch pepperoni pizza). There is a new bakery/pizza place in town run by a transplanted Italian. He and his wife just had a new baby - so everyone went to support him with a pizza purchase. It was nice not to have to cook after a three day passage. We had a good time and did manage not to fall asleep in our beer.

It's a rainy, cloudy grey Sunday here. We had hoped to get into town to look for a cab driver to hire for a trip to Colon and many errands. But we'll probably bus in tomorrow and see if we can find someone in Colon. Michael wants to find the alternator repair shop to get ours fixed. We also need some small hardware items and new pillows and sheets. Cell phone service is good here and we were pleased that the SIM card we bought last year still worked and we were able to talk to our moms. It's always nice to hear their voices.

We've reconnected with some folks we've met in the San Blas last year and we'll get together with them this evening for some games and dessert.

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