Towards Panama Canal

Hi everyone,

We are now at Shelter Bay Marina, at the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal.  Since arriving in Panama we spent a few days at Banedup anchorage in the San Blas followed by two weeks in Linton Bay Marina.

Fun in the San Blas

Our short stay in the San Blas was "yellow flagged" - we didn't clear-in to Panama there.  This is quite commonly done by cruisers.

Banedup anchorage in the Holandes islands is a popular spot.  Very beautiful.  Facilities ashore have developed since we were last here at Christmas 2022.  There's now a beach bar.  Beer prices are very reasonable.

Banedup beach bar

Bar Tables

It was great to relax for a few days after our passage from St Maarten.  From Banedup it was an easy overnight 60nm passage to Linton Bay.  It was fun to be greeted by Aussie sv Let's Go on arrival.  We last met them in St Helena in 2016.

Holandes to Linton Bay track

Sailing along the S of the Holandes Islands

Approaching Linton Bay

Greeted by Aussie sv Let's Go

In Linton Bay Marina.

We arrived at Linton Bay in the midst of Panama's carnival weekend.  Customs and Immigration were closed and we had to wait 4 days to clear-in.  The marina facilities have improved significantly since 2022 with a new office and a good chandlery.  The Black Pearl restaurant has changed ownership and now has a very nice Panamanian IPA beer.

While there we again met Roxanne, a single-handed sailor who funds her travels playing violin at bars & restaurants.  We last saw her at Les Saintes in Guadeloupe.  Amazing musician.

Sunset from the Black Pearl restaurant

Sundowners aboard Zen Again

Roxanne

At Linton Bay we carried out a series of maintenance tasks.  We cleaned our water tanks which had suddenly started producing dirty water.  We may have got silty water in Sint Maarten.  Happily our tanks are easy to clean.  We applied sticky-back chaff protection to all the mainsail batten pockets.  And we stitched leather patches on our boombag where the lazy checkstays were chafing.

The dregs

Cleaned & resealed

Batten pocket chafe protection

Boombag chafe protection

Nicki created an array of rope bags and organisers from sunbrella and phyfertex.  The galley and head are much better organised now.

Galley organiser

Head organiser

Head handtowel bag

On Sunday we day-sailed the 25nm to Shelter Bay Marina.  Half motoring then half sailing.  Lots of cargo ships anchored off Colon.

Linton Bay to Shelter Bay Track

Shelter Bay arrival

Approaching Colon's outer harbour wall

Into the outer harbour

Shelter Bay Marina is a very friendly place.  One of those focal points where cruising boats gather.  Like Mindelo, Cape Town, Darwin etc.  There are several Aussie boats here, including Let's Go.  Several others have just transited the canal into the Pacific.  Also here are UK boats White Malkin and Rosita whose paths we've crossed previously.

Our main task here is to book our canal transit.  That'll be the topic for our next post.