Isla Grande to Shelter Bay, Colon

January 18 - left Lemon Cays for Isla Grande, about 60 miles north.  Isla Grande is just off the Panama mainland,  We dropped anchor within sight of 2 wrecks, a large power boat and an ferro-cement sailboat.  We were joined later in the afternoon by 2 other WARC boats, Noeluna and Chessie.  Dinner at El Nido Del Postre run by a friendly couple (A Frenchman and his wife Olga, from Costa Rica). The food was excellent.

Isla Grande -- the anchorage is relatively narrow and shallow, about 5  meters deep

January 19 -- a short sail to the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal, at Puerto San Christobal (the port at Colon).  The smallish marina at Shelter Bay is across Limon Bay from Colon.  We have been told of crime in Colon but security at Shelter Bay is good given its distance from the city (and almost everything else for that matter).  There are not enough berths for the fleet, so the group scheduled to transit the Canal on January 27 are told not to arrive until after the first group transits on January 23.  Even so, some WARC boats have to anchor off the pontoons and use their dinghies to get ashore.

At Shelter Bay Marina - lines and tire fenders for the Canal transit are delivered to Skylark

Boats that didn't have slips at anchor in the marina - view from Skylark

                           Skylark at pontoon, Shelter Bay Marina

The internet connection at Shelter Bay is very poor (despite the US$10 charge for wifi access).  Bandwidth is limited and yachties compete for access by going to the club house to log in in the wee hours of morning.

All is set for the Canal transit with a skippers' briefing on January 22.  We will leave the marina in the afternoon of January 23 and anchor at "The Flats" - the anchorage near the entrance to the Canal, await the Canal advisor who will board the boat and supervise the first part of the transit through the first set of locks.  We will then anchor for the night at Gatun Lake and continue the transit at 6 am the next morning. The Canal transit will be covered in the next post.