Commodore
January 7, 2023

Saturday 7 January – Much more to Portobello than we thought

We woke up and found ourselves in the stunning bay of Portobello National park, with fort ruins all around us, definitely not on the cruisers route but we thought it was stunning. The plan was that Phoebe and I would get the bus to Colon and do a big provision shop as we have guests arriving in a few days until the end of the month and we haven’t done a big provision shop since my last big shop in Colon. Rowan worked out it was 10 miles away, we would catch the bus there which the guide book said runs every 20 minutes. Rowan would do a bit of basic shopping at the local shops and then on our return we would go further down the coast to a marina to top up PolePole with diesel.

There were about 6 sailing boats in the bay and they all looked pretty tatty, except for the square rigger. On the way to the dinghy dock we asked a man on one of the boats where the dinghy dock was and he suggested Francisco’s pizzeria as the best bet. It turned out to be excellent advice, Francisco (Italian who has lived here 12 years) told us he was an anthropologist and waxed lyrical about the little town. He does tours of the two world heritage sights here, the old forts and the Congolese culture of the community, we will sign up on our return, it sounds fascinating. However he told us the bus to Colon takes 2 hours one way and leaves every hour. We certainly didn’t have time for that so we went to his recommended China Supermarket. We asked for a local one, and he said they are all Chinese owned and the the Chinese have been here nearly 3 generations so are local! We managed to get the basics of UHT milk, eggs, some bacon, beers and coke (to give to visiting locals). We managed a little fresh produce at the town square. We found the bakery Francisco recommended and stocked up with chicken empanadas, baguettes and chocolate brownies that were delicious. There were people in the street dressed in very African tribal looking outfits stopping the traffic for money. This is part of their culture, their slave heritage has direct links to the Congo.

Phoebs and I managed to divert into a wonderful gallery that was filled with gorgeous goodies, fantastic feathered masks and great bits of artwork. We met Rowan back at Francisco’s, and Phoebs whisked Rowan off to do a bit of birthday shopping for me! So great having Phoebs coordinating presents!

We made it back to PolePole with all our goods, excitingly a lot of brown bags I was not allowed to look into! Once unpacked we picked up the anchor and headed to Linton Bay marina for diesel. We made plans to return to Fransisco and do a tour with him when our guests Isobel and Chris are with us, and we are returning to Shelter Bay, the marina in the canal.

Woke up in this lovely anchorage across the small bay from the town

The square rigger that was our homing beacon last night

Fort ruins on the other side

The fort in town with Rowan looking for the garbage dump

A lovely old building being renovated

The Chinese Supermarket

This may have been our bus to Colon!

Phoebs befriended a puppy in town who was very keen on my feet

Loading up JeldiJeldi with supplies

Leaving the rigger behind

More fort walls near our anchorage

It was quite a motor around to Linton Bay marina, and once we got into the bay it was a really challenging passage through loads of boats with coral on either side making things fairly tight to get to the fuel dock at the far side. We eventually made it and got tied up successfully after turning around in a very tight spot with horrible coral lurking everywhere. Once we were done we went and anchored around the corner nearer the little village. Painfully we had to negotiate our way back along the narrow winding passage. The place was crowded and we finally on our second attempt found ourselves in a comfortable spot on the edge, which was a bit rolly but safer. Rowan had been given a recommendation for a Dutch restaurant, Casa X, in the little village. In the dark we ventured there which was also quite challenging, winding our way through an amazing amount of sunken boats, just the masts sticking out. We got near and luckily very gently came across a coral reef just in front of the restaurant, the old owner came out and in his rather unfriendly thick Dutch accent told us we had to go right around the reef. Rowan had read about his Dutch sea defences in the reviews, we assumed this was it. The place has obviously been around a while and the Dutch guy’s son served us, obviously his mum was local, although no sign of her. The son was very pleasant and spoke amazing English with a Dutch accent. We were the only guests on a Saturday night in peak season, bar a lonely American guy who stayed briefly. The menu was pretty limited once the unavailable items were excluded. In the end it was a tasty meal, Rowan had tuna and I had red snapper which was in a very good sauce. Phoebe loved her deep fried chicken.