Bahia Portobello 12 March 2024.
We had a good night without anchorage worries and woke to a lovely morning. I had been thinking in the night – how do I solve the hydraulic outhaul problem? I also heard the monkeys ashore making quite a noise every now and then. Carolyn cooked her banana pancakes for breakfast which was nice and I had received an email from Transworld Yachts (the Hallberg Rassy agent in the UK) to get me to ring their hydraulic expert which I did. I explained what I had done and what the problem was. He said it sounded like there was a leak from the system somewhere. He suggested we check the red button under David’s bunk to check it was secure and screwed down properly. If that did not work then I would need to vent (bleed) the system in accordance with the instructions which I had found in my manual. This meant taking off the outhaul and extending it to its full extent each way. It sounded a bit complicated and I am glad I waited to speak to him first. We undid David’s bunk and undid the button and cleaned it and it had a silver thick washer underneath. We screwed both down fully and – it worked!! All was good again and we brought the sail in and out with any problem and thought we would sail with it today and hopefully that has solved the issue. Luckily it seemed to be something so small and I had hoped it would not be a major problem.
We prepared ourselves for departure and pulled up the anchor and noticed the snubber (the rope we put on the anchor to take the strain) end was coming loose. Once under way Carolyn secured and repaired it with whipping twine. We motored out of the bay and passed the odd pods and were soon into the swell and seeing the waves crashing on to the rocks around us. When we got out so far we put up the mainsail and the outhaul worked well and initially we put up the staysail (smaller front sail) as the wind was about 20-23 kts. Then it seemed to die back to 14-16 kts so we took down the staysail and put out the genoa. We were sailing along nicely doing about 6.7-8kts. We did not have far to go as we were going to Bahia Portobello which has quite a history. It is a large bay and some 11 nm from Isla Linton and about 20 nm from Colon. When we needed to bring down the mainsail the outhaul worked fine so I hope I have resolved the issue.
The bay of Portobello was discovered by Christopher Columbus in November 1502 on his fourth voyage of discovery and due to its great location and convenience it became a transhipment centre. In 1597 the city of San Felipe of Portobello was opened and it became one of the most important sites for transferring South and Central American riches. From this port tons of gold and silver flowed to the capital of Spanish empire -then Seville. Between 1574 and 1702 45 fleets of galleons were sent none of them carrying less than 30 million pesos of riches. As a result a number of forts were built with a lot of canons to defend it.
We came into the bay – it is large, long bay and there are some nice houses on both sides with seafront locations. We saw an old fort on the North side which has two levels as described in the pilot book. On the south side is Portobello which looks quite colourful from afar with coloured houses on the front and with a purple with onion roof church. You could see old fortifications and old walls from the past. Carolyn and Joyce had been here before during Covid and it was a bit of a ghost town then. The church is the Church of San Felipe of Portobello and it is famous for its Black Christ of Portobello which has become famous for its miracles and every year on the 21 October there is a festival.
The wealth of Portobello attracted Pirates and Henry Morgan took over the town for a while before being defeated. Sir Francis Drake came to Panama to take it over but died near Portobello of dysentery and was buried in a lead coffin in the sea nearby. It therefore has quite a history.
We anchored off the town and got settled, There were quite a few wrecks ahead of us in the shallows. We had lunch and then a rest and we decided to get the dinghy down and to use the 4hp motor instead. It was padlocked and the padlock had seized. I tried the hacksaws but they made no indentation on the padlock steel. I therefore thought I would try my hydraulic bolt cutters. These are heavy duty bolt cutters which I have to cut the rigging in case it fails. It took a bit of effort but it cut the lock which was reassuring.
We got the outboard out and on to the dinghy and started her up and she went. There were a few rust patches and I sprayed some with WD40 and used some grease. We went ashore and moored at a dinghy dock next to a little restaurant run by an Italian called Francisco. We chatted a bit and he explained that there had been a mini hurricane 7 years ago and a lot of the wrecks are from then. We wondered into town and through the streets. It had a very South American feel with some pretty houses and others a state. There were dogs everywhere and people mending cars in the street. People were friendly but we saw 4 policemen on the streets. We looked at the fort which was very impressive and had the original canons in situ and there must have been about 20 in a row. The battlements were still there and what was odd was a number of black vultures sitting on the walls. Why I am not sure.
We could not get into the church as it was locked and saw a number of shops and restaurants. We also saw a number of old US buses but painted in unusual colours. We decided to go back to Francisco’s restaurant for supper and had pizza and pasta which was a nice change. and s we sat overlooking the water.
We came back in the outboard in the dark and sat and read before bed, It was quite a contrast from the San Blas Islands.
Opportunity for any Readers/Sailors.
In late May 2024 we shall be in the Marquesas in French Polynesia and we will then move through to the Tuomoto’s before getting to Tahiti about the end of July 2024. There may be some space on Stormbird during this period should any sailor/reader be interested in joining for this period or part of it in what must be one of the most distant and beautiful places in the world. If there is any interest do email me at. hine.nick9@gmail.com
The blog will continue as we head off to Panama and beyond.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk