Portobelo

Shelter Bay to Portobelo

I slept most of the time when we were going to Portobelo. It was rocky and bumpy again when we got out of the port zone and the wind was blowing straight from Portobelo so we had to make some zigzags.

Capo was not happy about moving again and was sea sick, but luckily this time we only had 20 seamiles to go and we got there after lunch.

Portobelo

Portobelo is a beautiful fascinating place and is worth visiting. There are many ruins to see and things to experience: like riding on a diabolo rojo bus to Colon, or climbing up hills to see the ruins, snorkeling amongst the ship wrecks, walking in the historical town, kayaking up the river, or visiting one of the beaches.

Capo was very happy when he heard we would be staying for 3 weeks. He would sleep all day and run around all night. He even goes on the deck at night. And he sleeps with my mom & dad (I am starting to get a little jealous).

Playa y Pared de Huerta (Huerta’s Beach and wall) 

During the weekends we went snorkelling and to the beach. Snorkelling was beautiful, there were many interesting things to see around Drake island, Drake Canal and Huerta’s wall (pictures).

The beach was nice, it had changed a lot since the last time we were there. There were two little shacks, one were you could get food from (a tiny restaurant) and the other you got drinks from (a tiny bar). There were picnic tables and beach chairs, both with sun umbrellas. Last time we were there (in 2021) there was nothing, it was just a little beach.

Mission litteral sand (litter box sand for Capo)

Part of our weekly routine and chores is to get fresh sand for Capo’s litter box. In Portobelo town there is no nice sand, so we went to the beach at one of the ruins in search of litter sand for Capo. The problem was that it had been raining a lot that day. So when we went to the beach all the sand was wet. We tried to get the driest but it wasn’t easy. I got some black sand mixed with normal beach sand and mom came back with sand mixed with clay and ruin rubble. All to provide Capo with a historic toilet experience. The following weekend we filled our little bucket at Playa Huerta. Much easier!

On the Wednesday of our last week in Portobelo mom and I went on a different mission. We had discovered that Capo was scratching the floor at night. Upon closer inspection we found out that Capo was balancing on the rim of his ‘Superbowl’ trying to rake imaginary sand over some stinky business. Very dedicated but very unsuccessful. Oopsy, that bowl was not big enough for our cat’s ambitions! Mom and I measured the space in the corner and the cat and left early morning on a Diabolo Rojo (very noisy, very colourful, and very busy local bus) to the nearest shopping centre. We went into 3 big shops and measured all the potential cat toilet candidates and found one in which poor Capo can happily cover his stinkies.

We also bought a nice purple scratch carpet for him to wipe his feet on after business and avoid sandy paw prints all over Exodus (this used to be hazardous)

Happy cat 🙂 happy owners 🙂 (even though we still die every morning after a productive bowel night).

FUN FACTS ABOUT PORTOBELO

Did you know:

1. Portobelo was discovered by Christopher Columbus on November the 2nd 1502 during his fourth trip.
2. The wealth of Portobelo was a strong temptation for pirates like Henry Morgan, who worked the Spanish colonies.
3. The coffin of sir Francis Drake was found here. Sir Francis Drake was an English explorer and privateer (legal pirate asked by the Queen to rob Spanish ships) who is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 to 1580.

Fair winds,

Gitane

and purrrrfectly fluffy hellooooo from Capoooooo

Editor’s note: This is Exodus’s sixth visit to Portobelo, a charming little town full of bygone glory: ruins of Spanish settlement and defenses with the black turkey vultures as solemn guards, sunken sailboats, buildings that have seen better days, many a sunken dream, but always the promise of some treasure to be found. There have been some improvements and the old customs building has been restored. Francesco at Casa Vela is also still there, showing some italian panamanian hospitality to the sailors. The anticipated 1 week turned into 3 weeks as we waited for spares, spares, and more spares. Meanwhile Exodus decided to grow a beard (green algae from the river) on the outside, and blue pocks on the inside (more chargers and convertors to fit the change to lithium batteries), Arthur was sweating all over the boat (trying to fix things in narrow spaces), Gitane was puffing over school work and Winnie and Capo were shedding hair. There were days of plenty of rain, days for beach, and plenty of days for collecting spares and stocking the boat full of supplies.