Portobelo was a very significant port, where the gold and silver brought from Peru in the Pacific across the narrow ithmus, was gathered, awaiting the Spanish galleons. These Spanish ships would head to Havana, where all the Spanish fleets would gather to head for Spain.

PORTOBELO

Saludos a nuestros familiares y amigos desde el Archipiélago de San Blás, Panamá,

We are doing fine, and really enjoying the Caribbean. We were glad to get out of Colón, where the anchorage in the flats was not too comfortable and very crowded.

From Colón, we headed East to Portobelo, about 20 miles away. Portobelo, a beautiful, very protected harbor, is one of Panamá's most historic places. It was discovered by Columbus in 1502, on his fourth and last trip to the West Indies. It was the principal Spanish Caribbean port for around 200 years. Gold and other treasure from Perú was shipped to Panamá City by ship, then by land across the ithsmus to the Caribbean, to await shipment to Spain, via the port of Havana. Large quantities of gold and silver goods were stored in fortresses and warehouses in Portobelo, and it is said that sometimes they were so full that silver ingots were piled up high on the street.

British and other pirates made repeated attacks on Portobelo. Pirate Henry Morgan attacked it, and Sir Francis Drake died off the harbor here, and was buried at sea, supposedly near Isla Drake. There are FIVE major forts here. There are remains of fortifications everywhere, some in fair condition, some in deplorable condition. Shamefully, much of the outermost fortress was dismantled during the construction of the Panama Canal, and the stones used in the building of the Gatún locks and the huge breakwater outside Colón, to protect the anchored ships, awaiting the transit of the Canal.

Some of the current houses in the small town are literally built between and on top of remnants of the fortifications! Good exploring here. We had a good lunch at the Santiago de la Gloria restaurant, a conspicuous bright yellow building to the right of the dinghy landing dock,where we had a good chicken lunch and good refreshments. They had CNN en Español via satellite there, and cheerfully to changed channels to provide the war updates on CNN in English.

In Portobelo we met Russ (his wife Anita is back in Costa Rica, caring for her sick mother) aboard WILLINGLY, another CSY 44 WO. They purchased their boat in Costa Rica, where it was practically abandoned anchored in Bahia Ballena. It was the home of many pelicans who lived inside and outside the boat for over three years. Russ and Anita brought the boat to the Pedro Miguel Yacht Club and completely stripped it and restored it. For more information on this story, visit our CSY web site at www.marill.com/csy

Buses between Portobelo and Colón run hourly during the day. On the way to Colón, you can get off at nearby Sabanitas, and do all your provisioning there.

We left Portobelo after a two-day stay, and made a slow, lumpy motor-sailing trip to the San Blas Peninsula, home of the Kuna Indians. Seas were 10-12 foot lumpy rollers. There are lots of reefs on this coast, so we gave them a good birth!