SAN FERNANDO FORT BATTERY

October 12, 2014

FROM THE TOP BATTERY OF THE FORT
PANAMA CANAL IN THE DISTANCE

It is a beautiful day in Portobelo, Panama. The sun is shining and the sky is the blue of a robins egg. Over the mountain the dark clouds of our daily thunderstorm is coming this way. Some days the rain comes down in a slow steady shower, sometimes for hours. Then the wind will change directions and an almost chilly breeze blows over the water just before the sky turns dark, the thunder and lightening splitting the sky. This is not a place we would choose to sit out rainy season again.

It has been almost 2 months since lightening struck It's Perfect in the beautiful San Blas Islands. As of today we have replaced the AIS radio, radar scanner, radar receiver, depth gauge and radio. Our auto pilot should arrive here in Colon any day, which means we could be here for a while longer. Our days are filled with normal chores and projects. Being a live aboard cruiser creates an unending list of things to do, laundry, fuel and grocery trips. We have pickled the water maker BOB because the bay turns into a muddy mess many times a week. We are filtering the city water through a 5 micron prefilter and a carbon pack at the dock and hauling it 10 to 15 gallons at a time to fill the water tanks aboard. Just one more chore on our list of things to do.

We took another hike to the top of the San Fernando Fort Battery this week. This two level fort was built in 1760 and became one of the most important sights for transferring the riches of South and Central America to the Spanish empire Seville. The low Battery has 16 cannons and the high one has 6.

On our hike through the fort and up the mountain we finally found the elusive Panama monkey watching us from high up in the fork of a tree. We hear them daily howling in the treetops ashore. They are so cute and small, it is amazing they can make so much noise as the sun comes up over the bay.

We begin in earnest tomorrow to provision the boat for departure. There is one store in Colon that will deliver a large purchase of groceries to the dock. That will be our last stop on our visit to town tomorrow.