Puerto Lindo
Author: Shirlz
I had been told that Puerto Lindo was a good place to clear in to Panama so I decided to head directly there and sort out the legalities before turning back and spending some time in the San Blas islands. I also needed to get connected to the internet again so that I could download the OPEN CPN app for my tablet which would make it possible for me to use the digitized Eric Bauhaus charts for navigating this otherwise poorly charted area.
The distance was about 180nm and would take me at least 2 days. Again I had the benefit of a nearly full moon so the night sailing was a pleasure. There was very little wind and with a 1-2 knot current running against us I was forced to do a lot of motoring. About midnight on the second night out, with only about 30 miles to go, I was woken from one of my brief catnaps by a change in the sound of the engine. Oh dear, it was running very irregularly and sounded about to expire. Which it duly did. Without its help it would take days to get in. It had sounded like fuel starvation. The day tank was still half full so I thought it might be a clogged filter. Luckily I had some spares and with the flat calm sea it didn’t take long to change to a new one. Great relief when I turned the key and the engine came back to life. On we chugged.
We arrived at the entrance to Puerto Lindo at about 8 in the morning and carefully negotiated the entrance. The little bay lives up to its name and really is a lovely place, making it a popular anchorage with the cruising community. Many boats were clustered close behind Isla Linton and near to the new marina. I chose to anchor where it was less crowded near to the little village of Garrote at the head of the bay.
Clearing in involved a visit to the harbour master at Linton Bay Marina who issued the cruising permit which is valid for a year. Then I took the bus through to Portobelo to get my passport stamped by Immigration. Fortunately for me, the expensive visa fee has recently been dropped. The office is in a romantic, partially restored stone building and was quickly done. Now back to the marina to finalize the cruising permit and I was good for 6 months.
I wanted to make some inquiries about hauling Speedwell out for a new coat of antifouling and some other routine maintenance. There is a small boatyard in a narrow creek near to Puerto Lindo which is accessible by dinghy via a shallow channel through the mangroves. I decided to row around and have a look. I was just setting out when Mick, who was anchored a short way away on his boat ‘Lady Elizabeth’, came over and offered to take me in his dinghy which has an outboard. Off we went. It turned out to be quite a spectacular route with a dense tangle of mangrove roots close on either side and it would have been a long row. I looked in vain for lurking crocodiles. The boatyard, ‘Panamarina’, looked very good and is reasonably priced. A definite possibility.
Apart from its natural beauty there is not much in Puerto Lindo besides a couple of small tiendas and a helpful ‘cruisers’ waterfront bar/restaurant where you can leave the dinghy. In the early mornings and at sunset the jungle-clad hills surrounding the bay reverberate with the roaring of monkeys. Thousands of egrets roost in the trees and there were many pelicans perching messily on nearby derelict, abandoned boats. There is a school with an open Wi-Fi network.
Colourful buses run fairly regularly to Colon, it’s an interesting trip, most of the way running very close to the coast along a narrow winding road. A short way before Portobelo a turn-off leads to Nombre de Dios which was the original port that the Spaniards used to load their haul of silver from Potosí in Bolivia, on to ships bound for Spain. To get to Nombre de Dios the silver had to be transported overland using first llamas then mule trains via Panama City. In 1572 Francis Drake destroyed the town and plundered the treasure. Further along the road, past Portobelo, there is a good supermarket and an ATM at Sabanitas, about an hour away on the bus.
Unfortunately while I was there two neighbouring boats were burgled and I was feeling a little vulnerable. On the next fine day I moved on to Portobelo only about 11nm along the coast.