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After an excellent couple of weeks enjoying the islands of Las Perlas and the rivers of the Darién, we returned to Panamá City ready to restock the coolers and set to work fixing the windlass.  It was absolutely glassy calm on Tuesday (Feb 23^rd) as we motored north and nothing could be persuaded to bite any of our fishing lures.  Despite the bad experience that Miss Kathleen had at the Balboa Yacht Club fuel dock, we had intended to fill up there with diesel and water and hoped to beg a mooring from them, a necessity for replacing the windlass.  Unfortunately, as we approached we heard on the VHF that they were out of fuel and when we called on the phone they had no moorings available.  So instead we went to the east side of the causeway, past the expensive Flamenco marina, and into the anchorage and small mooring field of Las Brisas de Amador.

Although somewhat exposed to chop generated by the dry-season northerly winds, Mike and Dede on Joss had recommended this area and had provided us with the phone number of Alex who managed the few moorings there.  After a bit of confusion on the phone we picked up an empty mooring and paddled the dinghy to the dock to meet Alex.  We had to move to an adjacent mooring but otherwise everything was fine for us to stay for at least a week…more than enough time, surely to get the windlass replaced (ha, ha).  When Joss arrived a couple of days later and had to anchor we felt a bit guilty about beating them to the mooring but they were very good sports about it.  It also did not take us long to discover that Olivier, who had come through the Canal with us, was staying on the sailboat Aida on a neighboring mooring.  It is a small world.

Las Brisas de Amador is intended to be a huge marina, condo, and retail complex, of which three blocks of condos, a huge parking lot, a small floating dock, and the retail outlets are complete.  Of the marina, there is no sign.  The moorings at the head of the small bay are $500 a month which includes free use of the dinghy dock, water, and access to a coin laundry.  Anchored boats pay $5 a day for the dock and water.  On the afternoon of our arrival, we wandered around the shops and restaurants and with great relish availed ourselves of the excellent ice-cream shop that Mike and Dede had recommended.  We made up for our missed desserts of the previous evening with gusto.

With great restraint (or was it relief?) Randall resisted the temptation to immediately set to work on the windlass deciding to enjoy the rest of our vacation with Mike so on Wednesday morning we took a taxi into Casco Viejo.  Being a repeat visit for Mike and me, we provided Randall with something of a guided tour of the highlights.  Unlike the hot Saturday afternoon of our previous visit when the old town was almost deserted, it was alive with government workers, residents, and tourists which gave it a much more vibrant feel.  Somebody important was escorted into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by several car-loads of highly armed guards as we walked passed and we watched several official-looking cars being checked-in to the Palacio Presidencial as we took photos there. 

The area is an interesting mixture of nicely gentrified public buildings, restaurants, small hotels, and apartments with some very old and run-down establishments serving all the same functions.  There are fine views of the bay and several attractive plazas, including the large one containing the French Embassy and commemorating the French contributions to the Panama Canal.  There are several beautiful churches, numerous statues, and many interesting historical sites being preserved such as the church ruins with the famous 45-ft-long, unsupported flat arch made entirely of bricks and mortar that was cited during the debate as to whether to site the Canal in Panama or Nicaragua as evidence that Panama never had earthquakes.  Many of the buildings were familiar to us from having read McCollough’s “The Path Between the Seas”, especially the Museo de Canal Interoceánico which had formerly been the Grand Hotel and Ferdinand Lessep’s headquarters.  Mike and I had looked around this comprehensive museum on our previous visit but it closely follows the details of McCollough’s book and almost everything is only in Spanish so Randall decided to take our word for how impressive it was inside.

On a bit of a whim, we stopped for a late lunch at a tapas restaurant, Manolo Caracol, that my friend Kaoru had recommended.  There was no menu just a series of small dishes delivered sequentially to the table as they were freshly made.  We sat down not being quite sure what to expect and having failed to ask the price.  The food was excellent, coming in nine servings mostly with a seafood theme.  There was Sierra mackerel sushi, octopus, shrimp-stuffed peppers, delicately cooked dorado, poached chicken, beef kebabs, vegetables, and coconut rice, closing with a delicious ginger ice-cream.  Having convinced ourselves that we must have picked the most expensive place in town based on the quality of the repast, it came as some relief to find that it was only $20 a person…and worth every cent.  Thanks, Kaoru!

We also had Kaoru to thank for the suggestion that we followed the next day.  After walking north along the causeway for about half a mile we visited the Smithsonian marine park on Isla Culebra.  The place was packed with children which made it seem all the more exciting and we enjoyed the video, posters, and display tanks with various fish, sharks, rays, and turtles.  We bought a fish identification CD-ROM and chart to identify local mammals and as we were walking out we were treated to a fantastic, close-up view of a two-toed sloth as it nonchalantly climbed along a fence wire eating leaves and flowers off a vine.

That made a good final sight for Mike who left for the airport later that afternoon.  As we took him to shore to meet Alberto’s taxi we all noted the dark clouds amassing over the City and Randall comment that the beauty of the dry season was not having to worry about rain every time you saw such sights. And Alberto assured us that to his recollection it had never rained in Panamá City in February.   Having puzzled Mike by insisting that we shut all the hatches and portlights whenever we left Tregoning for more than a few minutes, even when the sky was almost cloudless, for some reason we did not close them this time…thinking that we would be able to return immediately should rain threaten.  Such thinking was only flawed by not anticipating that after Mike left us we would stop to have another yummy ice-cream while admiring the views in the opposite direction from the City. 

It did not get too wet in the boat during the time it took us to run from the ice-cream shop to the dinghy and ride back to Tregoning but as we tried not to slip on the rain-slicked dock ramp, it did seem suspiciously like Nature was toying with us.

Friday saw us getting back into a busier mode of operation.  We went to the Port Captain’s Office to renew our cruising permit (to be told we had to return instead on Monday), picked up the cleaned and fixed windlass (with the new solenoid that Shev had ordered and had shipped from the USA to Protecsa), restocked with groceries, and dropped off the malfunctioning DVD player that we had bought in Colón.  We had a enjoyed a marvelous three week visit from Mike and our vacation to Las Perlas and the Darién was just what we needed to get us ready for the serious work of the boat-projects that would start on Saturday…or so we thought.