After a blissful few days in the relative solitude of the San Blas Islands, we arose early on Sunday, 6th February, and weighed anchor at around 0600. We set off early in order to make good time to Colón, the Caribbean entry port for the Panama Canal. Due to the administration around the Canal transit there was a requirement that all boats participating in the rally to arrive in Shelter Bay Marina by the 6th to enable relevant measurements etc. to be processed over the following few days.

We raised the sails and took an offshore route which, unfortunately, made us one of the later boats to arrive. Luckily, we managed to do it all in daylight.

As we approached Colón, we began to see large ships on the horizon (as well as on the AIS plotter) and soon were surrounded. Even Louis’ substantial yacht began to seem rather small! Large container ships and tankers were all around, some anchored awaiting transit, others moving in a steady stream either in or out, through the breakwater in and out of the bay. There was constant radio traffic between the Canal authorities  and the various ships All vessels were expertly guided in and out and ships  of all sizes were slotted in between each other. When Stuart radioed in we were asked about the speed we could maintain and then told to call in again when we reached within a mile. of the breakwater. At that stage, as the marina required us to traverse the traffic, we were told to do the marina equivalent of a run across the road. We did so and then nipped in through the breakwater and up into the marina. 

Shelter Bay is located in what used to be the US Fort Sherman base. It was vacated when control of the Canal reverted to Panama in 1999. Very helpful and brightly clad marina staff guided us in, and Stuart performed a perfect reverse parking maneuver in front of the rest of the fleet (who, of course, were pretending not to watch!) The first substantial meal ashore followed a quick clean up.

While a little research has told us that the Panama Canal has about 25% of the traffic of the Suez, the sight of those large commercial vessels at the entry to Colón  was an impressive sight, and a reminder of the huge importance of both the Canal and shipping generally in the global transport network.

While we are all fortunately too young to have witnessed  invasion fleets we did imagine that there must be some similarities to the massing of shipping at Colon to the D day preparation. Perhaps though I spoke too soon! The US did invade Grenada in 1983 causing a brief cool spell in Ronald Reagan’s relationship with then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. So the thought of invasion fleets neatly book end this correspondent’s time onboard Irene IV.

A few other observations/recommendations for our readers/future crew members.

The request that hatches should be secured before setting sail does have some merit, as it avoids a lot of time in clearing up the large volume of water that can ingress, soak bunks, mattresses and associated electronic gear left below (apparently…)

If you are attempting yoga for the first time, perhaps the pitching deck of a yacht is not the ideal location.

While Stugeron may be a conventional sea sickness prevention medication, there are many other alternatives. Licorice and ginger were others tried. But potentially there is a conflict between whether these items are located in the medical stores, or the snack selection.

Irene IV has a state of the art sound system, apparently, which at the time or this correspondent’s departure, and despite his in-depth knowledge of such arrangements (turning both on and off and holding other buttons) we were unable to get working. Do not panic though there are is a entertainment system with a mind of its own which, when you least expect, produces magical fiddle and violin music, sometimes accompanied by a bodhrán, to take your minds off the task in hand. Overall the permanent crew of Irene IV  are welcoming, generous and even apparently forgiving of temporary crew members (particularly those who take a few days of rear rail inversion to get to to grips with the whole wobbly boat syndrome thing) and get a 5 star rating on “Sea B&B”.

Thanks to Louis, Sabine and Stuart, and good luck to those continuing and new members on the next leg. I shall follow this blog enviously Irish February.