position N09 22 035 W79 57 061
Thursday Eve.
Our trip into Colon and Panama City yesterday was a little over ambitious.
We found the maritime office in Colon O.K. and thought we had concluded the paperwork successfuly and surprisingly cheaply at just $6.70. It transpires we should also have visited the imigration office next door to get our passports stamped. We will have to call in on route to the airport tomorrow.
We didnt find the canal visitor centre but found ourselves driving in to P.C. with traffic becomming rapidly heavier. We were driving under the only metro train line so parked and took the metro into the centre. We were also keen to visit a new biomuseum designed by Frank Geiry so grabbed a taxi and were rewarded with an excellent review of Panamas biodiversity in a very unusual steel building designed to mimic the forest and the geological process the formed the istmus.
After we had a wander round downtown P.C. and diana delighted to discover a shop selling traditional Kugi printed cloth.
It is a 50 mile drive back to the Marina so unsure when the ferry stops we made back to the car only to spend the next 3 hours crawling 3 metro stops with honking buses and growling lorries weaving lanes with scant regard for little kia picantes. Thankfuly a Colon sign
appeared between lorries forcing us to make a rapid 2 lane crossover manouver that left diana cowering in her seat and me imagining the bill for dent repairs. Most of the cars I was noticing more and more had at least one dink.
Miraculously we emerged unscathed onto the Colon motorway which was entirely traffic free.
We eventually arrived back at yhe marina at about 11pm amd colapsed superless in bed.
Today has been strip down and tidy up day but also a nice walk into the forest behind the marina. The monkeys here are not just audible but also visible in the trees which hide the concrete of a ww2 american battery installation. Through the battery we found a path leading down to a cove and I was able to swim off the edge of shallow dead or dying pocketed coral that fills the cove.
Hoping to catch the sailmaker in the morning to arrange for an overhaul of OR's sails while we are away. She wasn't about today.