Rio Chagres

Everything done, and we finally left Shelter Bay Marina around noon. Again, with help from Lynn and Randy on High States. How would we leave the marina without them? Called Port Authority, told them we were leaving the area, and they told us to watch out for ships. Of course, right when we were leaving, there was a huge car carrier ship sounding its horn for us to get out of the way. Okay, you have priority!

Got out of the shipping area and actually had a great sail, all three sails up, for about half an hour. Then the wind died and we motored into the Chagres. Foreigner was already anchored there, so we motored down, around the corner, and had peace and quiet, and relaxed from all the marina time.

Spent a week in the Chagres (including my birthday), just hanging out, getting boat projects done and dinghy exploring. Finally saw a toucan, howler monkies and lizards.

The challenge was when we were leaving to head to Portabelo - a large trawler had gone aground and run lines across the whole river. Luckily, we saw that they were all the way across at the last minute. Oh, and this is the interesting part of the river to navigate. Forty minutes later, they had lines in and we sailed and motored down to Portabelo. Of course, just as we entered the bay, the sky opened up. Good thing is, we've been here before, know where to anchor, and the rain felt good!! :)