Arriving Panama

Well before we started out on this several year adventure, we became very interested in the San Blas Islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama as a cruising destination.  During the past couple years while in the Western Caribbean we have talked with many cruisers that have made the circuit through the Eastern Caribbean across the north coast of Venezuela and Colombia and then up through the Western Caribbean.  Almost to a person they site the San Blas Islands in Panama as their favorite location.  Interesting enough, the Eastern Caribbean, where we initially thought we would begin our cruising barely gets mentioned.  These stories were the motivation to get us here to Panama.  As we studied Panama we came to realized there are many more cruising opportunities than just the San Blas so we decided to explore it all on the Caribbean side.  (We have no plans to go through the Panama Canal.)  We have arrived at the archipelago of Bocas del Toro which is in western part of Panama.  This area is made up of two big bays, eight major islands, 51 cays and an unlimited number of places to drop the hook.  We intend to spend the remainder of this cruising season in the Bocas del Toro area and then leave Ariel in a marina here while we are away for the summer.

Tropical Sunset Over Bahia Almirante



Anchored Off Bocas Town

The challenge for the trip from San Andres Isla to Bocas del Toro was to keep the boat speed down to five knots or less.  We wanted to depart during daylight hours and to also arrive during daylight hours.  Our plan was to clear out and leave immediately, but while in with our agent clearing out of Colombia, a heavy rain squall blew in, so even before we were cleared out, we were delayed a day.  It was not a problem to stay even though we were cleared out.  We left San Andres at 4 pm the following day and were well clear of the island before sunset.  The winds were light and on the beam which played right into our plan to go slow.  Conditions remained the same through the night and all through the following day.  The second night the winds became too light for sailing as was expected.  We motored through the night and arrived at Bocas del Toro at 8 am right on plan.  On our way in we heard on the VHF radio that it was a public holiday.  This was great news because all of the offices would be closed so we couldn't check in.  We headed for a quiet bay just inside the channel and dropped the anchor, thankful for a chance to get some rest and things cleaned up before clearing in.  The next morning the Port Captain directed us to anchor just off from his office and indicated we would need to be boarded.  About 45 minutes later a boarding party of four arrived.  It is a good thing we have a scanner and printer aboard, because they wanted multiple copies of everything.  I am not sure what they did because I was making copies the whole time.  Soon they were finished, leaving us with a stack of completed forms and instructions to make additional stops in town before we would be completely cleared in.  Our first stop was at the Autoridad Maritima de Panama (AMP)  (Maritime Authority) to obtain our cruising permit.  The cruising permit is good for one year.  Now this next part is where it got weird.  We were told to go to Banco Nacional de Panama to purchase National Stamps, which would be $10 each, and we would need two.  We were then to deliver these to Immigration and then we would get out passports stamped.  After waiting in the teller line for 1/2 hour, we were told they do not sell National Stamps.  By now it was lunch hour so after lunch we sheepishly pushed open the heavy wooden door to the Immigration Office and explained our failed attempt to obtain the National Stamps.  The Immigration Officer replied "If they do not have the stamps, that cannot be helped", at which point she processed our passports, good for 180 days and sent us on our way.