Portobelo and entering the Canal

 Friday, January 9 / Saturday January 10p

Friday was a transition day. We left our lodge in the highlands mid-morning and drove back to Panama City. We were grateful that we were driving against traffic— by 11:00 on a dry season (vacation season) Friday, the roads out of Panama City were packed with folks leaving for a long weekend. We had seen the same in reverse when we arrived on Sunday.

We met the rest of the group for our National Geographic- Lindblad voyage in the afternoon. We had a few hours to spare, so we walked along the shoreline in Panama City. It gave us a good vantage point to observe the older parts of the city juxtaposed with the modern high rises built in the past few decades. 

The group traveled by bus for about an hour, driving north along the edge of the canal. At this point Panama is only 50 miles across, explaining why this has been the transoceanic route for centuries. We boarded our ship and after dinner transitioned the 23 nautical miles to the sheltered harbor of Portobelo.

On Saturday morning we took zodiacs to the town of Portobelo, named by Columbus in 1502. The town and harbor played an important role as the embarkation port for treasure ships leaving the Spanish colonies in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The Spanish treasure shipments were a target for pirates of various kinds, including Sir Francis Drake who raided Panama several times before dying and being buried off shore at Portobelo in 1596.

Originally the embarkation point was further south at Nombre de Dios, but moved to Portobelo in 1597. The town was protected originally by a fort high above the town that was destroyed by Henry Morgan in 1668. A series of five forts was then built to protect the harbor. 

The wealth that passed through this port is almost unimaginable. A shipwreck from 1710 of a single galleon held 10 million gold doubloons (290 tons of gold) not to mention silver, emeralds and other riches. Much of the treasure came from other colonies (especially Mexico, Peru and Bolivia) by mule train across the isthmus. There was also a treasure route that reached from Manila to Acapulco to Veracruz, and then down to Portobelo to be included in the shipment. From Portobelo the galleons stopped in Cartagena and Havana before sailing to Spain. 

We visited one of the ruined forts. The walls were largely constructed from blocks of coral, which was plentiful and absorbs the impact of cannonballs without collapsing as stone or wood would. We also visited the church and learned about the Black Jesus of Portobelo, the focus of an annual festival for the whole region. Finally, we watched a performance by local Congo dancers. The women’s costumes were traditionally made from fabric scraps left after slaves made dresses for their mistress. The music and dances reflect the harsh life of the slaves, and the drums call devils to come as messengers to God. The devil costumes are made from rooster feathers and cow’s teeth! 

This afternoon we sailed back to Colon to wait our turn to enter the Gatun locks, the first half of the Panama Canal. The canal is comprised of three consecutive locks from the Caribbean side leading up to the enormous manmade Gatun Lake, approximately 87 feet above sea level. A series of locks then take ships back down on the Pacific side.  The water in the lake enables the system to work by gravity, but it means that 52 million gallons of fresh water is “lost” to the oceans with each passage through the canal. The original locks were completed in 1913. Panama has recently built a second set of locks to accommodate larger container ships and to enable recycling of 60% of the transit water. Ships going through the canal must be under the control of a canal pilot rather than our own captain, and for the original locks (which we used) the ships are kept centered by four sets of cables (two front, two back, and on each side) connected to small railroad engines that travel on the edge of the lock walls. 

Tonight we anchored in Gatun Lake. Tomorrow we will do morning activities and then complete our canal passage in the afternoon. Ours is the only ship that is permitted to stay overnight “inside” the canal. 

Pictured: Congo dancers, 32 pound cannons at the Santiago de la Gloria fort in Portobelo, entering the locks, moving into a new lock (note the gates that have opened and the engine on the left)