Portobello

We have now moved out of the San Blas Islands and are only 20nm out of Colon. We are anchored in a beautiful bay of Portobello. We arrived here yesterday after a good sail down the coast. The winds were between 12-17 knots and we maintain a good 6knots plus all the way. Before leaving we moved from the Lemon Cays to Porvenir to sign out. It was very rolly there and wanting to have a good night's sleep we headed up to the Chichime Cays where the anchorage was flat. The islands had a few Kuna living on them in traditional houses and using their dugout canoes as their main form of transport. What a beautiful setting for our last night in the San Blas. From here we did not have to beat to weather at the start of the trip as we were on our lay line to follow the coast.... so a nice easy start to the day. Light winds and an easy reach for 35nm and then round the corner and a run down to Portobello.
Today we took a walk around the town and visited some of the forts and old buildings. The town is a world heritage site as it was used by the Spanish as one of their main ports to establish a foothold in the area.(1500's) A third of the worlds gold passed through here when the Spanish plundered the area. It was also used as a slave trading area and many slaves were used to build the forts around the bay. As it was a strategic port the English and the Dutch also took great interest in the place and there were many battles fought here for control of the area. The town or at least parts of it were rebuilt on a few occasions after these battles. Today the village is a little run down and there are many buildings in need of repair. The people are poor and their houses fairly simple. Most of the people that we have come across are very friendly and there is a jolly mood around the place... maybe because carnival is coming up and everyone is getting ready for that. Yesterday just after we anchored there was a lot of splashing and thrashing in the shallows. The people ashore quickly headed out to the spot and caught a massive marlin 7-8 feet in length. They managed to get it into a boat and take it ashore. I do not know if there was a long line out for fish and if the marlin had come in for a feed but it was in less than 0.5m of water. Lots of shouting and celebrating!!! I should have had a line out.
Well thats it for now... till we write again.

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