Nature Walk in Ft. Sherman

The sunrise on Tuesday, February 11 again looked like there was a fire in the sky that was giving off a lot of smoke. 

Tuesday was another quiet day. We’ve found another downside to being right in front of the marina. In the morning, the marina mowed the lawn, and the wind blew grass clippings all over the boat. Eric determined that the wind generator was working well, so after he cleaned off the grass, he turned off the wind generator and brought the dinghy back onboard.  

On Wednesday morning, Eric changed the wing engine fuel filter. It was easier than, but also messier than, anticipated. In the early afternoon, Eric led a D & D session with Keith and several of the kids in the marina. 

In the evening, we went on a nature walk with Carlos, who works at the marina. His hobby is botany, and he does these nature walks as a side gig. Several people had recommended that we hire him, but up until now, he’d been booked solid with ARC boats. Now most of the ARC boats were gone and he had time for us. 

Carlos had been a young teen when the US military left Panama (in 1999). His brother had been working at Ft. Sherman as a contractor. Carlos had tagged along with his brother and remembered what the base looked like back then. 

He started the tour by explaining that during canal construction, there was a lot of excess dirt that the military utilized to create land. He said much of the flat area within Ft. Sherman, particularly near the edge of Limon Bay, was man-made, including this cove. While Carlos was talking, the resident lizard came out to say hi.

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Going to Shopping Centers and The Secret Beach

The sunrise on Sunday February 9 almost looked like there was a fire in the sky that was giving off a lot of smoke. 

Sunday was another quiet day. In the morning, Eric got dinghy down. He went for a ride around the marina, looking for crocodiles, but didn’t see any. He wanted to go out to the anchorage, but it was too windy. With the dinghy down, he turned on the wind generator to make sure it was still working properly. He ran it all day on Sunday and Monday and was pleased that it was working fine.

Some of the cruisers had talked about a secret beach behind the boat yard. On Sunday, Christi decided to look for it. She saw a trail along one of the fences. 

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Castillo de San Lorenzo el Real del Chagres, Panama

Sunrise on Saturday, February 8, 2025

We decided to visit the Castillo de San Lorenzo el Real del Chagres, which are the remains of a Spanish fort from the colonial era. It’s located at the mouth of the Chagres river in the San Lorenzo national forest, just a ten-minute drive from the marina. Taxis hang out at the marina, so catching a taxi to the fort was easy. However, taxis don’t hang out at the fort, so getting a taxi back out would be challenging. We were advised to pay our taxi driver to wait for us at the fort to ensure a ride back out. He charged us $35 for the round trip, including a wait time of up to 1.5 hours. 

The parking lot was situated along the edge of the Chagres river, with lovely views. There were areas that were closed off and covered with tarp that were apparently currently under excavation. A sign said that we were standing on what had been part of the town of Chagres, which had co-existed alongside each iteration of the fort. 

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Keith’s Perspective on Our Trip to San Diego and Return to Shelter Bay Marina/Le point de vue de Keith sur notre voyage à San Diego et notre retour à Shelter Bay Marina

San Diego was really fun. I got my braces off, and we visited friends and family. It was weird being back in San Diego, especially the part where we couldn’t go to the boat. We took a red eye back to Panama on Friday (we got here on Saturday). 

Moments after the braces were removed.

San Diego était tres amusant. J’ai enlevé mes bagues, et nous avons rendu visite à des amis et à la famille. C’était étrange d’être de retour à San Diego, surtout la parti où on ne pouvait pas aller au bateau. On a pris un vol de nuit pour retourner au Panama le vendredi (on est arrivé Samedi). 

Dutch Pancake at the Original Pancake House
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More Lying Low at Shelter Bay Marina

On Thursday morning, February 6, Eric finally felt rested enough that he was ready to tackle some not-so-fun engine room projects. While Christi and Keith did school, Eric changed the oil on the generator. 

Eric also arranged to have the bottom cleaned. It $3.50 foot, but considering the guy was literally cleaning with one hand while holding a speargun with the other hand, we agreed that it was worth the money. He was also wearing a full wetsuit, which had to have been hot given the warm water temperatures here. 

In good news, he found one of the mats that had fallen overboard last week. It had a lot of growth given the amount of time in the water, but Eric was able to clean all the growth off. 

It was now day four of no water, and people were getting desperate. The marina had arranged to bring in three tanker trucks of water to fill up the boats. They injected the water into the pipes. When we (and everyone else) turned on the spigot, very little — meaning virtually none — water flowed out. It seemed there wasn’t enough pressure to force the water to flow through the pipes.

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