Category Archives: History

Historical background of a location we visit.

Welcome to Port Antonio, Portland Parish, Jamaica

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Sunday, March 2 — Tonight was a rare astronomical event — a seven planet alignment, with several of the plants visible to the naked eye. But sadly, the seas were too uncomfortable for us to even consider sitting outside to see it.

By midnight, we could see lights from southern Jamaica in the distance. By dawn, we were close enough to be in the shelter of the island and the waves became a little smaller. We could also smell smoke – not an unpleasant smoke, like a fire, but like smoking food. 

Shortly after dawn, we rounded the western corner of the island. Our change in direction meant we went from head seas to beam seas. Eric’s seasickness instantly vanished. As we trekked north, we ran close to shore. From what we could see, Jamaica was mountainous and lush.

It only took a couple of hours to go from the southern side of the island to Port Antonio, located on the north-eastern side of the island. We turned into a bay named East Harbor, then immediately turned into a channel between the tip of the mainland peninsula and Navy Island that led into a bay called West Harbor.

Entering East Harbor, Port Antonio
The channel between East Harbor and West Harbor, Port Antonio
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Sir Henry Morgan, the Infamous Privateer

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During our circumnavigation, Christi used to write histories for all the countries we visited. Given that legacy, we felt it was appropriate to publish Keith’s school assignment on Henry Morgan, as Morgan altered the course of history for both Panama and Jamaica.

Sir Henry Morgan was a Welsh privateer who fought for the English against the Spanish during the 1660s and 1670s. He is remembered as one of the greatest privateers in the world, along with being one of the worst enemies to the Spanish since Sir Francis Drake. 

Nobody knows Morgan’s exact date of birth, but people theorize that he was born around 1635 in Monmouth County, Wales. He had two uncles who were both prominent in the English military. Morgan decided early in his life to follow his uncles’ footsteps. He served under General Venables and Admiral Penn in 1654 when they took Jamaica from the Spanish. 

After leaving the official military, Morgan took on the life of a privateer, who were mercenaries who were allowed to attack an/or raid enemies in exchange for the majority of the loot they took. Morgan was one of many privateers who had a “license” to raid the Spanish, given that England and Spain were at war. 

Morgan was a fearless leader and a clever tactician. He became the leader of the Brethren of the Coast, a group of privateers. 

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More Exploring the Ruins of Ft. Sherman

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On Saturday, February 22, the sun was about to peek over the horizon when the giant black cloud to the left blew in front of it and blocked the sunrise completely. 

This morning, the water was still not working. The dockmaster assured us that this time, he was being more proactive. He was making arrangements for water trucks and working on a strategy on how to get the pressure up enough to ensure that the water made it to the boats. However, the plan didn’t need to come to fruition because water was restored  in the mid-afternoon.

In the afternoon, Eric led another kids D & D session. Afterwards, the kids went to the pool and Eric joined them. 

While they were playing, Christi decided to explore more of the ruins that we’d seen along the road to Gatun Bridge. We’ve already mentioned that the marina was directly northwest of what had been the military air strip, which was now used as a Panamanian Coast Guard base. The majority of the Coast Guard Base was set back from the road, and there were several ruins along the road that were not currently utilized by the Coast Guard.  

Where the road turned south, Christi spotted some birds walking around. What made the species noteworthy were the red, beady eyes, which made them look a little zombie-esque. We’d seen some of them at the beach on Wednesday, and as they walked amongst the trash near the derelict buildings, they’d only added to the creepy feeling of the beach that day. 

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Portobelo, Colon Province, Panama

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Thanks to cloud cover, the sun itself was not visible on Wednesday, February 19, but it was still a colorful sunrise.

We decided to keep the car for another day to go to the town of Portobelo, which was about 80 km (50 miles) away from the marina. Portobelo was a small town with a nice bay and protected anchorage that was popular with the cruisers. It was a pivotal part of Spain’s colonial rule, so it was historically significant. Since we wouldn’t be going to Portobelo by boat, we thought it would be fun to go by car. 

On our way out of Ft. Sherman, we decided to make a quick stop at the public beach. Since we’d driven by it so many times, we felt like we should at least stop and see it up close. It was a man-made beach, south of the Coast Guard base, along the road to the bridge. It was usually packed on the weekends. The US military had put in, and it was lined with more of the same housing structures that we’d seen at the loop… except these were in much worse shape. 

We parked in the small parking lot and ventured in. Maybe it was the gloomy weather, but the beach felt sad. There were dilapidated buildings, sunken ships and a lot of trash strewn around. Someone had put up a series of palapas, but most of them had fallen apart into hunks of debris that added to the trash.

Taken from the south end of the beach, looking north. The buildings at the tip of the peninsula are the coast guard base
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Nature Walk in Ft. Sherman

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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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