{"id":10514,"date":"2025-02-28T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kosmos.liveflux.net\/blog\/?p=10514"},"modified":"2025-03-07T16:42:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T16:42:55","slug":"portobelo-colon-province-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kosmos.liveflux.net\/blog\/2025\/02\/28\/portobelo-colon-province-colombia\/","title":{"rendered":"Portobelo, Colon Province, Panama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thanks to cloud cover, the sun itself was not visible on Wednesday, February 19, but it was still a colorful sunrise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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\u2019s colonial rule, so it was historically significant. Since we wouldn\u2019t be going to Portobelo by boat, we thought it would be fun to go by car.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our way out of Ft. Sherman, we decided to make a quick stop at the public beach. Since we\u2019d 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\u2019d seen at the loop\u2026 except these were in much worse shape.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Taken from the south end of the beach, looking north. The buildings at the tip of the peninsula are the coast guard base<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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in the background to the right are the sunken ships, to theft is the city of Colon across the bay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We hopped back in the car and continued on. Rather than taking the more direct route through the heart of Colon, we took the toll road for a few exits to the suburbs, then navigated to the two-lane highway that paralleled the coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coast was developed the entire way, mostly with low houses, though there were a few big ones and a few hotels, too. We passed by a series of small towns. It took 1.5 hours to get there.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first stop was Batteria Santiago, the remains of one of the forts, which the cruisers had told us was on the edge of downtown. The ruins were along the main highway, and were clearly visible when we rounded a bend. Parking was free in a dirt lot next on the west side of the ruins. It looked like the parking lot also serviced a nearby dock. There were touts in the parking lot asking tourists if they wanted to take a boat ride to a nearby island.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Entrance from the parking lot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apparently, the Spaniards had built three forts along this bay. Construction on the forts began in the late 1500s, about the same time as the Castillo de San Lorenzo<\/a>. The Portobelo forts were named jointly with the Castillo as a UN world heritage site. We were unclear on whether there were still remains of the other two forts in Portobelo that we could visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no entrance fee \u2013 the ruins were wide open to the public to wander at will. If there were any signs posted beyond the one on the ground in the image above, we didn\u2019t see them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The part of the fort that parallels the road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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To the left is the east side of the fort, to the right, a portion of the wall paralleling the bay. The next photo is of Keith and Eric standing on this wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The entire bay facing wall was lined with canons. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Looking back at the west side of the fort. The arch is the entrance to the parking lot. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Guard turret along the western edge of the fort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We were shocked to see that the majority of the structure was made from coral.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shortly after arriving, it started to pour rain. We all took shelter under the east entrance doorway. Keith and Eric decided thy’d have better shelter in the guard turret on the west side, and ran right by the entrance to the indoor portion of the fort without even noticing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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