Panama – 06/11/19 – Day 1

The flight arrived on time 8:15AM EST (1215 Zulu). 6 hours and change earlier, Peggy had dropped me off at LAX, terminal 3. The customary long lines for check in and security successfully navigated, all I needed to do was repeat the process to enter Panama. The only problem is most of the signage is in Spanish. Fortunately for me I can read stick figures fluently and had no trouble finding my way to Customs. I thought I was dressed to blend in with the locals, but something clearly gave me away. Every time I approached an official they would smile and immediately starting speaking English to me like I had a tattoo “Perdón, pero no hablo español” on my forehead.

Having been questioned and finger printed (still not sure why the latter) I cleared customs, collected my bag and headed for the exit where my “driver” would be waiting for me, “You can recognize him by the Golden State Warriors hat he will be wearing”. I found him soon after exiting the Customs area, it was the hat!

Olmedo my personal driver

What Olmendo lacked in speed and dexterity on foot, he more than made up for it in his white Toyota Yaris. Weaving in out of traffic like a NewYork cab driver, laying on the horn only long enough to let you know you had been passed he whisked me over to the other side of the Isthmus in record time, 45 minutes. A 51 mile trip over modern roads (with working signals), what I would call single lane roads with potholes the size of the width of the car, and something I swear was goat path! Riding with him was like riding on Mr. Toads Wild Ride at Disneyland (I just dated myself)!

I finally opened my eyes and we were in the parking lot of Shelter Bay marina across from the city of Colon. I tipped Olmendo, grabbed my bag out of the trunk and headed straight for the bar uh, boat, to meet Capt. Dave.

Dave was sitting in the cockpit of Endeavor. We greeted each other, he showed me where I could stow my gear and gave me a quick tour of the marina facilities which I found quite modern for being carved out of a tropical jungle (I only found out later the marina was part of an old U.S. Army base where they trained soldiers heading for Vietnam in jungle warfare). The tour took about twenty minutes at which point I found myself back onboard in my bunk and fast asleep. It was a little past 10 in the morning.