Panama, Panama City - Feb/Mar 2007
We stayed several weeks at the Flamenco Island anchorage, known locally as La Playita, where over time we met some new friends, and several old friends popped out of the canal too.
The anchorage is some way from Panama City but there are good bus and taxi links to get around. Many taxis overcharge “gringos” whenever possible so we learned the hard way a few times. Buses and “collectivos” are cheap once you learn the routes. No route map is available, only final destinations are marked on the buses, but at 25c per journey it is worth doing if you are around for a while. A cruisers net on channel 69 is broadcast every day and information is shared that way, it takes a while to start finding your way around and everyone has a list of things they need to do before leaving to cross the Pacific!
The centre of town near the bus terminus at 5 de mayo has cheap clothes, fruit and vegetable shopping and eateries along the Avenida Central Espana in an easterly direction, and the Avenida Peatonal in the other direction has lots of cheap electronics. To the south is Chinatown and a lot of cheap medical clinics.
Outside the town centre there are many excellent malls, although more expensive they are a good way to spend a day. As for boating items there are few things that that cannot be found…after some searching The sailing community is really only passing cruisers like us, the local boats are mostly motor boats. Outboard engines and dinghies are cheap here, it is just difficult to find what you want in stock. There is no rigging shop or sailmaker here, one of the cruisers here now does sail repairs. You can buy acrylic canvas / Sunbrella at El Tapiz in town.
In Balboa there is a post office, a good chart and nautical book shop, a good satellite phone shop, a laundry, etc. At the Balboa Yacht Club there are cheap washing machines and free wireless internet and diesel and water. Tony’s taxi will do laundry and pick up and deliver. Along the causeway are a number of restaurants and a good ice cream bar. Internet is expensive here, the cheapest option being at the Marketplace Cafe near Flamenco Marina, where Monday evening 2 for 1 pizza night is held. Internet is 1 USD per hour, elsewhere on the causeway it is 3 USD per hour.
At the YMCA in Balboa internet is 1 USD per hour, in town it is usually 0.50 USD per hour.
We finally left Panama on 12th March, following a steady trickle of departures from the anchorage.