Shopping:
The prices on this side of the Canal are about the same for most food and marine stuff as on the Colon side. However, there is much more available in food, services, and marine bits on the Balboa side and the fresh markets are much better.
Within the El Dorado Shopping Mall are an internet cafe, hair salons, shops, and Gran Morrison department store with a good selection of English magazines and books. There are many fast food places, computer stores, shops, and restaurants all within a block of the mall.
Activities and Attractions:
Amador - a former US Army Base, now a kind of Park Area with recreational areas, a Convention Center, Hotels, Restaurants, shops, etc apart from the Yacht Clubs and Marinas. Buying here is significantly more expensive than buying in Panama City.
Museo Bio at the land-end of the Amador causeway (the building looks like a colorful kids play house jumble) concentrates on different ecology exhibits.
Nearby in the YMCA is an artisan market with high quality handcrafted Panamanian souvenirs. You can find the best quality Wounaan and Embera Indian baskets, tagua nut carvings, woodcarvings, and Kuna Indian molas.
The Smithsonian Punta Culebra Nature Centre next to La Playita Marina entrance is well worth a visit.
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Notes from after our transit 10th March 2019
Panama City
Propane – you have to go to Chilibre, Panagas or Tropigas) ( to get your propane tanks filled. There isn’t any other place that we could find to get them filled. You can get an Uber for $15 ( one way ) but as we needed to wait and go somewhere else on the way we hired a taxi to take us, we agreed $40 total including our detour. If you want to go into the propane site yourself then you need to wear long trousers . They will come out and take them in for you.
It only cost $8 to fill 2 small galore gas and 1 small American gas bottle. They won’t fill your bottles if they are rotting.
Balboa Yacht Club
We took a mooring buoy after we had transited the canal and stayed for 2 weeks
There is a man who will take your tanks for you and get them filled. We don’t know how much he charges but he works on the launch ( water taxi) .
The swell from the boats passing here was not continuous and didn’t really bother us. We were there 2 weeks waiting to get work done on the boat.
The water taxi runs 24 hours, they get very busy when the tourist pleasure boats come back in – call on channel 6, not much English spoken and sometimes you have to call a few times. I thought at first it was because they did not understand, but we then had a local on board and it would seem they have the same problem. If you provision here and get to the yacht club then there are men with trolleys that can bring your stuff from the road to the pontoon. We tipped them $5.
We found Uber was cheaper and safer! Taxis don’t seem to have seat belts available in the back of their cars and they drive quite erratic.
We hauled out here and the guys were great. Cost for haul out was $206 for one day. We had help from 8 guys when coming into the slip and that was $30 paid in cash after we came out. We fixed our own propeller but there are people here to do every job. We paid $250 for 2 men to clean and polish the hull, clean the deck and Anti- foul some parts on the boat. I think I could have got it down to £200 but we were more than happy with the work.
There are washing machines and a tumble dryer ( in the boat yard), not the cleanest of places but the machines work and are only 50c a wash and 75c for drying.
There are toilets and showers there too but the ladies are always locked.
The bar/ restaurant is closed on Mondays and although it’s opening hours are stated as being open late every day, this is not the case. They also get quite busy and sometimes there is only one waitress. Best to order a drink at the bar and then take a seat to order your food.
January 22, 2018. I checked with respect to fuel at the Balboa Yacht Club. Email from Rex Jansen – BYCPTY: Herein confirming that the Balboa Yacht Club has diésel and gasoline available. Bob – sv HEDONISM
Reported by Royce Reid:
Laundry has always been a pain on the Pacific side of the Canal, but we found this guy: Moises Jiang. 507-228-6592, cell 507-6481 2611, email jiang2286592free@gmail.com.
He came and picked up and dropped off our laundry, clean and folded for $7. USD a load all in. IE no detergent bleach or hidden costs.
He called ahead of time to let us know he was coming back, speaks English and was on time…..and for the service, I felt it was super cheap.
It’s the small things that make cruising painful or bearable right?
The below comment is about La Playita Marina.
Posted on behalf of Hugh Pilsworth of BlueFlyer:
After an uneventful trip through the Canal, we arrived at the well-hidden Marina.
First impressions on arrival through the narrow and unlit, unmarked entrance, were good. This is a new Marina with power and water on the docks, which are wide and stable, with big dock cleats.
Security is via keycard to both enter and exit. The office is just at the top of the walkway and is heavily air-conditioned.
That is the end of the good impressions. The fees are outrageous, twice those of Shelter Bay and that was more than Red Frog Beach. The first night is US$150.00 plus water and electricity.
Thereafter it’s $2.00 per foot per night, the minimum rate charged is 40 feet! For a 2 week stay our cost, 49 ft, is $1470.00 plus 7% tax. That is $1573.00 plus water and electricity.
The toilets are bad and the shower had no hot water.
There are a large chandler and an ice cream shop next to the office. Restaurants, etc are a good walk away and Panama City is a taxi ride away. Albrook Mall is a 2-hour walk, so bus or taxi.
This would not be my favourite Marina by any measure, but the other marinas are either more expensive or for motor boats. There are mooring buoys at the Balboa Yacht Club, but I’m told that they cost $46.00 per night, presumably plus tax as well.
Vista Mar is a much better option: http://www.vistamarmarina.com/
Astillero Nacional S.A.
Vacamonte, Panama
They do NOT do long-term dry storage. There is an $80 per day charge to be blocked up.
Most marine rigging can now be done in Panama. DIMAR has opened Total Marine Supply and details of products and the location of Flexible can be found on http://www.flexocable.com
Total Marine Supply in DIMAR also has a wide range of marine products, parts and services. They are official agents for a range of products, including Rule/Jabsco pumps and an inflatable.
Increased Rates for Transients, Balboa Yacht Club, Panama City, Panama
Effective March 1, 2015:
Monohulls: $0.85 US per foot, per day
Multihulls: $1.00 US per foot per day
Adding the 7% government tax brings actual effective rates of $0.91 for monohulls and $1.07 for multihulls.
Rates include mooring ball (which will rub bright yellow paint onto your hull), water taxi service (dinghy’s not allowed in the mooring field), use of coin-operated laundry facility, free shower facilities, free water, free wifi (depending on location within the mooring field).
BYC does NOT sell gasoline and, due to permitting issues has been unable to sell diesel for the past 4 to 5 months. No one can say with certainty when they will be able to sell diesel again.
The new General Manager is Capt. Rex Jansen. The email address for checking on mooring availability is: bycmarina@cwpanama.net
Debi Shaimas
s/v Serenity
I am sorry to report that Juan of Gente De Mar cannot be used to handle laundry. On two occasions items have been missing and on the second occasion, my husband’s Columbia brand clothes and several other items were missing.
Juan said it was not his problem and offered no help. I replaced several items at significant cost and did not want the money, I just wanted him to inquire with his laundress. His response was shocking and rude.
He fills gasoline cans and propane cans for cruisers in the Panama City area but you can do this yourself much cheaper with a taxi if at least two boats get together. If you chose to use his services, expect to pay premium prices with no guarantee that he is using reputable service providers.
Nell Kellett
SV Moon Dancer
Posted on behalf of D. Laurin, S/Y Vimy:
I want to inform the yachting community about a top notch Electrical Engineer who is working both in Shelter Bay Marina (Colon – Panama) and out of Panama City/Balboa.
He is the first seriously professional electrical trained person that I have encountered in many years of cruising. This is the first time that I have bothered to make a comment about a Trade here or anywhere.
Name: Tom Valentine
Company: Marine Electric
E-mail: th.valentin@gmail.com
Tel: 507 -6666 2598