In Praise of Shelter Bay Marina

Created by sue. Last modified on 2009-12-13 20:01:45
Countries: Panama

Shelter Bay marina is easily the most convenient and comfortable place to stay at the Caribbean end of the Panama Canal. Some cruisers appear to be concerned about the cost, though this compares very favourably with similar facilities and indeed is much more competitive than many. This, despite the monopoly position which Shelter Bay enjoys.

For your berthing fee you get a well designed and well maintained marina with high quality floating concrete docks, choice of electrical connection and good water quality and pressure. There is a good bar/restaurant with free pool table, a great clean swimming pool and hot tub, a large cruisers common room with internet points and satellite TV and of course the free shopping bus to Colon. Good WiFi covers the marina for $10 a week. The bathrooms are large, clean individual suites and there are plenty of working laundry machines. Security in the whole area is excellent.

If you're planning on work on the boat, there's a large travelift and you're welcome to use the workshop facilities - much more comfortable than struggling on the pontoon.

And the thing I like about Shelter Bay is that they do try hard to get it right. The owner walks the docks regularly to solicit feedback from cruisers, and if there's any problem, it does get fixed

(rates example at December 2009 - 66 cents a foot per day for a 40-50 foot boat for stays of 7 to 29 days)

A note on Canal Agents and the "Buffer" / Deposit

There is a wide range of cruisers' experience of Canal Agents and concern about the costs for what is already an expensive 35 miles of motoring.

One point which seems to have been missed is that certain agents will handle the "buffer" / deposit for you and their funding and attention to the buffer is included in their fee. This means that you do NOT have to provide the $850+ buffer and therefore you do not need to wait for up to a month to recover it once you've transited.

Michael Pass
SY "Blue Sky"