In the morning at 0800 I finally started inbound clearance procedure.

First customs clearance at the marina. It ended with a surprise. The officer asked me pretty quickly for my cruising permit for Panama and I showed it to the officer. Although the document states that it is valid until May 2023, he said it is not valid anymore because I was once out of Panama with MaRe. A new one cost again 185 USD and I need to go to Colon. Going to Colon and get it there takes at least 3 – 4 days as it isn’t issued immediately. He knows that, and after a few minutes he made me a great offer: 150 USD here immediately or 185 USD at Colon. Sure, everyone takes the 150 USD option here and within minutes. But now it comes. He took the 150 USD and then my original cruising permit and pointed to the validity periode and showed me that it is valid until May 2023. Thus, 150 USD straight into the pocket of the customs officer. “Smart” way of making additional money.

Then, for immigration I needed to go to Portobello. Via the marinero Kevin I ask if Ari can drive me again to Portobello. She not only drives me there, but she also knows what I need and makes the talking. Very good, very efficient, especially when you have “smart” administration staff as the customs officer. All was done quickly. As always with plenty of copies of all documents. I guess, in Panama there are already at least 10 copies of my passport and the boat registration document.

Ste who came along did a bit of shopping and then we drove back to Linton Bay Marina, but speed quickly to but fruits from a dealer along the roadside.

In the mid of the afternoon, Ste & sons took a water taxi to Isla Grande and I did some work at MaRe, including laundry.

And then it started raining. “Raining cats and dogs” does not describe anymore the amount of water, which poored down. All Panama Canal docks opened their gates the same time to let all water out; this describes sufficient well the amount of rain water coming down. Fortunately, I did not need to work outside MaRe’s cockpit. This down poor lasted – like indicated by ECMWF – until about 1830 and then stopped. Thus, I thought the ECMWF model predicts also the rain during the night very well. There was no rain forecasted the night and even not for the next days. Ok. Another round of laundry and all dries during the night.

Conclusion: never trust the forecast! It rained several times heavily during the night and all the laundry got rinsed again…