Originally Posted by Roameo

Hi Lynch, please keep all informed as I will be there in the new year and need to figure away across as well.

Originally Posted by panavalk

Views: 110
By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - Received today via email: "HEY DON! I enjoy your guide immensely. Thanks for all the news!! Do you have any current info please on the proposed ferry service to Cartagena? Yesterday, I went to the Port Authority in Colon, and was told that it's not happening. We also stopped into "Shelter Bay Hotel & Marina". Had a grand lunch there. Highly recommended! Best Wishes, Ted." Editor's Comment: It's being held up by the Customs Authority. This week the Director of Customs was on a television interview and someone asked her about the status of the new ferry service. She said they are in the process of training up their staff, hiring new people, and installing some additional equipment. This new ferry will be bringing in thousands of people and potentially hundreds of vehicles every week from Colombia. The short answer is - the government of Panama currently does not have the required infrastructure in place to be able to handle that level of new flow through that port facility, as the result of the initiation of the ferry service. I understand the actual ferry itself - the boat - is still in the Mediterranean providing service there, today. So, despite the press releases, public announcements, and plans to have started the service a couple of months ago, right now the government is forcing implementation to be slow-rolled, until they are up to speed with new people, training, equipment, facilities. I suspect it's going to happen, and I think the company behind this effort was moving faster than the government of Panama, so they put on the brakes. But with all of that having been said, I also have not heard anything indicating the ferry won't happen. Or, (without the double negative this time) I think the ferry service eventually will begin, some time in the relatively near future. Hope this helps. Oh yeah, the burgers at Shelter Bay are the best in Panama.

Originally Posted by Tom Udulutch

....sometime in early january.....ride with the boat or fly....what kind of time are we looking at?