THERE was a time, back in the mid-70′s, when the tiny island of Contadora was an ”in” place, the kind of trendy tourist mecca that Panama is now desperately eager to recreate. Hollywood stars and international jet-setters — John Wayne and Christian Dior among others — visited. An international treaty was signed there. In 1979, the shah of Iran lived for a few months in a private villa on this small paradise in the Pacific Ocean, some 40 miles off the coast from Panama City.

These days, Panama is looking inland, along the once off-limits Canal Zone, as it makes its bid for foreign tourists. Its latest attraction is the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, a stunning $30 million hotel on the banks of the Chagres River that offers eco-tourism with 24-hour room service, a very 21st-century mix of self-indulgence with a nature-friendly touch.

For a New Year’s holiday, a group of us — two families, with two adults and two children each — set off to try out Panama’s tourist destinations, old and new. After a five-hour flight from Newark International Airport, we arrived late at night in Panama City and by the next afternoon we were on a small plane, taking the 20-minute flight across the Pacific to Contadora.

The island is still largely unspoiled, although in truth, there isn’t much to it. It is all of half a square mile, big enough for several dozen villas (more are being built), a school, a church, a ”supermarket,” several boutiques, a cafe, a disco, a few bed-and-breakfasts and two hotels. Both hotels are perched on the northern end of the island, near the airstrip.

The island’s attractions can’t be explained by what is on it but by what is around it: clear calm turquoise waters that lap up onto smooth white beaches, a combination usually associated with the Caribbean and rarely found along Central America’s Pacific Coast. The Pacific has big tides and on Contadora, low tide is a dramatic sight, tripling the size of beaches and turning rocky shorelines into steep cliffs.

The shallow waters are ideal for young children. Older children will want to wait for high tide to get on one of the Jet Skis available for rent at the hotel beaches. Our best afternoon was spent on a two-masted sailboat hired through Las Perlas Sailing, which is run by a French couple. (They also offer other tours, including a spin on a banana-shaped tube pulled by a Jet Ski for $15 a child).

At a cost of $35 per adult, $20 per child, we set off with a three-member crew who took us to some of the outlying islands in the Las Perlas Archipiélago, our eyes peeled for possible dolphin or even whale sightings. Altogether the archipelago has 220 islands, but only a dozen are occupied. One, San José, was recently depopulated abruptly while the United States began to clean up chemical waste left there during World War II.

The guidebooks told us that the snorkeling would be good, and on our stop near one uninhabited island, we found that to be true. We saw large blue parrotfish and other fishes of various stripes and colors. What we didn’t see were the ”golden hair” jellyfish, which are virtually invisible but can be felt as they brush against your skin, leaving a rash that itches intensely for 10 minutes or so. And we never did see dolphins or whales.

Other excursions are possible — for instance, in a glass-bottomed boat that charges $15 a person per hour, but that we never did try out. Another outing we didn’t try was parasailing. There was also a local fisherman who picked up the enthusiasts among us in a motorized dinghy early one morning, and returned them three hours later with three fish (one caught using a wrench, rather than a lead weight, on the line). Another fisherman promised to pick up a slightly less enthusiastic group at dawn on another day and then failed to show up, leaving us to watch the pelicans rise to meet the sun.

There are several beaches on the island, some of which are most easily reached by boat. But the best is Playa Larga, which stretches out on both sides of the Hotel Contadora and ends in a point of land where pelicans like to roost.

To book hotel reservations or a tour, to find out about investment, real estate, or offshore banking opportunities in Panama, or to find out where to go and what to do in Panama contact us.

Email us at The Panama Club

+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)

THERE were no taxis when my plane landed on a Saturday afternoon in the town of Bocas del Toro, Panama. I hung around the terminal for a few minutes, then strapped on my backpack and started walking. Twenty paces later, fat raindrops began falling and I scurried under the wooden eaves of a tiny refreshment shack.

”Where are you staying? La Veranda?” asked the woman at the counter, in an English that had a heavy West Indian accent. ”Well that’s right over there,”

She pointed out a blue house, just on the other side of the small dirt runway, and I headed that way. The rain, and the urgency of settling into a dry place with my gear, had distracted me so much that it took me another 20 paces for it to register — I’d just had a conversation in English (West Indian-style) in Panama.

The Bocas del Toro Archipelago, on the Caribbean coast of western Panama, is a tiny enclave of English-speaking Afro-Antilleans in a Spanish country. History, politics and labor migrations have created a handful of these colonias, as they’re called, all along Central America’s east coast — Nicaragua and Honduras, for example, have the Garifunas, and there are Afro-West Indian communities in Limón, Costa Rica; Colón, Panama, and on the tiny Colombian islands of San Andrés and Providencia.

The colonia in Bocas Town, on Colón Island, came about because the United Fruit Company built a headquarters here around the turn of the century. The company hired Caribbean migrants, mainly from Jamaica, to work banana plantations. When United Fruit moved to the Panamanian mainland some years later, the Caribbean workers stayed on the islands, settling in to fish, farm and trade.

More than 100 years later, Bocas Town still feels like an abandoned company outpost. Walking quickly along dirt streets, I noticed that the houses were mostly wooden two-story cottages with identical silhouettes: wide porches; framed, shuttered windows; and, occasionally, wood gingerbread trim. Many appeared on the verge of collapse, others were well-maintained and boldly painted — red with green, yellow with blue. Laughter, music (gospel and B. B. King), and the sputter of old car engines being tinkered with drifted through the air — the sounds of Saturday on any small Caribbean island.

While I was intrigued by Bocas’s unusual past, I had other reasons for including it in my trip to Panama last January. With 9 islands, 51 keys and more than 200 islets spread across the lagoon of Chiriquí, the Bocas del Toro Archipelago is like a mini-Caribbean off Panama’s coast. But it gets a fraction of the Caribbean’s tourist traffic, and there are no resorts or big hotels on the islands, only small inexpensive guest houses. A national marine park in the lagoon, on the nearby island of Bastimentos, protects the archipelago’s nearly pristine reef for snorkelers and divers.

Shivering under a thin blanket on my last night in Panama’s mountains, I dreamed about swimming in blue-green waters, lying on empty beaches and snorkeling with the equipment I’d lugged from New York.

Bocas Town, the provincial capital on Colón, the archipelago’s main island, didn’t have much of a beach (the public beach there fronts on the ominously named Bahia Sand Fly), but it is where most travelers go because of its central location. From there I could rent little boats to take me on short day trips to the marine park, 20 minutes away, and to uninhabited islands.

By the time I reached La Veranda guest house, the rain had slacked to a gentle drizzle. I’d found La Veranda in a roundabout way. When I called a nearby guest house, Cocomo on the Sea, it was full. I asked the friendly sounding American owner if she could recommend something, and she suggested La Veranda, which wasn’t in either of my guidebooks (both had been published before it opened two years ago). I liked the name, picturing a house with a big, cozy porch. On this instinct alone, I called the day before I arrived in Bocas Town and booked a single with bath for $25.

Not knowing what to expect, I realized after I walked up the old wooden stairs to the big second-story porch that I’d stumbled upon a rare find — a cheap guest house with terrific style. Heather Guidi, a former nurse from British Columbia who bought and restored the house, had turned it into a funky Caribbean fantasy of blue, yellow, purple and sea-green walls, original wood plank floors, ceiling fans and gingerbread trim. In my room were many things that pleased me — thrift shop mirrors, a billowy white mosquito net, handmade chairs painted turquoise, and, beside the queen bed, a lamp that made me laugh with its shade speckled with tiny sea shells.

The large veranda had an antique sofa and comfy wicker chairs with batik cushions. There was a kitchen at one end, with a big refrigerator, a stove and a sink. ”You’re welcome to use it,” Heather said, and told me the grocery was two blocks away.

Lounging on the couch and chairs were three of my fellow guests, two blond crewcut men, and an earnest blond woman, in their 20′s. One young man was working on a computer, the second was cleaning the sink; the woman was reading the Bible. They were freelance missionaries from Colorado, on a break between projects in Central America.

I found this out because shortly after I unpacked, the rain came back, this time in exuberant waves, sheet after tropical sheet. There was little to do but sit on the veranda, chat and wait for a break in the clouds. A brief one did come, and I ran down the street to the grocery store, the ”Epicenter of Savings,” for coffee, milk, water, bread and cheese. On my way back, drops began to trickle down again. I scurried up the stairs as thunder began to roll.

It was not the rainy season, Heather said. In fact, it was the time of year that is supposed to have the lightest rainfall. This made me hopeful that tomorrow would be sunny. My mood lifted, and when the missionaries invited me out for a beer, I joined them.

The next morning, the sky was gray, but there were some breaks in the clouds that encouraged optimism. After fixing coffee and eating some fruit, I walked down Bocas Town’s main road to the town center in about 10 minutes. Along the harbor was a road lined with fishermen’s bars, dive shops and places that arranged boat excursions. I got as far as asking about a snorkel expedition when the gray clouds turned black again, and I headed back to the guest house pronto.

But the rain caught me in the middle of Calle 3, Bocas Town’s main street. I jumped onto a creaky wooden porch where an elderly man sat silently, watching the nearly-empty street. He’d caught my eye because his house listed about 30 degrees to the left and appeared to be only moments from collapse, and because he looked like a member of the Buena Vista Social Club, distinguished in a starched white guayabera. In an Afro-Antillean town, the man stood out, a reminder of Hispanic Panama.
His name was Don Mario, and when I introduced myself, he immediately got up and went back into his house. I heard some scraping and banging, and he emerged holding an old steel folding chair.

Rain pounded, I sat, and Don Mario entertained me with episodes from his 83 years, beginning with the time he ran off, in his 20′s, to Havana. ”Oh, mi amiguita, what a time it was!” he said, his eyes clouding wistfully. ”I danced in the clubs, I heard all the great musicians, saw the great comedians — it was the best time of my life.” More stories emerged, of his travels around South America on a merchant marine vessel, his adventures in Panama City during World War II. He did not explain in detail how he’d ended up as a tailor in Bocas Town, but I did find out what made his house tipsy: an earthquake in Bocas about 10 years ago. In any event, explained Don Mario, it would be torn down soon, for, like many Bocas old-timers, he was selling his property to an investor who would probably put up a little hotel, or a restaurant, to join the others now popping up along Calle 3.

After my conversation with Don Mario, I drifted along the main street, noticing now how tourism was reshaping the sleepy little backwater. There were three or four restaurants with Italian names and owners, and the clatter of hammers announced renovation and new construction. Over a terrific, simple lunch of fish and rice at Restaurante Kuna, run by Kuna Indians from eastern Panama, I overheard Latin men with mustaches speaking rapidly into cell phones, while their gringo lunch companions questioned them, in bad but enthusiastic Spanish, about real estate opportunities.

I realized I’d arrived in Bocas Town at that pause before the tourism machinery kicks in, before the friendly smiles of the locals turn into professional grins (or irritated masks). Suddenly, I didn’t really care if I ever used that snorkel here.

The rains continued to pass over La Veranda. Between downpours, I walked in the neighborhood, met the neighbors and explored the little piers that jutted out from the light brown crescent-shaped beach opposite Sand Fly Bay (which, happily, didn’t live up to its name). On one old wooden pier, a group of children sang me Spanish pop songs, spoke to me in the local English patois, and showed me how to fish with a plastic line.

And then, one afternoon, the sun appeared, and I ran down to the central docks. Suddenly, everything was in color: green sea, blue sky, little red and white boats. It was now or never — I hired a small boat (a bote) to ferry me across the bay to Isla Bastimentos (for $1), the next largest island in the archipelago, and home to an Afro-Antillean community that was preparing for a big carnival. (I had been eagerly reading the posters that announced the parades.)
In a tiny wooden vessel that had been carved, Indian style, from a single piece of wood, I set out with two boatmen, one talkative, the other strangely silent. Suddenly, about five minutes out to sea, the wind kicked up, sending the little craft slamming down with a loud thump. The silent boatman didn’t even flinch.
”Don’t worry,” said the chatty boatman. ”He’s deaf.”

”Deaf?”

”He can’t speak, either. We’re a team — he drives, and I talk.”

We put in at Isla Bastimentos, and I noticed there weren’t any other taxi boats. So I asked the partner to wait while I explored the island for around 30 minutes. I offered him an extra dollar, and he said O.K. Seconds after I turned my back, I heard the motor sputtering; the boat turned around and sped across the bay back to town.

Isla Bastimentos has one main street, about a half-mile long. At one end, women were playing drums and chanting and clapping carnival songs. At the other was an open-air bar jutting into the harbor. It was old and funky, with missing floorboards and a strong smell of rum and sea salt. Only after I walked in did I notice that the only other woman in the place was the bartender.

Soca music pounded and echoed across the empty dance floor, and so did my heart. Was I stranded? Had I taken enough cash in case I had to spend the night? Worst of all, the sky was turning into a gray soup again. My face must have telegraphed my panic because moments later, one fisherman had bought me a beer and another had gone to look for his neighbor. ”Yuh no worry,” said the neighbor in patois, ”I can take you back in my boat.”

The rain held off until just before we pulled into Bocas Town harbor. Then the sky burst, all at once, and the showers came down, thick, warm and comforting.

The bottom line: an island enclave

I spent $38.62 a day on food, hotel and transport during four days and nights in Bocas del Toro. Prices are in United States dollars, which are widely used in Panama. The international dialing code for Panama is 507.

Transportation

From David, in southwestern Panama, I flew to Bocas del Toro for $24. My flight back to Panama City cost $49.35. Both were on Aeroperlas, Panama’s main domestic airline; (507) 757 9341, on the Web at www.aeroperlas.com.

My guest house, La Veranda, was a five-minute walk from the airport. Water taxis, which leave from the main dock by the harbor, charge about $1 for the 15-minute ride to Isla Bastimentos. Boat owners congregate at the pier, offering various excursions; I would have gone on a four-hour snorkel trip to nearby Hospital Point if it had ever stopped raining. The price I negotiated was $8.

Street addresses are not commonly used in tiny Bocas Town; the streets, arranged in a grid, have numbers or letters. Most hotels and restaurants are on or near Calle 3, the main drag, which can be walked from end to end in 15 minutes. The airport is near the center of town.

Places to Stay

The four-room Veranda guest house, telephone and fax (507) 757 9211, www.laverandahotel.com, had a sense of personal style that is rare in budget lodgings. Rates are now $35 a night, but my large room cost $25 a night and had its own bathroom with a shower, a queen bed, and lots of shelves and pegs for hanging and storage. La Veranda doesn’t serve breakfast, but the guest rooms open to a large, airy veranda with couches, a dining table, chairs and a communal kitchen. Perhaps the only drawback is that it is two blocks away from the sea (guests have access to the hotel’s swimming dock).

If a sea view is a priority, I’d recommend the nearby Cocomo on the Sea guest house, (507) 757 9259, www.panamainfo.com/cocomo, a more upscale, more conventional place with an inviting deck overlooking the water, and four rooms, which I couldn’t inspect because they were full when I visited. Rooms cost around $50, with breakfast.

A budget standby is Las Brisas Botel, (507) 757 9248, where a rather drab, dingy room without windows is about $25 a night. The draw of the place is its spacious breezy deck overlooking the water.

Where to Eat

La Ballena, (507) 757 9089, is an Italian-owned restaurant on Avenida E one block off Calle 3. It’s upscale for Bocas Town — dinner entrees are $9 to $12 — but the portions are huge. My meal of tomato and mozzarella salad, followed by spaghetti with octopus sauce, could have fed two. The bill was $18 with a glass of surprisingly good house wine.

Kuna is an unpretentious restaurant across from Las Brisas Botel. Seafood dinner entrees (around $7) are served on a wide, breezy porch overlooking the main street. I had very good shrimp and calamari in garlic sauce, and returned the next night for grilled red snapper. There is no phone. DAISANN McLANE

To book hotel reservations or a tour, to find out about investment, real estate, or offshore banking opportunities in Panama, or to find out where to go and what to do in Panama contact us.

Email us at The Panama Club

+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)

To book hotel reservations or a tour, to find out about investment, real estate, or offshore banking opportunities in Panama, or to find out where to go and what to do in Panama contact us.

Email us at The Panama Club

+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)

To book hotel reservations or a tour, to find out about investment, real estate, or offshore banking opportunities in Panama, or to find out where to go and what to do in Panama contact us.

Email us at The Panama Club

+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)

So you’re planning your next vacation getaway to the Caribbean and you’re thinking about what kind of things you want to do in this beautiful part of the world. Laying out and soaking up some sun all day? Watching a gorgeous island sunset? How about snoozing the day away in a hammock? If this sounds like a waste of vacation time to you, and you want to spend your Caribbean experience enjoying more active pursuits, then have no fear; many of the Caribbean Islands offer more than just a day at the beach and picturesque sunsets.

Those travelers who are more into adventurous and active endeavors while visiting the Caribbean can spend your days with plenty of exciting activities. Try the popular sports of tennis and golf if you enjoy a little friendly competition. There are watersports and underwater exploration for those who want to get their feet wet. And nature-friendly eco-oriented endeavors allow you to become one with the great outdoors. All you have to do is decide which activity interests you the most, and you’re ready for all kinds of adventures during your visit to the beautiful and exciting Caribbean.

Caribbean Sports

A lot of hotels and resorts in the Caribbean have packages especially for tennis and golf players to accommodate sports-minded travelers. A lot of the major resorts in the region have tennis courts on location that are available to their guests and by reservations for those who aren’t staying at the hotel. A lot of the time hotels with tennis courts will offer tennis instruction for various fees, so even if you’re a beginner player, you can still enjoy some great tennis action on your vacation in the Caribbean.

If you happen to be in the Caribbean at just the right time, or if you plan a little bit in advance, you may be able to catch a professional tennis tournament during your stay. If you want to spend the daytime hours relaxing and soaking up some sun, a lot of hotels have lighted courts, so you can hit the courts at night, which may also be more comfortable than playing in the hot Caribbean sun. Keep in mind that you may have to pay a little extra for the luxury of lighting.

In order to guarantee that you get some much-coveted court time in the Caribbean, contact your hotel or other resorts near where you’ll be staying to see if they have courts available, if the courts are illuminated, and how much it costs to play. There are several islands in the Caribbean where vacationers can go to find great tennis courts and facilities, including the Dominican Republic, Aruba, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, which feature resorts that provide special tennis packages and top-notch facilities.

Golf is also a popular sport for many people visiting to the Caribbean. Golf can be a laid-back and relaxing outing, as well as provide some exciting competition. The beautiful tropical weather in the Caribbean is just right for enjoying a game of golf almost any time of year, and many of the region’s courses are located in beautiful breathtaking settings among majestic mountains and tropical greenery. Vacationers can find great golf courses throughout the Caribbean, but especially on the larger islands. The majority of courses are available to visitors and offer equipment for rental as well as golf lessons for various fees. The expenses of golfing on particular greens will vary from course to course, and can range from extremely pricey to budget play, so check ahead with the course or golf resort.

Golf players can find courses in the Caribbean that were designed by world renowned golfers and expert course designers. You can find exciting golf courses and golf resorts on many Caribbean islands with some of the best being in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

Making Waves

During your visit to the Caribbean, you’ll be surrounded by the amazing sapphire waters of the Caribbean Sea and sparkling Atlantic Ocean, so you’ll have access to a wide variety of watersports and other aquatic endeavors, like snorkeling, scuba diving, and fishing, just to name a few.

People from around the world come to the Caribbean to enjoy its offshore activities in the region’s warm, clear, blue waters. Beneath the calm surface of the Caribbean waters is a wondrous world of colorful and exotic ocean wildlife including brilliant fish and coral. Because of its fascinating underwater habitats, the Caribbean features some of the most popular dive destinations in the world, and is home to various resorts and hotels that focus especially on the diving aspect of visiting the Caribbean by offering special dive package.

Dive resorts and many hotels offer their guests equipment rental for scuba diving and snorkeling, and even provide scuba diving lessons and certification, because you must have a license and some instruction in order to get the most out of your diving experience.

Volcanic vents, Coral reefs, old shipwrecks, as well as other underwater formations make great places for scuba divers to explore, and can be an unforgettable experience for vacationers of all ages. The cost of your dive or snorkeling excursion will vary according to the kind of dive you take, when you go, and what kind of certification you want to get. Travelers can find great dive spots all over the Caribbean, but especially on the Cayman and Virgin Islands.

Other water-based pursuits that vacationers can enjoy while vacationing in the Caribbean include fantastic watersports like fishing which is a popular activity for many who visit the Caribbean, which has a countless number of fish species dwelling beneath the surface of the crystal blue waters. In recent years, windsurfing has become an extremely popular watersport in the region. Also, there is kayaking, parasailing, water rafting, and many other ways to enjoy the waves of the salty Caribbean.

Ecological Activities

For a lot of travelers, a trip to the Caribbean is the perfect chance to get back to nature. Several islands in the region boast lush landscapes and are home to a variety of exotic animal species. Travelers who are more ecologically aware can experience nature in the Caribbean in a number of ways, such as through hiking, camping, and mountain biking. To find out more information about outdoor excursions and nature-related activities, the best place to start is your hotel information desk, which may be able to provide you with maps of the island, the names and numbers of rental companies where you can get camping equipment and mountain bikes, and information on local guides that you can hire to show you around island trails.

Hiking is good exercise and can be a great way to see parts of islands that can’t be reached by car. Hikers can pick from a few different levels of hiking difficulty, from leisurely strolls to brisk uphill hikes and more strenuous treks. Mountain biking is also another way to get off the beaten path and see areas of the island you couldn’t see by staying in the city limits. Take a trip up the side of a volcano, visit a cascading waterfall, or do some exotic birdwatching. In the Caribbean the ecological possibilities are endless.

If you want your vacation to be an active and exciting one while in Caribbean, you won’t be at a loss for things to do in this amazing region of the world, which is rich in various sports and activities. You’re sure to have a memorable experience while enjoying active pursuits in the Caribbean.

About The Author

Danielle Mitchell writes for http://Caribbean-Guide.info , http://Jamaica-Guide.info , and other Segisys travel Web sites. © 2005, Interactive Internet Websites, Inc. Article may only be reprinted if it is not modified in any way, and if all links remain live.

To book hotel reservations or a tour, to find out about investment, real estate, or offshore banking opportunities in Panama, or to find out where to go and what to do in Panama contact us.

Email us at The Panama Club

+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)

2007 Special Early Opening Date: First of July (and not the 15th)

Between jungle and sea, Al Natural Resort has created for you a comfortable and private retreat, perfectly integrated into the lush tropical environment.

The resort elegantly combines the ancestral craftsmanship of the Ngobe-bugle indians with new technologies that allow us to harvest energy from the sun and limit our impact on the ecosystem.

The Bungalows

In order to provide each guest with maximum privacy, it is our goal to maintain an intimate scale for the resort, Al Natural is offering only six exclusive eco-bungalows, they are all on the beach with direct view to the water.

All the bungalows are stilt houses and provide occupants with uninterrupted views of the sea and surrounding flora and fauna. There are four levels of accommodation: Natural House, Superior Natural House, Two Story Superior Natural House and Three Bedroom Hexagonal Natural House.

Each NATURAL HOUSE is unique, and compose of a terrace, a complete private tiled bathroom with hot water shower, good lighting powered by a 12 volt solar powered electrical system, and one or two orthopedic Queen size beds with a custom made mosquitoes netting. Each bungalow is equipped with relax chairs, coffee table and a hammock. There are three Natural Houses to choose from: one NATURAL HOUSE, with one Queen size bed, one TWO STORY NATURAL HOUSE, with one orthopedic Queen size bed on each floor, (Please note that, in the upper room, fits just the Queen size bed and that the stairs to go up are a little bit steep), and one HEXAGONAL NATURAL HOUSE, with three separate bedrooms, two master bedrooms, with one Queen size bed in each, and one bedroom with two single beds or another kind size bed.

Each SUPERIOR NATURAL HOUSE provides the same comfort in a larger space with one or two orthopedic king size bed, one or two additional single beds, a wooden lounge chair, and a very efficient ceiling fan. We are offering two SUPERIORS NATURAL HOUSES, with one large bedroom with one king size bed and one or two single beds in each, and one TWO STORY SUPERIOR NATURAL HOUSE, with the master bedroom upstairs with an elevated kind size bed, and another separate bedroom, with two single beds or another king size bed, next to the bathroom downstairs.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Many airlines fly to Tocumen International Airport (Panama City).
Flights to Bocas del Toro depart from the domestic airport Albrook, in Panama City.
Aeroperlas and Mapiex Aero operates a one-hour direct flights daily ($ 100.00 round trip).

Land travel alternative: buses operate between the cities of Panama and San José (Costa Rica) with the port of Almirante.
Confortable and fast water taxis connect the port of Almirante to Bocas del Toro, at Colon Island.

Reservations with Aeroperlas can be made at www.aeroperlas.com. We can recommend to you accommodations in Panama City.

OTHER INFORMATIONS

Languages: spanish and english
Currency: the Balboa has equivalent value to the American Dollar. The only paper currency in use is the American Dollar.
Electricity: 110 volts
Vaccination: None obligatory
Tropical climate: The weather is warm all year round (yearly average temperature 27°C/82°F).
The driest months are February, March, September and October.
The rainiest months are May, July, November and December.
Panama is outside of the hurricane belt.

Contact
(507) 6640-6935
alna...@cwpanama.net

To book hotel reservations or a tour, to find out about investment, real estate, or offshore banking opportunities in Panama, or to find out where to go and what to do in Panama contact us.

Email us at The Panama Club

+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)

To book hotel reservations or a tour, to find out about investment, real estate, or offshore banking opportunities in Panama, or to find out where to go and what to do in Panama contact us.

Email us at The Panama Club

+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)

Grand Cruise Canals At A Glance

Most canals have been improved expanded over time
but only those with significant rebuilding are
noted as enlarged.

                                     First                  Locks or
Canal Name           Location      Completed    Length      Sea Level

Cape Cod Canal    Massachusetts     1914 (A)    7 miles     Sea level

Chesapeake &        Maryland &      1829 (B)   14 miles     Sea level
Delaware Canal       Delaware

Corinth Canal         Greece          1893      4 miles     Sea level

Kiel Canal           Northern       1895 (C)   61 miles     Locks at
                     Germany                                each end

North Sea          Netherlands      1876 (D)    5 miles    Four locks
Canal                                                       (varying
                                                             sizes)

Panama Canal          Panama          1914     50 miles     Six locks

Suez Canal            Egypt           1869     100 miles    Sea level

(A)--Enlarge for deep-sea ships 1940.

(B)--By 1927 a virtually new sea-level canal:
Enlarged for deep-sea ships in 1938.

(C)--Enlarged by 1914.

(D)--Enlarged several times to present
dimensions by 1930.

COPYRIGHT 2006 World Publishing, Co. (Illinois)
This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.

To book hotel reservations or a tour, to find out about investment, real estate, or offshore banking opportunities in Panama, or to find out where to go and what to do in Panama contact us.

Email us at The Panama Club

+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)

The United States may have handed over the Panama Canal, but the Smithsonian is staying to promote tourism.

U.S. COLONEL GEORGE GOETHALS wasn’t thinking about flora and fauna when he ordered the Panama Canal built to retain the maximum amount of surrounding jungle. But the howler monkeys and the hummingbirds–not to mention the scientists and naturalists who flock here to see them–have reason to thank him.

What Goethals had on his mind 90 years ago was security. He thought the scarcely penetrable tropical vegetation was the best protective barrier to keep any enemy troops away from the canal, construction of which was then drawing to a close under his leadership. Missiles and aircraft soon altered the military equation. But the jungle still crowds in as thickly ever, and now it is becoming the axis of a burgeoning environmental tourism strategy.

The ships of the world that chug slowly across the isthmus are passing through one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world–Panama has more bird species than the United States and Canada combined. When Goethals and his engineers flooded an area the size of Barbados to form Gatun Lake, across which the canal passes for half its length, the species of this area could only flee to mountaintops that soon became islands.

As early as 1923, one of these now isolated hilltops, Barro Colorado Island, was chosen as a site for a biological reserve. The island–which claims more plant species in its 1,500 hectares than exist in all of Europe–became one of the first protected tropical forests in the Americas. For more than 50 years it has been under the care of the Smithsonian, the famous Washington, D.C.-based institution. In 1966, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) was created in Panama.

So, while U.S. troops have left Panama and the canal itself is in Panamanian hands for the first time, the Smithsonian has stayed. According to Laura Flores, a former deputy foreign trade minister of Panama and now the institute’s director of business initiatives, it is seeking ways to become more involved in supporting the local tourist industry. “This office is a new way of interacting with the community, specifically the eco-tourism business,” she says, including forming new partnerships with tour operators using the Smithsonian’s scientific know-how. “They want quality input into their products. You cannot just show people a forest. You have to tell them what is happening there, add value.”

Mecca for science. The institute’s crown jewel remains Barro Colorado Island, or BCI, which has five species of monkeys, 60 species of bats and some 100 species of cockroaches. The Smithsonian’s tours of the island are restricted and highly prized: Only around 4,000 visitors get to make the guided trip around its jungles every year. “BCI is first of all, and will always be, a research station,” Flores says. “That is the main asset and why people come from all over the world. It is a mecca for science.”

Eco-tourism companies make trips around the island’s 48 kilometers of coastline and across nearby jungle peninsulas. Flores has redesigned the visitors center and is even thinking of offering tourists more opportunities to talk to the expert scientists, who spend weeks at a time studying life on the island. “The visitor program has been increasing,” she says. “We are exploring alternatives for improving access to BCI without disturbing the research that goes on.”

Nearby, private money is already pouring into tourism ventures, all of which have their attraction in the canal’s untouched jungle acres–and which are only now being exploited because the United States has completed its military pullout and left thousands of empty buildings.

Just south of Gatun Lake, for example, the Gamboa Rainforest Resort has opened, incorporating some of the colonial-style buildings that once belonged to the Panama Canal Company. And little pieces of history abound in the lush undergrowth–Manlio Vasquez, the resort’s architect, explains that, swallowed by the nearby jungle, is a former U.S. telegraph station. When President Wilson pressed a button in Washington in 1913, it was here that the telegraph signal was received that detonated a retaining dam and filled the canal with water.

The Smithsonian, lending the obvious prestige of its name, has advised the resort. “We have collaborated with them in putting their frog pond together,” Flores says. “They would not know how to put together that kind of facility.”

Swords into plowshares. One of the most intriguing ventures near the canal is the Canopy Tower. Entrepreneur Raul Arias has transformed an old U.S. radar station, once used to monitor drug flights, into an exclusive lodge. Now it monitors different flights: Its treetop-high geodesic dome makes a perfect observation platform for bird watchers.

Sol Melia, the Spanish hotel chain, is embarking on another swords-into- plowshares venture. It is opening a hotel in what was once the School of the Americas, the notorious army academy that hosted Panama’s own Manuel Noriega and other infamous Latin military leaders. And celebrated architect Frank Gebry–best known for Bilbao’s Guggenheim museum–is drawing up plans to develop Fort Sherman, another former U.S. base at the Caribbean mouth of the canal.

Through all this snakes the canal itself, still Panama’s No. 1 attraction. The Panama Canal Authority’s main visitor center at Miraflores, the first set of canal locks near Panama City, receives 300,000 visitors a year, according to Dilsia Alleyne, supervisor of the authority’s orientation services unit.

Despite its obvious selling points, the canal was never an active participant in the tourism industry. Now that Panama has taken over control from the United States, it will become so for a simple reason: For the first time, it is legally free to make a profit. Under U.S. control, the canal operated on a break-even basis.

So the PCA is preparing to build a larger visitor center at Miraflores. Alleyne’s canal guides are sometimes booked to transit the canal on board some of the 300 cruise ships that make the voyage each year, explaining its wonders to passengers. Once cruise ships passed straight through the canal, now some stop in Gatun Lake, giving tourists the chance of a closer look through various tours. The potential is huge.

As Alleyne says, “We are the only canal in the area. We have some unique things to offer.”

COPYRIGHT 2000 Freedom Magazines, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

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Neither geography nor geology, interesting subjects though they be, were on my mind one hot February afternoon when I boarded Radisson Seven Seas Cruises’ Radisson Diamond. An impending voyage would take us along South America’s Caribbean coast and through the incomparable Panama Canal to rain-forested jungles, but somehow the academic mindset for such a journey just wasn’t there–at least not yet.

After all, it was Carnival time in Aruba. Colorful floats, musicians and costumed dancers snaked through the downtown streets of Oranjestad. And as thousands of plumed and painted revelers whirled by to the beat of whistles and drums, we were too busy vying for camera angles to think about our departure from this island just east of Venezuela. English and Spanish blended with Papiamento, Amba’s hybrid language, on an island where cactus and mesquite grew over miles of arid, desert-like terrain. I gave little thought then to the radical changes in scenery that would unfold over the next eight days–an odyssey through both natural and manmade history that would, in effect, transport us through a few million years of Mother Earth’s existence.

In retrospect, it seems fitting that a ship with a somewhat alien appearance should take us on this diverse and specialized voyage through space and time. One of the few ships offering seven- and eight-day cruises from Aruba to Costa Rica through the Panama Canal, the Radisson Diamond, viewed from the side, looks like a modem, but conventional, cruise ship, resplendent in gleaming white and blue trim with a vertical profile rising nine decks. The radical distinction, however, arises from a bow or stern angle. She is a 420-foot/350-passenger giant catamaran, resting on two narrow hulls. Each has a submerged, computer-controlled fin, which significantly negates the rolling effects of the sea, a feature that would prove its worth later in the cruise. The innovative SWATH (Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull) design, which gives the ship a deep draft of about 25 feet and contributes to a relatively slow speed of 12.5 knots, also provides a wide beam of 103 feet and a lot of open deck space.

Built at Finnyards OY in Rauma, Finland, and launched in 1992, the ship turns heads wherever she goes on her around-the-world itineraries. In November, she repositions from Europe to the Caribbean, and nowhere is she more remarkable. In a land punctuated by colonial history, primitive indigenous natives, untamed jungles, and a canal whose locks afford her a scant three-and-a-half-feet clearance on either side, the Radisson Diamond is unique among all other vessels.

“She was originally built for charters, with luxury and individual attention in mind,” said Harald Bernberger, the ship’s hotel director. “She was also built for stability and for people who are dubious about cruising. At the same time, our mission is to provide high quality and a level of service where just being nice isn’t enough.”

The objective was evident the minute we boarded. A smartly dressed and congenial stewardess, one of 206 officers and crew, showed us to a 193-square-foot balcony stateroom on deck 7. The balcony itself was another 50 square feet and totally private, a feature we would thoroughly enjoy every day in the tropical climate. The large dining room was the next delight. The ship has an open-seating, no-reservation policy for dinner from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., with a wide assortment of table configurations for whatever mood you might be in, and a highly professional dining-room staff. We never sat at the same table twice, and joined new friends for dinner when we desired. And we were delighted one evening by the alternative restaurant, Don Vito’s Trattoria, where a five-course Italian dinner was punctuated throughout by a spirited performance from the dining-room staff.

The ship’s mission also includes minimal concern for extra costs. There was no charge for Don Vito’s food and entertainment, no charge for staple items such as bottled water, and absolutely no tipping anywhere on the ship. Our cabin stewardess also supplied our stateroom refrigerator and bar with our favorite drinks.

We had spent Saturday night at the Radisson Aruba Resort, and Sunday morning playing golf at Aruba’s desert-by-the-sea Tierra del Sol course, so when Monday morning rolled around, we were just rising and stretching our limbs on the veranda when the ship pulled into Curacao, our first stop. We opted for an animal encounters snorkeling trip rather than shopping and sightseeing in already familiar Willemstad. Later, when the ship slipped down the harbor channel toward the open Caribbean, I felt my first twinge of anticipation. The soft twilight lit the Dutch architecture of the waterfront buildings as we turned west toward Latin America. Cartagena, Colombia’s walled and historic city, lay ahead. But first, a day at sea–and some mind-opening information about where we were going.

Most of the seats in the Constellation Center lecture hall were full for the first of three lectures by Dr. David Pasta, a retired oil industry geophysicist and geologist. A ship’s profile on passengers identifies most as age 45 and up, well-educated and experienced travelers, whose motivation for frequent cruising is based mainly on destination and itinerary. The morning lecture on “plate techtonics” held their attention. It dealt with the formation of the Caribbean and the resulting biodiversity of the Central American region where we were headed–a land where converging geological plates once squeezed together, forming an isthmus with an astounding variety of plant and animal life.

This was, of course, the same isthmus that confronted and frustrated Spanish explorers in the 16th century as they searched for a way around the world to the treasured spices of India and the Orient. But if they had found a way through back then, the city of Cartagena would never have become the main goldshipping city of the Americas, and the second most important commercial city of the 17th century New World (after Mexico City). Penny Zeilman, the shore excursion manager, told us that 97 percent of the Radisson Diamond passengers did the worthwhile city tour of Cartagena, our next port-of-call, so we combined this with our own meandering review of the walled inner city. A central cathedral is surrounded by narrow streets whose colonial buildings and second-story balconies drip flowers and ferns. We wandered through jewelry shops along the congested streets, and detoured from the onslaught of street vendors hawking T-shirts and other souvenirs.

Cartagena is a gem in itself, and certainly a Colombian showcase for tourists, but here on the northern tip of South America we felt poised on a springboard, ready to launch toward what we considered the two main objectives of this cruise–the transit and history of the Panama Canal, and the ecological wonders of Costa Rica. The only passage that still stood between us was a somewhat rough night at sea and the hundreds of tiny atolls known as the San Blas Islands. Attendance in the dining room was noticeably sparse that evening, but the rolling motion of the ship, we were assured by veteran Captain Dag Dvergastein, would have been even less comfortable aboard a mono-hull vessel.

By early morning we were back in calm seas. The San Blas Islands–which appear to pop up like a chain of green, tropical, palm-studded gems salted on a blue sea–spread out before us almost in a straight north-south line. Penny Zeilman had been tentative in her recommendations here. “People come back either loving it or hating it,” she told us. The Kuna Indians have lived in eastern Panama for the past couple of centuries, and about 40,000 of them live today on about 40 of the San Blas Islands. The islands are so tiny, and the bamboo-sided, thatch-roofed dwellings so congested in each commune, that visitors can feel uncomfortably close here.

On the positive side, the Kuna women are known worldwide for their “molas”–brightly colored cotton squares cut, embroidered, and quilted into geometric patterns and designs based on nature and sold as crafts. Designs are elaborate and never exactly the same. The Kunas, who govern themselves independently from the rest of Panama, are generally reticent people. Men, who fish and travel to the mainland for supplies, are rarely seen by daytime tourists. Women, in addition to making and selling molas, adroitly pose themselves or their children for photos in exchange for mandatory modeling fees.

The islands are well within sight of the coastline, and by dawn the following morning the Radisson Diamond was already headed up the dredged approaches to the first three sets of locks of the Panama Canal. We would spend a full day and much of the evening transitting the 50-mile-long canal in one of the highlights of this trip, beginning with an early morning lift in the Gatun Locks and a visit to the Gatun Yacht Club, a remnant of the old Panama Canal Zone. Passengers were tendered to the club, which features folkloric dancers, arts and crafts from three different indigenious Indian groups, plus great views of the lake with ships anchored or in transit.

We also opted for a rain-forest tour, which was part hiking, part riverboat cruise on the Chagres River. It flows from Panama’s high country to the sea, and damming it in the construction of the canal during the early 1900s is what formed Gatun Lake. More Kuna Indian molas were for sale back at the yacht club, but more intriguing were the needlework, brightly dyed fabrics, carvings, baskets, and other products displayed and sold by the Wounaan Indians. They had come from their village many miles distant with Peace Corps volunteer Sue Kozacels of Santa Fe, New Mexico, to be on hand for visiting cruise ships.

Meeting Sue and her friends, along with the dancers and staff of the Gatun Yacht Club, was an unexpected and pleasant addition to our entry into the new world of the Panama Canal, which was formally returned to the government of Panama by the United States in 2000. Onboard the day before, Dr. Pasta had lectured on the canal, from its origins with the French in the 1800s to its geological complexities. And as we headed south-southeast toward Gaillard Cut, the narrow nine-mile channel across the Continental Divide, it became clear why so many lives were lost in so many construction disasters due to landslides. We watched the steep and rugged rock and shale hillsides slip by our balcony, and much later that night the lights of Panama City were clearly visible off our port side as we passed under the Bridge of the Americas and into the Pacific Ocean. While we were glad the cruise line was responsible for the $40,000 toll, the experience was well worth the anticipation.

The next morning, I stepped out onto the balcony and froze, midstretch, in surprise. There before us as we cruised along the coast was a bounding pod of bottle-nosed dolphins. Was this our Costa Rica welcoming committee? It seemed fitting for a country widely known for its wildlife, rain forests, volcanoes, and ecological adventures. On our last night, we had dinner with our lecturer, David Pasta, and his wife, which offered us more enlightenment on this area, as well as a recap of his final talk on biodiversity, volcanoes, and global warming. By now, images of Aruba Carnival revelers had dimmed, and my mind was ready for more natural phenomena.

From Puerto Caldera, where we debarked the Radisson Diamond, we traveled west by car, visiting first a park and then a mountain village where a rodeo and fiesta were in progress, en route to our San Jose hotel–a small, European-style property called the Hotel Le Bergerac, complete with a French restaurant. A full day “Costa Rica Highlights Tour” followed, which included breakfast at a coffee plantation, a trip to the Poas Volcano crater near San Jose, lunch at the Selva Verde Jungle Lodge, and a jungle river trip. Iguanas, monkeys, crocodiles, sloths, and birds were among the many residents of the forest, and our experienced riverboat guide astutely pointed them out. Total cost of our entire two-day stay in Costa Rica, a major highlight of the trip, was less than $450.

Brochure rates for the Radisson Diamond Aruba to Costa Rica cruises through the Panama Canal start at $2,396, per person/ double occupancy. For more information contact your travel agent or Radisson Seven Seas Cruises (Cruise Travel Magazine), 600 Corporate Drive/Suite 410, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334; or log onto www.rssc.com.

COPYRIGHT 2002 World Publishing, Co. (Illinois)
This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.
From: Cruise Travel   |  Date: 11/1/2002   |  Author: Kerr, Jim

To book hotel reservations or a tour, to find out about investment, real estate, or offshore banking opportunities in Panama, or to find out where to go and what to do in Panama contact us.

Email us at The Panama Club

+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)