Las Perlas Islands
Bondi Tram
Peter Colquhoun and Sandra Colquhoun
Tue 10 May 2011 23:12
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Leaving Panama for the Galapagos, we stopped off for a few days R & R
and boat bottom cleaning in the
Las Perlas Islands which are about 60 miles south of Panama City.
On the way out we passed the absolutely immaculate Mexican navy's sail
training ship....
 ...and this fishing boat, a long line tuna boat (known as an American Tuna
Clipper).
They have a spotting tower and can land a helicopter on the bridge
deck. Big
money in tuna.
 Also some boobies sitting on a log....
 .....and lots of trees which we definitely did not want to hit.
 The first island we went to is Contadora, an upmarket haven for Panama's
most
wealthy.
   The small airport bisects the islands.
 The most famous past resident was the Shah of Iran, who spent his last
couple
of years here after being ousted by Ayatollah Khomeini. Didn't get to
see the
house but the driveway was pretty impressive.
 We moved 2 islands south to Mogo Mogo, another famous island...this
was where
the first "Survivor" series was filmed.
   The amount of bird life was amazing. Here are pelicans heading
somewhere.
There are a lot of fish around, so I guess it's a good place for birds that
fish for
food.
 Our own survivor challenge...find a list of flotsam and jetsam. Here
is the winning
team, Lynn from Steel Sapphire, Cheryl and Chelsea from Connect 4 and
Sandra
behind the camera. Should be no surprise the ladies won, it's a bit
like shopping.
 Moving down the coast to the little island of Esperitu Santo, which is just
off the
large island of Isla Rey. A very sheltered anchorage popular with the
fishing
fleet who spend the day at anchor and fish all night.
 A catamaran on the beach for hull cleaning. We did it under water, an
inch thick
layer of barnacles and other creatures accumulated in Shelter Bay was
causing
us to lose a knot in boat speed.
 A visit from the Easter bunnies on Connect 4 bearing Easter eggs.
 The next anchorage south was off the mouth of the Rio Cacique......
 ....which was not flowing much as it is the end of the dry
season......
 ...and the mouth of the river is shallow with a surf running, so we weren't
able
to take the dinghy in......
 ....but Sandra managed a bit of body surfing.
  Nature's artistry....patterns in the sand made by waves and tide.....
 ....almost 3 dimensional.
 Leaving the beach we were swamped by a wave and that was the end of
our
camera, though fortunately we were able to retrieve these
pictures.
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