We arrived into Panama City in the early hours of the morning after a 17 hour bus ride from San Jose, Costa Rica - thank goodness for early morning taxi drivers who took us to our hostel so we could crash.
After a few hours' rest, we embarked on a walking tour of the old city and the town. There is so much history here and many of the buildings have been beautifully restored, but the poverty and the wealth sit juxtaposed. Not everyone has benefitted from the riches that exist in this financial center.
Our second day was spent at the Panama Canal. A place that has always sparked my imagination, especially since my days at ABP and AMPorts.
We only had a short time in Panama as by now the van was waiting for us in Cartagena. We joined S/Y Amande for a cruise through the San Blas Islands. Beautiful, untouched, sandy beaches. A great place to enjoy a different kind of Caribbean, but not for the unwary sailor. Nearly every island seemed to have some sort of ship-wreck on its reef.
This video was shot by one of our fellow travellers, Lars Volkers. Thanks Lars for sharing.
We headed out for open sea early as a storm was coming our way. Despite some large swells, we managed to avoid the worst of it as nothing particularly large came our way and it was good to be back at sea. Some dolphins joined us for a short while and we managed to catch a little shark on the fishing lines, but being far too small to feed us all, we released it! ;-)