Landing in Panamá again 13 years after our first arrival by sea to this country, we were looking forward to revisiting many of our favorite islands in the San Blas archipelago.

Arrival and check-in at Shelter Bay Marina went smoothly and we saw that not much has changed since our last stay here.

I was so excited to be surrounded by jungle again.

The ruins of Fort Sherman, the former US Army base, makes for amazing birding grounds and this was where my interest in birds and photography first started.

I immediately took to the jungle and also booked a birding day trip to the famous Pipeline Road area in Gamboa with Whitehawk Birding where we first met our friend Michael. There aren’t too may places that you can go and see over 100 bird species in a day. What a treat!

Birds aren’t the only animals living in the jungle…

San Blas

After getting a quick jungle fix, we sailed to the San Blas islands in Guna Yala province. It was as lovely as we remembered, with a bit more sailboat population, as well as more Guna expansion on some islands that were previously uninhabited.

It was very calm and hot in this time of year, which meant that getting close to the mainland or even to an offshore island brought instant bugs. In this situation, you need screens small enough for noseeums or you will be subjected to painful bites and itchy welts all over.

This dictated what anchorages to frequent. We mainly kept to open anchorages (which we could do in the calm weather) in the Coco Banderos, the Eastern Holandes (Swimming Pool) and the Central Holandes. Any other attempts at anchoring, say in the Hot Tub or Esnasdup anchorage, resulted in a quick retreat!! We also leaned on our Velair super efficient air conditioner at night to be able to sleep cool and bug-free.

The best part about the calm water was how inviting it was for snorkeling with my underwater camera. Mark visited all of his favorite fishing spots, but the fish weren’t home! It is possible that the waters were too warm, taking the fish offshore.

During our two month stay, we spent some time visiting… and snorkeling with cruising friends on Far Out, Tanagra, Siella, Basik and Mabul… as well as seeing them and Canace, all back in the marina. It is definitely more fun to share paradise with friends!

Near the end of May, signs of rainy season were showing. Ever since we were struck in the East Lemmons in 2011, lightning storms bring a sense of dread. We sailed Reach back to Shelter Bay Marina for the rainy season as we schemed up new adventures.

We were determined to explore more of Panamá inland this time around. As we have increasingly done over the past few years, land travel has become a big part of our travel goals. There are some places we can’t visit by boat after all! Visiting mountains adds diversity to our sea level existence.

Trips in 2024 include:

July ~ Volcán, Panamá
August ~ Bogotá, Colombia
September ~ Maryland, USA/Montana, USA
October ~ Darién, Panamá*
November ~ Florida, USA*
December ~ Medellin, Colombia

[*Michele only]

Volcán

Our first land trip of the year was a quick flight from Albrook in Panamá City ~ over Panamá’s vast green space ~ to Davíd, where we could visit friends Curtis & Theresa who live in Volcán. This town is located in the western highlands of Panamá between Boquete and the Costa Rica border.

We rented an AirBnB in the small town and based from there for birding in the Chiquirí Province. The birds here are unique in Panamá, sharing many regional endemics with Costa Rica. Target birds included the resplendent quetzal and the three-wattled bellbird, among too many more to mention here.

Flying over Lake Gatún at the Panamá Canal

Volcán is a scenic, rural area about 45 minutes away from the mid-sized city of Davíd. It has a mix of indigenous and local populace, with a small but growing expat community. There are surprisingly nice restaurants in the area and it has a comfortable, cool mountain climate.

Highlights include our visit and dining with friends, a Jeep trip to Mount Totumas Cloud Forest Lodge for birding, a birding day with Tamandúa Birding, and a morning with Birding Paradise. We were also completely charmed by Edna in a visit to Sitio Barriles Museum.

This is also coffee country, which makes for great birding. It was a real pleasure to meet the proprietors and bird guides of each of these expeditions and benefit from their local knowledge and expertise.

Bogotá

Colombia is one of our favorite countries to visit with people who are universally friendly. As a bonus, it is so easily accessible from Panamá. This time, we arranged a 10 day birding tour starting in Bogotá through Natural Selections Tours and ending with a city tour with Lina.

Bogotá is the largest city in Colombia at over 10 million, and was our starting point with access to the mountain reserve Chingaza to commence some high altitude birding up to 13,000 ft. We take acetazolamide pills when we jump to high altitiudes to help with oxygenation.

Our guide Ivan and driver Giovanni were great company all week as we traversed the Eastern Andes down one side and back up the Central Andes to Los Nevados at almost 14,000 ft, birding along the way. Ivan has deep local knowledge and a chill temperament that mutually suits our own birding style.

It’s hard to do the trip justice just hitting upon the highlights,,, which includes coooold mornings with traditional breakfasts of eggs, arepas, warm caldo soup and choice of hot cocoa/coffee/panela, the gut-busting lunch of bandeja paisa (country plate), fresh avocado with virtually every meal, the world’s best licuados (fruit drinks), hiking the Andes with many layers of jackets and pants, gorgeous paramo plants that live above the tree line, built to take up water and sparkle in the foggy midst, and of course the amazing birds that make these highland plains home.

We had a fantastic time and saw so many quality bird species in these specialized habitats. We plan to go back to cover the Western Andes next time. There are many more to see as Colombia as one of the most prolific countries for birding.

USA

Every year we manage to take a family visit in the USA. Maryland is a welcome haven for us to return to and a chance to bank some quality time with loved ones, including high school and college friends in the area.

We don’t always get to Michigan every year anymore, but have a trip planned for next time. Watching the next generation grow up is of the few ways that registers the passing of time.

This year, we incorporated a vacation with my parents to visit cruising friends Dave & Leslie in Montana.

They have a lovely place in Whitefish and we had a blast with them, following our handy spreadsheet c/o Leslie!

It had been too long and they need to hurry up and get their next boat soon ~ Lol.

Amazon packages received, doctors appointments attended, steamed crab fix ($$$), errands and walks and sports games and dinners pass by too quickly, but memories are made.

Later, Michele returned to the USA over Halloween to take care of some business in Florida and stayed the week to get in a visit with Beck. We go waaaay back to childhood in the old neighborhood as my sister’s best friend. She has managed a few visits with us on Reach as we have with her in Florida. It was great to catch up as we have the same vibe and get along so well.

Darién

In between trips, I went birding with Michael to explore Panamá’s best hotspots. We birded in areas where he grew up like Achiote Road and Escobar, as well as trips to Cerro Azul and Darién. Michael is self-taught in English and birding and is amazing to watch. There is not a bird sound or movement that he can’t detect and name instantly! We’ve been on more than a few adventures together this year.

With similar interests and his generous nature, we’ve become family friends and had several visits with his adorable young family.

We also got his help in driving to the city for several eye doctors appointments.

As an aside, Mark got new eyes ~ he underwent elective lens replacement surgery in Panamá City this summer… no more glasses!!!

Our Darién birding trip was a five day trip and we rented a truck to handle the rough roads. The main target bird was a harpy eagle, as a nest was found with a chick recently. It was rainy season, although we got lucky and had great weather. Still, muck boots required.

The trip was amazing, especially seeing some rare primary forest. The surrounding areas were rural, including indigenous Guna whose territory includes inland rivers, and indigenous Emberá. Rice farms were common across the swampy lands and teak farms were also prevalent. The logging trucks are one of the reasons that the Interamerican road is in bad shape.

We stopped in Torti for an overnight and then based in Meteti, with another hour drive the the literal end of the road in Yaviza. Interestingly, they are building a bridge across the Chucunaque River in Yaviza. Not sure if the goal is to one day finally connect Panamá to Colombia across the Darién Gap.

The harpy eagle was on a property of the Gonzalez family. They advised I take a horse for traversing the mud, which I gladly accepted. It was amazing to see the female harpy attending her one month old chick in the immense cupio tree. A huge life goal of a birder fulfilled.

The birding in this pristine area was such a great experience, more than I can go into here. After all of these birding trips… I have quite a photo backlog and will be back-filling eBird checklists with pictures for a while from now.

Medellín

In December, we hauled Reach out of the water to install a new solar arch. Since our aim is to sail in the San Blas through summer, we realized that we’d benefit from renewing our (6 month) visas. So we decided on a five day trip to Medellín, which is barely a one hour flight from Panamá.

This trip did not include birds - Lol. We re-connected with Lina from Bogotá and she gave us some recommendations and arranged a tour with her company La Mesa Food Tours. The tour took us to the city center and the Comuna 13 area, a revitalized barrio that was historically an epicenter of guerrilla, revolutionary, cartel and government conflicts.

We stayed in the Milla de Oro zone, which is a perfect walking area of the city, especially on ciclovía days when they close the streets for bikers and pedestrians. Mark and I got a lot of walking and eating in! It was a fun get-away.