We recently had a seven-day catamaran charter at the Pearl Islands, Panama, with a wonderful Latin American family. This is the account of this spectacular adventure:
Set sail Friday at 9 a.m. Amador Causeway. Our catamaran charter at the Pearl Islands begins
35 nautical miles separate the northern part of the Las Perlas Archipelago from Panama City. After a few hours of navigation, we entered the Archipelago of Las Perlas from the north, passing in front of the Pachequilla rock and its banana harvest and then Pacheca Island with its local community of frigatebirds.
First stop: Bartolomé Island at 2:30 pm. We went on an expedition around this little island. According to the captain’s ranking, Isla Bartolomé is among his top 3. That day we spent the night anchored to the south of Contadora Island in front of La Sueca beach (nudist beach).
On Saturday we got up early and decided to move the boat a few meters from the shore at a depth of 2 meters (6,56 ft), in this way we went down to the beach while some others went snorkeling from the Catamaran. Subsequently, we sailed to Chapera Island, anchored to the south of the island with a spectacular sunset, while we enjoyed a gin and tonic and a variety of snacks. We were able to see what was coming with the crescent moon, therefore, we knew that on the last night of our stay (a full moon), we were going to have a simultaneous show with the full moon rising from the east and the sunset from the opposite side to the west.
Sunday at the beach and Monday discovering the San Telmo submarine
On Sunday, we woke up in Chapera and went down the dinghy to conquer the island’s beach while enjoying a bite of tropical fruits. Later on, we sail to Vivero Island at an average speed of 8.5 knots. We gybed in the open sea with a breeze to continue going down under sail, we lined up to go straight into the cove of the island’s anchorage under pure sail with the sunset in front of us. Suddenly, we caught 2 Spanish mackerel just for dinner! When we reached the cove we dropped anchor and with what little light was left the captain took the opportunity to fillet both fish to maintain freshness and make a ceviche, it couldn’t be fresher!
On Monday, we wanted to get to the San Telmo submarine at the southern end of the Archipelago. The crew turned on machines at 5:30 am and we took the opportunity to make a quick stop at Isla Caracoles, with its small cay. It had not been long when the cay began to disappear with the tide, so we raised anchor at 8:30 am and set sail to San Telmo Island. After that, we had a good sailing off these beautiful and unexplored coasts. We took out a dorado and the captain proceeded to fillet and make his customary ceviche, this time with avocado. Then, we visited the San Telmo submarine and had a BBQ lunch. At 2 pm we set sail back north to spend the night south of Bolaños Island. Very good anchorage, one of the calmest of the whole ride. There was even Wifi!
Amazing snorkeling and uninhabited islands: ¡pleasures of a catamaran charter at the Pearl Islands!
On a catamaran charter in the Las Perlas archipelago, the group decides the adventures and islands to visit each day, in other words, get creative with how to spend your days! On Thursday we first went to Boyarena Island, which is an island that disappears at low tide. Here, we established the record for the best snorkeling. When the tide rose and the island of Boyarena gradually disappeared, we decided to raise anchor and went to the cove of Mogo Mogo, which is only accessed with the rising tide. This island has several beautiful beaches (this is where several seasons of the Survivor series have been filmed). Its particularity is how calm and crystalline its waters are and also that the sand is always full of colored shells.
¡Close encounter with whale sharks!
On Wednesday, we woke up on the beach in front of Chapera and we enjoyed the beach all day. That same day another vessel from the company was coming so we took advantage and made a special delivery order of tonic water for the gin and tonics.
After lunch, we go up anchor to make a long sail to Pedro Gonzales Island on the west face of the Archipelago. Just after setting sail we crossed a fin that looked like a fairly large shark, we saw that it moved serenely and relaxed so we approached the boat and we were surprised that it was a whale shark, suddenly we saw that more appeared on the horizon. There must have been more than 50 whale sharks around us.
The rest of the sailing to Pedro Gonzales was pleasant, under sail. At 5 nautical miles outside the islands, we fished another Spanish mackerel, the largest of the trip That night we spent in the Don Bernardo cove in front of the Pedro Gonzales island project, where we found excellent protection from the waves. That night was a full moon, which we enjoyed while having a good sierra carpaccio with wasabi and soy.
At dawn on Thursday, we set sail early to anchor at Isla Señora and enjoy the morning before dropping off the family at the Pearl Islands marina, where they would stay for a few additional days. To sum up, we had an experience to never forget!
Want to see more of our adventure? check this video!:
If you also want to enjoy a catamaran charter adventure in the Las Perlas archipelago, Panama, contact us now!
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