It has been a great couple of days we have either visited or anchored at some 6 islands in the past 5 days! Each alittle different, all with great crystal blue waters and beautiful lush green hillsides! Not much in the way of flowers but palm trees, mangroves, and a host of huge trees and brush. One island's beach was a mix of white and black volcanic sand to make for an interesting pattern as the waves made the beach look more like an "etch-a-sketch" board! Lots of little hermit crabs and sand crabs around and the sound of the howler monkeys at dusk and morning really adds to the ever present whoosh of the ocean swells on the shore or against rocks to make just sitting and listening a joy! Speaking of joy, I was OVERWHELMED when leaving one of the anchorages in the Islas Secas when Rob spotted the tail of a whale just sitting in the water! We killed the engine and watched for the next 30 minutes at what we believe was a mother whale, nursing her calf (maybe 2 of them)! We got a couple of great tail in the air shots and were close enough to hear the rhythmic exhaling of the large mother whale. It was very cool! The night before, in the same area, we were lucky enough to also have seen these whales playing and jumping alittle about 300 yards off of our stern. In fact the larger mother whale breached the water going straight up and from the viewpoint of the other boat traveling with us, looked like she came out of the water and was as tall as our mast is high! As is typical, our cameras were not in our hands at that time, but no doubt we were just in awe of the sight that I'm sure I would have just dropped it anyway. All of this action happens in like 5 minutes time, which feels like just seconds! But has left a lasting impression in my mind! Continuing on to a set of islands that are owned by the "Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute" that were very nice and very expensive to anchor at...We were visited by a park ranger at 9am (we arrived late the day before) and told that it would be $100.00/night per boat just to anchor! We immediately all agreed that while helping to support their "research and national preserve, that was just way too pricey.. We checked our charts and cruising guides and just motored about 6 miles to the next anchorage!.....For Free!!! That too was a private island owned by some "Liquid Jungle Labs, Inc" and had a few signs posted, but the anchorage bared no cost and the snorkeling was just as good! We stayed here for a couple of days then prepared for our 2 night passage to "the best cruising grounds in Panama...Las Perlas Islands" So far what we have seen has been pretty darn terrific and really look forward to spending a few days there!