The Las Perlas Islands are a small archipelago of islands 35 nautical miles southeast of Panama City. Most of these islands are uninhabited and difficult to access due to inaccurate charts, tight bays, and hard and sometimes invisible rocks.

We decided to head to the Las Perlas Islands as we had heard much about them from other cruisers and we also had some time given that we had our new batteries and we were not planning to transit the canal until Dec. 20th. Originally we had planned to visit the islands before Panama City, but that was impossible as there are no marinas or docks to tie up to when the batteries were not working.

We headed to the islands with 280 gallons of water. Our watermaker transducer had failed AFTER we received the new batteries, but we had ordered replacements to be delivered to Isla Contadora, the only island which has a runway and daily ferry access from Panama City. Isla Contadora is a small town with 2 very small shops selling some groceries, a scuba shop, coffee shop, Air Panama office, a few hotels and restaurants, but no marina, no dinghy docks and no potable water or fuel. Wealthy Panamanians use the island as their 'getaway spot', so there are also many gated private mansions dotting the shores. The transducers thankfully arrived, a day late and with our having only a quarter tank of water remaining. We had already envisioned making a mad dash back to Panama City to replenish water. Our heads have a freshwater flush, so water is a very important commodity!

The islands were pretty. Lots of smaller beaches, lots of mangroves, and pretty anchorages to kayak around, but little shorelife and no hiking on the islands, other than walking on the beaches. The water was wonderful to swim in - 85 degrees. We managed to find a few snorkeling areas, but they were not as plentiful as we had hoped due to the surge and the visibility was not as good as expected, probably due to the sandy bottom and wave action. We are beginning to realize what gems the Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound and the Broughtons are! We may not always be able to swim, but there is still lots to do.

We planned to celebrate my birthday by going to dinner on Isla Contadora. The weather changed quite dramatically during the afternoon and it started to POUR! Not to be deterred, Ken phoned the restaurant to ask if they might have a room available if we decided to stay the night. At the very least, we wanted to be able to kayak into shore in the rain, change into presentable clothes at the restaurant for dinner, change back into wet clothes for the return kayak back. It poured as we kayaked in, but let up enough for us to decide to kayak back after dinner (still raining, but not so hard!). Dinner was worth it though - a wonderful seafood platter with a variety of rockcrab, prawns and local fish and wine. Delicious and well-worth the kayak adventure.

Returning to Panama City, we decided to anchor at the Las Brisas anchorage, rather than the Balboa moorings. It was much quieter and comfortable without the pilot boats racing out at all hours. The only drawback was that the dinghy dock was in serious disrepair and the only access to shore. The ramp from the dinghy dock to the stairs was gone and replaced with a very tippy dinghy which one had to pull towards shore with a line. One then had to step onto very slippery steps or rocks during low tide and hope not to fall making one's way to the top. We had heard that some people had some very nasty falls, but we were lucky. Getting back to the dinghy was a similar exercise, but sometimes riskier when we were toting stuff back to the boat.

We were also told about 5 sailboats which had been hit by lightening the first week of September in this anchorage. All electronics had been wiped out, including refrigerators, heads, etc. Two couples from one catamaran had to rent an apartment nearby because their boat was virtually un-useable. Three months later, all boats were just completing their repairs and planning to move on in the new year. A long time to wait for parts, repairs and technicians ... Hearing that, we were happy that we made the decision not to leave Bagan in Panama for the rainy season!