The Perlas Islands consist of 200 small and a handful of big islands, a few small villages, dense jungle and numerous reefs and beaches. One could spend months here and not even see everything.

Our first stop was Punta Cocos on Isla del Ray. After 5 days of sailing from Ecuador using a 3 hour on watch/ 3 hours off watch system the first order of business was a few hours sleep, exploring the island could wait until we could function again. Once rejuvenated we went ashore and we were welcomed by a shell covered beach, tall palm trees and dense jungle. It was pretty spectacular scenery and we were beginning to feel like cruisers again. We stretched our legs by hiking up to an old WWII landing strip, which was still in great condition. There happened to be a small private plane on the runway but we decided not to draw attention to ourselves, afterall who knows what sort of items they were transporting. The following day we jumped in our dinghies with s/v Zephyrus and headed over to Isla Santelmo, which was approximately 5 miles away. We went at low tide intentionally in order to see an old submarine; apparently a privately built sub in the 1860's that was used for pearl farming at one point. It was small and primitive looking but definitely a sub (pictures will be in the Photo Album soon). We also walked the white sandy beaches on Santelmo. There was a 15ft tidal change in the Perlas, which means that often there is no beach on the islands unless it's low tide.

After 2 nights at Punta Cocos we headed over to Isla Pedro Gonzales. Along the way, Kent caught a mahi mahi so it was ceviche appetizers and fresh fish tacos for dinner that night. We hadn't missed a beat while in Ecuador; turns out we remembered how to do this cruising thing after all! The bay we anchored in at Pedro Gonzales was among our top 3 favorite anchorages of all time. It is completely protected and the beach is perfect for shell collecting and walking at low tide in the afternoon when the shade of the dense palm trees minimizes the sun's strong temperatures. There is one small shack on the beach and a few fishermen use the bay to work on their boats but other than that we were the only people there. It was paradise.

Next stop was Isla Contadora as it got us closer to mainland Panama. Isla Contadora is the only touristy island in the Perlas. In the last few years, it gained attention and major resort development took place after the TV show 'Survivor' filmed a season on a small neighboring island. We have cruising friends who visited the set which remains intact when they were here a few months back; but we are not 'Survivor' fans so we spent our time snorkeling in the warm clear waters over the acres of coral that surrounds Contadora. Oh, you will all be interested to know that we were anchored off of Panama's only official nude beach but so far there have been no interesting sightings to report on. And no, we did not go ashore there.

It feels great to be cruising again. It had been too long since we had used our snorkel gear, swim 'noodles' and kayaks. The Perlas Islands were absolutely beautiful and we could have spent more time here but we must push on to Panama in order to check into the country, start the canal transit paperwork process and get a few things on the boat looked at/replaced.

Picture above is of Hiatus and Zephyrus anchored at Punta Cocos on Isla del Ray, Las Perlas.