One Beautiful Day in Panama

Who?  Jeff Lane  Where?  It’s not all sunshine in Panama.  And it’s not always a brilliantly colorful sunset.  But it can still be very beautiful.  In this photo, a boater heads home at day’s end among the islands of Bocas del Toro in northwest Panama on the Caribbean coast.

Photographer: Jeff Lane  Where?  Panama has frogs, but don’t jump to conclusions.  Frogs up north may not be thought of as pretty, but our frogs come in many colors and they are as pretty as a frog can get!  These little fellows live in Bocas del Toro, an island region in the far northwest of Panama.

Photographer: Jaime Toro Where? There is something very soothing about the ocean. Just being near it is calming and relaxing. Indeed, this can be true even when there is plenty of activity, as with these fishing boats off the coast of Contadora Island in the Pearl Islands, not far by air and sea from Panama City. But unlike the city, “traffic” here actually adds to the relaxing environment.

Photographer: Jaime Where? It’s amusing. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists come to Panama City on vacation. They come to see the Canal, walks the streets of Casco Viejo, have fun in the casinos, and any number of other things. So do those of us who live here not take vacations? Of course we do. Where do we go? Many places, one of them is this hotel on Isla Contadora, one of the Pearl Islands in the Pacific, a short plane or boat trip from the city.

Photographer: Jaime Toro Where? How nice to find an unexpected visitor as you return to your hotel room! Such was Jaime’s experience when visiting Contadora Island in the Pearl Islands off the coast of eastern Panama. His new friend is a peacock, pavo real in Spanish or literally “royal turkey”! Royal, indeed, and a good friend to have on a beautiful day in Panama.

Photographer: John Moses M. Where? How can we have a Panama photo blog without at least one photo of palm trees, the ocean, the beach, and an island? John manages to squeeze all four into this photo taken on the Caribbean coast near Punta Manzanillo.

Photographer: Richard van Dyke Where? Off the Pacific Coast, a few minutes by plane from Panama City, are the Pearl Islands. This tranquil beach is found on the largest island, Isla Contadora. The name translates literally to “Accountant’s Island” as this was the location of the counting-house for the Spanish pearl trade of past centuries. The island has eleven white sand beaches, including Panama’s only beach for nude sun-bathing, Playa de las Suecas, literally Beach of the Swedish Women!

Photographer: Chuck Logan Where? Like Florida’s Key West in years gone by, the islands of Panama’s Bocas del Toro region are noted for their beauty, their relative isolation, and the ‘pioneer spirit’ of those who settle there. This is how most folks first see Bocas, by airplane. Isla Carenero (Carenero means “a place to repair boats”) is in the foreground and Isla Colon (Colon is Spanish for a famous early visitor, Columbus) lies just behind it and includes the regional capital, Bocas town, partially visible in the photo.