Contadora Island

Some fifty miles south of Panama City lies an archipelago of splendid islands, Las Perlas – The Pearl Islands.  Indeed, the locals came by to offer us some black pearls, $80 for something barely larger than a grain of rice.  Admittedly, the chances of finding a pearl in the local oysters are not in the diver's favor.  

It wasn’t always that way, though, as conquistadores Francisco Pizzaro and Gaspar de Morales found out in the 16^th century.  They enslaved the local divers to harvest beautiful pearls, among them the 31-carat “Peregrina” pearl of Queen Mary Tudor of England and most recently owned by Liz Taylor.   It goes without saying that I dove for oysters, found a few with the beginning of a pearl scar, but too young to have formed a true pearl.  I say, let them be!

We have fallen in love with these islands.  Unlike the flat, palm-studded San Blas Islands, these are hilly and wooded, with real trees and fragrant blooms in shades of gold, yellow and red.  When arriving at an anchorage, it’s always the smell of the earth and the scent of flowers that assail and surprise us.  In the Perlas, add the constantly changing panorama.  With twelve- to twenty-foot tides, the coast may be dipping its low branches in a deep emerald water at high tide, and reveal ochre rocks, gray mud flats, or pink shell-strewn beaches at low tide.  It’s spectacular!

 As for the chart to navigate the area, the best we found is Eric Bauhaus’ Panama Cruising Guide, the electronic version loaded on Open CPN, with GPS dongle, on a laptop computer.    Even so, some of his charts are wrong, with rocks where none are indicated and where sand banks have shifted.  Many yachts have reported hull damage by wayward rocks.  So, beware!  Do not attempt to enter treacherous, narrow and shallow channels without perfect visibility and a lookout on the bow.  The waters are murky and the bottom difficult to read.  This said, Las Perlas are lovely cruising ground and we intend to spend most of the year in the area.

The best part of the islands is fishing and wildlife sighting.  Cero, Mahi-Mahi, yellowfin tuna, skipjack are the usual catch of the day while trolling.  Diving can yield sizeable Red Snappers.  Mud flats are full of tarpon and occasional hawk fish.  Fun for all types of fishermen!  

Sighting of playful Pacific dolphins, pods of humpback whales, curious spotted whalesharks and hundreds of leaping Lobula rays is usual during a crossing.  

Add to that swarms of swallows, boobies, terns, frigate birds who contend for baitballs and jumping fish, and there is never a dull moment on board.

First stop, then: CONTADORA Island.  We like Contadora for two reasons.  It’s an easy rendez-vous point to pickup or drop-off guests, and the provisioning is decent.  The Contadora Ferry leaves Balboa yacht Club in Panama City at 0800 every morning, arriving Contadora at 1000, and returns around 1540 in the afternoon.  

We anchored on the north shore, at Playa Galeon, just to the side of the ferry’s moorings, and the ferry’s panga delivered our guests on board.  How simple!  If your guests arrive by air, that’s also the spot to pick them up, with easy beaching for the dinghy.  For provisioning on the north shore, we found several shops, but our favorite is BLANDY’s, just past the airport.  On Thursday morning, all produce is fresh and Blandy is very selective.  She also sells fuel.  The prices, although a bit higher than the city, are best at Blandy’s as well. 

 So, for provisioning or picking up guests: north shore anchorage, just at the north end of the airfield’s runway.  But that anchorage is quite rolly in summer, exposed to the northern winds.

Contadora’s south shore is the party place.  The shore is dotted with white mansions and Playa Cacique is a vast expanse of white sand perfect for playing tourist.  Indeed, the shore boasts a hotel-restaurant and the new manager—Pascal, a Frenchie—is said to serve good food!  The anchorage is peppered with mooring balls, all private, rarely occupied by their owners.  If during the week it was no problem to pick-up one of the large-boat moorings, it was unthinkable to do so on the holiday weekend:  the bay was filled with over 100 yachts that had come from the city. 

Contadora Island is one of the cleanest, most pristine places we’ve visited in Panama.  You can complete a walk around the island in just a couple of hours or be lucky—as we did—and get picked-up by a young girl on her golf cart and ferried back to the anchorage.  

Contadora, the playground of Panama’s elite, will be for the next few months our nexus of activity!

From there, it’s all south!

Until next stop,

dominomarie