Santa Catalina
I was able to sleep in a bit this morning and didn’t get moving until after 8:00. I had a bowl of Coco Krispies for breakfast before Linda and I ventured a short way down a dirt road to the beach. Pete and Laurie had checked it out yesterday when they arrived and the bay was completely empty of water with the low tide. This morning the tide was up and there was plenty of water and plenty of beach to walk. There were many shells and sand dollars, but no sea glass. I told Linda that I wanted to get to where the beach took a bend around the corner so I could see how much beach was beyond what we could see. The anticipation of not knowing what was beyond was killing me. She said she did not have that same kind of feeling so she turned around and headed back and I forged ahead. Of course when I got to the bend, it kept going for what seemed like forever. I resisted the urge to keep going and held true to my word and turned around and went back the other way. I really do enjoy long walks on the beach.
When I got done with my walk it looked like I had gone to war with the beach as I had sand all over me. I had picked up enough shells and sand dollars that I was starting to not be able to carry them (I fogot to take my sea shell collecting bag with me down to the beach), but I found a large dog food bag that had washed ashore so I used that. Since it was such a big bag I also picked up any garbage I had found along the way. For the most part, this beach did not have a ton of garbage as I have seen on many beaches all over the world, so it was quite manageable to pick up the pieces I did find. I did not pick up however, the shoe that looked like it had been part of the ocean for some time.
After getting cleaned up from my beach, we sat down to adjust our itinerary for the rest of the trip. We had originally planned on spending the last 9 nights in Panama City, but since our first location had been close to the city and we already spent a little time there, we all agreed that 9 nights seemed like a little much. We decided to add 3 nights in Bocos del Toro which is an archipelago in the Caribbean. The people in the Panama Travel Facebook groups I follow talk about Bocos quite a bit and seems to be the place to go in Panama. The drive back from Bocos to Panama City is 10 hours, so we also decided to spend 1 night in Santiago to break up the drive. We will now end the trip with 5 nights in Panama City, but will likely do day trips to other islands while we’re there.
Having found lodging we headed out the door around 2:00 to go to Santa Catalina to book a snorkeling tour for tomorrow to Parque Nacional Coiba. My Lonely Planet Panama guidebook has this as a “Top Sight” and dedicates 4 pages to the park. No other site in Panama was given this much attention in the book. Our AirBnB host recommended 2 different snorkeling operators to use. We went to the first one, but they were booked. Thankfully the second one had room for us and was actually cheaper than what the first company.
With the snorkeling tour secured, we set out to find lunch. Unfortunately I left the guidebook at the house so we couldn’t reference it’s recommendations. The first one we went to was closed (and upon reading the book when I got back was one of the places they recommended), so we we went to another (which I believe also ended up being recommended by the book). I had a ham and cheese sub sandwich. It was good, but not even close to Cousin’s or The Chocolate Factory.
After lunch we walked the beach (Playa Santa Catalina). The tide was out and I did find several pieces of clear sea glass and 1 piece of brown sea glass. There was a lot of ground to cover and I could have been out there for hours scoping it out, but kept myself under control. We headed back to our house which is only 11 kilometers away but takes 30 minutes to drive because the roads are filled with pot holes (Laurie named it pot hole hell). It was about 5:00 when we got back and I felt like I could go for some more beach walking so I headed back down to the beach. The tide was out and the bay was once again completely empty of water. I went in the opposite direction as I had in the morning and walked until I came across a creek that I didn’t want to cross with my tennis shoes (and the sun was starting to set). Coming off the beach I got in a few more steps by exploring the area we are staying by continuing to walk the dirt road until it ended a short ways later. I turned around and headed back home, avoiding walking around a pond and the grassy area as I had seen an alligator in the grass when I walked to the beach.
Back at the house we all did our own thing for dinner, which for me was snacking on Doritos. Linda, Laurie, and I played Sticks which is similar to Phase 10, except that every player has a different combination they are working since they have to get whatever is written on their stick. If you lay down you get a new stick. The first player to 7 sticks wins. Linda was the winner of the game tonight.
Today was a great beach walking day and tomorrow I’m really looking forward to our snorkeling trip.
Stats of the Day:
Steps: 22,189 (I had to make up for the lack of steps yesterday)
Sand Dollars/Sea Shells Picked Up: Haven’t counted them yet but probably more than I should have
Number of Sticks I Completed: 6
