yobosayo – Around the World Travel Blog – Follow us around the world

 
About an hour by boat from the Santa Catalina is Coiba Island, a former penal colony between 1919-2004.  Since it’s closure as a prison, the island has been declared a world heritage site, due to its many plants and animals that are endemic to the island.  We spent the day snorkeling with sea turtles, white tipped sharks and other amazing underwater life.  This was some of the best snorkeling we have seen.

a giant bug landed on your head…and all you felt was the weight of it land, and it’s claws clamp onto your scalp??
According to Hedda, I was pretty calm about the whole thing.  But it took a lot of self control not to shake my head wildly trying to rid myself of this nasty creature. 

With Michael and Hedda, Mike and I ended up in a highly enviable position for anyone who might surf.  Of course, we don’t but got to see first hand what it’s like to be at a prime surf location.  Santa Catalina is pretty rustic with no “real” hotels, and very few restaurants, but people come for the waves.  We spent 4 nights enjoying the unspoiled beaches.  Michael did some surfing, and even spent a day teaching Mike and I how to surf.  It was a blast– although not exactly as easy as Michael makes it look.

From Cartagena, we (Mike, Michael and Hedda) flew to Panama City to see an engineering wonder of the world, the Panama Canal.  The 48 mile canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, eliminating the need to travel an additional 8000 miles to round Cape Horn (the southern point of South America).   Opened in 1914, the canal continues to play an ever increasing role in shipping– expansion plans are underway to increase the capacity of the Panama Canal. 

Aside from visiting the Panama Canal, there isn’t a whole lot to do in Panama City except catch up on newly released movies, eat fast food and visit the mall– and we did all of the above.