Drove from Panama City to Portobelo and stayed a couple nights at Ranchos de Chalia, pretty awesome, monkeys, a sloth, lots of birds.
Did a day trip to Playa Isla Grande. It was a short drive to a free public parking lot. The locals charge you $6 to park – actually they charge not to slash your tires – then for $15 you take a boat over to the beach.
The sand is nice but the locals dump & burn garbage right on the edge of the jungle. They have a bunch of huts set up to sell junk food & are blaring bad music.
Walking & snorkeling around in the water I realized that it was coral reef that had been trampled by the boats and tourists.
you can’t smell the garbage burning
Next I went to Playa Paraiso, way way off the beaten path, lots of green sea turtles, other animals, pretty interesting. It is far from glamours accommodations and needs some work (maybe a lot) but I liked it. Went diving in Portobelo with Scuba Panama, did The Wall & Isla Verde/Drake. The diving was ok, the coral reefs seemed dirty & I saw more garbage and old tires than I should have.
Just to finish things off I drove down to Playa Blanca for another beach day before returning to Panama City. It was very cool being in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the same day.
