Living on a Sailboat exploring the world
The wildlife in Panama is amazing. In our travels around the country, we saw many monkeys, slews of sloths, and a lot of birds and marine life. Saw? We got close to lots of cool animals. Here’s what we saw and where we saw them.
We saw – and heard – monkeys all over the Caribbean side of Panama. Even in populated areas, we communed with monkeys, like in Bocas del Toro when the howlers were hanging in the trees right next to the road.
We aren’t going to Galapagos on Sava. We thought we would go but plans change. Fortunately, we flew and ferried to some of the islands in 2015, and loved our time there. The photos in this post are from that memorable visit.
It’s a new rule but Galapagos doesn’t allow cats, and we have Domino. Galapagos is a protected National Park with endangered indigenous animals, so they won’t admit potentially invasive animals.
Since Domino is a respected crew member on Sava, we have no choice but to skip it and sail somewhere else. Domino is 13 years old, and she’s spent more time on the boat than we have since she doesn’t leave it.
The Panama Canal, called “the path between the seas,” is the easiest route from the Caribbean to the Pacific. Completed over 100 years ago, it is a man-made marvel of engineering. Transiting the Panama Canal by sailboat is a bucket-list activity for those trying to circumnavigate, or get between oceans.
The land divided, the world united.
Motto of The Panama Canal
It takes a lot of paperwork to get through the canal! We used an agent to alleviate some of the work. As Panama Posse members, we get a discount on the Canal agent. It saved us a lot of time, paperwork, and hassle. While it may be cheaper, if you don’t use an agent, you have to pay everything in cash. This means multiple trips to ATMs, which have very low maximum daily withdrawals. ATMs aren’t easily accessible outside of Panama City.
Transiting The Panama Canal on a sailboat isn’t cheap, even for a boat under 65 feet! Here’s a breakdown on current pricing to transit:
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