Panama has offered us challenges galore and it has also delivered amazing gifts. We have made wonderful friends who will feature in future gushing to be sure and we have enjoyed a lot of our time here. The Canal took its toll and made its demands and Itchy Foot has not been maintenance free either during our time in Panama and we have done a lot of boat jobs. But with all of that said, we don’t want to talk about that right now, this post is strictly for the animals that call Panama home  and maybe to share some of our photos.

We have been treated to amazing encounters with wildlife in this country. We have had two whale sightings, the first time we think they were four or five Fin whales as we were leaving Las Perls last time. Fin whales are the second largest whale on Earth and what an amazing sight!  They average about 20 meters (85 feet) long and weigh about 40 tons and they have prominent dorsal fins which make them easier to spot. As we were returning to Panama City we are pretty sure we saw six humpback whales including young ones. This is special to us since the story that inspired our name features a humpback whale.  They are smaller, averaging about 15 meters (50 feeet) long and weighing in at 36,000 kilos (79,000 lbs). They have a knobbly appearance, long pectoral fins and a two tone tail. These beauties are known for being playful on the surface. Witnessing whales brings on a hush onboard as everyone looks at them in awe. They are beautiful and graceful and giant and they inspire respect. We feel very fortunate to have seen four types of whales in all our time onboard.

And the dolphins! They need lots of exclamation points!! Dolphins are WONDERFUL and FUN!!! We were so happy that they came to say hi when we had Gunnar, Mona and Nikolaj onboard and we had a short encounter and they left us to go fishing. But on our way back from Las Perlas we were treated to the most amazing dolphin extravaganza we have ever seen. It was at least 500 dolphins, playing on the bow and jumping high into the air and playing. We are pretty sure that the ones we met were a combination of two pods. We saw Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins which are normally about 16 meters (15 feet) long and weigh 635 kilos (1400 lbs). And we saw Pantropical Spotted Dolphins which are normally about two meters (6/7 feet) long and weigh about 100 kilos (250 lbs). They are incredibly outgoing and will even lean over to watch what you are doing and as they grow older they develop spotted skin and you can use the spots to tell how old the dolphin is. Meeting dolphins is such a treat and makes everyone giggle. They are exquisite creatures and if we are going fast enough they love to play in the bow wake of Itchy Foot.

There are also lovely surprises floating close to the surface. As we motored back to Panama we spotted a giant turtle have a meal on the surface. This is unusual because they usually dive as they hear you coming, but this one was very interesting in his lunch that was floating on a log and paid us no attention. And about an hour outside of Panama City we were treated to another surprise. There were 100s of rays. We believe they are Cow Nosed Eagle Rays. These guys are about 89 cm (35 inches) long and 30 cm (15 inches ) wide and weigh 12 kilos (25 lbs). They are known to migrate from Gulf of Mexico all the way to Brazil and the ones we saw looked like they were sunbathing with both tips of their ”wings” sticking out of the water. They eat clams and oysters and have incredible grace.  Other floaty creatures we spotted included Portuguese Man of War which are a bright pink and purple and as David Attenborough has told us they are actually a symbiotic collection of creatures and can be quite dangerous. And the ghostly white cannonball jellyfish that hang out in our marina. As I was closing up one night I saw a dozen of them around the boat, it was a little eery and I had some crazy dreams that night.

Panamanian waters are full of cool stuff to see and the jungle offers its own delights. Sloths are SO AMAZING. They really nailed their movement in the Zootopia movie. They are fascinating and we were lucky enough to spot quite a few. Monkeys are everywhere and they too are amazing to watch and in the case of the Howler Monkeys eery to hear especially right before it rains.

We spent an afternoon at the Smithsonian. They have a few sights in Panama, rumour has it they have quite a big research facility on Gatun Lake. At Punta Culebra right where we were anchored they have a nature reserve. We saw sloths there and even saw one awake! And we found out that iguana climb trees and jump from branch to branch. We were disappointed to see that the Smithsonian keep turtles in tanks and allow visitors to touch the star fish and we lost some respect for them and they need to up their game. We did get to see some cool frogs, some were tiny, some were orange with blue legs, some were gigantic and they could do so much more with the place. Here in Coronado, Teo spotted a frog in the run off moat of the infinity swimming pool and we rescued it and moved it to a nearby lake.

Also in the sky, Panama is full of delight. There are incredible butterflies everywhere. One giant blue one called Menelaus Blue Morpho has wings that are as big as my hand. I think they have them at the Rainforest Cafe. Another butterfly, the Greta Oto has transparent wings. Plus, they have incredible song birds and even toucans although we haven’t seen any yet. And their shore birds are incredible and I love to watch the egrets fish with their long graceful necks and the sandpipers enthusiastically running around on the beach. And a special shout out to the pelicans are always wonderful as they fly and fish. They have earned the nickname bomb squad and we have seen loads of them.

Panama has incredible wildlife and need a marketing team to tell the world, hopefully it will be eco friendly souls to take care of the place.