Well, it is not a proverbial ‘take five’ break. However, a break it is! We left our vessel in Panama until February of 2022. First, we planned to come to Dallas, TX.
We left our marina in the early morning of May 27th amid the heavy rain that is ever so present in this area.
Waiting in heavy rain on the dock of Marina Carenero for our water taxi that will take us to the town of Bocas.
Getting out of the town of Bocas by plane involves a separate flight to Panama City. It is being serviced by a small local airline – Air Panama – which does not codeshare with any other airline, making it up to the traveler to figure out any connecting flight. In our case, it turned out to be impossible to catch a US-bound connection on our arrival day from Bocas. By the time we’d arrive and get across town to the PTY International Airport, there would be no more convenient flights to get us on our way to Dallas. So our only option was to get a hotel for the night.
Air Panama turboprop plane which will take us on our one hour flight to Panama City (above)
A busker playing some local and Caribbean music right at the Bocas airport terminal (left)
Getting ready to take-off!
Birdseye view of Bocas del Toro province’s coast and islands.
After an hour of pretty smooth flying, we landed at PAC – Albrook Gelabert Airport – a small local facility at Ciudad de Panama. From there, we had yet another one hour trip with a car service which took us across town to the Crowne Plaza Airport hotel. It was located by the PTY – Tocumen International Airport – our departure point for our next day flight to the US.
Getting our lunch at the Crowne Plaza hotel.
The next day, we caught our early morning flight to Miami, FL where we cleared into the US. Our layover was just long enough to allow us to complete our interviews to renew our Global Entry permits with the local Customs & Border Protection office; good to go for the next five years!
Next was just our last hop from Miami to Dallas, TX where we arrived on September 28th, shortly before 8 P.M.
Our next trip is going to be to Warsaw, Poland on November 1st for the holidays!
Excited to hear about your upcoming travels and next sailing season!