April 27 - A Day In My Life

This past weekend, we went on a trip to the Pearl Islands!!  This will probably be our last trip in Panama and it was a good one!  The beaches were beautiful and they were practically empty.  We had a wonderful time!

Another early wake up time for a day off!  

At least I didn't have to go to work.

A quick bowl of cereal before leaving.

On our way to catch the ferry.  Jessica and Abby joined us for this weekend adventure.

Buying tickets for the ferry - it was all very official as you can tell by the plastic chairs and TV tray "desk"!

Enjoying the ride on the ferry!

Our first glimpse of Isla Contadora and our hotel.

To get from the ferry to shore, we had to transfer to smaller boats.  It was very precarious, but we made it.

Checking in.  We purchased our hotel vouchers on Oferta Simple (Panama's version of Groupon) and it included breakfast, welcome cocktail, and a tour of the island.

Bill in our room with our welcome cocktail (it was just a fresh fruit smoothie).

 

Enjoying the view outside our room.

Bill and Abby discussing photography.

A view of our hotel from the airstrip.  Yes, the airstrip was directly across the street so we got to see lots of planes take-off and land.

Our view at lunch - with the nearly empty beach behind us!

Walking the beach and marveling at the blue/green rocks.

Waiting for our tour of the island...aka "nap time".  We weren't sure what to expect for our tour, but we were surprised...

 

 ...it was a BOAT tour.  We had fun looking at the homes of the rich and famous and seeing the multiple deserted beaches.

 

Time Check.

We walked up to the little island store.  On the way, we passed a sign for another hotel/restaurant.  It was very repetitive!

Ice cream on a hot day - delicious!  I obviously enjoyed the Choco Bigger.  (I don't know why I have crazy eyes!)

 

Shopping for snacks and drinks.  Abby is always posing!

Here's the mandatory picture of me in a mirror!  Applying lots of sunscreen before heading down to the beach.

We were the only ones on the beach.  It was lovely!

Planes continued to take off and land over our heads.

We had dinner at Villa Romantica.  It was nice, but there were lots of flying bugs (and a crab).

 

I forgot to take pictures of the food - but we clearly enjoyed it.  (Abby is still posing!)

 

This was our sweet ride...the restaurant actually picked us up from our hotel and took us back again after our meal.

Just a little "musical mattresses" before bed.  Jessica's bed was completely wet because the AC had leaked.  So, we loaned her our extra mattress.