This page contains pictures I took in and around Panama City (la Ciudad de Panama), where I lived.  Panama City is the capital and primary city of Panama. There are also pictures of the city of Colon, which is on the Caribbean side of the canal, and pictures from fishing and sailing trips off both coasts of Panama..

While I worked in the Panama Canal Zone I lived in Panama City on the pacific coast right next to the zone.  I lived on Via Brasil not far from Punta Paitilla, which even then was the high rise area of the city.  This picture is of the Balboa monument on the Via Balboa which runs along the Panama City water front.  Balboa, of course, led the first Europeans across the Isthmus of Panama to "discover" the Pacific Ocean. 

On the right is a picture of Panamanian fishing boats lying at anchor off Panama City.  With 14 foot tides the fleet must anchor well off shore.

On the Caribbean coast of Panama is the city of Colon.  This city is much smaller and far less affluent than Panama City.  We were normally cautioned to move about Colon in a taxi or bus and not roam about on foot because of the prevalence of crime.  Looking at the decaying building and shacks in the pictures, it is understandable that this would be a high-crime area.  I gather from recent descriptions of Colon that this situation hasn't changed much in the last 27 years.  The picture on the left is of the Washington Hotel, which looks to be a typical tropical hotel.  We used to go to the mixed grill lunch they served every Sunday on the veranda.

Ships heading into the canal from the Caribbean normally have to anchor in Limon Bay off Colon to wait their turn to enter the canal.

Panama is one of the worlds great sport fishing areas, and has long been associated with world record bill fish catches.  I believe it was discovered as a fishing center by the father of off shore sport fishing, the screen writer Zane Grey.  He got a lot of his Hollywood buddies to come to Panama to catch Marlin and Sailfish.  At the time I was in Panama John Wayne continued the Hollywood connection as he came to Panama for fishing almost every year.  I believe he and Omar Torrijos, the dictator at the time, were fishing buddies.  While I didn't get invited to go fishing by any Hollywood actors, I did take the opportunity to go on several fishing trips.

Below are some Manta Rays we observed on one trip that leaping into the air.  This must be part of their mating ritual.

Panama, like most Latin countries, celebrates before the start of lent with a national Carnival.  These are pictures of the Carnival Parade.

I wasn't totally divorced from sailing while in Panama.  On several occasions I was invited to go sailing with people cruising through the canal on their sailboats.  I spent one weekend with a couple on their 50' wooden cutter.  We sailed from Cristobol to Portobello on the Caribbean coast of Panama.

Portobello was the Spanish treasure city.  Spanish galleons would unload their treasures on the Pacific side from where they were transported over land to Portobello.  They were then loaded on other galleons for the trip to Spain.  Of course this made the treasure houses in Portobello and the galleons leaving the harbor prime targets for the mostly English raiders.  Most notable among those raiders were the pirate Morgan and Sir Francis Drake.

While we were anchored in Portobello we met the crew of the English schooner, Jyland, in the picture on the right.  This was a diving ship and they were diving on the suspected burial site of Drake.  They hoped to find the artifacts and treasures that were reportedly left at the same site.  This diving activity was being performed with the permission and under the direction of the Panamanian Government and access to Portobello harbor was supposed to be restricted during this period.  Possibly because the sailboat I was on flew the Union Jack (it was registered in Bequia) and because we socialized with the English diving crew, the local Panamanian Guardia outpost did not interfere with our visit.  In any case I am told the divers never found the remains of Drake nor any significant treasure in the harbor.

The only reason I know the name of the vessel is because one the people who crewed on the boat came across this page, recognized the boat and sent me an email.   

The Panama canal is not only a major commercial water way, it is also a pristine fresh water paradise.  When the Chagres River was dammed to produce Lake Gatun, many of the jungle hill tops that were flooded became islands.  The Panama Canal Company (which ran the zone until it reverted to Panama at the end of the century) leased these islands to Canal Zone residents and some Panamanian citizens for recreation.  One of the people I worked with in Panama had lived there for 10 years and had secured a lease to one of these islands.  Here is the only picture in existence of me up on water skies.  I am skiing in the canal (Lake Gatun) behind that co-worker's boat.  The reason I know this is the only picture of me on skies is the total time in my life I have spent up on skies (including this incident) is less than the fastest shutter speed on most cameras.  I had expected when the Panamanian Government took over control of the Canal Zone Lake Gatun would be developed into a major tourist and recreational area, but that does not appear to have happened.