Friday, June 10, 2011

Panama City, Panama: Playa Bonita Resort

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

Finally after some gentle prodding from a friend who said “you’ve been leaving Granada for days, where is Panama?” I am moving on with my vacation blogging to Panama City.

We stayed at the Playa Bonita Resort & Spa outside of Panama City. It was a lovely setting on a private beach. It’s an all-inclusive resort which means all your meals and most drinks are included. When we checked in they banded our wrists with a bright blue non-removable “bracelet,” for identification since there were some guests who were not on the all-inclusive plan. It felt more like we were being admitted to a hospital ward or a prison. I mean, seriously, they were ugly! Some people were lucky enough to have them put the band on rather loosely and were able to slide it off when they were tired of wearing it. Mine was not loose enough to get off so I was stuck with it. I did at least make them move it from my right wrist to my left so I could at least wear all the pretty bracelets I had brought with me.

The hotel was very nice and the grounds were gorgeous and well cared for.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

We got lots of exercise walking to our room and down to the lobby since our room was on the 4th floor all the way out on the end of one of the hotel’s wings. The jungle started right behind the hotel. (And this is where our “nature” walk took place that will be coming as an entry soon.)

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


From our balcony we could see the ships on the horizon lining up for entry into the Panama Canal.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


These lovely butterflies loved to hang out early in the morning on the tree in front of our balcony.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

I thought I had taken more photos of the grounds but I guess I really didn’t. And, there are two reasons for that. The first reason is that is was so humid that every time I took the camera outside the lens would fog up and pretty much stay that way. The second reason is that except for the day the photos in this entry were taken (and was also the day of the nature walk) we had tropical downpours complete with horrendous thunder and lightning for hours and hours each day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. If you look at my header above you can see the skyline of Panama City and how dark the sky is with the approaching storm of the day. The hotel had beautiful pools but I never got the chance to swim and it was way too hot (and humid) to sit out tanning poolside.

Another wife and I took a walk along the beach. Not a great beach for swimming, but a wonderful beach for shelling!

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

Can you see the little crab in the middle of the photo? These little crabs were all over the place, scurrying around with their shells on their backs. Before I realized this I picked up one of the shells up thinking to add such a perfect specimen to my collection only to be rudely pinched by its inhabitant! Scared the life out of me and I quickly dropped it back to the sand. Once we knew what to look for we realized they were hundreds of them. At times it looked like they were having a relay race, but when we got close to them they withdrew into their shells. We spent a good deal of time watching them and trying to get good photos of them. I guess it doesn’t take much to entertain us!

There’s one in this photo too, can you find him?

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

And here is the best close-up I managed to get.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

I brought back quite a few of these pretty pink shells.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

We walked all the way down to the end of the beach. Look how far away the hotel is!

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

This oyster catcher was looking for a meal. I did not have my telephoto lens with me so I hope you can make him out.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

On our way back we noticed this “sand art” created by digging crabs. The beach was peppered with these interesting holes. We never saw the crabs that were making them but someone else told us they were small and red and made it pretty impossible to spread a blanket on the beach!

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

 

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Welcome, I'm Lynne. You know me better as a 'new' Jersey Girl. But now I've moved once again, this time to North Carolina. Here I write about my thoughts, good food, and of course, dogs.

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