Las Perlas - Pearl Islands in Panama

Описание: The archipelago of Las Perlas is a group of 90 named islands and more than 100 unnamed islets about 40 miles (65 km) south east of Panama City in the Gulf of Panama. It was named after the many large pearls the Spaniards found here when they discovered the islands in 1513.
The Pearl Islands have world-class beaches with white sand and turquoise waters. Isla Contadora is the best-known island and most affordable island. It can be reached from Panama City by a 15min flight with a small aircraft or a 90min to 1h 45min ferry ride.
Contador means Bookkeeper in Spanish and the name comes from the fact that the Spaniards used Contadora Island to take inventory of the valuables they plundered from the new world before it was shipped to Spain.

Three US Survivor seasons were filmed here: Survivor: Pearl Islands, Survivor: All-Stars and Survivor: Panama and several seasons from other countries’ Survivor programming (Bulgaria, France, Israel, South Africa, Ukraine). There are several other series that were filmed here, among them is the BBC TV series “The Real Swiss Family Robinson”.

While Panama City only has a little over 1,700 annual sunshine hours, the Pearl Islands clock in at an excess of 2,200h.
The mostly present clear blue skies and mild temperatures between the lower 70’s to the lower 90’s make the Pearl Islands a desirable tourist location all year round. The warmest months are March and April while October is the coolest. December and January typically have pleasant weather and little rain. The wet season from May through November can see heavy downpours.

Isla Contadora is a fairly small island of about 750 acres. It has 13 beaches; Playa Larga is the largest and Playa Sueca (map) is the only clothes optional beach on the island. There are 5 coral reefs that surround the island and make for good snorkeling. Due to the colder waters, there are fewer fish here and there is less of a diversity of fish compared to in the Caribbean. Also, the fish are not as brightly colored.

The airport is basically a landing strip for small aircraft which has a low fence that surrounds it and a gate that is unlocked most of the time.

Find out more about the Pearl Islands: https://backpackandsnorkel.com/Panama...
Find out more about traveling to Panama: https://backpackandsnorkel.com/Panama/