Certainly not a strong start

Not the best start to the day….

6:40am – shower – dress – precious weetbix – pack – go go go!

7am – waiting for our “contact” to turn up to take us into town at the pre-agreed time of 7am
(he had changed out hotel to an out of town location at last minute and Santa Catalina doesn’t have taxis)

7:30am – we give up and start the 20 minute walk into town:  kids + bags + all!

8am – wandering around town we can’t find the “shop” of the place we are meant to be going on tour with – eek! After 45 minutes of walking around and then befriending a stranger and trekking all over town we find Riccado our tour guide – phew!

8:45am – a quick breakky – and we were HUNGRY!
(no buffet breakfasts here – kids would you like quesadillas or toast with your eggs?)

9am – then we were off…?

9:30am – on our way out to Coiba National Park we get stopped for what-seemed-like-half-an-hour (15 minutes?) by Panama Coast Guard. Think boat with 15 bullet-proof-vest wearing well-built Panamanian men armed with automatic weapons asking for passports and *robustly discussing* something in rapid-fire Spanish with our boat captain

10am – we’re off!

P.S. for aesthetics, the photos above are not in perfect order with our timeline

P.P.S. yes that is Nathan making weetbix with water from the shower. You can drink the water in most places in Panama 🙂