Page 125 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

ArchipiélAgo de lAs perlAs The Panama Canal and CenTral isThmus 123
Panama City
isla COnTadOra

N
Playa
Playa Galeón
Playa Playa Canoa Coral
Caracol Ejecutiva dreams San Miguel (Isla del Rey)
medical Centre
Playa The shoppette
Lucas
2
Playa
Playa di Football Pitch Larga
Maggio
RESIDENTIAL
AREA
hotel
mar y Oro
Playa Camarón
Playa Cacique
Playa Playa de
Roca las Suecas
Playa
Fea
aCCOmmOdaTiOn eaTinG
Contadora Inn B&B 2 Casa Tortuga 2
0 500 Gerald’s 1 Restaurante Miraolas 3
metres Hotel Perla Real 3 Vlandy’s 1

On the northern side of the island the charming sheltered cove of Playa Ejecutiva
stands out, backed by manicured grass dotted with shady trees. Further east, at the
northern end of the airstrip, the Point Hotel surveys Playa Galeón, where the ferries
arrive and depart, and fishermen can take you to Isla Saboga or further afield.
arriVal and deParTure isla COnTadOra
By ferry Two ferries operate from Panama City. The Pacífica (7.20am, returning 3.40pm from Playa Galeón; 1hr
cheaper, run by Sea Las Perlas (T391 1424, Wsealasperlas 30min; $57 one way, $98 return). Tickets are sold online,
.com), leaves the Balboa Yacht Club on the Amador where you can also choose your seat.
Causeway (7.30am, returning 3pm from Playa Galeón; 1hr By plane Air Panama flies from Albrook Airport (1 daily
30min; $49 one way, $90 return). Tickets are sold online Mon–Thurs, Sat & Sun; 2 on Fri; 20min; $52 one way, $94
and at their offices in Albrook Mall (8am–7pm). The more return), and has an office on Contadora by the airstrip
expensive and luxurious Ferry Las Perlas (T6200 0080, (8am–noon & 2–6pm; T250 4009).
Wferrylasperlas.com) leaves from the Trump Tower, Punta
SLAVES, PIRATES AND PEARLS
little is known about the indigenous population of the archipelago, which was wiped out
in the sixteenth century after news of the abundance of pearls reached the conquistadors’
greedy ears. Needing labour to harvest them, the spanish brought over African slaves, the
ancestors of most of the current population. over the next few centuries, the maze of islands
provided hideouts for pirates plundering spanish galleons en route from peru, often with the
help of local bands of cimarrones (escaped slaves).
The end of spanish rule did not spell the end of the pearl trade, which thrived until the
oyster beds became diseased in the 1930s. Though they have recovered to an extent – pearl
fishers still operate from isla casaya – there’s little chance of a new pearl rivalling the
archipelago’s most famous find, the pear-shaped peregrina (“pilgrim”). plucked in the sixteenth
century, it belonged to spanish and english royalty before ending up with hollywood legend
Elizabeth Taylor. Following her death in 2011, it fetched a record $11 million at auction.
Tourism in the islands took off in the 1970s when businessman and diplomat gabriel lewis
galindo bought the island for a bargain $30,000. By constructing roads and selling off plots to
other wealthy panamanians, he established panama’s first resort island.

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