Paid to Play Episode 22: the one where the author snorkles with a whale shark. You would never guess by looking at a map but Isla Coiba is actually part of an underwater mountain chain that connects to the Galapagos Islands. The water here is unexpectedly warm for a Pacific destination in the Americas and the sea life is as varied as anywhere in the world. Humpback whales, tiger sharks, whale sharks, and orcas are some of the larger species that congregate her...

Paid to Play Episode 21: the one where the author takes his passengers to a Pacific coast surf camp. Who cares if we can surf or not. This place is awesome. Santa Catalina. This place is simply amazing and one of my favorite places in all of Central America. Discovered by surfers in the 1970's, this hidden gem is paradise and way off the beaten path of tourism. It's slowly getting discovered and the guy that had the foresight to buy property here years ago and...

Paid to Play Episode 20: the one where the author sails on a catamaran in the Caribbean Sea and snorkels among amazingly colorful coral. Don't cry for me. I know for most of you stuck working in an orifice or in Cubicle-landia rolling the proverbial "poop" at your job thingy, that it is difficult for me to justify sailing on a catamaran in the Caribbean as work. But this is my job thingy and I dutifully report to it each day, no matter how difficult the assig...

After the canal and in the following few days, I visited Casco Viejo, Panama Viejo - Panama City`s original location before pirate Henry Morgan burned it down - and also National park Metropolitano. This entry is just to separate these pix from the Canal pix.

I have been quite the tourist here in the big city. My first stop, however, was the famous Panama Canal. The museum and facts about this "engineering marvel" are pretty cool but to see it in operation is amazing. My German buddies and I arrived in time to watch a Panamax cargo ship pass through. "Panamax" means a ship designed to barely fit through the canal. The ship I watched was 965 feet long and had about 2 feet of clearance on either side, just squeezing thr...