Those lucky enough to have found their way to the tiny town of Santa Catalina have come to call themselves the lucky ones. Quietly nestled at the end of the only road into town lays the best surfing and kayaking shop in Panama: Fluid Adventures.

Fluid Adventures is the lifestyle creation of Michael McKenzie. Calling to surfers, kayakers, snorkelers, and nature lovers, this outfitter offers some of the best and unique water-based adventure activities in the country.

We coordinated to spend two blissful nights and three days camping, kayaking, and snorkeling around Coiba. This was one of the most enjoyable overnight camping excursions we have ever done.

If you are at all thinking of wanting to embark on this dreamy journey, I highly recommend it. In the meantime, here is a preview of what our experience was like.

Location

The great thing about Santa Catalina is it can be reached by an easy day’s bus ride from Panama City. (See details at end of this post.)

Coiba National Park is an ecological gem. It was declared a national park in 1992 and a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005.

The island has a dark past. During the dictatorship rule of Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega, the island housed a brutal prison. Those sent there were known as “Los Desapararecidos” or the disappeared. This National Geographic article talks more about the history.

Fast forward to current and happier times, what this means is that almost by accident, about 80% of the islands natural habitat has remained untouched. Researchers can get giddy because much is still being learned about both Coiba’s land and marine wildlife.

Wildlife

Coiba Island has a number of animal species that are endemic and found only there.

The Smithsonian Tropical Institute has been able to document and observe the white faced capuchin monkeys using stone tools. In the world of science, this documentation was huge news. Outlets like the Washington Post, Fortune, and The Royal Society were all creating quite a buzz about it.  

There is an agouti species that is uniquely endemic to Coiba Island.

We saw a variety of beautiful birds during our time around the island. The tiger heron is one of my all-time favorite birds. We got to enjoy watching this one foraging for his dinner while we sat on the beach eating ours.

Pelicans were swooping around and we loved seeing them dive down into the waters for fishing.

Discreetly sitting in the trees, this kingfisher kept itself ready to dive for its next meal.

Kayaking

One of the biggest unknowns about being around Coiba National Park is never knowing what you might see while out there. The underground topography is linked by the underwater Coco Ridge mountain range to the Galapagos. The unique location of Coiba National Park protects it from the damaging wind effects of el Nino.

One of the wild cards to spending time around Coiba, particularly in the water, is there is a wide variety of migrating marine wildlife. Whale sharks, various species of sharks, large schools of rays and fish are swimming their way around the currents. Coiba is surrounded by one of the largest coral reefs on the Pacific coast of the Americas. This all helps to make for the best kayak adventure in stunning Panama.

These charging tadpoles were neat to see. This is in a freshwater stream near the camp that was ideal for rinsing off after a day in the ocean.

Nature

Prior to going on this tour, I did not realize how peaceful and relaxing this excursion would be. Each night we got lulled to sleep by the waves. The setting was so peaceful and I reflect on it often.

Another remarkable aspect of spending time around Coiba National Park was how clean the environment was. It’s no secret the plastic in the ocean is a major problem. It was refreshing that as we kayaked around the ocean was so clean there.

Low impact camping skills were also in place and upheld to an exceptionally high standard.

A delightful surprise was realizing we had such a remote campsite. No one lives on the island full time. The rangers come and go from the park on two-week shifts, making it so that no one actually lives there full time. The public used to be able to stay at the ranger station, but not anymore. All of this had us feel even more special being the only ones camping on the island and that aspect was pretty cool.

Small Group Advantage

Fluid Adventures prides itself on high customer service and small group adventures. Our group consisted of a total of six people and our guide, Adam. Having a small group like this allows for a more connective, inclusive, and private experience.

I loved the pacing of this trip. It was not required to get up and see the sunrise or stay awake late into the night if you didn’t want to. Coffee was ready at 7 am for anyone who would like it and breakfast was at 7:45 am. I found this timing to be so wonderful to allow for recharging.

Overall

The serenity and peacefulness creating this to be a top-notch experience was my biggest takeaway. After our time on the island, I was so relaxed yet energized by all we had seen and done. This amazing kayak adventure in stunning Panama with Fluid Adventures is not something I will soon forget.

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I wrote another article about this amazing kayak adventure in stunning Panama with Fluid Adventures HERE. Don’t miss reading that article with more useful tips, info and dreamy food pictures like this one below.

Logistics

Getting to Santa Catalina:
Some people we talked to expressed anxiety over getting to Santa Catalina because of the need to switch buses. I can tell you it was very easy and by far the cheapest option. We spent a month traveling all around Panama on buses with absolutely no problems. We always got charged the correct amount and everything was ok. You will almost always give your bigger luggage to the bus handler who will either put it on top the bus or underneath. Keep your day bag with fragile items like a camera on your person.

Get a bus to Santiago. From David this cost $9 and from Panama City this cost $10.

<Side note: If you are looking for a place to stay in David, Chambers en Ville was absolutely charming! We walked to the guest house when we first arrived via the bus. In the morning the owner called a taxi for us and it was $2 to go to bus station.

In Panama City Posada 1914 was also a charming boutique hotel. They have 24 hr reception so they can accommodate all arrival times.>

Bus from Santiago to Sona. $2 pp. This will stop and literally you just have to walk across the street to get on a bus to Sona or the bus will pull directly into the station. We were able to walk right onto a bus. If you have to wait, you won’t have to wait long.

Bus from Sona to Santa Catalina $4.65 pp. Santa Catalina is quite small, but our bus handler asked each person where they were staying and let them off in front of their accommodation. If you were staying out towards Oasis Surf Camp area, you may want to try and find the taxi to take you out there. Ask at the shop in town for the taxi truck if you need to. If you don’t have your own car, I would recommend looking at the map and staying in accommodation closer to town for the convenience.

Get all your internet chores down before you get to Santa Catalina. The wifi is not fast.

There is NO ATM in Santa Catalina. Make sure you bring plenty of cash. Many businesses will accept credit cards, however, many will tack on a fee.

We stayed at Lodge Cool Inside in a bungalow. They also have dorms. The bungalows where much nicer than we thought and the pictures don’t do them justice. This place was not quite our style (a little bit too loud of party regge music – but fortunately we couldn’t really hear it in the bungalow.) If you can deal with a messy kitchen, I can recommend staying here. We extended an additional three nights. This was one of the better budget options in town with a kitchen. Most of the restaurants in town don’t open until 6 or 6:30 pm so having a kitchen was nice to make dinner whenever we felt hungry.

You can browse here for other accommodation listings in town.

Make your Booking!

If you are needing gear for this trip, we wrote this detailed post with a lot of our favorite gear we have personally used and recommend.
Finally, check out the Fluid Adventures website, instagram and facebook page.

Fluid Adventures also offers surf camps, surf and sup, yoga, multi element and more. Give their website a good browse. If you have any questions, just send Michael an email and ask him.

This was a unique experience and we hope you get to recreate a little bit of this island paradise too. We certainly would recommend and repeat this kayak adventure in stunning Panama many times over.

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As were the birds, humming birds, spider monkeys and an array of other animals I could hear but not see. This was how time passed at the Las Guacaymas Biological Lodge in Penten, Guatemala.

My husband, Chris, and I were at Las Guacamayas for a week. We were volunteering and helping them to photograph their lodge, the wildlife and surroundings.
Despite the screaming, the lodge was one of the most peaceful places one could be at. There was no road noise because there were no roads. There was an extremely rough 4×4 road that when necessary archaeologists can (hopefully) pass when they are working on a site further into the park. Otherwise all goods, supplies and people make it to the park by boat.

So what was one to do at Las Guacamayas? A lot.

There was a large deck with tables and chairs looking out towards the water. Five hummingbird feeders attracted multiple species of hummingbirds who all day long fiercely fought to feed.

The beating of their tiny wings and high pitched chirps made for at least 13 hours of daily hummingbird TV. They were mesmerizing and it almost felt as if that wasn’t enough time to watch them.

At 5:40 pm exactly, they went to bed. This time of year that is when dusk is. There would be a huge last commotion of flurry and then like the snap of a finger, the birds were gone. It happened so fast each night I still felt like, despite sitting right there, I missed it every time.

This was the jayco hummingbird. This guy was the house favorite to watch as this is often a difficult hummingbird to spot.

Kayaks are available to use on the river. Our new friend and biology student from Guatemala City, Anna was eager to join us on the river. As Chris and I were getting into our two person ocean kayak and Anna was climbing into her single person she remarks, “I have never kayaked before.”

As any first time kayaker will be prone to a bit of wobbling and learning curve on how to maneuver the craft. We thought about the deep, dark water and crocodiles swimming under the surface. We asked Anna, “You can swim though, right?” She assured us we could and after a few circles we all merrily paddled up river.

Human instinct tells us we should fear the crocodile. Oh my goodness, animal instinct near Guacaymas tells the crocodile they should fear humans at all cost and take no chances to be seen by them. At least from a slow moving kayak. We went out in the kayaks several times and before we even had a chance to spot a crocodile in the distance, we would hear a big splash as they plunged themselves back into the murky brown water and away from sight. When in a motor boat, they are more used to that craft puttering by them. In a slow and quiet moving kayak, it seemed an impossible task to even get close enough to get a glimpse. The same was true of many bird species.

Blue herons, green herons, jacanas and kingfishers could sense of coming from hundreds of yards away. They would let out a warning call and take to the air to escape our slow moving presence.

The jungle was thick and even when walking on a trail, one had to watch their footing. Leaves, nuts and branches fall to the ground, often a result of spider monkeys feeding and moving through the branches above. A few days before our arrival the fer de lance pit viper had been spotted. Although we would have loved to intentionally have seen this venous snake, alas we never did. Many people remark they are the ones afraid to go into jungles or that there are so many poisonous animals lurking there. In 15 years plus of looking for wildlife we can say they are so much more afraid of us. We really have to look for them and have a bit of luck. Unfortunately the only snake we found was a brief glimpse of a tree snake in a gutter.

Two hundred meters up hill from the lodge was a mirador, or lookout. A wooden tower, painted green, blended into the surroundings. Gazing out to the front were flat spans of land that went as far as the eye could see. Behind us the dense jungle continued through crested and waving hill top ridges for miles. It was one of those few select places that gave the impression one was at the top of the world.

The mirador is a good place to pass some time. We were there for sunrises, sunsets and to escape the late afternoon heat. In the jungle because of the dense foliage there is almost never wind down low. It’s near impossible for a breeze to flow threw the thick vegetation. Unlike down below, from a top the mirador black vultures cruised the wind currents. The reprieving breeze touched upon our faces making it easy to pass time up there.

The addictive thing with wildlife watching is much of the time it’s a gamble. It’s a gamble of time and luck as to what one will see. There are certain things one can do to increase their chances such as going early morning or late evenings, those crepuscular, or known as those dusky or dim times of day. Being quiet. Being near a water source and so on. But ultimately the number one rule of wildlife watching is: you have to be out there.

And we were and we got a big reward.

New Wildlife Sightings at Las Guacamayas

Have you ever seen this animal? Do you know what it is?!

I will confess that I was not fully aware of this creatures existence either prior to going to Las Guacamayas.

This is a Tayra. It’s endemic to Central and South America.

One of the attributes of this creature I found the most enchanting was it’s long neck. How? What? Really? I just stared and stared, as much as one could in a one minute sighting, at the unique length of the neck and multi-colored fur pattern.

The Tayra is an opportunistic omnivore. Their diet consists of rodents, small mammals, birds, lizards and they can climb trees for honey and fruits. We had been going to the mirador every day to sit for at least an hour. For this particular encounter we saw the tayra within five minutes of being at the mirador. We continued sitting another two hours and saw almost nothing. So this was two hours of sitting for a one minute encounter with photos acquired. That’s what we’d call a very big success.

Days passed as Carlos, one of the main guides for Las Guacamayas, led us into the jungle and to check on the wildlife cameras. Hundreds of years ago the Maya created and used these stones as water holders. Today they make for the perfect spot to place a wildlife camera.

On the cameras they have seen jaguars, ocelots, tapirs and other elusive animals.

While hiking we caught some glimpses of birds and were able to enjoy hiking through these massive forests.

Carlos also took us out to a bat cave. Anna absolutely loves bats. So this was a must do and we easily passed an hour standing at the entrance to the cave and admiring the bats.

Mix in time spent updating notes and referencing books in the comfortable lounge area time passed quickly. There was also a good enough wifi signal from 6-9pm when the electric generator was turned on.

What the Rooms Looked Like

As far as accommodations, we stayed in the researcher and volunteer area. We thought these were great researcher accommodations.

If you were a full paying guest, the rooms were even nicer.

I just loved how each room was nicely designed with an animal theme.

The staff worked hard to upkeep the grounds and paths around the lodge.

Beautiful Landscapes Galore

For each of our days there the atmosphere was different.

One day was misty and cool.

The next was bright and sunny.

And the sunsets were amazing.

By the end of our week at Las Guacamayas we left with hundreds of photos, new animal sightings and new friends. Shown here from left to right was Maria, Chris, Marcelo, Glenda, Anna, Carlos and Tiff.

If you are keen to spend some time in the jungle either as a volunteer or full paying guest, we found Las Guacamayas a great place to be. It helps provide jobs to the local community and brings people in to learn about the jungle surrounds.

Thank you Las Guacamayas for a great week in the jungle. I’m sure those howler monkeys are still screaming.

If you go:

Website: google: Las Guacamayas
Options: You can either be a volunteer or a full paying guest.
Volunteer work varies based on what your skills are and what you can offer. Because we are photographers, they were so excited to have our perspective of photography and we spent all our time taking pictures. We also helped clean up after meals.

Volunteering costs $40 usd pp Mon-Fri for accommodation, meals and transfer. We thought this was great value. The process of just getting there is ~2.5 hrs one way. We were happy to pay this for the chance to be in this location, get a behind the scenes type of experience and get to still participate on activities like taking out the kayaks.

Booking a tour means you get a fancy room and nicer meals. Costs vary. If you don’t have a lot of time and flexibility, being a paying guests might be better for you. If you are a volunteer you go by their schedule. For instance on our exit day because they were preparing for a full lodge weekend, we actually had to wait until 5pm to depart back to Flores because that is what worked for their schedule. So it just depends on your circumstances which situation might work best for you.

Contact: Cornelio at: info@lasguacamayas.org

What to Expect:

• Electricity is on everyday from at least 6-9pm.
• Wifi signal should work when generator is on.
• Hot water is solar powered. On the day it was super cloudly I didn’t wash my hair. Otherwise it was decently warm.
• Meal times are 7am breakfast, 12-ish lunch and 7-ish dinner, although there can be a lot of variation to this.

What to Bring:

• First Aid Kit – bring anything medical related and first aid that you might need.
• Snacks – it’s definitely nice to have some snacks.
• Strong mosquito spray – a must.
• You must have outdoor/hiking type of clothes. Closed toes shoes or boots are a must. This post highlights much of our favorite outdoor gear.

Lower your Impact:

• Pack out any excess trash you have. The staff take out the extra trash anyway, so help save this step. We just used the packaging from our eaten snacks to hold all our wrappers and tidbits of trash.
• Bring a reusable water bottle. They have filtered water there to drink. If you have any excess plastic bottles, pack them out with you.
• Familiarize yourself with Leave No Trace (LNT) practices.

Logistics before & after:

The main office is based in Flores and they will pick you up and drop you off to your hotel there. The exact hotel we stayed at was Hotel
Posada Tayazal. It was a decent budget option. If you don’t like a small bathroom, don’t book here. But we didn’t mind and the shower was hot. The wifi was a bit hit or miss but did work overall. There are plenty of great restaurants around Flores with solid wifi.

Misc:

The gear listed in this post is the same exact gear we use to travel the world or our back yard.
These booking resources are the same exact ones we use to find deals and acquire points for more travel.
I will never recommend to get a credit card unless you are 100% solid to pay it off in full every month. If you will and are going to be making some big purchases, this Chase card is the same exact card we use and it offers great travel points and perks.
Finally, if you have not used AirBnB before, use this special link to sign up and get $40 off your first booking. We have been finding fantastic deals with AirBnB all across Central America.

What else? Any other questions, let me know in the comments below so others might benefit too or feel free to send me an email.

Have you ever been out to a remote jungle lodge or stayed some other location you thought was super cool? Tell us about it below.

The post How to Visit Las Guacamayas in the Jungles of Guatemala appeared first on The Travel Rangers.

While working our summer job at Townshend State Park in Vermont…

…when we noticed these baby mice wandering around.

I think this was saying, “Mom – where are you?!”

This one was like, ‘Hey sibling, you stay in the hole. It’s dangerous for a baby mouse out there.’

Despite their small size mice eat 15-20 times a day. According to the University of Florida, at about four to seven weeks old a female mouse can have babies. She will give birth to typically four to twelve young.

Mice can have a new litter of babies every three or so weeks. That’s a lot of mice! Pet mice can live up until about six years of age. In the wild, mice average a lifespan of 1 to 2.5 years.

This sibling seemed to want to go.

And he’s making a run for it.

After their little romp around the stone patio, they went back to being three blind mice and made their way back into their burrow.

We never know where and when animals will appear to us. Even though these mice are one of our most common rodents and many of us have seen mice hundreds of times in our lives, I have never seen baby mice burrow up into the afternoon sun. And to me that is worth taking a pause to say, ‘Wow – what a cool animal encounter.’

Recommended Reading: Field Guide to North American Mammals

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Thanks for stopping by. Please allow us to introduce ourselves and how this has all come about.

Who We Are:

Tiff & Chris

Hiking around Fitz Roy Mountains in Chile

This site has come to be over years of travel, experiences and restless nights. In 2012 we hiked the 11 day Torres del Paine circuit in Chile. If you’ve never heard of it you’ve likely seen the pictures.

Lots of people people take photos of the famous “W” feature that look like this.

Along the hike we met two other hikers from England a few days into the hike. We got along well and stuck together the remainder of the hike.

At the end of 11 days of backpacking we went back to town for beds, hot showers and creature comforts. We met for lunch and coffee and continued sharing stories of our lives. As you can read on our about page, the years have ticked by we have been so lucky to learn, grow and have many wildlife experiences around the world.

A few highlights and rough chronological time frame are:

• lived in Colorado and did a year long environmental program and built a lot of fences with the Mile High Youth Corps.
• lived in Utah and were wilderness therapy instructors. Camped in the desert and forest on eight day shifts all year long with a tarp. That was intense & where we learned a lot of our skills. Fun Fact: We can make a fire with sticks and we did so in our wedding!
• moved to New Zealand for a year. Did a lot of tramping including an 11 day hike around the remote Stewart Island. Lived out of a Subaru station wagon. Picked cherries and grapes along the way.
• moved to Vermont (our chosen state – we love Vermont and feel at home there) and ran Elmore State Park as Vermont Youth Conservation Corps Crew Leaders and Park Rangers. Won Park of the Year! Heck-yeah.
• winter trip to Costa Rica and hiked out to remote research stations to see tapirs in the wild.
• back to Vermont & ran Waterbury Center State Park & worked with Vermont Youth Conservation Corps.
• moved to Australia for two years & lived out of ’89 Mitshibishi Van. Did so much hiking, camping and backpacking. Also flew out to a small island off the Great Barrier Reef accessible only by small plane for a week of diving. Australia was one of the best times of our life.
• back to Vermont and became Inn Keepers at a very special park to us: Seyon Lodge for three seasons. It’s at the end of a three mile dirt road in a 27,000 acre forest. Our kind of place.
• a winter season to South America through Peru, Chili and Argentina.
• a winter season overlanding across ten African countries then rented a car and spent a month in South African national parks.
• traveled a year around Southeast Asia with so many wildlife memories and experiences. Notably we spent two months traveling around Borneo, Malaysia, hiked in the Himalayas of Nepal and saw tigers in the wilds of India.
• back to Vermont to our new special and small park: Townshend State Park.
• and the journey continues…

Along the way we have had many professional and individual development, training and education along the way….which brings us back to the coffee conversation in Chile. We were telling our new friends about our first website and they were like, ‘Oh no. Your story is so cool and different. You are:

The Travel Rangers.

We all agreed that was a good & catchy name.

Months went by and we were back in Vemont running the lodge. I kept thinking about the conversation in Chile but life seemed so busy. It was peak season and we were flat out. Have you ever had those times in your life, usually when you are really busy, when you need sleep so bad yet you are not sleeping?

It was one of those nights and it was 2am – literally. One of my life mantras is a quote from the movie Babe and it says, “Little ideas that tickle and nag cannot be ignored for in them lay the seeds of destiny.” So there I was at 2am finally saying, “Ok universe I’ll do it!” and I got up and bought the domains for The Travel Rangers. Having finally achieved that mission I could then go back to sleep.

Another two-ish years passed and 2am restless sleep happened again.

When the universe wants us to do something, it just must be done. At least for me that’s how it works for me. I  have to explore the ideas. Most of the time I don’t know where these ideas will lead but I must give it a try. I don’t think the universe ever asks or expects us to be perfect. It simply asks that we always try our best.

And so here we are.

I think everything we have worked on prior has prepared us for this next phase of the journey. We felt driven to create a site that could better share our interest and commitment to observing wildlife all around the world.

Our mission is:

To show anyone who would like amazing wildlife and nature photography while also educating and inspiring a greater appreciation of the natural world.

So thanks for coming along. As Mary Oliver said, “So tell me, what are you going to do with this one wild and crazy life?”

Travel for nature and wildlife.

The Travel Rangers

Tiff & Chris

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