Isla Iguana- Azuero Peninsula, Panama

Isla Iguana is my favorite place on the Azuero Peninsula. We hopped on a motorboat called “Taiwan Panama” but it should have been called “Hawaii Panama” because that is where I felt transported to.

The beautiful beaches on the mainland have mostly brown and black sand and dark blue ocean, but Isla Iguana has bright white sand and bright blue clear water. I’ll never back down: there is nothing like a white sand beach.

When first approaching the island we were surprise by how many birds were circling overhead and we learned later that there is a bird sanctuary there (which we tried to find but were scared off, fearing for our lives in a Hitchcock kind of way by the random scattering of purple crab claws and the overpowering smell of bird poop) but maybe you will have better luck with braver people (not four girls walking in the woods in their bikinis).

We rented snorkel equipment in town which was ten dollars per pair of snorkel and flippers and ventured out into the reef. If you swim out a bit from the beach there is tons of different coral and surprisingly a lot of fish. There were big polka dotted fish, little striped fish and an electric blue fish with big scary teeth that sent us swimming in the other direction.

Relaxing on the gorgeous beach to the tinkling sound of the waves lapping on the coral sand was delicious. Pack a lunch and stay for a while, it costs 45 dollars to hire a local driver with a boat and ten dollars per person to hang out on the island. The Government recently increased the cost to but the driver cut us a deal for us as a group. The price is worth it, all the way. Grab the whole family and pretend like it’s your private island…because it will be.

This post's rating:

Related Stories

Filed under: Country Guide on March 10th, 2008