DINNER BY THE PANAMA CANAL

WATCHING THE WORLD SLIP BY

Canal House view for dinner

Returning to Panama for a greatly needed escape from the Northeast winter has been easy, because Janet has been in charge. She, as always, has planned this trip down to the tiniest minutiae. Airline tickets, parking, two separate hotels in Panama City, two different resorts in Bocas del Toro and even one at the Philadelphia airport, car and boat transfers, dive shops and cooking classes are all under her purview.

All I have to do is find my wallet.

Included in her planning is taking advantage of the perks that come with traveling and as she has attained “Platinum” status our layovers are spent in the Admirals Clubs at both Philadelphia and Miami. We get free seating and boarding upgrades and free checked luggage and she is constantly monitoring for “deals” and makes ROI decisions that helps perpetuate her elitist ranking. Case in point we are staying at the Radisson Panama Canal, but not because it sits directly on the waters leading to the Panama Canal, but because this stay will gain her the most loyalty points.

RADISSON PANAMA CANAL

SERENDIPITY?

All of her planning may seem untenable to others, because on the surface it seems there’s no room for exploring, or as I like to say, ‘getting happily lost’.

From past personal experiences though “my way” is akin to a headless chicken running around aimlessly and from recent experiences traveling with Janet we still are graced with good luck and serendipitous discoveries.

WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE WE?

Well, the reward for her planning is the Radisson Panama Canal which is indeed right on the canal. From our well-deserved poolside perch, we watch the ship traffic entering or leaving the Pacific Ocean side of the Panama Canal. Smaller boats are moored in the Balboa yacht club as the much-larger tanker ships glide slowly beneath the Bridge of the Americas.

We stayed in the area when we were last in Panama when our ship docked at the Amador Causeway and we are a short drive from the UNESCO World Heritage site, Casco Viejo the beautiful old section of Panama City. The soaring high-rise buildings are thankfully further away.

As we have been here before we are not touring the Miraflores Visitor Center for the Panama Canal, and we are limiting our time in Casco Viejo to a cooking class.

OFF SCRIPT

When you (Janet) plans well there are always opportunities to go off-script and explore. Yesterday we did just that. After settling into our hotel, we opted to stroll along the waterway before eating dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. 

Ropa Vieja tacos
at Canal House

We happened upon the Canal House, a local joint with a thatched roof and shifted plans to eat there. Not thinking it was odd the place was packed for a mid/late Monday afternoon; it did feel like a Sunday afternoon; we found a table and somehow ordered drinks and food. Staff barely spoke English. Janet had Shrimp ceviche and I had Ropa Vieja tacos that exploded with flavors and we ate while watching massive cargo ships slip silently by on their way to or from the Panama Canal.

It was a beautiful stop.

CANAL HOUSE PANAMA

CARNAVAL

Turns out we were in the middle of Carnaval, that mash-up to Ash Wednesday and Lent. There are celebrations in Panama City, but people mostly view it as a family holiday and escape the city to visit “home” and celebrate there. Panama City officials have been pushing to make it a more prominent activity for years and today (Tuesday) there will be a parade along Cinta Costera and much later the “Entierro de la Sardina” (yeah, they bury a sardine that officially ends Carnaval), but we are not venturing farther than the old city and our cooking class.

Hopefully no one hands me a shovel, we have a plane to catch in the morning.

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj

NEXT STOP PANAMA

AND NONE TOO SOON

Panamanian dancers

With more snow forecast for tonight, we are leaving for Panama a day earlier and staying in a hotel near the Philadelphia Airport. We’ve had too much cold and too much snow this winter to risk missing our flight, which begins boarding at 5:20 am. Besides we booked the hotel room through American Airlines, which will also get me an extra 1,500 loyalty points.

Those miles add up. We’re flying to Greece later this year using frequent flyer mileage.

We are staying at the Doubletree Hotel and we will leave our car parked there. The hotel will charge you $25 pd to park there, but Janet goes through CHEAPERAIRPORTPARKING.ORG and we’ll park there for just $130. 

Do the math over 16 days.

Another reason to love Janet.

Janet with indigenous art

Soon, we will shed the winter doldrums and bask in the Panamanian sun and enjoy the rich diverse culture of this Central American country. .

After spending a day in Panama City where we are taking a cooking class, we will fly to Bocas del Toro, an archipelago on the western Caribbean shore near Costa Rica. We will fly there on Panama Air. 

Sadly, we don’t get frequent flyer miles with them.

TRAVELING TO PANAMA

UH-OH?

I’m not going to lie to you, but growing up in the 80’s Panama was not on any destination itinerary for this humble scribe. With the scandal of the Iran-Contra Affair and Manuel Noreiga’s drug trafficking enterprise out of Panama filling the nightly news, it was an easy bet that I would steer clear of the Central American country.

That was in the 80’s and Noreiga has been out of the picture long before his death in 2017, but admittedly there is some residual dread about traveling there.

In February we are traveling to Bocas del Toro for a hopefully relaxing stay in this popular tourist destination.

To think the narcotics problem has gone away completely would be ludicrous and there are areas of Panama you should not venture into. According to the U.S. State Department places like the Darien Gap, the dense inhospitable jungle 60+ miles long that separates Panama from Colombia and where there are no roads or no law enforcement, and the very rural Mosquito Coast on the Caribbean side of Panama should be avoided.

WTF?

You’re probably saying why would anyone want to travel to Panama then. Yes, it can be edgy, but the show of law enforcement in other places is prevalent.

Panama law

We sailed from Costa Rica to Panama several years ago, and we were reminded that there are strict rules.

When we crossed into Panamanian waters at night aboard the Variety Cruises MS Panorama we were boarded by customs agents. They looked at everyone’s passport and scrutinized the ship’s manifest.

Embera-Wounaan

When we landed on Iguana Island, a small island with white sandy beaches, our tender was challenged by a military crew wearing balaclavas and toting machine guns. The crew of the Panorama is Greek, and no one spoke Spanish, and our Costa Rican cruise director was still on the ship. Until the whole thing was settled, we were told to sit in the shade and not wander away. We wiled away the time watching countless hermit crabs prancing about the beach as iguanas ogled us curiously.

When we visited a village of the Embera-Wounaan one of the indigenous tribes living in the Darien Gap, we were watched by a couple of military soldiers who followed our group from a discreet distance.

IN STEP WE TRUST

Truthfully, the police presence was comforting. Another way to help waylay any misgivings, other than exercising commonsense in certain situations, is to register your travel itinerary with the US State Department. Each time we leave the country we register with their STEP program. It’s free and you will get alerts to any issues going on in your destination and where NOT to go. The Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, don’t leave home without registering!

STEP with the US Department of State

 

WORRYWARTS?   

Perhaps, but, being smart in your traveling is smart. Not wading into situations, thinking you’re impervious, is smart.

One can spend their entire life not seeing this big beautiful world and be safe. Travel does take some people out of their comfort zone, but travel for us extends our comfort levels.  And, without traveling how could we ever experience the beauty of this world. In our earlier trip to Panama we swam with whale sharks and turtles and dodged hermit crabs and we are looking forward to returning.

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj

 

BOCAS DEL TORO

PANAMA BEYOND THE CANAL 

Punta Caracol Acqua-Lodge 

Next month we will escape winter and visit a very popular tourist spot in Panama and it’s not the Panama Canal. 

With alluring mid-80s temperatures in February, stunning natural beauty with lush rainforests and white-sand beaches with turquoise water teeming with diverse marine life and a vibrant culture, the Bocas del Toro (mouths of the bull) archipelago will be a welcome and budget friendly destination. 

Popular with backpackers, surfers, scuba divers, and ecotourists this area, on the Caribbean side of Panama near the border with Costa Rica, will be a great excuse to get away from winter.

Besides, we had been to the Panama Canal once before. We had sailed from Costa Rica to Panama in 2020 with the small ship cruise line Variety Cruises. Our final stop on that trip was Panama City, and we toured the Miraflores Visitor Center to watch massive ships squeeze through the locks.

MIRAFLORES VISITOR CENTER

VARIETY CRUISES 

OVERWATER BUNGALOWS

With nine main islands and countless cays and islets, all accessible by boat or water taxis, Bocas del Toro is not only beautiful, but very affordable.

Though we have often admired overwater bungalows in brochures, the cost of a stay was always very prohibitive for us. In Bocas del Toro though this “dream” of staying in an overwater bungalow is a reality and there are several available at a very nominal price. We are staying at the Punta Caracol Acqua Lodge, at less than $250 per night. This is a fraction of similar stays say in the Maldives or French Polynesia, or even at a Sandals Resort that we like to visit. As a comparison point, overwater bungalows at the Sandals South Coast in Jamaica are roughly $1,600 per night, PER PERSON.

LISTING OF OVERWATER BUNGALOWS IN BOCAS

A BOOK AND A HAMMOCK

The bungalows of Punta Caracol Acqua-Lodge are set along a mile-long coral reef where we can swim or snorkel off our private deck or relax with a book in our hammock. We’ll enjoy sunsets and a restaurant whose menu changes daily.

It will be a rustic stay as there is an emphasis on sustainable renewable energy, but there is a free shuttle boat that leaves for town three times a day, in case we need to get in some partying or souvenir purchases. I suspect though, we will enjoy the quiet and the warm weather of Panama while back home they will be in the deepest throes of winter.

Once we are in town there are water taxis if we decide to go to one of the area floating bars, with fares anywhere from $2.00 to $5.00.

floating bar Bocas

Other activities available to us will be a boat tour of several islands in the archipelago to visit places like Starfish Beach or Red Frog Beach and at least one scuba dive excursion. Or, that hammock overlooking the water and frolicking dolphins may be all the activity we will require.

PUNTA CARACOL BOCAS DEL TORO PANAMA 

YOU CAN GET THERE FROM HERE

Bocas del Toro is on the extreme western edge of Panama, and it is an hour flight from Panama City with Panama Air. Oh, you can be cheap and take a 12-hour bus ride from the capital for less than $30. The round-trip flights are around $280, but with the inexpensive accommodation at Punta Caracol we could easily afford it.

We are staying in Panama City for 2 days before our flight out west, but we are taking a cooking class instead of touring the canal.

BOCAS DEL TORO TRAVEL GUIDE

BTW I’ve been working on my Spanish. I will make sure I use the word mucho while in Panama. It means “a lot” to the people.

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj 

ADVICE FOR THIS YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

DON’T BOTHER

Okay, we’re a week into the New Year and I’m sure a lot of you tried to start 2026 with a proper attitude towards improving yourself. Dry January, diets, book reading, more exercise, etc. etc.  All noble endeavors, I guess.

Sadly, I’m sure a lot of you have already stumbled on some of those wonderful goals, but who cares right? It’s that Buddhist way: “Let that shit go.”

Have a beer, eat that donut, only peruse the New York Post headlines, and cancel that membership to the local Planet Fitness. (Why waste that $15 pm?)

In the long run you won’t feel frustrated by your lack of discipline and you’ll savor that IPA or relish that Boston Cream as its filling plops onto your tight t-shirt as you watch the movie version of that novel you thought you’d like to read…hopefully it’s on Netflix so you won’t even have to bother leaving the house.

Throw out that bathroom scale. Order pizza in. Don’t even attempt to tax yourself by watching the news or in the case of this NY Giants fan, any of the NFL playoffs. Watch incessant F-Troop reruns instead.

Get the dog to walk themselves. Have the liquor store deliver needed libations.  Close the blinds and don’t leave the house and please, don’t surf the internet for deals on beautiful destinations because you don’t want to travel.

WTF?

Yikes, that last bit about not wanting to travel is kind of revealing to you dear reader that this blog entry is farce, except for the bit about being a sullen NY Football Giants fan.

Ugh.

If there’s just one resolution or goal for you during this new year it should be to explore your world, if not the world. Where are you? How did you get here? How DO you get there? Learn, explore, and along the way be kind and be happy with wherever you alight this year, because, well, because it’s a Buddhist way.

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU WEIGH…

One last bit of advice is about exercise. Around this time the gyms are packed with people and their resolutions about “getting in shape.” Don’t worry, the crowds will dwindle soon enough. Keep at it, if only to be hearty and hale enough to enjoy traveling. Be a moving target and remember this always:

“It’s not what you weigh, but what that weight looks like” © by Gregory Dunaj

 

Thanks for reading and looking forward to this new year.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj

WHERE IN THE WORLD WERE WE?

2025 TRAVEL RECAP

THAILAND

I’d like to begin by thanking you for reading this travel blog. Writing this blog serves two purposes. First, it helps us keep track of what the heck we’ve done and what we’ve seen. Reminiscing is that much easier. There’s no quibbling about past travels like where we were or when were we there? We simply look it up on the blog.

Secondly, we get to share our travel experiences with you, the reader, and hopefully inspire you to travel as well and along the way give some helpful advice.

Thirdly, yes make that three purposes, the blog serves to slake my ego. Afterall, I am a writer and a writer likes to be read. So, where were we?

HERE AND THERE

Overall, this past year we spent a lot of time at home. We started 2025 in England as we spent Christmas and New Year’s there. Our English family then spent part of their summer vacation with us, and we rented a house in Ocean City, New Jersey. Janet returned the favor by traveling back to England in October to show them how Halloween is properly celebrated.

We also paid our “dues” to other family members who needed their dogs watched while they traveled. They have watched our dog a lot over the years, so we returned the favor. A gift of a bottle of rum wasn’t enough.

We also traveled to visit friends in the Saratoga Springs area in September.  

THAILAND IN FEBRUARY/MARCH

We spent three weeks in Thailand. The first two we toured the country with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). This was our second trip with this tour company. Last year we booked a trip to Vietnam and then Cambodia with them.

At the Golden Triangle

Specializing in small group travel with no more than 16 people allowed, OAT took us from Bangkok to Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle. It was historical with some sobering visits to the “Bridge over the River Kwai” and the Hellfire pass.

After our tour we then traveled to Kamala Beach in Phuket for week of revelry. It was completely different than our time in the north. We stayed at the Sunprime Resort.

OVERSEAS ADVENTURE TRAVEL

SUNPRIME BEACH RESORT KAMALA THAILAND

THE BIG ISLAND HAWAII IN MAY

Normally we don’t like to return to a place we’ve visited before, but we always make an exception for Hawaii. We were last there in 2014 and this past year we were able to get a two-bedroom condo at Waikoloa Village on the Kohala coast for just $1,600. Splitting the cost with friends we spent a week in paradise. One day we were proper Paniolos riding horses on Kohala mountain and one evening we went to the summit of Mauna Kea.

Renegade and me

The next week we returned to Hilo and rented a house with a pool. We also visited Volcanos National Park and partied at Uncle Robert’s Farmers Market in Kalapana.

PANIOLO AVENTURES  

ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES IN DECEMBER

Our yearly trip to a Sandals resort had us on the island of St Vincent earlier this month. Eight Caribbean islands have a Sandals resort, and we've now been to each island. St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) just opened last year. 

St Vincent

We had been in the Grenadines previously. Twenty years ago, we sailed on the Yankees Clipper, once part of the Windjammer Cruise's fleet. We sailed then from St. Lucia to Grenada and then back, stopping at several small islands in the Grenadines. 

Before our trip to the Sandals on St Vincent we returned to Bequia, one of those islands, and we almost didn't leave. 

THE FUTURE

2026 is getting booked up already with Team VFH. In February we are staying in over the water bungalows in Bocas del Toros in the western Caribbean side of Panama. We are spending a few days before and after in Panama City, near the canal.

In June we are sailing in Greece on the Panorama with Variety Cruises. We had been on the Panorama when we sailed with them in 2020 from Costa Rica to Panama on the Pacific side of central America. On that trip the Panorama sailed with 16 passengers and 18 crew members.

VARIETY CRUISES. 

Next December we’re returning to the south coast Jamaica Sandals. We had been there in 2021 and the allure of a two-mile private beach and a fantastic over the water bar was too great to resist. Later that month we are returning to England to spend Christmas with the family.

There you have it. We have all the odds and ends written down and my ego is intact.

Thanks for reading.

Please have a healthy and prosperous New Year and safe travels.

Love Janet and greg

© 2025 by Gregory Dunaj

ST VINCENT ROAD TRIP

LIFE BEYOND THE RESORT

Desci and me

There are several ways to enjoy a trip to a Sandals resort. Many people enjoy the “resort experience”, which usually involves lazing about on chaises either poolside or at the beach for hours; the inert position only interrupted by several trips to a swim-up bar to order a wacky drink concoction like a “Dirty Banana” or a “Mudslide”. Relaxing and enjoying the resort’s entertainment is an added plus, but let’s face it, the drink is more important.

We have been known to indulge in this experience.

Another pastime at a Sandals resort is free scuba diving available to those who are certified, and we do take advantage of this perk. We got PADI certified during our stays with Sandals. There was a cost for the initial certification, but now it’s all free.

EVERYTHING IN MODERATION

Between these two “activities” the days are filled. Drinking to excess, especially on the first day, can lead to the loss of clothing and embarrassing evenings, and will put a crimp on enjoying a scuba diving excursion the next morning.

Janet and me

For us there is always a delicate balance of indulging in “rum” and trying to go diving as often as possible while at a Sandals.

So, to mitigate this “problem” we plan an exploratory “road-trip” of the island in the middle of our stay.

THE JACKAL & THE CYW IAR HUDOL

Since we met them in Grenada in 2022, we have arranged to stay at several other Sandals resorts. The four of us have been to Curacao, Barbados, St Lucia and now, St Vincent. On each of these stays at a Sandals we collaborated on a road trip that explored the island.

Now, Janet is very good at planning details, but with the addition of the “Jackal” to our VFH team our experiences have blossomed. Hunting for deals with the veracity of an alpha pack leader the Jackal and Janet have forged a formidable bond. Along with the Jackal’s stoic partner we four have traveled well together.    

Obviously, we are only sharing their code names because we don’t want to share this information. For instance, the Jackal found the Bequia Plantation Hotel, something Janet missed. It was a perfect visit.

The Jackal’s stoic partner goes by many names. He often goes by Cyw iâr hud, or in some corners of this world el Pollo Mago. 

A mysterious, but malleable character, he will do anything the Jackal commands, except go diving, or eat lobster.   

NECCESSITY  

Sainted followers of this blog know we here at VFH Central are constantly trying to do things on the cheap and this is where Janet and Jackal excel. One could easily just tramp down to the tour office at any Sandals and arrange an off-campus sojourn, but they charge a lot.

So, we (Janet and the Jackal) search for drivers to take us on personalized tours.

First, the mooching mavens get on the Facebook Sandals community chat group for the resort we are visiting and see what people are recommending seeing on the island and get ideas as who we should hire.

Then, they contact the driver directly using WhatsApp, the go-to messaging service used a lot in foreign countries. We used it in Vietnam, Thailand and throughout the Caribbean.

Then they personalize the tour, going over different options with the selected driver as to where to go, and then setting the date and time.

WHATSAPP

On St Vincent we (Janet and the Jackal) not only selected the driver and laid out a tour of the island but also arranged for another driver to get us from the airport to the ferry and later the resort using the recommendations culled from the FB chat room.

The beauty of this process is that we are not limited to the tours Sandals offers and can pick and choose according to our interests.

For me, that’s a lot of work. It’s tough enough to make sure the frig is stocked with beer.

SVG RECOMMENDATIONS

ST VINCENT ROADS

I figure you might feel the same way about this unwieldy process, so here’s our hires on St Vincent.

For our transportation from airport to ferry to resort on St Vincent we hired Stefano Taxi Service & Tours and his small fleet of drivers. Extremely gracious and friendly and reliable, the trip to the ferry from the airport was a tight connection, but he managed to get us there while still pointing out beautiful vistas and giving us a quick history of the island. Highly recommend: 17845319367 or 17844989367 or 

STEFANO TAXI SVG

Desci’s Taxi and Tours Fun day-long trip around the island with Desci. Her tour included whimsical tales about the 2021 volcano eruption of La Soufriere that sits ominously in the north and the subsequent clean-up of all the accumulated ash. One cannot drive completely around St Vincent because of the volcano. As she easily navigated the narrow twisting roads on the left side of the road, we listened white-knuckled to tidbits about St Vincent, like how people on the island will paint their houses in new bright colors nearly every year for Christmas celebrations.

Part of the tour included a trip to the park at Black Point Tunnel. The tunnel was carved by the British to transport sugar cane from the fields to the port. Most importantly though there was a grammar school field day going on and we watched the kids in several races.

We also toured the St Vincent Distillery and sampled a lot of rum, including their Sunset Very Strong Rum. At 84.5% you can’t bring this rum home with you unless it’s in your belly.

SVG NATIONAL PARKS

Highly recommend Descilla Samuel: 1-784-431-4072 or 

DESCI TAXI AND TOURS

Tell them we (the Jackal and Janet) sent you.

Thanks for reading,

Love Janet and greg

Field Day St Vincent

Remember, you can always give a donation to VFH....we'll use it as hush money for the Jackal and el Pollo Mago...

© 2025 by Gregory Dunaj