The Dream Islands

Panama’s San Blas Islands have to be experienced to be believed.

- Mike and Robin Stout

It’s just another day in the San Blas islands. We are in the dinghy, heading out with our snorkel gear to a site we’d heard about called the Hollandes Caves. As we make our way through the gin-clear water of the channel to the shallow back reef, a 4ft wide southern stingray bursts out of the water a few feet ahead and flies effortlessly in front of us for a few seconds before a dip of a wing sends him shooting out of the channel and into the shallow water of the flat.

As we approach the reef, the sandy channel ends and we idle along in waist-deep water, watching for coral heads and occasionally sticking a paddle in the water to check the depth. It’s so clear that the dinghy seems to be hovering over the bottom. We toss out the anchor in a sand patch near what we guess is the right location and take in the breathtaking scenery. Towering palms behind the white sand beaches of the nearby islands shimmer in the tropical sun. Head-high waves driven all the way across the Caribbean by the trade winds crash on the reef, sending up walls of spray 50 yards away. Behind the reef, though, there is utter serenity. The only other person visible is a native Guna fisherman in a dugout canoe about a quarter mile away.