During my recent visit to Panama to work on updates for the 2016 edition of the Fodor’s In Focus travel guide, I took a trip to Isla Contadora, a beautiful island that makes up part of the Las Perlas archipelago off of Panama’s Pacific coast. Ferry service takes about an hour and a half and costs about $90 roundtrip, but flights on Air Panama cost just $3 more, so I opted for the shorter travel time. Here’s my review of the experience.
THE ROUTE: Panama City/Marcos A. Gelabert airport (PAC; also known as Albrook airport) to Isla Contadora (OTD); Cessna Caravan 208B; about 30 minutes (with a stop in San José, Panama).
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THE DEPARTURE: I took a taxi from my hotel in Panama City to Marcos A. Gelabert, the capital’s domestic airport. The small airport terminal, which is served only by Air Panama in terms of scheduled commercial flights, was uncrowded, and a greeter asked me where I was going and directed me to the appropriate line, where there was no wait for check in. I was allowed two carry ons, and the ticket agent asked me to stand on a scale to be weighed for the flight.
Since I had time to kill, I wandered to the small airport food court to have breakfast; I especially liked the free WiFi offered by one of the food vendors, as well as the airline memorabilia that graced the walls of the food court (there were even posters for the movie Airplane! and the TV series Pan Am). Security check opened about 30 minutes before flight departure time; passengers were asked to remove shoes and take out computers. The waiting area was clean and amply sized, and had a large window that was nice for viewing the small planes on the tarmac.
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THE AIRCRAFT: The Caravan 208B aircraft, built in 1990, was a 12-passenger plane with two seats on one side of the narrow aisle and one seat on the other. The two pilots sat in the same cabin, so we could view their activities.
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AIRLINE SEATING: There were no assigned seats for this Panama flight. Seats were reasonably comfortable for a short flight and had seat belts with shoulder straps. Above each seat was an air vent and reading lamp.
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INFLIGHT SERVICE: You can’t expect much inflight entertainment when you’re on a 12-seat plane for less than half an hour. But the views were more than enough to entertain; we glided over a gaggle of giant cargo ships waiting to enter the Panama Canal as we left the city, and then descended over beautiful Pacific waters and lush islands on our approach to both San José and Contadora — be sure you have your camera ready if you take this trip.
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THE ARRIVAL: We made a 10-minute stop on the grass runway at San José, Panama, before flying on to Contadora, which has a paved runway but no terminal building. It was a very short walk from the tarmac to the ferry terminal and also the Contadora visitor center and the hotel where I stayed.
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THE RETURN FLIGHT: Since there is no airport terminal on Contadora island, I strolled from my hotel to the small building that houses the Air Panama ticket office about an hour before my takeoff time, and got my boarding pass. I then went back to the hotel, collected my luggage and walked to the tarmac, where I sat on a ledge along the small road while waiting for my flight. The plane was late, but I was able to use the WiFi from my hotel since it’s so close. When the boarding process began, passengers simply walked onto the tarmac and got on; no need to check boarding passes again since the man working the tarmac was the same guy who’d checked us all in. The flight back from Contadora to Panama City was nonstop, and upon arrival I decided to take a $3 taxi ride to the nearby Albrook Metro station, so I could take a cheap-but-comfortable 35¢ ride on the train back to my hotel. I love mass transit!