San Carlos, Santa Clara, and Farallon

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San Carlos

I need to stop visiting surf towns since I don’t surf. They rarely equate to nice beaches and I was a bit disappointed to find a black sand beach at San Carlos. I ventured onto the beach fairly far before I realized the sand was burning my feet. I did a high-step sprint back to the dirt road, looking around afterward to see if anyone was watching that ridiculous scene.

The next morning I went for a walk on Playa Enseñada, a fairly nice adjacent beach, and then the owner of Sweet Dreams Hotel drove me to Santa Clara, about 25 minutes south on the Interamericana.

Santa Fe

It’s really difficult to tell how nice a beach is by browsing online photos. Practically any beach can look like paradise with the right framing and lighting. But I really lucked out with Santa Clara, along the Gulf of Panamá. It’s a beautiful stretch of soft, tan sand and heavy turquoise waters that stretch for miles and are relatively empty on weekdays. I also lucked out with T.T. Bed and Breakfast, which is reasonably priced and run by a friendly French couple. I feel a little bad about staying with expats rather than locals but it’s hard to pass up a beachfront house with crepes and chocolate for breakfast and a stocked wine fridge. I ate a $15 whole sea bass for dinner both nights at the otherwise empty Delicias del Mar, but other restaurants were closed.

I went for a long walk northward along the beach on my second day there, making it all the way to Las Uvas and almost all the way back to San Carlos, at least 8 miles each way. The shoreline is dotted with antiquated houses of millionaires, over half of which are dilapidated eyesores, not to speak of the 30-story monstrosity (see photo) that is a testament to zoning laws.

Some stretches are just virgin beaches for miles. The sand was soft enough to walk barefoot along the water for most of the way but I put my sandals on for the rockier section near Las Uvas. I had to cross a couple of rivers but at low tide it was easy. In 6 hours I only passed a few people - some fishermen, and locals from Penonome and Anton wading in the shallow waters. Most areas looked fine for swimming. I can’t figure out how to embed a video link using my phone, but here is a 180-degree view of my lunch spot:

Playa Farallon

My partner Peggy arrived in Panama City a week or so later at around 1:30 PM, so the farthest west we could comfortably travel that day was back to the same coast. This time we booked a place in Farallon, but only because T.T. Bed and Breakfast was full.

There are more photos below.

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Photos

Playa Santa Clara
This is the view from T.T. Bed and Breakfast.

Fishermen Stakes
These posts seem to be used by Fishermen to prepare their nets?

Eyesore
Qué una lástima.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Panama
$15 sea bass sounds like a fantastic deal.