Travel Notes From Our January 2025 Trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge
You’d think that by the fifth time we visit a fishing destination we’d have the travel part pretty much down pat. You’d be wrong. Each trip provides new challenges and new variables that complicate the process. Our recently-completed trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge was our first time to go there in January. It was also our largest group – 20, which is the largest group that the lodge has ever hosted – hailing from 11 states. Sixteen of the 20 were first-timers at the lodge. Fortunately, they were all experienced and flexible travelers.
By recounting our experiences, we hope to minimize hassles and problems on our future trips, and hopefully yours as well:
Travel to Panama City
Several of our travelers, desiring to avoid hassles or take advantage of late-arriving direct flights, elected to arrive on January 3rd, a day before they needed to be there. Through SFPIL’s travel advisor, we arranged for them to stay an extra night at the Hilton and they spent the 4th going to the canal, Casco Viejo, and relaxing.
Two of those early arrivals were our friends Russ and Jola Baccaglini from New Jersey. Their direct flight from Newark was supposed to take off at 4pm and arrive around 9pm. It was delayed (but fortunately not canceled) until about 9pm, and they didn’t get to the hotel until close to 2am.
Hanna and I booked a direct flight on Copa from Washington-Dulles, leaving at 8:30am and arriving approximately 1:30pm. Everything went off without a hitch. We took an Uber to the airport, defraying some of the cost with the $15 monthly credit from our American Express Platinum Card. Upon arrival at Dulles, the only eligible lounge that was open was Etihad, so we used our once-a-year entry there and enjoyed a nice breakfast.
Our Copa flight was only about half full, so we were moved up from the back of the plane to row 7. There were multiple rows, including exit rows, that had no one sitting in them.
Upon arrival at Tocumen Airport, we were greeted at the gate by a staff member of the Royal Tocumen Salon (part of SFPIL’s VIP program). Since we needed to go to the other terminal to meet our group, she had a cart waiting to take us there, then took us through expedited customs and immigration.
She then led us out to the waiting drivers. Most of the rest of our group were already there, and we headed to the Hilton to check in.
January 4th in Panama City
Upon arrival at the Hilton, Hanna coordinated the check-in of our group. A few of the rooms were not ready, so without protest those members of our group moved to the bar area. The rest of us got checked in, took our stuff to the room, and then joined them in the bar.
Shortly after 5:30, 16 of us headed to Gaucho’s steakhouse. One early arrival chose to relax with room service instead. On past trips we’d had dinner in Casco Viejo and on the Amador Causeway, but with this large group we figured it was easier to do something walkable. It took less than 5 minutes to get there, we were seated immediately, and everyone seemed to enjoy the dinner. The three late-arriving members of the group joined us shortly thereafter and sat at an adjacent table.
Upon return to the hotel, a few members headed back to the bar for a drink or three. Others headed to bed to get ready for the early arrival.
January 5th Moving Day
We were expected to be in the lobby around 5am to gather our carb-heavy hotel-provided breakfasts. There were a few stragglers, but everyone seemed to make it in a reasonable time and our drivers were ready with a Sprinter and a couple of vehicles to get our group and our luggage back to Tocumen.
The domestic flight area in Tocumen has changed. Previously we had to exit the airport, enter a sad little separate building, and wait there. Now we merely walked to the end of the terminal hallway, went through security, and we then waited inside a small pen to board our plane. Note that this post-security area does not seem to have restrooms, vending machines or any sort of food sales, so once you’re in there, you’re stuck.
The flight to David was only a few minutes late, but at less than an hour total it wasn’t a big deal. Some people seemed to really enjoy the pizza-flavored crackers served as a snack.
Even though we were the only arriving flight on the ground, for some reason luggage took longer than it should have. We were all crowded into a small room and the bags came in fits and starts. For some reason it appeared that they parked the cart outside 30 or so feet away from the carousel and then carried the bags one by one. Eventually it all made it, though.
Captain Shane was waiting outside to greet us, as was a bus to take us to the marina, and a pickup truck to carry our luggage. Three boats were waiting at the marina and after a quick transfer we were on the way to the island. An hour later, we were all there, ready for lunch and a half day of fishing.
January 9th – Breaking Up the Band
Four members of the group were only scheduled to fish 3 ½ days so they could get back home to California and Michigan. They were taken by boat to Boca Chica, where a van picked them up and took them to the David airport for their trip home.
January 10th – The End of It All (Except for Those Traveling Through Atlanta)
Even before we left the island, we were getting word of a “snowpocalypse” throughout the southeast that might affect our Delta travelers connecting through Atlanta.
The first steps of our trip home went according to plan. We hopped on the boats at the island (with luggage, including coolers full of yellowfin fillets), made the hour long ride to the marina, took a bus to the airport.
Check-in on the domestic Copa flight was easy and we were ushered into the waiting room and then onto the plane for the <1 hour flight back to Tocumen. Upon arrival we gathered our luggage and we were met by our drivers. Those of us flying on Copa (me and Hanna) could recheck our luggage.
Since we had drivers, and only one traveler had a plane to catch in the short term, we headed into Casco Viejo for lunch. In hindsight, I wouldn’t do this again, since several travelers had to head back almost immediately (or so they thought). We would have been better off, in terms of cost and time, just staying at Tocumen and having a nice lunch.
With others heading off with what they thought was a rescheduled 5pm flight to Atlanta, Hanna, Russ, Jola and I decided to use our Priority Pass privileges to head to a lounge. The Copa Club would let us in, but not our guests since their flights were over 3 hours in the future. Accordingly, we went to The Lounge next door, where we were all admitted. The food was mediocre, but there were plenty of drinks and comfortable seats away from the in-terminal chaos.
Hanna and I left early for our 6:30pm flight, which was good because somehow it was in the other terminal. We had to take a shuttle bus, which took the most meandering route possible but eventually got us there.
Remember that on all flights to the United States from Panama, you will have to go through a second set of metal detectors at your gate. I’m not 100% sure why this is, but it requires some extra time, and once you’re in the holding pen you cannot leave unless you want to go through security again.
Our direct flight to IAD took off on time and landed on time. We got a little bit of sleep but since the flight was full we were not able to move up. We were stuck mid-plane, with no power outlets.
Our luggage came out fairly quickly, with our tuna still frozen. We were through Global Entry in 5 minutes, then caught an Uber in the snow and we were home around 1:30. Put the tuna in the freezer and asleep by 2.
Atlanta Aftermath
One of our Atlanta travelers ended up switching to a direct flight to Orlando, which got him to his second home in Tampa pretty easily. The rest of them had varying levels of delays – at least a day. Delta put them up in a hotel, gave them a meal voucher and got them to/from the airport. Fortunately it was a weekend so I don’t think it directly impacted anyone’s plans, but we are still exceptionally glad that they were all good sports about this unexpected problem.
