Travel Notes From Our May 2024 Trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge

After three trips to fish in Panama, we figured we had the process down pretty much pat, but every trip presents its own set of challenges. Fortunately, the travel aspects of our fourth trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge were remarkably smooth, especially when you consider that we were dealing with the following factors:

• A total of 12 travelers, coming from South Carolina, West Texas, Virginia, Utah, Northern Florida, Illinois, Georgia and Minnesota.

• Three different airlines involved – Copa, Delta and United

• Busiest Memorial Day Weekend for travel in recent history.

• Although all of the members of our group were experienced traveling anglers, eight hadn’t been to SFPIL and seven hadn’t been to Panama at all.

Because it wasn’t eventful, it may not be extremely helpful to document it, but if our experiences help any future travelers avoid problems, it’ll be worth it. Here’s what we experienced:

• Hanna and I flew Copa, direct from Dulles to Tocumen and back. For our entire group, the domestic flights to/from Panama City and David were on Copa. All of the flights were on time. No luggage was lost or delayed.

• I was glad that I checked Copa’s baggage policies ahead of time. I brought some of my own gear on this trip and was surprised to see that they prohibit reels on board, with no mention of even line-free reels being allowed. It would’ve been awful to have them confiscated or to have to leave them behind.

• Hanna and I did make one mistake – several domestic airlines have our PreCheck info on file, but we failed to add it to our Copa profiles. Thus, when we tried to use the Clear security line we were not able to do so. Instead, the agent sent us downstairs to a non-PreCheck Clear line. Although we had to take off our shoes, that line proved to be shorter than the upstairs PreCheck Clear line – something to remember for the future.

• Although some members of our group filled out immigration forms online, we waited for the forms on the plane. They are simple and quick.

• Upon arrival in Panama City, members of our group were met at the gate by uniformed representatives of the Royal Tocumen Saloon on behalf of Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge. We were given the VIP treatment, escorted through diplomatic security. Most of us arrived within a one hour window so those who waited for the later-arriving group were escorted to the lounge for a drink and a brief wait.

• We’ve had the same drivers – Archie and Steven – on all of our trips. They are reliable and friendly. On the morning trip back to Tocumen, they had a third vehicle to tote luggage for all 12 of us.

• We had to be ready at 5am the next morning in the lobby of the Hilton for transport back to the airport. That meant we wouldn’t get the hot breakfast that we were entitled to, but the hotel did provide a small, carb-heavy boxed meal.

• The domestic flight is about 40 minutes, barely enough time for drink service. The baggage claim area in David is small, but our bags came out quickly and we were met outside by Captain Shane Jarvis. He had a van that fit all 12 of us, and another driver with a pickup toted the luggage to the marina, five minutes away.

• Three boats were waiting for us and almost exactly an hour later we were at the island. We put away our gear, had lunch, and enjoyed a half day of fishing.

• On the way home, we simply reversed the process. Those who had flights between 1-3pm went straight from the domestic terminal to the international terminal with help from Archie and Steven and went on their way. The four of us who were departing later rechecked out luggage and paid to retain Archie for the afternoon – he took us to tour the Panama Canal and then for lunch.

• We did not need her this time, but Shane’s on-call travel agent Luz is always available to his VIP clients.

• After going through security at the airport, we had to go through security again at our gate. I’m not sure if this is a Copa-exclusive process or whether it applies to all flights.

• Hanna and I tried to sleep on the five hour flight, but a screaming toddler made that difficult. Copa’s in-air entertainment system is serviceable, with a reasonable selection of options.

• Upon arrival after midnight, our Global Entry allowed us to breeze through immigration in less than a minute – unfortunately our bags were slow to arrive, although when they finally did our tuna was all still frozen. We arrived home a little bit after 2am, exhausted, but thrilled that there had been no major hiccups.