Traveling to Panama as COVID Winds Down (We Hope)

The pandemic that hovered over 2020 and 2021 fishing seasons caused all sorts of changes and inconveniences when it came to travel. Nevertheless, Hanna and I soldiered on, making trips to Alaska (July 2020), Mexico (November 2020) and Guatemala (February 2021) and we documented the COVID-related issues and precautions along the way. 

Because science is an iterative process and COVID presented a lot of unknowns (which were further muddied by political fighting and posturing) it was tough to find reliable near-consensus information. Our practices were pretty consistent throughout those trips, but our April trip to Panama had some major differences. Most significantly, just about a week before leaving, we both received the first Pfizer shot. While that didn’t guarantee us immunity, it gave us a bit more confidence about venturing out. I could see that being both a positive and a negative, because while the vaccine couldn’t have hurt our immunity, it might give us the bravado to take unnecessary risks. 

Remember, all travel involves risk. Try to weigh the objective factors that you can and make an educated guess about what’s best for you. The following was our experience, with as little editorializing as possible.

Not the Good Kind of Positive 

Of course, just when we thought all of the trip rescheduling, flight changes and other hassles had been resolved, we got an unexpected jolt to our systems – one member of our group tested positive for COVID. He was completely asymptomatic, so he went back for a second test, which produced the same result. Therefore, he and his fiancée had to postpone their trip, which knocked us down from a group of eight to a group of six and put a damper on the whole deal. It also made us wonder if the same fate would befall any of the rest of us. 

Testing 

On prior trips to Alaska and Guatemala, we’d been required to get a negative COVID test within 72 hours of our departure time. While the most recent trip had produced some anxiety over Hanna’s delayed test results, this outing provided some additional complications – Hanna learned shortly before we left that we only had a 48 hour window to get tested. With a 10am departure time on Tuesday, April 6th, that meant we had to get tested no earlier than Sunday, August 4th, which was Easter. Our local (insurance-covered) lab agreed to open up at 7:30 am on Monday and get us our results that day. We arrived on time, got our nostrils plunged, and went to work to wait – although we weren’t terribly concerned because we’d been careful and we’d gotten the first shot a few days earlier.  

My results (negative) showed up in my spam folder around noon, but once again Hanna’s were delayed. She called the lab and they said there hadn’t been any problems, but that she’d be in the next batch. A couple of hours later she called to say that she too had tested negative and we were both headed on vacation. 

Travel 

Our friends Ray and Sandee live a long way from the airport, so we invited them to stay at our house Monday night and we’d all go to the airport together. We had a nice dinner out and then all got a few winks of sleep. Up and at ‘em the next morning, we arrived at a deserted Dulles Airport and found the check-in process to be simple. We showed the gate agent our test results, he stamped our boarding passes accordingly and we were on our way. Because there were so few people in the B/C concourse, most of the shops and restaurants were closed, but persistent Sandee knocked on the gate of the one sit-down restaurant and the proprietor graciously agreed to open up a little early. 

We boarded on-time and found the plane to be a little less than two-thirds full. Most middle seats were open (except, apparently, for families flying together) and a few entire rows were unoccupied. The Copa flight attendant handed us a bottle of water as we boarded (no disinfecting wipes, as we’d experienced on some other airlines), so I assumed that there’d be no other drinks or snacks on the plane. I was surprised a short while later when they distributed small box lunches (but no additional drinks). I had not experienced that on any flight since the start of COVID. 

We arrived on-time, and one really nice thing about Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge is the use of their travel agency’s VIP program. We were greeted at the gate and whisked to the front of the customs and health check lines. We showed our COVID tests once again and made it through painlessly. Two other members of our group had arrived earlier and they were waiting for us with a cold drink in the VIP lounge. 

Panama City 

Two minivans awaited us outside, and after a short ride through a surprisingly modern city, we were at the Hilton before 4pm. The check-in counter had Plexiglas, everyone wore masks and there were hand sanitizer dispensers everywhere. We made a plan for our driver to pick us up at 7 to go to dinner (although we were tired, he felt it was better to wait until rush hour traffic to die down). Several of us decided to take a walk down the waterfront and we were pleased to see Little League baseball, a canine agility park, and other markers of normal, enjoyable life. We wore masks the entire time and we were only reminded of COVID when we stopped in a convenience store to get a drink and had to have our temperature taken before entering. 

When we got back to the hotel we took a stroll through the attached casino and found it to be sad – of course it was a Tuesday afternoon, hardly prime gambling time, but the exuberance that many people like about that setting was clearly diminished by the need to have Plexiglas dividers between the guests. 

For dinner, we went to a nice seafood restaurant called Bucaneros, passing the country’s famous canal on the way. We had to be ready to go the domestic airport at 5:30am, so we were all in the lobby at 5 to eat again. We’d been told that the breakfast that normally starts at 6 would be ready for us an hour early, but the desk clerk looked dumbfounded by that assertion. She rustled up some boxed lunches for us and we chowed down.  

Once again, everyone wore masks in the small airport and on the small plane, and we had our temperatures checked again, although our health affidavits were not necessary for the 40 minute in-country flight. The plane was configured with two seats on each side and most were occupied – our group was in a block together. We landed in an equally small airport, walked outside, and lodge owner Shane Jarvis was waiting with his van. 

The Island 

This was truly going to be a “planes, trains and automobiles” adventure, because after multiple flights through multiple airports and various forms of ground transport, Shane had his two 33’ World Cat boats at the marina ready to take us (and our luggage) out to Isla Parida, where the lodge is located. After a gorgeous one-hour run out through the estuary and into the Pacific, we arrived at our home away from home. 

Besides the staff, who’d all been there for an extended period of time, the only other people at the resort were a group of four anglers from upstate New York who’d be leaving two days hence. Obviously, all of us had to be tested to get into the country, and while that wasn’t a 100% guarantee against contracting it along the way, it made me pretty comfortable. Perhaps too comfortable – I didn’t wear a mask or feel any concern the entire time we were there. I don’t know if that was wise, wishful thinking, or just a sign of COVID fatigue, but it’s the truth. 

During the weekend (we were leaving on Monday), Shane had two lab technicians come from the city of David to the island and they administered a COVID test, for which we paid them in cash. This practice has varied among the lodges we’ve visited and consulted – some have paid for the test on their end, others have charged varying amounts. Be sure to check before you go to avoid surprises or confrontations. Our (negative) results arrived in Shane’s in-box the next day, and he sent them via WhatsApp to all of us. 

Travel Home 

Our flight back to Panama City was not to the domestic airport on Air Panama, but rather on Copa to the international airport. They checked our temperature but not our test results, and had copious signage warning us against taking off our masks. This was a larger plane that the way to David, but equally uneventful. The only thing uncomfortable about the process was that after deplaning we had to take a crowded bus to the other terminal. We were packed into it tightly, although everyone wore masks. Again, the check-in clerks were behind Plexiglas and there were ample signs reminding us to take preventative measures, but the loosening of caution – in the squeezed-together security line, for example – showed a change since the last time we traveled. 

Although we had over five hours between flights and had a driver at our disposal, we elected to wait it out in the airport. One member departed at 1pm and the rest of us had substantially more time, so we grabbed a leisurely lunch, then social distanced from one another. I caught up on work, fully masked. The plane back was substantially more than two-thirds full, with most middle seats taken. There was a woman in between me and Hanna initially, but she was moved to be with her children so we got the extra space. Tellingly, in this era of COVID-fatigue, I was more excited about the arm rest than the breathing room. 

I expect that some of these measures and precautions will continue through at least the end of the year, if not longer. By the time we fly again in June, however, Hanna and I will be fully vaccinated, and we hope that most of our fellow travelers will elect the same option. Nevertheless, we have to keep reminding ourselves to be vigilant. When we went to Alaska last July, the world was on edge and people cautioned us not to go – now, travel is back, wise or otherwise. That said, I’d go back to Panama tomorrow.