James

Okay, so James isn't family, but he sure seems like he is. He has been a friend of our since the boys got down here in 1999. He spends one half of his year in the USA or traveling and the other half of the year or so he spends here in Panama and traveling throughout Latin America. When he is in the country during high season he comes out to Tranquilo Bay to help us out. He is an excellent guide and a great friend.

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Dionicio

Dionicio is one of our newer employees. He works on the grounds around Tranquilo Bay.

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Mario

Mario has been with us for over four years now. He is from Salt Creek. He works on the grounds and helps out with the excursions from time to time.

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July

This is July. He has been working with us for over four years. He works out on the grounds, goes with guests on nearby excursions.

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Enrique

Enrique has been with us for about 2 years. He and July are brothers. Enrique captains the boat for us and he also just completed WFR training.

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Lucy

Lucy has been with us since last November. She is also from Valle de Anton. She works in a variety of roles here at Tranquilo Bay.

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Leydi

This is Leydi. She is from Penenome in Valle de Anton here in Panama. She works in variety of capacities here at Tranquilo Bay. She has been with us for over a year and a half.

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Yohany

Yohany has been with us for several years now. She works in a variety of capacities. She is working her way into other roles as she learns more and has more experience.

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Leo

Leo is from Columbia. He has been here at Tranquilo Bay for over two years now. He works in the kitchen with his sister Nuri as well as out and about around the grounds here.

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Nuri

Nuri runs the kitchen. She makes all of the delicious food which we eat here on a daily basis. She and her brother Leo work well together.

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Photographers

Brandon and Rob came to visit to take our pictures for the INC Magazine article. It was interesting to say the least. We learned a lot and had a great time with them. Thanks to Brandon Jim has a new camera. We started using on our trip to the States. It takes great photos.

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Eel

The resident eel poking his head out of the coral he calls home. This coral head is on the side of the dock so we check it out each time we are down there to see if Mr. Eel is out and about.

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Raptors

It is so hard to get a good photo of these big birds in flight where you can actually make out the bird rather than just a dark spot in the sky. Here are a few good shots.

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Moth

This moth is just beautiful. The false eyes on the wings are vibrant. Just another one of the inhabitants here in the jungle.

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Parting Shot

Jim grabbed a photo of Mel and Rosemary before they left. We learned so much from them during their stay. They are an inspiration to all of us - we want to be doing what they are doing when we have the same amount of experience in life. They are probably off on their next big adventure as I post this. What a life!

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Jay at Punta Valiente

Jay is working with his boots as he is about to go on a hike up the hill at Punta Valiente. The next photo is the local boy who served as a guide for the group on this particular trip. We try to engage a different guide each time so that we learn something new and the entire village benefits from our visits.

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Kayaking with Mel & Rosemary

Here is a photo Jim grabbed of Mel while he was kayaking near the Changuinola River towards the end of their trip. We had a wonderful time this day as we do every day.

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Ain't love grand?

Mel and Rosemary were here with us for a week. They travel all around the world so we were honored that they spent one of their weeks here. They are still holding hands snorkeling after all these years!

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Bugs again

Here are some of Jim's insect shots from this Spring. We have plenty more.


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Punta Valiente

This little girl insisted on wearing our guest's hat and sunglasses. And well - she looks pretty good.


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Kayaking near the Changuinola River

Kayaking along the rivermouths - you will encounter a variety of things. Here are a few examples.

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Red Frogs

Here is one of the red frogs from on our trail. A graduate student from Michigan is studying our frogs and a variety of their characteristics here at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. She says they are prolific - she grabbed a group of males and females and has put them to stud service. She will return our frogs to us and the offspring will be studied for some time.

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Bugs

For those of you who have met Jim you know that he has a thing for taking pictures of bugs, insects and all things in the jungle and the sea. Here are a few of his recent photos.

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Boys will be boys - times 2

Corin as I described in the last post - was really into snakes. He and his family went fishing with Jim one day when another group was going to Punta Valiente. Corin was really bummed because he wanted to go over to the mainland where he could be looking for some serious snakes. Jay knew how important the snake hunting was to Corin and being a snake enthusiast himself, he brought back an eyelash viper for Corin to see. The snake was treated cautiously and carefully. He was removed from his mayonnaise jar home only for a few photos and then he was returned several days later to Punta Valiente with the next group.

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Boys will be boys

Boys will definitely be boys. It doesn't matter if they are growing up in the concrete jungles of New York City or the jungles of Panama. There is something about snakes that interests them. Corin was here with his dad and one of his sisters on his Spring Break. He had studied up on all the different snakes we have here in Bocas del Toro and in Panama. He brought a snake grabbing device with him so that if he encountered any snakes he could catch one. Well he was constantly on the look out and he found this boa and brought it back for us to put in our aquarium for a few months. We have since fed this guy a few times and let him go back into the wild.

Corin with Tres and Scott and the boa

Green and Black Frogs

Here are a couple of pictures of the green and black Dendrobates we see on the mainland at Green Acres Farm which is the home of Cerutti and Family Chocolate.


David with Dendrobates at Green Acres Farm

David has the frog on his finger to give you an idea of its size.

Frog at Green Acres Farm

Here is a close up of the little guy in his natural environment.