Las Perlas Islands (whale mania)

After finally making it through the Panama Canal and into the pacific we were very excited to finally get to go and see the Las Perlas islands.

After picking up Andrew and a few grocery trips we were ready to leave and start looking for whales. We had heard that the Las Perlas were known for having whales and it was almost Amy's birthday, what a cool birthday present it'd be to see them!

We weren't entirely prepared for what was about to happen! Not only did we spot a whale as soon as we made it to the first island but we ended up seen so many that we wouldn't be able to count.

They were everywhere! Even passing in front of the boat a couple times and scaring the crap out of us. It was absolutely incredible.
We couldn't fly our drone the first few times we saw them (it wouldn't fly before getting the update which was incredibly annoying) but James managed to trick it somehow and we managed to catch some incredible footage of them.

Amy and I even got in the water to swim with them but the current was strong so Amy didn't have flippers and stayed behind the boat. I swam right up to them. The water was really murky so I didn't realize how close I was until one of them almost surfaced right under me and gave me quite the adrenaline rush!

After a few days in Las Perlas and an awesome birthday for Amy we headed back to Panama City to drop off Amy and Andrew and pick up my dad before setting off for our Pacific crossing.