Their name tells their story. Long before cruises, the Pearl Islands supplied the courts of Europe with fine pearls harvested in the Gulf of Panama; the most famous of them, La Peregrina, passed from the hands of the Spanish Crown to those of Elizabeth Taylor four centuries later. The pearl oysters have given way to sailboats and motor launches, but the archipelago, anchored some fifty kilometres off Panama City, has kept what drew navigators here: waters teeming with fish, sheltered anchorages and beaches that number in the dozens.

Contadora, the archipelago's socialite

Most port calls revolve around Contadora, the best equipped of the islands. Its name, inherited from the days when pearls were counted here before their departure for Seville, speaks to its former role as a trading post. The island is easily explored on foot or by golf cart: a small airstrip crosses it, villas hide in the vegetation, and more than a dozen beaches share the shoreline, each with its own character. Some face the sunrise and lend themselves to calm mornings, others host beach restaurants and toes-in-the-sand bars. You choose yours the way you choose a table on a terrace, according to the hour and your mood.

A rendezvous with whales

From July to October, the archipelago becomes one of the great humpback whale nurseries of the Pacific coast of the Americas. Females come to give birth in these warm, shallow waters, and whale-watching outings then head off in every direction. Seeing a mother and her calf moving a few dozen metres from the boat, in a silence broken only by the sound of their blows, ranks among the great moments a port call can offer. Some operators lower a hydrophone into the water: the song of the males then fills the boat, and no one says another word.

From island to island

Around Contadora, the islets follow one another at short sailing distances. Excursions stop in deserted coves for swimming and snorkelling above seabeds frequented by turtles, rays and schools of tropical fish. Kayaks and paddleboards often round out the equipment on board. The area has served as the setting for several seasons of adventure reality shows, and a single empty beach lined with forest is enough to understand what won over the producers: the landscape needs no development to make an impression. Between swims, you scan the water from the boat's deck; brown boobies dive around the shoals, and pelicans patrol in tight formation just above the waves.

Crossing tips

Ships anchor offshore and tenders drop passengers off according to the tides, sometimes directly onto the sand: water sandals make the manoeuvre easier. Natural shade remains rare on the beaches; a hat and sunscreen are a must, along with plenty of water. A light sweater comes in handy on the way back, when the launch speeds up into the evening wind. On Contadora, a few shops cover the essentials, but ATMs are rare: bring U.S. dollars in small bills. The return to the ship follows the tender schedule, to be respected all the more carefully since sailing distances quickly add to the time needed.

At departure, as the islands stretch along the horizon in a succession of green domes resting on the water, you think back to the divers who once descended here in search of pearls on a single breath, a stone tied to their ankle. The treasures of the gulf have changed in nature: they are now measured in hours of sand, whale songs and sunsets. Those, at least, can be brought home without a safe.