Most of what we publish is about places you can go more or less whenever you like. This one is not. SY Catalyst transits the Panama Canal in the first days of January 2027 on her way west, and for a few weeks she sits on the Pacific side of the isthmus with a full kite and wing-foil locker aboard. Then she carries on towards Costa Rica and the Galápagos, and she is not coming back this way.
There is a particular kind of charter that only exists because a boat happens to be somewhere on her way to somewhere else. This is one of them.
One yacht, one January.
Catalyst transits the canal in the first days of January 2027. For the weeks that follow she is in the Bay of Panama, with her owner — a kiter and foiler himself — setting the programme. By the end of February she is working her way towards the Galápagos. There is no second window, and nothing about that is a sales device: it is simply where the boat is going.
Two things set the earliest start. She will not be through the canal before the turn of the year, and Tim, the watersports coach, is away for the second half of December and back aboard on 3–5 January. So nothing begins before 5 January, and we would not book a start before 10 January — a dry El Niño year can back the canal up, and a transit slot that slips is not a delay you want eating into your week. If you need a fixed date early in the month, this is the wrong charter.
The anchor of the trip is Punta Chame, a long sandy spit an easy morning's sail from Panama City. Warm shallows, tidal lagoons, sweeping sandbars that cover and uncover through the day, and a reliable seasonal wind. Three full days are protected for it, so that a good breeze is never sacrificed to keep an itinerary moving. Sessions run to wind and tide rather than to a schedule, with the tender out to reposition riders as the bars change.
Then the week forks.
After the three wind days the itinerary goes one of two ways — west and north to the islands of Las Perlas, or south down the Azuero Peninsula to the surf at Playa Venao. These are genuinely different trips, not two labels on the same one, and the second asks considerably more of you.
The more balanced week. Three full days of wind sports, then the archipelago — and it returns to Panama City, so the last morning does not depend on a long passage.
Board at Flamenco Marina before noon and move across the bay to Punta Chame, settling into the anchorage for the afternoon.
The first full day on the water. A broad shallow bay, extensive sandbars and a choice of conditions for kiting, kite foiling and winging.
A second full day, following the best of the wind around the bay rather than working to a fixed plan.
A third day held for wind sports. Three complete days means a good forecast is never wasted moving on.
An early departure for Las Perlas. Contadora has the beaches and a little village life; Saboga next door is quieter, with coves for swimming, snorkelling and paddleboarding.
Two largely undeveloped islands in the morning, close enough together that most of the day is spent off the boat, then south to Pedro González for a more remote last night.
A morning on the island, then the passage back across the Gulf of Panama to Flamenco Marina for the final evening aboard.
Breakfast aboard and a relaxed departure, with the yacht already alongside in the city.
The surf week. Same three days of wind, then down the Azuero Peninsula to one of Panama's best-known breaks. It carries two near-full days under way and ends at a different marina — worth it if the surf is what you came for.
Board at Flamenco Marina and cross to Punta Chame, in time to settle in before the first full day.
Flat water behind the sandbars — the primary wind-sports day of the trip, planned around the tide.
A second full day, with the captain and coach picking the strongest session windows.
A long day. An early start south to Isla Iguana, a protected wildlife refuge off the Azuero Peninsula ringed by coral and clear water, and a destination in its own right once you are there.
A morning swim and snorkel at the island, then a short hop round Punta Mala, leaving most of the day for the water.
A broad crescent bay and the surf centrepiece of the trip — surfing, surf foiling, tow foiling, e-foiling and SUP, with nearby breaks reachable by tender.
A second full day, kept deliberately flexible to take the best conditions — or to spend an afternoon in the beach town.
The second long day. An early departure north around Punta Mala to Vista Mar Marina for the final night aboard.
Breakfast aboard and, if the timing allows, a last session before disembarking. Road transfer to Panama City or Tocumen airport.
Who this is for.
You should already kite, wing or surf. Punta Chame is forgiving — shallow, sandy, and a genuinely good place to progress — but it is not a good place to start from nothing in a single week. For Playa Venao, confident surfers get the most out of it. A coach can come aboard for either itinerary.
Beyond that, this suits people who would rather have their days built around conditions than around a timetable, who are happy for the plan to move with the wind and the swell, and who find the idea of going where very few charter yachts go more appealing than going somewhere proven.
And who it is not for.
This is the Pacific, not the Caribbean. The swell is bigger, anchorages can roll, and the distances between good stops are longer — the Venao itinerary has a day of eleven hours and a day of twelve. If anyone in the party is prone to seasickness, that matters here in a way it does not in the Grenadines.
Ashore is thin in places, so if the week you have in mind is beaches and restaurants, this is not it. And if you need a fixed itinerary confirmed months ahead and held to, the honest answer is that we cannot promise you that: the whole design of the trip is that the captain moves things around to take the best of the conditions.
One more thing we would rather say now than have you discover aboard: Catalyst has not cruised this coast before, and neither has her captain. The routing has been planned carefully and conservatively, and the owner has been straightforward with us throughout about what this coast is and is not. But this is exploration rather than a circuit someone has run fifty times. If that is a problem, it is the wrong charter. If it is the appeal, it is very much the right one.
What is aboard.
Catalyst carries a full kite and wing-foiling inventory — kites from 7 to 12 metres, twin-tips and directionals, wing and foil boards, a range of foils and masts, wings from 3.5 to 6.0, plus helmets and impact vests. There is also an e-foil, sea scooters, paddleboards and kayaks. The Ultra Watersports Package adds a dedicated coach and coaching radios. Both the coach and the use of the kite, wing and foil equipment are charged on top of the charter fee, quoted once we know how many of the party intend to ride — worth settling at the enquiry stage rather than discovering aboard.
If the wind does not come, the three Punta Chame days are protected precisely so that a quiet day is not fatal — there is tide, there are sandbars to explore, and the tender is available. Should the forecast collapse entirely, the captain can bring the Las Perlas leg forward. Nothing about the order is fixed.
Getting there.
Fly into Tocumen International in Panama City. The Las Perlas week starts and ends at Flamenco Marina, about half an hour from the airport. The Venao week ends at Vista Mar, an hour and a half to two hours away by road.
If the party is mixed, or anyone is uncertain about long days at sea, take the Las Perlas week. If the surf is the reason you are coming and you will accept two long passages to get it, take Venao. We are equally happy to build something between the two.
Catalyst is a 2025 Fountaine Pajot Samana 59, four en-suite guest cabins, eight guests, crewed. Her Pacific Panama window is short and there is no second one.
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