Archive : amador causeway

Look at new views of the Pacific Ocean horizon from the decks of the Calypso ferries to and from Taboga Island (Isla Taboga). Along Amador Causeway, near Mi Ranchito Restaurant, is the Calypso Ferry Dock where ferry trips are offered.

Normally, the boat leaves in the morning and returns to Port Amador’s ferry dock in the afternoon. But do call ahead for the most up-to-date schedule at telephone number: 507-314-1730 and plan to be at the dock at least an hour early. The Island of Flowers, as Isla Taboga is also called, is located in the Gulf of Panama, 12 miles (20 km) south of Panama City, the ferry can take you there in less than an hour.

The current schedules for Calypso Queen and the Calypso Princess reflect departures from their dock next to Amador Causeway on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays at 8 am, 10:30 am and 4 pm. And the ferries leave the Isla Taboga on those days 9 am, 3 pm and 5 pm. (more…)

Panama City, Panama embraces an international population of about one million persons. Panama is a country the size of South Carolina, with a populace of over three million. The city now includes over 250 high-rise office buildings, as well as condominium and hotel towers, with another 280 -or so- high rises under construction.  Amador Causeway (Calzada de Amador) is a wonderful part of Panama City, that’s getting a lot of attention right now.

The Panama Canal Authority has documented that there were over a million cubic yards of rock  excavated from the Culebra or Gaillard Cut of the Panama Canal which were used to build Amador Causeway.   When you’re looking at a map, it is as though the eastern side of the Canal, or the Canal’s left arm is extended to make Amador Causeway. The Causeway was designed as a huge breakwater to protect the entrance to the Canal and prevent sedimentation.

The Amador Causeway connects four small islands, Noas, Culebra, Perico and Flamenco; with the mainland near the foot of the Bridge of the Americas in the Panama Canal. All four of the islands were part of Fort Grant, which was established in 1913 as a fortification for the Panamanians and Americans to protect Panama Canal access during the two world wars.  Many of the fortifications and massive underground bomb proof structures still exist.  The most distant of the islands – Isla Flamenco, was a US Military Command Post in 1942 and on Isla Perico – part of the Fuerte Amador Shopping Center is built over an old underground military sanctuary.

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On the Amador Causeway, the first island is Noas Island (Isla Noas), when you make a right there, you’ll find the home of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s (STRI) Laboratories. The scientists have been working on Punta Culebra on Isla Naos (although their location is also called Culebra Island) since early in the last century, accomplishing enormous amounts of research and analysis. It offers visitors an open-air museum focusing mainly on marine science and education, conservation and interpretation of marine coastal environments.

Within walking distance is their Marine Exhibition Center (El Centro del Exhibiciones Marinas), which offers a number of interesting exhibits, explained in both Spanish and English.

Current Bilingual Exhibitions:

• Panama: abundance of fish
• Sea turtles: mysterious navigators
• Sea life exhibition (aquarium)
• Marine invertebrates touching pool
• Marine Physical Process
• Rise of the Isthmus
• Panama’s People and Oceans
• Ocean pollution
• From the reef

The most demanding entertainment available at CEM might be the use of their free telescope to view the ships passing on their way North and South in the Panama Canal. And then to compare STRI’s posted illustrations and examples of ships to the anchored vessels; and the ships underway through the Panama Canal. It’s great entertainment for those who love ships and enjoy identifying them.

The Center for Marine Exhibits is open to the public from March to December, Tuesday – Friday, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. During the dry season and when the school children are on vacation between December to March, and during the mid-year vacation in July the hours are: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

If you still have questions you can phone STRI’s Marine Exhibition Center at (507) 212-8793 or check their website for the latest information at: www. Center for Marine Exhibits
With thanks to Don Winner http://www.panamaguide.com/article.php/20060430203435245

Next along the Causeway is a building site that could make you turn in your car seat to gaze at the unique conformation of the building under construction, with a great deal of consternation. The Panama: Bridge of Life Museum of Biodiversity is under construction and it is going to be amazing. Cruise ship passengers will be lining the rails when their ship is approaching Puerto Amador to see the finished design. This building will offer a memorable visual experience even when viewed from afar, raising many questions from uninformed observers.

In 2005, Denny Lee of the NY Times published an article which included the comment: “There might even be a Frank Gehry – designed museum in the future, with the hope of sparking a so-called “Bilbao effect” for the port of Balboa.” “For now, anyway, Panama City hasn’t been overrun by tourists.” “But with daily direct flights from about six cities in the United States, including New York, Newark and Los Angeles, that might not last.” Having overcome the funding difficulties that have slowed the project’s construction with the help of the Smithsonian, the museum construction in progress is thrilling Panamanians.

The Bilboa Effect mentioned by the NY Times writer quoted above, is referring to the remarkable results that were experienced in Bilbao, Spain when the architect landed his marvelously space ship like metal creation in that well-known port most well known for its urban grime.

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain

The architect Frank Gehry has been headhunted by city authorities all over the world since 1997, after his gleaming, wriggling Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain was credited with transforming the economy of the rundown post-industrial Spanish port. Amusingly Gehry’s modest response to that claim made in the London Guardian was “That’s bullshit”. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/jul/09/art.architecture2)

Architect Frank Gehry

However innocent he may be of economic transformation, he is way guilty of revolutionary designs in architecture. When Frank Gehry depicted the motifs behind the style he calls deconstructivism, he said: “The moment of truth, the composition of elements, the selection of forms, scale, materials, color, finally, are all the same issues facing the painter and the sculptor.”

Scheduled to open 2010, the museum will be a masterpiece of shapes topped by an explosion of color. The project being built looks very impressive and well thought out, Mr. Gehry’s incredible detail even takes into consideration numerous access and traffic movement for the present and into the future.

Model photo courtesy FOGA

The foundation of the museum plan is education; for Panamanians and visitors from all over the world. The displays will be designed so that people of all levels of education can appreciate their messages. Themes will include creation of the world as we know it, the continents, the ice ages, the movement of humans and animals, how the ecosystems intertwine, conservation of our planet and more. Behind the scenes as well, education will be an important and lasting factor. This information from the talented writers at: www.arcspace.com/architects/gehry/panama/

If you want to become a Friend of the Museum, do investigate their website where you can get more information. http://www.biomuseopanama.org/en/

For someone driving from Panama City (eastern shore of the Canal) the last exit before the Bridge of the Americas will lead you to the delights offered along Amador Causeway. The Causeway’s most northern section, which is part of the mainland, is home to a Country Inn & Suites, which offers balcony views of the Panama Canal traffic and TGI Fridays Restaurant. It’s also a pleasure to stretch your legs on the lovely walking path beside the Canal, lined with colorful trees and tropical flowers.

Balboa Yacht Club is on the shore of the Panama Canal, has a good restaurant and bar and a long dock that is home to a group of privately owned pleasure boats. The Yacht Club building burned down years ago, but the Club still functions from a bohio (thatch roofed building), with regular music and dancing.

Next along your imaginary drive south on Amador Causeway is the striking architecture of the Figali Convention Center. It is located on the west side of the Causeway with a small parking area close, but uses buses to transport fans from the expansive parking area near the Balboa Yacht Club when a huge event draws large crowds.

The Figali Convention Center was built as the primary venue for the Miss Universe Pageant in 2003. It is now used mostly for concerts and sporting events such as boxing or ice skating. The Figali seating capacity is 10,275; which is especially important for its use as an indoor sporting arena. It is known to be one of the largest and most well equipped convention centers in Central America.

Of course there are many free standing restaurants along the Amador Causeway, each one serving their own style of cuisine, and some like this one offering Panamanian dishes and their own parking area.