Epic Canal Day! - Where to begin? Within two seconds of meeting Phillipe, I knew it was going to be an energetic and fun filled day. His positivity and endless knowledge of the area really set the tone. We made a few great stops along the way — a canal/ship viewpoint north of the visitor center, Gamboa Rainforest Resort for a morning beverage with a stunning view, and a local El Chino spot to load up on beverages and snacks — which added to the overall experience before we even got on the water. Once on the boat (pontoon boat with plenty of shade cover, no bathroom but you can go at Gamboa resort before and after), we took a relatively quick ride up the Panama Canal, passing by plenty of HUGE ships. We then arrived at Monkey Island, where Phillipe and our captain started making actual monkey calls to attract different species. It took a few minutes, but soon we spotted our first troop — and they were eager to come right up to the boat for a friendly meet and greet (not kidding!). We were able to take photos right next to the monkeys, which honestly didn’t feel real. We ended up finding two more species/groups and got even more amazing pictures. Next up was fishing. It didn’t take long to start getting bites, catching oscars along with a few smaller peacock bass. Eventually, we found a spot holding some larger peacock bass and were able to land one of the big ones. The day wrapped up with a relaxing boat ride back down the canal passing by the large ships. I can honestly say the experience far exceeded expectations and is something I would do again without a second thought. Phillipe is the kind of person I feel like I could reach out to 10 years from now and he’d treat me like we had just hung out yesterday. I can’t recommend this experience enough. Thank you again, Phillipe, for the lifelong memories!

Friendly guided Panama Canal tour with monkeys and fishing - Far exceeded expectations. Friendly door to door service, great communication. Our tour guide, Phillip, gave a guided tour on our way to Gamboa with stops along the way for photos and a short visit to the Gamboa Rainforest Reserve. We then climbed aboard a spacious, covered pontoon boat with our Captain, his son as first mate and Phillip who continued to be a fantastic host. The day was guided but was our choice as to what we wanted to see and do. We saw a Caiman, a Crocodile, Iguanas, Howler monkeys, hand fed bananas to Capuchins and Geoffroy's Tamarins and then went fishing and caught Peacock Bass. There were also cold drinks and snacks offered. It was a highlight of our visit to Panama.

We saw the monkeys and went hiking - Orlando Navarro was an absolute awesome tour guide the best I will recommend anyone to him what’s really awesome is that he is bilingual and speaks English very well

Monkeys - Orlando was super helpful and made our trip so enjoyable. He took lots of family pictures and was very welcoming. And his English is amazing!!!! He showed us so many landmarks and had so much hospitality towards us. Loved every moment of it!!