Probably the best source of information is the Seven Seas Cruising Association answer board and the monthly Bulletins. Another source is Lattitude 38. There have been some "self published" cruising guides for most of Central America including Panama. But things change so rapidly in these areas, that most printed guides are out of date when they are published. You will get information from other boats as you go along. The Rains books are definately a good source, but dated. Charlie's charts are quite dated, and when we were last there (over 10 years ago) they had some in accuracies. Internet research from blogs, and cruising logs are another good resource. Several places we took the RIB in first, to check out the potential anchorages and appearance of shore facilities. With the RIB we would take soundings as we went in, to be sure that there was adequate depths. In the mid 90's we did stay at military bases in several places in Central America--but it was a time when things were just stabalizing, so there was some question about safety. Regards, Bob Austin