Beach Bumming in Bocas del Toro

After Boquete the day was once again spent in transit, heading first south to David and then north across the mountains and the clouds to Almirante on the Caribbean side of the country.  From there a 20 minute ride brought us to the town of Bocas del Toro, the capital of the entire Archipelago and province. 


We checked into our hostel and given the cloudy weather, the oppressive heat and humidity as well as our overall laziness we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon bumming around in hammocks on our hostel’s rooftop terrace. 

Yesterday, on the other hand, was a much more active yet equally lazy day.  We got up early to head out on a boat tour that was to take us beach hopping on the various islands.  This first started with a visit to Dolphin Bay where, not surprisingly, there were no dolphins.  Apparently a girl from our hostel managed to see a whole school of them a few days earlier, but this seems to be a more sporadic occurrence.  From there it was to Cayo Crawl, a local reef where we were given the opportunity to snorkel.  In truth, although the reef itself was really amazing (the most colorful reef that I have seen to date) there were virtually no fish, and most disappointingly, the locals did not care whatsoever about preserving it.  Boatload after boatload of tourists pulled up, jumping out of their little boats into the 1.5m deep water, landing right on the coral.  Half of them, having issues with their goggles or simply needing a break, would stand up on top of the corral. No one cared whether the reef would get ruined, whether parts of it would be broken off or if they were causing irreparable damage.

After a delicious lunch we were off to Isla Bastimentos and there onto Red Frog Beach.  This was one of the more highly acclaimed beaches in the area.  I, however, did not share that sentiment.  It was pretty, but not spectacular.  On the contrary, a bit overcrowded, dirty and just bland. Instead of sticking around there we decided to walk over to the next beach, which within meters became completely secluded, spotless and incredibly picturesque.  We strolled around, braved the deceptively “not large” (but very powerful) waves and returned back to our boat.

Our evening was finished over cold beer and fresh pineapple on our rooftop terrace in the company of a couple Costa Rican girls, an Italian who had the most fantastic Italian accent while speaking Spanish, and a Philippine Californian.

Today we continued adding to our amazing red burn with more beach bumming. We took a water taxi back across to Isla Bastiamentos and from the town, headed up the hill, through the jungle, past a Thai Restaurant, a Coffee Shop and down a relatively muddy track to Wizard Beach.  1 hour later we finally made it to the beach, dripping wet even before we got into the water.  Thankfully the trail had not been too bad given that it hadn’t rained in the past few days.  I cannot imagine what it would have looked like had that not been the case.  It was precarious enough as is to make it across some of the spots without leaving your footwear behind in the mud.

The beach itself at its beginning wasn’t too amazing, but the further along you went the more beautiful it got.  Wizard Beach was very wide, shallow, and clean with the perfect turquoise breaking waves, which unlike at Red Frog beach, did not pull up all the sand and remained crystal clear.  We stayed there for nearly four hours, alternating between swimming, tanning and hiding in the shade. (At least I did that.  Julita just kept to the shade for the duration of our time there, avoiding any unnecessary contact with the sun.)

On our way back to Bastiamentos Town we stopped by at the Thai Restaurant for the most delicious Pad Thai and Teriyaki Chicken ever.  Plus the view from up top of the hill was priceless. 

By the time we made it back to the town the temperature had dropped and all the locals had emerged out onto the street.  We meandered amongst all the local houses, soaking in the Caribbean vibes.  Amongst the mainly black population of Bastiamentos Town, the primary language is neither English nor Spanish, but their own Caribe dialect which is incredibly entertaining to listen to.  We passed little colorful huts, in one of which four ladies were sitting round the table playing cards, in another four men were sitting on the veranda also playing cards, and in a third a family was engaged in the same activity.  Further down the street (which is essentially just a 1.5m wide sidewalk) everyone was hurrying off to church and the singing emanating from inside was mesmerizing.  Life here seems to be of the no stress variety, it just flows.

At sunset, we caught a water taxi back to Boca Town.  One of the ladies who climbed onto the boat with us wore 2.5 inch stiletto heals, a matching purse and a sparkling very short evening dress.  Not quite sure where she was heading but it was a fantastic sight on a wobbly and not very clean water taxi.

So this brings our week in Panama to an end.  We will be leaving the country tomorrow looking like lobsters and hoping to continue our adventures in Costa Rica.