Blog Post 49 – Bocas del Toro, Caribbean Coast, Panama

10/12/16-11/30/16

9:20.12N – 82:14.77W

After spending a week in Shelter Bay we were ready to move on. It is a very nice marina as marinas go but we were ready to go. There are 2 places near Colon that we wanted to explore but they were in opposite directions. One, the San Blas Islands to the southeast and the other the Bocas del Toro archipelago to the northwest. We decided to head north. We would visit Bocas and then turn south again toward the San Blas. We don’t like to do that but in this case we had no choice. We wanted to see them both.

As we planned our route along the Mosquito Coast (yes, that is what it is called) we saw that there were virtually no safe anchorages for over 100 miles. The entire coastline from Colon north to Bocas del Toro was completely wild and undeveloped. Cruisers call it the harbor less coastline, locals call it Costa Abajo. An impenetrable jungle comes right down to the water’s edge. There is an occasional small village at the mouth of the numerous rivers that flow into the sea along this coast but there are no roads, no electricity, no development at all. The inhabitants of those villages are mostly of African descent who have retained much of their culture and are known throughout Panama for their “Congo” dances. The Spanish found this coast daunting 400 years ago and it as just as daunting today to the modern Panamanians. There is talk of building a highway through here but those plans are long into the future. We had originally planned to stop at the Chagres river mouth near Fort San Lorenzo but we found out that at this time of year, the rainy season, the Panama Canal Authority releases water from Gatun Lake if it gets too high and they provide no notice when they do so. Unwitting boats anchored at the mouth of the river get inundated by rushing water. No thanks, we would rather pull an overnighter than deal with that. The closest and safest island anchorage would be at Escudo Veraguas. To get there we would have to head against the current and the wind. The wind was a good 15 knots and the waves were 3-4 feet. No problem at all. We settled into our various cruising routines and split the watches up for an all-nighter. We watched movies, played games and read. Jirig stayed near the helm and worked on various boat projects. I dreamt up great things to cook for the passage. 

Figure 1 - Nico pretending he is Christopher Columbus exploring the island

Figure 2 - Escudo de Veraguas

Figure 3 - Weird rock formations on Escudo de Veraguas

Figure 4 - Our own little private beach

Figure 5 - Jirig & Nico in the dinghy

Escudo Veraguas is the southern-most island of the Bocas del Toro archipelago. We arrived at dusk right as the sun was setting. There was enough light to get in and around the reef safely and set a good anchor. We awoke to a spectacular anchorage. The water was aqua blue and you could see the bottom from the boat. There was only one other boat in the anchorage. The island was magnificent. It was surrounded by reefs and had these spectacular eroding cliffs along the water. We immediately got our snorkeling gear and got the dinghy down. It was time to explore. We found this amazing little beach where we landed the dinghy and then snorkeled around the coves. We saw a few massive rays that we startled as we passed by. It was an incredible feeling to feel the water rush as they swam past us. We could not find any trails through the island so we pretty much stuck to the shoreline. We enjoyed ourselves so much here that we decided to stay another day. It is places like this that we live for as cruisers. All the bad weather, provisioning, boat chores and waiting for a good weather window etc. is worth it for times like these.

We had heard so many great things about Bocas del Toro, both from our son Daniel and fellow cruisers. It was the hottest place in Panama right now. As such, it has yet to be developed (and hopefully never will) into a resort destination. Part of the challenge with Bocas and probably why it remains relatively untouched, is its remoteness. You can only get there by boat and the roads from Panama and Costa Rica that lead to those boats taxis are a challenge to say the least. Except of course, if you are coming by sea via a private boat like us. Even then the approaches from the sea have numerous challenges, like reefs, off shore rocks and coral heads. The people who like Bocas are backpackers and surfers, eco tourists, cruisers and adventure seekers.  It is a cruisers dream. The archipelago of Bocas del Toro is located in the northwest corner of Panama about 30 miles from the Costa Rican border. It is made up of 2 big bays, Laguna de Chiriquí and Bahia Almirante. The archipelago has 8 major islands, 51 cayes and over 200 minor islets. Christopher Columbus discovered Bocas del Toro on his 4^th and last trip to the Americas. He wrote about its stunning beauty in his letters back to Spain. The area is inhabited by a colorful mix of “Creoles”, which descended from negroes, the Chinese, who came to help build the canal and stayed, indigenous Ngobe Indians, as well as Panamanians, Jamaicans, Columbians and expat gringoes who have chosen to drop out of the rat race and settle and/or build businesses here. For the last 100 years, United Fruit (Chiquita) produced and exported bananas from here. Bananas make up more than 80% of Panama’s exports. It is a big business and very important to the local economy. Tourism has increased exponentially here in recent years with most visitors coming from Europe and N. America.

Figure 6  - Bocas Marina

We arrived in Bocas’ main island, Isla Colon at mid-morning. We decided to stay in the Bocas Marina until we got to know the area better. The big risks to boaters in and around Bocas is the shallow water and the reefs. We weren’t going down that road again if we could help it. The Bocas marina was as kick back a marina as I have ever seen. Many of the boats had been there for years and there was a real sense of community. The owners were cruisers who came here 20 years ago, and decided to stay and build a marina. This place has that effect on you. After having an excellent BBQ rib dinner and listening to a great Grateful Dead cover band (I was in heaven! this was my kind of place!) in the Calypso Cantina at the marina, we headed into town. The 2 main streets are lined with casual eateries and bars blaring reggae music. Finally, we were getting the Caribbean vibe. There were dozens of restaurants ranging from falafels to pizza to Indian, local Caribbean, Italian and even sushi! Aside from the town, the real draw to Bocas for cruisers especially, are the islands, the water, the great surfing and the reefs. There are fantastic diving and snorkeling opportunities. The only way to get around Bocas is with a dinghy or a panga. There are very few cars and even fewer roads on the main island of Colon and all of those are brought in by ferry from Almirante. The other islands don’t have roads or cars, just footpaths. Life is very slow in Bocas, especially during the day, but things pick up considerably at night. No one hurries, people walk slowly and casually and are very easy going and friendly. We were loving it.

Figure 7 - Bocas Town

Figure 8 - Bocas Town

Figure 9 - La Buca, our favorite hangout

The marinas rates were structured in a way that it was significantly cheaper to stay for 1 month than just a week or two. We decided to stay for at least a month. That decision was based on both the cheaper rate but also because Nico found a fabulous friend and fellow cruiser, Jack, 14. I ran into Jack in the office on our 2^nd day there and immediately brought him to the boat to meet Nico. They became fast friends. Nico has not been able to hang out with a kid his age in over 6 months. He and Jack did everything together. Jack reminded me of a modern-day Tom Sawyer. He was a very adventurous and independent kid. They took hikes into the jungle, went snorkeling and freediving looking for lobsters together and would take the dinghy into town to the one small theater to watch movies in bean bag chairs. Jack is cruising with his father and they are headed across the Pacific in March. Jack and Nico spent almost every day together and Jack spent the night on our boat for days at a time. Our days consisted of school in the morning and some sort of outdoor activity with the kids in the afternoon. Jack knew all the local places to dive and snorkel.

Figure 10 - Nico and his friend Jack

Figure 11 - Sunset off the back of the boat at Bocas Marina

One day Jirig, Nico and I decided that we wanted to check out a cool place, Bluff Beach, on the other side of the island. The only way to get there was by dinghy. We now have 2 dinghies’. The reason we have 2 is that we bought a new one while we were in Colon, because our old one was on its last legs, but we did not like it as much as our original one. It is much heavier. When travelling by dinghy, it is important that you be able to plane (raise the boat out of the water). This decreases your fuel consumption and makes the dinghy faster and more comfortable. We kept our old dinghy because we were just not able to plane in our new one with the 3 of us in it at one time. We needed to get a larger engine than the 8 HP we were currently using. So, every time we wanted to take a long trip by dinghy we took both of them. Nico rode in the new dinghy and Jirig and I rode in the old one. The ride would take us almost halfway around the island, a good 10 miles. As we neared the tip of the island we realized that we had gone too far and decided that we would continue around the entire island. We found an amazing cove and decided to do some snorkeling. While we were snorkeling a man in a kayak approached. He asked for some water and we started chatting. It turns out he was an American who had built a house out here years before. He told Jirig and I that right at the other end of the cove there was a mouth of a river that was a great place to explore with the dinghy. Nico was in the other dinghy with the motor running and did not hear the conversation. Mistake number one. Jirig and I took off and motioned for Nico to follow. He was alongside of us and closer to shore. What we did not see…. was a large reef that extended out to sea at the side of the cove where we were headed. All of a sudden, a huge wave came rolling off of the reef towards us. Mistake number two. We should have done some recon before we headed that way and watched the swells. All of a sudden, we look up and see this large wave about to crash on us. Jirig and I just made it over the top of the wave. Nico was going to be in trouble. We both knew instinctually that the wave would crash and take Nico and the dinghy with it. Dinghy’s are inherently dangerous. They are basically an inflatable raft with a powerful motor that are no match for the sea and especially so on the shore with breaking waves. Here comes mistake number three. Most outboard motors have a kill switch on them. The kill switch for a dinghy outboard has a small elastic band that goes on your wrist. That way if you are thrown out of the dinghy for some reason the kill switch will disengage and the motor will stop. The outboard has a very dangerous propeller spinning around in the water that can cut right through you. The kill switch stops the motor and the propeller immediately. The propeller,

Figure 12 - Jirig & Nico taking a break on our dinghy tour of the island

Figure 13 - Red Frog Beach

Figure 14 - Trail head at Red Frog Beach

Figure 15 – Nico at Red Frog

while spinning, is extremely dangerous and they have been known to seriously injure or kill a person that comes in contact with them. If someone got injured out here it would be a long way back to town for help. The outboard motor on the new dinghy did not have a kill switch. When the wave was rolling forward with Nico in the dinghy, it was so light that Nico, thankfully, got thrown from the dinghy into the water. I say thankfully because that dinghy weighs a good 500 lbs. with the motor on it and you do not want it crashing over you or on top of you as the wave breaks. On the other hand, you do not want to be anywhere near the propeller while in the water. To make matters worse Nico had the throttle for the motor engaged and also turning so when he was thrown out the dinghy motor continued to spin and move the dinghy in circles. Here is where things really got dicey. Instead of swimming as fast as he could away from the dinghy and the motor, Nico swam towards it, pulled himself up out of the water in a burst of strength he did not know he had and turned the throttle off. Jirig rammed the spinning dinghy with ours to keep it from spinning out of control. There were many lessons learned that day. We were lucky, it could have been so much worse. For Nico, it was a defining moment. Most kids would have been totally freaked out by being thrown out of the boat into the water. Not only did he not panic but he immediately tried to save the dinghy and shut off the motor. He now understands that the was exactly the wrong thing to do in that situation but I was also proud of him that he did not fold and wimp out. He rose to the challenge, protected himself and saved the day. A true boat kid. It is an experience we will never forget. Were lucky that this was able to be a teaching moment for him and for us and not a tragedy.

One of the great things about Bocas is that they have these little palapa bars/restaurants on the beach on various islands.   Everybody arrives via dinghy. Our favorite was “the Blue Coconut”. It sat on a beautiful beach with a reef surrounding it. We would go out there and spend the afternoon. We would have a great lunch and then spend the day drinking beer and snorkeling. Most of the time there was live music on the weekends. It was a great way to spend our days. Other activities included a trip to the La Grucca bat caves. It was my idea and I dragged the boys along. When we got there after a hike through the jungle, we see this massive cave, all dark and slimy. I hesitated. Even though it was my idea, I was not liking this. It was dark and wet, the roof of the cave was covered with bats so that not even a small space in between them could be seen. Add to that, spiders and scorpions (supposedly the kind that don’t bite???) Great…sounds like fun huh? Oh, did I mention the bat poop everywhere? I decided caving was not for me. I told the boys to go ahead and explore, that I would be waiting this one out. They found all kinds of creatures in the cave and even came out with a turtle to show me that they promptly returned to where they found it.

We explored all over the archipelago. Every day, was a new adventure. We liked Bocas so much we even looked at some properties there. On the outer islands there is no electricity or sewage so everyone lives off of the grid. We met some real cool people while we were there that had been living there for many years. It takes a certain kind of person to leave everything behind and move to another country to build a life. We understand that so we can relate easily to others in that situation.

There are so many things we liked about Bocas, I could go on and on. We spent Thanksgiving there. There was a cruisers pot luck in the Calypso Café that turned out to be lovely. Much better than I had anticipated. Somehow people found pumpkin pie filling, cranberry sauce, turkey gravy and green beans somewhere. Everyone brought their best and favorite dish and the marina provided the turkey and mashed potatoes. It was an awesome way to spend the holiday.

We were getting a little restless on the boat and the weather was getting to us so we decided it was time for a road trip. There is a beautiful little town up in the mountains called Boquette. It is nestled in a valley along the great volcano, Baru. Volcan Baru is the highest point in Panama at 11,400ft. It had originally drawn my attention as I had read somewhere that Boquette had the largest density of expats outside of Panama City. Why do expats want to settle there? The weather! It is at about 4000ft up in the mountain highlands and it is a cool and refreshing 75-80 degrees every day. In Spanish, the word Boquette means 'gap or opening'. It was through this gap that curious gold seekers trekked, looking for a cheaper and quicker way to the Pacific. Boquette is known world wide for its coffee. It is some of the highest grade coffee in the world and sells for $130 a pound. It is also the home of many of Panama’s exotic flowers. Many rare orchids and other flowers grow here that are not found anywhere else in the world. Getting to Boquette is the challenge. It is almost impossible to rent a car in Bocas. The only way to get to Boquette from Bocas is to take your dinghy into Bocas then catch a water taxi to Almirante then get on a bus and take a four hour trip up into the mountains on roads where it is best not to watch what the driver is doing and just stare out the window at the beautiful scenery. Gringoes have taken over Boquette. There are small coffee houses, great restaurants and it is known for its Tuesday Farmers market. Everyone comes together there on Tuesdays to buy, sell, trade and get information. We found a booth that had some of the best Turkish treats we had ever seen. Jirig made fast friends with the proprieters who had moved to Boquette from Turkey the previous year. The area around Boquette is stunning in its natural beauty. Gone were the dense jungle of the lowlands and here there were deep canyons, gorgeous forrests and green, green, green everywhere. We took a few hikes that led us to amazing vistas, waterfalls and rock formations. 

Figure 16 - Trail leading to the cloud forest

Figure 17 - Waterfall at the end of the trail

Figure 18 - Just a couple fo the amazing flowers on the trail

It was time to think about moving on. We had been doing some hard cruising with the boat, and as boats are fragile things that need constant upkeep, it was time to head back to Colon and get some parts and do some much-needed repairs and maintenance on the boat. When we told Jack and his dad that we were headed back to Shelter Bay Marina in Colon they decided they would come with us. We would buddy boat with them on the cruise south. Nico and Jack were thrilled.

The one thing I would not miss about Bocas town was provisioning. As I mentioned above, everything in Bocas must be done with a dinghy. That is fine when you want to go off for the day to a beach and snorkel, not so much when you need to schlep all of your groceries via dinghy. All water, beer, drinks and food were ferried by dinghy. Bocas Town is small. There is no one place to buy all of your groceries. You must go to the meat market; the fruit & veggie stand and to at least 2 Chinese markets to get everything you needed. It was a pain in the butt and got old fast. We did one last, major schlep to provision for the trip and got the heck out of Dodge, tip toeing our way through the reefs to get out to the open ocean.

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