Bocos Del Toro

After a hassle free 8 hour overnight bus ride, we arrive in Alminatre the mainland where we catch our water taxi to Bocos Del Toro. The boat ride takes about twenty minutes on calm water and costs around $5. Bocos Del Toro Province consists of six densely forested islands and is once again surrounded by the crystal clear Caribbean waters that we have become rather fond of. We decide to stay on the main island – Isla Colon. It is more touristy, but provides us with a wide choice of accommodations, restaurants and dive schools.

Bocos town is very charming to the eye, as it is filled with colorful cafés, restaurants and hotels that are built onto the water. It gives the town great character and makes it an enjoyable place to sit and watch the sun go down while having a cervesa or a pina colada.

At first Dave and I could not figure out why everyone raved so much about this town, where were the beaches that we could chill out on and swim to cool down from the excessive heat??? After a little investigation we realized that the best beaches are on the islands that surround Isla Colon. For about $1.50 you can get water taxi’s across to the other islands and spend the day swimming, sunbaking, kayaking and bush walking.

Lion fish

Our favorite island was Isla Caranero. Here we would get dropped off at Bibi’s a bungalow restaurant on the beach that was part of a small resort. We enjoyed kayaking and drinking the best cocktails of our trip so far. Happy hour was between 4-7pm and for $2.50 you can get an awesome cocktail. The food looked fantastic but we spent our money on booze instead.

Another water taxi away is Isla Bastamentos. It takes about ten minutes to get here from Bocos and costs a little more then the other islands - $3USD each way. Due to the unexpected good weather, we chose to get dropped off in the main part of town and hike through the jungle to our destinations. This was a fun half hour walk through beautiful rainforest. However, we could understand why you would not want to walk this way if it had been raining. A half hour walk would turn into a half day treck if you didn’t get swallowed into mud pools along the way. At the end of the walk you come to an amazing beach known as Wizard Beach - beautiful yellow sand with clear water crashing onto the beach, framed by tropical trees. This was probably the first beach I have seen in my travels thus far that looks like Sunshine Coast. Here we spent the day lapping up the sunshine and bathing in the warm waters before taking another short hike through the forest to Red Frog Beach. On this walk we were lucky enough to spot the small vibrant red frogs that gave the beach its name. We thoroughly enjoyed both of these areas and almost had them to ourselves, besides the odd group of tours that would come to check out the beach for ten minutes or so. We were also lucky enough to score a water taxi directly back to Bocos so the half hour jungle walk need not be repeated and hence more time for happy hour Pina Colada’s – something which became a ritual every afternoon. For $2.50 why wouldn’t you??

After years of saying I would, I finally got my open water Padi dive certificate. There was weeks of maybe’s but ultimately Juan decided to sit this one out and spend the days on the beach looking at the water, not 15m under it. Although on the Caribbean, Bocas is renowned for slightly more murky waters than its neighboring crystal clear waters due to sediment in the sand. This results in some of the cheapest diving prices in the world. I paid $250 USD for the course which I was luckily enough to do when the weather was great and the visibility was over 15m. My first two dives were on a vibrant reef with a small shipwreck, a stones throw from the airport strip. Wanting to complete my course as soon as possible I asked to dive on there next trip, luckily for me that was a cave dive and a pinnacle dive out near wizard beach. Swimming through caves with small holes in the roof was amazing, full of life and something I will never forget, mainly because a dive videographer came and filmed our trip as she simply wanted to do the caves again. Giant crabs, schools of snapper, gropers, lion fish and trunk fish that looks like a confused tug boat all called these intricate cave systems home. Credit card might not have enjoyed it but I sure did.

Bocos Del Toro Spending summary –

This was the cheapest part of our trip so far.

Accommodation –

Hotel Cayo Zapatillas – on the main street Calle 3. It wasn’t the fanciest but had a private bathroom, cable T.V, Wifi and a kitchen for $18 a night.

Eating –

We cooked some meals as we had a kitchen and were able to do so for a few dollars. There is an abundance of supermarkets for this small town.

Our favorite quick stop local meal place was El Chitre just up from our accommodation. For $3.60 you got a whole plate of delicious fresh meat, rice and salad.

Natural Mystic Café on the main street is also a must when visiting. A little pricier then our standard budget but so worth it. Inside, it almost looks like an old Queenslander home. For $9.50 you must get the Mystic chicken the flavors were out of this world and for $11.50 the coconut creamy fish fillets and rice. Hands down best meal of the trip so far!!

Johny’s bakery across the road from us was also a cheap place to get breakfast, coffee and fresh bakery treats. Super cheap ranging from .50c – $3.50.

Transport –

Bus from Panama City $28USD buy in advance. Takes 8hrs and leaves at 8pm from the main terminal.

Taxi’s will hound you when you arrive to take to you to the water taxi place for $1 and  then $5 to Bocos Del Toro.

Transport between the islands ranges from $1.50 each way to $3.

Shuttle to Costa Rica boarder $25 includes water taxi price to mainland (takes around 2.5hrs to get to boarder and this will take you to your destination in Pueto Veijo once you go through the boarder