Bienvenidos a Bocas del Toro

Welcome to Bocas del Toro, Panama! The first post in this series on Panama provided a quick introduction to Panama and explored Panama City. This post will provide an introduction to Bocas del Toro. Bocas del Toro is a province in Panama on the Caribbean side of the country. It consists of mainland, as well as nine islands. Panama has been receiving a lot of press lately as both a travel and retirement destination.

If you are not familiar with Panama, you may want to check out the Panama Tourist Map. It provides a quick overview of the country and points out many of the key sights. You will also find Pananainfo.com very useful. A good map of Bocas del Toro is hosted on Wikipeida.

Most visiting Bocas del Toro will likely be arriving by air at the Bocas del Toro Internal Airport on the Isla Colon. From Panama City, you can take Air Panama direct to Bocas del Toro’s International Airport. If you are visiting one of the neighboring islands, you will have to arrange transport by boat or water taxi form Bocas del Toro town to your destination.

Bocas del Toro International Airport in 2008. 

We visited Bocas del Toro in February 2008. At that time, it was relatively undeveloped from a tourism perspective. Now Bocas del Toro has become one of the top tourist destinations in Panama. We stayed at the Eclypse de Mar Aqua Lodge on the Isla Bastimentos. It was very new at the time at one of the few choices. Now many more options are available. A short water taxi drive brings you to Bastimentos Town where there is small handful of restaurants.

The beautiful Eclypse del Mar Aqua Lodge.

An afternoon snack delivered to our bungalow. 

One of the highlights of Bocas del Toro is surely the Isla Bastimentos National Marine Park. Here you can boat through the mangroves in pristine and clear water, seeing hundreds of starfish in the sand below. 

Coming into Bastimentos Town to hire a boat to take us snorkeling. 

Another view of Bastimentos Town. 

You can stop to snorkel, see dolphins and the to top of the day make a stop at Cayos Zapatilla. Cayos Zapatilla is completely uninhabited with thick jungle and beautiful white sand beach around the entire island. It takes about an hour to walk around. Be advised some areas are a bit difficult to cross and you will be in the water.

The beautiful and uninhabited Cayos Zapatillo. 

The next post in this series on Panama will explore Boquete in the Chiriqui highlands.