The several faces of Bocas del Toro

Bocas del Toro is a magnet for tourists from all over the world, their popularity is obvious: beautiful palm fringed beaches, an easy-going vibe that is part-Caribbean, part-Central America and delicious sea food. We arrived just before Semana Santa, which is a huge holiday for Panamanians, and the crowds were packing into the archipelago for the long weekend.

We’d been told that all the islands have different personalities, attracting different crowds, so after spending three days lounging on Isla de San Cristobal we decided to go and explore a little more of the archipelago. First up was the transport hub (i.e. water taxis) of Bocas Town on the largest island, Isla Colon. Bocas Town is backpacking party central in this part of Panama, with rapid and barely controlled development taking its toll on the area.

After a little shopping and arranging onward travel to Costa Rica we decided Bocas Town had little to offer and took a water taxi to Isla Bastimentos. We had two very good reasons for visiting Isla Bastimentos: it has a couple of excellent beaches and the Firefly, a lovely three-bedroom B&B on the island run by friends-of-a-friend, Lauren and Ryan. The Firefly has a great waterfront location and serves delicious food – we arrived just in time for lunch!

Isla Bastimentos is also home to a large Afro-Caribbean population, mostly from Jamaica, and it has a much more Caribbean feel than the other islands. In Bastimentos’s only ‘town’, Old Bank, people greet you in English rather than Spanish. Its a very different experience to Bocas Town.

After a couple of cold beers and some excellent home-cooking at the Firefly we took a water taxi to Red Frog Beach. Red Frog is a pristine stretch of sand that has been turned into a high-end but low-key resort and you have to pay US$3 for the privilage of using the beach. It was Easter and the beach was packed, but we’d been giving some local advice and walked the short distance to Turtle Beach, which we had to ourselves.

This was our last day in Bocas del Toro and as we arrived back on Isla de San Cristobal we were treated to a beautiful and dramatic sunset.