We were rather undecided a year ago about what our hurricane season plans were for 2024. After spending a couple of months with the Low Expectation crew and hearing about how they had bought an island in Bocas del Toro, Panama and would be there all year, we decided it made sense to head that way. As we continue to bump around on this journey, we have decided that our next steps are on the other side of the Americas, so a trip through the Panama Canal was already in the cards anyway.
Our biggest concern in coming to Panama has been the risk of lightning strikes. Before deciding to head this way, we looked into a lot of historical data for Panama and noticed that Bocas was well west of where the majority of strikes take place during the summer months. In the end, we decided that we were OK with the risk and headed this way for the season.
Friends
First and foremost, our time in Panama has been about the friends. We met back up with our friends on Mamita starting back in Curaçao and continued westward with them. They cruised a decade ago before kids and loved Panama so they were pretty excited to return. We stayed pretty tightly connected to them the entire time we were in Panama.
Our first day in town the Low E crew headed up to meet all of us in Bocas Town to catch up and give us a tour of the area. We were all happy to reconnect and were looking forward to hanging out.
Nina from Mamita and I headed to Almirante to clear customs and immigration the next day. It didn’t go well. It didn’t go bad either. We had no problems taking a water taxi the 10+ miles to the town of Almirante, found the office we were told to go to and it turns out that we aren’t allowed to clear in here and instead had to go back to Bocas Town to clear in. But, it was a really nice boat ride, an interesting town that billions of bananas get loaded up on massive ships for export to the rest of the world from. Also, we got some delicious tamales from some dude while waiting for our return ride to Bocas Town. The tamales here are wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks, which I found strange. They were good and sin trigo so I got to eat a couple of them too.
Ultimately, we got cleared in and got our cruising permits back from Panama City a couple of weeks later as well.
We spent several days just kicking around town getting rested from our 1000+ mile sail over. We loaded back up our food and other supplies and met up with Low E several times as well.
In the same anchorage we are in, there are a couple of floating bars so we made sure to visit for swimming, jumping and drinks. The kids and I all jumped off the upper deck which was a great time and perfect for cooling off in the hot afternoon.
Toward the end of our time in town, we met back up with our friends from Rise who we met in Grenada and spent time in Sainte Anne with last year. Fira had a swimming friend which is great since she is scared to swim alone. Dublin had a Dungeons and Dragons friend as well, which are not always easy to find. We also met some new friends that, given how small the cruising community is, I imagine we’ll see again someday in some random location a thousand miles away.
Bocas del Toro Archipelago
Bocas del Toro is an archipelago in western Panama made up of loads of small islands. As such, the culture is very water/boat focused which is pretty cool. It can also be great for us since we can dinghy to all of the same spots that the tourists hit up.
The closest island to Isla Colon (the island where Bocas Town is located) is a small sliver called Carenero. We went there often over the few months we were in the area. It’s a really chill place with pretty beaches, good tacos and live acoustic guitar music every Sunday.
Along with Mamita, we spent a week or so cruising down to a very calm bay between Isla Bastimentos and Isla Solarte. There were so, so many jellyfish, so we didn’t do any swimming down there, but it was so much calmer than town. The downside of the culture being based around boats is that there is a ton of boat traffic in the town anchorage so it is always a bit loud and choppy with wakes and motor noise.
The hiking in Bocas kind of doesn’t exist. There aren’t many public parks, so everything is private land. Every place to go ashore costs money and often is a bit disappointing, e.g. we paid $30 to hike a trail that was maybe 1/2 mile. It was pretty, but dang!
After hiking, we dinghied up into a small creek because we were told it is a good place to spot a sloth and we hadn’t seen any yet. The ride in and out were very tranquil and indeed we did see a sloth (although I’ll post a sloth picture from a later sighting below).
We moved back up the bay toward Old Bank (the second largest town in the area) and explored the beaches on the ocean side of Bastimentos. They are spectacular. One of the beaches, called Wizard Beach was easily in the top 5 prettiest beaches we’ve seen. Honestly, I would put it as #2 behind Playa Fronton in the Dominican Republic.
Old Bank was a cool little town with a lot of what I think is the real local personality (Bocas Town is geared 100% to tourism).
The town was pretty at night too. Even the cats had to get up topside to drink it in.
Low E’s Island
After a couple of weeks in Panama, we finally had supplies under our belts and were ready to get down to hang out with Low E for a few days. We spent several days and nights hanging out on land and also took some evening and day trips around in their larger speed boat (panga - it’s what the locals drive).
One day we spent cruising over to Cayo Coral and surrounding spots. We had a few beers, the kids played, we ate lunch, and we snorkeled.
It was a really cool spot and the snorkeling was a very pleasant surprise as it was some of the most colorful stuff we’ve seen.
On the way back from Cayo Coral, Ryan pulled up next to a local fisherman paddling along in his ulu and asked him if he had lobster. He had 13 and we paid $50 for the whole lot. Everyone left that interaction very happy and the next night, we gorged on a huge lobster feast on the island.
A woman nearby has a bunch of property with trails. She charges money to tourists, but loves cruisers so she lets us come for free. She walked partway with us and taught us things about the flora and fauna we could expect to see. She even let the kids cool off in her swimming pool and gave us adults a cold beverage and chatted with us. She was amazing. She (Mia) is an artist and her favorite book is “Through the Looking Glass”, so the property is named Wonderland and has fun signage along the trails.
Fira’s Birthday
Fira is a double digit girl now.
Her birthday was a blowout bash on Low E’s island (which really needs a name). We had gluten free cake, burgers, a piñata, and a karaoke dance party. It was so much fun and lasted until the wee hours.
We headed back to Bocas Town the next day and Fira and I went out for a birthday dinner date in town as well. We were even lucky enough to have the local marching band swing by for a song :)
After a day or two in town, we headed up to Starfish Beach to anchor while waiting for Muddah Goose to arrive.
This beach was really great. There were several small beach bars along the main beach and a 20 minute trail along the beach to get to a small town on the road.
One of my favorite parts about this place was the wildlife. Obviously, there were starfish since it’s in the name but it wasn’t 5-10 starfish, it was hundreds. Fira and I went for a ride on the SUP board one morning and counted over 300. Every morning and most nights, you can hear dozens of howler monkeys just grunting away off in the woods.
It is super eerie, but also really calming and beautiful. We also had one of our closest encounters with a sloth there.
Muddah Goose and Aunt Inge
Grete’s mom and sister came out and visited. Inge was only able to stay for about a week and a half because of work, but MG stuck around for a solid month. Unfortunately I didn’t really get to hang out with Inge since I had to fly home for my step-father’s memorial service https://obituaries.neptune-society.com/obituaries/castro-valley-ca/thomas-casey-11946554.
I did get to spend the first two days they were in Panama with them before I flew out, so at least there was that. They heard us talking about Starfish Beach and wanted us to sail them there. Since it is rarely windy here I promised that we would take them there in the boat but said that sailing was unlikely. We didn’t sail, but we did get to spend the day over there with them, and they got to get a slight glimpse into what our life is like.
While MG was in town, we went over to Red Frog Beach pool for drinks and swimming. It was a lot of fun until Dublin and Fira started fighting in the pool and Fira bit Dublin so hard that her tooth fell out. I tell you with these two.
We also just spent a lot of time hanging around at MG’s AirBnB (Rodney’s). The hill behind the house was loaded with poison dart frogs, which are really cool.
The neighbor had a few sloths in their trees and caimans in a pond. This little guy was not even ten feet off the ground and is apparently less than a year old.
While I was in California Grete, Inge, MG, and the kids went on ATVs and stopped at a beach bar called Skully’s. They loved it so much that Grete and MG dragged me up there as well. It was pretty cool.
It has a beach and a pool, half priced margaritas, free pool tables, good food, the world’s sweetest Rottweiler (Enola) and an owner with a peg leg. What more could you possibly need. Update, we went back a month or two later and Enola had falled from a third story balcony so she had a cast. She was apparently jealous of her dad’s peg leg.
One thing you might know about cruisers is that when you visit them, you have to carry a million pounds of stuff that they can’t find where they are. MG brought the fabric I needed to finish our cockpit cushions so I was able to get those finished. It was time, since the latex skin on the cushions had broken down and the black foam was starting to show. Not exciting, but still I’m proud of the results and we get to enjoy my work every day.
Eventually, MG had to go back to her life and we had to get back to ours. It’s always sad when she goes and the kids are a wreck for a few days while we transition back to school and a healthier diet. I’m sure it won’t be long before we get to see her again.
Halloween
We spent time back in California after MG departed and got back to Bocas right before Halloween. Dublin did not want to dress up, but Fira happily donned her ghost costume from last year and we went to a bash on shore. Every gringo kid within 50 miles must have been at this thing. So much insanity.
After the party split, we ate some dinner and spent the evening out with Low E listening to music and playing ping pong at the tavern.
Miscellaneous
As our time in Bocas was coming to a close, it started to be filled with goodbyes. We said goodbye to Andrea as she headed to Costa Rica for dental work. We spent a day with Ryan and the kids at Skully’s.
Of course, in true cruiser fashion though, we hung out with them a couple more times before we actually parted ways.
Toe
So, the toe that I hurt in Grenada last year has continued to be an issue. After the nail fell off in Nevis earlier this year, it came back in but met a lot of resistance from the rest of my toe since it had gotten very used to not having to share turf with a nail. So, it got infected. It had been hurting for a while and was very swollen and red/yellow. It was nasty. I went to the clinic in town and the doctor spent an hour slicing and dicing. I had to go on a round of antibiotics and do foot soaks and ointments for a couple of weeks.
After about a month or so, the problem was back. I went back to the clinic and repeated the whole process. This time the doctor was much more aggressive about removing the edges of the nail and even the root. I was drenched in sweat from the pain both times, but now, finally, after all of that the toe does finally seem to be doing well. No pain or other discomfort and hopefully when we get someplace with decent roads or trails I can lace up my running shoes and get back in shape.
Oh, and since this was done outside the US, the two hours of essentially outpatient surgery, the medicines, all of the materials used by the doctor, etc. came to a grand total of about $250.
Maintenance
Maintenance is always a thing. Among cruisers, the expression is that we are, “Doing maintenance in exotic places.” A few main things needed attention here.
First, shortly after we got here, our wind speed started always showing as 0mph. It is not very windy here, but it’s more than 0.0, for sure. I checked voltages and found out that there was an issue with the voltage coming down from the top of the mast where the spinning parts are. I called Raymarine customer service and they said we should ship it in and that they would fix it since it’s still under warranty. That’s all well and good, but when you are outside the US, sending it out and getting it back are both not easy things to do. But, we were headed to California to visit my mom so we were able to get it all resolved.
Since my toe was bothering me, our friend from Mamita went up the mast to take it down shortly before we flew to the US. We got the fixed part back and carried it back with us to the Hoss. Grete cranked me up the mast and I reinstalled it. Working great again.
While Ola was up the mast, he checked on our anchor light for us too. It worked fine but seemed to be using about 25 watts, so I figured it must be incandescent and not LED. He checked and it was indeed incandescent. We never bothered to check if it was working again before he came down but found out that night that we no longer had a working anchor light.
We were headed to the marina soon for our trip to CA so we weren’t that concerned. We returned from CA with a replacement LED bulb. When I went up the mast to install the anemometer, I also installed the new light. We checked both and they were working, so I came back down. That night we turned on the anchor light and nothing happened. Ugh! Time for another trip up the mast :(
At least the views from the top are spectacular.
The other issue I wanted to look at was our steering sheaves that had been noisy on our passage over from Curaçao. I accessed the sheave on the starboard side and noticed that one entire side of the wheel had worn down to almost nothing. Kind of freaky since loss of steering tends to happen in the roughest conditions, not benign stuff. I have since re-aligned the wheel to reduce the wear and have ordered a replacement wheel to put in when we have it. The alignment is a bit tricky to get right though since nothing moves very well. I’m pretty sure we will have to have this looked at again, possibly in Shelter Bay before we transit the canal (hopefully) next month.
Silly Stuff Around Town
A few funny sights around town.
Lost in translation; an inflamable gasoline truck.
Attention to detail is something that they drill into you in the military. It never totally stuck with me, but at least I’m not Panamanian road-worker level inattentive.
A town full of perverts (although that number is about to go down by one when we leave).
What did you just read? If you are like us, and just about every tourist I see, you saw something like “Fat Vaginas”.
The burger place in town we really liked has napkin dispensers on each table. It’s great that they have a few sets of Titiz around so I can wipe my face on them when I need to.
This van is another one that required a double take to read correctly. It made me think of a slight modification to the old palindrome: “A man, a plan, a canal. Panama.” Because it also works with, “A man, a plan, anal. Panama.” Based on the “Filthy Friday” signs and events all over Bocas Town, I imagine it applies to far more visitors than the original anyway.
But enough of my dirty mind and this dirty place. For now, we plan to keep cruising with Mamita over to the Guna Yala Archipelago in eastern Panama, so we can defer that set of goodbyes for now.
Bocas del Toro has been a really great place to spend the season. Calm anchorages, diverse wildlife and beautiful mountain ranges in the distance made it a very different stay from Grenada where we spent last hurricane season. I’ll miss this place and the ease of moving within the archipelago, though I think our next stop will have some of these same positive aspects.
Time to watch for watch for the right weather for our approximately 40 hour sail to Guna Yala.