Bocas del Toro Boat Life

We’re in our second month in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama. Time is flying! We’re keeping busy, seeing the sights, and spending time with fellow cruisers. Here’s an overview of Bocas del Toro boat life.

About Bocas del Toro

Bocas del Toro (or Bocas, familiarly) is a province on the Caribbean side of Panama. Part of it is located on the mainland, but the important part is the chain of islands. Bocas del Toro means Mouth of the Bull, and the island chain has 3 big islands and many smaller islets and atolls.

Bocas del Toro is a popular tourist destination, and the site of many banana plantations. It has an airport, with several daily flights from Panama City, and multiple water ferries and taxis from the mainland.

There are three big islands in Bocas del Toro, where most of the activity happens and the majority of people live and work.

Isla Colon

Isla Colon is the main island, with the airport and main town, called Bocas Town. That’s where the stores are and lots of hotels and resorts. It’s the “big island” where we go to provision at the supermarkets.

Isla Carenero

Right across from Isla Colon, Carenero has a small marina, and many resorts, beaches, and restaurants.

Isla Bastimentos

Isla Bastimentos is a big island of about 62 square kilometers, a large section of which is a marine park. The bulk of the population of the island is in the western side, closest to Carenero and Colon. As of 2010, Bastimentos’ population was just under 2000 people. We’ve walked around the colorful street in the main town, called Old Town or Basti Town.

Getting Here

We sailed to Bocas del Toro from Shelter Bay at the end of November. It was a terrible trip and both Domino and I got seasick. We had to motor into wind and current, and the trip took longer and was more miserable than we expected.

I prefer to forget about the seasickness until the next passage. We’re in Bocas del Toro and enjoying it immensely. Bocas del Toro boat life is good! It’s very different from the remote beauty of the San Blas Islands, and a lot more cruisers are closer together here. There’s a lot of things to do for entertainment and people to share in the fun.

Bocas del Toro Boat Life: Anchorages

Bocas del Toro has multiple anchorages to choose from, some more remote than others.

We’ve anchored further away from the 3 main islands for alone time. None of them are completely isolated from civilization. These tiny islands all have villages or small communities of homes. Everyone we’ve encountered is open and friendly to us.

Starfish Beach Anchorage

Our favorite anchorage so far is Starfish Beach. The water is clear and swimmable, and there are as many starfish in the shallows as there are bars on the beach.

It’s also close enough to town that we can get back in a couple of hours. The trip there usually takes longer because it’s upwind.

Red Frog Anchorage

Our most visited anchorage, before we gave up on the batteries, was Red Frog anchorage. Located midway along Bastimentos Island, past the town, it’s a roomy bay protected by mangrove islets and a big reef.

The Red Frog anchorage is roomy, quiet, and relatively close to the action, with beach access for a small fee at the Red Frog resort. Unfortunately, the water in this anchorage is full of jellyfish. Not a fan of jellies, everyone, even with a wetsuit on. Especially if they’re bigger than my head.

Cruisers who’ve been here for years say the jellyfish weren’t always here, but they have been since November at least!

Bocas Town Anchorage

The busiest anchorage with a lot of boats, Bocas Town south anchorage is closest to town for shopping, restaurants, and the New Years’ Eve fireworks. We’re not big fans because of the fast water taxis that fly through day or night, but nothing’s perfect.

We spent our first weeks here at anchor, but with the heavy rains, our solar wasn’t giving us enough power to get through each day. Having to run our generator every day is unpleasant so Brian decided to invest in lithium batteries. He made this decision in early December, and we’re still waiting for the batteries. The global supply logjam paired with shipping issues and holidays is holding up the delivery.

Marina Life

We moved into a marina in early December when we were going to take a trip inland and wanted somewhere safe to leave Sava. We also need new batteries and plugged into shore power at the dock.

Marina life at Red Frog Marina is pretty good. We have access to the beach club with pool, a laundry room with full-service, great wifi, and on-shore showers. We spend a lot of time at the beach club.

Another asset of the marina is the shopping shuttle. It leaves from the marina dock each weekday at 10am, and comes back from Bocas Town at 1pm.

On the shuttle, it takes about 10 minutes for a trip that would take us an hour on Sava, so we take it at least once a week to stock up at the big stores. The marina has a mini market to keep us provisioned in a pinch.

At the marina, which is also a resort, we can explore the grounds and spot wild animals living in the jungle.

Hiking and Looking for Wildlife

We are in the land of sloths and monkeys, and other wild animals, so, of course, we are always looking for them. Bastimentos is an amazing place to spot local wildlife. On our walk to the beach and/or beach club are several trees we’ve dubbed “Sloth trees” and you can guess why!

We also spot the famous red frog, which is tiny but poisonous if you eat it, monkeys, and birds and butterflies. Much better than jellyfish!

Capuchin monkeys live on the island too, and they are usually too quick for us to photograph, but it’s a good day when we spot them.

Cruiser Events

Bocas del Toro boat life is extremely popular! We haven’t been somewhere with such a large and active cruiser community since Grenada. The great thing about a big community is there’s good support and fun activities.

VHF Cruisers Net

Every morning at 7:45, we can tune into the cruisers net on VHF. We often miss it though as we like to sleep just a little later than that. But when we do tune in, we learn about some of the cruiser events in the area, the weather, and who’s new to the area.

Weekly Cruiser Barbecue at Bocas Marina

Every Friday night, the Bocas Marina cantina hosts a cruisers’ barbecue with an expanded menu and live music. We go when we’re in the anchorage, and the food, music, and company are always good.

Pot Lucks

Christmas brought a few cruiser pot lucks to Bocas del Toro. The Panama Posse organized one, with free rum, at the Bocas Marina. Friends organized a pot luck appetizer party on their boat, which lasted longer than expected, because we were having so much fun!

On Christmas Eve, we stayed up late at the Cruisers’ potluck at Starfish Beach, with at least 9 boats participating. This potluck included a bonfire barbecue, and a fire show, and a chance to meet even more boaters.

Beach Bocce

Some of our friends have bocce sets, and organize weekly matches on the beach near Red Frog. It’s a fun afternoon activity on the beach, ending for happy hour.

Sometimes the bocce match gets 4 pairs, others 12! And once, a rabbit visited the field.

Beach Days

The beaches in Bastimentos are very nice, with soft sand and big waves. In addition to the beach where we play bocce, we frequent the beach club, and once hiked to Wizard Beach closer to Bastimentos town.

The water here is rough with undercurrents, so I usually don’t venture too far out before getting pummeled, but on a hot day, it’s refreshing!

Paddle Boarding

In time for Christmas, we got a new paddle board! Our old one blew holes around the seals, so we ordered a new one, and we’ve been using it. Since we’re in a marina, we dinghy out to the Red Frog Anchorage, and take turns paddling and avoiding jellyfish.

We try to go out in the mornings before the wind picks up, and sometimes we can spy pods of dolphins playing in the anchorage.

Staying Safe

Covid 19 cases started to spike in Bocas del Toro around the holidays. We, fortunately, got the booster shot at the hospital here last month, but we are still isolating and wearing masks in public. There’s not much else we can do, but we feel safe at the marina.

We’ll be here for a few more weeks at least. We think the lithium battery order is in customs, so once it arrives, the work begins. After that, we’re going through the Panama Canal, so we may as well enjoy Bocas del Toro boat life while we can. It’s pretty good, don’t you think?