To get there, we had to take an 8 hour overnight bus and then a 30 minute water taxi ride. We found a neat little hippie hostel that played Bob Marley and Jack Johnson all day long. It was only $10/night and we shared our room with some Spaniards and then some Germans. Every morning the owner made us breakfast: a pancake and a half a banana. It was awesome.
The Coconut Hostel
The town itself is pretty touristy, but we managed to find a few cheap restaurants where local people ate. Plus right now it is low tourist season so we had a lot of things mostly to ourselves.
Walking along the public beach we found this old shipwreck.
The best thing about Bocas for us was that you could rent a bike for $5/day or $1/hour. Two different days we biked for a few hours to various beaches around the island. The bikes they had for rent were heavy cruisers with only one speed, so we were getting a great work out the whole time.
Me being much faster than Keegan, like always
Of course, you get what you pay for. We actually got pretty lucky as far as rental bikes went: only one chain incident over two days. We stopped to help a guy (about 6km into a 13km bike ride) whose chain had fallen off and got jammed. We helped him get the chain unjammed only to find out he also had a flat. Long day for that guy.
Keegan kindly taking pictures instead of helping me with the bike chain.
One day we biked to Playa Bluff, about 6km from town. The beach was gorgeous and we basically had the whole thing to ourselves. Keegan spent about 45 minutes trying to knock down a coconut for us to drink. His conclusión after 45 minutes was "You know, I´m not so sure I could survive on a deserted island."
Gorgeous.
Keegan in his not-so-natural environment
The second day of biking we went to Playa de las Estrellas (Starfish Beach) which was 13km away. As you might expect, the roads weren´t in great condition so it made biking extra exciting.
This is where we had lunch. We watched sting rays swimming around under the dock and ate PB&Js.
Above is the only picture we have at Starfish Beach unfortunately. This is possibly due to the fact that after we took this picture we started swinging on hammocks and broke one of them and then we were really embarassed so apparently we forgot to take pictures after that.
Of course, we also took the tour where we saw the shark. It was a three stop tour so first they took us to Dolphin Cove were we actually saw probably 10-15 dolphins. They even started playing with the boat by swimming behind it in the wake. (Somehow I managed to not get a single good picture of the dolphins. Sorry!) Then we went to the beach where we saw the shark, and then after that we went snorkeling again as a group. It was kind of difficult to get back into the water after the whole shark incident, but the coral was really gorgeous so I got over it. Plus there were tiny jellyfish and tons of (non man-eating)fish. On the way back, we stopped by another spot and saw some sloths. Suprisingly, that part wasn´t that exciting.
They even let us wear these super stylish life jackets for the tour.
Keegan kindly snapped this photo of me going to the bathroom.
The last really cool thing we found in Bocas was a legit micro-brewery. The owner was Panamenian-American and, while we have no complaints against 57 cent beer, it was great to get a few glasses of really tasty stuff. Plus they had a great view of the ocean from their patio.
They had a drink called "The Shanty": Amber Ale mixed with home-brewed ginger ale. So good.
Adorable!
Okay, Keegan is rushing me because he´s hungry for dinner so that´s all for now. At the next stop we go inland to the mountain town of Boquete. At 1000m above sea level, we were happy to leave the heat and humidity behind for a few days!
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