Tag Archives: buena vista

Floating House in Bocas del Toro

Exploring Bocas with Wayne

Wayne arrived in Bocas Town after four airports and a crazy taxi ride, just in time for happy hour.  We whisked him to Buena Vista for drinks with “Wandering Rose” whom he had met in Bonaire.  After a tasty dinner, we headed over to “Wandering Rose” for one last roadie and to say goodbye as this is where our sailing paths change course.  Dave and Mary are heading to Cayman Islands, Cuba, then back to the States.  Hopefully, our paths will cross again soon.

After we unpacked Wayne’s bags which were full of Sugar Shack parts and accessories, we headed to Bocas Marina to get fuel.  We want to have full tanks before we transit the canal and this was a fairly easy fuel dock to tie up to.  Sugar Shack took on 345 gallons which cost about $275, not bad.  Then we added another $62 in gasoline for the dinghy and new generator.

With the boat full of fuel, we made our way to Red Frog Marina’s anchorage off of Bastimentos. We wanted to show Wayne around the island, introduce him to the famous red frog.  There is one place we know where they can be found and that is in the jungle by the Red Frog’s spa.  One little guy came out to be famous.

Red Frogs located at Red Frog Marina

Red Frogs located at Red Frog Marina

Last time we were here, we hung out at Palomar, but this time we dropped in on Nachyo Momma for a cold beverage. They are right next door to each other and share the same beach.

Nachyo Mama at Red Frog Marina

Nachyo Mama at Red Frog Marina

We did not stay long as we wanted to travel down “the gap” to Dolphin Bay and over to the Dark Lands.  It was much easier the second time around as we had our old track to navigate from.  A beautiful journey through shallow water while surrounded by mangroves and reefs.

Arriving just in time for sunset, we dropped the anchor and enjoyed a cool evening on board Sugar Shack.  The boys went exploring in Sweetie while I showered and enjoyed some quiet time.

Sunset in the Dark Lands, Bocas Del Toro

Sunset in the Dark Lands, Bocas Del Toro

Los Amigos (or Ernie’s) is famous in the archipelago for its eggs benedict.  We missed it last time we were in the area, so we made a point of attending with Wayne.  When we arrived at 0900, the tables were full and he was in full swing.  We sat near our friends, Rick and Judy from “Chasing Sunsets” (who live at Tranquillo Place) and enjoyed an absolutely mouthwatering meal!

Los Amigos in Bocas del Toro

Los Amigos in Bocas del Toro

After breakfast, we explored the bay in Sweetie and found this cute floating house.  We later learned that the current owners bought it for $60k and then spent additional funds on the floating sun deck. Locals were appalled that it cost so much (said it should have cost around $20k).

Floating House in Bocas del Toro

Floating House in Bocas del Toro

It wasn’t long after we got back that the boys took a morning siesta. After all it had been a stressful day so far, eating breakfast with a few beers.

Morning Siesta after Breakfast

Morning Siesta after Breakfast

After we let our meal settle in our bellies, we took the big boat back over through Porras Lagoon to Crawl Cay.  This is another really pretty and quiet anchorage.  We are across from our friend’s Rick and Judy’s island “Tranquillo Place.”

Matt brought out a few water toys and we enjoyed the afternoon in the water.  There are many “moon” jellies in the water, so I stayed on the SUP.  Supposedly the moon jellies don’t sting, but they scared the crap out of me when they rubbed up against my leg.

Moon Jelly courtesy of JellyTank

Moon Jelly courtesy of JellyTank

Since we had an early night, I was up early and was blessed with this gorgeous sunrise over Tranquillo Place.

Sunrise at Tranquillo Place

Sunrise at Tranquillo Place

What kind of friends would we be if we did not take Wayne to Monday Market at the Drunken Monkey? Pretty crappy friends for sure.  So, we planned our escapades around this event.  We picked up Judy and headed over right when they open at 10am so we could get the best pick of the market.

By noon, the Drunken Monkey was packed with lots of pangas.  People park on either side and in front of it – where ever there is room.

Lots of pangas parked at the Drunken Monkey

Lots of pangas parked at the Drunken Monkey

Image:  Top left exterior of Drunken Monkey from the water; Top Right Drunken Monkey from shore; Bottom Left market area; Bottom Right Jessica and CJ’s home.

Drunken Monkey compound

Drunken Monkey compound

Wayne, Matt and I enjoying good times at the Drunken Monkey and Jessica trying to juggle many beer bottles.

Playing at the Drunken Monkey

Playing at the Drunken Monkey

Archpielago Bocas del Toro

Bocas del Toro: Bocas Town

Matt and I spent 13 days exploring Bocas del Toro before Wayne arrived.  Several people told us that these islands were very touristy and nothing like the San Blas island chain (which we loved).  We typically prefer the isolated, quiet islands, but we thought we’d give them a try.  Our first stop, Bocas Town.

The islands that make up the Archipielago de Bocas del Toro are listed below.  We entered the island chain between Isla Colon and Bastimento, then motored around the bottom of Isla Colon to arrive in Bocas Town, the capital of the Bocas del Toro province.

Archpielago Bocas del Toro

Archpielago Bocas del Toro

Bocas Town has a friendly population of about 8k residents.  The town is divided into 8 avenidas, running east and west starting with Avenida A, then Avenida B, etc… Then the streets running north to south are numbered, Calle 1, Call 2, etc….  It is a very laid back atmosphere, with a lot of tourists and even more backpackers.

Bocas Town map

Bocas Town map

There is one main road were most of the shops and eateries can be found and they are crawling with people milling about.

Typical road in Bocas Town.

Typical road in Bocas Town.

The coasts are peppered with bars and restaurants which makes it fun to explore.  Who has the best wifi and happy hour?  So, far El Pirata has smokin hot wifi, great view, and friendly staff.  Buena Vista also had good internet, food, and friendly staff.

Places to eat and drink line the water's edge.

Places to eat and drink line the water’s edge.

Of course Matt sniffed out a local pub that offered beer on tap – the Bocas Brewery.

Bocas Brewery offering beer on tap.

Bocas Brewery offering beer on tap.

We found the local fire station and they had restored a beautiful American France fire truck that was acquired in 1926.  This truck was made between 1914-1916.  This is a car water bomb, not a tanker, its bronze pump is special to work with sea water. The last time it worked was in 1981.

1900 Fire truck.

1900 Fire truck.

A fun little photo op at La Buga – Matt does have his head inside the dive mask but it is hard to see it – you can only see this arm and hat sticking out the side of the statue.

Surfer and diver at La Buga.

Surfer and diver at La Buga.

Matt took a moment out to rest at Hotel Olas as he had a taxing day walking from bar to bar.

Matt's happy spot at Hotel Olas.

Matt’s happy spot at Hotel Olas.

Another cool map of the Archipielago Bocas del Toro:

Map of Bocas del Toro.

Map of Bocas del Toro.

We took some of the down time (while it rained) to work on more projects.  A few months ago, I replaced the helm seat back covers with a tan sunbrella that did not match the rest of the cockpit sunbrella.  Long story short we ordered 15 yards of the wrong “tan” back in St. Maarten.  We used the majority of this fabric for new rain shades to cover our phifertex sun shades.  Anyway, I had wanted to change them out to blue to match the rest of the boat. Yes, a total frilly, girly thing, I know!

We also needed to do some paperwork with the government of Panama.  You are supposed to get a “zarpe” each time you leave a port in Panama.  Our Zarpe had us going to Linton Bay/Portobello so technically we should have gotten a new Zarpe to San Blas, then another one to Bocas del Toro.  We sort of missed those steps.  So, we went into Port Authority to get a new Zarpe to Panama City so our agent can clear us out of the country once we transit the canal.

The port authority agent was off over the weekend, then they took Monday-Wednesday off for Carnival so we had to wait 5 days before making the visit.  The first man was a little put out that we did not follow the rules and told us we had to go back to Portobello to get a new Zarpe (that is well over 200 miles away) – yikes that sucks!  But he then said that this was not his department and we had to go to another department down the hall.  So, we did.

This lady could not have been nicer!  She was all ready to give us our new Zarpe until we told her we would not be leavinft, drat.  Well that is a Sunday and they are not open and if we came on Saturday it would cost us overtime.  So, we changed our departure date to 2/24 and told her we would see her on 2/23.  Done!

Next, we needed to go to the airport to see an Immigration officer.  We entered the country on a Panamanian Mariners Visa which was good for 90 days.  That visa is set to expire on 6 March, the same day that we will be transiting the canal.  You are only allowed to renew the visa the day before or the day of.  If you come after your expiration date it is $50 per person late fee.

We can’t go the day before as we have guests and are supposed to be staging for the transit.  And we can’t go the day of as we will be in transit.  The immigration offices are in Colon or Panama City which is a taxi ride so it looks like we will have to pay the late fee.  Bummer!g the Bocas until 2/26.  She said we had to come back the day before we left.

It was raining a lot here, so we got productive and started working on multiple projects.

One of Matt’s first sewing projects was a cover for our man overboard horse shoe.  He did a great job considering he had no pattern.  In addition, he made it while at home and the horse shoe was on the boat.  But, it was in grey fabric and needed an update so I replaced it with a red cover.

In the photo below you will see the pattern for the man overboard horse shoe, and the new helm seat rail covers.

Two new projects complete.

Two new projects complete.

The boat came with hoakie screens for the salon hatches but they are difficult to put in and didn’t stay up well.  They are very useful to keep the bugs and no see-ums out of the boat – especially since these two hatches are always open.

Top image is Matt building a new frame for the screens using the pvc we bought for the ceiling.  The bottom image shows the old ugly screens.

Window hatch screens.

Window hatch screens.

New screens complete.  The problem is that the no see-um screens don’t let much air in so now Matt wants to make two more sets with normal screens.

No see-um window screen

No see-um window screen

Projects completed and or 75% done in Bocas Town:

  • Make new helm seat back covers – blue sunbrella, done.
  • Sew new man overboard ring cover – red sunbrella (see note below). done.
  • Build new salon hatch screens (in progress)