Saturday, January 15, 2011

BOCAS DEL TORO!


Bocas del Toro is an absolute breath of fresh air. We had to fight a headwind and an incredible current to get here, but we are here at last. It is 133 miles from Colon to Bocas and it took us 72 hours to make the trip with good wind! We moved at a snails pace since we had to tack against the wind and fight the current the whole way. We did stop at an island called Escuda de Veraguas for some rest after the first 48 hours, but got wind and waves directly into the anchorage and did not sleep much. We caught our first Atlantic fish (36” wahoo) and had Brady’s house special sushi the first night and fish tacos the next. We entered Bocas del toro (on one engine again...tracked it down to a broken clamp on a fuel line later after changing both filters and spending 3 hours bleeding the fuel system-probably could have used some stitches on a cut finger too). The first thing we noticed was that everything is on the water-literally. Bocas del Toro is situated on an island and has hotels, restaurants, bars, stores and houses built on pilings or stilts on three sides. All of these places have docks that are available to customers and basically it is a boaters paradise. There are surf and dive shops (both with excursions), resorts, hostels and even a firehouse with a dock on the waterfront. The town itself is about 8 blocks long and three blocks wide with an airstrip and ferry service to the mainland. We hope that any of you adventurous souls will put this on your list of places to see. The prices run the gamut from U.S. pricing at the nicest places to the local places where beer is still a buck and we can feed the family for $15. We have visited the Zapatilla cays (snorkeling photos attached), Starfish beach, and several other locales. We entered the boat in a lighted boat parade and won some really cool stuff and are soaking it up until we head for the Corn islands in the next few weeks. Ta ta,
El Capitan