Isla Bastimentos – Panama

In northern Panama there is a chain of Islands known as “Bocas Del Toro.” The most populated of these islands is called Isla Colon and Lindsay and I stayed on the far north end of this island during our 2007 trip. We had heard about a much less inhabited island with secluded beaches called Isla Bastimentos and decided to dedicate an entire day to exploring it. We started by catching a boat from the funky little town of Bocas. The boat ride was beautiful and it was so fun to see the charming houses of Bocas (built right over the water) as we pulled away from the island. Within 10 minutes Isla Bastimentos came into view and we were dropped off at the deck of a funky little bar. In there sat a truly unique looking young African American man with dread locks and bright blue eyes (Lindsay was quite impressed). We had heard about this cool trail that goes through the jungle to the other side of the island which was full of beautiful and secluded beaches. We asked this Caribbean fellow where this path was and he just pointed towards the little village and spoke in such a thick Caribbean accent that we barely understood him. We stepped out of the bar and found ourselves in the village of Basitmentos. This was one of the coolest little places we have ever seen. There were no streets just one little concrete path that had historic colorful wooden houses on each side. There were numerous kids playing and they were pretty amused watching us wander through their little village. Eventually we found a little path that lead out of the village and we took a wild guess that this was the trial we had heard so much about…it was. It was a short strenuous hike up over the small hill in the center of the island. The jungle was dense and there were plenty of spiders and birds to keep us company. As we eventually made our way to the other side of the Island we found ourselves on a BEAUTIFUL secluded beach full of white sand and bright blue water (the beach is known as Wizard Beach). There were literally only a few people that we could even see and they were very far away. I actually remember feeling almost too vulnerable as we were so far away from anybody. :) The sun was high and it was extremely hot. We did not have any protection from it but luckily we found a cool little make shift shack that someone had built on the beach. I added my own refinements and we set up for a relaxing few hours. We listened to our ipods, read and just relaxed on this beautiful beach. We then started working our way up the coast as we were told there were numerous other beaches to explore. The path between each beach was beautiful as it would hug the coast and you could see small little islands, beaches and the lush green jungle. I felt like we were walking through a movie set for Pirates of the Caribbean. We passed numerous beaches full of white sand and spent time on each one. On one particular beach there was one palm tree that had grown sideways towards the water and it was the perfect spot to rest fro the hot sun. Lindsay sat under the palm tree and I swam and explored. We eventually made our way to one last beautiful beach were we spent a few more hours vegging out. Eventually this incredible day came to an end and we meet the boat to take us back to Bocas (we had arranged to have him pick us up on the other side of the Island). The boat ride back was uneventful but in the small little bay that the boat picked us up in there were THOUSANDS of jelly fish. We both kept imagining what it would be like if the boat capsized in this water…yikes. It was a day of fun & sun on beautiful Isla Bastimentos island in Panama.