{"id":9006,"date":"2016-04-26T13:56:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T17:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/?p=9006"},"modified":"2016-04-26T14:03:09","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T18:03:09","slug":"searching-for-solitude-in-bocas-del-toro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/searching-for-solitude-in-bocas-del-toro\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for Solitude in Bocas Del Toro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exploration of the islands of Bocas del Toro, Panama\u00a0 (published January 2016)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0The outboard cut out just after we left the dock and crept the dinghy out from the mangroves into still, black water. It was a new moon, and the wash of stars overhead was our only light source. We\u2019d meant to clean out the carburetor before coming ashore but were too stunned at the serenity around us upon dropping our anchor in Bahia Honda earlier that afternoon to get any work done. Besides, we were anxious to get off the boat for a rare evening meal ashore at a jungle lodge\u00a0we\u2019d found\u00a0hidden\u00a0beneath\u00a0the canopy, one\u00a0of\u00a0 the\u00a0 many\u00a0 gems\u00a0 we\u00a0 discovered\u00a0 scattered among the islands of Bocas del Toro, Panam\u00e1.
\n\"howler\"
\nA few more tugs yielded nothing; the engine wouldn\u2019t start. We only had a few 100 meters to go, but after a meal of fish curry, papaya salad and a few Pisco sours, rowing even a few strokes seemed a chore. We had no choice, though, so I reluctantly grabbed an oar and dipped it into the blackness beneath us. Suddenly the water came alive, and our miniature wake was set ablaze with the brightest trail of blue-green phosphorescence I\u2019d ever seen. In awe, we fell silent then fell into rhythm paddling our way back to the boat, the only boat at anchor in this deep bay and reveled in the quiet beauty surrounding us.
\n\"beachCows\"
\nI later found out that this is not a rare occurrence in this part of Panama. Many cruisers have similar\u00a0experiences:\u00a0anchoring\u00a0alone\u00a0someplace\u00a0that\u00a0seems too\u00a0good\u00a0 to\u00a0 be\u00a0 true\u00a0 at\u00a0 first,\u00a0and\u00a0somehow it only gets better.Bocas del Toro is an archipelago in the Western corner of Panama\u2019s Caribbean coast. The province is comprised of nine main islands and their smatterings of islets and mangrove\u00a0patches\u00a0spread\u00a0out\u00a0from\u00a0northwest\u00a0 to\u00a0 southeast.\u00a0 For\u00a0boat\u00a0owners,\u00a0 the\u00a0 main\u00a0 attraction lies in its geographic position, which is safely outside the hurricane zone. Add to that its uncrowded anchorages,\u00a0clear Caribbean\u00a0water,\u00a0ease\u00a0of\u00a0travel\u00a0between\u00a0 islands\u00a0and\u00a0dry\u00a0 winter months. It\u2019s not hard to understand what makes it a prime destination for cruisers. What\u2019s\u00a0more,\u00a0Bocas\u00a0del\u00a0Toro\u00a0retains\u00a0a\u00a0 raw\u00a0 Caribbean\u00a0 flavor\u00a0 that\u00a0 in\u00a0 regions\u00a0 further\u00a0 east\u00a0 has\u00a0 been lost to tourism, awkwardly morphed into high cost \u201ccharm\u201d.
\n\"thatchedRoofHut\"
\nOn the islands of Bocas del Toro, you\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0see\u00a0lounge\u00a0chairs lined\u00a0along\u00a0 manicured\u00a0 beaches, waiters\u00a0 trudging\u00a0 through pink sand with trays full of umbrella-topped cocktails. You will find shorelines that are deserted except for driftwood and pelicans, serene mangrove-\u00adlined coves lying in wait for visitors, and jungles\u00a0housing\u00a0 monkeys,\u00a0sloths\u00a0and\u00a0countless\u00a0 species\u00a0 of\u00a0 tropical\u00a0 birds.\u00a0 Once\u00a0 just\u00a0 another\u00a0 Caribbean\u00a0 stepping stone where\u00a0 sailors could escape\u00a0 the\u00a0 threat\u00a0 of\u00a0 tropical\u00a0 storms, Bocas\u00a0 del Toro has become a destination unto itself. As we discovered, the best way to experience it is to sail a bit further off the (not so) beaten path.<\/p>\n

Panama was the first international stop on the route my boyfriend Matt and I had planned from Rhode Island to Western Australia. We chose Bocas del Toro for its legendary winter surf and notably undeveloped islands.\u00a0 We\u00a0left\u00a0the\u00a0States\u00a0in\u00a0late\u00a0December\u00a0 and\u00a0arrived\u00a010 days\u00a0later\u00a0with\u00a0 a\u00a0 snapped steering cable from our\u00a0 shakedown sail in the Caribbean Sea.\u00a0 This rendered us immobile, making Bocas Town, the archipelago\u2019s main hub, our home base for a month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There are worse places to be stuck. Bocas Town has two marinas, safe anchorages, an airport with daily flights, multiple grocery and hardware stores, dive and surf shops and restaurants and bars. English is spoken nearly everywhere and the currency throughout Panama is the U.S. dollar.\u00a0There\u00a0 is\u00a0 a\u00a0 well organized\u00a0 cruisers\u2019\u00a0 net\u00a0 on\u00a0 both\u00a0 VHF\u00a0 and\u00a0 SSB\u00a0 that\u00a0 acts\u00a0 as\u00a0 an\u00a0 open\u00a0 forum\/help desk\/yard sale for community minded sailors. We even discovered a contingent of loyal\u00a0 Patriots\u00a0 fans\u00a0 on\u00a0 a\u00a0 certain\u00a0 Sunday\u00a0 in\u00a0 February.\u00a0 But\u00a0 it\u00a0 didn\u2019t\u00a0 take\u00a0 long\u00a0 before\u00a0 the\u00a0 same\u00a0 things that made life in Bocas convenient began to make us weary. We\u2019d come to Panama for its unspoiled beauty and the solitude of its tropical anchorages, not to watch the Super Bowl.
\n\"Kusapin\"
\nWe spent our nights poring over charts and guidebooks, preparing for the departure we hoped was\u00a0upcoming.\u00a0 We\u00a0 would\u00a0 work\u00a0 our\u00a0 way\u00a0 from\u00a0 top\u00a0 to\u00a0 bottom,\u00a0 departing\u00a0 from\u00a0 Isla\u00a0 Colon\u00a0 and\u00a0 arriving\u00a0 eventually\u00a0 at\u00a0 the\u00a0 Kusapin\u00a0 peninsula.\u00a0 Finally,\u00a0 on\u00a0 a\u00a0 Friday\u00a0 evening, our\u00a0 steering\u00a0 cables arrived and by Sunday morning we were off, loaded with fresh fruit and topped up with water as though we were leaving on an ocean crossing. In reality it\u2019s merely 30 miles from Colon to Kusapin, but you could spend an entire season exploring all that it contains.Bocas Town would turn out to be the only place we found this easy to leave. Our trip became a series\u00a0 of\u00a0 arrivals\u00a0 and\u00a0 departures,\u00a0 a\u00a0 fluctuation\u00a0 between\u00a0 presence\u00a0 and\u00a0 anticipation.\u00a0 We\u00a0 bypassed the tranquility of Bocas del Drago for Swan Cay, an ominous looking rock island at the northern tip of Isla Colon that is home to the red billed tropic bird. A week later we stopped for some land based exploration at Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimentos. We followed the dirt road past the main beach and restaurant, passed by several ocean access points, and continued until we\u00a0 were\u00a0 deposited onto\u00a0 a\u00a0 beachfront\u00a0 construction\u00a0 site.\u00a0 We\u00a0 kept\u00a0 going,\u00a0 and\u00a0 discovered\u00a0 a\u00a0 mile-long\u00a0 stretch\u00a0 of\u00a0 shoreline\u00a0 devoid\u00a0 of\u00a0 people.\u00a0 It\u00a0 was\u00a0 only\u00a0 a\u00a0 few\u00a0 days\u00a0 later\u00a0 and\u00a0 a\u00a0 stone\u2019s throw from the relative crowd of the Red Frog anchorage (a dozen boats) that we discovered the solitude of Bahia Honda and its showy bioluminescence. It was there that possibility was most vividly displayed before us, and where we were struck with the seemingly obvious notion that if we just went a bit further the rewards would outweigh the effort.
\n\"lagunaDeBluefield\"
\nThe\u00a0 options\u00a0 for\u00a0 quiet\u00a0 anchorages\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 mangrove\u00a0 patches\u00a0 at\u00a0 the\u00a0 southern\u00a0 end\u00a0 of\u00a0 Bahia\u00a0 Almirante are endless and to get there we navigated our way through the narrow gap between Cayo Nancy and Isla Bastimentos. We chose Johnson\u2019s Cay over the Gallego Cays, though it may as well have been any of the unnamed lumps of green strewn across the dazzling blue there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
What I kept finding most incredible was that these places were no secret. We didn\u2019t venture into uncharted waters to find someplace to be alone. We didn\u2019t bushwhack through jungle to find our own corner of deserted beach. That\u2019s the beauty of this archipelago. And each time we left one of these private paradises for another it was with mixed feelings. Our excitement for the future was imbued with a hesitance to leave behind places that, if just by our discovering them for ourselves, had become meaningful of us.<\/div>\n
\"fishermen\"
\nThe\u00a0 Kusapin\u00a0 Peninsula\u00a0 is\u00a0 connected\u00a0 to\u00a0 mainland\u00a0 Panama,\u00a0 so\u00a0 technically\u00a0 it\u00a0 isn\u2019t\u00a0 part\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 province\u00a0 of\u00a0 Bocas\u00a0 del\u00a0 Toro.\u00a0 However\u00a0 it\u00a0 is\u00a0 accessible\u00a0 only\u00a0 by\u00a0 boat so\u00a0 is\u00a0 an\u00a0 extension\u00a0 of\u00a0 the archipelago to anyone traveling by sea. We sailed into Laguna de Bluefield around lunchtime under a blazing sun and diminishing wind. The deeper we got into the bay, the further we felt not just from the rest of Bocas, but from the rest of the world. The bay was free of hostels and restaurants and lacked the distinctive buzz of outboards. Instead clusters of thatched roof huts appeared here and there, and the few people we did see fishing in their cayucas or paddled through the bay silently. We passed by the nearest anchorages, deep, tempting coves and made our way instead to the farthest end of the bay where we\u2019d read there was a trail leading to the ocean. We arrived to find just one small, blue hulled sloop sitting sleepily at anchor.The people on this part of the Kusapin peninsula are Ngobe Bugle Indians who live mainly off their harvests from land and sea. On our short walk over the hill that separates the bay from the\u00a0 ocean\u00a0 we\u00a0 passed\u00a0 by\u00a0 bananas,\u00a0 pineapples,\u00a0 taro,\u00a0 and\u00a0 breadfruit\u00a0 growing\u00a0 just\u00a0 off\u00a0 the\u00a0 path.\u00a0 The surf was pumping, but the waves were empty. A couple of cows lazed in the shade, staring as\u00a0 we\u00a0 walked\u00a0 past.\u00a0Children\u00a0 ran\u00a0 up waving\u00a0 and\u00a0 shouting\u00a0 \u201cHola!\u201d\u00a0 All\u00a0 of\u00a0 these\u00a0 things\u00a0 were\u00a0 available elsewhere in Bocas del Toro, we\u2019d had plenty of opportunities to buy fresh fruit, sit on beaches, chat with locals and surf\u2014but not like this, not all at once and in such an intimate setting.\u00a0 Here\u00a0 we\u00a0 felt\u00a0 an\u00a0 immediacy,\u00a0 a\u00a0 direct\u00a0 connection\u00a0 to\u00a0 the\u00a0 place\u00a0 at\u00a0 which\u00a0 we\u2019d\u00a0 arrived.\u00a0We\u2019d gone just a bit further and seemingly reached another world. And yet we felt somehow closer to what surrounded us. Just as on that moonless night in Bahia Honda, all we could do was be a part of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
When you\u2019re always on the move, always chasing the next discovery, your time in each place is limited\u00a0 and\u00a0 leaving\u00a0 can\u00a0 be\u00a0 the\u00a0 hardest\u00a0 part.\u00a0 The\u00a0 allure\u00a0 of\u00a0 places\u00a0 like\u00a0 these\u00a0 tug\u00a0 at\u00a0 some\u00a0 with\u00a0 more\u00a0 force\u00a0 than\u00a0 others.\u00a0 When\u00a0 we\u00a0 left\u00a0 Kusapin,\u00a0 the\u00a0 blue hulled\u00a0 boat\u00a0 was\u00a0 still\u00a0 there. We\u2019d learned that her owner had been working not all that urgently on fixing his problematic engine. Weeks later, we ran into a friend who had recently returned from a trip to Kusapin himself.<\/div>\n
\"bahiaHonda\"
\n\u201cAlessandro?\u00a0 Yes,\u00a0 he\u2019s\u00a0 fixed\u00a0 the\u00a0 engine.\u00a0 But\u00a0 he\u2019s\u00a0 still\u00a0 there.\u00a0 Why\u00a0 would\u00a0 he\u00a0 leave?\u00a0 He\u2019s\u00a0 like\u00a0 Jesus. A trail of kids follows him wherever he goes. He lives off of breadfruit and bananas. Every night a pod of cayucas is tied to his stern. And most of the time his is the only boat there.\u201d I pictured the little blue boat alone at anchor in that deep, still bay, a vast night sky above and nothing but ocean and jungle sounds penetrating the silence. Even without the engine issues, it was obvious why he\u2019d chosen to stay put.
\nOur friend continued. \u201cNow he says he\u2019s not coming back to Bocas. He wants to stay in Kusapin. Forever.\u201dKate and Matt are slowly sailing their way to Australia from Rhode Island onboard their 43-foot cutter rigged sloop, <\/em>Tamata. You can follow their journey via their website www.thelongway.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exploration of the islands of Bocas del Toro, Panama\u00a0 (published January 2016) \u00a0The outboard cut out just after we left the dock and crept the dinghy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9192193,"featured_media":9007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,626,71,177],"class_list":["post-9006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cruising-news","tag-bluewater-cruising","tag-bocas-del-toro","tag-caribbean","tag-panama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9192193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9006"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9017,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9006\/revisions\/9017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}