Islands of Boca Del Toro

Boca Del Toro the Venice of Latin America

Bocas del Toro is a 500 square km (200 square miles) province in the Republic of Panama located west of the country bordering with Costa Rica between the Talamanca Continental Divide and the Caribbean Sea. It is a land of contrasts. Most of it is covered in virgin forests. People live mainly in the coastal lowlands and on the bigger islands: Isla Colon, Almirante and Bastimentos. The archipelago consists of 6 big islands and over 200 islets. The indigenous groups such as the Ngobe-bugle and Naso-Teribe remain in the highlands and engage in farming or work on the banana plantations.

It was discovered by Christopher Columbus on his fourth and last trip in 1502. Its inhabitants are the descendants of a wave of African slaves brought from the Antilles and San Andres Islands and the local indigenous population. They became farmers and fishermen. At the end of the nineteenth century, the United Fruit Company established its banana plantations and Bocas, particularly Changuinola, became the banana growing center of Panama.

The town of Bocas del Toro is the capital of the province and has recently become a significant tourist attraction. American, French, German, Italian, Dutch and local tourists visit Bocas to enjoy its rustic cane and wood hotels and cottages some of which are built on piles over very calm waters. Restaurants are plentiful and they offer local and haute cuisine. In the daytime visitors engage in snorkeling, diving, fishing, bird and marine turtle watching or fishing, or they just simply bask in the sun on white sandy beaches and become mesmerized by the crystalline-clear waters. Surf lovers (beginners to advanced) can stay at Rancho Paraiso Surfside Eco Resort and get 100 miles of some of the best short boarding and body surfing in the world. The evenings are cool and tourists take pleasure in taking a leisurely walk on main-street stopping for a night cap at one of the calypso bars.

Bocas has not been hit by big scale tourism and its marine environment has remained unspoiled. It is a haven for manatees, tarpon fish, fresh water turtles, caimans, the red frog found only in this region, the beautiful red-billed tropic bird, the brown booby and 131 other bird species, 36 of which are on the endangered list according to the World Wildlife Fund. Over a dozen coral reefs (studied by marine researchers of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) and the red and white mangrove trees protect and nurture a unique marine environment.

Bocas is an hour away from Panama City by plane. Overland travel can take over 10-12 hours up the Pan-American Highway and then north across the Talamanca Cordillera to a ferry in Chiriqui Grande or Almirante. Water taxis in Bocas are the main means of transportation to the bird sanctuaries, mangroves, beaches and some of the fancier hotels, like Punta Caracol.