Mouths of the Bull

Our first stop in Panama is Bocas del Toro or Mouths of the Bull. It was supposedly named that by Columbus when he discovered the area. While anchored just inside the pass he heard the roar of the surf and said it sounded like a bull roaring.  Bocas del Toro is a wide archipelago of thousands of little islets, cays and some big islands. Some of the major islands form the outer perimeter of the two bays in Bocas. The Bay of Almirante and the Chiriquí Lagoon. 

The roar of this surf made Columbus hear a bull. Surfers from all over the world were chasing this.

The area is a region of many diversities. From a mariner’s standpoint it is very interesting. Like the Chesapeake Bay there are many creeks and lagoons that provide perfect sheltered anchorages with or without shore activities. Some of the spots have hiking, resorts or just a friendly little local restaurant. We found one anchor spot that had very nice snorkeling.

Paki Point on Isla Colon.

Chiriquí Lagoon and the Bay of Almirante are both commercial ports with marked and controlled navigational channels. The Port of Almirante has one major dock which belongs to Chiquita Fruit Company and exports container ships full of tropical fruits grown around the region. The port of Chiriquí is an oil terminal where Atlantic tankers load and unload crude oil that is shipped by pipeline across Panama to the Pacific side where the same trans-shipment process occurs so that tankers don’t need to pass through the canal. 

A Calabash Tree that are prolific in the Caribbean. The fruit is gourd-like that indigenous people dried and used as bowls.

For cruisers the main channel comes right into Bocas Town and on every chart, it is shown as a marked channel but it isn’t, The channel is wide and deep so it was easy when we arrived at night to get in and find some anchorage.

A lobster dinner bought from a local fisherman.

When we arrived on Wednesday, we didn’t have a zarpe because there was some technical issue in San Andres that it couldn’t be issued. So, we lay on anchor for two nights waiting. We made arrangements with Bocas Marina for a slip because our inverter got wet on the passage and had no AC power without running the generator. Finally, on Friday morning we got a photocopy of the zarpe emailed to us, but it was illegible. We went in anyway. Topped off with fuel and went into a slip for the first time in months.

A visit to the Botanic Garden with beautiful flora, monkeys, sloths a hummingbird nest.

                                                  Being in a slip made getting off the boat convenient. We had shore power and water making resource management easier. The marina manager arranged for our check-in. The process was simple but not having a legible zarpe caused some consternation with the authorities but the marina manager was able to assuage the concern and promised he would get them a legible copy so they proceeded to check us in. Later that day we did get a scanned copy of the zarpe that was perfectly legible and passed that on to the authorities.

A hummingbird nest with eggs in the Botanic Garden

For the next three weeks we worked on correcting the issues on our to-do list (we always have one). I was able to get a new inverter shipped in from the States very easily and quickly. I got it installed, fixed what appeared to be the leaks and affixed a plastic splash shield over the inverter so hopefully it won’t get wet again. Of course, while we were waiting and working we enjoyed getting to know Bocas Town. We visited the Botanic Garden and rented electric bikes and went to Bocas del Drago.

Boats in the Bocas south anchorage at sunset.

Bocas Town is a quaint little almost first-world settlement that offers most services including some very nice resorts, excellent restaurants and loads of shopping. Like in other places around the Caribbean the grocery and hardware stores are owned and run by Chinese. One of the biggest is Hermanos Yong which means Yong Brothers.  Quite a blend of cultures with many of the families appearing to be at least second generation in Panama. Bocas is a land of many ex-patriots. Many of

 The Floating Bar provides entertainment a couple times a week.

them have established preservation efforts that have created new businesses like the Botanic Garden. They are the plant nursery for the island. There is also a chandlery for some boat specific parts that the hardware stores don’t have and generally all the supplies and services we need are here. Most of the stores are well-stocked with lots of employees. We buy our produce from local produce stands around town that get fresh produce twice a week.

Sun going down on Red Frog Beach

Unlike the northwest Caribbean, the cruising community here is largely from the US and Canadian west coasts and European with many Australians that had come through the canal. In the Rio more of the cruisers were from the US and Canadian east coasts or Europe. The ex-pat community here is large with many folks that have been here for years.

There are some very good restaurants including many Asian restaurants (but ironically no Chinese), a good Spanish restaurant with a genuine Paella.

Patrons of the Floating Bar after swimming.

Besides the boating community here in Bocas surfing is huge. There are surf schools, surf resorts and usually big surf out on the Caribbean facing beaches. In fact, the weather we were trying to beat by getting here drew surfers from all-over-the-world for the once in a decade surf the weather would produce.

Plastic Village. Buildings made of plastic bottles in frames.

There is some diving and I’ve done some but there aren’t huge reefs to snorkel and because the Bays are estuaries the water is very cloudy. There is an assortment of sea life and I got to see and take a picture of a Sea Horse on one dive.

The Beach at Bocas Del Drago.

Our original reason for going in a slip was to leave the boat for a week-and-a-half while we traveled to Costa Rica to visit a wonderful couple that we have known for several years and used to sail with. Hank and Lil Chalkley have been vacationing in Costa Rica during February for several years and since we were going to be only one border away decided we would visit them.

Our seahorse (the orange thing).

Working out the logistics of getting to Tamarindo, CR took some in-depth analysis. First thought was to fly but after looking at the options that would be very time-consuming and expensive. After more research we found a shuttle service to San Jose, CR that ran every day, was a reasonable cost and reputable. Since we would need a car in Tamarindo we decided to rent a car in San Jose and drive the 3-4 hours from there. The two-day trip gave us a great view of the countryside and was very comfortable.

View of the Marriott resort outside Tamarindo where we stayed.

We found an inexpensive very nice hotel in San Jose that was on a list of stops provided by the shuttle service, so they dropped us off and picked us up at this hotel. As it turned out, the hotel was a 15-minute walk from the rental car company so our life in San Jose was very convenient.

In Tamarindo we used Marriott points and stayed at a beautiful JW Marriott resort that was 15 minutes from Tamarindo. We had stayed at this resort in 2009 during its first year of opening. It was very interesting to see it now more than 10 years later.

View from our room.

One of the highlights of our tip to Costa Rica was that we celebrated our 25^th Wedding Anniversary at a wonderful dinner with our friends.

Our 25th Anniversary Dinner with our friends Hank and Lil Chalkley in Tamarindo.

We returned to Bocas after our adventure in Costa Rica to prepare for our next adventure, do more boat chores and get our cruising permit. The marina offered a service to obtain the permit for us. The official that issued the permit was in Almirante, so it was easier to let the Marina handle it than to try to do it ourselves. However, still after two months we don’t have the permit. For whatever reason the issuing official sees no reason to issue the permits on a punctual basis.

In Tamarindo there was a sailboat bar.

After two more weeks we finally completed all our chores and we left the marina to explore Bocas. We sailed up to a very nice anchorage called Starfish Beach for a few days and a couple of our friends were there so we enjoyed some time with them and time just being out of the marina. We also visited another resort on Isla Bastimentos called Red Frog. A very beautiful resort of lodges, condos, a marina and beautiful beach. Never knew that Bocas was such a major tourist destination. 

The fourth Sunday of each month is Clean-up Dive Day sponsored by Bocas Dive Center. I did it in January and February when about 20 divers each picked up a total of almost 1,000 lbs of trash from the Bay.

We planned to leave Bocas about the 12^th of March to begin our trip to the San Blas. It was a good weather window and we were meeting some friends in Colon and then Panama City. We were ready to leave. But, on our way to our staging point we learned that the Guna Yala Congreso closed all tourist activity in the San Blas Islands due to the Coronavirus fear. It also seemed likely that the friends we were going to visit wouldn’t be coming or wouldn’t be available, so we decided to extend our visit in the San Blas at least one more day while things get sorted out. 

It was Carnival in Bocas.

We were on our way to anchor by a little outlying set of Cays called the Zapatillos. A popular tourist spot for beaching, snorkeling and partying we thought it would be fun to spend the night and then jump off to Shelter Bay. But, when we got out there the swells coming around the reefs on the side made the anchorage untenable. We then turned about and sailed the 5 miles back to calmer waters. We anchored behind Crawl Cay. A small island surrounded by coral where we could snorkel.

The devils dancing at Carnival representing the oppression of slavery.

The next morning, we confirmed through texting that none of our friends that we had planned to visit would be coming negating any reason to push on to Shelter Bay. Internet coverage where we were was almost nonexistent, so we did not have ready access to information about events going on in the world. We decided to spend another night there because it was very pretty and we went out snorkeling to a couple locations around the Cay while we discussed our next step.

Two nights anchored by Crawl Cay as we watched the world unfurl.

Many other boats we knew were heading into marinas to wait out events until there could be passages elsewhere. We decided that although at some point we would need to go into a marina at least for water we wanted to stay out but needed a location closer to town so we could get internet and monitor events.

Sunset at Starfish Beach.

After looking at charts we found a nice lagoon that looked like it would afford excellent protection, it was close to town and maybe wouldn’t be very busy. After a ninety or so minute trip we found the lagoon with really easy and deep access. In fact, deep water carried all the way to the back of the lagoon. We were able to anchor in 25’ of water with more than 300’ to shore in all directions and complete protection from waves and nobody else around.

View in our quarantine lagoon.

The lagoon was a perfect place for isolation from the madding crowds and risks associated with mixing in the general public. The 3 days we spent there were beautiful, and we swam and snorkeled away the time. The only other boats we saw were some cayuco canoes and small lanchas belonging to local families living back in the mangrove. Other than that we were totally alone and at night the sky lit up with constellations not normally visible along with the usual stars. We were fortunate enough that we could see the big dipper and the southern cross. 

The land entrance to our home for the quarantine.

After much discussion about what to do we decided to head into Red Frog Marina where we could get fuel and water after being on anchor for three weeks. We also needed to reprovision and do some boat services that were best done at a dock. In addition, Red Frog has a pool, beach, walking trails and a small grocery store so we planned to go there for a few days before heading back out.

One of our neighborly sloths with a baby.

Now the situation has changed greatly. Ports, towns and services are shutting down all over the region and the world. If we leave the marina and want to return, we can’t. So, we are forced to decide to stay here or go back out and explore the archipelago. The big question that nobody knows is how long this will last. How long will any services be available? There are probably 30 boats here in the marina with excellent facilities and a nice land base. The attached resort is closed. New boats are not allowed in the marina and so we begin to discuss and decide a path going forward. So for now we are going to extend our stay in the marina until we can get a better assessment of the risk of doing otherwise.

The beaches at Red Frog

We have accomplished a lot of services that were needed and that could best be performed at a dock. Since we will probably be in the marina awhile we will begin other deeper working projects that are nice but not as necessary as those accomplished. Always work on a boat but also time for some fun.  The beaches are officially closed but the fun police can't be everywhere all the time and most of the ones here are secluded and private so likely to be available.

Stocking lockers with supplies to endure the quarantine.

These are difficult times but I’m optimistic they aren’t as dire as some people predict. Looking at everything going on it would appear to be the apocalypse but I doubt it. Better days will return soon. We are standing at the mouth of the bull. Will it devour us, or will we drive it off? Time will tell. 

The path to the future.