The marina where we are staying is located in the Red Frog Estate on Isle de Bastimentos. While it’s nice…it’s not the real panama experience.  On the other side of the island beach bars like Palmar hostel and Nacho Mamas feel much more authentic than the resort’s restaurant.  And cheaper too!  There’s a beach where you can swim on a calm day and surf on a rougher one.

The running joke here is that it’s the velcro marina. With so many live a boards here it’s honestly true.  There’s a nice little community with everyone piling into the 9.45 am taxi boat to get their daily shopping from the town.

Yes this is the ferry.

Bocas town itself has to be the real gem of this whole place. It’s so bustling with life it’s hard to know where to look. There a real mixture of locals and surfer backpackers. Unlike the quiet tracks of the red frog resort it feels really safe.  For me it’s heaven cause it’s full of surfing boutiques and local craft stalls. Plus there’s loads of cafes selling smoothies and cheap food.  Every where you look there’s a hostel or a supermarket and we’ve been slowing trying out the local restaurants.

The highlight of the whole town has to be buying a bikini from a guy who knows Richie Ramone. It’s carnival next week and he’s supposedly visiting him.. I’m definetly going to have my eyes peeled on the look out as we watch the festivities !

In hindsight we perhaps didn’t need to stay so long but there’s so much to explore it really hasn’t mattered. To anyone visiting Panama it’s a must. It’s not like anywhere you’ve ever seen before.