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Spectacular
Sunsets
What our Guests Say
Relaxing on Board
Activities on Shore
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Surf
Camp and Resort in Panama
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Bocas
del Toro,
Panama
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One
of the best kept secrets of Latin American surfing destinations
can be found on the Northwest coast of the country of Panama, just
south of the Costa Rican border.
Bocas
del Toro is a large archipelago of islands, bays and beaches
situated on the warm and pristine waters of the Caribbean
Sea. Surfers are flocking from all over the world to
experience this idyllic island paradise, and to ride it's
consistent breaks.
Paunch
(PUNCH) breaks left and right. This reef break has
long, rippable waves that are appropriate for all levels, and is a
good place to wear off a few days of travel by getting your fins
into some fun stuff for a few hours.
Dumps
(a.k.a. Dumpers) is a reef bottom left break with big tubes and
dramatic rides. This is a dangerous break that should be
attempted only by advanced surfers, with waves up to ten
feet.
Inner
Dumps is another left-breaking, reef break that is faster and
longer than the outside break, but not quite as big. Inner
Dumps is a wave that will play with you and keep you smiling all
day.
Playa
Bluff is a powerful beach break known for destroying
surfboards. It features fast-breaking waves and long tubes
and the waves are best when they're no more than 6-8 feet.
This break is only for the more experienced surfers.
Beginners will have to gain some experience before paddling out
here.
Silverbacks,
on Bastimentos Island, is the place where you will find the most
radical action in Bocas. This is a serious wave, and a
medium day here can jack up 15 footers that produce a steep fast
take off and a roaring tube that gives you no other choice except
a fast ride that feels more like a death defying escape than
anything else. This wave is the one that has put Bocas del
Toro on the map, and when you've experienced it, you can proudly
refer to yourself as a "Silverback".
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Stray
Cat Surf Resort is unlike any surf camp or resort that you've
ever experienced.
Spend
the week aboard a luxury 44 foot Privilege catamaran sailboat,
fully equipped with all of the luxuries of home (See About
the Boat). She sleeps up to 6 people in perfect comfort,
with plenty of room to accommodate your boards and gear. Stray
Cat will be your magic carpet, taking you to all of the best
beaches and breaks, and acting as your floating base camp as you
experience some of the best surfing in Latin America.
You
will be picked up in Bocas Town, a funky and vibrant little town
on Isla Colon, where the distinct flavor of island life seems to
have been perfected. From there, we will sail from one
idyllic anchorage to the next, strategically positioning the
"Surf Resort" for the next mornings sessions. Each
morning, the boat will anchor outside the break and wait patiently
as you dive in and paddle inshore, approaching the break from the
outside. Spend the morning riding to your hearts content -
take a break and paddle back out to the boat for coffee and
breakfast - swap boards if you choose - refuel and head back out
for some "brunch break". When you've all had
enough and everyone's back on the boat, we'll raise the anchor and
sail to the next strategic anchorage, check the weather and surf
report, and make preparations for the next day.
During
the afternoon hours, you can spend the time snorkeling, hiking on
the jungle islands, hanging out in the trampolines, napping,
reading, or whatever other ultra-relaxing activity you can think
of.
For
experienced surfers, this will be one of the most memorable
surfing trips of your life. For begginers and intermediate
surfers, we can arrange to have a local instructor travelling with
us the entire week who can constantly make you feel at ease by
giving you the ins and outs of surfing in his backyard. By
the time you leave, you'll have the Bocas breaks dialed in, and
will return to your home break with a whole new skill level and
confidence.
A
typical week in most surf camps or resorts will cost between $800
and $1200 per person and forces you to stay in the same place
every night, often traveling long distances by truck or van to far
away breaks.
Stray
Cat Surf Resort is different in so many ways, and when the
week is split between 4-6 surfers, the price of the week per
person will be the same, or even less than a typical surf camp
will charge.
Contact
Us to make Arrangements
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MAP - BOCAS
DEL TORO, PANAMA |
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USA
TODAY ARTICLE - BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA |
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Paradise
off the coast of Panama
By Mike Madden,
Gannett News Service
BOCAS DEL TORO,
Panama — When Liza Belkin and Brian Steele told friends they'd
be going to some small Panamanian islands for vacation in
December, they got only one question: "Why?"
But
once the Palo Alto, Calif., couple arrived at this Caribbean
archipelago dotted with lush jungles, white sand beaches and
protected coral reefs, they had a ready answer.
"This
is awesome!" says Steele, 30, a marketing executive. |
Long overshadowed by eco-tourism heavyweights
Costa Rica and Belize to the north, Bocas del Toro is starting to emerge
as the newest star in the eco-tourism pantheon. Guidebooks and promoters
tout the islands as "the Galapagos of the 21st century."
Hundreds of species of fish, parrots, toucans, monkeys and sloths live
on the islands, which include a 20-year-old national marine park to
protect endangered manatees and sea turtles.
Already a popular destination for vacationing
Panamanians from the mainland, Bocas del Toro, which means "mouths
of the bull," is a collection of nine islands and more than 200
keys sprinkled about 25 miles off the coast near the Costa Rican border.
Christopher Columbus named the archipelago, which today counts 10,000
residents, in 1502 when he landed on Isla Carenero, the smallest island.
American banana companies built the main settlement, known as Bocas
Town, on Isla Colon, the largest island in the chain, not long after
Panama declared independence from Colombia in 1903.
But with its rustic facilities and
end-of-the-line feel, it's not for everyone. Now, as eco-tourism
increases, Bocas Town, with only 1,200 people, feels like a sleepy beach
place poised on the verge of a big boom. The government-run Panamanian
Tourism Institute has started promoting the islands to U.S. travelers,
launching an English-language Web site that features Bocas prominently.
With an airport, Internet cafes, ATMs and
plenty of hotels and restaurants, Bocas Town has enough infrastructure
that visitors have no problem quickly making themselves comfortable.
Concrete-and-steel frames for more hotels seem to be popping up
everywhere, and a Bocas Business Association, with a big sign in
English, sits prominently on downtown's main strip, Calle 3. The
official currency is the dollar, the legacy of U.S. involvement in
Panama, and most stores and restaurants accept credit cards. Many
merchants speak English as well as Spanish.
But chickens and roosters still strut the
unpaved side streets with impunity, and the chirps of tropical birds
often wake tourists well before the alarm clock rings. Most of the few
cars are taxis, and pedestrians stroll down the center of Calle 3. Palm
and banana trees provide shady spots. The islands are still wild enough
to have hosted the Italian and Russian versions of Survivor.
"It's kind of rough around the edges,
which we like," Steele says.
Getting around the islands is easy. Touts for
boat companies wander the streets, offering to ferry tourists to less
developed spots in the archipelago. Once out of town, the biological
diversity sparkles. Mangrove forests bump up against beaches with coral
reefs just offshore.
On Isla Bastimentos, a 10-minute ride from
town, a little village of brightly painted open-air huts and cheap
hotels sits at the foot of jungle-covered hills. Tourists can take a
20-minute hike through sunny meadows and down muddy paths to Wizard
Beach, a nearly deserted slice of white sand between warm turquoise
water and steamy rain forest.
Along the way, ants carry bits of leaves twice
their size across the path. Thick mud oozes underfoot after a common
early morning rainstorm. A jungle-covered hill looms to the north, vines
drooping from the summit almost all the way to the sea. Coconuts fall
from trees at the beach's edge. Surfers willing to lug their boards
through the forest ride rolling waves.
Back in the village, tourists sip beers and
listen to reggae music under a thatched-roof bar where water taxis dock.
In Dolphin Bay, boats circle to watch
bottlenose dolphins surface, although there are too many jellyfish to
swim alongside them. Perfectly clear water covers a sprawling reef at
Coral Cay. Barracuda lurk as snorkelers watch white snappers, angelfish
and other species in dazzling shades of yellow and blue.
From there, a short boat ride ends on
Bastimentos, where another hike goes through forests teeming with rare
poison-dart frogs. Bright red and not much bigger than a thumbnail, they
dart from one leaf to another. (They're only dangerous if handled with
open cuts.) At the end of the trail is Red Frog Beach, less empty than
Wizard Beach but just as relaxing.
Another popular snorkeling stop is Hospital
Point, where an enormous variety of sea life clusters along a coral reef
at the edge of a 60-foot underwater cliff. Live sponges mix with coral
on the seafloor. Eels slither alongside crabs and tropical fish. Guides
can provide snorkeling equipment.
Over the past couple of years, some lodges
devoted specifically to eco-tourism have opened outside Bocas Town, with
private beaches and snorkeling spots.
Still, until more development comes, visiting
Bocas may take a slightly more adventurous spirit than a trip elsewhere
in the Caribbean. But for many who come here, that's exactly the draw.
"Our clients that choose Panama want
something that is off the beaten path," says Denise Page with Lost
World Adventures, a Decatur, Ga., travel agency that has booked trips to
Bocas for eight years. "It's people who are more well traveled and
comfortable going to places that are off the beaten path. That's what
they seek."
Getting there: American, Delta and Taca are among airlines that
serve Panama City. Taca subsidiary AeroPerlas runs two one-hour flights
daily from Panama City to Bocas del Toro for $100 round trip.
IMPORTANT TIPS TO KNOW.....
Getting around: Taxis from Bocas del Toro airport to downtown cost about
$1 a passenger. From Bocas Town, boats to nearby islands cost $1 to $2.
Where to stay: The ritziest hotel, which is not that ritzy by Western
standards, is the Hotel Swan's Cay (011-507-757-9090; swanscayhotel.com).
Double rooms are $60-$90; larger suites go for $120-$200. Rooms have
cable television and air conditioning, and the hotel pool overlooks the
sea. Out of town, several all-inclusive lodges offer bungalows and meals
including the Al Natural Resort (011-507-757-9004), where
double-occupancy huts start at $100 a night. Punta Caracol
(011-507-612-1088, puntacaracol.com)
is a slightly more upscale eco-lodge with five cabins set on a dock.
Winter rates for two start at $265 a night, which includes breakfasts,
dinners, transfers from Bocas Town and snorkeling equipment.
Where to eat: The Thai/ Lebanese/Mexican/seafood menu at El Pecado da
Sabor may sound a bit strange, but the delicious fresh fish and soups
cooked from scratch come together quite well; about $20 a person for
dinner. Reggae Bar Roots in Bastimentos village serves fresh Caribbean
food and cold beer as the sun sets on the water; $12 for dinner. Om Café
offers Indian twists on Central American staples, including a spicy eggs
vindaloo for breakfast ($7).
What to do: Eight-hour tours around the archipelago start at about $15 a
person at any of the boat companies on the main drag in town. They can
include snorkeling, scuba diving and visits to beaches with a stop for
lunch. Wander past the docks and talk to boat operators until you find
someone you're comfortable with.
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OUTSIDE
MAGAZINE - BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA |
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| Hundreds of green sea turtles keep a secret from the
tourists who flock to Costa Rica's Tortuguero beaches each summer to see
them nest. On their way north, the turtles migrate through Bocas del
Toro, a luscious collection of 68 Caribbean islands that offer deserted
beaches as well as snorkeling among dolphins, eagle rays, soft corals,
and shallow volcanic tunnels.
Dubbed Veraguas, or Greenwaters, by Columbus, Bocas is now
surrounded by a huge banana-growing belt. The ethnic mix of workers is
so diverse that the archipelago has adopted its own hybrid language,
called Guari-Guari, a mélange of Spanish, English, and at least two
indigenous dialects. The laid-back Caribbean style of life here is
evident in the use of the word tranquilo—the locals' invariable
response when asked how it's going—and in the languid pace of the
water taxis that provide the primary means of transportation. For a few
bucks, a taxi will drop you on an empty beach like those on Cayos
Zapatillas, where you can stretch out on white sand under a coconut palm
all day.
Or you can kick back, as I did, on the veranda of one of the
clapboard guest houses on stilts in Isla Colón's hot spot, Bocas del
Toro town, where plantation workers drink rum and dance to reggae bands
like the Bastimentos Beach Boys. With a three-stringed bassist and a
thumb-strumming guitar player, the ragtag but rhythmically impeccable
quartet played an impromptu session at my hotel one night while I gorged
on lobster-and-crab seviche and rondon, a seafood potluck–style stew.
Bocas fishermen also traditionally hunt green sea turtles for
meat, but Ancon has been working to change attitudes and recently helped
secure protection for 14 miles of nesting beaches (and 32,000 acres of
reefs and mangrove forests) on Isla Bastimentos and nearby islands. For
divers and snorkelers underwater conditions are excellent (except right
after rainstorms, when silty river flow cuts visibility). If you're
certified, head out with Bocas Water Sports to Cayo Crawl, the Garden,
or Hospital Point, a 50-foot wall off Cayo Nancy. Snorkelers can hire
water taxis to ferry them out to the reefs.
Despite the convenience of a 55-minute plane flight from Panama
City, Bocas gets only a trickle of foreign travelers. That's starting to
change, however, and Europeans and Americans have begun scooping up
beachfront lots for as little as $2,000 an acre. Development in these
paradisiacal islands is inevitable, but for the foreseeable future,
unpolished Bocas remains slow, peaceful, and nothing near a resort. |
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MOON
TRAVEL GUIDES - BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA |
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| It’s hard to leave Bocas del Toro. It’s a terribly
relaxing place, and at the same time it exudes a funky, romantic charm
that has something untamed about it. The place is filled with colorful
characters nursing drinks in dilapidated wooden bars or running rustic
hotels on remote beaches. It’s the kind of Caribbean hideaway one
expects to find only in old Bogart films.
And it’s just gorgeous. It has an abundance of emerald islands,
pristine beaches, turquoise waters, dense forests, barely explored
mountains and rivers, extensive coral gardens, spooky mangrove channels,
and exotic wildlife. Four species of endangered sea turtles still visit
the waters of Bocas. They come ashore by the hundreds during nesting
season to lay their eggs on the north side of the islands and some
stretches of the mainland coast. Little Swan’s Cay, really just a rock
in the ocean, is the only Panamanian nesting site of the beautiful
red-billed tropicbird. It’s just one of the more than 350 species of
birds attracted to the region. Sloths, caimans, dolphins, neon-colored
frogs, and, of course, lots of small tropical fish are easy to spot in
the archipelago. No wonder a dozen countries have shot their versions of
the Survivor TV series here.
The people help make Bocas special. More ethnicities and
nationalities are represented on the islands than anywhere in the
country outside of Panama City. And one is more likely to hear English
spoken here than anywhere in the country, period. The islands have long
been home to the Ngöbe-Buglé, as well as the descendents of
Afro-Caribbean immigrants from the English-speaking islands of Jamaica,
San Andrés, and Providencia, many of whom came down to work on the
region’s enormous banana plantations. Most of the hotels and
restaurants on the islands are owned by Europeans and North Americans.
And the mostly young and boho tourists Bocas attracts are coming from
all over the world.
For most visitors, Bocas del Toro means the archipelago that
stretches about 100 kilometers from Boca del Drago in the west to Isla
Escudo de Veraguas in the east. For them the mainland is just a place to
fly over or drive through on the way to the islands. But the rest of the
province of Bocas del Toro has plenty of spectacular natural beauty,
such as the Caribbean side of the enormous Parque Internacional la
Amistad and the wetlands of San San Pondsack. Lucky hikers, at least
those who venture far up into the mainland forests, may encounter
endangered mammals such as Baird’s tapir. All five species of cats
found on the isthmus, including jaguars, are hanging on in the most
remote reaches of the forest, but the chance of coming across one is
slim. The forests are also still home to indigenous peoples trying to
hold onto their culture and ancestral lands. This includes the
little-known Naso, who welcome visitors to a unique eco-tourist project
on the edge of their communities up the Rio Teribe. |
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PHOTOS
- BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA |
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HOW
TO GET THERE - BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA |
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Aeroperlas
serves the islands with flights from/to Panama City, David and
Changuinola, while Mapiex Aero flies only from Panama City.
At Panama City it is possible to make connections to any part of the
world.
The flight schedules are in local time.
Passengers must be in the airport at least one hour before the departure
time.
Due to the heavy traffic, we recommend to make reservations well in
advance and to confirm the flights back.
PANAMA CITY/BOCAS
$ 60.38 (one way), $ 120.75 (round trip)
Aeroperlas
Mondays to Fridays, at 6:25 am & 3:00 pm.
Saturdays at 6:25 am and 3:00 pm.
Sundays at 8:00 am and 3:00 pm.
Mapiex
Mondays to Fridays, at 6:45 am & 2:00 pm.
Saturdays, at 6:30 am & 1:00 pm
Sundays at 1:00 pm.
BOCAS/PANAMA CITY
$ 60.38 (one way), $ 120.75 (round trip)
Aeroperlas
Mondays to Fridays, at 8:10 am & 4:30 pm.
Saturdays at 8:30 am and 4:30 pm.
Sundays at 9:50 am and 4:30 pm
Mapiex
Mondays to Fridays, at 8:15 am & 3:30 pm.
Saturdays at 8:00 am & 2:30 pm
Sundays at 5:00 pm.
DAVID/BOCAS
$ 34.13 (one way), $ 68.25 (round trip)
Aeroperlas
Mondays to Fridays, at 8:00 am
BOCAS/DAVID
$ 34.13 (one way), $ 68.25 (round trip)
Aeroperlas
Mondays to Fridays at 9:00 am
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