Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The beaches
Renowned for riptides that claim lives every year, the sea that pounds the northern
beaches
of Bastimentos is often too dangerous to swim in, but the beaches are lovely to walk along,
offering curved broad belts of creamy sand backed by palms and thick vegetation. Heading
along the overland
path
from Old Bank, you pass
Playa Wizard
(Playa Primera) after fifteen
to twenty minutes, and, further east, Playa Segunda, and then
Red Frog Beach
, though you
won't find its namesake waving to you from a beach towel. A short hike further east brings
you to
Playa Polo
, a smaller, sheltered cove protected by a reef and good for snorkelling
though it can get busy. Even further east lies another surfing stretch of sand,
Playa Larga
.
If you're planning a whole day at the beach, take enough water with you though there are a
couple of restaurants on Red Frog Beach.
Bahía Honda
Community tourism project
6726 0968 (ask for Rutilio Milton),
timorogo.org
• Excursion $13 plus $4
cave entry • They can collect you from Bocas Town
The 25 or so thatched homes of the dispersed Ngäbe community of
Bahía Honda
are hidden
among a dense tangle of mangroves at the eastern end of the bay of the same name, with a
few across the water on Isla Solarte. In addition to a chapel and primary school, they have a
restaurant, the heart of the
community tourism project
- whose star attraction is a guided
excursion up the
Sendero del Peresoso
(Trail of the Sloth) to the Cueva Nivida. You'll be
paddled up a nearby creek, where you can often see the trail's namesake furled round a branch
and crabs and caimans in the shallows, before heading off on foot through forest that was
once a cocoa plantation, to wade through a series of caves thick with stalagmites and coated
with several species of Bastimentos bats. If you ring a day in advance, you can stop off at the
community restaurant
on the way back.
Cayo Crawl
At the southern tip of Bastimentos amid a myriad of mangrove islets lies tiny
Cayo Crawl
,
where three thatched restaurants do a roaring trade in seafood lunches. After rounding the
point, you come to the gorgeous soft coral fields of the same name, which feature on many
day-trips.
Quebrada Sal
$22/person plus $5 community fee • $1 guide • 6155 0614,
aliatur.bocasdeltoro.org
On Bastimentos's southeast coast close to Punta Vieja, the Ngäbe community of
Quebrada
Sal
(Salt Creek) is seeing an increasing number of day-trippers, generally from the lodges
around that end of the island, but now offers basic accommodation in the village. The sur-
rounding wetlands and nearby
Playa Larga
- part of the marine park that occupies a swathe of
the island - can be explored via several trails during your stay, which also provides a chance
to learn about medicinal plants and other aspects of Ngäbe culture.
