Bocas Del Toro Day 2: Punta Hospital

Our second day in Bocas, the kids and I spent some time working on classes. I taught mine and they studied in theirs. Then Clark recommended we go out on a tour, which in Bocas just means catching a boat to another island nearby. It costs $10 round trip per person. This seemed pretty standard no matter which island a person is going to. 

The place Clark chose was Punta Hospital, on Isla Bastimentos, supposedly good for snorkeling. The seas were a little rough when we started and grew worse as the afternoon progressed into the evening but the couple hours we were out went ok. There really wasn't much visibility and we couldn't get too close to the rocks for snorkeling. We still saw some sea life and the beach was beautiful. Maybe there was more to explore of Bastimentos, but it was muddy on the "jungle" trail, so we returned quickly to the beach. Also, there are warnings to use caution when exploring some the interior of the islands because tourists get robbed. Each has permanent residents that live there. The side that we were on, was less occupied. 

A map showing the archipelago of Bocas del Toro.

Map of Bocas Town.

Approaching Bastimentos.

Pano of the beach. It was small and after a group of about 10 Europeans left, we had it to ourselves.

The plant on this log reminds me of hair.

A knoll overlooking the water.

Pano view from the knoll.

The knoll in the distance with the kids sitting, visible by zooming in.

The fire station

Mural

Some views in the main part of Bocas Town, the biggest village in the archipelago. The town isn't very clean. You can't see from these pictures, but there is a lot of trash in between the buildings. The structures are a mix of older buildings and rickety shacks. I read this is quite the party place at night. I'm grateful we were staying a little away from the downtown.

The taxis are yellow again but here they use double cab Toyotas.

Inside the cab, many cabbies have brightly colored upholstery. A cab costs $1 person for a 5-to-10-minute ride. Further rides cost a little more.

Our "neighborhood" cat. Every morning, we would see him descend down from the roof of our house by way of the stairs and go on his way. Our host's description of the cat is "semi-salvage". Something about this amuses me.

Some pretty flowers in the mangroves near the walkway.

Dusk

The neighbor has this beautiful window in their house.

Evening catch...Clark cooked one of these to eat.