Bocas Del Toro, Panama

January 12, 2026 Monday

Hotels along the coast of Bastimentos Island

Our stop at Bocas Del Toro was delightful for several reasons!

Bocas Del Toro is a province of Panama. Its area is 4,643.9 square kilometers, comprising the mainland and nine main islands. The population was near 160,000 in 2023. The port area was small, clean, with open air restaurants and bars lining the street. There were also stands offering tours. We were walking along when we came to some fellow cruise passengers inquiring about a tour to Red Frog beach. They graciously allowed us to join and even loaned us some cash. (One thing we’ve gotten wrong so far is the prices we saw online.) The $10 water taxi was one way per person. And nobody wants to take a credit card. Cash is still king here. The tour was $25 per person plus the $5 per person fee to walk the shortcut jungle path to Red Frog beach.

The tour was very relaxing as we cruised around the islands observing the beautiful landscape. It felt a lot like a clean unpopulated Costa Rica.

They should name this sloth because after talking to other people, it appears all the tours stop to see him.

The mangroves scattered along the edges of the water made shallow water where we saw some starfish, and other marine life.

The guide scooped this out with a board so we could see it, and then we put it back in.

Male and female Frigates in the treetops

We also saw a boa snake in a tree, but our internet connection on board is not cooperating to download to the cloud. So when David takes some good pictures, I’m not able to get them.

The privately owned jungle trail to get to Frog Beach $5

The tiny strawberry poison dart frog or “red frog”

We saw these on a downed tree on the jungle path to get to the beach.

There aren’t really poisonous red frogs on the beach, but they are everywhere in the vegetation that borders the beach.

It was a pretty beach with rough waters, an undertow, and red flags.

We only stayed at the beach for about 10 minutes. For consideration, if you wanted to spend a day at a beach, it would be better to get a water taxi one way to the red frog beach, arranging a pick up time. When reaching the beach, walk either right to polo beach or left to wizard beach.

I didn’t know they had mini bottles of Heineken. Coconut water and rum is just ok.

Grilled tacos with Slow roasted beef, cheese and an amazing Au ju sauce.

Although the food on the ship is good, this authentic meal in Panama has been the best so far!!

The ship is air conditioned and I get chilly sometimes. Eating outside has been so enjoyable.

2 responses to “Bocas Del Toro, Panama”

Denise Voto

January 16, 2026 at 2:53 am

So fun! Nice to see the trip, the food and your Sweet faces. What ship are you aboard?

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Jeannie George

January 16, 2026 at 9:32 pm

Azamara Onward. Our internet is pretty bad. We get wifi included, and it works well for texting during the day. For some reason at night it just stalls. But trying to get our pictures to the cloud is proving to be difficult.

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Journey With Jeannie