Isla Bastimentos and around, Panama
The famous strawberry poison-dart frog, also called red frog, can be hard to spot because of its small size (18-25 mm), but once you see one, they suddenly seem to be everywhere. We see lots of birds, parrots especially get very busy towards the end of the day, but we haven’t spotted any sloth yet, although they had been spotted where we go just seconds before we arrive. These supposedly slow-moving animals are very fast in our case! We had some nice visit on surrounding islands, more as observers than participants. While we could stroll on the beech of Zapatillo Island (part of the national park) during the day, at night only the park ranger is allowed and we could observe him from Nikan as he made his tour every night with the red light checking for endangered species of turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. In Bluefield Lagoon, where we stayed for three days anchored in the well protected bay, with just few huts scattered here and there, we observed the locals of Ngöbe-Buglé tribe holding onto their culture, their daily life so different from ours, basically spending their days in gathering food, as the little store they can paddle to in their wooden cayocos, has really only few necessary basics, and there is no road to bring civilization closer anywhere close by. Fishing is the whole day occupation, as is washing clothes by hand. Back here in Bastimentos we are back to civilization with a great Thai restaurant, with a 100% real Thai cook. Most of the population here, descendants from Jamaica, who came here originally to work on banana plantations, speaks English. The town is quiet and clean, with laundry service and Internet as well. We are patiently waiting for the parcel to bring our new sail bag (the old one got burned by the tropical sun) and than we will move west towards Colon. Did you know that Panama has set aside more land as National Parks and protected forests than Costa Rica, so famous a destination for thousands of ecotourists?
The famous strawberry poison-dart frog, also called red frog, can be hard to spot because of its small size (18-25 mm), but once you see one, they suddenly seem to be everywhere. We see lots of birds, parrots especially get very busy towards the end of the day, but we haven’t spotted any sloth yet, although they had been spotted where we go just seconds before we arrive. These supposedly slow-moving animals are very fast in our case! We had some nice visit on surrounding islands, more as observers than participants. While we could stroll on the beech of Zapatillo Island (part of the national park) during the day, at night only the park ranger is allowed and we could observe him from Nikan as he made his tour every night with the red light checking for endangered species of turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. In Bluefield Lagoon, where we stayed for three days anchored in the well protected bay, with just few huts scattered here and there, we observed the locals of Ngöbe-Buglé tribe holding onto their culture, their daily life so different from ours, basically spending their days in gathering food, as the little store they can paddle to in their wooden cayocos, has really only few necessary basics, and there is no road to bring civilization closer anywhere close by. Fishing is the whole day occupation, as is washing clothes by hand. Back here in Bastimentos we are back to civilization with a great Thai restaurant, with a 100% real Thai cook. Most of the population here, descendants from Jamaica, who came here originally to work on banana plantations, speaks English. The town is quiet and clean, with laundry service and Internet as well. We are patiently waiting for the parcel to bring our new sail bag (the old one got burned by the tropical sun) and than we will move west towards Colon. Did you know that Panama has set aside more land as National Parks and protected forests than Costa Rica, so famous a destination for thousands of ecotourists?
