Cruising Bocas with Babilé

Last week we arrived in Panama, after 7 days sailing down from Guatemala. We dropped anchor in front of Isla Colón which is part of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, off the Caribbean coast of Panama.

To our absolute delight, the same day we arrived, our favourite cruising friends Natali and João, of S/Y Babile, appeared in our anchorage – reunited after almost 2 years!! We spent a few days anchored there, resting and exploring the island, enjoying the restaurants and bars of the little surf town.

As usual, we started getting itchy feet quite quickly and decided to head off to the surrounding, more remote, islands with Babile and another French boat, S/Y Spip. We did a day sail to the Zapatilla Islands and from there to Bluefield Lagoon where we did an overland trail to the beautiful beaches of Kusapin, a well known surf spot, in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé Indian Reserve.

We filled our days with spearfishing, beach barbecues, swimming, walking in the tropical forests, surfing and enjoying time with our friends over good food and local beer.

Next stop is the mainland city of Colón where we will await our turn to go through the Panama canal!

seeing our favourite Brazilian and Portuguese friends, Natali and João of S/Y Babilé, for the first time after 2 years! anchorage in front of Bocas Town, Isla Colón

hosting a reunion breakfast on Melody one of the waterfront restaurants in Bocas towm interesting characters at the Kraken restaurant

there are lots of places to stay in Isla Colón on our way to the dinghy dock at Hotel Olas, after provisioning for our trip out to the other islands before the serious sunburn… en route to Cayos Zapatilla lunch making under way lazy face Babilé anchoring in Bluefield Lagoon sunrise over the lagoon

weirdos on the beach Portugal, Brazil, South Africa and France brought together by a beach barbecue in Panama grilling João’s catch

our makeshift “table” courtesy of Babilé Natali’s delicious octopus salad, caught the previous day

barbecues and good food always bring people together