After a slow, crowded bus ride over the mountains, we finally reached Almirante -- a little town where the ferry (really a panga boat with way too many people crammed in to be deemed safe by most people's standards) took off for Bocas del Toro, a tropical island off the Caribbean coast of Panama.
Once we hit the island, we noticed a number of hostels, restaurants and ads for boating and water sports tours. One thing we didn't see very much of, however, were taxis to get to our hostel, which was a 20 minute walk away -- a slow, sweaty endeavor with our packs. We did, eventually snag one, got to our hostel and enjoyed a nice Balboa beer before heading off to bed.
DAY 7
We had a great full day of fun in the sun with a boating tour through Dolphin Bay, where we saw a number of dolphins (some right next to our boat), went snorkeling in coral reefs by mangroves, and rode a "tabla" -- a simple water contraption similar to a boogie board that you tilt to dip deep into the water. The tabla was an easy way to snorkel and was a lot of fun to dip down right next to coral, kelp and sea creatures.
After boating, dolphin-watching, snorkeling and tabla-ing for a couple hours, we docked the boat on the uninhabited Isla Zapatilla for lunch. After lunch, dad and I explored the island for a couple of hours, walking through the tropical rainforest and kicking it on the white sandy beach for a bit.
After getting back to the mainland (which was technically still an island), we had Mexican (dad's choice, of course) in town and walked back with an older Dutch lady from our hostel.
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