Lodging Recommendation: Casa Del Mar, Isla Bastimentos

Isla Bastimentos is not very touristy, so there are only a few places to stay if you choose to make this island your base.  There’s the popular Red Frog Beach Resort, but majority of the lodging are hostels, vacation rental homes, B&Bs, inns, and eco lodges. The idea of an eco lodge was very appealing – typically remote, set in pristine natural environments and run on solar and rain water. This would have been a new experience and different for us! We considered Casa Cayuco but unfortunately they had no availability for our stay.

We continued our search mainly on vacation rentals and discovered an amazing gem of a place right in Old Bank: Casa Del Mar (“House of the Sea”) is a breathtaking gorgeous property a few steps away from the ocean.

Casa Del Mar, is a beautiful wooded structure surrounded by lush vegetation. It features 2 bedrooms each with a full bathroom, while the living room can be converted into a 3rd bedroom. The house features large open windows/doors, a beautiful deck perfect for enjoying wine and gorgeous sunsets. The house runs on rain water (pretty cool!). The sounds of the ocean heard through the house was one of my favorite things about the house.

How to Book: We found and booked the property on Tripadvisor. We kept in touch with the caretaker via Whatsapp prior to and through our trip. This made it extremely easy to ask questions, get local tips, etc.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and highly recommend it to anyone who would like to stay in Isla Bastimentos. The host (Carolyn) and caretaker (Clarissa) were both wonderful and accessible through the rental process and our stay. We found the rental pricing to be very reasonable as well.

Here’s a video I made of the house. Enjoy the pictures and tips below!

A frontal view of beautiful Casa Del Mar surrounded by the lush vegetation and trees. View from Casa Del Mar, steps away from a gorgeous rocky beachMany sunsets and wines were enjoyed from this lovely deck!First bedroom at the front of the house with its private bathroom. I loved the open glass doors that were great to open up during the day.Second bedroom also featured the large glass door,  windows, and private bathroomThe living room was large and spacious and the couch converted nicely into a very comfy bed at night. The doors folded back for a gorgeous view of the beach. There is a small kitchen area but it does not have a stove (as of June 2017). It had a fridge, microwave, and toaster oven. This was not a problem for us as we planned to enjoy the culinary delights of the area.Just a few steps from the beach house is a gorgeous and very unique rocky beach. There’s an area cleared of rocks for swimming access.Oh the sunsets from the Casa Del Mar! A treat every night! Here’s a short video I made.

Thank you for coming along on my adventures!

Top 10 Panama Experiences

Oh Panama! You stole a little piece of my wanderlustin’ heart! A beautiful country with so many unexpected contrasts, Panama exceeded my expectations. I fell in love with the vibrant colors, people, culture, architecture, food!, beaches, and music. We did not get to do everything we wanted to and did some things we never planned to do (The beauty of traveling, right?).

I cannot say that i have checked Panama off the bucket list yet so I  will be back! Here are 10 Panama experiences i enjoyed immensely and left an incredible impression on me. These are not in particular order of awesomeness!

1. The Donde Jose dining experience: A 9 course (yes!) culinary experience that tells the story of Panama. The ingredients, cooking techniques, and serving presentation are Panamanian based. Chef Jose is quite passionate about what he does. I have to say we enjoyed every single course. Your taste buds will be blown away – everything was rich, flavorful, and delightful.  Every course had a story related to Panama, some of them personal to Chef Jose. The restaurant has only 16 seats, of which 4 are located right in front of the chef (Chef’s table). We chose the regular seats (didn’t want to smell like cooked food! haha).  Though it didn’t seem like there was much cooking by the chef, just a lot of food construction. Note that wine is not included in the pricing. Portions are small for good reason – its 9 courses. Trust me, when you are done, you won’t be able to eat anything else. Any experience that educates me and feeds me amazing food is definitely a winner in my books! Book early! I hear it takes a few weeks to get reservations, we called just four days ahead and lucked out because a party cancelled. Visit Donde Jose online for reservations and more on this incredible culinary experience. The restaurant is located in Casco Viejo.

   

   

2. Exploring Casco Viejo: (“The Old Quarter”). Also known as Casco Antiguo or San Felipe is a big contrast from downtown Panama City. For me, it was very reminiscent of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico or The French Quarter, New Orleans. Despite the apparent and ongoing gentrification of this UNESCO world heritage site, there’s still a lot of dilapidation around. This neighborhood has been around for 340 years and its constantly changing and evolving. Casco Viejo has a large concentration of restaurants, bars, and shops. We did not base ourselves here but found our way back here literally every day we were in Panama City. I loved the diversity of Casco Viejo – in architecture, people, culture, and cuisine. There’s much to see and do. For more, check out my blog post on exploring Casco Viejo!

   

3. Weekend chilling with the locals on Starfish Beach: If you want to see how locals do beach on Saturdays, check out Starfish Beach on Isla Colon, Bocas Del Toro. It was an interesting experience. The beach is buzz-i-n-g-g – Several DJs are spinning, rustic restaurants serving local delights, thatched bars serving yummy drinks, and just a lot of people around. Don’t come here for a calm beach experience (I have a recommendation for that below!). Come here to people watch and experience life with the locals. I can best describe it as a beautiful sensory overload! Check out my Starfish Beach blog post for more pictures and tips on this experience.

   

4. Exploring the pristine Cayo Zapatilla Islands: The complete opposite of Starfish beach above! Cayo Zapatilla islands are uninhabited, pristine, and untouched. They are located in Isla Bastimentos, another island within the Bocas Del Toro Archipelago. It was an incredible experience to be able to explore these two islands with no other visitors on the island. The beaches have no facilities so you need to bring everything you might need. For more beautiful pictures and tips, check out my Cayo Zapatilla blog post.

   

5. Discovering the best seafood at Peach Fuzz International:  I still have mouthwatering memories of the food at Peach Fuzz! It’s located in Curundú area of Panama City. The fried fish is seriously the best I’ve had! Every bite was bursting with flavor. The menu changes daily depending on what the owner (Danny) picks up from the fish market that day; so its guaranteed to be fresh from that day’s catch. If you get a minute to chat with Danny, make sure you do so. He’s a walking history lesson and he gave us a lot of insight and background on Panama and particularly on Curundú. Don’t be put off by the surroundings, it’s not fancy and you’ll pass some sketchy areas to get to the restaurant. We never felt unsafe. One thing to note is that the restaurant signage  says “Pescado Frito” (Fried Fish) and not Peach Fuzz International. (This is as of June 2017). Check out their Instagram page for more details. Don’t forget to ask Danny on the history behind the restaurant name. I’ll let him do the honors;)

   

   

6. Hiking Ancon Hill: For the most breathtaking panoramic views of Panama City, a hike up the 654 foot Ancon Hill is in order. The hike takes about 30 minutes; there were parts of trail that were steep but overall not too bad if you are in decent shape. The trail is full of beautiful lush dense vegetation, but not much animal life. Check out my Ancon Hill blog post for more pictures and tips for making the hike. Here’s also a video I made on the way to the top.

   

7. Live Music at Bubba’s House Isla Bastimentos. If you happen to find yourself close to Isla Bastimentos on a Monday evening, take a water taxi ride to the Old Bank water port of Isla Bastimentos and seek out Bubba’s House hostel. Everyone – locals, backpackers, and other tourists, congregates here on Monday nights for live music. The music is popping, drinks strong and inexpensive, and its a fun, interesting, and diverse crowd. I made a couple short video clips here and here.

   

8. Titillate your taste buds at Firefly Restaurant, Isla Bastimentos: Can you tell yet that I love to eat?? 🙂 The food was amazing! Fresh, full of flavor, and a wide variety of options offered. Most items were tapas style plus a few entrees. They are a little pricey but worth it. They also have an amazing cocktail menu. We dined here on our last night but visited several times for cocktails. The staff is really awesome, another reason why we kept coming back. Visit the FireFly online for contact info, directions,  and more on the restaurant.

   

9. Experiencing the Panama Canal: We stopped at the Miraflores lock to see how ships transit the 48 mile (80 km) long Canal. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it but it’s pretty cool seeing ships getting lowered and raised through the lock. Best times to catch a ship going thru the lock are 9-1030 am and 3-430 pm. We went at the 3 pm time and saw 2 ships going thru. It was crazy crowded and hot as hell.😩 But it’s one of those things worth checking out for the engineering feat that is the Panama Canal.
   I recommend a stop at the very informative 4-level museum. The most mind blowing memory for me were the almost 20,000 people that died during the construction of the Canal and the incredible diversity of races involved.

   

10. Living Isla Bastimentos: For our time in Bocas Del Toro, we had to choose between staying in Bocas Town on the main Isla Colón or Isla Bastimentos. Both are very different- Bocas Town is party central, lively, and very touristy. Isla Bastimentos is much quieter, colorful, less developed, sees fewer tourists, and has an abundance of lush vegetation. For this reason, we decided to make Bastimentos our base for exploring Bocas Del Toro. We are glad we did! It was close enough to Bocas town (10 minutes by water taxi) if we wanted to have a night out at the bars and restaurants. We rented a beach house in the Old Bank area, which doesn’t even have a road; just a sidewalk. It was a great experience for us. Check out my blog posts on Old Bank and on experiencing Isla Bastimentos.

    

Thank you for coming along on my adventures!

Cayo Zapatilla

Cayo Zapatilla are a group of two uninhabited islands in the protected Isla Bastimentos National Marine Park. What makes this island amazing is how pristine and untouched it is. It means there might be natural debris of leaves, tree branches, and dead trees strewn all over it. It also means there are no facilities, restaurants, or conveniences here. Expect soft brown sandy beaches, gorgeous turquoise waters, coconut trees gently swaying, ocean calmly kissing the shores,and if you are lucky, no one else on the beach but you.

Experience Isla Bastimentos

Isla Bastimentos is one of nine islands in Panama’s Bocas Del Toro Archipelago. This island is much quieter than nearby Isla Colón where Bocas Town is. It’s less developed, sees fewer tourists, and has an abundance of lush vegetation. This is exactly what appealed to me.

Old Bank, Isla Bastimentos

Isla Bastimentos (“Bastimentos Island”) is one of nine islands that make up the Bocas Del Toro Archipelago. As one of the largest of the islands, it is known for Old Bank Town, Bastimentos National Marine Park, Red Frog Beach, and the postcard perfect Cayo Zapatilla islands.

Starfish Beach, Bocas Del Toro

Starfish Beach (“Playa Estrella”) is located on Isla Colon, the main island of Bocas Del Toro. This picturesque beach is secluded with very calm waves. It’s a perfect beach for younger kids as there were no waves. But that’s where the solitude ends! It was recommended as a great spot for Saturdays to get a feel for the local vibe and culture.

Exploring Casco Viejo

Casco Viejo  (“The Old Quarter”) also known as Casco Antiguo or San Felipe is a huge contrast from downtown Panama City. For me, it was very reminiscent of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico or The French Quarter, New Orleans. What a gem with so much character! I enjoyed our visit here and wished we could have spent more time here. Despite the apparent and ongoing gentrification of this UNESCO world heritage site, there’s still a lot of dilapidation around. This neighborhood has been around for 340 years and its constantly changing and evolving.