Bastimentos National Marine Park Bocas del Toro Panama - beaches, marine life, plants and animals

Bastimentos National Marine Park
Bocas del Toro Panama

Bastimentos National Park covers a huge section of Bastimentos Island, and Zapatilla Cays, in addition to the waters and mangroves that make as a natural boundary enclosing the island. The western tip of the island, better known as Bastimentos, is visible from Bocas town, and isn't part of the National Park itself. There are several privately owned homes, and a couple economically priced hotels and eateries here. You could easily base your stay here. This would be placing yourself within walking distance of many neighboring beaches, which are part of Bastimentos National Park.

On Bastimentos eastern side it faces the Caribbean Sea, which tends to be a bit rougher than the western side of the island. The setting is much more dramatic, with large rock faces, stretches of long beaches, with beautiful coves and inlets. While there are a number of beaches that provide more than enough boat landings, most of the beaches CAN NOT be accessed due to rough seas and/or rocky shoreline; although somewhat calmer seas are noticed between August-October, and at times you can access this section of the island.

Most of the beaches are found on this side of the island, including Red Frog Beach, which got it's name from small, red poison dart frogs that are native to only this beach. These frogs are only found here, more specifically found on a small hill that rests on the southern end of the beach. It is almost impossible to miss them, they are usually scattered all around the hill, as well as in the underlying brush. These frogs make a relatively loud, grunt sound throughout the day. Red Frog Beach is the island's most accessible and most popular beach in the area. The most common entrance point to this beach is through Magic Bay, which is located on the opposite side of the island (western side). From here you can walk along a well-defined trail for approximately 5 minutes before arriving at the beach area.
Hiking, both north and south, enables you to see other beaches on the island, but, they are not as accessible or popular with tourists. To reach the southern most beaches you will have to walk along the beach itself, or along a narrow trail that runs close and parallel to the beach; the trail is rarely marked but you shouldn't have too much of a problem. No trails lead to the interior of the island, so expect to get wet.

On the western side of the island it is lined with lush mangroves and has much calmer water, in part due to the water's shallow depths. There are no entrance points to the National Park from this side of the island, other than the trail mentioned above. If you venture to Crawl Cay or Zapatilla Cays, both of which are located on the southern portion of the island, you will most likely get to these places via the western side of the island.

The National Park has a vast supply of wildlife, but your exposure to them is somewhat limited. White faced and Titi monkeys are common, as are sloths and the poplar red poison dart frogs. Due to the fact that no interior trails exist you will be limited to whatever makes itself visible along the Caribbean coast.

Getting to Bastimentos National Park
There are several tour operators based in Bocas town that offer tours to various parts of the island Park. Tours typically depart in the early morning, but may or may not include stops to numerous spots in the park.

Bastimentos National Marine Park Bocas del Toro Panama

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