Panama Bocas del Toro Islands Getaway

Arrive into Panama City where you are met and transferred to your hotel for the evening. Overnight one night on a B&B basis. An optional Panama Canal sight-seeing cruise can be arranged for extra cost if time allows.

Meals included: n/a
Luxury Accommodations: Toscana Inn or similar

This morning, transfer to the airport and fly to to Bocas Town (internal flight paid separately). On arrival, you are met and assisted with your entry into Bocas del Toro. We then take a tour of the historic and eclectic main streets of Bocas Town. Following your tour of Bocas Town, we will transfer you to the secluded realms of Tranquilo Bay. Upon arrival at Tranquilo Bay you are assisted and allowed time to leisurely settle into your cabana. Once you comfortably settled in, you have the choice between a guided hike on a nature trail watching out for wildlife, or a leisurely afternoon kayak and snorkeling session searching out water life above and below the surface.

Meals included: Breakfast
Mid-Range Accommodations: Tranquilo Bay Eco-Adventure Lodge

These two unspoiled islands are protected by Bastimentos National Marine Park. On the shoreline, you'll find beautiful broad white sand beaches; in their interior, you'll discover coconut palms, tropical hardwoods, sea grapes, and almond trees draped in a collage of bromeliads, ferns, orchids and other epiphytes. We'll walk around these islands while stopping to explore the white sand beaches and reefs covering the entire circumference. Snapper, barracuda and vivid tropical fish abound on the beautiful reefs surrounding the islands.

Meals included: Breakfast
Mid-Range Accommodations: Tranquilo Bay Eco-Adventure Lodge

Following breakfast, we will leave the property for a 15-minute boat ride to Salt Creek. Here we will continue up the creek beneath the canopy of dense mangrove forest to the indigenous village of Quebrada Sal. To access the trailhead into Bastimentos National Marine Park, we'll cross the rolling open pastures of the village. As we enter the park, the dense rainforest canopy is full of exotic tropical plants. Wildlife sightings may include white-faced monkeys, two- and three-toed sloths, green iguanas, Jesus Christ lizards, poison dart frogs, butterflies, and a plethora of exotic birds as we hike toward Playa Larga. Surrounded by the jungle, we'll begin to hear the ocean swells. Then all of a sudden, as if someone turned on the lights, we exit the canopy onto the long, sweeping beach. This pristine beach is a nesting ground to four species of endangered sea turtles and is protected by the national park. After a refreshing swim, and lunch on the secluded beach, we head back through the jungle and return to the boat.

Meals included: Breakfast
Mid-Range Accommodations: Tranquilo Bay Eco-Adventure Lodge

Following breakfast, we will deploy by boat on a 15-minute passage trek across Dolphin Bay for the Green Acres Cacao Plantation. Guided by Dave and Linda Cerutti, the owners and operators of the facility, we will their gardens as Dave presents us with extensive information about his farm. It is here where one of the rarest strands of cacao plant in the world, the Criollo, is grown. Details of his modest but extraordinary chocolate manufacturing techniques will accompany; including growth of the trees, a step-by-step process of how chocolate is made from bean to bar and a sample of the farm's product. The day trip includes lunch onsite at an immaculately built stone-structured home, surrounded by grounds with an exotic collection of tropical plants from around the world. Multiple varieties of tropical birds and the dendrobates auratus (black and green poison dart frog) all live onsite for your discovery.

Meals included: Breakfast
Mid-Range Accommodations: Tranquilo Bay Eco-Adventure Lodge

Following breakfast we will leave the facility in a support boat for a 15-minute ride across the Bastimentos National Marine Park. In kayaks we will meander through the glassy calm backwaters of Bahia Honda. Following the jungle's edge of Isla Bastimentos we will paddle through channels, deep bays, mangrove cayes, and patch reef. Dolphins like the deep water of Bahia Honda and can often be seen breaching the surface for air. Many birds can be seen feeding near the waters edge, and the jungle is home to white-faced capuchin monkeys, two- and three-toed sloths, green iguanas, and caimans. In the back of Bahia Honda we will paddle up a small creek through lush vegetation. A short jungle walk leads to the entrance of cave Nivida. Entering the cave with lights, we will explore this subterranean phenomenon while wading through cold spring water and passing nectar bats. A support boat will be waiting at the mouth of the creek for our return to Tranquilo Bay.

Meals included: Breakfast
Mid-Range Accommodations: Tranquilo Bay Eco-Adventure Lodge

Following breakfast, we will leave the lodge in the support boat for a 15-minute ride to a beautiful palm covered beach called Punta Vieja. From there, we begin our exhilarating open-ocean paddle down the dramatic windward shoreline, en route to gorgeous Playa Larga. Playa Larga is a three-mile-long uninhabited beach located within the Bastimentos National Marine Park. We will paddle over reef, rock and sand bottom as we observe the jungle flora and fauna on the shoreline. This entire coastline includes beautiful white sand beaches, rock cliffs and offshore rock outcroppings. We will stop at a pristine and secluded beach for a picnic-style lunch. After lunch we can swim, snorkel, or just relax on the beach before heading back to the support boat.

Meals included: Breakfast
Mid-Range Accommodations: Tranquilo Bay Eco-Adventure Lodge

Depending upon the time of your domestic flight returning to Panama, you have the choice between a guided hike on our one -mile nature trail watching for wildlife or a leisurely kayak and snorkeling session searching out water life above and below the surface. Transfer to Bocas del Toro, for your departure from Bocas del Toro. Arrive Panama City, transfer and overnight at your Panama City hotel tonight.

Meals included: Breakfast
Luxury Accommodations: Toscana Inn or similar

Prior to your flight, you'll be transferred to the airport with plenty of time to check in.

Meals included: Breakfast