Bocas Del Toro Town is on the southern tip of Isla Colón, in north eastern Panama set by the Caribbean Sea

Bocas Town is a popular location, it has lots of small hostels and nice looking restaurants, many of which open up to show the views of the water behind them.

We flew from Panama City in this plane, it’s s a short flight and the airport is literally right in the town. We walked 5 minutes to our hotel!

Whilst it’s a party town, well visited by backpackers, most of your days are spent on the water seeking out the wonderful beaches reached by bus, water taxi or on day trip tours.

There are also some beaches on Isla Colon itself, easily reachable by bus or taxi.

And the beaches are just sensational!

There is certainly a laid back Caribbean feel to the place.

Our first trip out was to Red Frog Beach on Isla Basimentos. It’s a 20mins water taxi ride ($8) from Bocas town to a jetty by the reception for the Red Frog Beach Resort. You get to pay a $5 entry fee and then walk for 10mins or so along the resort road to the beach.

It’s a lovely beach, great for swimming and there’s sun beds and shade available at a pretty good restaurant/bar.

There is a small look out point to the right of the beach.

There are meant to be red frogs living on this island but we didn’t get to see any when we went.

The walk to/from the beach is easy and you pass some wonderful nature around you.

Our next trip took us out to Isla Zapitilla, a real desert island with calm warm waters surrounding a palm tree lined beach.

On the way from Bocas town in the boat you can often see dolphins in the bay .

We later stopped here for lunch and a bit of snorkelling in the clear waters.

I hadn’t noticed the altered camera settings on my iPhone when I took these shots. Now fixed, but it made for some dramatic sky pictures that day!

The next beach we visited was Starfish Beach on Isla Colon itself, so good we went there twice.

You can get a bus ($2.50 – 20-30mins) from the square in Bocas Town to Boca Del Drago and from there you either get a water taxi to Playa Estrella or walk the 15min along the coast.

We walked there and back as it is a stunning walk skirting the beach and the forest alongside it.

Dreamy Caribbean views are at every turn.

Starfish beach isn’t that big but the waters are calm for swimming, even if you do get a few boats coming past.

It’s appropriately named with lots and lots of starfish on the sea floor, just a couple of meters out.

The hardest thing I found was having to check where and when you put your feet down trying to avoid them!

There are a few beach bars/restaurants along the beach with great food.

So that’s it for our time in Panama, there is so much we didn’t get to see but what we did was fabulous.

Next we cross the land border to Costa Rica just a few hours away,