After spending about a month in the town of Bocas Del Toro, Panama I feel like I know the place pretty well, but for such a small island there is still so much more to explore. One place I got to know very well is Skully’s House, also know as Flying Pirates.
Dave and I started our journey on the island by booking an amazing bed and breakfast: Bahia Paraiso, via Booking.com. By the time Waze took us to the Surf House Tacos for happy hour and we walked across town the long way to find our place for the night it was late and dark. The hosts were cooking dinner and all of the guests seemed to be enjoying themselves. We slept great after a crazy experience getting over the boarder.
The next morning Dave saw dolphins in the bay and our hosts cooked up a delicious breakfast. We were sad to go, but excited for our next stop. Later we would try to go back and book a few more nights but they were totally booked. If you can find a room with the Bahia Paraiso you will get great hosts, breakfast, and affordable prices, plus a cheap dinner and beer.
Our next stop was an AirBandB sailboat. This was a highlight of our travels and one of the best life decisions we have made thus far. We feel like we have new friends in our hosts and are excited to some day meet up with them again. There are a few options for boat rentals in the Bocas area. We met a couple of the other captains, and everyone was very nice. I am sure you can’t go wrong with any of the Bocas AirBandB sailboats.
Another affordable rental we enjoyed was the bocascabanas.com. They were our second best option after our bed and breakfast was booked. They are in the same neighborhood, Bay of Saigon. The staff was all very nice. We kept extending our stay one night at a time and they were accommodating of us through Christmas. One day I just happened to go to pay for another day and they told me they were all booked for the night. Dave and I had booked a tour to see another island (read about the bad experience here) so we had to quickly pack up and find our next hotel. We enjoyed the Bay of Saigon area because it was away from the downtown business area. The bay is lined with funky houses on stilts in the water, some of the houses are even floating. During Christmas we could tell there was a sense of community as the locals would walk with a hot dish to share down the little path towards their friend or family’s party.
The next hotel was not worth it. It was nice to be back on the water by the sail boats, but there was a horrible sewage smell that comes with it. Breakfast was not good. And the staff wasn’t exceptionally friendly. There were creepy clown pictures in the top floor hallway and the wiring was rater scary. The hotel was Hotel Olas de la Madrugada.
Through WorkAway.com, we had been in contact with a hostel outside of town. We found that traveling in Costa Rica and Panama is more expensive then we anticipated so we were looking for a way to take some of the cost down. We also had a dream of making new friends and learning something new, while helping out. Dave was starting to go crazy because he wanted to accomplish a project and had an erg to do manual labor. We were excited when the owners finally confirmed that they would like our help, little did we know we would not be appreciated and the accommodations were not entirely what we had been accustomed to.
The hostel we volunteered at is called Skully’s House. I am sure many people love staying there. We had a different experience because we were volunteers. The first few nights we were treated great.
The new private room was not booked so we got a huge room with a private bath room. The walls are thin so you could still hear everyone, especially in the kitchen right outside our door. When the private room was booked we were treated to a friend of the owner’s private residence. It really spoiled us. It had AC, a huge kitchen and a pool. Plus it was down the street from the hostel so we could get away from the maham that was the pirate compound. When the owner of the house came back we were kicked out. I was surprised that I was never introduced to him, or thanked for cleaning the house, including dishes left from the hostel owners.
Our next room was a small wooden loft with holes in the metal roof, in a rain-forest. It rained on our bags of clothes almost every night. In order to reach our slot in the ship themed, patched together hostel we were to climb an awkward ladder directly into the electric boxes and pipes. This was especially annoying when we each took a turn at a funky sickness going around the hostel.
One of Dave’s projects was to put the handrails up for the ladder, another was to finish the bathroom. The bathroom never got finished due to a lack of material. He did make sure to put the handrails up before we were asked to move in. In the mornings when the hostel was bustling with many 20 something year old foreigners cooking breakfast it was rather uncomfortable when we would plop out of our hole and use the toilet behind a curtain that didn’t quiet hit the ground. What a way to treat free help.
The pirate compound was very busy. Besides having a hostel it had an ATV Rental company complete with a workshop and a restaurant. It is right on the ocean with beautiful views.
It is a $3 taxi ride from town, which makes it a little quieter, if you ignore the music coming from the bar. Having the restaurant onsite was convenient for our daily meal of what we thought was chicken and rice. It came in different forms every day, and sometimes we had order off the menu to fill ourselves up. The Panamanian bartenders were all extremely nice. Moses was one probably the most efficient bartenders. He always knew when to get me a margarita.
Getting to know the other hostel guests was a highlight. We had 2 young surfer guys from New Jersey show us what hostel life was all about when we heard commotion at 3:00 am, in the adjoining room. Turns out they brought two girls home, later to find out they were actually ‘women of the night’. The boys quickly kicked them out. But another hostel guest wanted in on the action and jumped down from the top bunk. While the guys were confused and shocked the women got their money. They were robbed. The next morning after breakfast they realized what had happened and were mortified. They spent the next few days eating out of the free food bin.
Unfortunately, the owner of the pirate compound is someone you do not want to give your money to. I struggled almost daily to feel respected and wanted for my free help. He was known to say racist comments to people as they were learning the ropes of his coveted ATV course which he personally used a machete to cut tight trails through the rain-forest. It just so happened to be a leased ranch that was once a landing strip for Pablo Escobar so he was always very proud to tell a story about ‘his ranch’. One day the angry pirate yelled at local children, calling them animals. The next day when he realized that no locals had come to spend money at his compound he was on edge. He was often seen throwing his burger in a fit of rage. Needless to say we were very excited when our next adventure was dropped in our laps.
Enough about Skully’s. There are many more positive places around the Archapalogo. While we were trying to find internet in Bastimentos {a separate island then the main busy island where all of the hotels mentioned above are} we found a unique hotel tucked around the back side of the island. It had a lovely looking pool and the ‘rooms’ where huts built against the steep hillside. This is somewhere we look forward to staying on our next travel to the Bocas Area.
Places I recommend in Bocas Del Toro, Panama:
