Panama for Cruisers ?

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by starfish62

Welcome to Bocas Del Toro Panama

Is that a sunk cat in the video?

[starfish62]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Is that a sunk cat in the video?

Don't know if that's a narrow cat or a beamy mono. Looks kinda NautiCat-ish.

[Troutbridge]

I'll look you up next year, Starfish. I recently (about two months ago) came across information about the Bocas del Torro area. The 'standard' Panama cruising guide by the Zydlers doesn't make much mention of the area but there is a more recent guide that really 'talks up' the area (sorry, can't remember the name). I think you could well be onto a real winner here. I suspect most European cruisers would avoid the marina, preferring to anchor, but would be happy to use the facilities (& pay, of course). Anyway, good luck and if you get up and running look out around Jan 09 for a Broadblue 385 called Troutbridge.

[starfish62]

Originally Posted by Troutbridge

I'll look you up next year, Starfish. I recently (about two months ago) came across information about the Bocas del Torro area. The 'standard' Panama cruising guide by the Zydlers doesn't make much mention of the area but there is a more recent guide that really 'talks up' the area (sorry, can't remember the name). I think you could well be onto a real winner here. I suspect most European cruisers would avoid the marina, preferring to anchor, but would be happy to use the facilities (& pay, of course). Anyway, good luck and if you get up and running look out around Jan 09 for a Broadblue 385 called Troutbridge.

Thanks Troutbridge. I hope you're right. An affordable "cruiser community" seems like fun. Los Suenos in Costa Rica is getting $200K for just slips, so we are definitely on the affordable side! We'll hopefully be cycling into spending a lot of time down there by then.

[Gallivanters]

Starfish,

My wife, son and Aye are departing St Thomas this weekend (25 May) and heading to Bocas via the windward islands & Colombia. We should drop the hook sometime around October. We plan to stay in the area a while. We have just resigned from six years of working in marina management and understand many of the pit-falls associated with the business. Please feel free to contact us by Email if you like, or look us up while you're there. I'd welcome the opportunity to look-over your plans... over a cold beer in the shade somewhere down there.

Pura Vida!

Kirk ~~~_/) ~~~ s/v Gallivanter

[starfish62]

Kirk,
Will do. When you're passing through the Trinidad area and west to Colombia, keep an eye out for a 47' Vagabond named "Fantasy." It's Cap', Jack Von Ohlen, a friend of mine from Fiji who has just finished tying the knot on his circumnavigation.

We're sending the formal offer to the seller this evening, and hope to have the acceptance in a day or so. Then it's off to Bocas for the legalities (survey, corp papers, all of that crap) and then we need to sell a few of these to get the thing going so I can move down there full time!

[questmiller]

We're planning on heading west through Panama next winter. Does anyone know the procedure for getting on the list to transit? With the long wait times, do you have to be ready at a moment's notice, or do they give you a scheduled date? Just wondering if we'll be able to check out the area after we get on a transit list. Also wondering how much lead time they give you (if they do) so that friends could fly down to meet us there at the last minute for the transit. Thanks, s/y Quest

[Greenman]

I have done a lot of reading about this area, it looks like an amazing area to hang out, not just for the Hurricane Season. Panama has made a lot of major changes of the past few years to become more Ex-Pat "anywhere" friendly. Good luck, if things go well for you and I both I will be seeing you in a few years in Bocas.

Keep us informed.

[starfish62]

Hi, Greenman,

We've been gone for awhile but now have a website up & running (as of a few days ago) which has most of the info anyone would want. We're finalizing an agreement with a realtor in Bocas town so that if anyone is in the area or wants to come down on short notice they can be shown the property.

By the way, the lead guy on this little project is Don Stephens who is also originally from the Halifax area. His brother flies for UNESCO and his mother and sister are still in the Halifax area. You wouldn't know the Stephens family up there by any chance?

[iiii]

What's the URL for the website? By the way we are in Royal Palm Beach and interested in your venture.

[starfish62]

Hi, iiiii,
We're pretty close by in Palm Beach Gardens. I work at Northlake & Military Trail & we live up in Abacoa. We keep our dinghy at the Palm Beach Sailing Club. Where is your C&C located? I looked at the 38 Landfalls before I bought my previous boat. Very nice!

Our son's best friend lives in RPB and he's out there almost every weekend. Send me a PM & I can give you the URL (I think). I had it posted on the last message & that part was smited by a mod as being commercial and so should be in the vendor section. My phone # is on the URL if you want to give a call and come down to the sail club or meet up at the Tiki.

[Volksdraggin]

Please PM me with lat/long, I am interested in working at the marina if you have any openings.

[boatcomono]

My question is how can Bocas support 3 marinas - when we were there in 2000 there was one marina and one being built. The marina where we stayed was in Sandfly Bay (quite aptly named). While we enjoyed our stay there, we found Bocas to be very wet and not very convenient. However, if you like funky places, it wasn't a bad place and we enjoyed our stay of 2 months. As for Colon - back then it was a fun place - pretty seedy even then but what a great bunch of people. Don't know what it is like now but hope to find out next year when we complete our circumnavigation in Panama.

[rover88]

Don't know Bocas personally but I'm an old Costa Rica (just north) hand. I do know Pamana tourism is booming and Bocas is one of the three main tourist destinations for Norte Americanos and Europeans. We plan on visiting early next year. Best of luck, the region will continue to boom and it's a beautiful area according to friends.

[starfish62]

Originally Posted by boatcomono

My question is how can Bocas support 3 marinas - when we were there in 2000 there was one marina and one being built. The marina where we stayed was in Sandfly Bay (quite aptly named). While we enjoyed our stay there, we found Bocas to be very wet and not very convenient. However, if you like funky places, it wasn't a bad place and we enjoyed our stay of 2 months. As for Colon - back then it was a fun place - pretty seedy even then but what a great bunch of people. Don't know what it is like now but hope to find out next year when we complete our circumnavigation in Panama.

When I first went there in 2004 it was starting to explode, and it just kept on going. There are a lot of boats over in the mangroves in front of people's homes, so we're thinking there is definitely some demand there. We're also only looking at a handful of boats, mostly those of the people who buy lots, so it's not a commercial marina per se.