We started our day with breakfast and a loose itinerary. We wanted to find a way to get to either Playa Estrella or Hospital Point. Internet reviews of each were mixed, so we hopped into a boat taxi to Bocas. We figured the dive shop might help us with a plan. Our host Julien was sharing the taxi with us and when he heard what we did yesterday (Polo’s Beach) he was not happy because apparently, the walk we did was dangerous. A girl from NY was killed here in February, kinda sorta near there, which I knew about. There were various aspects of Julien’s recount of the story that was inaccurate, which I explained to Nathan when we were out of earshot. So I discounted it, but it set the tone for the day.
Hector at the dive shop helped us with a plan and expectations and we were off to find a way to make it happen. We asked several taxi/tour operators the price to get to Playa Estrella. We settled on a combo price from the place Isaac works at for a day trip to Playa Estrella and Hospital Point.
The first stop was Playa Estrella (AKA Starfish Beach). It took about 40 minutes to get there in rough (for a little boat) seas. Once there, I understood the reviews. There is a long expanse of narrow beach, and the dry bits are filled with beach shack restaurants, one right after another. So setting a towel on the sand means you are pretty much doing so right next to plastic patio chairs – the cheap kind you get from the grocery store. We brought our lunch, so we set up our towels on the sand. Sunscreen applied, it was time to find the starfish.
We knew that the number of starfish was inversely proportional to the number of tourists looking to find them. Thankfully, a Monday means fewer tourists. The starfish were out in droves. Careful not to touch them per the signs, we admired from a distance. And boy there were a lot of them. Just like the boobies in Ecuador, they were everywhere.
We spent 2 hours or so at Playa Estrella before starfish gazing became redundant and we decided to mosey over to Hospital Point. Another 40 butt-numbing minutes in the boat, and we were there.
Hospital Point on Isla Solarte has a storied past, and I knew that there could be danger or thieves there. So I was glad that we had booked this all-day adventure. I was expecting our boat to anchor in the water and hang out, with our belongings safely on board. However, when we got there, the captain dropped us off and asked when we wanted to be picked up. Nathan, the naïve, trusting one, agreed to two hours later. I was hesitant, resistant, but since Nathan was unaware of the potential danger, I lost.
And I was completely on edge. There are posted signs nailed to trees to watch out for backpack thieves, and calling the place thief beach. And we just signed up to spend the next two hours here, alone. Awesome.
We took turns sitting on shore with our stuff and snorkeling. Nathan had a whistle on his bag, so when it was my turn to be on dry land, I tied that thing to my shirt. Every wave, every noise, every leaf falling warranted attention. Before too long, a dive boat came and anchored quite close to us, which made us feel more secure and less isolated. Later, an aeronaval service boat anchored and was within earshot. At the very end of our time there, 5 French tourists hiked in and began snorkeling. We still took every precaution and took turns in the water, but in the end, nothing happened. And we lived to tell another story. It was quite freaky; I even had Nathan quite unnerved, but at 4 pm our captain arrived to pick us up and we went back to Bocas. While we were scaring ourselves silly, I had a great idea about how to fill our morning tomorrow. You see, we move to a more isolated place tomorrow, and we are getting picked up at noon. So the dilemma is either to laze about waiting, or try to fill it up with adventure that ends by noon.
But that is tomorrow’s story.