WHAT: Sailing the sea in the smoothest way possible with the catamaran of Jagerknights WHERE: The archipelago of Bocas del Toro. The start is at Isla Colon, the route depends on the requests HOW LONG: The boat leaves around 10 am and return around 4 - 4:30 pm HOW MUCH: $49,- for the day on the water, including a sandwich and some fruit. You can take your own beverages if you like (there's a cooler) or buy them aboard
No matter how long you’re gonna be in Bocas del Toro, it’s always a good idea to go on a tour by (sailing) boat. That way you’ll see a couple of spots within a day, while chilling out on the water.
In Bocas Town there are a lot of tour operators, so you can basically chose what particular places you’d like to go based on what other spots you’re about to visit. Those tours costs something between $25,- and $40,-, depending on the amount of places and remoteness.
Now if you’re still deciding whether you’d like to go on a sailing trip or a regular trip, here’s what the difference between the two was to me (I did both). The trip with the catamaran was better organized, included a lunch, a snack and peaceful vibes. With the regular trip however you’re able to see much more in one day, since those boats are simply faster. On the other hand, those tours do feel more touristy in my opinion. Prices are compared basically the same, since the regular boat doesn’t include a lunch, but drops you off at a point where you can eat something that you have to pay for yourself.
With both types of tours I had a really nice day. But if you want to go for the total experience on the water, I’d say go for the sailing tour!
We decided to go on a trip with the catamaran of Jagerknights, one of the two tour operators in Bocas del Toro. I heard good stories about their trips, so therefore we opted this one. It’s as simple as that.
Our experience with Jagerknights was all in all a great one. The tour left punctually (a rarity in Central America) at 10 am and after a short safety instruction of captain Maga everyone was able to find a spot on the deck and the boat was ready to go.
Wind in the sails! Or not, since as we left Isla Colon, there wasn’t a breeze to be found in the air. A little later we had more luck fortunately, while heading to dolphin bay – our first stop. As soon as possible the sails went up and we could feel the power of the air immediately. Now we’re talking!
Once we made it to the bay, Maga turned down the engine to increase our changes for seeing some dolphins. A couple of them popped up, though very shyly. The captain made sure he stayed on a safe distance, not to disturb them in their natural habitat, which was great.
Our second stop was on the other side of the bay – nearby the mangroves. The break of nearly an hour left us plenty of time to discover the incredible underwater life. The coral in the area was very colourful, the fishes abundant and the mangrove hosted a lot of wildlife too.
The second snorkel spot – near Isla Solarte on the way back – was compared to those previous colours a bit of a downer, although the coral gardens were bigger and so were the fishes (and octopuses!)
How a day on the water will be like depends mainly on the weather and on the people who’ll join you on the tour. The boat itself is great; very spacious with plenty of room to stretch your legs and has some decent facilities too. On top of that, captain Maga has a superb and smooth playlist, to provide you with the best soundtrack imaginable during your day. So therefore the best part was of our day was just kicking back and enjoying the ride on the blue waters of Bocas del Toro!
