On Tuesday (my 50th birthday), we headed from Vulcan to Boca Chica. Boca Chica is on a peninsula and is access to Chiriqui National Park.
The drive through David was a touch harrowing, it turns out that left hand turns without any right of way or signals is challenging at best.
Tuesday night, we settled in our Airbnb, which is a lovely modern unit with wonderful vistas of the mangroves and mountains.
Yesterday, we decided to hit some local beaches. We started at Playa Gavilla, which was a long drive (mainly due to a slow Panamanian driver in front of us) over rough terrain. But the beach was lovely, a touch muddy in spots but no surf, perfect weather and temperature of the water. We enjoyed frolicking in the water discussing the merits of Frog vs. Crab fashion.
Today, we did a tour of the national park. And it exceeded all of our expectations. After a long boat ride departing from the tiny and sleepy Boca Chica, we landed at Isla Gamez. Wow. A small deserted island with lovely beaches, a few iguanas and not much else. We played in the calm waters and enjoyed the beached time.
We headed to Isla Perida, where we grabbed lunch. It was a bit more crowded (maybe 20 people?) but the beach was lovely and the shrimp quite tasty.
From there, we headed to Isla Solano. Oh what a beautiful Isla. The water was too cloudy for the snorkeling to be worthwhile but the beach was gorgeous and we saw so much including two Yellow CaraCara’s mating, a hermit crab convention, an iguana and some red-legged honeycreepers.
We were a little doubtful on the tour but so happy we did it.
Your photos are amazing ! The number and variety of birds are amazing. You are so fortunate to have seen the quetzal. Enjoy your last day and have a safe trip home. Love you!