Scuba Diving in Bocas del Toro with La Buga

Bocas del Toro –

We get up quite late and have an extended breakfast – you cannot get such a big breakfast in any hotel !

Afterwards, we pack our fins & masks, get us some drinks for in between the dives (as we previously noticed quite a few times when shopping in Bocas, it seems that there are a lot of Asian immigrants here – and many seem to have built up businesses like supermarkets here) and head to La Buga. Our equipment gets stored under the seats of the boat, the drinks get in the cooler. We are a total of 11 people – a group of 3 girls who are about to get their OWD license, Karly, their instructor, the captain, a Dutch couple and a quite young boy, which will all scuba dive with Ena, Lucy and me. And yet, it doesn’t feel crowded at all on the boat. One walk freely on the whole deck without bumping into each other.

By the way: It seems that Creole mingles a lot with the languages spoken here in Bocas – there are many people here who speak a similar Creole-accented English as in, for example, Belize .

The guys from La Buga have installed benches and cut PVC pipes in the diameter of the aluminum flasks and bolted them on every side. A great idea! You just have to lift the BCD into the next full flask and screw in the regulator. The boat seems to not sway at all and the Reggae music coming out the boxes makes everything even more relaxing.

Our 2 Divespots: Hospital Point and Pandora. Both are really easy scuba dives. Especially Pandora (named after the movie Dances-with-Wolves… BUT IN SPACE! ) is very colorful. That sure is a very quiet day. We leave our ABC equipment in the dive center. What about the payment? “Do It sometime later, whenever you want.” Alright. We have some cocktails in Bugita afterwards – Tropical Margaritas with passion fruit. The Barman: “Hey, weren’t you guys just now diving with us? The drinks are 10% off for divers! ” – ” We are definitely coming back in the evening.” .

After an afternoon siesta in the Condos later we have a walk through the streets in the evening. The restaurants “Limbo” (seafood restaurant) and “Indo” (Indonesian) are direct neighbors. Indonesian? Delicious. We walk through the Indo to the terrace on the other side, just to realize, that this terrace is also part of Limbo. Although parts of the menu are identical to the ones you can find at the Indo (also the presentation of the menu cards are nearly identical), you can only have Indonesian food indoors. Somehow the owner of the 2 restaurants is his own enemy . Whatever – the food tastes nice. For “dessert”, we decide to go for some more drinks to Bugita. There are some guys who seem to have brought their own music. Instead Reggae, you get to listen to Latin pop now – without lyrics though, cause the guys are making up their own ones on the fly. A great choice to return for drinks here, the atmosphere is great .