Panama, Scuba, Paradise

During my "orientation" trip we made our way down to Bocas del Toro, Panama - a beautiful town on the caribbean with several restaurants located above the water. It is a bit touristy in Bocas Town, but it still has the charm of a small, caribbean community. Everywhere you turn, you seen palm trees, blue water, and small boats carrying people to and from the several small islands in the region.
Our group stayed on the island of Solarte, an island with basically no infrastructure. We camped right along the edge of the island in a place that our organization rents for our groups - full of palm trees with plenty of coconuts. It really looks like those desktop screen savers that you see and wonder, where could that possibly be? It very well could be a photo of Solarte.

We went to Panama to learn how to Scuba Dive, and I must say, it was awesome. I had never scuba dived and to learn in the 80 degree water with neon colored fish was quite an experience. We made it down to 60 feet at some points, and felt the very warm water currents that were well beneath the surface. I earned my NAUI Scuba certification and was able to do a shipwrek dive and a night dive, both of which were very cool.

The night dive was especially cool or "tuanis" as the ticos say. At around 10PM we went out on our little boat and jumped inthe water with our flash lights, it was a little scary at first, considering if something happened we really would be able to do anything. The coolest part about it all was the dinoflagellates or glowing algae. I would turn off my flashlight and move my arms and legs around and could see specks of neon blue/yellow all around me. It felt as if I was in the middle of space with all of the bright stars around in the black abyss of the galaxy. 

During my time in Panama I had the opportunity to kayak to the neighboring rasta island, Bastimentos. I have always wanted to feel the vibe of the Caribbean, this little town had that Caribbean vibe that many of us want to experience. Everyone was just hanging out, playing music, and enjoying the time they had off to hang out. If you look at the photo taken from a plane above, Solarte is the first island, Bastimentos is the second.