Day trip to Starfish Beach

Yes, another day trip. This time we’re off to starfish beach but first, wait for it… Laundry Day!!! Once again we’re heading back to see Sammy at the lavatoria to have our laundry done. Although he doesn’t fold the clothes the way most do, Sammy rolls everything into a ball, the clothes are clean and dry. Hey, clean and dry works for me.

We hired a water taxi for the day, the same young man from our sloth island trip, Marsh, who happens to live on Bastimentos. Not too expensive for a day charter, $100USD plus his lunch. Considering it would cost us $20USD to go and come back from Isla Colon, and another $10-15USD to get to starfish beach and back, a $100USD is a pretty good deal. Besides, Marsh is a wonderful guy to talk with and has a lot of knowledge about Bocas.

We’re on the water by 9am and off to Isla Colon to drop off our laundry with Sammy.  Only issue is if you sit in the back of the boat, the engine noise can be a little loud.

Dropped off the laundry and to our surprise, Sammy’s wife is back from Costa Rica. Now that she’s back, she is in charge of the laundry. No problem, same time schedule, same price. Good enough.

Back to the boat and off to starfish beach. The trip takes about 20 minutes to go around most of the western side of Isla Colon. If you’re looking for nice homes, this is one of the places in Bocas where you’ll find them. Most are built out over the water, some on a beach, some on both. There are also several hotels and AirBNB’s on this side.

With a 3-car garage!

AirBnB

Marsh surprised us by getting out his hand fishing rig and slowing down so we could try a little trolling on our way. Wasn’t sure what we would catch and honestly, I was concerned about just using line to hold a fish, if we caught one. Turned out that wouldn’t be a problem. The fish I caught, a 6-inch jackfish, didn’t rip the line out of my hand, just a bit of a tug. BUT I caught a fish here in Panama! I passed the rig over to Collette as we continued down the coast trolling for something a bit larger. No luck, couple of hits but no hookups. Just as well, we’re almost to starfish beach so time to stop trolling.

Line fishing

The haul!

Mom-bear trying her hand at line fishing

What an amazing beach! Sand, palm trees, lounge chairs, and a drink / food hut every 50’. The only thing that was disappointing about the beach is apparently no one told the starfish this is where they needed to be. As we got out of the boat, Marsh pointed out the two starfish, yep, only 2, that are at this beach. No joke, 2 starfish, that’s it!

Adam

Eve

Why only 2 starfish? Well, several reasons, first starfish head to cooler, deeper water in the fall and spring; second, people. They’re not afraid of people, although they should be, people just like to kill starfish. There are signs everywhere on the beach telling people not to touch the starfish, at all, nada, leave them alone, but most visitors can’t resist picking them up and holding them out of the water. Then they die. So, we took pictures of the 2 survivors, without touching them, and went on to find the perfect lounge chair and cabana.

Yep, that’s Collette out there

Me, hittin it!

Pina colada!

One of the locals

One of the things we noticed while relaxing on the beach was an inflatable water chair called, “Great Big Mable”. If you recall when we were in Malta, on the island of Gozo, there was a “Great Big Mable” inflatable water chair there also. These “chairs” are pulled behind a boat and give the riders a bit of speed and bounce for a thrill. Then, just as now, I wondered what mother’s say when their young boys come home and tell them that “I rode Great Big Mable on the beach today”. I know what my mom would have said.

Anyway, finished our 3.5hr shift holding down the lounge chairs so time for lunch. Marsh knew a place just around the bend that serves excellent seafood at a reasonable price so off we go. Yarisnori is located on the point where the bay meets the Caribbean Ocean.  Good menu of seafood, but not much else, so Collette was in heaven and I was searching for something for lunch. Found it, lobster, again! Where else can you buy a whole lobster for $25, cooked perfectly in garlic butter. Top it with a side of fries and now you have a great lunch.

Fish filet and coconut rice

Langoustine with garlic butter and fries

Days coming to an end so we head back to town to pick up our laundry then back to Bastimentos. Wonderful day, beautiful weather, fun trip. Tomorrow is Saturday so time to catch up on writing, reading and oh yeah, relaxing.

La Policia (900HP!)