Taboga is a great day trip to escape Panama City. It's a colorful little
island dotted with restaurants and B&Bs, only a five-dollar and
45-minute ferry ride from the end of the Amador causeway. (Any Angelenos
out there, think of it as Panama's Catalina) At low tide, a sandbar
connects Taboga to a smaller island, creating an awesome double-sided
beach. Fishermen pull up boats full of fresh langostinos and sea snails
that you can bring home to eat for dinner, or have prepared for lunch
and brought to you right on the sand.
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| skeleton of a boat |
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| the sandbar at low tide |
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| langostinos |
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| sea snails |
The
ferry leaves at 8:30 every morning and returns at 4:30pm, which leaves
you a nice long day to relax on the beach, or hike to the cross at the
top of the mountain. You can bring a cooler with a nice picnic, but be
prepared for quick changes in weather. If you find yourself caught in an
afternoon storm like we did, you can easily slip into a restaurant and
nibble on some ceviche, fried fish, patacones and yuquitas (fried green
plantains and yucca fries) while you wait out the rain.
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| the sandbar at high tide |
