The Island
A small Caribbean island in a quiet corner of the Bocas del Toro archipelago.
A Caribbean archipelago off the coast of Panama.
Bocas del Toro is a Caribbean archipelago off the northwest coast of Panama, made up of nine main islands and hundreds of smaller cays. Dia Bonito sits on its own small island just off Isla Solarte, one of the larger islands in the chain, a twenty-minute boat ride from Bocas Town. The mangrove pass between us and Solarte is the route the locals use to reach the surf breaks on the other side, which means we are quiet but never far from the action.
Coconut palms, fruit trees, and water that runs from deep blue to mangrove green.
Two and a half acres of low Caribbean island. Coconut palms, breadfruit, mango, and banana trees. Basil and cilantro in the kitchen garden. The kind of place where things grow whether you tend them or not. Concrete walkways between the houses that keep your feet dry when the afternoon rain rolls through. Three docks, one with a thatched-roof boat house. Hammocks where the breeze finds them. The water around the property runs from deep blue to mangrove green depending on where you are looking. Sunsets are over the water on the west side. Sunrises are over the water on the east. The sun moves all the way across the property between them.
Two dogs, four cats, and the chickens around the corner.
Two friendly island dogs live on the property and are always happy to play. If anyone in your group is allergic, we can move them to a neighboring island for the duration of your stay.
Four cats live on the property as pest control. You will not see much of them. They prefer it that way.
On the other side of the island we keep chickens, which is where breakfast eggs come from.
Pets travel with you too. Bring yours and we will treat them like family.
What the Caribbean was before the cruise ships arrived.
Bocas del Toro is what the Caribbean was before the cruise ships arrived. The towns are small. The reefs are intact. Panama's first marine park, Bastimentos National, protects 32,000 acres of sea and land just across the water. Indigenous Ngäbe-Buglé villages still farm and fish the way they have for generations. The Afro-Caribbean communities on Bastimentos still play the music of their grandparents on Saturday nights. The whole archipelago feels like it has not made up its mind whether to become Tulum or stay itself, and most days you can still get a snapper fresh off the boat for ten dollars.
We picked this corner because it offers the rarest combination in modern hospitality: a place that is still itself. Not a resort destination dressed up to feel local. The real thing. We just happen to be a small private island inside it.
Seventy-five to eighty-five, year-round.
Bocas runs warm and humid year-round, seventy-five to eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit. The dry season is November through April, with the steadiest weather between January and March. The wet season is May through October, which mostly means afternoon showers and morning sun rather than days of rain. Trade winds keep things comfortable on the water year-round.
Howler monkeys, water, and not much else.
Howler monkeys at first light, somewhere across the bay. Boats moving through the pass. Insects after dark. Water against the dock. The occasional plane coming low into Bocas Town from Panama City. Nothing else.