Crossing Into Bocas Del Toro, Panama By Ferry or Water Taxi
You have a few options to get to the main island of Bocas Del Toro Panama. The first is by air which is comprehensively covered elsewhere. You can also cross into Bocas Del Toro by ferry, water taxi, or private charter. We’ll cover the drive in addition to the ferry and water taxi options in this blog post.
Getting There
The crossing points for both the ferry and water taxis are located in Almirante, Panama which is on the same route as Changuinola, Panama. The turnoff to Almirante/Changuinola from the interamerican highway is only about 15 kms shy of the city of David, Panama. One tip is that if you are driving from Panama City, there are only a handful of gas stations between the city of Santiago and the city of David. Only 2-3 take credit cards and those are really close to David. Fill up your vehicle with gas in Santiago just to be safe especially if you are using credit cards. It’s almost 3 hours from Santiago to the turnoff to Changuinola and Almirante.
The drive from the turnoff to the town of Almirante is about 100km (some 70 miles) and paved the entire way although a few sections of road need repair. In all, the drive fto/rom the turnoff took a bit over 2.5 hours in both directions.
The road portion of the trip can be divided into thirds - from the turnoff on the Pan American Highway to the town of Galaca is about 20 minutes with much of the route being straight and flat.
Galaca to the town of Punta Peña takes almost 1.5 hours This part of the drive is primarily winding mountain paved roads that have poorly maintained sections and a fair amount of slow moving vehicles. You’ll be crossing the continental divide. Figure up to 2.5 hours or more if you aren’t comfortable passing slow moving trucks or buses on winding mountain roads.
Punta Peña to Almirante takes around 45 minutes. You’ll need to make the turn at the huge gas station/restaurant or you’ll end up in the town of Chiriqui Grande. This gas station accepts credit cards and is the last gas before Almirante. Another tip is that you’ll likely not find decent lodging in Almirante - plan your departures accordingly.
Making The Crossing Into Bocas
Ferry: The vehicle ferry makes a single crossing each day to Bocas at 8am. My original intent was to bring my rental car across on the ferry. However, there isn’t a lot of space for vehicles on the ferry and there are large vehicles such as 18 wheelers that need to cross as well. There isnt much need for a car in Bocas anyway. Taxis are cheap and plentiful and you can walk/bike almost everywhere. If you must cross with your vehicle then you’ll need to get in line as early as possible. The day that I went, I showed up at 6am (thinking I would be early) but the line had formed the previous day and, as such, I was unable to get my car on the ferry.
If you want to cross on the ferry by foot, you can safely park and store your car at the gas station right next to the ferry dock (about a 30 second walk to the ferry) for a cost of US$3 per day. You can alternatively arrive by taxi.
The cost of cars is based on weight - to cross by foot costs US$1. The ferry takes upwards of two hours to make the crosing to Bocas. I crossed on a saturday morning and the upstairs passenger area on the ferry filled quickly. Again, arrive early to find a seat on one of the wodden benches. If you dont want to look outside, there is a TV and we also had a few local food vendors. There isnt much space to move around on the deck of the ferry when the deck is full of large trucks and other vehicles.
Water Taxis: Water taxis are a bit more flexible in terms of schedule as they depart every half hour. The water taxis leave from a taxi accessible area a bit further away from the cargo terminal in Almirante than the ferry. The water taxi costs US$4 and takes about 30 minutes for the crossing.
August 13th, 2008 at 8:09 am
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