Bocas del Toro Tierra Oscura (the Dark Land). Laguna Palos July 1-4, 2009
We were having a great time in Bocas Town but exploration is the name of the occupation of cruising. Dan was reading the guidebooks and decided that we should check out a new area, Laguna Palos, in preparation for possible adventure when our son would visit. Tregoning and Windsong were game to go also, and another Island Packet couple, Valma and Ed on Navy Blue, and so we set off on the short trip, about nine miles from the anchorage-but really into another world.
Our course was west to Juan Point, then following the west coast of Isla Cristobal in Bahia Almirante until we came to the three unnamed mangrove islets that are the markers to turn into Laguna Palos. On the way through Almirante, our slowly moving sailboats were approached by men in Cayucos who sold us large lobsters! We had just passed a school on our starboard and saw the children in their white shirts and black pants or skirts paddling their Cayucos all around us when we saw the entrance. They stayed right at the sides of the boats, trying to hang on, while we tried to anchor. To actually enter the anchorage, the best information we had is the guidebook -The Panama Guide- by the Zydlers, but at times the uncolored sketch charts are difficult to interpret. Additionally we used a Raymarine chart plotter and paper charts and as all the material warns- we inched our way in slowly and kept a sharp lookout for coral, shoal areas and an eye on the depth until we anchored close to the shore in front of a native house in the magnificent lagoon.
It had rained as we approached but the clouds had cleared and we were taken by the beauty of the place called Tierra Oscura, meaning The Dark Land. Now to explore and bird watch. The Zygler guide showed a trail to the top of a mountain and we were all game for that. Dan and I grabbed binoculars and dressed for a walk and skirted the edge of the mangrove lagoon seeking birds and a place to tie the dinghy and go ashore. To our disappointment, at regular intervals around the lagoon, we saw hand-lettered signs that read “privada propiedad”, so we kept circling the edge in the dinghy. Quite suddenly but very slowly an old man in a cayuco approached us and asked us in English where we were from and was very friendly. As we talked I said we were looking for a path up the mountain, but all the signs said the property was private, so we were not going ashore.
Well- we had met Valentino Reade Smith, a man who could trace his ancestry back to the time of the slaves and who was now an owner of the entire property his grandfather had acquired, who, with his brothers was farming, fishing and raising high quality cattle. He was happy to bring us ashore and guide us around his property, machete in hand and wearing rubber boots, saying the signs were hanging just because all the others have them and they don’t mean a thing to him. Walk! Enjoy! He said there were many bird varieties available and as Dan and I, and by now the other boaters, tried to keep up with this spry older man we were told about the various species of lime tree he grew, fruits, banana and taro plants, cocoa and cacao, breadfruits--- and the stories he recounted of the older days, his grandfather and father and their folk wisdom were fascinating! He sure had us looking DOWN when he recounted the many varieties of snake he had witnessed on the property as well as animals and birds.
He told us there were Tommygoths, vipers, coral snakes, Fer de Lance and other snakes. They had bit and killed cattle! He told us how his grandfather knew that the worst time to be bitten was three days before and after a full moon as snakes have greatest venom then. He told us there were once very large sharks in the laguna and attacks on swimmers regular, but no more. He said his new neighbors, the Indians, kill anything and there are fewer animals; monkeys, iguana, caiman and fish. But he was born on the property and, although he goes to Bocas regularly, he wants to die there. His children live in towns around or far away. From what he said they have varied occupations but have been well educated and a few are scientists and professors.
We walked the mountain trail from his property one day, and the property the next morning. The hike up the slippery trail was somewhat difficult. As you tried to follow the path used regularly by the locals, quiet men in rubber boots carrying machete came up quickly behind you and passed with a quiet, Buenos dias. The foliage was thick and at places we saw leaf cutter ants and army ants about their business. I did not climb to the top. The path was getting steeper, the trail muddy and the time was late, I thought, for the return trip, then at one rock I needed to cross was a huge-HUGE buzzing bee and I didn’t want to go on. I turned back where Dan and Randall were walking more slowly birdwatching, and watched Randall trying to descend the path wearing flip-flops!
Laguna Palos was an adventure and a very special spot. Valentino felt the birding wasn’t that great on the morning he guided us but we saw Red-fronted Parrots, and a Lineated Woodpecker and many others such as Toucans and Oropendulas. Valentino is one of a kind! We thanked him for his friendship by brownies and a book and prints of a few pictures and made our way back to Bocas anchorage by the Saturday, July 4th cruiser potluck organized by Suzy and John on the trawler, Cabaret, held at the Calipso Cantina.
Here are 28 pics:
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| Tierra Oscura walks |
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