Starfish Starfish Beach

The original plan had been to go snorkelling but half the group came down with the Latin equivalent of the Bali Belly, the cause of which was hard to pin down, as we'd all eaten at various locations without there being any common element.  Incidentally, you can't really call it the Central American Belly, because that could only refer to the way guys cool themselves down here which involves them rolling their t-shirt upwards so that their stomachs can get some air.   As cool as you might feel, it's not a look to try at home unless you really want to be the man from uncool.

Instead, those that were still walking, decided to go to Starfish Beach.  After a boat-ride and a surprisingly (to everyone but our guide) long bus trip, we reached the beach.  I should say "a beach" because we then had to walk round a couple more bays before reaching our destination.

The place had a great vibe to it: lots of families enjoying a day at the beach, music playing, barbecues and lots of swimming.  And, most importantly,  for us whiteys, plenty of shade!


Amazingly, there were even starfish.  This is when I'd like to tell you more about starfish but actually I've got nothing other than that they're 5-pronged pointy things that sit on the bottom of the ocean.

The "main drag" in Colon

After the beach we headed back to Colon where we decided to grab a bite to eat, while we were in "the big city".

We found a bar/cafe called La Buga which our guide tells us means The Boogie.  Nobody believes this.  The place looked across the water back to "our island".

The view back to Bastimentos Island

It also had a parrot there that could wolf-whistle.  That's amusing for about 2 minutes.

"Waiter!' - La Buga

Having taken everybody's order, the waitress gets to me and, to everybody's astonishment, wants to know if I'd like the special beer promotion that gave me 2 beers for $3.  This was in spite of several people before me ordering beers.  It's that thirsty face again, I tell you.

Darkness fell and it was time to head back.  There's no taxi-ride quite like a speeding water taxi in the dark, the tillerman also holding a torch so that any other boats can see him.  With a (literal) show-boating, last high-speed swerve, we were back at our hotel.