PUNTA CARACOL ACQUA-LODGE

CHASING A DREAM

The Master Suite
Punta Caracol

We had never heard of Bocas del Toro until we happened upon a video by some influencer that was aglow about this Panamanian archipelago where the opportunity to stay in overwater bungalows are offered at a fraction of the cost of similar places like Bora Bora or the Maldives. Such places would be far out of our price range, but in Bocas del Toro we discovered there are several opportunities to chase this dream.

This is not to say Bocas is a perfectly even exchange for either place, but it’s hard to argue against a staying at Punta Caracol. This mid-range bungalow is less than $300 per night. There are other resorts in the area that are less and others, as shown by the influencer’s video, are more expensive stays.

Interior

Punta Caracol Acqua-Lodge is rustic with thatched roofs and the resort prides itself on being an eco-lodge with electricity from solar panels and is set on a mile long coral reef. Each bungalow has a hammock and a little dock to swim from or to just watch the water and tour boats and water taxis pass by. Janet has been taking great delight in waving at the boats, and everyone waves back. 

The water is clear and teeming with marine life just beneath our deck. This is a special place.  

It has been a relaxing beautiful stay.

SERENDIPITY 

The best part about coming to Punta Caracol is the price we did NOT pay. Janet went through a consolidator, Hotels.com, though she doesn’t usually go that route and prefers staying with what the establishment offers. The price we were quoted at Hotels.com for one of the smaller bungalows though was less than the Punta Caracol website so we booked one of the smaller bungalows through Hotels.com. 

Better yet, for some reason we were upgraded from our small bungalow to their largest one, the "Master Suite Fernando Aldania". This large airy spacious bungalow is their most expensive and goes for $400 per night.  

The circular master suite has stairs leading to a loft for the main sleeping area and that opens onto an upper balcony. On the main floor there are three bed/couches. Sliding glass door open to a large deck with several chaises and a ladder into the water. 

Not only is this comfortable bungalow spacious, but it located near the reception desk, which is another small bungalow across the “gangplank” from us, but close enough to get very reliable WiFI, so we don’t have to trudge over to the dining hall, another thatched roof building, to get our Candy Crush fix for the day.

As mentioned earlier electricity is a priceless commodity and provided by solar panels charging up batteries. After we flew into Bocas del Toro from Panama City on Air Panama we had a hired taxi drive us to the resort’s pier to catch a water taxi. Before we left eight heavy batteries were loaded onto our small launch and throughout the resort are solar panels. Sadly, yesterday was cloudy and this morning we didn’t have hot water for the shower.

Thankfully Punta Caracol maintains a charging station for personal devices at the reception desk. This may seem inconvenient to some, but for us it’s a small price to pay to finally enjoy staying at an overwater bungalow.

We would come back.

looking up at the loft

bunalows at sunset

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj

PANAMA CITY AND CHEF DAVE

NOW WE’RE COOKING 

doing my part

Lucky me! Not only does Janet plan trips well, she also likes to cook and for the past couple of trips we started taking cooking classes when we travel. Cooking classes are great way to have some fun, learn a bit about the local culture and get a great meal. In Hanoi we learned how to make Vietnamese Spring Rolls. In Seville we made Valencian Paella. Here in Panama City, she booked a cooking class with Chef Dave who runs something called the Afro-Panamanian Cooking Experience. According to his website his cooking “blends indigenous, African and Spanish influences.”

We made Saltfish or Bacalao in Panamanian, as both a stew and fritters, coconut rice, with a Pico de Gallo salsa and a garlic alioli for condiments. Not only did we learn these recipes but also cooking techniques like simply how to hold the knife or to prepare green bell peppers by pushing in the stems. It was intuitive and fun and we had a great time with our “crew”. The class is four hours long! But it never felt lagging or boring.

Chef Dave 

Dave is originally from Kenya and runs tours to his country, with no more than 10 people in the group. I think Janet is seriously considering this trip. I guess I’ll have to go.

Here is Dave’s Instagram account.

CHEF DAVE PANAMA CITY

CARNAVAL

What is interesting about the cooking class was that we went on the Tuesday of Carnaval. We never considered the Lenten calendar in planning for this trip. Thankfully Carnaval in Panama City is more of a family holiday, and much of the population heads “home” to visit family in the villages. We were completely clueless, and it was not until our hired driver from the airport told us, through his translating app, that the roads were empty because of Carnaval.  

Casco Viejo Street

For years Panama officials have been trying to push Carnaval in Panama City to make it more of an occasion and there is a parade route the same evening as our class, along Cintra Costera park, in the newer part of the city. Our cooking class was in Casco Viejo the old section and though there was a police presence on nearly every street corner Casco Viejo was quiet.

Here’s a link to Carnaval in Panama with a map of the route in Panama City.

CARNAVAL IN PANAMA

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

view from Sama Sky Lounge - Casco Viejo to the right

We were worried Carnaval overflow may hamper our movements in and out of Casco Viejo, so rather than linger in town after the class we decided to go mid-afternoon for some day drinking.

We had the hotel call us a taxi and arranged for him to drop us off and pick us up for the return. He didn’t want to get paid, he charged $12 each way, until the second leg. He was there waiting for us patiently even though we were a bit late getting out of the class.

Diplomatico Rum at
 Sama Sky Lounge

Before our cooking class we walked around Casco Viejo for a bit then headed over to the Sama Sky Lounge. It’s tricky to get to. Find the entrance to the Oasis Hotel on C. Este 9a, walk down a small flight of stairs and take the elevator to the roof. We were rewarded with spectacular views of both the new Panama City and Casco Viejo and our favorite rum, Diplomatico from Venezuela.

SAMA SKY LOUNGE PANAMA CITY

Thanks for reading.

Love Chef Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj

DINNER BY THE PANAMA CANAL

WATCHING THE WORLD SLIP BY

Canal House view for dinner

Returning to Panama for a greatly needed escape from the Northeast winter has been easy, because Janet has been in charge. She, as always, has planned this trip down to the tiniest minutiae. Airline tickets, parking, two separate hotels in Panama City, two different resorts in Bocas del Toro and even one at the Philadelphia airport, car and boat transfers, dive shops and cooking classes are all under her purview.

All I have to do is find my wallet.

Included in her planning is taking advantage of the perks that come with traveling and as she has attained “Platinum” status our layovers are spent in the Admirals Clubs at both Philadelphia and Miami. We get free seating and boarding upgrades and free checked luggage and she is constantly monitoring for “deals” and makes ROI decisions that helps perpetuate her elitist ranking. Case in point we are staying at the Radisson Panama Canal, but not because it sits directly on the waters leading to the Panama Canal, but because this stay will gain her the most loyalty points.

RADISSON PANAMA CANAL

SERENDIPITY?

All of her planning may seem untenable to others, because on the surface it seems there’s no room for exploring, or as I like to say, ‘getting happily lost’.

From past personal experiences though “my way” is akin to a headless chicken running around aimlessly and from recent experiences traveling with Janet we still are graced with good luck and serendipitous discoveries.

WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE WE?

Well, the reward for her planning is the Radisson Panama Canal which is indeed right on the canal. From our well-deserved poolside perch, we watch the ship traffic entering or leaving the Pacific Ocean side of the Panama Canal. Smaller boats are moored in the Balboa yacht club as the much-larger tanker ships glide slowly beneath the Bridge of the Americas.

We stayed in the area when we were last in Panama when our ship docked at the Amador Causeway and we are a short drive from the UNESCO World Heritage site, Casco Viejo the beautiful old section of Panama City. The soaring high-rise buildings are thankfully further away.

As we have been here before we are not touring the Miraflores Visitor Center for the Panama Canal, and we are limiting our time in Casco Viejo to a cooking class.

OFF SCRIPT

When you (Janet) plans well there are always opportunities to go off-script and explore. Yesterday we did just that. After settling into our hotel, we opted to stroll along the waterway before eating dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. 

Ropa Vieja tacos
at Canal House

We happened upon the Canal House, a local joint with a thatched roof and shifted plans to eat there. Not thinking it was odd the place was packed for a mid/late Monday afternoon; it did feel like a Sunday afternoon; we found a table and somehow ordered drinks and food. Staff barely spoke English. Janet had Shrimp ceviche and I had Ropa Vieja tacos that exploded with flavors and we ate while watching massive cargo ships slip silently by on their way to or from the Panama Canal.

It was a beautiful stop.

CANAL HOUSE PANAMA

CARNAVAL

Turns out we were in the middle of Carnaval, that mash-up to Ash Wednesday and Lent. There are celebrations in Panama City, but people mostly view it as a family holiday and escape the city to visit “home” and celebrate there. Panama City officials have been pushing to make it a more prominent activity for years and today (Tuesday) there will be a parade along Cinta Costera and much later the “Entierro de la Sardina” (yeah, they bury a sardine that officially ends Carnaval), but we are not venturing farther than the old city and our cooking class.

Hopefully no one hands me a shovel, we have a plane to catch in the morning.

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj

NEXT STOP PANAMA

AND NONE TOO SOON

Panamanian dancers

With more snow forecast for tonight, we are leaving for Panama a day earlier and staying in a hotel near the Philadelphia Airport. We’ve had too much cold and too much snow this winter to risk missing our flight, which begins boarding at 5:20 am. Besides we booked the hotel room through American Airlines, which will also get me an extra 1,500 loyalty points.

Those miles add up. We’re flying to Greece later this year using frequent flyer mileage.

We are staying at the Doubletree Hotel and we will leave our car parked there. The hotel will charge you $25 pd to park there, but Janet goes through CHEAPERAIRPORTPARKING.ORG and we’ll park there for just $130. 

Do the math over 16 days.

Another reason to love Janet.

Janet with indigenous art

Soon, we will shed the winter doldrums and bask in the Panamanian sun and enjoy the rich diverse culture of this Central American country. .

After spending a day in Panama City where we are taking a cooking class, we will fly to Bocas del Toro, an archipelago on the western Caribbean shore near Costa Rica. We will fly there on Panama Air. 

Sadly, we don’t get frequent flyer miles with them.

TRAVELING TO PANAMA

UH-OH?

I’m not going to lie to you, but growing up in the 80’s Panama was not on any destination itinerary for this humble scribe. With the scandal of the Iran-Contra Affair and Manuel Noreiga’s drug trafficking enterprise out of Panama filling the nightly news, it was an easy bet that I would steer clear of the Central American country.

That was in the 80’s and Noreiga has been out of the picture long before his death in 2017, but admittedly there is some residual dread about traveling there.

In February we are traveling to Bocas del Toro for a hopefully relaxing stay in this popular tourist destination.

To think the narcotics problem has gone away completely would be ludicrous and there are areas of Panama you should not venture into. According to the U.S. State Department places like the Darien Gap, the dense inhospitable jungle 60+ miles long that separates Panama from Colombia and where there are no roads or no law enforcement, and the very rural Mosquito Coast on the Caribbean side of Panama should be avoided.

WTF?

You’re probably saying why would anyone want to travel to Panama then. Yes, it can be edgy, but the show of law enforcement in other places is prevalent.

Panama law

We sailed from Costa Rica to Panama several years ago, and we were reminded that there are strict rules.

When we crossed into Panamanian waters at night aboard the Variety Cruises MS Panorama we were boarded by customs agents. They looked at everyone’s passport and scrutinized the ship’s manifest.

Embera-Wounaan

When we landed on Iguana Island, a small island with white sandy beaches, our tender was challenged by a military crew wearing balaclavas and toting machine guns. The crew of the Panorama is Greek, and no one spoke Spanish, and our Costa Rican cruise director was still on the ship. Until the whole thing was settled, we were told to sit in the shade and not wander away. We wiled away the time watching countless hermit crabs prancing about the beach as iguanas ogled us curiously.

When we visited a village of the Embera-Wounaan one of the indigenous tribes living in the Darien Gap, we were watched by a couple of military soldiers who followed our group from a discreet distance.

IN STEP WE TRUST

Truthfully, the police presence was comforting. Another way to help waylay any misgivings, other than exercising commonsense in certain situations, is to register your travel itinerary with the US State Department. Each time we leave the country we register with their STEP program. It’s free and you will get alerts to any issues going on in your destination and where NOT to go. The Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, don’t leave home without registering!

STEP with the US Department of State

 

WORRYWARTS?   

Perhaps, but, being smart in your traveling is smart. Not wading into situations, thinking you’re impervious, is smart.

One can spend their entire life not seeing this big beautiful world and be safe. Travel does take some people out of their comfort zone, but travel for us extends our comfort levels.  And, without traveling how could we ever experience the beauty of this world. In our earlier trip to Panama we swam with whale sharks and turtles and dodged hermit crabs and we are looking forward to returning.

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj

 

BOCAS DEL TORO

PANAMA BEYOND THE CANAL 

Punta Caracol Acqua-Lodge 

Next month we will escape winter and visit a very popular tourist spot in Panama and it’s not the Panama Canal. 

With alluring mid-80s temperatures in February, stunning natural beauty with lush rainforests and white-sand beaches with turquoise water teeming with diverse marine life and a vibrant culture, the Bocas del Toro (mouths of the bull) archipelago will be a welcome and budget friendly destination. 

Popular with backpackers, surfers, scuba divers, and ecotourists this area, on the Caribbean side of Panama near the border with Costa Rica, will be a great excuse to get away from winter.

Besides, we had been to the Panama Canal once before. We had sailed from Costa Rica to Panama in 2020 with the small ship cruise line Variety Cruises. Our final stop on that trip was Panama City, and we toured the Miraflores Visitor Center to watch massive ships squeeze through the locks.

MIRAFLORES VISITOR CENTER

VARIETY CRUISES 

OVERWATER BUNGALOWS

With nine main islands and countless cays and islets, all accessible by boat or water taxis, Bocas del Toro is not only beautiful, but very affordable.

Though we have often admired overwater bungalows in brochures, the cost of a stay was always very prohibitive for us. In Bocas del Toro though this “dream” of staying in an overwater bungalow is a reality and there are several available at a very nominal price. We are staying at the Punta Caracol Acqua Lodge, at less than $250 per night. This is a fraction of similar stays say in the Maldives or French Polynesia, or even at a Sandals Resort that we like to visit. As a comparison point, overwater bungalows at the Sandals South Coast in Jamaica are roughly $1,600 per night, PER PERSON.

LISTING OF OVERWATER BUNGALOWS IN BOCAS

A BOOK AND A HAMMOCK

The bungalows of Punta Caracol Acqua-Lodge are set along a mile-long coral reef where we can swim or snorkel off our private deck or relax with a book in our hammock. We’ll enjoy sunsets and a restaurant whose menu changes daily.

It will be a rustic stay as there is an emphasis on sustainable renewable energy, but there is a free shuttle boat that leaves for town three times a day, in case we need to get in some partying or souvenir purchases. I suspect though, we will enjoy the quiet and the warm weather of Panama while back home they will be in the deepest throes of winter.

Once we are in town there are water taxis if we decide to go to one of the area floating bars, with fares anywhere from $2.00 to $5.00.

floating bar Bocas

Other activities available to us will be a boat tour of several islands in the archipelago to visit places like Starfish Beach or Red Frog Beach and at least one scuba dive excursion. Or, that hammock overlooking the water and frolicking dolphins may be all the activity we will require.

PUNTA CARACOL BOCAS DEL TORO PANAMA 

YOU CAN GET THERE FROM HERE

Bocas del Toro is on the extreme western edge of Panama, and it is an hour flight from Panama City with Panama Air. Oh, you can be cheap and take a 12-hour bus ride from the capital for less than $30. The round-trip flights are around $280, but with the inexpensive accommodation at Punta Caracol we could easily afford it.

We are staying in Panama City for 2 days before our flight out west, but we are taking a cooking class instead of touring the canal.

BOCAS DEL TORO TRAVEL GUIDE

BTW I’ve been working on my Spanish. I will make sure I use the word mucho while in Panama. It means “a lot” to the people.

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj 

ADVICE FOR THIS YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

DON’T BOTHER

Okay, we’re a week into the New Year and I’m sure a lot of you tried to start 2026 with a proper attitude towards improving yourself. Dry January, diets, book reading, more exercise, etc. etc.  All noble endeavors, I guess.

Sadly, I’m sure a lot of you have already stumbled on some of those wonderful goals, but who cares right? It’s that Buddhist way: “Let that shit go.”

Have a beer, eat that donut, only peruse the New York Post headlines, and cancel that membership to the local Planet Fitness. (Why waste that $15 pm?)

In the long run you won’t feel frustrated by your lack of discipline and you’ll savor that IPA or relish that Boston Cream as its filling plops onto your tight t-shirt as you watch the movie version of that novel you thought you’d like to read…hopefully it’s on Netflix so you won’t even have to bother leaving the house.

Throw out that bathroom scale. Order pizza in. Don’t even attempt to tax yourself by watching the news or in the case of this NY Giants fan, any of the NFL playoffs. Watch incessant F-Troop reruns instead.

Get the dog to walk themselves. Have the liquor store deliver needed libations.  Close the blinds and don’t leave the house and please, don’t surf the internet for deals on beautiful destinations because you don’t want to travel.

WTF?

Yikes, that last bit about not wanting to travel is kind of revealing to you dear reader that this blog entry is farce, except for the bit about being a sullen NY Football Giants fan.

Ugh.

If there’s just one resolution or goal for you during this new year it should be to explore your world, if not the world. Where are you? How did you get here? How DO you get there? Learn, explore, and along the way be kind and be happy with wherever you alight this year, because, well, because it’s a Buddhist way.

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU WEIGH…

One last bit of advice is about exercise. Around this time the gyms are packed with people and their resolutions about “getting in shape.” Don’t worry, the crowds will dwindle soon enough. Keep at it, if only to be hearty and hale enough to enjoy traveling. Be a moving target and remember this always:

“It’s not what you weigh, but what that weight looks like” © by Gregory Dunaj

 

Thanks for reading and looking forward to this new year.

Love Janet and greg

© 2026 by Gregory Dunaj