Panama highlights

On a custom tour our family took to Panama in June-July ’09 (Oct. ’09, pg. 32), we stayed on SAN CRISTOBAL ISLAND at the Dolphin Bay Hideaway (phone +011 [507] 6417 7351 or [507] 6772 9917, www.dolphinbayhideaway.com), a small, private B&B in Bocas del Toro.

We highly recommend it. The owners, Erika and José, went out of their way to ensure that we had a great time. We ate most of our dinners there; Erika is a great cook (ask for the lobster!).

On our way to and from everything else we did, we saw dolphins playing. They got within just a few feet of our boat.

In Bocas del Toro I recommend the following tours:

• Green Acres Chocolate Farm — this was an easy walk through a cocoa plantation led by the plantation owner, an American expat.

• La Gruta bat cave — the cave was only a small part of this tour. We spent the bulk of our time slowly going down a small river and viewing the wildlife. We saw several sloths.

• Zapatilla Major — this island has a beautiful beach with an opportunity for snorkeling and a nice nature trail. The place was deserted; we had the whole island to ourselves.

I’d skip the tour of the Salt Creek Indigenous Village. It was simply a short walk through the forest led by one of the village members, who spoke no English. Virtually no information about the culture was provided.

BARRY HANTMAN

Danville, NH