Hospital Point Pioneer Medical Center (1899-1920). The hospital, above left, and the manager's house, above right, as they appeared in 1914. The hospital mostly served banana workers and their families.

Hospital Point on the western tip of Isla Solarte was the site of a medical center run by the United Fruit Company of Boston from 1899 until it was razed in 1920 in advance of a new hospital in Almirante, on the mainland. Today, locals know it a submerged 50-foot rock wall that makes for superb underwater exploration.

You have arrived ... at the dock on Cayo Zapatilla #2.
©2007 Scott Doggett, Special to WhozHereNow.com

You’d think with all the wampum the many “Survivor” TV shows rake in, their producers would scour the Earth for perfectly hellish islands on which to shoot episodes. By that we mean a snake-dripping, jaguar-prowling, curse-plagued, leech-crawling, skeleton-riddled, fire-spewing and sea-ringed volcano which, when viewed from space, resembles not so much a land mass as it does a ghastly canker sore. But nooooo!

Scuba divers prepare to submerge at Coral Garden near Isla Solarte.

©2007 Scott Doggett, Special to WhozHereNow.com

Off the western shore of Isla Solarte, in water ranging from 12 to 60 feet deep, lies Coral Garden, an appropriate name for the site of some of the healthiest coral in the archipelago. The dive spot is 10 minutes by boat from Bocastown.

The Playground harbors many lovely creatures, this cutie included.

©2007 Timo McElderry, Special to WhozHereNow.com
Wildseahorses@hotmail.com

The Playground is a circular reef in Sand Fly Bay off the east edge of Bocastown. The Playground is noted for its many varieties of soft corals and for sea turtles that frequent the bay.

A diver at Buoy Line, a popular deepish dive near Isla Solarte.

©2007 Timo McElderry, Special to WhozHereNow.com
Wildseahorses@hotmail.com

Buoy Line is a popular dive site off the northern end of Isla Solarte that takes its name from a deep-water channel marker buoy, No. 13 to be precise.