Despite its awesome good looks, Bluff receives few visitors.
©2007 Scott Doggett, Special to WhozHereNow.com

Eight miles or so from Bocastown, on the eastern shore of Isla Colón, Bluff is the loveliest beach on the island. Its wide, golden sand spreads three miles and is flanked by breaking waves on one side and a wall of lush jungle on the other.

This lovely beach is at the mouth of Boca del Drago.

©2007 Scott Doggett, Special to WhozHereNow.com

One needn't be an expert in rock materials to know that the sand at Boca del Drago is not world class in the way, say, that the sand at Cancún, Mexico, is, being that Cancún's sand consists of ground-down sea shells that stay cool all the time. But Drago's quartz-based sand is lovely all the same and some of the best Isla Colón has to offer.

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.

A typical scene at Red Frog, one of the loveliest beaches in Bocas.

©2007 Scott Doggett, Special to WhozHereNow.com

Red Frog Beach is a wide, two-section beach generally reached by hiking across Isla Bastimentos, although it can also be reached by boat on calm days. It takes its name from the ever-so-cute poison-dart frogs found in the bordering rainforest.

Definitely not kid stuff: The surf off Polo Beach is usually this gnarly.

©2007 Scott Doggett, Special to WhozHereNow.com

This strip of white sand between jungle and an endless, usually choppy sea on the north shore of Isla Bastimentos can go days without seeing a bipedal primate.