Tuesday 1st April 2014
You wanna brief tour of Jinja Island? Yeah? Yeah??
Okay then……………
Here’s everything you need to know about my little gingdom by the sea.
A Brief Tour of Jinja Island
The Island
- 2.2 acres, flat, grassy with over 100 tropical trees – Palm, Banana, Noni, Mangrove etc.
- Helipad in case of emergencies
- In VHF radio range of Bocas Town
- Strong mobile phone signal – mobile broadband available
- 20 mins from Bocas Del Toro Town/Airport by boat
- Surrounded by mangrove trees which provide privacy
- Fringing coral reef makes it difficult for unfamiliar speedboats to come close, which adds extra security
- Calm waters – located within a mangrove reserve
- Dry shed for storing electrical equipment
- Ample room for a load of tents
- 3 useable boat docks: 1 jetty/boat house, 1 wooden jetty for kayaks, 1 stone dock for delivering equipment via barges.
- Island comes with a guard dog (Campesino) 9 chickens and a speedboat
- There is no freshwater on the island, but there is plenty of rain.
The House
- Two bedrooms
- Two floors
- 8 solar panels
- 800 gallon watertank fed by rainwater
- Hot water / hot shower
- Gas cooker
- TV
- Composting toilet*
- Fridge-freezer
- Wi-Fi
- It’s possible to see the entire island from the house.
*that’s being replaced with a flush toilet as soon as possible!!
Bocas Del Toro
- Bocas Del Toro is a province on the Caribbean coast of north-west Panama.
- The main town, situated on the south peninsular of Isla Colon, is also called Bocas Del Toro.
- Bocas has its own airport and is just 45 minutes by plane from Panama City.
- Bocas is a big backpacker hub, plenty of new-agers roaming about sporting dreadlocks and sandals.
- Bocas is around 9 degrees north of the equator and is very tropical – lots of sun and lots of rain.
- There are amazing (and usually deserted) beaches just a few miles away, as well as luxury hotels, such as Red Frog Resort.
- Christopher Columbus came here on his third voyage to the New World. The islands Cristobal and Colon are named after him, and Isla Canenero is where he careened his ships.
- Jinja island lies 10km south of Bocas Town. It takes around 20 minutes to get from Bocas to Jinja on a speedboat.
The Ruta Maya
We don’t take over Jinja Island until May 1st 2014, so instead of sitting around twiddling our thumbs, Casey and I will be travelling up to Belize, Mexico and Guatemala to see some of the famous Mayan sites such as Tikal and Chichen Itza.
Join us for the next part of the Jinja Island story:
