Playa Blanca Boat ToursPanamá
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Isla Farallón from the water: two rocky headlands with green scrub on top and boats anchored in the bay between them

Playa Blanca · Coclé · Panamá

Boat Tours from Playa Blanca, Panama

Affordable trips in a twelve-seat open boat — out to Isla Farallón and the cave that runs through it, into the mangroves, down the coast for lunch, and offshore for fishing.

Four tours 12 seats Minimum 4 guests Drinks included From $29

The four tours Book a tour

§ 1 The boat

One open boat, four short trips

It is a panga — the working boat of this coast. An outboard on the transom, benches for twelve, a canopy over most of them, and a cooler in the bow with water, soft drinks and beer. No cabin, no crew of five, no bar bill at the end. That is the trade, and it is why a morning on the water here costs what it costs.

You sit low and close to the water, which is the point. One captain who runs this stretch of coast every week, and small enough numbers that nobody is queueing to get in.

Trips run between one and three hours and are back before the afternoon heat. Nothing on the list costs more than fifty-nine dollars a head, and fishing goes by the boat rather than the seat.

  • VesselOpen panga, outboard
  • Seats12 maximum, 4 minimum
  • CrewOne captain, local to this coast
  • AboardShade canopy, life jackets in every size, snorkelling masks on the tours that need them
  • DrinksWater, soft drinks and beer from the cooler — three per person, included in the fare. Not on the Santa Clara lunch run.
  • DepartsMarina de Buenaventura, or the beach at Playa Blanca — Río Hato, Coclé, Panama
  • AgesSix and up. An open boat in Pacific swell is no place for an infant.
  • LanguagesWe book and answer in English or Spanish. Aboard, the captain speaks Spanish.

§ 2 The chart

Farallón and Approaches

Where everything on this page actually is, drawn to scale: the island two and a half miles out, the mangroves nine miles down the coast, and Santa Clara three miles the other way.

A chart of the coast from the mangroves in the south-west past Buenaventura and Playa Blanca to Santa Clara, with Isla Farallón lying four kilometres offshore and the boat's routes marked 3.7 mi / 6 km 2.5 mi / 4 km 3 mi / 5 km 9 mi / 15 km 242218 261720 151321 281214 251019 81116 12 BUENAVENTURA MARINA PLAYA BLANCA SANTA CLARA MANGLARES EL FARALLÓN DEL CHIRÚ ISLA FARALLÓN Golfo de Panamá FARALLÓN AND APPROACHES MILES 012 KILOMETRES 012 34 N

§ 3 Tours and fares

Four tours, and one on request

Fares are per person and cover the boat, the captain, a life jacket and three drinks from the cooler — on every tour but the Santa Clara run, where you eat and drink ashore. Children aged six to twelve pay 20% less. Six is the minimum age — we take no infants on board.

  • Island Tour

    1 hour
    $29per person

    Two and a half miles (four kilometres) out and a loop around Isla Farallón: the cliff face on the seaward side, the cave cutting straight through the rock, and the sheltered bay behind it. You stay aboard the whole way.

  • Island & SnorkellingMost taken

    2 hours
    $35per person

    The same island, then we anchor in the bay behind it and you get an hour in the water along the rocks. Masks and life jackets are aboard in every size.

  • Mangrove TourHigh water only

    2–2.5 hours
    $59per person

    Nine miles (fifteen kilometres) down the coast to the south-west, into the mangrove channels, where the water lies flat and the birds stay close. The channels only carry enough water near high tide, so these dates follow the tide table rather than the calendar.

  • Lunch in Santa Clara

    approx. 3 hours
    $29per person

    Three miles (five kilometres) north-east along the coast to the beach restaurant at Santa Clara. We leave you there and come back at a time you set. The cooler stays behind on this one — what you eat and drink you settle at the restaurant.

  • Sport FishingOn request

    4 hours
    $350per boat, up to 6WhatsApp

    Half a day offshore with rods and bait, up to six anglers, priced for the whole boat rather than by the seat. Not on the calendar — write to us and we will find a morning.

What the island actually is — the cave, the birds, and what you see underwater →

Looking straight down into the bay behind the island: boats at anchor and swimmers in clear green water
Plate IThe bay behind the rock, from above. The island blocks the swell, so this water stays flat when the open coast does not — it is where we anchor and where you get in.

§ 4 Passage booking

Take a seat on a tour

Tell us the tour, the day and how many of you are coming. We come straight back with the departure time, the meeting point and how to pay.

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure. If the captain calls it off for weather, the whole fare comes back.

Boarding pass№ ——

Departure times move with the tide — we confirm the exact hour when we answer.

4
0
Fare $140

Four guests minimum, twelve maximum. Children aged six to twelve pay 20% less.

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§ 5 Notes

Notes on this chart

  1. 1

    Departure points

    Two, and you pick one when you book: Marina de Buenaventura, or the beach at Playa Blanca between RIU Playa Blanca and Playa Blanca Resort. Be there fifteen minutes before departure.

  2. 2

    Carry with you

    Sunscreen, a hat and a towel. There is a canopy and a cooler on board, but the sun off the water is stronger than it looks from the beach.

  3. 3

    Open days and closed days

    Departure times move through the week with the tide rather than sitting on a fixed timetable. What stands on the calendar is genuinely free — nothing is confirmed and then taken back.

  4. 4

    If the sea gets up

    The captain decides on the morning of the tour. If we do not go, you take another day or the full fare comes back.