We actually got everyone passports so we could visit Costa Rica and wanted to visit the Golfito area. I wanted to see if you really could catch 20 sailfish in a day. We went to Bambito instead. I forgot to mention. There was one other place beside Bocas Del Toro and San Blas we didn’t go (and the Tropic Star). Colon City. I heard it was a bit dangerous and there was just no reason to go there. I knew plenty of people who went for the “Duty Free” shopping but we weren’t too much into shopping.
If that's the place I'm thinking of, my cousin bought a bunch of acres on a small island that's accessed by that little town and built a house on it. My memory is failing but I think he said it was about a 20 boat ride from Bocas to his island. I don't know if he still owns it since he and his wife moved back to Florida and he took up gainful employment....LOL!
Used to be a cheap homemade dry dock near Golfito
You could Beach a ship up to 6-700 foot waterline in an estuary at tide and the locals would block off the hull and strip paint and barnacles and then paint red lead bottom and new zinc and good to go cheaper than say dry dock in Mobile or Curacao
Rio Haina Dominican Republic had a cheap one too