The Bastimentos Island Marine National Park was created in 1998 and is a group of islands and islets spread out over 13,226 hectares. It is one of the few protected areas in Latin America that preserves beach, coral reef and mangrove ecosystems within the same space. Here you will find sea turtle nesting sites, coastal, island and marine ecosystem reserves, coral reefs, fantastic and scenic white sand beaches and ideal diving spots due to the crystal clear waters. It is home for manatees and over 200 species of tropical fish, and is a very important place for sea turtles to lay their eggs.

On the south coast of the island is the Admiral Lagoon, the only freshwater lagoon known in an island area of Panama, where there are numerous freshwater turtles. Countless canals wind through the mangrove islets, surrounded by coral and sandy bottoms covered with fields of seagrass. The park preserves the country's largest tract of Caribbean mangroves, along with the best preserved coral reefs on that coastline, dominated by red mangrove and white mangrove.