Our Base

Medical Volunteer Opportunities Abroad

Where You Will Be Staying:

Medical Volunteer Opportunities Abroad - The Floating Doctors Base is shown in an aerial view on a sunny day with blue water and green islands

Volunteers and staff stay at the Floating Doctors base on Isla San Cristobal, a 25-minute boat ride from the town of Bocas del Toro on Isla Colon. Our headquarters is an off-the-grid remote facility located on a mangrove island, relying on solar power, rain catchment and filtration, and biotreatment of waste. Volunteers sleep in our 14-room bunkhouse dormitory and deploy from our base to our target communities. Our team works very hard to keep our volunteers comfortable and well-fed, but please remember that these are accommodations built and maintained with much struggle against an unforgiving environment. Our headquarters is a working medical support base built for the purpose of delivering health care to remote jungle communities.  Electric fans and mosquito nets are provided for every bed. Our kitchen is run by a team of women and men from the neighboring village of Valle Escondido and they are justifiably proud of the meals they prepare for us. 

We ask that participants be adaptable and enjoy the adventure of living off the grid, and the sight of glowing bioluminescence at night, the occasional visiting sloth, or flocks of parrots returning home overhead at the end of the day. The mangroves and the jungle are beautiful, especially at night, and swimming or snorkeling off the dock in the warm clear tropical water is a great way to cool off at the end of a day out in the field.