A Man, A Plan, A Vacation, Panama

Morro Negrito is near the western town of Tole

I just got back to Atlanta from Panama - ahhhhhhh AC. Time to catch up on all that went on.

Surprisingly, the flight to Panama City from Atlanta was only 3.5 hours. I've been flying out to California a lot lately, so that was a breeze. I landed in PC at 9 pm, picked up my bags and met the driver the surf camp arranged for me. Morro Negrito was a liiiiitle bit harder to reach.  I felt totally comfortable touching down by myself in a Spanish speaking country after all of the time I spent in Chile.

The taxi driver took me on the half an hour to the bus terminal and instructed the bus driver where to drop me off. Luckily the bus was a proper tour bus with reclining seats, although I sat in the very back row and the AC unit dripped on me every now and then. Annoying, but manageable. Steve, the owner of the surf camp, sent a bunch of email instructions that included - do not fall asleep on the bus. Since the bus left at 10:45 I definitely didn't make it without nodding off a few times.

The driver remembered my taxi drivers instructions and dropped me off at about 4 am. I realized why I was warned to pay attention. The bus stop was nothing more than a police checkpoint (for drugs) in the middle of the jungle. I sleepily staggered off of the bus and saw a car flash its lights at me. This was Jefe, the driver that was to take me to the port. About a half hour later, we pulled into the port for Morro Negrito. After a few honks a young Panamanian came out and unlocked the gate. I understood enough Spanish for him to tell me that the boat captain wouldn't be there until 6 am and I could sleep in a hammock on the patio until morning.

About a half an hour later a rooster started crowing, and has anyone actually tried to sleep in a hammock? Honestly, I don't know how. The boat captain finally arrived and I met a few of my campmates that had gotten to the port earlier in the day. They were lucky enough to get rooms since they got there earlier in the evening.

Morro Negrito

We all hopped on the outboard motorboat for the beautiful 45 minute to the camp. So after a plane, taxi, bus, taxi, boat, I finally arrived around 7 am just in time for breakfast. I don't want you to think I'm complaining. I was really tired but so pumped to start surfing.

Morro Negrito is on a peninsula but it can't be reached by road so they consider it an island.  There were a few locals driving the boats and working in the camp along with our surf guides, Keith and Lucas.  Keith is from Redondo Beach and comes to MN once a year to surf, fish and guide the guests.  He was an expert surfer but also brought his spear gun for something else to do.  Lucas was German, not very experienced and was planning to stay at the camp for about two months.  They were both really cool guys.

As for the other guests, it was a Canadian invasion.  The leader of the group was a guy named Warren.  He visited MN a few years earlier and came back with his fiance, three friends (one of whom was a 2006 freestyle moguls Olympic skier) and their girlfriends/wives, plus a few other friends.  Another Canadian couple
rounded out our group of 13.  The guys were pretty good surfers and also helpful with tops on positioning and timing.

The 6 days were spent surfing, eating, sleeping, with a little bit of snorkeling in between.  I surfed Snickers and Chapel with the beginner group and attempted P-Land and Nestles with the more advanced guys.  The swell wasn't big enough for the other breaks and I'd be tempted to come back to see it.  The week after we left they were getting 20 foot waves!



I brought my camera out every now and then to get some underwater shots.  It was no Great Barrier Reef, but I'll take it.  I added a few at the bottom of this post but you can check out the full album on Picasa.  Keith and I went out for some night freediving to try to find lobsters (the ones there have no claws) to eat, but they were all too small.  Keith did get a wicked jellyfish sting and I flirted with danger as I tried to take a picture of it.

Most evenings were really hot and humid until the rain came.  May is the beginning of Panama's rainy season but don't let that discourage you from going.  It provided a cool off period after the long, hot day.  I heard stories about the conditions during the dry season and I'm glad I picked May.  We even used the runoff from the roof to take group showers.  The surrounding community shared the same water source and we were happy to conserve what they had.  The first few nights were really uncomfortable since I wasn't used to the heat.  I was expecting this from the time I spent in similar accommodations in Costa Rica back in 2008.  I ended up popping a Benadryl (or two) every night to help me cope with all of the mosquito bites and knock me out.

Should've gotten stitches - it's deep, trust me

I got to see a turtle, eat sushi 5 minutes after the fish was caught, and gained a lot of confidence in my abilities (the whole point of the trip).  I tried to push myself and surf with the guys on the reef a few times.  The wave faces were between 6-8 feet which were really big for me.  Unfortunately I got taken by a wave I wasn't trying to surf and dragged across the reef.  I gashed my leg pretty badly and spent the rest of the trip trying to superglue it together to keep out an infection.

Despite that setback I kept at it for the last few days.  I really lucked out with the guides and other guests - they could have easily made or ruined the week.  I started this adventure on my own but I was happy I didn't spend the week by myself.  I know have some people to see up in Vancouver on a trip I hope to take in the not so distant future.  I submitted my experience to Trip Advisor as something I'd definitely recommend to anyone that wants an atypical vacation and enjoys surfing (note that there's more to do than just surf, but it's definitely the focus).

Check out parts II (Boquete), III (Bocas del Toro) and IV (Panama City) of my series of posts on Panama to see all of the other places I visited during my second week.