On wednesday i was hanging out with a friend, Bolivar Andres, very good sponsored free-surfer that lives in Bocas del Toro and he told me we should go the next day (Thursday) to surf at Big Island. I tried to look for someone who could take us and my friend Ricardo "BATMAN" Conte appeared and told me he had a new van and we could go in the van to the caribbean so we had everything set up.
Batman's new VAN
Next morning (4:00 a.m) we take off and call my other friend Ricky Barnett.. who also joined us. We picked up Bolivar and went to the Island. After 2 hours of driving we got there and felt a really strong wind coming from everywhere so we were all kind of down because there weren't waves, but who cares we tried so we called the boat man and he took us to the spot .. we saw a 1ft. white water and a really strong wind .. we were like #$@%^ it sucks ..we wanted to surff!!! So we went back to La Guaira to go back to the city.
Ricky, Bolivar and Batman. Before we went and checked the waves. [7:36a.m]
Bolivar and Batman getting some food. [7:38 a.m.]
We didn't even know what could we do .. we didn't want to be in the #$2%# city so Bolivar came up with the idea of going to the Shelter Bay where he has his sailboat parked. Yes..i forgot to tell you guys.. he was captain of a sailboat called Princess Lauren and lived in his sailboat ("Alegria") since he was 14.
Bolivar's sailboat since he was 14, ALEGRIA
Shelter Bay [10:51 a.m]
We went to this place to check his sailboat. There i could shoot some really sick lifestyle shots of us. So the trip wasn't that bad. After checking his sailboat he invited us for lunch..
After the "shelter bay" we drove to the Causeway in the city to meet some friends of Bolivar that he needed to talk with.
Stormy Causeway [4:05 p.m.]
YES THIS WAS OUR WEEKEND SURF TRIP HAHAHA.. HERE ARE THE SHOTS
My dad invited me to join him for a trip to San Blas, an archipielago of 365 islands off the north coast of the isthmus. I thought about it .. because i wanted to surf but ..bahh .. i asked him if i could take some friends and he accepted so i though it would be nice to go with some friends and have a good time with the mates!
Pedro Pablo Vallejo and Agustin Cabrera joined the trip .. when we got there we saw the beautiful island with beautiful turquoise-colored ocean we were so happy! 5 minutes later it started raining hahaa. that sucked! our campings got wet inside and all our stuff got wet and didn't stop raining till like an hour maybe.. anyways we were having a good time.
The time we spent was cool but the rain sucked.. Here are some shots
When I arrived to PTY the first thing that came to my mind was where should I go for Carnivals? (a long weekend-4 days). My decision was between Fidel's farm (http://www.panamasurfphotos.org), one of the only water shots photographer and the best from Panama or going to BOQUETE and know a new place with my friend Eric De Arriba..an old man who thinks his surfing is veteran.
Finally I chose Chiriqui because Fidel was scared of coconuts falling on my head and anyways..i wanted to meet the waves over there in Chiriqui. We drove for about 7 hours till we got to Dito's house in Boquete which was really nice.
The first day we tried to look for a wave but we were lost and didn't know the directions very well but at the end we got there and surfed a rivermouth beachbreak with left and rights about 3-4 ft.
The next day we were supposed to wake up really early to surf a new wave my friend Eric wanted to go to, but what a surprise he wouldn't wake up in the morning. He was "too tired"..bahh.. and then he talks about him being a veteran .. anyways..groms will rule forever.
We went surfing super late but scored some 3-4 ft. beachbreak wave..we expected more power and size from the wave but it was small.
The next day we surfed for a bit and then went to a river and to the mountains to shoot some skating shots.
Concluding..it was a good trip. I had a good time eventhough this "veteran" never wanted to wake up at time.. I liked the place where we stayed.. meeting new places is cool..Isn't it?
