Feb 4, 2015

Panama Part Four: More Good Stuff


Here are tons of pics of the great trip. We did so many amazing things and really loved it!
Red Frog Beach

Turtle Beach- my favorite
The walk to red frog beach

The beach break on Red Frog beach was not good for surfing but really fun to play and boogy board in.


I felt so good and happy!  Seriously I think I'm allergic to Utah and the only antidote is the Ocean.


One day after a long hard surf session we rented bikes to go to Bluff Beach.  Our rusty clunky hunk of junk bikes barely made the 1.5 hour journey on the road and through the sand but we eventually pulled up to Bluff.  I felt like a rusty clunky hunk myself, as I barely survived the ride in the heat!



Becca found a hammock and had to use gymnast skills to get inside.

Bluff Beach was so beautiful, but I had ZERO energy left after surfing and biking so I sat in the shade trying not to throw up and watched Becca and Casey take it all in.
Casey


We spent a few days on Isla Bastimentos and got lots of relaxing and hiking in.
This was the hostel we stayed in: The Bocas Island Lodge.  We were very happy here and loved listening to the loud jungle sounds at night.  It was a 5 minute walk through the jungle to get to Red Frog Beach.


Casey the converted world traveler


We swam with bioluminescent algae and plankton!  It was a life wish of mine that I had no idea I would get to accomplish on this trip.  It was nearly impossible to photograph, so I grabbed these off Google.com.


It was too deep to touch where we were swimming.  There was total darkness around us except the stars above and the glowing plankton around us.  It was so magical and felt like a dream!


We saw a lot of wild life too.  Frogs, an armadillo, monkeys, a tree rat, and a lot of of sloths!

These guys were tiny
The size of a penny.  And poisonous.



Nap time.  He stayed like this for more than 12 hours!






We started calling my baby "Sloth" which I may one day regret. ;)

Panama Part Three: The Good Stuff!

And finally the pictures of the best part of our trip!
We surfed as much as we could.  After a quick lesson at the hostel we headed out by boat to catch 5 foot gentile rolling waves.  Perfect for all skill levels!  I had surfed quite a bit in Hawaii but never got great at it.  Becca had been once or twice, and Casey had never been before.  We all had a great time!

I know these pictures are not the best quality.  We used a Gopro that fogged up quickly.  But still, it captured the essence of our surf sessions!

Chapo, our awesome (and handsome) instructor lol

Becca




Britt Casey and Becca, Blue Crush!

Hooray!

My camera did so much better than the Gopro!  But it's not waterproof so it stayed alone in the boat.

Discussing the waves

Becca through a foggy lens
Becca dropping in


Casey rocking the waves on her second day ever! Me on the right


Mannie, our other awesome surf instructor
We also did a lot of relaxing. Our hostel was awesome and full of great fellow travelers who we'd stay up late with discussing life, love, and the world we live in.

We did a lot of this.  A whole lot.

Becca worked quite a bit on the trip.  She loved her new office.

Dock off our hostel perfect for sunbathing or going for a swim


Crystal clear water with lots of sardines

We boated to neighbor islands a lot.




 One morning we were awakened by the loudest rainstorm I've ever heard.  The hostel literally shook with the thunderous noise from the rain.  We got up and watched the beautiful storm.

Incredible beauty makes you so glad to be alive!
The sun filtered in through the clouds and was so gorgeous.
We found the end of the Rainbow, it's at Playa Tortuga Hotel in Bocas Del Toro!