The second longest left in the world
Trip Start
Apr 05, 2009
1
11
13
Trip End
Jun 07, 2010
Pavones, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The owner called a water taxi though and we where on our way home in no time.
From Bocas it was off to Santa Catalina, the place is a tiny town with absolutly nothing, although it is rumoured to have the best surf in Panama, unfortunatly when I was there it was lucky to get above the size of a ripple and since the town had little else to offer and I had some Panamanian visa problems to deal with, I decided to head back across the border to the town of Pavones.
The Lonely planet says it is a logistical nightmare to get to Pavones but its really not very far at all (by car anyway),after 2 days, 8 buses, 2 taxis, one border crossing and one hell of a storm that saw me wading through knee deep water to get on the bus I arrived in Pavones.
After finding an awsome place to stay I went to check the surf, I couldnt find any waves so I asked a local where the legendary Pavones was, and to my dismay they pointed to the flat bit of ocean right in front of me.
The next day the surf had picked up to fun head high waves and it stayed more or less the same for the next 9 days (some days a little better and some a little worse), which is lucky because Pavones is smaller then Santa Catalina and if there is no surf there is nothing to do.
After some days of fun surf the real swell came, double overhead (maybe bigger) and linking up the whole way through (something that very rarely happens), these where the best waves I have ever had in my life and most likely the best I have ever will have, it was definatly something right out of a magazine or video, and heck with the amount of photographers on the beach you very well may see pictures from these days in a magazine.
With some waves going for over 1km the crowd was no longer an issue as it took someone 30 minutes to get back out after catching a wave, this made for a happier vibe in the water with everyone hooting and cheering each other on, rather then dropping in like the previouse week.
The good vibes extended to the beach too where there was a whole bunch of people, it seems that around here people get word of the swell early and the town transforms for 2 days from sleepy beach town to thriving surf hub, where if your not surfing the waves your taking pictures of them or simply just watching and drinking a beer.
On the Saturday right after the sun went down was when I got what was definatly the best wave of my life, I was ready to go in cause it was realy dark and I could barely see a thing (which was probably lucky cause a proper look at the wave and I think I would have pulled back), I took off an an awsome wave, did more turns and got barreled more times then I bothered to count. Since it was basically dark I saw the flashes from cameras going off as soon as I took off but by the time the wave was done I was about 1km down the road from them and as stoked as I had ever been.
After such a great wave I really didnt want to give up my surfboard, but it would cost way too much to bring to Canada with me, as luck would have it I had been hanging out with some surfers from Seattle and Chris had enough room in his board bag for my board, so after I bummed a ride to the border with them (saving me 3 buses) I parted ways with my board and bought an end to my Central American surf trip.
I will be heading to Panama city to check out the canal and then its off to Canada in about a week to finally stop sweating every time I move.
Comments
rock on
Sounds exciting as usual! Keep up the travel and adventure!