Panama, the Bocas Del Toro Region, and Learning New Things

Flying into Panama City at the end of January, I was hesitant though excited about the next section of our journey. Our plan was to sea kayak along the coast of Central America from Panama to Belize, learning more about the sport as we went. To aide with that plan, we invited a kayak guide and friend Richard to join us for a couple of months, which he excitedly accepted. Not having much experience in the sea or in kayaks other than recreationally, I was unsure how my body and spirit would adapt to the new environment. I was hoping to have some time in our boats in the US, but even with the kayak company pushing to get them to us, they arrived the day before we flew out. Fidgit and I landed in Panama City, met up with Richard, ran a few errands, then got moving to Bocas Del Toro as soon as we could. After the overnight bus followed by a boat ride to the main island, I was grateful to have a space of our own. Over the next few days we had time to paddle around, including a foray across a channel to another island, and practice in our boats before leaving. I felt more prepared as we paddled along the southwest side of the island, though the thought of paddling the entire way north to Belize still sat heavy in the pit of my stomach. Fidgit, Richard, and I crossed a small channel to a canal and paddled to where it connected to the sea. At the mouth of the canal is where we set up camp for the night, planning to head out to sea early morning to avoid the afternoon winds. I fell soundly asleep soon after dinner, exhausted from the days activities. At sunrise the next morning, we were packing our boats and swatting flies away, eager to try our hand at open water. Richard had explained the basics- we had to paddle hard and straight through the waves to get out past the breaks, and I was nervous. I didn't feel strong enough to paddle through waves- I'm a hiker and all my strength is in my legs, damnit! Thankfully I was able to shift my perspective to positivity before we paddled out. As I went through one wave, then another, I started feeling better about it. The third hit, and I looked to my left and saw the bottom of Fidgit's boat shortly before the fourth wave hit and I was knocked under myself. I bobbed back to the surface with paddle in hand and grabbed my boat with my free hand. I was able to roll my boat back over as Richard came over and helped me get back in, then we both pumped the water out of the cockpit before he paddled away to help Fidgit right herself. Now with some residual water lapping at my feet, I aimed once again out towards the waves. I went through a few more before getting knocked over. Richard was still with Fidgit, so I attempted to get myself back into my boat alone. After a few failed attempts to launch myself into the cockpit with waves continually coming in, the kayak was sitting low in the water. A set of strong waves came through, after which I looked over to Richard and Fidgit as they washed ashore. Shortly after, the waves pushed me back onto the sand as well. We were able to drag our drowned kayaks out of the lapping waves, then reconvened to decide on a different plan. We were all full of adrenaline from the clusterf**kus that had just happened. We were also exhausted, so decided to take the day to rest on shore, watch the waves, and decide what to do next. After helping Richard move the kayaks and reconfiguring my things, I set up my bug net and tarp before falling asleep. I woke up to high winds blowing sand across the beach and sun beating down, so I had to reconfigure my setup. But first, water! After the fog of thirst was lifted I was able to fuss with my shade set-up long enough to get sunburnt before crawling back under it for the rest of the afternoon. Fidgit, Richard, and I reconvened near sunset and decided that we'd try again to break through the waves in the morning if they looked docile enough. The next morning, the waves were not being docile at all. They were taunting us as we watched from shore, going from a few minutes of small waves to ten minutes of large waves crashing in. After seeing that, we chose to go back to the island we came from and do more skill building.

Humbled, we paddled back to Bocas town. After a day of rest, we dove into training. Three sessions per day for five days that included rolling practice, paddle technique, a paddle stroke for every occasion, self rescue techniques, assisted rescue techniques, and practice practice practice. At the end of each day, I was exhausted though felt like progress had been made.