The Divers in Panama

Sunday, December 21

Contadoras Island, 2:22 PM

Well, we arrived in Contadora yesterday morning around 10:45-ish or so.  The day before had been filled with mucho travel.  For me, Austin to Dallas to Miami to Panama City.  I left Austin around 8:55 AM and arrived in Panama City around 7 PM   George and Leslie left earlier but arrived around 4 PM, giving them much time to go down to the Balboa Yacht Club for dinner.  I, on the other hand, didn't get to have dinner, save for some Funyons that were available at the B&B La Estancia.  That's okay, because they had cold beer for $1 and some bananas. 

The trip was painless save for the part about hanging out at the Panama City airport for an hour waiting for AA to get our bags on the carousel.  Oh, and the part where nobody bothers to tell you you need a $5 tourist card UNTIL you've waited 30 minutes in the customs line.  Then you find out and get to wait all over again.  Hey, it's Panama, WTF did I expect.

Yesterday, the travel escapades began again.  Our flight was supposed to have left at 8:25, then they pushed it back until 9, then 10.  It left sometime around 10:15 I think.  Most people I know who are sane and who flight a lot wouldn't probably have gotten on the airplane we got on.  It was a Dehavilland Twin Otter, circa 1960s, I think.  I didn't see any duct tape but there were definitely some worn patches here and there.

But the best part was that they wouldn't let us take a lighter or matches on the plane.  I snuck a single lighter through anyway, and once we got in the Dehavilland at the other Panama airport (the one near the canal), I laughed really hard when I saw we could rush the cockpit no problem, because there was no door between we and the pilots.  But, please, DON'T bring any matches or lighters. 

When we came in for the landing, I've already put on Twitter that there was a serious pucker factor on the approach.  We made the turn back towards the north into the wind, and I laughed a little to myself : "Oh, we're going to land there?!" (More exclamation than question.)

No sooner had we gotten off the plane than we saw the dive shop.  How convenient.  We hooked up with Guillermo (8 years on the island, originally from Patagonia), and told him we'd brought our own regs and masks, but would need everything else.

Our friends from Perla Real drove us to our hotel/motel, whatever you wish to call it.  It's very nice…quait, I think they call it…and we've opted to walk most everywhere instead of renting a golf cart.  For lunch, we went to the Punta Galeon, I believe it's called.  Great ceviche, and the local brew I fancy is "Balboa" (Go for the "Panama" if you're more of a lager person).  I had an excellent club sandwich as well. 

In the PM, we borrowed some fins and went down to the beach that sits below the runway.  It's a gorgeous beach…straight out of "Lost"…but if a plane does ever land long…well, that's gonna ruin somebody's day on that gorgeous beach.  I checked out the snorkeling, and saw a few parrot fish and a few angels as well.  The coral head was mostly black, and relatively shallow (10-15 feet).  We spent the rest of the day reading on the beach.  And just for shits and giggles I threw on some Jimmy Buffet on the iPod.  I kept waiting for someone to show up with a rum drink with one of those little umbrellas, but they never did.

Last night, we had dinner at the Romantico, a gorgeous restaurant on the south side of the island.  The food was pretty good (I had curried red snapper), and we were one of four seatings they had the whole time we were there.  So, we basically had the place to ourselves.

This morning (Sunday), we woke up and had to eat quickly to get down to the dive shop.  We left around 8:30 to head out to the first dive site (I forget the name of the small island to the north).  Because of my lingering head cold, and despite 2 Sudafed, I had a hard time clearing on the way down on the first dive, and no sooner had I gotten back on the boat that I decided to share all my breakfast (toast and corn flakes) with the fish.  I shared about five times, before having to lay down during the surface interval.   I was very dizzy.  I shared some more of my breakfast about five minutes before the second dive, and feel confident I contributed to helping draw the substantial sea life on that second dive.

The highlight was a White Tip shark.  That SOB was hanging below a rock reef when Guillermo saw him and pointed him out.  Then, the shark zipped out of there, and not knowing what kind it was at the time, kept looking behind me.  But the visibility was only 25-30 feet, so if he had decided we would make a good lunch, we wouldn't have much warning.

We also saw a spotted eel, a spotted manta, a scorpion fish (which a few million years of evolution made butt ugly but with great camouflage – and, apparently, very lethal…one touch and…well, put it this way, you probably wouldn't have to worry about breakfast again), lots of angel fish, some puffers, some frog fish…definitely NOT the best diving I've ever done, but it IS the Pacific side of things, and the rest of the scenery makes up for the lack of good reefs and vis.

I'm glad I made the second dive.  Until I let go that second round of lunch, it was iffy.  I was very dizzy and my sinuses were -----ed.  But, I also know we were only going about 40 feet max on the second dive.

The currents were quite strong, unlike anything I've experienced.  In Cozumel, you typically drift in one general direction.  In Contadora, you kind of get thrown back and forth.  It's cool, but you tend to kick a lot, especially to keep up with Speed Racer (Guillermo, the dive master).  Slow the --- - down, dude, I'm on vacation!!!

Net Turbo Take to Date: This place doesn't suck.  If you need lots of entertainment and stimulation, it ain't for you.  If you like to be out in themiddle of ----ing nowhere on a minimally inhabited island, it's just what the doctor ordered.