Free Hookahs & Dr Suess Underwater World

Trip Start Sep 29, 2007

221

Trip End Ongoing

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Where I stayed

Mondo Taitu Hostel

(Colon hotels)

Flag of Panama Bocas Del Toro, Outer Islands, Panama
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

We dragged our intoxicated party animal arses out of bed and took off to the snorkelling tour. The hostel Mondo Taitu was eerily quiet and the communal areas showed damage from the night before. As i was leaving i noticed a sign advertising free hookahs tonight (filled with flavoured tobacco) in case the house is not full enough, the party never stops in Bocas. This is what we get for staying at the party hostel. Fun for awhile but you wish for some space and a clean fridge.

I munched down a chocolate ice cream cone for breakfast, the third one since we have arrived in Bocas..... healthy. I managed to score an underwater camera to use for the trip. The Brazilians were meant to be meeting us but never showed and it ended up being just us and a cool cat Swedish lad who is a DJ, almost a private charter boat. The whole island is slow to wake on Sundays including our speed boat driver who appeared to be still drunk, it�s the Carribean culture in this town

. We noticed some islands for sale here, a small one starts at $42 000. Anyone in? Bocas is a surfie hangout and has some great Indonesian style waves.

We cruised out to sea quickly and of course it rained. We passed large ships and then just as we arrived at a pod of dolphins that our driver drove way too close to, the engine simmered down then stalled completely. It was raining hard and we were a long way from land. There were other boats around and the Swedish guy and i stood on our seats and threw our red life vests around our heads until we waved down another boat who left us with a tool box. After fixing the boat we went to order our lunch at a simple restaurant built on wooden decks in the sea. The menu was all ultra fresh seafood including lobster, fish , shrimp and caracol. The lobsters were caught in a net off the deck. We then went to a snorkelling site and swam around for an hour and a half chasing exotic fish and checking out all the coloured coral, creatures and Dr Suess type structures on the sea floor. The coral is very much alive and i had forgotten how awesome it is to be in this world. Finding Nemo and all! I used all the camera film at once and was disappointed when we had to leave. Not for long though because we chowed down on the fresh red snapper and caracol (this comes from a large shell, a bit like an abalone or calamari). We also caught up with some divers we had met last night. The lobster was cut on the deck with a machete in front of us. Last stop was Red Frog Beach in the rain. I wore my inflatable moose head giraffe thing and basically sat around on a swing. Local children came running at us when we arrived, carrying the tiny, poisonous red and black frogs in palm leaves. I got some killer photos and gave them 5cents each, they are only going to buy chips and soft drink with the money.

After a hot shower, the first one in a very long time i was standing on the window ledge of the house when i spotted a mohawked boi walking down the street, it was Taz, the Australian surfer, our travel buddie from Nicaragua. Taz brought his Melbourne mate Sam to meet us for a drink at Mondo Taitu and yes, there were free hookahs and another all night happy hour. We ended up on the balcony of Hostel Heike singing reggae tunes with Israelis and Chileans. We leave for the mainland of Panama tomorrow. Panama City via Boquette.