Hike across the island

  Bocas Town, Panama
Thursday, September 21, 2006

View of the island

Today dawned as the complete opposite of yesterday; it was hot and sunny and not a cloud in the sky.  Plans for the day consisted of an all day hike across Isla Bastimentos to three different beaches on the other side of the island.  Chafee was our guide, and Rick, Christina and I donned long pants and rubber boots and started off on our hike.  Goose the dog also joined us.  We followed a small, muddy trail through the jungle, up and down numerous hills.  Now, I am used to hiking in the heat for 6 hours a day for my job, so it didn;t really bother me.  Not so much for Rick and Christina.  I thought they were gonna die.  We eventually made it to the top of the highest hill, and the view was wonderful.  We wound our way down to the other side of the island and finally popped out onto Long Beach.  Relieved to finally be on the beach, we asked Chaffe if we could take off our boots, but he said we would still need them.  So we left them on.  Goose went crazy when he got to the beach; he dug holes in the sand and stuck his head in them.  We didn't get to stay long at Long Beach; I only had time to take a few pictures before Chaffe marched onward and we had to follow him.  

Hiking in the ocean

So when we signed up for this hike we never imagined that we would be marching through the waves on a beautiful beach wearing long pants and rubber boots.  Our boots were quickly dunked by the waves and soon filled with water, sand and sharp pieces of shell.  Our boots soon became 10 pound weights, and each step became more and more labored as the shell and sand ground our feet into pulp.  Chaffe marched on in his boots, un-phased by the waves or our struggling; he just kept saying the better beach was just around the corner and kept walking.  After I don't know how long, we begged Chaffe to stop and let us eat lunch.  We took this opportunity to removed the cursed boots and our waterlogged pants and traded them for shorts and Tevas.  The hike got much better form there.

Goose

After more hiking we finally got to the next beach, Polo Beach.  Polo beach is named for the man who apparently owns the beach, and Mr. Polo was there sitting under a nearby palm tree.  There we actually got to stop and enjoy ourselves.  Rick hung out with Goose in the shade while I did some snorkeling off the beach. The reefs were shallow, and there were tons of fish; I even got to see some queen conchs.  All too soon we were on our feet again and off to Red Frog beach.  Again it seemed like we hiked forever, as Chaffe kept saying the beach was just around the corner.  We were relieved to get to Red Frog beach, our final destination.  We all got in the water and just bobbed in the waves, letting the water soothe our tired feet.  Henry met up with us at the beach and took us back to La Loma by boat.

Finally getting to relax