I woke up with the rooster this morning for no apparent reason. Instead of laying in bed trying to fall back asleep, I decided it might be a great opportunity to get a sunrise picture. I sat on the balcony with my camera ready, but it was just too cloudy and I couldn’t see the sun on the horizon. I did, however, get these shots:
Yesterday’s uneventful day really was the ticket to feeling super energetic today – especially with the added pick-me-up of TWO cups of coffee! As a decaf girl, 2 cups of caffeine really gives me zip!
We were super duper excited to be renting the Flying Pirates ATV’s again! This time for a full day! We grabbed our bag of dirty laundry and walked the 2 blocks to the Flying Pirates office. We had about a 10 minute wait before Steve or Rhonda would arrive to drive us to the stock yard, so we continued our walk down the street to drop off our dirty laundry. 2 loads done for $10. SO WORTH IT.
Rhonda picked us up again and we headed to the stock yard. I got the same ATV that I had the first time, but Kristian got a different one, which he said was much easier to drive. I guess the throttle was a bit stiff on the first one. Shortly after we arrived, we were off! No instructions needed – we’re pros now. 😉 Today we’re going to explore a different part of the island: the west beaches!
The road to the first beach, Playa del Drago is about a 45 minute, windy, scenic drive through a remote part of the island. The west, largest portion of the island is very undeveloped. There are several houses, but they are spaced quite a ways apart and have land, either unkempt (but beautiful!) or they have cows.
There were some scary moments as we drove along and would unexpectedly be at a really tight turn. One of the times, a garbage truck came careening around a tight corner, taking up both lanes just as I was approaching the same corner. I slowed down, but really thought I was either going to hit the truck or not make the turn. Of course, I made it through the turn safely on both accounts, but my heart was pounding! And I became a safer driver from then on, too.
We arrived at Playa del Drago and immediately “suited up” for snorkeling. It’s not the ideal spot for snorkeling, but we thought we’d give it a try before handing over some cashola for a water taxi to take us to Starfish Beach. The water isn’t very deep and, it’s in fact, great for kids to splash around in, being that there’s not more than a ripple that comes in to shore. We saw a few fish, but our snorkeling cravings weren’t by any means satisfied. We ended up paying a water taxi $12 for a round trip ride for all four of us to Starfish Beach. Starfish Beach is about 1 mile around the island and is only accessible by boat, unless you want to trek through the jungle and encounter who knows what.
Starfish Beach is special.
When you arrive, you immediately notice the crystal blue waters and white sand beach. The water doesn’t break here, so it’s completely calm, which is why I guess the starfish come here. The beach is lined with lounge chairs and there are a handful of vendors selling fruit smoothies. As soon as we pulled up to the beach, we saw a big, orange starfish! The boys couldn’t believe that it was right there, in the open, where they could touch it. But we didn’t touch it because there are signs everywhere telling you not to. We continued walking down the beach, seeing starfish after starfish. There were quite a few that we saw and that was just in the shallow waters where the water was waist-deep for the boys. We also saw 4 or 5 different kinds of fish. I wish I knew the names, but none were recognizable to us. About halfway down the beach, Karter shrieked in pain, saying something hurt his foot. We both sat down on the sand so that I could take a look. I didn’t see anything, so we kept walking. Another shriek. We sat down again. Still nothing. When we started walking again, I started feeling something painful in my water shoes. What the ?! I’m wearing water shoes! They are supposed to keep my tootsies safe! Onward we walked, but with every step, we were both feeling something(s) poking our feet. Then it was Karter’s rear end that started getting poked. Then mine! This is nuts! I can’t see anything at all that could be causing the problem.
Our driver came to pick us up as we all were squatting down, trying to look at Karter’s feet and figure things out. We asked the driver for 15 more minutes so that Kole and I could get a good look at some fish with our snorkel sets before we left. Even while I was swimming, I could feel the pokes. This is so frustrating! In a matter of minutes, our fun, Starfish Beach adventure had turned painful, annoying and just downright the pits! And we couldn’t figure out what it was!
Starfish Beach is full of…?
When we got back to Playa del Drago, we sat down on the sand – I absolutely had to take my water shoes off and look at my own feet. I saw it. A tiny hair-like sliver in my toe. Then another and another. I looked at Karter’s feet and started seeing them, too. Where we these little splinters coming from? We rinsed out our water shoes really well and walked 50 feet or so to the Yarisnori Restaurant to grab a bite for lunch.
After we had ordered our food, I asked the waitress if she had heard of anyone getting slivers. She said, “Oh yes! On Starfish Beach. Not here.” I thanked her and immediately used Kristian’s phone to look this up on TripAdvisor.com. Sure enough! There were a couple of people complaining of these doggone splinters that come from the shells there. *sigh* I wish we had known. We definitely wouldn’t have made that part of our day. What’s strange is that no one else seemed to be complaining of them! What kind of skin do THEY have?
When we had filled our bellies with roasted chicken and mahi mahi, we decided to head back down the windy, scenic road and head back toward Playa Bluff to the Flying Pirates trails again. During this long drive home, Karter got so sleepy, that I felt him falling over to one side of the quad. I wasn’t about to take any chances of him falling off, so Kristian and I traded boys and Kristian let Karter sit up front and “steer” until he was good and awake again.
On our way to the trails, we stopped at the Beach Bar again where Kristian and I shared a pina colada. This was the first pina colada that was the REAL DEAL. Not a sugary mixture – only real fruit. A-MAZING. We’d better not move here. 😉
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone wave at me. It was Jennifer and Duffy! I walked over to them and talked to them for a few minutes – it was like reuniting with old friends. That’s pretty much how I’ve felt about all the Americans we’ve met here. Everyone is so warm and welcoming. After a few minutes, you feel like you’ve known them for a lifetime. Everyone has at least one big thing in common: they all love Panama and either live here, or want to live here. In fact, now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve heard a negative word about living here. No regrets. To them, it’s Paradise.
We made it out to the trails and stopped at one of the lagoons we had seen on our first trip out here. The water was a perfectly refreshing temperature and we just melted into the surf and soaked it up for a couple of hours. Kristian did a little snorkeling, but mostly we all just let the waves wash us up onto the sand and back out.
The sun was now starting to set and we’re a god 45 minutes out of town, so we start heading back to town. Hunger set in about halfway, so we stopped at Paki Point for another guidebook recommended meal: pizza! The service from Justine at Paki Point was awesome. She was outgoing, friendly, took our orders immediately and had our pizzas brought out promptly. She offered to take a family shot, which we took her up on. She really lived up to her reputation on TripAdvisor.com. We sat back in papasan chairs and enjoyed our little dinner as we watched surfers “sittin’ on top of the world.”
Some funky art at Paki Point
Now the night is threatening to make our trip home a little more precarious, so we hurriedly mounted our ATV’s and booked it home. I did let Karter try out the throttle while still on the dirt back roads. He got pretty good at it!
We received the same treatment at the end of our ride as before. Beer, soda and a lift home from Steve. We’re very impressed with the way this couple cares about “Bocas” (Isla Colon.) It was only earlier that day that I was telling Kristian that the island (and most of Panama) would be instantly improved if they had better control of the trash problem. Well, during our parting conversation with Steve, he mentioned that he’s starting a trash program where he’s buying a bicycle with a trash can on the front. Local business owners are chipping in a few bucks to have someone ride the bike and clean up the main street after nightly party-ers litter it all up. It’s genius and I just love how he’s taking ownership of “his town” – and he’s only lived here a year!
Steve and Rhonda of Flying Pirates!
So glad we stopped for dinner on the way home because I’m so tired, all I can think about is bed. Hm, sounds strangely similar to what I said after the first ride. 🙂 Wonderfully exhausting.
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